As Long as You Have the [Shop] Skill, the Dungeonized World Is a Breeze ~The Bullied Youth’s Payback Lifestyle~ - Chapter 258

Chapter 258 – To the Underground Waterway

“Bweh? Ah, uhh… This is, uhhh…” (Saniwa)
Honestly, this kind of exchange should have waited until later, but…

Riwa’s gaze was swimming around in an embarrassed manner as she tried to hide the paper bag behind her back.

My goodness, what does she even find good about this man?

I knew that she didn’t knit this scarf for him just to thank him. It was because as a woman, she was attracted to Torimoto, and it wasn’t only a little bit either.

As her best friend, I honestly didn’t want her to get close to a man and wished that she wouldn’t have these kinds of feelings, but in the end I couldn’t bring myself to try and stop her.

Besides, well… I had to admit that there were some parts about Torimoto that were different from other men.

“U-Umm, umm… Please take this!” (Saniwa)
Having finally mustered her resolve, Riwa held out the paper bag.

“Err… Is it okay for me to take this?” (Torimoto)
“Y-Yesss!” (Saniwa)
Yikes, her face is completely red…

A bit confused, Torimoto took the paper bag and peered inside.

“It’s… a scarf?” (Torimoto)
“U-Umm! A thank-you gift!” (Saniwa)
“A thank-you gift?” (Torimoto)
“For everything, you know… looking out for me and saving my life!” (Saniwa)
“You’ve also been looking out for me just the same. But… I see. A thank-you gift, huh?” (Torimoto)
For some reason, Torimoto looked a little bit at a loss.

“Ummm… Do you not like it?” (Saniwa)
Seeing Torimoto’s expression, Riwa immediately became anxious.

“”

“Hey, Torimoto! Riwa thoughtfully put her heart into that scarf. Are you not going to accept it?!” (Shakuhara)
I wouldn’t forgive him if he did that. This was Riwa’s first time giving a man a handmade present after all.

“Ah, no, I’m happy. But I’m just not sure if I can really take this, or…” (Torimoto)
“Hah? You’re muttering! Is there a problem?!” (Shakuhara)
“N-No, no! Okay, you’re right. I’ll gratefully accept it then! Saniwa-san, thank you so much. I’ll use it with great care.” (Torimoto)
“Ah, okay! Eheheh… I did it.” (Saniwa)
My best friend smiled, showing happiness from the bottom of her heart. She really was an adorable girl. I wished that she could always stay smiling like this.

But at that moment, two men with guns came up the stairs.

“There are some here too!” (Man 1)
“Kill, kill!” (Man 2)
It seemed that they intended to kill us without asking any questions. I almost couldn’t believe that they had reached this place so soon. The religious order’s combat capabilities really had dropped quite a bit.

Perhaps they had already killed most of the followers.

“We won’t stand here and let you kill us!” (Shakuhara)
I drew the two pistols at my waist and fired.

I was able to hit one of the men square in the head, but one of them was able to escape and take cover.

We hid behind a wall and surveyed the situation.

The only way to get to the church was by going down these stairs. But there were already men waiting here for us.

“Kei-chan, what do we do?” (Saniwa)
“Now that it’s come down to this, we should give up on these stairs and go for the emergency stairs.” (Shakuhara)
Our destination was on the other side of the door at the end of the hall. But to get there, we had to take the corridor in front of the staircase near where we were currently waiting.

“I’ll engage the enemy, so in the meantime, you two run for it, okay?” (Shakuhara)

“O-Okay!” (Saniwa)
“I’m okay with that too.” (Torimoto)
After receiving their approval, I counted to three before leaping out from cover and firing my gun rapidly.

In the meantime, the two of them ran towards the emergency stairs.

I also ran while firing, so the three of us headed towards the staircase together. Of course, I was checking behind us to see if the man would follow us.

At that moment, the man peeked out from behind the wall, so I fired another shot.

As that was happening, Torimoto opened up the door.

“Come on, you two! Hurry up and run, while we still can!” (Torimoto)
We made our way into the staircase and immediately closed the door behind us.

Apparently, there were no invaders using these stairs. Still, we descended cautiously.

Once we got out of here, the church would be right around the corner.

After reaching the bottom of the stairs, we quietly opened the door and checked the situation outside. Although gunshots and screams could be heard here and there, it seemed that there weren’t any enemies in the immediate vicinity.

The church was right in front of us. It would probably be safer to go in through the door, though.

“Let’s be careful.” (Shakuhara)
The three of us moved forward, keeping a watchful eye on our surroundings. Once we arrived at the back door, we went inside.

In the next moment, a knife was held to Torimoto’s neck.

No way, the enemy was—?! As I thought that, my face went pale, but…

“Wait, Aoyama-san!”
The sound of a familiar voice rang out, and I immediately understood what was happening at that moment.

It seemed that the person who was holding the knife to Torimoto’s neck was Aoyama, an executive of the order. Founder-sama was also by her side, and she was the one who had called out earlier, telling her to stop.

“Founder-sama! I’m glad that you are safe!” (Shakuhara)
“Yes, I am. Shakuhara-san, Saniwa-san, and Torimoto-san, I’m glad that you are all safe as well.” (Sayuri)
“…You two…?” (Shakuhara)
Hearing my words, Aoyama retracted the knife and affirmed my thoughts before continuing.

“We came here to escape to the underground waterway. But at that moment, I sensed someone approaching us from behind.” (Aoyama)
So that was what’d happened. It seemed that she was planning an ambush here. If we really had been the enemy, she had intended on taking us out.

“My goodness, I almost just died because of a misunderstanding.” (Torimoto)
Torimoto had an easygoing smile on his face. I wasn’t sure if he was even frightened of what just happened. How could he be smiling after he almost died?

In the end, it seemed that Founder-sama and Aoyama had also come to the underground waterway to escape. Apparently, in the beginning, there were other followers with them, but they stayed behind to fight so Founder-sama could escape.