[Chapter:20][Finally, the apartment.]

"Don't open your eyes yet."

Grace quickly covered Rei's eyes just as she was about to open them.

"Drop the rod."

She complied, as the man, losing support, slumps down.

Rei visibly trembles at the sound of him hitting the ground.

"Turn around, walk to the bus, and don't look back, alright?"

Grace turned Rei around, and pushed her forward. She stumbled a little, but nodded her head and walked without another word.

Grace looked at Shizuka, who glared at him as though he had done something wrong, before she and Kyoko quickly moved to Rei to keep her company.

As for the rest of the Group, everyone, even Saeko herself, looked at the corpse that their friend had killed and Grace complicatedly.

Grace looked at them all and sighed softly.

"Do you think what I made her do is wrong?"

The question was met with silence, as none of them knew what to say.

"Well, I don't blame you. All of you probably never saw someone die right before your eyes in your lives, and even if one or two did, I doubt it was from murder."

The word 'murder' made them all, except for Saeko and, surprisingly, Yuuki, flinch.

"Yes, murder. What, you thought what Rei-chan did, no wait, what I made her do, is counted as self defence? Hardly. I made her kill the guy in cold blood, I made her murder a defenceless man who has already surrendered. Period."

The group was silent while Grace merely smiled.

"This is what the world has come to, and you can't just look away from it. In the end, if I hadn't been here, what would have happened to Rei-chan?"

Grace paused before continuing,

"Actually, even if I wasn't here, I'm sure someone else would have taken action."

He looked at the fatty with a smile.

"I'm proud of you, Kohta-kun. Even if I technically haven't thought you anything, the fact that, unlike the others who just froze in place, you took action and aimed at the guy with that gun of yours means you have a much greater chance at surviving when shit hits the fan."

Kohta blushes while scratching his head awkwardly when nearly everyone looks at him, making him the centre of attention. Though the latter part of Grace's statement makes those close to Rei, like Takashi, grimace.

"Of course, I'm not saying you all were wrong to freeze in place. After all, none of you ever experienced something like that before, so it's only natural you wouldn't know what to do. What I want to say is…"

Grace paused as he looked at all of them deeply.

"The world has changed, and you all should change with it. It isn't just fun and games anymore. You can't just think 'everything will be alright' and leave caution to the wind. I'm sure what happened in your school is still fresh in your minds, right?"

"Remember, humans aren't all good. Or rather, has none of you ever read one of those Chinese apocalypse fiction? The ones where all the men except the main character are horn dogs and all the women aren't ever treated as women? How many of you read those? C'mon, raise your hands, don't be shy."

Takashi, Hisashi, Yamada, the Bee siblings, and surprisingly, Yuuki, Saya, Kawamoto, and Taniuchi raise their hands slowly.

"Good, so you all, or at least most of you, know how cruel man can be if he's driven into a corner. What, you thought it was all just fiction? Heh, the first books were written on facts, and the others that followed aren't so different either. No book exists without at least a part of it being the truth, even fantasy ones."

"Well, the world may not be as dark as shown in them, but there are certainly there. People that have given into their deepest and most twisted desires. People that I like to refer to as 'Trash that needs to be disposed'. Shido is one, though I guess not all of you know much about him? Well, no matter. And this guy…"

Grace kicked the man's corpse, making them flinch.

"…he's another Trash."

He looked at them, all silently listening to him, and smiled.

"Just remember, what is more important to you? Your life, your loved ones, the safety of those you care about, or strangers? Those that try to hurt you?"

Grace didn't say anything else, just pulling his thick and sticky rod out of the guy's mouth and walking back to the bus.

A few minutes later, the Group follows, loading several tanks of diesel onto the bus, before Kyoko starts the engine. All of them sit in silence, some more effected than they let on than others, the only sound being Shizuka guiding Kyoko to their destination while Rei leaned on her shoulder and slept, clearly tired.

As for Grace himself, he and Dea-chan were looking at the results of his quest and Event.

......

[[Event [(Assault under the Dead!)] completed. Ascertaining rating…]]

[[Crushed nameless guy's manhood. Rank up.]]

[[Indirectly killed nameless guy. Rank up.]]

[[Made Rei Miyamoto kill the nameless guy. Rank up.]]

[[Lectured the group members. Rank up.]]

[[Final rating : C. Finalising rewards…]]

[[Rewards finalised. Rewards issued. Good job, keep it up host!]]

[[Event rewards acquired. GP +5.]]

[[Eliminated a Golden Mark. GP +1.]]

......

And the quest as well.

......

[[Quest 'New world, new Laws!' 'Kohta (1/1)', 'Yuuki (1/1)', 'Rei (1/1)', 'Yamada (1/1)', 'Misuzu (1/1)', 'Toshimi (1/1)', 'Naomi (1/1)', 'Kawamoto (1/1)', 'Taniuchi (1/1)' completed. SP +9.]]

......

While Dea-chan was happy at the increased SP, as that meant she was closer to spinning the wheel again, Grace noted that, unexpectedly, Saeko's name wasn't listed in the completion notification.

'Wait, so, the sexy sadist hasn't accepted the fact that the world has changed to be more ruthless?'

He wondered about that for a moment, before smiling lightly.

'Hmm…I can guess why…'

Grace chuckled softly, knowing he will have to speak to her privately soon. Possibly during that temple event.

'Well, that's a matter for another day.'

He thought as he glanced at his Status, or rather, his 6 GP to be precise.

Fiddling with the screen, he watches as the number goes back to 0 and his 'Card Extraction : F' ranks up to 'Card Extraction : D'.

'Well then…here goes…'

Grace glances down as he pulls out the two strands of hair, and extracts the three skills from them before discarding them.

'Now I'm an expert psychologist, amateur at stealth, and also a Master of Deception.'

He chuckled at the last one while wondering how many readers understood that reference.

'Maybe not many. I doubt many of the 'cultured people' that read this book would have watched that.'

Not stopping at just that, though, he also looked at the fatty Kohta.

......

(Light Ranged Weapon Mastery : D-) | (Heavy Ranged Weapon Mastery : D-) | (Special Ranged Weapon Mastery : D-) | (Marksmanship * : D-) | (Gunsmith : D-) | (Japanese Proficiency : F+) | (English Proficiency : F) | (Mathematics : F) | (......)

......

'Well damn…fatty…looks like you're packing more than just fat…as expected, you should never underestimate fatties…'

Grace was honestly slack jawed at the variety of skills that he had access to.

Unfortunately, he doesn't have enough chances to get them all. Well, knowing that a certain tanned beauty would have more skills, and hopefully at a higher rank, did console him.

What Grace did notice, however, is something else.

......

(Marksmanship * : D-)

......

It was the first time he had seen a star in the Card name, and enlarging it, Grace realised that it wasn't Skill Card to begin with!

'An ability. Sweet.'

He grinned as he quickly extracted it, integrating it with himself.

'Mm!'

Grace couldn't help but bite his lips as he felt the now familiar bone chilling cold and hair raising comfort wash over him. No matter how many times he experiences it, the sensation of integrating with an Ability higher than Rank F+ is simply too stimulating!

Luckily, Grace started small, that accident with 'Mind Palace' aside, and is now able to ignore integration all the way up to Rank E, perhaps even E+ if he truly focuses.

'Baby steps…'

Grace sighed in relief as the sensation dies down, and he regains control over his body that he lost due to excessive pleasure.

'You know…at this rate I get the feeling sex wouldn't be as pleasurable anymore…'

The thought honestly terrified him, especially since he is a harem protagonist and all. Luckily for our MC, what Increased is his tolerance to pleasure, and not resistance to it.

'Now I have two more chances…'

Thinking for a moment, Grace looks at Takashi, but all he finds note worthy is 'Plot Armour * : D+'. Unfortunately, his own Plot Armour far outstripped Takashi's, so that's that.

Looking at Rei, to his disappointment, all Grace finds is a 'Heavy Pole Weapon Mastery : D'.

He looked back at the girl that never disappointed him, Saeko, and indeed, he wasn't disappointed.

......

(Combat Instinct * : D-) | (Discipline * : D-)

......

There were several tens of more cards too, of course, but these two are her only abilities.

Well, actually, Saeko was the only one with two abilities that Grace had seen till now.

'As expected of you Saeko-chan. No wonder you're this world's best girl.'

Taking those to for himself as well, Grace gritted his teeth to stop himself from shamefully moaning as two D- ranked abilities integrated themselves with him.

'So multiple integrations only extends the time rather than intensify the feeling itself. Good to know, I guess.'

Looking at his Status, Grace smiles as he realises that he had come quite far from his previous self in just several hours alone. Of course, he wasn't even close to those MCs that go from zero to BS level power in just several seconds after their transmigration, but he was quite satisfied with his growth.

'Now all I need is get a bunch of SP and get those Ability Conversion Cards. Even if I'll lose the knowledge till I rank them up to EX, I still prefer abilities to skills.'

Even though he had a 'Light Sharp Weapon Mastery : D' skill, Grace knew that, without several hours to days of practicing, he would barely be able to display something along the lines of E- or perhaps even worse, and that too not for all light sharp weapons.

'Hmm…skills have their own advantages, sure…but nah.'

Sure, he had knowledge in his mind, and experience in the form of muscle memory, but linking those two and actually using both in conjunction is far different from simply having them.

How he was at the moment, Grace would only be able to show his best when acting out of instinct, something which depended more on luck and the amount of danger he was in rather than on his own free will.

And this instinct isn't exactly similar to the new Ability he got from Saeko either. It helps, Yes, but not by much.

Just then, however, his thoughts were interrupted as the bus comes to a halt and Shizuka's voice, now back to its previous cheerful version, resounded in the ears of all of the Group.

"We're here! This is my friend's apartment!"

Grace opened his eyes and got up from his sleeping posture, and looking at it, he had to admit, the apartment was way too big for a single woman, no, even for a family of five to live alone.

"It can easily fit us all and probably still have space left."

"Yup~~! That's why I chose it!"

Shizuka looked happy at being helpful as she gently embraced Rei, who looked way better now, though Grace supposed she'd still suffer from a week or two of nightmares.

'She'll probably hate me for this…but eh, I'm sure I can change that with your help, Author-san.'

((A/N : Ou! You can count on me! All you have to do is keep your life interesting and get me those power stones and I'll take care of everything else!))

(Hee~~ Good for you huh Grace-kun? You have a reality deciding being behind your back and as your wingman too~~)

'I also have an omnipotent midget on top of my head, what of it?'

Perhaps the readers might have forgotten, but indeed, Dea-chan is an omnipotent Supreme Goddess.

(Eh? Ah, right, that's true isn't it? Hehe, I kind of forgot.)

'...'

Or rather, looks like even the loli in question forgot about her powers that she sealed away.