Save the Starving Frontier! The “Buyer” of the Reversed Chastity World - 1

Chapter 1: Transported

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー

I was on the rooftop. After graduating high school, I got a job at a black company, and both my body and soul had reached their limits. I had no parents. There was no money to go to college. So I got a job, working just to survive.

Overtime was a given. I had to deal with customers all day long, ignoring both normal working hours and days off. I lost all my hobbies. I had no time outside of work. No energy either.

The last time I’d had a day off was nearly three years ago. I had worked over 900 consecutive days without rest. There were many nights of staying at the office, too busy to even return to my apartment.

Why am I alive? 

There was no reason to live. I was just alive because I was alive. That was all. If I jumped from this rooftop, would I finally be free? My body creaked. My mind wouldn’t work. My consciousness blurred like it was shrouded in mist, and I couldn’t think at all, as if my brain had been scorched.

Is this reality? Or a nightmare?

How many more years would I have to continue this life? If I leapt over this fence, would I finally be able to rest? I just wanted to sleep. To rest. That was all. I didn’t care anymore.

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

It was an unfamiliar cityscape. Crumbling buildings. People lying beside piles of rubble. They were all women. None of them had black hair. Stone architecture—like some place overseas. Everyone had vacant faces, as if they had lost the will to live.

Is this hell?

I could walk. So I walked. I walked through the slum-like, desolate streets. I wanted to lie down somewhere. If this was hell, that was fine. I would just collapse here along with them. Wait. Didn’t I jump? Then, had I already died?

This is hell, isn’t it? The afterlife? If so, then whatever.

I entered a ruined building with a collapsed roof. It seemed to have once been a house, but no residents remained.

No—there were. A pair of small siblings, or maybe sisters, were lying inside the ruin. Their lips were cracked, their eyes unfocused.

Are you dying too?

“O…ne…e-chan…”

I heard a faint murmur. The two small sisters clung to each other, preparing to meet their end together.

I’m sorry. I can’t save you. But I’ll die nearby too. So please, let me stay here with you for a while.

Then I heard the younger sister whisper.

“I wanted to… Eat until I was full… Just once…”

You’ve never eaten until you were full? Did you ever, when you were alive? Or never, even when alive?

This was too cruel, God. It was fine for me to be treated like this. After all, I had abandoned the world, fine. But children…You should at least let children eat until their stomachs were full. The last thing anyone should see in this world was a starving, abused child.

Don’t I have anything?

That rice ball I threw away two days ago at lunch when I had no appetite—if I’d had that, I could’ve given it to them, right? What a waste. But regret couldn’t be undone. That was always true. If I could sell something—be it my soul, or my lifespan—I’d sell it.

God, isn’t there anything to be had in this hell?

At that moment, a window appeared before my eyes.

『Purchase: Will buy anything containing magical power. Please insert into the purchase slot.』

What is this? Magical power? Not lifespan or soul?

What could I sell? I had nothing on me. The only thing I had was my smartphone in my pocket. I placed it into the window.

『Items without magical power cannot be purchased.』

It was rejected.

Isn’t there something… Anything?

I tossed in some nearby rubble from the ruin, thinking it was better than nothing.

『Magical power detected. Will purchase for 24,579 yen. Confirm?』

What? It worked? It was just wood and stone. Scrap rubble was valued higher than my smartphone. I pressed the confirm button.

『Thank you. The purchase amount has been added to your charge balance. The charged amount can be used in the Internet Market. Please proceed to the Internet Market from the right side of the window.』

Following the message, I operated the window.

Internet Market? It was real. Stores were lined up like in an online shopping district, starting with a supermarket. It resembled the online marketplace I used in my previous life. Could I buy something? How would it be delivered? No—whatever.

I chose the supermarket site and bought a sports drink and some bread from the item list. The payment was processed from the charge balance. The moment I confirmed the purchase, a small cardboard box appeared right beside me.

Where did it come from? Well, it didn’t matter. What mattered was whether the contents were real.

They were.

I grabbed them and rushed to the fallen sisters. Opening the sports drink, I lifted the younger sister’s body and carefully poured a little into her mouth so she wouldn’t choke.

She drank. She really drank.

“What is this… It’s so good…”

“Can you drink on your own? Take it slow, I’m going to give some to your sister too.”

I lifted the older sister and let her sip a little at a time. Her throat moved. She was drinking. These two were trying to live.

The older sister, light returning to her eyes, took the bottle from me and began to drink eagerly. Watching them, I felt my heart relaxing.

“Thank you… Onii-chan… What is this?”

The younger sister looked up at me and thanked me.

I should be the one thanking you.

“It’s something good for your body. There’s more, so don’t rush. Drink slowly.”

I handed her the melon bread I’d bought as well. She gazed at it curiously, then ate it happily. I was happy to see that.

“…Who… Are you…?”

The older sister had regained consciousness enough to recognize me. I gave her bread too, and she devoured it hungrily.

“This is amazing! I’ve never eaten anything like this before!”

She was delighted. Thinking they needed more to drink, I bought additional sports drinks and bread from the Internet Market. The prices were cheaper than at a Japanese convenience store. It was basically supermarket prices.

The sisters were startled by the box that suddenly appeared, but when I pulled bread from inside, their eyes sparkled. I had bought extra. With drinks to go along, it should be enough even for their starved bodies.

The older sister looked up at me timidly.

“C-can we eat this too…?”

“Yeah. Eat as much as you want. If it’s not enough, I have more.”

As soon as I said that, the two of them dove into the bread at once. I handed them more drinks, and they emptied one, then two bottles of sports drink.

They must not have eaten for a long time.

“It’s delicious! So delicious!”

“Onee-chan, we can eat until we’re full! It’s like a dream!”

Their color was returning. Sugar and water really did have an effect. At this rate, they should be fine now.

“…They can live.”

I found myself muttering. These children could live. They could eat until they were full.

“Thank you, both of you.”

I thanked them. I remembered a phrase I’d heard in my previous life: savior complex. Messiah complex. Apparently, it referred to the tendency to try to “save oneself” by “saving others.”

But at least for me, I was glad these two had been saved. That was why I thanked them. Because I was the one who had been saved. In this world, for the first time in a long while, I felt human emotions again. In this world, I was truly saved.

I’m Kaito Ayasaki, a twenty-one-year-old former corporate slave.

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー