Chapter 3 - The Isekai Famine Gallery
Instant Abalone Porridge x2 purchased. -4P
Barley Tea 1.5L x1 purchased. -2P
I had to eat something, anything. A single chunk of bread? That wasn't enough to fill my starving gut. Compared to what I'd been eating over the past few days, it was barely two meals' worth.
"Rice. Gotta start with rice."
Honestly, the moment points came in and I learned what they were for, I wanted to blow off Sora's explanations and dive straight into the shop. Sure, you could say my first move being the shop meant I was already going off the rails—but responsibility? That's a luxury you can only afford with a full belly. When you're hungry, that shit doesn't exist.
No microwave to heat it up, but I didn't have the luxury to care about that anyway. My hands were shaking as I tore open the abalone porridge packaging.
If Sora had shown up two days later, she might've found me as a cold corpse.
I grabbed the included spoon and pressed my nose right up to the porridge, inhaling deeply.
"Sniiiif, haaah~"
No smell at all. It should've had a scent even cold... Was my sense of smell wrecked from the bathroom stench?
I wanted to savor this first meal in ages, but oh well.
"Here goes... bon appétit!"
I scooped up a huge spoonful and shoved it straight into my mouth.
Lukewarm. No heating meant it was lukewarm with all the chunks intact.
But even so, this lukewarm abalone porridge felt like the most delicious thing in the world.
"Ngh... gulp. Chew chew. Hngh..."
I'd cried too much over the past week for more tears, but I could confidently say this was the best meal of my life.
After making the two porridges vanish like a magic trick, I pulled up the gallery screen again.
Every single post looked desperate. Titles about hunger, job hunting, rage at the elite. They all probably had heavy content, so I clicked the lightest-looking one.
Why'd you suddenly stop? Finally got your shit together? lololol
"Oh shit."
The lightest-looking title had the heaviest content. This world might be more hellish than I thought?
Still, couldn't judge the whole from one post, so I checked another right away.
Changed my nick to this vowing two meals a day, been digging through mountains, fields, rivers—but this shit's making me more exhausted;;
Even busting my ass dog-style, it's not two meals a day, barely one every two days... How do you guys manage meals? Share any good info
No hope in the second post either.
"What, no dreams or hopes at all?"
Me, trembling hands from a week on half a bread slice? Total normie. A normie who hadn't checked FamineGal, er, Ark Gallery.
"Kinda get the picture of daily life now. One last one..."
Royals are cutting back on food and spending due to poor harvests to tough it out, but these fringe noble shits are throwing parties? And they take the supplies from our house for it? You dog-shit bastards, that's our family's food till next harvest—take it all and what are we supposed to do?
The people's support for the imperial family holds firm even as everyone starves together? How'd they pull that off?
"Must've shown some insane leadership by example."
The empire's royals had pulled off some unimaginable performance for the masses.
I skimmed a few more eye-catching posts after that, and got the gist.
"This is hopeless."
This was a nation in the throes of societal collapse. Not crumbling from bad politics—the world itself was rigged against it.
If there was any slack, heads of exploitative local nobles would've been pickled in salt and shipped to the palace.
"Wh-why have you brought only the heads, my lord?"
But in a world this broken, no such hopeful tales happened.
Spring Notebook x1 purchased. -4P
Mona Mi Ballpoint Pen (Black) x1 purchased. -1P
"Human nation, the Empire... what empire? Anyway, entering collapse sequence from natural disasters. Surprisingly, royals still supported. Local nobles hated for constant exploitation."
I jotted down conclusions from the posts. Writing it down early might come in handy later.
But the glossary mentioned multiple races—why only human posts?
"Sora! Sora! Got a question."
Yes. What is it, Rain?
The screen, which had floated a bit away, chimed cheerfully and slid back over.
"Heard there are other races, but only human posts show up."
Separate galleries per race? Ark Gallery humans-only?
But Sora's answer was different.
No. Everyone uses the same gallery. Low posting frequency can be inferred from prior posts. Shall I provide it?
"Yep, please."
Sora was quick and precise, as expected. Great name I picked.
[......]
"......"
[......]
"......"
Too hasty calling her quick? Most time-consuming question yet—lots of data to check, probably.
"Uh... just major races please. Tiny populations, guesses might be off even with reasoning."
Understood. I'll explain elf and dwarf info, the major races.
Oh, answer started right away. Probably hard to guess for races with few posts.
Elves are inferred to be mostly in hibernation. Last elf post title: 'Anything to watch out for before hibernation?'
There was also a post about entering sleep under the World Tree's care as living became impossible due to food shortages.
Couldn't tough it out, so they went to sleep. Got it.
"I see. And dwarves?"
Dwarves mean booze, loyalty, manliness, right? Honestly, most hyped race when I learned they existed.
Dwarves have lost interest in the gallery and are focusing on other tasks since they can't drink booze.
Can't drink booze... Dwarves without booze must be in agony.
They're working to create food using less grain. Last dwarf post title: 'Brothers! Sift stone and dirt powder fine into flour for dough—makes more bread!'
In their torment, they'd gone and invented isekai rock bread.