This World is too Cruel to Men – Chapter 123

“Um…”

It was a smile that seemed to have been painted with a brush, so to speak.

Not in the sense of it being beautiful, but rather that it obviously looked fake.

Staring at such a thing made me curious.

If I were to say I disliked it right now, how would that face change?

I must have been pondering exactly that.

“Ah, it’s not like I asked you when you’re busy, right?”

I didn’t actually plan to make an excuse, but perhaps I was worried she might think I would try to escape this situation.

And just like that, she hammered it home.

With that, any chance of retreat was blocked as well.

For now, I had no choice but to nod.

And at that moment, the one who stepped in was my senior.

It seemed she couldn’t just sit back and watch me turn into a errand runner like this.

Urgently stepping forward, my senior expressed her difficulties with that in a way that suggested it wouldn’t be easy.

“We would like to help as much as we can, but… there aren’t any shops nearby. If it’s not urgent…”

“It is urgent.”

The problem was that before she could finish that sentence, someone interrupted from the other side and cut her off.

“And why is there no shop? I saw one on the way here!”

There was a shop?

In this mountain?

Even if that were true, I doubted that place would still be open at nearly eight o’clock.

However…

“I saw a convenience store around the entrance when we came up the mountain… Did you miss it?”

I see.

Hearing that made me roll my eyes and check my watch, which had already passed eight.

After confirming the time, I rolled my eyes again to glance outside.

‘It’s dark…’

After checking outside?

I recalled the structure of the mountain path I had felt through my backside while climbing to the shelter.

Could it be because the mountain is quite tall?

The path leading to the shelter twisted around the mountain.

So, if I was right, the distance I would have to walk back and forth was definitely greater than if the road was straight.

It might even be more than that.

To make that round trip at this hour?

Well… It felt more absurd than frightening, as if someone were deliberately trying to mess with me.

“What to buy is all written down here, so you can use this as a reference.”

There was even a ridiculously long list of things to buy.

Why, you ask? Because while making this request, she had also gathered what other heroes needed.

“Honestly, it’s annoying to have to come back and forth twice, right?”

While winking at me as if to say, ‘Look, I did well, didn’t I?’, I felt so moved by her thoughtfulness that I nearly cried.

Thanks to this, it seemed I was going to get an intense workout under the moonlight.

I would probably end up slipping into a deep sleep the moment I lay my head on the pillow after returning.

“Well then, I’ll have to ask you.”

With that, the hero in question left behind a note and a card…

“Uh… Senior?”

Just when some members of the student council near me started to back away, fearing they might get caught up in this ordeal…

“Can I borrow a flashlight? One with strong batteries.”

For now, I decided to grab a flashlight first.

Though my mobile phone had a flash feature, it wouldn’t illuminate much, and the outside was just too dark for relying solely on that while going up and down the mountain.

While rummaging through the flashlights, my senior suddenly grabbed the hem of my clothes, biting her lip as if she didn’t like the situation at all.

“…Wait, are you really going?”

As soon as she caught the hem of my clothes, that was the first thing she asked.

Honestly, I didn’t want to go either.

After all, these were just people I would see during the training camp; why would I want to hike a mountain in the dead of night?

That was my true feeling, but—

“…I have to go, I guess.”

Differing from my true feelings, I felt like I really had to go.

She probably planned this out, gathering what other heroes needed on purpose.

But what if I just brushed off this request?

From tomorrow on, it would only get worse.

And that would directly translate into a burden on my senior.

She had already given off a nervous vibe even before we set off, and I couldn’t let her bear that burden alone.

“Uh… here’s the flashlight…”

“Ah, thank you.”

With the cooperation of a student council member, I finally got the flashlight and meant to hurry back before it got too late, but my senior hadn’t let go of my clothes since earlier.

“Senior?”

“…Then I’m going with you.”

“What?”

“You can’t go alone; it’s dangerous.”

If she was going to come along, she might as well not let me go at all.

That was the choice she handed to me, and ultimately, that meant I ended up going with her.

“I really can go by myself, though…”

Feeling sorry that my senior was going to suffer because of me, I said that right away, but honestly, I was a bit relieved.

There was no way I couldn’t be, having to think about hiking a mountain in the dead of night filled me with concern.

While preparing to leave, I casually searched online and couldn’t find any reports of wild boars in this area, but still, you never know.

Maybe a whole family of boars had wandered in from outside.

But if I was with my senior, well…

“I told you, that’s dangerous.”

“But still…”

“You can just think of it as making up for the training we missed because of the camp. Don’t worry about it, just leave it at that.”

“…Yes.”

“If you’re ready, let’s go.”

“Uh… I’m fine with that, but are you okay with what you’re wearing, Senior?”

I couldn’t help but say that, as her outfit was quite light.

Considering that this was a mountain, it seemed a bit thin.

She’d definitely be cold like that.

“I’m fine. If I put on more layers, I’ll just end up taking them off after walking a bit; it’ll just be annoying.”

I thought that, but it seemed my senior had a different perspective.

Thus, without putting on any extra clothes, we set off.

Once we managed to escape from the shelter where we’d have to stay for four more days…

“Ugh… It’s really dark since we’re in the mountains.”

Indeed.

Not joking, but it was truly so dark I couldn’t see a step ahead, probably because I had just come out of a bright indoor place; I felt grateful I hadn’t stubbornly insisted on coming alone.

Just how much guts did I have a moment ago to even think of traversing this road alone?

At the same time, I thought:

I was really glad I grabbed the flashlight early.

Because the size of the darkness before me was nothing the mobile phone’s flash could handle.

As soon as we declared our departure, all kinds of obstacles sprang up, but once we started walking, it was actually quite manageable.

Maybe it was because it used to be a military base, but there were streetlights scattered around.

…Though they were rather sparse.

“Looking at how the slope is becoming gentler, I think we’re almost at the bottom?”

“…Seems so.”

At the moment we successfully reached the base of the mountain, the first thing that caught my eye was a bright green, shimmering convenience store sign.

I wasn’t sure if I should count myself lucky, but it was already past nine, almost ten, and the convenience store was still open.

Usually, convenience stores in remote areas aren’t open 24/7; they tend to close early. Was this one different?

Anyway, I entered the convenience store while holding the note I had neatly tucked away in my pocket, relieved that I had arrived safely…

“Hm?”

The counter, where someone should have been standing, was completely empty.

“There’s no one here?”

“Yeah. Maybe they’re just in the bathroom or something?”

Initially thinking that was the case, I gathered everything I needed and checked again, only to realize it was a self-service store.

Though I fumbled a bit at the checkout, I managed to pay and started to head back up the mountain with my senior.

However, shortly after we started, when I felt we had gone about a third of the way up…

Crack—

With a sound that seemed to announce a light fall, something cold hit my cheek.