The next morning, after eating his breakfast, Leon was spoon-feeding Maya while Amanda was doing the dishes. It had been a long time since he had done that, so he couldn't help doing awkwardly while smiling wryly. Despite her uncle's clumsiness, Maya wasn't bothered by it.
Leon still remembered, Amanda was just like her daughter. A quiet kid who rarely made a fuss about anything. Despite being a total stranger, Maya didn't feel scared of Leon. She was also very smart, Amanda just taught her a few times, and she already called Leon 'uncle'. It was a weird feeling, but Leon didn't dislike it.
"I'm going to help the survivors for a while," Amanda declared and picked her green bow. "Can you look after Maya for a while."
"Sure, but who usually looks after her?" Leon said.
"Sasha. Although she is strong, I'm the best archer in the city." Amanda said boastfully. "Every morning I hunt those Eye-balls before they have the chance to attack us... I did that yesterday, but..."
"I see... I wanted to teach you more how to use your mana, but I guess you can't just retreat from the front lines for a long time." Leon said. "Be careful, all right?"
"Got it." Amanda smiled.
"By the way, where are they?" Leon asked.
"Hector and Sasha will spend the day teaching the other survivors how to learn Earth Manipulation," Amanda answered. "Don't worry; he will say that he just learned by chance. There is a plan about building walls around the city, so, if everyone learns that, eventually, we will be able to protect this city with more ease."
After that, Amanda left. Although she survived without his help for four years, Leon wanted to spend the week teaching her. After so many years away, he had no right to declare that he would protect her, but at least he could help her in that regard. Although not all that much, Amanda had the potential to learn magic quite easily. Since her bow was a magic weapon that shot Wind Arrows, her mana, intelligence, recovery, and control were quite high, and Leon wanted to make good use of that while he stays with her. He wanted to stay with her for more time, but he couldn't exactly leave the emperor of Japan waiting. Besides, he wanted to discover who was behind the dungeon breaks.
Leon took Maya to the garden and started to play with her, by playing he just created a water ball and move it away while Maya was trying to chase it. Even though Leon wanted to take it easy for a few days, he ended up practicing a new spell. He started to practice how to make an Ice Arrow, but Maya's stamina ended before he completed the spell.
The climate in that region wasn't exactly easy for a small child, but since the wind was quite nice, Leon created an umbrella made of earth to protect Maya, who was sleeping in his arms from the light of the sun. After that, he resumed his task of learning a new spell and just before noon…
Congratulations! You have learned the skill: Ice Arrow.
You obtained 01 status points.
Mana: 15
Leon remembered that he wanted to learn an Area of Effect skill, but he couldn't do that in his sister's home, much less when Maya was with him. Using his sister's targets, Leon leveled up that skill a few times until Amanda returned alongside Hector and Sasha. It looked like they treated Sasha as part of the family. Considering that they fought together to survive for years, that wasn't so strange.
"To think that everyone would learn so fast…" Hector frowned. "Maybe I'm a genius teacher."
"Yeah, right…" Leon frowned. "By the way, do you guys have a market here?"
"Yes, we have," Hector answered. "Do you want to buy something? Do you have coins? I can help you with that.
"There is no need," Leon shook his head. "I'm not looking for anything in particular; I just want to see if there is something interesting there."
"Interesting… like what?" Hector frowned.
"Like a teleportation tome, have you seen one?" Leon asked.
"Hahaha, that is funny… as if someone would sell that." Hector said.
"Shall we all go together?" Amanda asked. "It has been a while since I have been there."
"No, I will go alone," Leon said.
"Mmm, alright then." Amanda showed a bit of disappointment.
"Leon… aren't you a bit too cold?" Hector asked.
"Mind your own business…" Leon said. "For the time being, I don't want anyone seeing us together. Don't ask why."
Hector couldn't help but sigh, Leon was keeping too many secrets. Although he had some reasons for doing that, Hector felt quite troubled by it. It would take a while before Leon could see him as a family… Regardless, after receiving directions from them, Leon headed to the market. It looked like Las Vegas have one hundred thousand survivors, among them, five thousand were soldiers who would fight against monsters day in and day out. Despite that, Leon didn't find anything better than his equipment.
"I don't want anything in particular… perhaps an amulet like the Ancient Frozen Dire Wolf���s Soul would be nice, but if those dropped, I guess the higher-ups of this country would keep those to themselves."
It looked like Amanda's bow, and Hector's spear were magic weapons. However, those weapons weren't leagues above the weapons being sold at the market. At least that confirmed that Hector wasn't making use of his position to obtain an advantage over other survivors.
Leon hadn't seen Amanda in years, but she grew up to become a smart woman. It was a bit surprising, but even Hector changed and became a decent person. Leon frowned when he thought that his current self treated the old Hector like a scumbag, but since he was his best friend in the past… his past self wasn't supposed to be someone so respectable…