Surviving the Apocalypse with Crafting Skills

“You keep giving wrong answers.”

After hearing the response, Ms. Sarah laughed for quite a while before leaving the room.

With just one remark about making sure to fully eliminate any odors.

“Indeed, dealing with people isn’t as easy as it seems….”

Or maybe the smell really is an issue.

Is this because Mi-Ko has already adapted to it?

Just as I was about to head to the shower, I encountered Ms. Dieterich, who was exiting while wringing her hair with a towel.

Her appearance in a doctor’s coat was unfamiliar, perhaps because I hadn’t seen her dressed this way previously.

And the sight of her hair let loose in such a way was quite surprising too.

“I heard you personally renovated the shower room.”

“Did you like it? It feels like the water quality has improved. The water heats up more easily as well. Most importantly, you separated the areas for men and women to use, which is greatly appreciated.”

It may seem like a minor thing, but dividing living spaces by gender is quite important.

As the number of people increases, this becomes especially critical.

Without private spaces, not only personal tasks but even romantic relationships become impossible, leading to growing dissatisfaction.

Higher dissatisfaction can lead to the departure of the people we worked hard to bring in, and those who leave will often move to a faction promising better living conditions.

In that sense, hearing such compliments means—

“What was it like in the 0th Empire?”

“The female personnel mostly weren’t part of the founding members. As far as I can recall, only the wives of certain upper-level officers received special treatment, and they even had personal bathrooms.”

“Doctors get the same kind of special treatment?”

“No, no. Since I have blonde hair, I was granted permission to use the bathroom for about thirty minutes during specific times, along with other women.”

“The problem is… there were people pretending to confuse the schedule to peep at the bathroom, or… to do inappropriate things that were obviously suspicious. After Lieutenant Hans Schultz punished a few soldiers, such unpleasant incidents decreased.”

“Umm.”

The most concerning aspect in Apocalypse.

Sexual desires.

Certainly, games have some censorship so we can’t fully see the process, but…

When female NPCs exit the restroom crying, dissatisfaction spikes suddenly.

Sometimes, female NPCs attack male NPCs with guns or swords out of nowhere.

Or male prisoners with smaller physiques accumulate injuries until they eventually commit suicide. These incidents have happened repeatedly.

On the other hand, if we completely suppress those urges, people either go berserk or become disobedient.

To add, older individuals who value morality hate such things, so James and Curtis are fine, but it’s the males we’ll bring in later who’ll be problematic.

And we can’t just perform castrations.

Of course, there are players who make harems for this sort of purpose, but…

Then there are revolts by eunuchs, women armed with guns killing men—

“Don’t worry too much about it. The higher-ranking officials’ practice of randomly conscripting women for pleasure was stopped by Lieutenant Hans Schultz.”

“I wouldn’t say I’m entirely surprised.”

“He was the only person I considered decent in an empire full of beasts. Of course, his method of thoroughly separating those he needed from those he didn’t and executing the latter was chilling… Now that all the people above Hans are gone, it’s uncertain how things will change there.”

“Will it turn out well?”

“Didn’t Xuan Woo mention that when a real doctor comes, the way I’m treated won’t improve much?”

Fortunately, preparing the living spaces after sleepless nights has been rewarding.

Her relaxed face and body language.

Even the fact that she’s opening up to me about her inner thoughts—these actions wouldn’t be possible without a sense of satisfaction.

The worry that she might return to the 0th Empire because she’s disappointed with the Omen family is now alleviated—

“Um, Mr. Xuan Woo.”

“Yes?”

“I had asked Mr. James to assign me work that I can handle, but he said you understand it better than him.”

Hmm?

Have I ever encountered someone asking for work?

Sure, there are those who get bored and do odd jobs on their own, but—

“If no one is currently injured, I can do the laundry, organize personal items, or clean and sterilize tools.”

“No, no, there’s no need for you to handle such odd jobs.”

“Still, if no one is hurt, we shouldn’t just stand by waiting, right?”

“Exactly. The ‘waiting’ part is precisely the doctor’s role—to be thoroughly prepared to respond immediately when someone is injured.”

“Preparing…?”

“Yes, preparation.”

Since building and maintaining a settlement is a Crafter’s main task, properly assigning people to specific roles is important.

The common mistake is assigning miscellaneous tasks without giving people clear roles because “there aren’t enough hands,” leading to low expertise.

Especially in the medical field, cleanliness standards might drop.

“I might have some challenging tasks to request.”

“Please specify clearly.”

“I’ll assign you a medical room where your key task will be to maintain it in utmost cleanliness to prevent infections.”

“Since I handled this in the Reich… the Empire as well, yes, I can manage it.”

So far, I’ve secured an agreement for thorough cleaning.

Then—

“I’ll also need you to temporarily manage medical supplies. Although I know the uses of some of these medicines, I know less than you, Ms. Dieterich.”

“That’s not a problem either. I was surprised when you said earlier that it would be difficult, but it seems like these are tasks any doctor would naturally handle.”

“I haven’t mentioned everything yet. This is just a process where we verify each task and assess your capabilities.”

“You’re thorough. That works for me.”

Medical supplies are also handled without issues.

“What about tending to the injured?”

“I’ll do that without being asked.”

Hmm, was that too obvious?

In that case, the most crucial question comes last.

“Are you familiar with dissections?”

“I handle living beings.”

“Of course, they’ll be dead bodies. Completely dead. I won’t assign anything dangerous to you.”

“… When dissecting a frog in a near-death state, I felt a lot of guilt, but if it’s dead… yes, I can handle it.”

“Since medical care will be our top priority, I want you to take charge of dissections and research as your second most important task.”

“Sanitization and cleaning—”

“I’ll help with that. Think of me as handling all the menial tasks like sweeping dust, mopping floors, and cleaning blood for now.”

“Considering you’re busy with water management, expanding the area, and setting up barricades, can you really handle all that?”

“As more hands come in, my workload will naturally decrease. That’s not important now. Let’s focus.”

Dissection and research.

The higher the level of anatomy in our settlement, the greater the chance of landing critical hits on enemies.

It may not seem important, but it is, because even those inexperienced in combat can learn how to protect themselves or escape during an attack more effectively.

It could be considered self-defense techniques.

Learning where to strike or pinch to cause significant damage with minimal force is crucial, so anatomy is vital.

Especially since the game only shows flailing motions, but now that the game has become reality, I need to know how to act.

Others who will join later also need to know.

“It’s about studying how bodies of creatures mutated by radiation work and locating their weak points.”

“… It could be dangerous.”

“I’m not asking you to start immediately. We’ll secure fresh creatures, create facilities to kill them safely without significant damage, ensure protective gear against residual radiation—”

“To start with, you were just asking whether I’m up to the task?”

“Yes.”

“… Adequate environment, tools, time, and the more people involved, the better. If the process proceeds under such conditions, I’ll gladly take on the task.”

We’ve secured the nod on this matter as well.

It was important.

Forcing someone to do tasks they dislike can lead to intentional inefficiencies or even deliberate sabotage.

“So, first and foremost, making the assigned medical room truly function as one should come first.”

“You’re right.”

“I feel somehow lighter now. I was a bit anxious before. Everyone, especially Mr. Xuan Woo, seemed so busy running around.”

“From tomorrow onward, that shouldn’t be an issue anymore, so you can rest assured.”

“Aha, ha.”

Seeing her smile and relaxed expression made me feel a weight had been lifted.

And then—

“Oh, by the way… did I interrupt something?”

“Something like what?”

“I was wondering why you came to the shower. Were you looking for me? Or Ms. Sarah?”

“Not exactly… Ms. Sarah told me I smelled bad, so I came here to clean up.”

“Smell? Hmm… does it seem like your normal smell?”

After stepping closer and lightly sniffing twice, Ms. Dieterich tilted her head and said—

“Yes… I’m not sure. There’s nothing particularly unusual.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. Your usual slightly sour sweat smell, mixed with the fishy water from working around sewage, the earthy scent, and… something heavier pressing on my nose, but otherwise the same.”

—Wait.

Am I really that pungent?

“Otherwise, it’s just your usual scent.”

“…”

—Creeak.

Momentarily stunned, a door to the side opened.

Mr. James, squinting his eyes and rubbing his cheeks, suddenly—

“Choofh… Huh?! Keck! Hu-uhk!!”

Started coughing violently and clutched his nose with both hands.

—Oh no.

“What? What’s wrong?”

“The smell, ghhh… Kueck, kehkk…”

With flailing hands, Mr. James turned and fled.

Contrastingly, Mr. Curtis remained calm, gently sniffing once or twice, before saying—

“Ah, memories indeed?”

“Memory? What do you mean, Mr. Curtis?”

“The smell of trenches. This reminds me exactly of that trench smell right after we won a fierce battle—starting with the smell of wet clay… Hm…”

So now, it’s the trench smell.

Oh no.

“Well, you’ve gone through much. Go clean up quickly.”

After patting my back twice, he wiped his hands on the wall, an action that hurt my heart.

Should I have taken the shower earlier before speaking?

And—

“… Tch.”

Apparently, Sarah’s attraction level has dropped quite significantly, as she walked away with a single mocking laugh.

Who would’ve thought that I’d experience this kind of depression due to low hygiene.

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