Chapter 2

Summary up to the previous chapter:

Encounter with the heroine (ry

2

One month ago, the students and teachers of the high school I attend, ○○ Prefectural First High School, were transferred to another world.

During class, we were suddenly hit by a dizzying sensation, and the next thing we knew, we were in an unfamiliar landscape.

A dense forest. A damp, humid air.

It was clearly not modern-day Japan.

To be honest, I couldn't do anything. I was just floundering, trying to grasp the situation.

Eventually, the teachers and a few students began to organize the chaotic students.

One of the teachers said he would go on a reconnaissance mission and disappeared into the forest.

It was a heroic act.

He must have been a responsible and good teacher. Unfortunately, he taught a different grade, so I didn't know his name.

His anguished scream reached us almost immediately.

A creature, a dragon, over five meters tall, standing upright, appeared before us, its presence sending shivers down our spines.

The dragon was holding the dead body of the teacher who had gone on reconnaissance.

The students fell into a panic.

In the chaos, I was pushed and fell to the ground. I was trampled several times and screamed, but I was lucky not to be seriously injured. I was also fortunate to be far from the dragon.

I could see other students, less fortunate than me, being eaten one after another.

If this continued, I would be next. Despair clouded my vision.

It was the third, I think.

A male student was being cornered by the dragon.

I couldn't run away because I had fallen, so I had to watch his predicament closely.

The student had collapsed, and the dragon was about to eat his upper body.

"AAAAHHHHHHH!"

I don't think he had any particular plan.

As a last act of resistance, he swung his arms wildly.

At an incredible speed.

With an unimaginable force.

In the next moment, the dragon's face was blown off.

It was a scene that seemed like a joke. In fact, the student who killed the dragon was probably the most shocked of all.

This is how we managed to survive our first threat.

Thanks to the power we were given—cheat abilities.

***

Have you ever read a story about being transferred to another world?

Unfortunately, I haven't.

But according to a friend I was close to, the theme of students from modern-day Japan being sent to a fantasy-like world is popular among young people.

In reality, such an experience is nothing but a disaster.

However, when I first heard about it, I couldn't really understand why such a genre of stories would be popular.

After all, isn't it true?

We, who were born and raised in a peaceful, modern Japan, are just powerless students. In a world of swords and magic, we are nothing but prey.

Even if we were sent to another world, we wouldn't be able to do anything. At best, we would hide and survive. That wouldn't make for a very interesting story.

My friend explained that the answer to my question was cheat abilities.

Cheat, which originally means cheating, is used in Japan as a term in computer games, especially online games, to describe the use of modified tools to perform actions that are normally impossible.

In stories of reincarnation or transfer to another world, it is a common trope for the transferred humans to possess incredibly powerful abilities. These abilities are called cheats.

However, even so, I couldn't understand the mindset of my friend, who said, "Of course, we were given cheat abilities when we came to this world."

Anyway, we did have mysterious powers.

Some could shatter the ground with their bare hands, while others wielded powers that could only be described as magic. Strangely, the usage came naturally, and they manipulated their powers as easily as breathing.

We simply called these powers cheat abilities.

Thanks to cheat abilities, our lives in the new world, which would have been dominated by monsters, became much more livable.

We built temporary shelters, repelled monsters, eliminated threats, and even used them for food to survive.

However, not everyone benefited from cheat abilities.

About 30% of the 1,000 people, around 300, had cheat abilities.

Those with cheat abilities went hunting in the forest and guarded the temporary shelters. Since they mainly explored the forest, they were called the "Exploration Team."

Those without cheat abilities were tasked with building the temporary shelters. They were called the "Residual Group." We named the settlement we built the "Colony."

Incidentally, I didn't have cheat abilities, nor did the otaku friend who told me about them. There might have been some logic to who had and who didn't have them, but unfortunately, I couldn't understand it.

To be precise, among the remaining 700 people, some had slightly enhanced physical abilities, but these were so minor that they couldn't be called cheat abilities. I also felt a slight discomfort in my body, but it was probably just an illusion or a sensory disturbance caused by stress.

A week later.

Despite further sacrifices, the transferred students had managed to establish a somewhat stable life.

By then, a governance structure, led by some of the students, had begun to function.

With nearly a thousand people, a governing body was absolutely necessary.

The next question was what kind of world this was.

No one thought this was the world we originally came from. If we relied on those who could use magic as a cheat ability, we could even learn magic.

Of course, only those with cheat abilities had the opportunity to learn magic. They needed to fight to survive and didn't have the luxury of teaching magic to the residual group, who lived in the makeshift houses they built from felled trees.

In any case, we were seeking knowledge about this world.

Are there people like us in this world?

If so, how do we get out of this forest to meet them?

Thus, the First Expedition was formed. Their goal was to find a way out of the forest. Looking back, the name had a bitter irony to it, as the expedition was never sent out again.

One week after the expedition left, the Colony, our temporary home, was destroyed.

A group of students with cheat abilities staged a coup.

It was difficult for students, thrown into a lawless forest from the world they knew, to maintain their moral standards, especially with cheat abilities. Power corrupts, and youth leads to mistakes.

Taking advantage of the absence of the First Expedition, a rebel group planned the coup.

A fierce battle broke out between the students trying to maintain order and the rebel students.

Cheat abilities were powerful enough to easily kill a dragon.

When those with such abilities clashed, the students without cheat abilities, including me, could only run for their lives.

If running was all we did, it would have been better.

Not only some of the students with cheat abilities had lost their minds, but those without cheat abilities also committed violent acts.

In the chaos, I was brutally attacked by other students in the residual group.

If I had to say what I did wrong, I think it was just bad luck. There were many others like me, and they were also victims of the chaos.

No one helped me.

Everyone was too busy trying to survive. I understood that rationally.

But emotionally, it was different. Seeing many students run away, pretending not to see me being attacked, tore my heart apart.

I survived purely by luck.

Just as the students attacking me were turning into black ash, a battle between students with cheat abilities started nearby, and I was caught in the aftermath.

I was the only one left alive, lying on the ground.

It was just luck. It wouldn't have been strange if I had died or been killed.

The moment I realized this, my already wounded heart felt hollow.

Dragging my injured body, I fled into the depths of the forest and wandered for several days.

This morning, I found a cave and took refuge in it.

I had found a place to hide, but I was stuck there.

The forest was full of monsters, and without cheat abilities or any means to fight, I couldn't leave the cave.

If I really wanted to survive, I should have sought out trustworthy people before fleeing from the Colony, even if it meant taking risks.

But in the chaos, I couldn't do that. Even if the situation hadn't been so unpredictable, I doubt I could have made such a choice now.

I couldn't trust people anymore.

People are nothing but scum.

That certainty might have been the only thing I gained from coming to this world.

Or perhaps, I had lost something important as a human.

Either way, it didn't matter to me, a dying man.

◆Thank you for reading up to this point.

◆I will post the first three chapters consecutively.

◆The heroine will start to act like a heroine from the sixth chapter.

I will write carefully, so please wait a little longer.