[Chapter:25][The Loli and her guard Dog.]

"Looks like this is the last one."

Grace mutters to himself as he comes out of a corpse filled supermarket, now empty, and with the supplies in his inventory greater than ever.

"There aren't any other stores or malls in the next few tens of miles."

Grace looked at his quest log, showing the counter for his new quest at (17/?), netting him another 17 Silver Points.

Which, along with his previous 9, make for a grand total of 26 SP.

Well, 24, since he had used two not too long ago.

What had he gotten, you ask? Very useful ones, actually.

...

(SCP-049 : A+)

Type : Item / Unit

Description : SCP-049, also called the Plague Doctor, is a tall humanoid in black robes and a white beak mask. He is known for his medical knowledge and desperate desire to find a cure for 'the pestilence', a strange and currently unknown possibly metaphysical disease that is said to infect one without as much as a moment's notice. He performs 'surgery' on these 'infected victims', 'curing' them and allegedly giving them immunity against 'the pestilence', although more often than not, these 'cured patients' resemble undead abominations from horror films. These 'cured patients' are called SCP-049-02.

...

...

(House : SSS+)

Type : Ability

Description : An ability which allows you to 'open' 'doors' to your 'house', a separate dimension, wherein you are akin to God, nigh omnipotent. Within the 'House', you can freely create anything or destroy anything, bend reality to your will, and make impossibilities possible. However, you cannot bring out of the 'House' things that you create within with your powers. While you can heal beings that have entered the 'House', you cannot empower them, as they will lose this power the moment they exit the 'House'. Same restrictions apply to curses, as you can purify curses, whereas the curses placed on others or on yourself will dissipate the moment they exit, though you can also permanently kill those that have entered the 'House' with but a thought.

...

Honestly? When Grace realised he could get SCPs from the Gacha, he nearly decided to delete the Lottery Function. After all, while many SCPs are relatively useful, just as many are unfathomably frightening.

Like Shy Guy, or 682, or even the Scarlet King.

It is only after Dea-chan begged and pleaded and promised not to include the more dangerous and creepy ones in the Gacha did he agree not to delete it.

Though, he had to admit, watching 49 perform his surgery and looking at what Yamada had become was rather…unnerving.

But anyway, he had gotten another Golden Point, and used it to get a hold of that 'Heavy Pole Weapon Mastery : D-' from Rei before stopping the time in his 'House', or rather, the time in the rooms that Yamada and 49 were present.

So in 49's view, his master who had summoned him through magical means would provide him 'Trash' that have been infected with the pestilence, which Grace despite not understanding the nature of made sure to clean himself as well as the entire 'House' of it, the moment he finishes curing a patient.

'Well, I don't think I should make every Trash suffer like that…like To be cucked #2…but eh, I'm sure there are enough rapists in the multiverse to satisfy 49.'

With a casual shrug, as though he hadn't just sent off a man whose only crime was sexually harassing and forcing himself on several women to a madman that turned him into an abomination, not that those crimes are worth any less, Grace began to sprint back to the apartment.

"It's almost dawn…wonder if anyone woke up and found me missing?"

He thought for a moment and brought out from his inventory a bag with several cold milk cartons and cans of coke, along with a few other bags full of oats.

"This should be reason enough for me to be gone this early in the morning…if anyone even asks."

He didn't really mind using supplies for excuses, considering how he had literal decades worth stuffed in his inventory if he only needs to feed his current group. Hell, even if his group doubles in number, he still had enough to feed them till they all die of old age.

"But seriously, aren't the supplies a little too much for markets and stores?"

(It's probably because of the world's setting. As a zombie apocalypse world, it's obvious people would have to look for supplies. And so, even if it isn't mentioned in the manga or anime, things like supermarkets and departmental stores and malls will have solar powered refrigerators and what not and will also have huge warehouses and basements and storage rooms almost always filled to the brim. It's like a side effect. After all, can't have the main cast die of starvation of all things.)

Grace nodded at Dea-chan's statement.

Indeed, what he had gotten from those seventeen places alone could easily last a city's worth of population for a month or so if rationed well enough. And it certainly wasn't the same back in his world.

"Well, if that's the case for every store out there, I don't think I'll have to worry about grinding SP for quite a while now."

Grace added as he quickly kept past cars and vehicles that had crashed into each other, yet miraculously didn't end up exploding.

"Now that I think about it, I haven't heard explosions at all. Why is that? I don't believe no building during such a period hadn't caught fire. And even the car crashes, how come there isn't a single explosion?"

Grace was genuinely curious. Sure, not every crash might result in an explosion, but during an apocalypse when hundreds, perhaps thousands of vehicles collide against each other in the panic and confusion?

(That's another effect of the plot. There are lots of things like that, both major and minor, but explosions are less likely to happen in this world than in any other world. Just as food lasts for longer, crops grow faster, people are stronger, more beautiful or handsome, it's small and nearly indistinguishable differences from other worlds, but they make all the difference when the actual plot begins.)

Grace thought for a moment before he recalled a certain chart he had glimpsed at when he was still in the school.

"Yeah, I seem to recall rice doesn't mature enough for harvest in just several weeks since being planted."

(Yup. And it doesn't always have to be supernatural causes either. Sure, a part of rice growing faster is due to the world laws themselves, but it could also be because the world itself concentrated more on agriculture, researched about faster and more bountiful crops, and resulted in faster harvest cycles.)

(It could also be that, somewhere in the world history, poverty and famines and starvation were taken more seriously than they might be taken in other worlds, causing more manpower to be diverted towards food and more research being done towards preserving food and being self sufficient in terms of energy and things like that.)

Grace listened to Dea-chan, who was surprisingly a little serious as she spoke rather than be playful and nonchalant like she would usually be, and felt rather amazed at how much small and seemingly insignificant causes could result in such vast differences between worlds and realities.

Although it was a bit of an info dump, Grace actually appreciated the additional knowledge, as that meant he had a better understanding of how the whole 'Multiverse of fictional realities' worked.

Of course, his understanding of it was still as insignificant and inconsequential as ever, but it was a start.

*woof!* *woof!*

"Hmm? A dog?"

Grace paused as he listened to the muffled yet distinct sound of a dog, or rather a pup, barking furiously.

"Strange…now that I think about it, I haven't heard or seen cats and dogs either…"

He quickly changed direction and began to run towards the source, since his intuition, despite not being as good as a woman's, was telling him he would regret it dearly should he ignore it.

The sun was rising slowly, and Grace guessed he had roughly an hour or so before the whole Group wakes up, and finds him gone. Though, based on his current speed which he was still getting used to, it wouldn't take more than several minutes to get back to the apartment.

"And here we…are?"

Grace blinked at the sight before him. 'They', sensitive to sound as they are, have flocked together and were currently besieging a house's gate, almost successful at tearing it down. The house itself seemed empty, as evidenced by the lack of sound from within, or maybe the residents were simply too frightened to make a sound?

And with her back against the door, crouching down and making herself as small as she possibly could while whimpering softly, is one familiar little loli.

"Alice-chan?"

Before he could react, the moment he saw the gate be torn down and the hoard of 'them' rush towards Alice and the cowering yet courageous little pup, Grace's body moved all by itself, and when he managed to react, he found himself in the middle of the hoard, nearly twenty corpses already down below with skulls caved in.

"Huh, well, what a coincidence?"

Grace chuckles at the absurdity of the situation he found himself in, one hand holding a surprised little loli and a spooked little pup close to his chest while the other holding a heavy metal sledgehammer he managed to find, in the middle of a crowd consisting of nearly sixty of 'them'.

"E-eh! Wha-!?"

Grace looked down at the confused, startled, and even scared little loli, the second loli he had come across counting Dea-chan who was currently taking a nap on top of his head, and smiled gently.

"It's alright, little girl, big brother's here."

Alice blinked her large eyes adorably, before a relieved smile appeared on her face. And right after, she closed her eyes and fell unconscious, clearly too tired to even say anything else.

Grace smiled at this, and ignored the little pup and seemed hell bent on taking a piece of his arm for itself, although it being as small as it was combined with his now much more durable skin prevented it from doing so, and instead looked at 'them' that were approaching him quickly.

"Well now, here begins another slaughter…!"

...

At the moment, Grace was walking back to the apartment. On his back, a sizeable sledgehammer, one that still had fresh blood and brain matter dripping down it, was hung loosely. In his left arm is a little girl, clearly no more than eight, as she slept peacefully with a small smile on her face. On his left shoulder is a small white pup, also sleeping peacefully, and to Grace's much irritation, drooling on his shoulder as well.

In his right hand, are several plastic bags containing chilled milk, cans of coke, and several boxes of oatmeal along with an assortment of fruit juices.

And if one could see it, they would also find a tiny blue haired little loli, the size of a pixie, napping atop his head, using his spotlessly white, soft, silky, yet also fluffy hair as a bed and blanket.

"…"

And when Grace, appearing so, knocked on the apartment's door, which was shortly opened by Saya, who had a large metal baseball bat in her hand drawn and ready, the scene abruptly, yet understandably, fell silent.

"I can explain.", Grace said with a serious face.

Saya looked at him, and despite not being able to see Dea-chan, nodded her head slowly.

"Don't worry, I won't judge."

"…"

"Besides, I don't think the FBI is free enough to find you, with the world ending and all."

"…"

Grace looked at Saya's smug, mocking and almost gloating expression, and felt his lips twitch.

'What a pain…'

His misfortune didn't end with that, however, as Saeko, in the naked apron she had worn in the original, albeit with her bokken in hand rather than a spatula, appeared behind Saya.

"Who i-…oh…Grace-san…"

She blinked her eyes as she looked at him.

"So…you like little girls huh…", she muttered, more of a statement than a question, as a glint of disappointment flashed past her eyes.

"…"

(Pff! HAHAHAHAHA!)

'…'

Grace suddenly felt like swatting a fly. Flies sure are annoying huh?