Earth With Dungeon: Saving the World With an Economic Boom

Chapter 1.1.
Prologue

The sky is cloudy and dim even though it is midday.
It looks as if it might rain at any moment.
Under such weather, a man was walking in the city.
He steps on rubble and broken glass and makes a cracking sound.

The streets formerly would have been called streets.
Now the glass in the buildings is broken, and the windows on the upper floors are black and have no transparency.
The signboard of what used to be a convenience store has fallen, and inside the store, the shelves have collapsed, and the various goods on the shelves are empty and deserted.

The asphalt paved road is cracked and pitted due to lack of maintenance, and weeds are growing thickly.

The traffic lights are covered with plant ivy, and those that do not receive electricity are dark and do not serve their function.

The cars, for which the traffic lights were installed, have been abandoned and are covered in rust.
The tires are long gone, the doors have fallen off, and there is no hood, engine, or chair, just nothing.
Only the chassis tells us that it used to be a car.

A man walking through these lonely ruins notices a cat in the shadow of a building.
It was a dirty black cat.
It meowed and stared at the man.

The man looked at it, shrugged his shoulders slightly, and started walking again.
It was a young man.
He was carrying a knapsack and walking with an expression that made it hard to tell what he was thinking.

“Help!”

He hears a woman scream and lifts his face.
At the cry for help, he ran out to the voice.

As he turns the corner, he sees a woman in a dirty dress running dazedly.
Behind her, two men in dirty clothes were chasing after her with lowly smiles on their faces and a slow, toying gait.

“Wait, come play with us~”

“Don’t run away.
Oi.”

The purpose of the men who were laughing and giggling was obvious.
It is also clear that the woman who is looking for help is in for a rude awakening.
The young man ponders for a moment.
Out of the corner of his eye, he sees a black cat.

“Hey, stop!”

The young man decides to help and hides the woman that comes toward him with a shout.

The two men, who appear to be roughnecks, suddenly appear and glare at the young man with grins on their faces.

“Oh, yeah? Are you trying to disturb us? Ahh!?”

“That’s right.
That’s right, stop it, you bastard.”

When the young man replied without fear, the ruffians looked at each other, laughed, and suddenly pulled out knives from their waists.

The ruffian suddenly pulled out the knife at his waist and began to slash at the young man.
The young man, however, anticipated this action and grabbed the knife held out to him with two fingers.

“Nuh-oh!?”

The ruffian who tries to pull back groans at the unusual force.
The young man is not even moved, as if he were being held in a vise.

“Bastard!”

The other one thrusts out a fist, which the young man easily catches with his palm.

The young man’s muscular strength is more than meets the eye.
He looks like a skinny guy, but he is strong.

“Damn you, you’ve been working out in the dungeon!”

The young man, smiling with a re