November 3.
"Ahh~"
The girl smiled as she picked up a piece of fruit and fed it to Kinoshita.
Kinoshita opened his mouth without even turning around, still tinkering with something.
Fine beads of sweat dotted his forehead from the enormous amount of cursed energy he had consumed.
"Phew!" Kinoshita stood up and surveyed the fruits of today's labor. "You, you, and you, go put all these potatoes in the neighboring districts and out in the wilderness."
"But outside..." one of the men said in a tiny voice.
Seeing that they were still hesitating, Kinoshita promptly raised his fist. "Get moving!"
"...Yes!"
Only after watching them hurry out did Kinoshita settle back onto the couch with peace of mind.
"Mr. Kinoshita, why do you create so many potatoes every day?"
She was the girl Kinoshita had rescued on his first day in the Sendai Colony. As survivors accumulated over the past few days, more than thirty ordinary people had gradually gathered in this building.
These people had neither cursed techniques nor cursed energy. They could not even see cursed spirits, and once night fell, they would be reduced to food for them.
Fortunately, the four kings had only made brief moves. Just as in the original story, no decisive battle had broken out.
Aside from those four, Kinoshita's strength was barely enough to hold his own in the Sendai Colony.
That cockroach's main body is powerful, at least on the level of a strong Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerer. I probably can't beat it on my own, Kinoshita thought.
According to the original timeline, Roku would not add the rule allowing players to view other players until November 12.
To leave, he would have to wait until November 16, when Yorozu, the ancient sorcerer posing as Megumi Fushiguro's older sister, added the rule allowing free passage in and out of the barriers.
"Come to think of it, Yorozu is the real master of the Construction Technique."
There was still a clear gap between Kinoshita and Yorozu herself. Whenever he fought, his total cursed energy reserves could not keep up.
Besides, even Yorozu herself had to carefully budget her cursed energy.
The Construction Technique could be considered one of the biggest mana-guzzling abilities out there.
"Imidacloprid, fipronil, hydramethylnon, dinotefuran," Kinoshita listed.
These were all ingredients in cockroach pesticides, of which there were all sorts. In short, Kinoshita was using the Construction Technique to produce any ingredient that could deal with cockroaches.
Then he constructed a large number of potatoes.
Of course, they were not meant to serve as servers.
Kinoshita had originally planned to keep using pork, but during his experiments, he discovered that the simpler and more familiar a substance was, the less cursed energy the Construction Technique consumed to construct it.
For example, he had only barely figured out the ingredients of those insecticides after scouring the residential areas.
"Kurourushi, huh? A cockroach, huh?"
A sinister smile curled across Kinoshita's lips.
He could not win a one-on-one fight against it, but if Kinoshita got to arrange the showdown, the outcome would be anyone's guess.
As for the other three ancient sorcerers, they kept fighting on and off.
They were like a bunch of constipated people, stopping just short every time.
Based on their cursed techniques' characteristics, the four kings' matchup chain was roughly this: Dhruv Lakdawalla countered Kurourushi, Kurourushi countered Uro, Uro countered Ryu Ishigori, and Ryu Ishigori countered Dhruv Lakdawalla.
"No rush, no rush..." Kinoshita closed his eyes and continued resting to conserve his strength.
November 10.
A tremendous crash erupted to the east.
The ordinary people throughout the building rose, trembling. They all looked east, while the girl living with Kinoshita dove straight into his arms.
"Here it comes!"
After using the Construction Technique nonstop over the past few days, Kinoshita had dark circles around his eyes. He had not even gotten a decent night's sleep.
The girl was bewildered by his excitement.
She had been living with Kinoshita for several days, and she was fairly pretty, if she did say so herself. Yet no matter how many hints she dropped, this guy just kept fiddling with potatoes.
He had told her this was some powerful superpower, but what kind of powerful ability involved fiddling with potatoes?
Yet now, with this sudden disturbance, she was seeing Kinoshita this happy for the first time.
"Lord Kinoshita! What on earth happened?" Outside the door, a panicked crowd of ordinary people milled about.
Their safety depended entirely on Kinoshita.
Over the past few days, Kinoshita had eliminated quite a few cursed spirits and even some hostile ancient jujutsu sorcerers.
They had long since placed the responsibility for protecting ordinary people on his shoulders.
"The timing's off," Kinoshita muttered. "Another butterfly effect?"
Compared with the original timeline, Yuta Okkotsu had entered the Sendai Colony a little early.
Was he fighting Dhruv Lakdawalla right now?
"After all, Todo and Kugisaki both retained their ability to fight after the Shibuya Incident because of me. Maybe that's why Yuta Okkotsu entered the Culling Game battlefield early?"
"Whatever." Kinoshita gave up thinking about it.
After all, the original story had not described Yuta Okkotsu's movements in detail. One thing was certain, though: Sendai's four kings were about to become three.
"Just stay here. You'll be safe." Kinoshita released the girl and addressed the ordinary people.
After ten days of gathering survivors, more than half the ordinary people in the Sendai Colony were under Kinoshita's protection.
"But... where are you going? If you're going to put out potatoes, I can help!" A man stepped forward to stop Kinoshita. "My wife is here too. I just want her to be safe. Whatever you need to do, Mr. Kinoshita, I'm willing to do it for you!"
"Darling..." His wife held on to him, her eyes brimming with tears.
Although Kinoshita had been directing these ordinary people to carry potatoes around, cursed spirits hardly ever appeared during the day, and he had already cleared out most of the jujutsu sorcerers in this area.
Besides, it was just carrying potatoes. They went out and came straight back, so it was hardly a high-risk activity.
In exchange for Kinoshita protecting them, the ordinary people only needed to carry potatoes twice a day. It was an incredible bargain.
Most were therefore very willing to help Kinoshita. Some whose families were also inside the barrier were even willing to sacrifice themselves.
"That's right, Mr. Kinoshita! If you're not here at night, those monsters will show up, and then there'll be no one to protect us..."
"Exactly! Let us help you, Mr. Kinoshita!"
"We're willing to lend you a hand!"
Kinoshita scratched his head in frustration. After all, he would have to wait at least another six days before he could get these ordinary people out.
"Don't worry. I'm going out this time to eliminate the cursed spirits inside the barrier." Kinoshita looked helplessly at the people blocking the doorway.
He was about to have a blast fighting. What were these people doing?!
I'm Chovy-what the hell are you all doing?!
Oh, for fuck's sake!
What are you doing?!
"Hey! Mr. Kinoshita has no obligation to help you. Please move aside!" the girl said, pouting.
It seemed only the girl he had rescued on the first day was willing to support him.
Just as Kinoshita was about to leap through the window,
a voice reached his ears.
"So the balance in the Sendai Colony was built around the five of you..."
Before you continue