Elemental Accords 1-8 (Patreon)

Good Morning!

Chapter 8

With a grin, I moved the picture and found a safe. I groaned when I saw it was locked and not something I could easily break. When I grabbed the handle, the metal moaned as I tried to bend it, but that was it. It appeared I was still lacking in the strength department.

Tapping my chin in thought, I remembered one of the girls had acid. I would need to bring her up here later to see if she could melt this for me. I sighed for the time being and glanced outside.

The street on the other side of the building was in rough shape. It looked like something large had walked over the row of buildings on the other side of the road. They were all piles of rubble. There were corpses every couple meters that were disfigured in gruesome ways. Something told me it wasn’t the goblins or the cyclops we’d encountered so far.

“Done.”

I turned to find Rai wearing the black hoodie and jeans I’d handed her a minute ago. “Emotional unstable college girl spotted.”

“Shut up. I just feel more comfortable in this. Who knows, in a few months, we might all be wearing plate armor.”

“We’ll have to see. Though, I’m wearing steel armor,” I said flourishing the coat out like a gentleman thief.

She moved forward and nearly putting her face against my chest. Her motions making me wonder if she had already left the realm of human speed, it was so quick. “The suit does look… particularly nice on you,” she said running her hand along my arm.

“Umm, Rai?” I said grabbing her hand before she went any lower.

Like a cloud had been lifted from her vision, her eyes widened before she backed away into the wall. “What the… what just came over me?”

“Are you alright?” I went to reach out to her but she shrank away.

“Sorry. I’m… I’m going to head downstairs.”

I watched her go then narrowed my eyes. I was pretty sure that might have been a result of my Encroaching greed skill. Some people would say that lust is an extension of greed. Greed for a person’s body. Rai wasn’t a teenager. While I didn’t know if she was a virgin, she could easily have such desires. Especially toward the person that was with her when the world basically ended.

Rubbing the bridge of my nose, I sighed then followed after her. It was going to be awkward for a while and I didn’t even know the extent of this skill. What I feared most, was it leveling up into something truly terrifying. Back downstairs, the others were all gathered in the backroom. The front was just too exposed to the street for any type of conversation.

I looked the women over who in turn were staring daggers at me. I had managed to clean up a little when I changed upstairs. And it might be the narrasisit in me, but I was considered handsome by most circles. I took a seat on the desk and cleared my throat as I thought about what I wanted to say.

They were all beautiful in their own right, but the terror of the last two days along with the exhaustion was marrying their features. Most of them still had bruises from the goblins. “Thank you all for waiting for me to recover. I’m sure the desire to run must have been strong during the cyclops attack.”

“You saved us! We would never just leave you like that!” Lara said sending a glare at the others. They all nodded along, but I did see a few guilty faces in the mix. Likely, they had wanted to make a run for the other group that was seen fighting, but something Lara or Rai said convinced them otherwise.

“The world has gone to hell. I have a skill where I get stronger the more gold I have, as I’m sure most of you have already gathered.” I decided not to say anything about Midas Touch, though if they were smart, they would realize from when I transformed the bow in the alley. “I would like to hit a few more pawn shops up, but they are high risk low reward. That said, my next target is the Highland National Bank in X city.”

“X city is eight hours by car! With monsters and god knows what else it could take you a weeks to travel that far. If you even survive!”

I looked the woman that spoke up over. She was probably the worst off injury wise of the group. I couldn’t blame her for being against the trip. “It is a risk, but I believe staying in the city is a worse idea. That said, not having a goal is only going to make the coming days even harder.” I smiled at the woman then looked the others over. “I do have an idea on how to get there, but I am hesitant to say anything since I don’t know how long we’ll be together.”

Hurt understanding could be seen on most of the women. Could we trust each other after tonight? The situation might change at the drop of a dime. “What do you plan on doing then?” Lara asked leaning forward in her seat.

“Head for the edge of the city. Anyone that no longer wants to accompany me will be free to head their own ways. We will be scavenging for all the supplies we can on the trip. I have a feeling it will take two or three days. That’s how long you have to decide.” I stood up done with what I had to say but turned back remembering something. “Don’t worry. I will be sharing the supplies with those that leave the group. I’m not going to send you out empty-handed.”

Some relief washed over the women, but the fear was still there. I was basically tying their hands, but I had little choice. If I wanted to survive, I couldn’t babysit them forever. “Rai, can I talk to you?”

She looked at me nervously, but nodded and we made our way to a separate room. “What is it?” she asked looking at the ground.

“First I want to ask if you plan on sticking with me?” I asked serious to the core. I know we’d joked and got along well, but I wanted to be sure that was what she really wanted. It was a commitment after all.

“Yes. I have nothing here, and you have your head on straight for the most part. I’m still your end of the world partner, unless you’d rather I leave,” she said with an expression that nearly made reach out and hug her, she looked so hurt and worried.

“No. I’m glad you’re staying. Since that is the case, I need to tell you something,” I said then motioned for her to lean forward as I whispered the details of encroaching greed to her. I wanted us to be honest and upfront. If she knew about the skill, she might have a better chance to resist it going forward.

“I see. I did feel like something was blocking my better judgement. I will admit, I quite like your looks, but I’m not some slut that will pounce on the first day.”

I laughed and grabbed her shoulder. “I knew that. You pegged me more as a nerd, if you’d had some glasses you’d be prefect.”

“Funny you should mention that,” she commented as she reached into her pocket and donned a pair of glasses that only served to enhance her cute looks. If I wasn’t careful I would start to drool.

“That’s not right,” I moaned shaking my head. “Don’t blame me if I pounce you as you say.”

She covered her chest but thankfully got that I was joking. “What do you think the others will do?”

“I don’t know. It’d be nice if a few stuck with us. Lara with her skill for sure.”

Leadership was going to be a strong skill down the road. I just knew it. Since my position was heading straight into secret weapon zone, I’d like to have a front for gathering people to us in the future. Not to mention, I wanted to see if leadership might be able to counter Encroaching greed to some extent.

“I’m pretty sure she’ll come with us. She is quite enamored with you, and from what she told me while you were out. She doesn’t have much other than her apartment. No family, or lovers.”

“At least that’s one.”

~~

Night soon fell over the world as the girls thought about their decision. It would affect their lives for the foreseeable future. It would be rude to rush them. I had a few things I wanted to think about myself anyway. I got the woman with the acid generation skill to melt the locking mechanism on the safe which revealed a bag of diamonds. I pocketed them and thanked the girl, as we were sure if the Treasure hunter skill wasn’t just reacting to our perceived value of the gems.

“I’m going to keep watch from the roof, let the others know.”

“Alright. Be careful.” She turned to head back downstairs, but I didn’t fail to notice that her eyes glinted a bit as they glanced at the bag of diamonds. I would need to be careful since I couldn’t tell if it was natural or due to my skill. We’d been here for several hours now after all.

I climbed the fire escape and came out on the roof. While a bit more exposed than the second story room, I had a much better visual up here. Not that I wanted to see the destruction any better.

The city was in ruins. Along with the crater we saw earlier, there was another one on the other side of the city. I was only able to see it due to the lack of tall buildings, all of which have been removed in one form or another. There were hundreds of fires burning that reflected off monsters flying in the sky. While it had been eerily quiet during the day, the sounds of monster roars were echoing through the devastation.

“What will life look like in the future?” I mumbled leaning on the half wall.

“Whatever we make it. Humans will adapt like we always have,” Lara’s voice came from behind me.

I glanced behind me to see Rai and Lara coming over. “Please don’t jump. The sound might attract some monsters,” Rai said with a grin.

“I laughed as quietly as I could. “Fair enough. I shall wait until I am alone if I ever decide to end it all.”

“Do you really plan to make for X city?” Lara asked with concern.

“Yes. I have ways of acquiring gold, but the amount stored there would be a significant boost to my strength. Speaking of,” I said then remembered that I still had two uses for Midas Touch today. I needed to use them before midnight rolled around or it’d be a waste. I checked my item box and pulled a mace and another sword, this one a katana I believed, and quickly used my ability before storing them back in the box.

“Amazing. I was sure before but this only reinforces my decision. I’ll be coming with you.”

“Good.”