Chapter 7

Kaguya was holding her head in the classroom where she had set up her base, the agricultural team's room.

A week ago, she had secretly watched from the school rooftop as Ikoma left.

At that time,

---I'll cover for Ikoma's share!

She was brimming with enthusiasm.

Of course, it would have been better if he hadn't left. That goes without saying.

However, it's not hard to imagine that if he had stayed in A-Daemura, the short-tempered leader of the hunting team would have resorted to force.

If it had come to violence with the hunting team leader, even the all-rounder Ikoma would have been at a disadvantage.

Besides, I don't want to see any fights.

Moreover, there were signs that Ikoma himself wanted to leave, which pushed Kaguya to let him go.

He loved traveling and had expressed a desire to see the world after civilization collapsed.

That's why she had smiled and seen him off.

"Ikoma, I knew you helped out a lot, but isn't it a bit too much...?"

In the many fields set up around the school, he had helped out from early morning.

Before the work started, he would hold hands with Kaguya to get his ability 'Replicate' activated.

A C-rank skill grants professional-level abilities.

Compared to the expert-level B-rank and legendary-level A-rank, it was indeed a degraded copy, but in A-Daemura, where no one other than Kaguya had an 'Agriculture' ability, a 'professional-level agricultural worker' was extremely useful.

Still, with Kaguya's 'Agriculture: A,' she could cover for the agricultural team.

For other teams, productivity might drop, but she thought it would be manageable.

However,

"...Last Monday, he helped with our agricultural team's fields in the morning, joined the meat processing team by mid-morning to help with monster dissection.

After lunch, he stayed until the dissection was finished, then moved to the processing team with the materials.

He helped with the processing of monster materials and finished around evening.

Depending on the day, he would participate in temporary repairs with the carpentry team or equipment maintenance with the engineering team. He did this every day for over a year...

When did you even rest, Ikoma..."

Revisiting his workload made her dizzy.

She knew he was busy, but she thought he took occasional days off.

Kaguya herself decided to take a break and 'space out' in the afternoon once a week.

So, she thought that when Ikoma didn't come to help, he was taking a break.

But it seems he was busy with temporary school repairs and barricade reinforcements.

Occasionally, he would even participate in night watch at the request of the guard team and engage in battles with monsters using his body enhancement skills.

It was clearly overwork. He was well beyond the point of exhaustion.

"...But, it's still within the range of what we can cover, I guess.

Efficiency will drop... but each team has at least one B-rank skill holder, so losing one C-rank skill holder shouldn't be too bad... well, overtime will increase, but..."

In A-Daemura, most members are general team members who only have one C-rank status correction skill.

In other words, most of the agricultural team members were amateurs with no particular expertise or knowledge in agriculture.

With Ikoma gone, the workplace now consists of one expert, one professional, and many amateurs with a year or two of experience.

It might still work, but everyone can see that the burden on the expert—essentially the instructor—will increase dramatically.

Team leaders, with the exception of the hunting team's fool, accepted Ikoma's expulsion with a sigh, saying, "It's a problem, but there's nothing we can do."

However, for the general team members, Ikoma's expulsion was a major event that couldn't be brushed off as "unavoidable."

As a result, many petitions were sent to Kaguya.

Over a hundred in the past week. Complaints scribbled on the backs of old class handouts that were no longer used.

They would only increase from here.

"...It's like losing an instructor, after all."

For the members assigned to production teams, Ikoma was essentially a 'deputy team leader.'

A person who could perform at a deputy team leader level in all teams.

That was Ikoma.

Sighing, she flipped through the pages of the petitions.

Ikoma was her senior, the team leader of the agricultural team, the only A-rank skill holder, and—though it was truly, truly, truly against her will—the one indirectly responsible for Ikoma's expulsion. She was being treated as the go-to person for all Ikoma-related issues.

---Well, I do know Ikoma the best, so I guess it's not too much to ask?

However, the fact that the hunting team's fool was living comfortably was a source of stress.

"Ugh. This is..."

A request to replenish pre-collapse items.

Looking at the words written on the back of what was once meeting materials two years ago, Kaguya groaned.

"Isn't this a bit too soon...?"

The biggest reason Ikoma was so valuable was that he could 'Replicate' items from before the collapse, i.e., from the Reiwa era.

A-Daemura, with its population of about 5,000 students, professors, university staff, and refugees, was a significant settlement in the Kansai region.

It had developed to the point where it could be called a town rather than a village.

The unsung hero behind the scenes of A-Daemura, with its 5,000 residents, was undoubtedly Ikoma.

The fact that all 5,000 people had access to basic equipment like underwear, clothes, hand-cranked radios, and pocket knives, and that these items could be continuously replenished, was thanks to Ikoma's efforts.

There was no limit to the number of times the skill could be used, but overuse would cause severe headaches and fatigue.

Still, Ikoma pushed through for everyone's sake, and Kaguya remembered his dedication.

Sometimes, he would work through the night, and she felt a strong sense of reliability and admiration for his toughness.

After Ikoma's expulsion, Kaguya sent a message to the entire A-Daemura community.

"Without Ikoma, it will be difficult to obtain pre-collapse items, especially medicines and chemical products. Be careful not to overuse consumables and handle them with care to make them last longer."

It was a natural response. From now on, it would be an era of conservation.

Ikoma, in his spare time—though it's unclear where he found any spare time in his hectic schedule—would replicate large quantities of essential items that were hard to replace and stockpile them in classrooms converted into warehouses.

With the amount of inventory, they should have lasted several months if used sparingly.

She had been planning to explore other ways to obtain these items, such as trade or excavation, before the inventory ran out, but how could it have run out in just one week?

If it was women's underwear or sanitary products, that would be a big problem.

These were popular items that were even exported to other settlements.

Kaguya herself would be in trouble. She was a heavy user.

Trembling, she read the next line on the back of the paper.

"Please restock condoms. From Yoshino, a member of the hunting team."

...

...

...

Kaguya is a gentle person.

She always tries to be calm and kind, and is often called a Buddha or a goddess.

But even she,

"Aah! Enough! Enough!!"

Tore the paper to shreds in frustration.

The fact that it came from the hunting team only fueled her anger.

"Ugh... Ikoma, can you come back...?"

A week without Ikoma.

Before the items, Kaguya's spirit was already on the verge of exhaustion.

The only silver lining was that without Ikoma, the supply of paper for petitions would eventually run out, and the complaints would stop.

In the early days, when the infrastructure was not yet established, he replicated and stockpiled non-perishable items like dry bread and replicated clean water, which was incredibly useful.

There were many more potential uses.

Why did Raiji expel such a convenient person...? (Confused)