"Aunt Kiriko!"
"Kiriko-san!!"
I recover from the surprise but it seems that I am not the only one, after asking Rei's mother why she wanted to see an MLDW leader, Komuro and Saya intervene before she can answer me.
She turns her eyes from me to them and just smiles at them with a nod to greet they two, then her vision comes back to me and speaks.
"My first objective when coming here was to ask if you did not know anything about my daughter, but as you can see that I could fulfill it. Besides, since Rina-san already told me several things, I also wanted to know the status of the city and examine some of those things she has told me- "
"Mama, where have you been all this time? Why do you only come so far? I thought I would never see you again ... I was very worried about you and my dad... it's true! Dad, how is my Dad?"
Before the two of us could continue the conversation, Rei, who had calmed down a little, begins to question her mother about various topics. Then Kiriko-san knowing that in order to continue with our dialogue she first had to answer some of her daughter's questions, she focuses her attention on her.
It was understandable that Rei acted in this way due to the reunion with a loved one, so I simply smiled at her when she realizes that she had left me aside interrupting my conversation with her mother and that is why after she speaks shows me a little embarrassed face.
"Sorry Rei, I wanted to come quickly to find you but your father was one of those in charge of running the camp that was created in Kinato. Then several things happened and the situation there became somewhat complex, so I had to support your father.
Don't worry since he's fine, just that he has a lot of pressure on him for the other two damn camp leaders there.
It was until about two weeks ago that we saw columns of smoke coming from the direction of this city, because of this the concern we had for you became even greater and without being able to resist more to find out something about you, we both decided that I would come for see what happened in the city
Then when I arrived here a few days ago I met Rina-san's group, she told me that the place with the greatest chance to finding my daughter was this camp since it was the largest in this city, she also told me that this place was the one who had been in charge of directing the elimination of most zombies, so also being a little curious to see what kind of people ran this place then I came here for those reasons.
I should have said that I am a little surprised since more than a survival camp this place has more of a small town's appearance... besides it is very different from the camp in Kinato... as I must describe it? This place has more life than there "
"... We also heard that the government had created a camp there, but in the end, we decided that it was better to create ours than to go to Kinato... but perhaps it was not a bad choice since that place does not seem to be a paradise"
"...that place is far from being a paradise and you are right that perhaps your best decision was not to go there. Well, things were not so bad at first, but there were problems that caused the situation to become what it is like now, haa…. "
"…what things?"
As they started talking about things at the camp in Kinato, it was impossible not to get everyone's attention here, even the police captain who wanted to leave before, again took a place at the table... gossipy.
Seeing everyone's attention on her and hearing her daughter's question, she passes her gaze over everyone here as if she were considering whether she should tell those things... I had a bad feeling when I saw her face and this immediately comes true when she says her next words.
"... a week after all this began, the main cities of the country were bombed, this is because several generals considered those cities lost and the number of zombies in them was tens of millions... unfortunately also was confirmed the death of the prime minister in Tokyo for those attacks...
So now the chain of command fell and practically all the camps that were created are autonomous, the people with the greatest influence in these became the leaders and practically only care about the safety of the place where they are... "
"W-what ... t-they bombed the capital?"
"I-It can't be..."
"T-That's impossible!"
The news that she gives us practically makes everyone's jaw here fall to the floor... well, maybe it is not something so ridiculous... although they surely sacrificed many survivors in those places, they probably made them die more peacefully and prevented the tens of millions of zombies will gain more strength.
In addition, with so many zombies in the main cities, the possibility of surviving there was probably much less than for example here... there was also the fact that although they did not know it at that time, those places would have become perfect breeding grounds for zombies evolved.
They may not be able to surpass the power of a soul level 1 but surely in more densely populated places, easily there would now be E5 or E6 zombies.
"...Then after stopping receiving instructions from the high command, the leaders in the Kinato camp, no, maybe in all the camps... now each of them struggled to be the one with the greatest power in the place.
Kinato is currently separated by three powers, the first is the senior police officer of this entire region who was in charge of maintaining order in the camp, that person is your father, Rei.
The other is a politician who was the mayor of a nearby city of Kinato... he is a damn, but it is a shame that he knows how to hide his misdeeds well and has a lot of influence on normal citizens.
Finally, there is the Colonel in charge of directing the base that was there... he seems like a very serious person, but after he did not have to follow orders, he acted quite discreetly.
So I have a feeling that this guy is much more dangerous than the politician... he seems to be a rather ambitious person. Perhaps the only thing that stops him is that since the army is divided into several divisions and there are several people with a high enough rank who can face it, then he does not have the full support of all the soldiers to be able to act as he pleases "
We all listen carefully to his words and it really seems that the situation there is complicated, but I am not very surprised either since I had supposed that something like that could happen in those camps and that was why I did not want to go to those places.
"I understand that, but I'm a little intrigued why you say that this camp seems to have more life... citizens should not have suffered much from the power struggle between these three parties, I had also heard that there were enough food and few zombies in that place "
Being a little intrigued by the things I was listening to, I can't help interrupting the conversation between mother and daughter, although she also seemed to have said it so that we would all hear it more than just wanting to tell Rei these things, so this probably does not count as getting into in their reunion.
"As I said before, everything started very well at first. Since that place was mostly farms and open land, the population there was probably less than 50 thousand inhabitants, so it was not difficult to build a camp in that small town.
The military could eliminate the zombies that were a nuisance and threat to erect the camp, so everything is going well and as you say, the problem of the power struggle in the camp did not affect the normal citizens who took refuge there.
In that place, it gathered more than 50 thousand people who came from the surroundings and nobody was so dumb to gain the resentment and hatred of all of them, so it can be said that at first they had a good life. But unfortunately, that changed very soon...
The barns around the camp where most of the food was stored were invaded and practically emptied... "
"Eh? But mama, you didn't say that you all killed the zombies... no, even if appeared more of them, they could n't be since they just ignore those things and go after the living"
Did another group of people do it?
As Rei says the possibility that they were zombies was almost nil, in the case were them, they would most likely only block their access and not allow them to take the food. So I agree more with Kurisu's opinion that those who did it were other people, I honestly believe that they were too overconfident by not to collect things as soon as possible and leave them in the barns...
But apparently, our assumptions had not been right and when Kiriko-san tells us the response for this, we are a little surprised.
"No, the one who did it was another... because the main concern of the leaders was to be able to maintain their current position in the camp or not to be suppressed for the others, that issue of collecting the resources of the barns was neglected.
Unfortunately when we wanted to do this, it was too late ... all the barns we went, was plagued with large rats the size of a medium dog. Individually it may seem that they are not a big deal, but when dealing with thousands of them, it was hell... certainly, these fell by the bullets of the soldiers, the problem was that when they managed to get close to them, they showed us how dangerous their fangs and claws were.
So there was no choice but for the army to use heavy weaponry since it would be a big problem that their numbers continued to increase, but it was unfortunate that all they managed to do with that was to burn the barns and make the rats disperse.
That is why now although we do not have the zombies problem, everything around the camp is plagued with rats... and as if this was not enough to cause us problems, as the number of these huge rodents had increased, then also did the same its predators such as snakes or birds of prey and of course, these were also bigger than normal.
Those damn birds even have the ability to take a small child and the rats also constantly enter the camp creating chaos. This is why food in the camp is now scarce and we have a big problem with the wild animals of the area "
Shit, that really sounds very bad... although I must say that if I have to name a person responsible for this, then the leaders of that camp are the only ones I can blame and can only see them as idiots.
"You say that you all have problems with food, but those animals must be edible, right? As a normal person, it may be unpleasant to hear but I doubt that if a person is starving, he will make a complaint even if he has to eat one rat"
"Of course we have thought about that, but as I mentioned earlier these animals are not the same as before, yet many people have tried to hunt them using rudimentary weapons. Those who go and are lucky to find a few of these can return with some prey in their hands to feed their own.
Those who have bad luck will find a large number of these rats, so it will be the rats that return to their burrows with food for their young...
Before you ask me why the soldiers don't do that, I can only respond with what they have said. They cannot spend bullets or their military resources since they must be prepared in case a true emergency arises, but if you ask me the real reason, I believe that their leader only wants to avoid having lower casualties in their men than those already he has suffered.
But I can't blame him too much since when my husband's men tried to help a little with this, we discovered in a bad way how dangerous these rats are when you encounter a large number of them. Also, the amount of ammunition we have is much smaller than the soldiers, so that's why we had to give up on that. "
Fuck, being in such a situation should really wear a person out. You already have a problem in front of you, but you must also be constantly looking behind your back so that your partner does not stab you... I feel a little sorry for Rei's father.
"The environment in that camp I can only describe as very fucked up..."
"... children should not curse"
Finishing listening to what Kiriko-san says, involuntarily I end up expressing myself that way and then when she listening to me, frowns a little and lectures me… I ignore that and continue asking.
"Then Kiriko-san, what are your plans now that you've found your daughter?"
"... I have to return to Kinato soon, but I would appreciate if you can let me stay a little in this camp to rest from the trip to come here "
"Sure, you can stay as long as you want, after all, you are Rei's mother. Besides, I don't know when you plan to return, but this guy was the captain of this city and had planned to go to that place soon. I think he planned to look for your husband to get under his orders, so if both go together it will be safer for you and he will be able to fulfill his goal. "
The gossipy old man quickly gets up from his chair when he hears me and begins to introduce himself by a formally greeting police.
"Madam I am Captain Mukito, I thought it seemed familiar when I saw you a few moments ago, apparently I was not mistaken and you were the wife of the superior officer Miyamoto. As Alexander-san says, my group had planned to go to Kinato in a few days, it will be a pleasure to escort you there.
Besides, I didn't think the situation there was so bad, we will be very happy to be able to help the superior officer and be able to help him with whatever we can. "
"Hehehe, yes, they will go to Kinato when he finishes selling to all the people in their camp"
"Sell people?"
"T-That's ... I-It's not what it sounds like... I-It's compensation than the group of Alexander-san provides the other groups for rescuing survivors. Isn't it?"
When he hears me, he gets nervous and then after babbling a few seconds, he quickly looks for excuses. It was really fun to see him act this way, it was like watching a policeman whom someone saw him receive a bribe.
He wants to seek help for someone to confirm his words and then puts his eyes on me, but he should have known that I would probably just say something that puts him in an even worse situation and that is why he changes his vision towards the people in my group in the next second. It is a pity that before I could say something to have more fun, Rei is the one who answers.
"Alexander is just bothering the Captain Mukito, Mama. It's as he says and our camp offers some compensation if they bring survivors here."
"I see... if Captain Mukito is planning to go to Kinato, then I wish could join his group. It would certainly be much safer to go with several people than to have to go back on my own."
"Alexander, I have something else that I would like to talk to you about."
"Hmn?... what is Rina?"
Ghe, I had completely forgotten that she was here. Well, if she stays at the door without saying anything and silently, then it wasn't hard to think that this would happen.
"... Since the zombies do not represent many problems, several of the girls in our camp have wanted to join another one in which there are both genders in it... Hmnp, come on say it, I know you want to reply" I told you so "!...
Anyway, the normal girls of the camp agree to go through the normal process of entering here, but I and my companions who fight want to keep our weapons and move around by ourselves ... we don't want to receive orders from someone else "
"... that's a bit difficult to achieve. I need to talk to the other 3 leaders before I can decide something."
"It's okay"
With the first thing Rina says, a smile appears on my face and it makes her bother a little, but when she continues it disappears and I can only put on a serious face for her requests.
Probably if I accept their conditions the other 3 people will say nothing of this, but more than consulting with them I needed to think about this. I know that they probably want to keep their weapons because they feel safer that way, with that I have no problem since I would only have to name them as a soldier and that would be solved, but their second request prevents this...
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Hello everyone, I want to announce that now there is 3 month of chapters advance in p-a-t-r-e-o-n, so remember to visit it, I will be very grateful and motivated if you could do it, thanks a lot!!
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