The reason he was chosen to be the vessel for the evil god’s resurrection was because he was weak.
Status all E. He was as weak as the children under 10.
And because he was from another world, although he did have some mana, he couldn’t use it at all.
Whether it was his qualities or his future prospects, he was someone who could be said to be even worse off than babies.
Unfortunately, that was the limit of the boy.
It would be a lie to say he wasn’t shocked, but to him it was more of a confirmation than anything.
After all, he has always been inferior when compared to others regardless of what he did.
He was always being protected, and he could never do anything by himself.
Of course, he worried about that a lot.
He was only 13 years old, but he was always comparing himself with others – Though perhaps it was precisely because he was at that age that he did so.
He would work several times harder than others, but even then he couldn’t win. It didn’t matter whether it was sports or studies, he was always behind.
He wondered why that was, and now that the answer was before him, it all finally made sense.
Of course, he would later find out – upon properly learning more about status – that this was nothing more than a huge misunderstanding on his part, but at this point in time, this was indeed how he felt.
Still, be that as it may, it wasn’t actually something that could threaten his life were he still in peaceful Japan.
Unfortunately, in this world where monsters frolicked outside town and lawless people could be found inside, being weak was a fatal problem. After all, there was no telling when one would happen into a monster or a criminal.
As such, he spent his days being protected by the benefactors who saved his life.
Many of his benefactors were actually children of his age.
It wouldn’t have been so bad if he were useful in non-combat matters, but alas, there was only so much he could do as a child who has always been protected by his parents.
Let it not be forgotten as well that he was unskilled and a slow-learner; hence, why the fragmented manner in which he spoke the tongue of another world was the acme of his achievements.
He wanted to repay their kindness.
He wanted to be useful to them.
He wanted to be a good person who could be with them.
But try as he might, he would always panic and mess thing up, and because of his broken speech, he couldn’t understand those around him.
Perhaps it was because of that that the longer he tried to stay with them, the worse the friction between them would become.
It was amidst such loneliness and anxiety that the boy made a wish.
‘Give me… Power…’
It was a gentle wish made for someone’s sake.
So why…
…Why did it call forth that darkness?
The third floor of the department store consisted mostly of entertainment related stores.
Books, DVDs, toys, games… It was a floor that attracted young people. And one glance around would confirm that that was indeed the case.
Although that was not exactly the reason why, it was part of why ‘they’ didn’t feel that anything was out of place.
Men and women in the latter half of their twenties aimed their guns at the ceiling and fired.
There were employees of the department store among them too as they struck fear and panic into the customers.
“Kyaa!?”
“Uwaa!?”
The Japanese people weren’t used to hearing or seeing guns, but they still had eyes and ears, so even they were able to understand what that sound was when they saw the weapons wielded by the armed men.
Which is also why the armed men were able to silence them when they tried to scream.
“Shut up! Keep quiet and no one will get hurt!”
One man yelled as he fired his automatic rifle at the ceiling.
Everyone went quiet upon being told that they would be covered in holes if they didn’t.
The armed men gathered the people into a corner.
The customers near the escalators and the stairs were able to escape, but for some reason the armed men seemed to be fine with that. Maybe they just gave up, thinking it couldn’t be helped, or maybe they just didn’t need that many hostages.
But the ones who were really unlucky were the customers in between those who got away and the criminals.
Because they were at a delicate distance to both their path of escape and their adversary, their movements ended up as a mess.
Some tried to run, some couldn’t because of fear, and some were those were tossed about.
“Huh, ah, umm, please don’t panic— kyaa!?”
And if one were to point who among those was the unluckiest, that would be none other than the beret girl, who still held some semblance of calmness.
She would try to dodge the fleeing people only for her to bump into those not fleeing.
And when she tried to get away, more people fleeing would appear before her.
Before the intermittent gunshots, the people couldn’t be bothered to mind others.
That repeated several times, until eventually, the girl crashed into someone and fell onto the ground.
“Ow… I have to do some— Huh!?”
At the very least, she had to get the people who couldn’t move to safety.
She burned with a sense of duty, but she couldn’t find that thing that should’ve been on her.
By the time she realized that she dropped it when she fell, it was already too late.
“Were you looking for this, missy?”
The voice coming from above sent chills through her back.
One of the armed criminals smiled creepily as he held her foster.