Yerubaru, with no reservations, defiled Christia.
While everyone headed west towards the Black Pillar, he went north.
He didn’t mind the foul odor emanating from the garbage on the roadside.
He covered his mouth with a scrap of cloth. Still, the smell persisted.
His eyes watered from the irritation.
Why would he intentionally go through such a foul-smelling place?
To mask his presence with the stench.
He believed it was a safer route, even if it was a detour.
(Well, with my current food problem, I’ll starve if I don’t hunt monsters a few times to secure food.)
He encountered Undead who didn’t care about carrion or foul odors.
“Hmph.”
He decapitated the slow-moving Zombies.
Undead had inexhaustible physical strength but were incredibly fragile in defense.
As a porter, he could cut off their heads with his own strength.
If they were evolved Ghoul or Vampire, he would flee. Trying to target their heads would only lead to being pinned down and bitten on the neck.
The Zombies tried to pick up their severed heads and reattach them, but they were too slow.
Footsteps from a side road.
He hid in a nearby building as several Survivors quickly passed by.
(They seem to be thinking the same thing, but there are more of them.)
He got caught in the Zombies’ scent-tracking range.
He lured the monsters.
He was grateful to the Survivors for leading the Zombies chasing him away.
If he were to be more greedy, he wondered if any of the Survivors had fallen before passing this spot.
He wasn’t interested in corpses themselves, but their belongings.
With his current limited food supply, he eyed the preserved food of the dead.
*Creep. Creep.*
A semblance of Silent Run.
Not as good as a professional hunter or assassin.
He moved east along the path the Survivors had taken, minimizing his footsteps, to search for food.
Yerubaru immediately slipped into a building, watching the backs of the Ghoul swarming over a fallen person.
*Crunch. Rip.*
The sounds they made fueled unease and fear.
Would he end up like that while hiding?
Were they getting closer?!
(Please don’t find me. I didn’t come here to become food for the Undead.)
He encouraged himself, and after a few dozen minutes.
It seemed the Ghoul had finished their meal.
He heard the receding sound of bare footsteps.
“……Gulp.”
He emerged from the building, believing no Ghoul remained.
He approached the near-skeletal corpses, ravaged by consumption.
He quickly collected the pouches, small bags, and sheaths from their waists and hid back inside the building.
He went deeper into the building.
He inspected the spoils of war.
A broken small bottle. A wet letter. Wet medicine.
Wet preserved food. A file. A sheath.
(This wet stuff is a healing potion, isn’t it? *Sniff sniff*… It seems okay.)
He spread out the wet items to dry, slowly peering out the window at the street.
He consumed a bit of his professional skill and rested.
He gathered the dried items, stuffed them into his tool bag, and departed.
He safely entered the Third Wall.
The sun was setting, and Yerubaru judged it too dangerous to proceed further.
He decided to wait for morning in the food storage of an abandoned house.
“Hmm. Shall I go?”
He was still alive. He had evaded monsters and obtained food.
And he had passed through the wall.
He felt optimistic. His resolve was firm.
*Stealthily. Stealthily.*
Was the number of other Survivors the same as yesterday, or even less?
Monsters gathered by sensing the presence of the living.
***
Abandoned House Abandoned House Abandoned House
Abandoned House Abandoned House Abandoned House
Abandoned House Abandoned House Abandoned House
He moved like a shadow from behind the buildings, regulated his breathing, and confirmed the safety of the street ahead and the rooftops.
Armed soldiers of the Labyrinth City were moving rapidly on top of the wall.
They hunted monsters.
This made movement easier.
However, they were moving in the opposite direction.
Yerubaru found the gate to the Fourth Wall but waited a day before passing through.
He lured a platoon of Orcs to secure food.
He killed one individually, obtaining pork.
The platoon of Orcs chased him through the town.
“Eat these glass shards that serve as caltrops!”
“Pugi, Gyii?! ”
“Fu, Gooo!”
“Pigi!?”
He had confirmed they had bare feet.
They seemed to use the equipment of those they killed.
However, finding shoes that fit Orcs’ feet was not easy.
“♪ ”
I’m different from them, after all.
Ugh.
“Who the hell are you?! I’m in a hurry, bu-”
As he turned into a side road to shake off the Orcs, a masked man stood directly in Yerubaru’s path.
As he tried to push through with momentum, he was startled by the mask that suddenly appeared before him. Then, a sharp pain shot through his abdomen.
Feeling the pain, he put up a final resistance, wondering what he was doing, and lost consciousness. The next time he opened his eyes, he heard.
He heard the lively sounds of the living outside reaching his ears.
“Huh? If they were making so much noise, the monsters would… O-oh, you!”
Beside the bed, the masked man he had seen before losing consciousness sat in a chair and said, “Yo.” Yerubaru ignored him saying he was slow to notice.
He pondered why the masked man had knocked him out and brought him to a house in the labyrinth city, his destination.
(What use is there for a lone individual like me, not in a party???)
“Hey, what do you want me to do?”
“Don’t be so wary. I apologize for being rough, but yes, my name is Reihon. I’m an appraiser.”
“…Yerubaru, a porter.”
They finished their self-introductions.
Next was the masked man’s objective.
“—-Huh?”
“With my appraisal, your potential value is extremely high, so I want to recruit you into my party.”
Me, who survived by abandoning my comrades.
Me, who intended to betray my comrades and party even after reaching my destination safely.
And me, who is… excellent in the future? What kind of joke is this?
Yerubaru was bewildered by Reihon the masked man’s words.
For now, he established a trial period.
He provisionally joined Reihon’s party.
“Please take care of me from today.”
“Ah, ah.”
