Daz walked right up to Heather and pushed his hand out towards her. She broke free from her earlier daze and stared at him with a curious look in her eyes.
"It's called a handshake," Daz said with some slight annoyance to his voice. He also seemed slightly embarrassed. Heather nodded and grabbed his hand still with an unsure expression on her beautiful face.
"I'm Daz. I'm sorry for throwing you into the door earlier. I went a little bit too far. I could have killed you. It's just that my Golem means a lot to me. I know you didn't know about that, hence why I'm sorry. Can you forgive me?" Daz asked with a genuine tone.
'I never was one to get angry easily, so why did I get triggered so easily back there? That was so stupid of me,' he thought.
Heather's sweat-covered face formed a smile and she replied after parting her hand from Daz's, "I'm Heather, but you already knew that somehow, and of course. You've saved our lives. What kind of person wouldn't forgive you under these circumstances?" After saying that, Heather suddenly collapsed.
The six other survivors also started to collapse. "What the hell... oh, the infection? You guys!" Daz shouted so that all seven of them could hear him.
"Repeat after me, 'System, please give me the basic Zombie infection cure and basic body recovery gel', then when prompted, say 'confirm'!" Daz shouted to them. They were all, thankfully, conscious, so they all did as he requested, even if they thought it might not be good to listen to him, their worry over their own lives was more than strong enough to listen to his orders.
A few moments later, they all slowly started getting up and looked at Daz with both confusion and appreciation in their eyes. "We were infected?" the man with the hoe asked with uncertainty.
"Yup, now let's hurry back to the rooftop. I'm sure a bunch of the other survivors got bit or scratched or whatever else. We don't want them turning into Zombies, now do we?" Daz asked seriously before he started running back to the store. The survivors' faces paled over and they ran after him, even if they were currently very exhausted.
Once up there, thankfully, no one had turned into a Zombie yet and everyone had just enough points to cure themselves, even if they weren't exhibiting any signs of being infected, Heather didn't want any of them taking chances since there were a few children with them.
"What do we do now, Heather?" a mother cradling her daughter who looked roughly four or five years old asked. "We have no food and we need to sleep... w-what do we do?" she continued with anxiety clear in her voice.
Several similar questions came in a flurry towards Heather, and she looked lost. 'What do I say here? Obviously, we need to join Lyle and Daz, but how can I ask them to shelter us in their 'base' after how much they've helped us already?' Heather thought in despair.
"Lyle, do you think now would be a good time?" Daz whispered to Lyle as he stretched his right arm, glad to be able to feel it again.
"My Lord, I think it might be wise if you were the one to make the offer. They don't trust you thanks to what you did to Heather, and it also doesn't help that you just slaughtered thousands of monsters. Even if you helped them, they are afraid, my Lord. So please, use your charisma and show them the hope that is your very existence," Lyle whispered back with eagerness.
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"Mmm, that's a bit creepy, Lyle, but you're right," Daz replied. he then walked forward, drawing the attention of the survivors and putting a stop to the torrent of questions that were being thrown at Heather.
"Hello, everyone. As my... advisor has already told you, I'm Daz. I was angry and in a hurry earlier hence my actions against Heather. I've already apologised and received her forgiveness for that incident, but that's not why I've decided to talk to you all right now," Daz said as a light introduction.
"W-What do you want?" the mother from earlier asked with her terror clear for all to see.
Daz looked around for a moment and noticed that at least two-thirds of the survivors were afraid of him. 'How troublesome. System, give me a deep host clean, please. I doubt that the fact that I'm covered in blood is helping me right now,' Daz requested via his thoughts.
Confirmed. [Deep Host Clean] Price 10 merit points.
Confirm purchase?
After confirming and seeing his merit points go down by ten points, a flash of light covered him and after a few moments, it left. Daz's armour and skin were now completely clean, revealing his average looks and muscled body for all to see.
"Sorry, I forgot I was covered in blood," Daz said with an embarrassed smile.
"Oi, how did you do that, kiddo?" the man with the hoe asked Daz. Clearly, he was quite interested.
"Oh, right, if you want to clean yourselves, ask the system to give you a 'deep host clean'. It only costs ten points, so it's practically free. I'd suggest it. Hygiene is important, especially if any of you have any cuts or open wounds," Daz said. After that, all of the survivors brought a deep host clean and the children were guided through how to do so by their parents as they were with the Zombie infection cure.
Everyone now looked at Daz in a slightly more favourable light. It certainly helped that he, like them, looked like nothing more than an ordinary person if you ignored his travelling gear of Altros. Sometimes, being average-looking was an advantage.
"So, as I was saying, I wanted to offer you all a place to live in safety. I have a base, the old skip site on the north side of the city. With the help of the system and my own merit points, I've created a small fortress fit with sturdy stone walls and two ballistae designed to kill. I have some food, previously donated by members of the public, that will last us a few days. I can get food from the system starting from tomorrow afternoon as well. If you choose to come with me and become my citizens, I'll be more than willing to shoulder the responsibility of your daily attacks. All I would ask in return is that you help my base grow in any way possible, that's all. As I said, I'll handle all of the attacks by myself or with people willing to help. I will not force anyone to do any fighting. So, what do you say?" Daz said with an inspiring smile.
'Truly, a natural leader. Why he doesn't enjoy being so charismatic all the time, I doubt I'll ever know,' Lyle thought with an approving nod to Daz's speech.
"He has food..." a young boy who looked roughly nine-years-old murmured. Soon after, everyone else began whispering to each other and discussing things. It didn't take long for them to come to a decision, so Heather approached Daz.
"We've decided to join you. Please take us back with you. You really do have food, don't you?" Heather asked as she gently rubbed her stomach. Apparently, their group hadn't eaten since the start of the attack.
"Of course we do. As many tinned beans and various foods as you can fit in your mouth," Daz said with a laugh. after that, the group of forty-eight, Daz and Lyle included, made their way back to the base after finishing up their business at the store.