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“Leila,” Mathew called out once he stood up from Norbert’s unconscious body.

“Yeah?” the girl raised her head. Yet, even when she prepared to listen to Mathew, she didn’t stop digging her heel into Stephen’s back.

“His system only allows him to empower himself,” Mathew revealed. “That and influence the things that are seemingly random,” he explained.

“What do you mean by that?” Leila asked while leaning her head to the side. It was only a small change of her head’s position, yet it accented the confusion that flashed behind her eyes. “The second part, I mean,” she specified.

“He might be able to influence things that are up to chance,” Mathew elaborated a little. “I only used that ability once, so I can’t be sure about its scope. I wouldn’t be personally too worried about it too much… But be aware that he might somehow call for the surviving zombies to swarm this place,” Mathew pointed out.

“So it can influence things that don’t have intelligence?” Leila scratched the side of her head with the same hand she was holding her weapon in.

Mathew gulped down his saliva when the blade of Leila’s machete waved dangerously close to the girl’s face.

‘Huh?’ Mathew suddenly shrugged when he noticed his own feelings. ‘Do I actually care about her?’ he asked himself, puzzled by this sudden discovery.

Save for Nadia, Mathew’s relationship with the other girls was pretty ambiguous.

Sure, they slept together and cooperated… but that was basically the end of it. In a sense, friends with benefits would be the most fitting name for who they were to each other, and even the friends part could be disputed given how little they knew themselves.

‘There is no denying it. I was worried about her,’ Mathew thought. He then shook his head and forcefully put his mind on another track.

“I’m not sure if the scope of what he can do is limited to just other beings. Just like he made us forget his name, there is a chance he might influence our own actions again,” Mathew pointed out once his mind focused on the topic at hand.

“So, what do you want me to do?” Leila asked, confusion replacing all the other emotions on her face. “Can’t we just kill him?” she suggested while shrugging her shoulders.

“We can,” Daria suddenly joined the conversation, “but we shouldn’t,” she added.

“And why is that?” Leila leaned her head to the other side. This time, however, her raised right eyebrow made it clear she wasn’t just confused.

Right now, Leila was in confrontation mode.

“Because we will turn killing into something normal,” Daria replied in a low, shaky voice.

“Weren’t we killing zombies left and right already?” Leila asked while crossing her hands over her chest.

“It’s not the same,” Nadia joined the discussion after she could no longer hold herself back. “Zombies are already dead. You could say we are doing them a favor by putting them down,” she stated. Her eyes then moved to the back of Stephen’s head. “This guy, on the other hand, as despicable as he might be…” she took a moment to fight off her hesitation, “he is still alive.”

“I don’t really think he values his life all that much,” Mathew finally joined in on the discussion as well. “Assuming my belief of the kind of system one receives depending on their personality or wish, he doesn’t really see any real value in his life. That’s why killing him wouldn’t be that much of a punishment,” Mathew stated.

“Dear…” Nadia muttered, only to take a step forward and grab Mathew’s hand. She then wrapped her arms around his arm, pressing her chest against his shoulder. “Do you want to say that back in your first life…”

“Yeah,” Mathew replied before the girl could even finish voicing her guess. “All I cared about, back then, was keeping you alive. Well, I was in a pretty dark spot then, so I would rather not talk about it too much.”

‘There is no point in talking about how little I cared about myself in the past. While explaining how I only saw any value in my own being when I could use it to help Nadia could make her value herself, even more, it’s not something that she would be happy to hear,’ the young man thought.

“Sure thing,” Nadia whispered, only to rub her face against the side of Mathew’s shoulder. “Well then, if you don’t want to kill him, how do you want to make him suffer?” she then asked in a tone befitting someone asking for tomorrow’s weather. “Or no, don’t tell me,” Nadia added as she averted her eyes. “I think I can guess it.”

‘And so we are stepping on the minefield,’ Mathew thought, opting to ignore the topic rather than taking his chances on it. ‘Still, I can only push it away for so long. Sooner or later, we will have to talk about Carol,’ Mathew thought before shaking his head and pulling away from the corner of the room.

“Daria, I will leave observing this fucker to you,” Mathew said before turning his eyes to Daria’s partner. “As for you, just in case he attempts to escape, feel free to cut his throat or something,” he added when his eyes locked on Leila.

“Yes, sir!” Leila said while a smile returned to her lips. She then raised her hand and put the side of her blade to her forehead in some kind of weird salute.

“Where did you get that gesture from, dune movie?” Mathew asked, recalling one of the old cinema classics.

“Does it matter?” the girl smiled playfully. “It’s cool, isn’t it?” she added as she openly grinned.

“And we will leave it at that,” Mathew replied, raising his hand to hide his chuckle.

“You didn’t give me any orders,” Nadia pointed out when the two of them moved out of the classroom and headed deeper into the corridor.

“That’s because I want you by my side,” Mathew revealed without even a moment of hesitation.

“As a bodyguard?” Nadia asked, pressing the topic while a flirty smile appeared on her cute face.

“As a lover, to experience something that we strived to do throughout the day,” Mathew corrected the girl’s guess. Yet, before Nadia could enjoy the acknowledgment for long, Mathew raised his hand and rubbed his cheek with his finger. “And well, I’m going to use a merchant to I need someone to keep me safe while at it,” he added.

“Figures,” Nadia commented softly, only to rub herself closer to Mathew’s side anyway. “So we are going to get the merchant and then set this fortress that you were speaking about up?”

“That’s right,” Mathew replied, only to put a stop to their journey when he finally reached the location of the merchant.

Yet, contrary to his previous experiences with all the merchants, there wasn’t any in the spot where Mathew summoned his second one several hours prior.

“Did he move it?” Mathew muttered, looking around. ‘Should I call Daria here?’ he then thought, acknowledging the possibility that Stephen simply hid the merchant instead of somehow changing its location.

“What happened?” Nadia asked, confused about why they suddenly took a stop in a completely random spot of the corridor.

“There should be a merchant here,” Mathew explained. He then freed his right arm from the girl’s grasp and waved it in front of him. “Like, right he…”

The shadows surged all over the young man, throwing him to the familiar shadowy realm of the second merchant. Yet, contrary to the complex and information-oriented interface he could experience in the third merchant or the complete emptiness of the first one, the realm of the second merchant was actually filled with stuff.

“Welcome back,” a mechanical voice sounded as soon as the world around the young man stabilized and gained colors.

And just like several hours ago, Mathew appeared in the middle of what could only be explained as a massive shopping floor of some kind of a mall.

“Hello,” Mathew said as a small smile surfaced on his lips. “Since I’m here, am I safe to assume I now control you again?” Mathew asked.

Sadly, the welcome was the only part of the process that was extraordinary. And just like Mathew could expect, the merchant was clearly unwilling to give him any answers… That is, as long as Mathew wasn’t going to pay for them with cores!

“I guess I can only assume I am right now,” Mathew finally waved his hand once he was done waiting for the answer. “I wish to leave, then,” he added, only for the shadows to surge again and then recede from the young man’s proximity.

“…ere…” Mathew’s voice finished the very word he uttered before stumbling upon the merchant.

“Is it done?” Nadia asked, slightly bewildered by the weird pause in Mathew’s voice.

“It is done,” Mathew replied, only to turn around and look Nadia in the face. “And now, we shall go back to the ground floor to finally raise this damned fortress!”

“It feels kind of surreal,” Nadia admitted as she once again wrapped herself against Mathew’s arm, shamelessly pushing her soft attributes against his shoulder.

“To be done with this job?” Mathew asked, not really sure what the girl was talking about.

“Yeah.” Nadia nodded her head. “It was supposed to take only a moment, but then more and more troubles continued to appear…” she explained, only to cut her words short and shake her head. “And now that we are about to get it done, I don’t feel like anything will change,” she revealed and turned her head to the side, refusing to look Mathew in the face.

“That’s perfectly normal,” Mathew replied, ignoring Nadia’s hesitation and pulling her towards the staircase instead. “And there is only one way to fight this weird feeling,” he added, only to purse his lips and put a mysterious smile on his face.

“And what might that be?” Nadia inquired while raising her eyes on Mathew once again.

“It’s to actually do it,” Mathew revealed, only to focus on descending the stairs, heading straight for the merchant where he could raise his desired fortress at.