I was astonished, and Claire noticed it, what were the odds of me, the only person who had met Martin find Claire, his cousin? Come to think of it, if all the population was separated in one hundred zones, what was the probability of Henry, Rose, and Sarah end up in the same zone? Pretty low, I guess. But, even so, I had to confirm my suspicions.
“Do you have a cousin called Martin?”
“Yes,” Claire answered frowning. “Yes, but how did you know?”
“Here, it belonged to him.”
I intended to keep his crossbow with me since there was a remote chance of me one day returning the weapon, but instead of me, the crossbow should stay with his family. That’s why I gave the crossbow to Claire.
“What?” Claire asked astonished. “Did he die?”
“Yes, I met him on the day this city became crazy. We walked together for some time, but on the third day, he died. I saw with my own eyes. I’m sorry.”
Claire lost the strength on her legs, and she fell on the floor. That surprised me a little. If I remember well, Martin said that she hated him. Well, maybe she didn’t hate him as much as he thought.
“How?” Claire asked.
“He got ambushed by some criminals while he was looking by his aunt. At least those criminals are already dead and won’t cause any more troubles.”
That house he died was probably her house or at least the house she spent most of her youth. But she didn’t need to know that.
“Thank you for telling me,” Claire said and then she left, showing a shocked expression.
I probably shouldn’t have told that at least not so soon, after all, she woke up a few hours ago and almost died. I guess that I’m also impulsive with my mouth. I need to train my big mouth too.
After a few minutes, I heard steps again, but it was Harry’s steps. He looked a little more relaxed, but I saw a glint of determination in his eyes.
“Sorry, Ethan.” Said Harry showing a weak smile. “I didn’t even thank you, did I?”
“No problem, I was just repaying those who helped me once. I still owe you one, when you need some help, just ask, as long as don’t make me lost a lot of time. I’ll lend you a hand.”
“Then, I have something to ask, and this won’t make you waste your time,” Harry said that and then his smile disappeared. “Let’s fight against some monsters; I don’t want to waste time anymore. I want to become stronger, and I want to bring my mother and my little sister to my side as soon as possible.
He was different from the last time I saw him, his depression was long gone, but his usual carefree self didn’t return entirely either.
“Are you sure this is a good time to leave those two?”
“Sarah is sleeping,” Harry answered, still determined. “And she said that it would talk a while for Rose to wake up. It is a perfect time.”
“That wasn’t what I was asking.”
“They are safe here since no one can use weapons or skills,” Harry declared. “Besides, I asked Claire to look after them while I’m gone.”
That was new information for me, but if that was the case, then I don’t have to worry about the kids and Claire. In my opinion, Harry should stay with them as much as possible, but I could understand why he was so eager to get strong. After all, what happened in this zone can also occur in the others. That was why it was the best choice to hunt the monsters as much as possible, that way this zone will become safer, we would get stronger, and we also would reunite with our families faster. Rose and Sarah would, without a doubt, understand that.
“You have a point, in that case, let’s fight until nightfall.”
“Before that,” Harry hesitated. “What happened to them?”
“They are all dead; they won’t bother anyone anymore.”
“I see,” Harry said with his head down. “Sorry to make you dirty your hands. How are you holding up?”
“Someone would have to do it, and I’m mostly fine. That won’t make me lose sleep, not much at least.”
Since I only looked at the eye of the bald criminal before his death, only his last moments were making me feel like a monster. The others didn’t bother me, but my actions bothered me. I killed them without even blink; I didn’t hesitate even for a second. Indeed I was trying to rescue Rose and Sarah, but even so, a reasonable person would hesitate.
I was pretty sure Harry was feeling something similar; in his case, he did it in self-defense, he had even fewer motives to feel worse than me. But nothing was so simple; the city changed, maybe it’ll never return to normal. We have to do what we must to survive, even if we also have to change ourselves and become something else.
For the rest of the day, we fought all the monsters we could encounter near the hotel. Finding them was pretty easy, thanks to the radar and my senses. To me, the most beneficial enemies to kill were the fish, but Harry couldn’t do anything against them, besides, to find more of them I would have to move away from the hotel. So instead, we fought only against the purple frogs and the mutant cats.
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Harry improved a lot in the last few days, now he could fully block the charge of a mutant cat, and he also could kill the purple frogs in a few hits. Our job would have been a lot easier if he had created another weapon, but he didn’t. He said that he only would do that after bringing his mother and sister to this area.
Fortunately for us, we didn’t encounter any troublesome monsters. But we managed to obtain a lot of evolution coins, just one thousand more and I would be able to bring one of them. And according to Harry, soon he would be able to do the same because using the statue, Rose and Sarah gave him all their evolution coins.
Before sunset, we returned to the hotel, and the lobby was crowded with people. Some people would say the place was lively, but in my opinion, it was just noisy.
But I didn’t see any new faces: only Rose, Sarah, Claire, Frank, and the other kids. Rose looked pretty haggard, but she forced a smile after she saw Harry. Before she could even speak, Harry hugged her, and again he made that promise again. Rose smiled, and with a tired face, she looked at me.
“Thank you, Ethan,” Rose said, “Sarah told me what you did for us.”
“No need to thank me, now we are even.”
Rose smiled again like she knew that I would say that. Be friendly was good and all, but that was making me feel itchy. Even Sarah smiled at me and just made me feel uncomfortable, where did go all that fear and distrust they showed to me? Well, I guess by having allies who trust me will make things easy for me. Since the kids were bored, Harry, Rose, and Sarah played with them a little before they went to their room. After that, Claire created some toys to them, but to my surprise, Frank was interested in the toys. He looked to be thinking about something, and he seemed pretty serious for a kid.
“Good evening,” Claire said, forcing a smile. “It seems that you like a lot to fight against those monsters.”
When she was with the kids, she looked pretty happy. But I noticed she was sadder than before. She probably discovered some bad news using the statue.
“Not really, if I had the choice, I would rather not leave this place even for a second.”
“Rose and Sarah told me about your objectives,” Claire said with her head down.” They told me that you want to bring your family to your side. Even though you are a rude brat, you are very loyal. And very lucky.”
“I guess I’m lucky.”
I didn’t even have to ask; she probably lost all her relatives. And unlike me, she knew that it was virtually impossible to bring them back. Besides, she also had to take care of the kids. Since she killed so many powerful monsters thanks to her incredible skill with the bow, they will be fine for a while.
“What are you going to do from now on?”
“The only thing that I can do,” Claire answered this time with a genuine smile.” Look after my students.”
“Do you best then and don’t make any more mistakes, you caused me a huge headache. Look after some brats it’s too much of a pain.”
Claire got angry, but soon she smiled again, but this time, she showed a mischievous smile.
“Oh yeah? “Claire said with an annoying smile. “Even though you caused such a good impression on the kids and look very worried about them? In fact, Frank now wants to fight too, thanks to you. He said: I want to fight to protect Miss Claire and my classmates like the scare looking brother!”
After that, Claire laughed very loudly. That damn brat, I’m not his brother, I’m not scary looking either, maybe just a bit. But that conversation was making me feel itchy again since, in my entire life, I rarely got praised for my actions. But that explains why Frank looked so thoughtful and serious. Claire was probably troubled with that idea; eventually, the kids would fight to protect themselves. However, it was too soon, besides it was just too shameful for us to let the kids fight.
“Well, maybe he and the other kids can fight without putting his life in danger.”
“Really?” Claire asked, showing a lot of surprise in her face. “How?”
“I don’t know; you are a teacher; you are obviously smarter than me. Just think about something crazy and create it using the statue. Let’s see, how about a drone that can shoot arrows? Create a joystick to control the drone, a screen in the joystick to see what the drone can see, and it’s done.”
That’s pretty a good idea actually; maybe I should create one for myself. But probably it’ll consume too much MP; if the kids only break their mental limit eventually, it’ll be highly effective. But because I’m focusing on track the enemies with the sensorial limit that probably will be useless to me.
“That’s an interesting idea,” Claire hesitated. “But I still feel reluctant in letting the kids do this kind of job. Even if they will be safe and if they won’t be able to see the blood.”
“Well, no need to do this right now. We are shorthanded, but we aren’t that desperate, not much at least. If you can find a better solution, then do it. Anyway, I’m tired. I’m going to sleep.”
“You are right, thank you,” Claire said.
Since the kids weren’t tired enough, I decided to sleep in a room on the other side of the building to avoid their noise. At first, I considered about asking Claire to train me or even transfer to me some of her evolution coins as compensation, but I dismissed the idea. She would need the evolution coins to look after the kids, and I shouldn’t take away from the kids the only person who was almost a parent to them. She should use all her time for them.
That night, I slept like a rock. As soon I threw myself on the bed, I fell asleep, and I only wake up when the sun was rising. And as soon as I opened the door I saw Harry, he was already ready and waiting for me.
“For how long have you been waiting?”
“Five minutes, I guess,” Harry answered.
“You creeped me out; next time wait for me in the lobby.”
Even though I mean it sincerely, Harry just laughed. I was a bit sleepy, but a bottle of lemonade did the job to wake me up and put me on alert. Since Harry already had breakfast, we soon left the hotel.
Another day passed smoothly, again we only faced small fries, but around noon, I finally had ten thousand evolution coins. However, Harry still needed more five hundred, so I kept quiet until he also had the necessary amount.
As fast as we could, we ran back to the hotel. And inside of it all of them were waiting for us again. That would be a good moment; after all, it was the first sign that we all could survive and resist whatever could happen. However, I still didn’t know who to transport to this area, and I also could see that Harry was conflicted.
‘I guess I should transport Elly since she is the youngest.’
I wanted to transport equally both of my siblings to this area, but right I couldn’t. So I made that choice and probably no one could criticize me for that, unless the worst happens. But it was fine; I was a member of an incredible family. Just like my parents, my siblings were awesome, smart, and very athletic; they would survive anything.
Without wasting time, I touched the statue I opened the menu specials, and then I received a shock: all of them were in area 77.
“Amazing! Amazing! If I remember well, Dad was the only one in that area. How did he manage to that in just a few days? No, only the first one would take a while, but then with help, the job would be done faster.”
I felt relieved when I noticed that they were together and safe; I couldn’t expect any less from them. It would take a while, but they would solve all this chaotic situation. But soon, the feeling of awe disappeared. Instead, I began to feel conflicted, sad, and even angry. What was wrong with me? I was supposed to feel happy for them; it was insane to have those other feelings. But my mind was clouded with a single question.
“Why am I still alone?”