Chapter 141: A game (3)

"Hmm…" Shalia groaned as if something was troubling her.

Luke frowned when he saw that. Shalia wasn't the type to make those weird noises. It was rare to see her looking troubled as well… if something had happened or if she disliked something, she usually would just say it. So, Luke knew that something very odd happened and it was bothering her.

"What is wrong?" Luke asked.

"It is nothing…" Shalia replied. "Don't worry about it."

"Are you sure?" Luke insisted. "You are acting weird."

"Well, it is because I received a SOS message from an acquaintance," Shalia explained. "He has been sending this message for the last three days, and apparently, no one received the message, or those who received it decided to ignore it. I am not sure I want to consider helping it, that would only make things more troublesome for us, after all."

"You received it three days ago and decided to ignore it?" Luke frowned. "If he is a friend of yours, then why didn't you tell me sooner?" 

"I just realized that it belongs to an acquaintance because that idiot revealed his name," Shalia explained. "I thought he would be dead by bow…"

Rina explained how they send messages to each other, they don't use their voices, they send messages in magic radio waves, and the density of the mana in the magic reveals the content of the magic. It was hard to explain and understand… but Luke decided to think that it was just a very rustic version of Telekinesis. In any case, he got the gist of the situation and while he could understand a bit Shalia's actions and words, he wasn't so sure if he would feel comfortable working with someone that ignore the pleas of help of her friends.

"Are you sure you don't want to help him?" Luke asked.

"It is fine, he is a troublesome fool, and it seems that his partner is also a fool as well. We'd better not get involved with them," Shalia said. "I'd rather avoid the opportunity of enduring the same things as her."

Shalia was mentioning Rina and those three other elves. Whenever the group met, she would look like she was having a terrible headache due to their overly loyal attitude. It would be weird if Shalia was royalty as well. Still, it wasn't hard to imagine her being a charismatic leader… at least teens would follow her in droves.

"... On the other hand… he is surrounded by three species of monsters and a horde of zombies," Shalia said after a while. "So, you will get the chance to get a lot of experience and gold coins."

"Hahaha, I suppose that is more like you," Luke laughed a little. "I will warn the others that I will leave for a while, and then we will take Artiuno."

In that week, after all the things in the city's houses had been savaged and the streets had been cleaned of the bodies of the zombies, the survivors began to look for other people and supplies in the nearby cities. So, leaving wasn't a problem. Luke only found a problem when he found Artiuno. He left her near the river where the people go to fish to avoid problems, and apparently, she had finally eaten enough to be able to lay an egg… monster's biology was truly a mystery. In any case, the egg was quite big, like one meter tall and heavy as well.

"Is this friend of yours too far away?" Luke asked. "If he is, then we will have to take the egg with us."

"Unlike you may think, monsters' eggs don't need to be warmed up or incubated for them to be born," Rina said.

"Is that so… Still, I would feel bad in making this fellow wake up away from their mother," Luke said.

"I suppose you can't just stop applying human logic to other living beings. That is rather normal, but from the monsters' perspective…" Rina frowned.

"Oh, yeah… I can take the grenades and leave Artiuno out of the fights today," Luke said.

Artiuno was also getting stronger whenever Luke took her to fight, she also could fly with five people on her back for more than three hours, after all, so it was fine. After finishing their preparations, Luke departed to see this friend of Shalia. Given her usual cold attitude toward others, Luke was quite curious, and a bit worried as well.

Much to Luke's surprise, the place where Shalia's friend was Havana… In Cuba. While it was only five hundred kilometers away, the ocean blocked their path. If something happens, they will fall into the ocean, and Luke is a bad swimmer. While he was fast enough to run over water, his stamina would end sooner than can he reach the continent or the island. Nevertheless, it was too late to back down now.

Despite his worries, they didn't find many enemies on the way. Aside from some giant crows, things sure looked peaceful in the ocean. That was a bit disappointing… Luke had imagined that he would find dragons and stuff since most of the human society had been destroyed. It was a bit disappointing that most of the humans died at the hands of zombies and low-level monsters. After a while, Luke saw a lot of smoke in the distance… he was approaching his destination.

"I wonder if it is rare to find three crystals in the same city…" Luke said.

"It isn't if the owner of the crystals is actually looking for a fight with others like him," Rina explained. "While hunting zombies is easier, hunting monsters is more efficient in the long run."

Luke nodded at that… it was also a sign that he had to be careful because those types of enemies would be way more dangerous than the others. Those who thrive for better all the time are kind of messed up in the head, and while Luke didn't dislike it… he didn't want to leave such a life day in and day out.