“I’m worried,” Harry declared. “It’s not like he is doing a bad thing, but I’m worried about Ethan’s mental state.
A week had passed since Harry’s mom, which name was Sandra, and his sister Sabrina had arrived. During that week, they worked a lot, and they even managed to find a group of five survivors. But that was just the first step; they couldn’t only bring them; they also had to help them to grow stronger to survive. Besides, everyone had to pay to stay in the hotel. So, for the past few days, they studied the map on the ceiling and worked together to become stronger.
The progress was good so far; all of them could handle two rats at the same time. But they were still short-handed. Besides, ranged fighters like Ethan, Rose, and Claire were rare. Everyone could change their weapons, but they also had to consider their skills. So it was hard for a person who obtained a melee weapon to change for a ranged one.
To discuss those kinds of questions, Harry, Rose, Sarah, Claire, Sandra, and Sabrina would talk in the lobby every night.
“Well,” Claire said while showing an annoyed expression.” He’s just a kid, so he is acting like that because of some stupid reason. As far as I know, he always acted like that.
“Come to think of it,” Harry said, looking very interested. “You trained where he worked, right? I mean, I know he doesn't talk much, but to me, he seemed very passionate about reuniting with his family. Why suddenly would he lose the interest? Considering his reactions, it didn’t seem like they died.
“Yeah,” Claire said after a sigh. “As far as I can remember, he always acted like that. The other members of the archery session always tried to make him join us, just for the fun of it since he was young and unusually quiet. But he refused every single time like our sport was just a waste of time, and like he had something more important in mind.”
“I see,” Harry said with his right hand on his chin. “What do you think, Rose? You are studying psychology, after all.
“I’m still studying,” Rose said. “Or at least I was, so I’m not a doctor in the area yet. But his actions just prove that he lost interest in this situation and he is just killing monsters because he has nothing better to do. And for many reasons, this is very dangerous.”
“I was looking at him on the day he transferred his evolution coins to Harry,” Sarah declared. “At first, he looked pretty happy and surprised. But then I saw a mix of many emotions on his face. Like happiness, sadness, and anger.”
“If that’s the case,” Rose said after thinking for a while. “Then, probably his family is alive, and they are all together, that explains why he was happy. As for sadness and anger, he was sad because he was still alone. And angry… probably because he considered that they had abandoned him.”
Rose’s words put everyone around in an uncomfortable mood; after all, Ethan always praised his parents and siblings. And according to his words, they weren’t the type to abandon another member of the family. But that was a fact, and they didn’t couldn’t think of a good reason for them to do that kind of thing.
“They managed to reunite in four days,” Harry said. “But one week already passed and Ethan is still here. Something happened in their area, and that made them give up on the idea of bringing him to their side, or they simply didn’t want to do it? Come to think of it, Ethan said that he had been living by himself since he was sixteen. That’s a little abnormal, considering that he always praise them.
“Well,” Rose said. “In this kind of situations, it’s better if we wait for him until he wants to talk about it. Until then, we have to give him something to do and make sure not to let him alone.”
“We have many things to do,” Harry said thoughtfully. “Look for more survivors, check good hunting grounds to obtain as much evolution coins as possible, and eventually leave the city to see the condition of the nearby cities.”
“This kind of activity won’t make him interact with other people,” Sandra said. “Why don’t you tell him to protect the new survivors while they are training against the mutant cats? While he does that, you three can look for other survivors in other places. If Sabrina, who is younger than him, go too, I’m sure that he will feel more comfortable.
“That’s a good idea, mom,” Harry said excitedly. “What do you say, Sabrina?”
“He is your friend, right?” Sabrina said, smiling. “In that case, he should be a good person. I can help him; after all, he helped us too.”
“Then, it’s settled,” Harry said already imagining Ethan saying yes. “When he returns, I’ll tell him.”
“Let’s hope that he won’t refuse,” Claire said while scratching her head.
“Of course he won’t refuse,” Harry said while laughing. “He is a guy who won’t refuse to help those who need help.
Sandra and Sabrina agreed with Harry, but Rose, Sarah, and Claire didn’t share their opinion. They knew Ethan was somewhat troublesome to handle and things wouldn’t go that smoothly.
Like the last few days, Ethan arrived at the hotel when everyone was already sleeping, and he left before sunrise. But Harry already knew that he would do that, so he waited for three hours in the lobby before dawn. However, he almost didn’t saw him, because Harry was sleepy and Ethan moved quietly. In the end, Ethan got caught, and he clicked his tongue in annoyance. Because Harry always appeared to cause him trouble. After Ethan heard Harry’s explanation, he immediately said.
“Why should I do this? Just give me one good reason.”
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For a moment, Harry didn’t know what to say, but luckily, the perfect answer came to mind.
“Because it’s more efficient,” Harry explained. “We can train the new survivors and bring new ones to this place. Look, I know that you want to get stronger, but a single stronger person can’t solve all problems. However, how about ten somewhat strong persons? They’ll be more useful, right? Besides, it’s getting harder to break our limits, so it’s best if we raise the overall power of our group.”
Again Ethan clicked his tongue because that was a good reason. With other strong survivors in the hotel, they will be able to solve many problems, and that would help him in the long run. Besides, it wasn’t like he wanted to be the strongest. He just didn’t have anything better to do. And since in the last years he did everything by himself, he would rather continue in doing all things by himself.
“Don’t worry,” Harry said while tapping his shoulder. “You don’t have to do this, every day, once every two days is fine.”
“What? Hell no! I’ll do it once a week, and nothing will change my mind.”
In the end, Harry convinced him in helping with the new survivor’s training once three days, although he clicked his tongue again.
For Ethan, it was a pain in the ass, but he didn’t have any choice but to wait for three hours for the new survivors' group. However, to his annoyance, he had to wait for five hours. Sabrina arrived one hour after sunrise, and she barely could muster the courage to give Ethan good morning after seeing his angry face. The other survivors couldn’t even look at him in the eye, even though all of them were older than him. But Ethan was the guy who always appeared in the hotel covered with blood; it would be wise to not mess with him. But even so, he didn’t say a word. He didn’t even lead them; he only followed them from behind. However, Ethan was focused on the job, he saw the apprehensive face of Sandra when her daughter left the hotel, and because of that, he was determined not to let a single one of them die.
At first, the survivors didn’t know what to do; after all, Harry and the others always lead them. But even though she was only fifteen years old, Sabrina took the command and guided them to the area where they always fought against the mutant cats. Her brother said that Ethan could be trusted, so she didn’t have to worry about ambushes and the like. She only had to worry about getting stronger and obtaining evolution coins.
Sabrina's skill was inducing fear, with that skill she could paralyze a target for a certain amount of time after attacking it. The duration of the fear would change according to the enemy, and against the mutant cats, she could stop them for a second. However, that skill only could be used against the same opponent every ten seconds. But, it didn’t cost a lot of MP, so she was good at controlling a significant number of enemies.
But even with such useful skill, they didn't fight very well even in a battle of six against one. Maybe it was because Sabrina was the only one who could attack from some distance, or it was because the survivors were too afraid. Because of that, their attacks didn’t have enough power to cause a lot of damage. So their battles always took a long time to end, and they always suffered many wounds. However, Ethan didn’t step in a single time to help them. Thanks to that, the survivors began to glare at him.
“Excuse me, Mister Ethan,” Sabrina said with a troubled face. “When do you plan to help us?”
“Who the hell is Mister Ethan? I’m just eighteen… my job isn’t to help you guys, is to keep you safe from ambushes.”
“But,” Sabrina hesitated. “We are having a hard time against these monsters.”
“So what? Do you guys think that always someone will appear to help when you need?”
The problem wasn’t their power or anything else, the problem was their lack of resolve, and Ethan knew it. Those five stayed inside their homes and almost starved because they didn’t have the courage to fight. Except for the rats' meat, all monster meat could be eaten. Anyone could see that just by looking. Not only that, since Harry’s group has helped them, they thought that they would always be supported. Help others with the city in this situation was the right thing to do, but everything has a limit, and anyone would abandon a dead weight. The plan to reunite the survivors wasn’t an act of charity; it was a plan to make the city safer again, and everyone would have to fight to make that reality.
“You guys understand that if I help you, all of you will receive fewer evolutions orbs and coins, right? And that will only bring you problems in the long run.”
Ethan wasn’t good with words, so he just stopped there. There was no point in saying the obvious to those who can’t understand such a simple thing. But to his surprise, they began to fight a little better. After all, no one wanted to be protected forever. That said, they still had a long way ahead of them. Because at the end of that day, all of them had at least one broken bone.
When they returned to the hotel, Claire sighed while Harry, Rose, and Sarah became speechless. On the other hand, Sandra looked at Ethan reproachfully. She still felt great gratitude towards him, but that wouldn’t stop her from thinking and saying what she wanted.
“What happened?” Harry asked.
“Absolutely nothing.”
“How did they get so hurt like that if nothing happened?” Sandra asked with her arms crossed.
“Probably because I didn’t help them, I only fought when two or more mutant cats appeared.”
Claire shrugged, while the others covered their faces with their hands. But Sandra still wasn’t done talking.
“Why?” Sandra said, showing a lot of anger. “A single mistake and they could have died.”
“They wouldn’t die, most of them broke their physical limits more than twice, and they could endure a hit or two. Besides, what is the purpose of their training if someone has to always look after them? Will they always be protected and helped?”
“Even so,” Sandra stepped forward. “At the beginning, everyone has to be helped. Only after obtaining some combat experience they'll be able to fight alone.”
Ethan was beginning to feel annoyed, but he decided to keep calm and answer with the due respect. After all, she was older than him.
“And when the beginning will end? We only have met a few kinds of monsters so far, who knows what we will find in the other parts of the city or even outside? All of us have to train to fight any enemy that appears before us. We have to train our bodies and also our minds, to face and defeat any threat.”
Ethan had a point; everyone acknowledged his words, even the wounded group of survivors. But they also knew that he was too harsh; he had to find a middle ground between efficiency and growth.
“But since all of you seem to disagree with me, I guess I’m in the wrong here. Next time, try to be my specific with my function, if you give the order, I’ll try my best to bring them back without even a scratch. Although I think that will be difficult.”
“Then, why didn’t you do that from the start?” Claire asked. “Too many people had already died, and too many are still suffering. There’s no need to shed more blood or tears.”
“… I guess you are right, I had learned on the hard way, so I thought everyone else would only learn in a hard way. Sorry guys, next time I’ll help more. Now if you excuse me, I’m going to sleep.”
Sabrina and the survivors suddenly felt very awkward since Ethan didn’t even blink when they got hurt, see him apologizing was very weird for them. Also, Harry and the others felt stranger; at first, it seemed like he left them got hurt to make them stronger. But at some point, it looked like he only did that, for the others feel what he felt when he fought and got hurt alone. And in the end, it looked like he didn’t care anymore.
“As I thought,” Rose said. “We have to keep an eye on him.”