บท 54: Gifted Abilities

***

February 11, 2029

"Ouch!"

"I think they're moving that way," Lucas said, descending from a few meters up in the sky, his landing slightly jarring.

Both donning their hoods, they walked down the road, trailing the zombies. Fortunately, the zombies didn't exhibit much coordination and moved sluggishly, providing them ample opportunities to rest. Throughout the morning, the number of zombies gradually dwindled due to their strategic targeting for experience points, all while hoping the undead horde remained oblivious to their actions.

"Shhh!" Lucas hushed, abruptly turning his head towards a sound, leading them toward its source.

Gripping his sword firmly, he cautiously advanced, ready to strike. Suddenly, an arm emerged into view. He had to exert considerable restraint to prevent himself from immediately severing it. It was a human arm.

A girl emerged, followed by a young boy, their appearances bespeaking their desperation.

"Sir... please, we mean no harm," the woman implored, her voice trembling as she covered the boy with her arm.

Lucas gazed at her in astonishment, his jian returning to its sheath. He exchanged a glance with Lucy, seeking her counsel.

"Why are you both here?" he inquired, his voice a mixture of suspicion and curiosity.

The woman, her head still lowered, explained, "We were hiding, sir. Please spare us."

Lucas could see her trembling hand on the brink of saying something. A soft touch on his back alerted him to Lucy's whispered words.

"They don't seem dangerous. Let's offer our help," Lucy urged.

Releasing a heavy sigh, Lucas shifted his attention back to the woman.

"Very well, we're not murderers," he conceded silently, suppressing thoughts that he chose not to vocalize.

Extracting a few cans of food and juice from his supplies, Lucas extended them to the woman.

"Here, take these."

Her hands, frail as twigs, trembled as she looked up at him, her gratitude palpable.

"We're just here to assist. Don't worry too much," Lucy reassured from behind Lucas, her presence providing an additional layer of reassurance.

"Thank you so much, sir," the woman murmured, her words as gentle as a spring breeze. Swiftly, she retrieved the juice bottle, promptly offering it to the young boy.

'They must be famished,' Lucas mused, observing the boy guzzle the juice hungrily.

"Take your time, and don't worry—I have more provisions," Lucy assured, standing by Lucas's side, her focus divided between clearing out any nearby zombies and keeping an eye on their new acquaintances.

***

"So… this is your brother, right?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Where are your parents?"

"They passed away a long time ago. It's just me and my brother living around here, sir."

"How old are you?"

"I'll be turning 20 this year, sir!"

'Older than me, huh…'

Lucas studied the woman before him intently. She remained standing, appearing like a servant answering her master's inquiries.

'It's making me uncomfortable.'

Glancing at the young boy by her side, he overheard Lucy engage the woman in conversation.

"What's your name, ma'am?"

Her eyes flitting with fluster, the woman hastily shook her head in demurral.

"No, miss, you needn't use that honorific. My name is Meri, miss."

Confusion wrinkled Lucy's brow at this response, prompting her to remark, "That's alright. I'm younger than you, after all, Meri."

A blush of embarrassment tinted Meri's cheeks, though she stood her ground, attempting to negate the reverence directed at her.

"Miss and sir are wizards. I'm just an ordinary human, miss," Meri stated, casting a respectful glance at Lucas, causing him to nearly choke on one of the most absurd things he'd heard in a while.

Cough!

Lucy's giggles followed suit upon hearing this.

All Lucas could think was about how surreal the situation had become.

'Ah… it's about our use of magic.'

"Meri, Lucy, and I are not some ancient immortal wizards. We're humans, like you."

"But sir—"

"No 'buts'! You'll realize it sooner. Something even more preposterous than us is likely to occur soon."

Bestowing him with a doubtful look, Meri lapsed into silence while still holding her brother's hand.

'He's quite endearing.'

Such an evaluation was an anomaly for Lucas, yet he suspected he wasn't alone in thinking so.

"It's alright, Meri. As Lucas mentioned, you'll figure it out soon enough. By the way, your brother is absolutely charming. What's his name?"

"Miss… my brother's name is Cale. He's eight years old."

The information struck Lucas as surprising, prompting him to cast a second, more appraising gaze at the boy beside her.

'Is it due to malnutrition?'

Supposedly eight, the boy hardly appeared his age. He seemed smaller, resembling a child closer to five years old.

Interrupting his thoughts, Lucas turned to Lucy. "By the way, Lucy, let's wrap up the conversation. If we keep talking, we might lose track of the horde."

Lucy shifted her attention to him as soon as she heard his words. "But Lucas, what about Meri and Cale?"

'I don't have an answer.' That's what he wanted to say. But sizing her up from head to toe, he realized this was going to be bothersome.

"Do you want to come with us?"

"Sir, are you offering to take us in?"

An unfamiliar expression crossed Lucas's face before settling into a more determined look. "We'll assist you two for now. I can't simply leave people to fend for themselves, struggling to survive and die, can I?"

Lucy seemed to concur, giving him a thumbs-up from behind Meri. "Helping people is the right thing to do."

Lucas mumbled, "It's not a bad thing to lend a hand."

"Which way was it again?" he muttered once more.

Standing alongside Lucy, their hands intertwined, Lucas glanced at his watch. It read 03:34 p.m. They had been walking for hours and it seemed they were still some distance away from the river, as confirmed by the local residents they had spoken to.

"So, Meri, this direction leads to the Streap River, correct?"

"Yes, sir," she replied without hesitation.

Continuing on their journey, it appeared that they didn't need to pay overly close attention to the sibling pair. The young boy, Cale, whether he was mute or not, showed no inclination to make a sound. Meri, on the other hand, seemed adept at handling zombies, managing to dispatch them quite capably.

"Say, Meri, why don't you kill those zombies?" Lucy asked, slashing the throat of a level 1 zombie near her.

"They frighten me, miss."

"So, you just incapacitate them?"

"Yes, miss!"

Approaching with her katana poised to pierce through a zombie's throat, Lucy inquired, "Did you hide because they scared you too?"

"Yes, miss. But I was more frightened by the sight of two wizards. Fortunately, miss and sir are kind."

Despite his efforts during their two or three hours together, Meri still clung to the belief that they were elderly immortal wizards. Among her reasons;

"Sir... conjured food out of thin air."

Or;

"I saw sir soaring into the air."

Nothing seemed to sway her perception. Perhaps the stress of starvation was impairing her ability to grasp reality. When he assisted her, the impression stuck, entrenching itself in her mind. Moreover, he reflected, that the loss of parents seemed to be a common theme among those surrounding him.

"Ah... so you haven't acquired a system yet, Meri?"

"System?" Meri tilted her head in response to Lucy's query. He found the resemblance to a certain someone quite amusing.

Lucy immediately turned to him, wearing a look of astonishment.

"Yes, you did have that look at one point, but more menacingly," Lucas responded as Lucy pestered him for an explanation.

Certainly, it was surprising that Meri had yet to kill a single zombie or animal, despite nearly a month having passed since the onset of the apocalypse. "Do you hide anywhere in particular?"

"Sometimes, sir. The zombies mostly ignore us when we hide, so our luck is holding, sir."

Lucas nodded at her explanation and continued walking in silence. Lucy mentioned that this part of town wasn't her usual route, so she wasn't familiar with the area due to her parents' restrictions on her movements.

Fortunately, they had encountered Meri, despite her being somewhat fanatical in her beliefs. During their journey together, they spent about an hour teaching Meri and Cale the basics of the system, while also encouraging her to face zombies.

What astounded him was that Meri gained an ability the moment she received her system.

"So, you're saying your abilities allow you to erase your presence?"

His reaction to learning of her ability was one of surprise. 'So that's how they managed to survive alone as a pair for so long,' Evidently, a unique ability had manifested even before she had killed a single zombie. She seemed to unconsciously employ it while striving to remain hidden. The term "Shadow" came to mind, and her ability was dubbed "Absolute Presence," which had an air of chuunibyou to it.

Nonetheless, even after understanding the workings of the system, Meri's adoration showed no signs of waning. It actually intensified upon learning that both he and Lucy possessed classes named "Gods of Fire and Ice."

"Gods, real avatars of the divine."

Or so she claimed.

Lucy advised him to simply offer her a reassuring smile. He marveled at Cale's resilience, enduring his sister's enthusiasm. Approaching the boy, Lucas lowered himself to his level and looked at him.

"Do you like your sister?"

The boy nodded.

'Ah, I see. That's enough.'