Chapter 26
I left the Tower and arrived in the middle of the ruins.
The wind, blowing from somewhere, travelled between the buildings and sounded mournful.
Thud.
Something hit the top of my foot.
It was a lost ball.
The small sphere, the size an infant might play with, nudged my foot and rolled away.
My gaze followed the ball to an empty lot.
There was a swing set and a jungle gym constructed from bamboo.
A child’s shoe lay abandoned on the sandy ground.
Did that child survive?
I felt a fleeting interest in the survival of the child, a life that offered no help in my own survival.
For the child, it must have been a sudden disaster.
A monster appeared from somewhere, and the child must have fled before having time to understand what it was.
They are probably dead.
This situation was no different for me than the one that child experienced.
I was playing a game.
And then I was transmigrated.
The game I ended up in was a hell that merely resembled a school.
I believed my mental strength was better than that of an average person, simply for not falling into suicidal impulses.
[Steady Nerves] and [Patience] preened, claiming the credit was due to them.
Yes, yes, I am tearfully grateful.
Even as an empty compliment, saying so would help in taming my traits.
I kept walking.
This vicinity had already been investigated by the knights several times.
They had exterminated the monsters they found.
And they had taken away everything they deemed useful based on their criteria.
Herbs to be used as medicine, food, clothing, bedding, and so on.
Seeking the same things would be a pointless waste of time and energy.
I had to look for something else.
My steps, which knew no halt, stopped before a single building.
Jason's Farm.
That was the name written on the sign erected in front of the fence.
I opened the gate and walked inside.
No one stopped me.
I crossed the yard and went to the back of the building.
There was a small, rather shabby vegetable garden and a barn.
I bent down and grabbed a handful of dirt.
Even though it had been a long time since it was tended, the soil maintained a high-quality composition.
It held an appropriate amount of moisture, and the smell was not bad.
I could sense that the farm owner had sincerely dedicated themselves to managing this place until just before they left.
This place could be utilized.
If I could find the right seeds, I planned to plant them.
However, since I did not have any seeds immediately, the experiment would have to be postponed.
I entered the barn.
Rice straw was still spread out on the floor.
A shovel and a rake, farming tools, were prepared on one wall, and feed sacks were stacked on the other.
It was feed for livestock.
The knights had taken all sorts of supplies, but they had refrained from touching this.
They likely considered it beneath their dignity as humans.
Nevertheless, if one did not rely on things like this in an emergency, they could not survive in this hell.
“It looks like it is time to put in some effort.”
It was a suitable place for raising chickens.
But it was not yet sufficient to let the birds out.
I had to fix the bolt.
I needed to check the outer wall for any escape holes.
Most importantly, I had to ensure that the sound did not carry when the chickens crowed.
The repair of the barn was the first priority.
I needed a hammer, nails, and planks.
Since the farm owner was well-versed in such matters, finding the tools was not difficult.
This was a secret spot only I knew about when I played the game.
When players joined a group, they aimed for social status improvement inside, rather than searching outside.
That reduced the chances of dying foolishly.
It was a safe playing style.
Solo acts without building up strength were scorned as madness.
The perverts who did strange things, even in the Closed Beta, were few.
I tested the actions that everyone called madness.
They usually met an unfortunate fate.
They would be caught by zombies and get a bad ending, or sometimes they would be killed by other people.
But there were gains.
Through several playthroughs, I figured out which routes or locations were useful, even in the early stages.
This farm was one of the many locations I had discovered.
That experience was not useless.
I found a box containing tools nearby.
I utilized the planks the farm owner had cut and left over.
I sealed up the broken floor and any shattered holes.
I also fixed the rusty bolt appropriately.
Finally, the task of soundproofing remained.
I bit my hand and used the drawn droplet of blood as a substitute for a pen.
I drew a spell circle on the wall.
Until someone interpreted it, all sounds made inside the barn would not leak outside.
Finally, I took the chickens out.
"Cluck!"
"Have you been well?"
"......Cluck."
The vigorous rooster swallowed its saliva after seeing my face.
Did it, by any chance, remember that I had talked about making chicken soup?
That probably wasn’t it.
Chickens were stupid, but they had instincts.
“It will be beneficial for you to set up a new life here rather than in the dark basement.”
"Cluck?"
“I will also help you to enjoy children for generations to come. In return, I will steadily take your eggs. And someday... no, I do not need to talk about that I suppose.”
The rooster tilted its head.
Then, it moved away from me and inspected its new home.
The female chicken followed suit.
I scattered the feed from the sack onto the floor and went outside.
I squatted down in front of the door.
I waited for about 30 minutes, sitting blankly and intending to confirm the state of the spell circle.
No sound could be heard.
I stood up with a satisfied smile.
The beginning may be chickens, but the end will be great.
* * *
After returning to the Tower and falling asleep.
I greeted my first morning here.
I went down to the first floor, following the central staircase.
Some people had spent a chilly night without a single blanket.
They had not been assigned a room.
The only people who could be assigned a room were those who had paid tribute to the knights or those who were well-known nobles.
I turned my head and saw two men chatting.
"I heard there is a village to the northwest of here."
"That place has already been visited by the knights, hasn't it?"
"Are we in a position to be picky right now? If we do not pay tribute to the knights within two days, we will be chased out of the Tower."
The operating principle of the Order of the Star.
It was protection in exchange for a price.
They provided sanctuary by sharing the spoils gathered outside with the knights.
Everyone had an assigned quota.
And if they failed to meet it, they were chased out regardless of gender or age.
The students were no different.
Students were gathered behind the men who were talking.
"Hey, is it really true?"
"Yes, there is a laboratory remaining."
"If that is true, shouldn't we inform the knights and go together?"
"You fool! If we do that, the knights will take everything and not leave any share for us."
My eyes flashed.
THE Survival was a wicked game.
The surrounding environment changed every time the game started.
And information was needed to grasp the changed environment.
The students in front of me were a good example.
“We will leave the day after tomorrow. Those who want to back out, do so now. But tell them not to expect a single penny if we return successfully.”
"......Okay."
I perked my ears and focused on the students' conversation.
The only word that could be called a clue was 'laboratory'.
That was enough.
I knew where the laboratory they were talking about was.
'It is Gordon's Laboratory. I guess it hasn’t been raided yet.'
The location they were chatting about, the laboratory, was worth the risk of visiting.
It was where the seeds that could be planted on the farm were managed.
'If I take the seeds and succeed in cultivation, various problems can be solved.'
There was no need to rush.
Those students might reach the laboratory, but they would not be able to enter.
They might even die from an ambush on the way.
I had to prepare myself.
I turned my head again and looked at the knight who was watching me as if supervising.
Bundles were piled up behind him.
They were placed there for the purpose of bartering with the survivors.
Transactions only occurred when the knights deemed it advantageous.
A structure where one had to offer two to gain one.
Therefore, there was no reason to meet him unless it was an urgent case.
The story would be different if I had something to seize the initiative with.
I had it.
A product that the knight would covet.
When I approached and greeted him, the knight reacted.
"This is the trading post. A place to exchange necessary goods. Tell me what you want. However, you must also place an equivalent item on the table."
I pulled out a bottle of liquor and cigarettes and placed them on the desk.
They were things I had obtained earlier when searching the professor's room in the dormitory.
"......Wait a minute, is this real?"
The knight became excited.
They were luxury goods he enjoyed every day, but now their value had changed.
Acquiring them was extremely difficult.
I opened the lid, and the knight smiled at the alcohol that flowed from the hole.
"How did you get this?"
"I happened to find it. It seems you are interested in a trade now."
When I closed the lid I had opened, the knight looked disappointed.
"Ahem, what do you want for it? I might be able to give you a generous number of ration tickets."
Ration tickets were tokens used to obtain food from the knights.
They were also the goal of the villagers.
They were not what I needed.
I could easily survive for a month with the food obtained from Triden.
"Please hand over the black cloak, a yellowish shield that looks like a round pot lid, and a glass bottle containing a snowflake crystal."
"......What."
The knight seemed to get the chills.
Even before he stated the items he possessed, I clearly stated the items I wanted.
It was a simple matter for me.
Things like remembering what was inside that bundle.
[Clever] scoffed.
The knight was surprised but, first, placed all three requested items on the desk.
"Hmm, this cloak does not seem to have much market value, other than being hard to see in the dark, and I will have to put a price on the shield. And the snowflake crystal, that was an expensive item even before the world turned this way."
Snowflake Crystal.
It was a magician's spell circle that remained in crystal form without disappearing.
According to the calculation, when it came into contact with air, a cold chill would freeze the surroundings.
A cryo-grenade.
It was an item I absolutely had to secure before heading to the laboratory.
The other two items were also the same.
The knight did not seem to notice, but the other two also had spell circles imbued in them.
"In the old world, these were items you could not buy with half a bottle of liquor or a few cigarettes. So... Eek!"
I made a gesture of putting the liquor and cigarettes back into my backpack.
That alone made the knight sweat.
He had a severe alcohol addiction.
It was information I had learned through multiple playthroughs.
"I will not negotiate."
"......Haha, you are so impatient. Let us talk slowly and decide first."
The knight did not want to lose money.
The record of the transaction would remain in the ledger and be delivered to Rodwell.
If there was a problem, he would not escape punishment.
But what did that matter?
He too had conducted transactions close to violence with the powerless to survive.
"Plus, a flint."
"What did you say?"
"I will further request a whetstone."
The knight closed his mouth.
I had let him know that every word he uttered to persuade me was only a catalyst for me.
"......I will do it. However, it is difficult to grant the items you mentioned later."
"And additionally..."
"Damn it, stop it. I will even add the items you mentioned later!"
I handed him the promised liquor and cigarettes and received the items I wanted.
The knight looked at the snowflake crystal with regretful eyes.
He would not know.
That the cloak and shield, which he thought he was giving as a bonus, held value greater than the crystal.