School ended in the afternoon.
Since Sora hadn’t joined any clubs yet, he didn’t need to participate in any after-school activities and simply left campus with his school bag.
As he walked along the road lined with falling cherry blossoms, he glanced at an ant on the ground and suddenly remembered something.
Bending down, he picked it up between his fingers.
The tiny ant struggled desperately.
Sora tried storing it in his inventory.
It failed.
His fingers tightened slightly.
The ant was crushed to death with ease.
He tried again.
This time, the ant’s corpse was successfully stored in his inventory.
As expected.
Living creatures couldn’t be stored.
Only dead objects could enter the inventory.
Sora dusted off his hands and took out his phone.
Instead of heading straight home, he followed the navigation to a market near the school.
Logically, he should have gone to the market in Beika Town.
It was closer to his apartment and much more convenient.
However, considering how dangerous Beika Town was, Sora chose the market near the school instead.
As for the food he bought, he could always secretly store it in his inventory later.
Upon arriving, Sora spent some time walking around and observing.
He quickly discovered that there were no live chickens or ducks for sale.
After asking a vendor, he learned that Japanese law required poultry to be processed through approved slaughterhouses before being sold.
The sale of live poultry in markets was prohibited for hygiene and disease-control reasons.
Looking at the neatly packaged chicken cuts in the refrigerated display, Sora shook his head.
Just as he was about to leave, the vendor stopped him.
“Well, it’s not completely impossible.” “Oh?” “If you have a chef’s license or a student ID from a culinary school, you can buy directly from farms.” “I see.
Thank you for the information.” After thanking the vendor, Sora left the poultry section.
Transferring to culinary school was a bit unrealistic.
After all, he had only just obtained his Toyogasaki Academy student identity.
Still, the vendor’s information wasn’t useless.
Perhaps in the future he could befriend a chef or two.
Or maybe visit a slaughterhouse and ask if they needed part-time workers.
A short while later, Sora arrived at the seafood section.
There were plenty of live fish and shrimp here, and the prices were much cheaper than what he’d seen at Seto Seafood the previous night.
“What kind of fish are you looking for, young man?” A middle-aged vendor wearing an apron called out while cleaning a fish.
Watching him work, Sora asked, “Are all the fish here prepared fresh?” “Of course!” “If I buy one, can I kill it myself?” “Kill it yourself?
Young man, we clean fish for customers free of charge!” “I know, but I’d like to do it myself.
Is that alright?” The vendor glanced at Sora’s Toyogasaki uniform and suddenly asked, “You planning to become a chef?” In this world, becoming a chef wasn’t exactly an ordinary career choice.
After a brief silence, Sora nodded.
“Yeah.
I want to become a chef someday.” “I see.” The vendor skillfully cut open a fish and removed its organs while speaking.
“So you’re doing culinary training?” “That’s right.” “Alright, I understand.
But killing fish isn’t as easy as it looks.
Be careful.” Sora nodded.
“Thank you, sir.” “No need.
The road of a chef isn’t easy.
Back in my day…” The vendor sighed, his eyes filling with nostalgia.
Sora glanced at him.
It seemed the man had once dreamed of becoming a chef himself.
In the end, however, he had become a fishmonger, spending his days cleaning fish at this stall.
Not wanting to interrupt his reminiscing, Sora quietly browsed the selection.
Eventually he chose a bonito weighing about three pounds.
Placing the fish on the cutting board, he picked up a kitchen knife.
In his previous life, he’d always enjoyed eating fish and had cleaned many himself, so he knew what he was doing.
The knife fell.
A crisp sound rang out.
Two copper coins burst from the fish’s corpse and landed on the ground.
The fishmonger watched from nearby.
Seeing Sora’s competent technique, he nodded approvingly.
Sora glanced at the man.
The vendor clearly hadn’t noticed the two copper coins that had just appeared.
That was reassuring.
Just as he’d suspected, it wasn’t only snakes.
Fish could also be classified as monsters and drop money.
After properly processing the fish, Sora casually brushed his hand across the ground and stored the two copper coins in his wallet.
— [0 Gold Coins, 0 Silver Coins, 14 Copper Coins] — Excellent.
Another two copper coins earned.
The road to becoming a millionaire looked promising.
After paying for the fish, Sora thanked the fishmonger again.
The man waved dismissively.
“It was nothing.” Sora asked, “So next time…” The fishmonger laughed.
“Of course you can do it again next time.” After saying goodbye, Sora left the market.
Following the navigation on his phone, he headed to a nearby park.
Making sure nobody was watching, he stored the fish meat in his inventory.
Then he began a grand insect-hunting campaign.
Beetles.
Spiders.
Butterflies.
Caterpillars.
Every bug he could find in the park met a merciless end.
Yet even after the sun went down, not a single copper coin had dropped.
Straightening up, Sora stretched his aching back and neck.
“It doesn’t seem to be a drop-rate issue.
Insects simply don’t drop money at all.” Yet snakes and fish did.
Perhaps it was related to body size.
Maybe only creatures above a certain threshold could generate drops.
Sora sighed.
His dream of farming an ant nest for money had officially gone bankrupt.
“That’s enough for today.
Time to head home.” Leaving the park, he took his school bag out of the inventory beforehand.
Already feeling tired, Sora couldn’t be bothered squeezing into the subway again and simply took a taxi home.
After getting out in front of the apartment building, he spotted Miyuri.
She was carrying a large sack and sprinkling some kind of powder around the corners of the building.
“Miss Miyuri, what are you doing?” “Sora-kun!
This is snake-repellent powder!
I’m going to spread it around the entire apartment building so snakes won’t sneak into everyone’s rooms anymore!” “I see.” The bag of repellent was a woven sack.
With her elementary-school-sized body, Miyuri could only drag it along the ground.
Watching her struggle, Sora walked over.
“Let me help, Miss Miyuri.” “Thank you, Sora-kun!” Sora reached out and took the sack from her hands.
His fingers brushed against hers seemingly by accident.
[Ding—] The next moment, a beautiful sound echoed in Sora’s mind.
The sound of coins dropping into a money pouch.