Surviving in a World Teeming with Monsters with the Useless Skill 【Everyday Items Master】! I Was Just Hunting Wild Animals with a Crowbar, So Why Is Everyone Screaming It's an S-Rank Monster? - 78

Chapter 78: I Didn’t Mean to Stir Things Up

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After finishing our meal and taking a short rest, Shachimaru came running over to us.

“Oh! Crowbar Bro~! I’ve been looking for you!”

“Shachimaru. What’s up?”

“Well, it’s nothing major, but… There’s just a few things I want to talk about. It’s about the welcome party we planned for tonight.”

As he spoke, Shachimaru showed us the screen of his tablet. Displayed on it appeared to be the speech he’d prepared. It boldly declared the news of 『Crowbar Bro joining the crew.』

“See, having someone like Crowbar Bro join is a big deal! So I thought we should really go all out! I’ve got our whole hall booked and the preparation team is on it right now!”

Shachimaru spoke with a high level of excitement. Meanwhile, I inhaled sharply through my nose. Shachimaru pointed to the speech and asked.

“And to make sure I don’t mess anything up, I wanted to check if the contents are okay. Is anything incorrect here?”

“Uh… Yeah, there’s actually one pretty serious issue.”

“Whoaaa! My bad! What is it!? What’s wrong!?”

I responded to the panicking Shachimaru.

“…Since I’m being hunted, I’d prefer to keep my identity hidden… If possible…”

“…Ah. Right.”

After saying that, Shachimaru paused, then covered his face with his hands and muttered to himself.

“I screwed up…”

And with that, time returned to the present. It was the night following my escape to the Ferocious Shark Gang. The night of the welcome party Shachimaru had thrown for me.

“You bastards! What’s with the weak-ass reaction!? Where the hell did all that earlier excitement go!? Are you all messing with me, huh!?”

Shachimaru was yelling into the mic I had handed back to him, with a level of intensity I had never seen from him before. Scary. It wasn’t even directed at me, but I still felt like going “eep.”

On stage. The atmosphere was completely hostile. Surrounded by the eyes of the Ferocious Shark Gang under Shachimaru’s lead, I shrank back in tension.

“Listen up, and listen good!”

Shachimaru began explaining the situation.

“We, the Ferocious Shark Gang, are newcomers to the raider game! Only recently did we start making decent money! There are still tons of nasty-ass veteran raiders above us!”

He counted off on his fingers as he spoke.

“The locust who plunder and flee—Grasshopper! The squid that’s sucking the life out of the refugee zones along the coast—Kraken! And the new, mysterious group with unknown leader that’s been popping up lately—Kagerou!”

Locust—that’s a grasshopper, right? Squid… Kraken? Kagerou… Judging by the naming trend, maybe a mayfly? Antlion?

Shachimaru clenched his fist tightly.

“We’re gonna crush those bastards and all the crap they pull, from the top down! And what’s the goal of that mission!?”

“To take over the Old Mountain King Area!” 

“We’ll make all those buildings ours!” 

“We’ll kill every last obstacle!” 

“That place is gonna be ours!”

The Ferocious Shark Gang members shouted back in unison, their energy overwhelming. I found myself shrinking at their forceful spirit. Also, there were way too many of them. Almost a hundred, maybe? 

Isn’t the Ferocious Shark Gang a bit too big??

“That’s right! If we crush those raiders, we’ll make more money! If we make more money, we can bring in more allies! And if we’ve got more allies, we can crush even more raiders!”

Cheers of “WOOOAAAAAHHHH!” erupted in response to Shachimaru’s speech. The energy was intense.

…So what was with that dead silence when I was introduced? Was I really that unimpressive? Did all the hype vanish just from looking at me?

“But!” 

Shachimaru continued. 

“To do that, we need to get stronger ourselves!”

The crowd visibly faltered at those words.

“You guys are all valuable assets! But what we need is a lethal weapon that can wipe out enemies single-handedly! A weapon that’s completely unhinged!”

Shachimaru pointed toward me.

“And that’s this guy—uh, I mean, the Anonymous T! Sure, at first glance, he might look, well, a little pitiful, or maybe kinda unreliable… Yeah, something like that.”

“Can you please be a little more confident?”

“R-right! But still, this guy’s seriously, legitimately amazing! From what I know, he’s the strongest out there!”

But the crowd was honest. By the time Shachimaru finished, all the energy had completely drained from the room.

Yeah, I know I give off an easy-to-underestimate vibe. And it doesn’t help that I’m hiding my identity. I get it. I get it, but come on. Did the mood have to drop this much? I’m gonna cry here.

Just then, someone stepped out from the crowd.

“Aniki! I’m against welcoming this guy as one of us!”

It was a young man who looked like he had trained quite a bit. He was armed and clearly confident in his skills.

Now that I think about it, the Ferocious Shark Gang in general seems really young. Shachimaru mentioned they are all orphans. Maybe they are kids who banded together and grew up into young adults.

It had been four years since the dungeons started appearing… About the time it took for a high schooler to become a college student. …Four years ago, I was a corporate slave who had been working for two years… Well, I quit right after, though.

The young man continued.

“We, the Ferocious Shark Gang, are the top young righteous-raider group, right!? Our adventurer ranks are at least B! So why are we going all out to welcome some lame old guy like him!?”

“Old guy, he said…”

Hearing the insult that had become increasingly common since I arrived at the Ferocious Shark Gang, I felt a pang of sadness. Still, I was starting to understand.

It was the rejection of an adult entering a group of youth. And the reverse side of meritocracy—discrimination based on actual ability.

I was being rejected on both fronts. All the careful welcome prep had backfired. But then, I crouched down and asked Ui, who was in front of me, something I didn’t quite understand.

“Hey, Ui. How strong is Adventurer Rank B?”

“Eh~? About the same as a tier 5 skill~?”

“Ahh…? So, like, kinda strong?”

“Hmm, they’re treated as pretty strong, yeah~? B rank~. A is like a superhuman, and S is practically inhuman!”

“Huh… So that’s how the world sees it.”

I thanked her and stood up. Then I took a quick look around, trying to gauge the strength of those present.

“……”

Eh…? B…? These guys…?

Honestly, it seemed like a huge exaggeration, but I decided to let that go for now.

“We’re not working just to feed some old man like him! I say no to him joining!”

As the young man shouted, voices chimed in—“Yeah, that’s right!” “Freeloader!” “Let’s kill that deadweight!”

Wait, am I the one getting killed!?

Crushed inside, I asked Shachimaru.

“So… What now?”

“…Sorry, Crowbar Bro. Since they were orphans, I kept telling them to be kind to those below them, but it seems like that’s made them harsher to those above.”

“I see…”

This was getting complicated. I folded my arms. Then I quietly spoke to Shachimaru.

“Honestly, I was hesitant at first, but with everything set up so nicely, I was about ready to just join the Ferocious Shark Gang.”

“Eh, r-really? Wait, the way you said that…”

“Yeah. I even had a favor I wanted to ask. So I figured I’d do my best here for a while.”

But, I shrugged.

“Given this strong opposition, I guess it’s going to be difficult. I really appreciate your kindness, Shachimaru, but maybe it’s best if I bow out here.”

As I spoke, feeling a bit dejected. Shachimaru’s face suddenly went pale. Then, he muttered something under his breath, in a voice so small I couldn’t hear him.

“This is bad, this is bad, this is really bad. Why the hell are they reacting so strongly against this?! Damn it…! None of you idiots even come close to Crowbar Bro―Wait, if that’s the case…”

Muttering something, Shachimaru suddenly froze as if struck by a realization. I tilted my head at this, and he spoke up.

“By the way, Crowbar Bro.”

With a strained smile, Shachimaru pointed the mic toward me and asked.

“If you fought these guys, would you totally wipe the floor with them?”

“Huh? Yeah, of course I would… Ah.”

The unexpected question caught me off guard, and I answered honestly without thinking. The reaction to that was explosive.

“You bastard, don’t mess with us, you piece of shittttt!”

“You looking down on us, you motherfuuuucker?!”

“I’ll fucking kill you, get your ass down here!!”

“I’ll bathe you in blood, you son of a biiiiitch!”

“Whoa—sorry, I didn’t mean to provoke you. My honest thought just slipped out of my mouth before I knew it.”

“You motherfuuuucker!”

“I’ll kill you right nowwwww!”

“Don’t get cocky, you damn old mannnnn!”

They were totally losing their minds like typical hot-headed punks who just got taunted, and I couldn’t help but feel a bit sorry. Well, yeah. If Shachimaru gave me the greenlight, then I didn’t mind having a little fun.

“Just to confirm, Shachimaru.”

“Ask me anything.”

“As long as I don’t break any bones or draw blood, can I do what I want?”

The corner of Shachimaru’s mouth twitched.

“…Yeah. I mean, as long as you don’t kill anyone, it’s all good. In fact, I can even revive a few dead ones, no problem.”

“Oh, really? Still, I think I’ll keep it bloodless and bone-friendly if possible.”

I let out a breath. Then I grabbed the mic from Shachimaru and addressed the crowd.

“Alright, guess I’ll play with you guys bit by bit. That should satisfy you, right?”

“You motherfuuuucker!”

“You little shiiiiiit!”

“I’ll fucking kill youuuu!”

“Man, you guys sure are fired up. If I yelled like that, I’d blow out my voice chords in seconds.”

I handed the mic back to Shachimaru. Shachimaru happily addressed the crowd.

“So there you have it! Consider yourselves honored! The Anonymous T is about to take you on in one-on-one duels! If you’ve got the guts, step right up!”

“Huh? I thought I’m going to fight all of them at once?”

I asked, puzzled, and Shachimaru paled as he looked at me.

“…Are you serious?”

“Yeah, I mean, you asked if I’d totally win, right? I figured you meant even if they all came at once.”

“Well, I mean… No matter who the opponent is, not literally all at once…”

“Ah—well, I’ll just take them all at once. Less hassle that way.”

“You—you guys heard that, right?! One-on-ones are off! The newbie says he’ll take you all on at once!!”

“You cocky piece of shiiiiittttt!”

“You better be ready to die, you arrogant fuckkkk!”

“We’re gonna crush you, destroy you, annihilate you!”

“Don’t you dare go back on your words nowwwww!”

The roar of the crowd was downright terrifying. I just stared at them with a “whoa there” look. At that moment, Luna came over, carrying the crowbar for me.

“O-Onii-sama… H-here you go…”

Her eyes were teary from the shouting around her. She looked so pitiful that I couldn’t help but feel affectionate. I patted her on the head and said.

“Thanks, Luna. But I’ll be fine. If I used the crowbar, I’d probably end up killing a bunch of them. This time, I’ll just play nice.”

I fished around in my pocket and pulled out a measuring tape.

“I guess I’ll just get some light exercise with this.”

“…Onii-sama, isn’t that for measuring distances…?”

“Things can be used in all kinds of ways, you know.”

I said to Luna before I lightly hopped off the stage.

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