Haruka quickly ducks into a bush as the delinquents approach. One of them swears he heard something and moves closer to the exact bush Haruka is hiding in. Holding his breath, Haruka braces himself, but when the delinquent peeks inside, all he finds is a bunny. Shrugging it off, he and the others continue walking.
Relieved that he wasn’t caught, Haruka decides to follow them to see if they’re planning anything. However, instead of useful information, he overhears them having an intellectual discussion about their class VP’s chest. Haruka sighs in disappointment, expecting at least some valuable insight. Still, with no laws to stop them, he worries about what they might do to the girls. He trusts the class rep to handle them, as she always does, but then he hears them discussing using Miracle Tanaka for his ability to do whatever they want.
As they head back to camp, Haruka can tell they’re up to no good, but stepping in would mean socializing, which he refuses to do. Instead, he returns to his cave and grills some mushrooms, only to be devastated when he notices his Loner Skill has leveled up—confirming that even his status board acknowledges his solitude. Probably a result of avoiding his classmates, but still, it’s not the worst thing. If anything, he wants to level up more since he’s only level three.
His growth is slow due to two skills he can’t level: Jack of All Trades and Dummy Skill. The first likely means he’ll be decent at many things but never a master, but the second? He has no clue. The best guess he can come up with is something puppet-related. Deciding it’s not worth stressing over, he eats his dinner, still wishing for some actual meat.
Calling it a night, Haruka settles in to sleep, only to be interrupted by a loud ruckus outside. Annoyed but unable to ignore it, he steps out, expecting to find the delinquents causing trouble again.
Surprisingly, it’s not them—it’s the nerds, locked in a fight against goblins and struggling. Haruka briefly considers helping but checks their stats first. With skills far superior to his and level 16 ranks, they should manage on their own. Figuring they’ll be fine, he turns to leave.
Just then, he spots two goblins sneaking up behind them. Already struggling, the nerds won’t stand a chance if they’re ambushed. Haruka debates stepping in but then recalls the time they shared their holographic Charizard with him.
Sigh… fine. They’re worth saving.
Without hesitation, he dashes out of the bushes, stick in hand, and one-shots both goblins in a single swing.
The nerds, catching their breath, are shocked to see Haruka. After a quick reunion, they thank him, but he struggles to hold a conversation—he hasn’t spoken to real people in ages. Still, he invites them back to his cave, where they’re amazed by the setup.
When he casually mentions using Earth Magic and crafting to remodel, they’re even more impressed that he managed all this alone. Haruka prepares drinks and finally asks:
“So… why are you guys wandering the woods this late at night?”
The nerds suddenly fall silent when Haruka brings up the topic. After a few seconds, they finally admit—they’re actually on the run from the rest of the class.
It all started when the class first got isekai’d. At first, everyone was just shocked, but that quickly turned into panic once they realized they were stuck in this world. Some handled it better than others—the popular girls seemed more annoyed than scared, the gym bros were trying to figure things out but had zero isekai knowledge, and the nerds? This was their element.
The class rep was just as confused as everyone else, but she had the common sense to realize that screaming in an unknown forest was a great way to attract monsters and get them all killed. She tried to calm everyone down, but it was already too late—a group of goblins had found them.
With no idea how to handle this, the class rep panicked. So did everyone else—including the delinquents. The nerds, however, knew somebody had to do something, so they activated their skills and took down the goblins, with the gym bros joining in. Soon enough, all the goblins were defeated, but staying in the open wasn’t safe. The class rep gathered everyone and suggested they find somewhere secure before another attack.
A little while later, they set up camp by the river, and the nerds took it upon themselves to teach everyone how to survive using their isekai knowledge. Tasks were divided evenly, and for a moment, everything seemed to be going well—until one of the popular girls suddenly said, “Nah, we’re not doing any work.”
The class rep tried to reason with them, explaining that setting up tents was basic survival, but the girls refused to help. Seeing this, the delinquents also decided to slack off, leaving the nerds and the class rep to do everything. On top of that, the nerds had to deal with monsters attacking the camp, but they handled it for the sake of survival.
They knew one of the delinquents had picked the Puppeteer skill, so they wanted to level up fast just in case. Meanwhile, the delinquents were also hunting at night—but only to grind levels so they could use their abilities. While eavesdropping, the nerds overheard them discussing plans to turn the girls into their slaves once they were strong enough.
Realizing this was serious trouble, the nerds immediately warned the class rep. However, just a few days later, the delinquents had already gained enough levels to activate their skills—and their first target just so happened to be the class rep.
Before they could act, the nerds ambushed them, beat them down, and sealed away their skills to prevent them from ever causing harm. Now powerless, the delinquents had no choice but to face the consequences.
As expected, when the girls found out about the plan, they were furious. The delinquents were immediately kicked out of the camp. That should have been the end of it.
But the delinquents were petty.
That night, while the nerds were away, the delinquents returned just to mess with everyone—and ended up burning the entire camp to the ground.
By the time the nerds got back, everything was destroyed. Worse yet, the popular girls somehow blamed them for the disaster and started giving them a hard time for “antagonizing the delinquents.”
The class rep stood up for them, reminding everyone that the nerds were the only reason anyone had survived so far. They appreciated her support, but honestly, they couldn’t stay in a camp full of such ungrateful people. That’s why they decided to run.
After hearing their story, Haruka actually feels bad for them. To lift their spirits, he decides to host a mushroom feast for them that night.
Haruka actually enjoyed spending time with others for once, but the next day, the nerds had to leave. They planned to head downstream to find a village and start their lives as adventurers. Before leaving, they invited Haruka to join them, considering him a friend. While Haruka felt the same way, he declined, believing his trash skills would only hold them back.
That said, he was also a bit worried about the situation at the class camp—mostly because the class rep was still there, and she was the only other person in class he liked. So, he decided to check things out.
On the way, he randomly encountered a cobalt, which bit him a lot, but he ultimately managed to kill it and continue his journey.
By nightfall, he arrived at the riverside, where the class camp should have been, but to his surprise, the place was completely deserted. Assuming they must have moved, he used one of his detection skills to pick up some footprints and followed them until he eventually came across the popular girls.
Of all his classmates, Haruka hated dealing with them the most, so he immediately tried to turn around and head home. But before he could escape, the girls started chasing him.
Haruka could have easily outrun them, but he froze when he heard them say the word “please.”
In all the years he had known them, please had never been in their vocabulary. For them to be this desperate, something serious must have happened.
Deciding to hear them out, Haruka stopped to talk. The first thing they asked was if he knew where the nerds had gone. Haruka hesitated, thinking they just wanted to yell at them again, but to his surprise, they actually wanted to apologize.
Now, they finally realized just how much the nerds had been doing for them and sincerely wanted to make amends. But by now, the nerds were long gone, and there was no way they could catch up. To begin with, they couldn’t even make it out of the woods alone, let alone defend themselves from monsters.
Haruka asked if they had the resolve to do whatever it took to find the nerds and apologize. The girls, breaking down in tears, admitted they knew they wouldn’t survive on their own. Desperate, they pleaded with Haruka to teach them how to survive in the wild.
Haruka was so stunned by their sudden request that he agreed without thinking.
As a result, his Subjugate ability activated, and in an instant, the girls became his subservient followers. Now, they blankly followed him, finishing off monsters whenever he got into a fight, then pulling out a magic crystal and presenting it to him like puppies looking for praise.
Haruka was really not happy with how things were turning out.
For now, though, he noticed one of the girls had a small injury on her arm, so he handed her a healing potion he had made. Instead of using it on herself, she immediately used it on him instead.
Haruka was getting sick of how the girls now did everything for his benefit, and he was really worried about how he was going to explain this to the class rep if he ran into her.
And right on cue, the class rep just so happened to be walking through that part of the woods at that very moment.
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