34 The Expedition Party

[Would you like to upgrade (Wooden Bed Frame)?]

[(Wooden Bed Frame) upgraded to (Wooden Bed)]

[Would you like to upgrade (Wooden Bed)?]

[(Wooden Bed) upgraded to (Common Bed)]

[Would you like to upgrade (Common Bed)?]

[(Common Bed) upgraded to (High Quality Bed)]

[Would you like to upgrade (Wooden Bed Frame)?]

[(Wooden Bed Frame) upgraded to (Wooden Bed)]

[Would you like to upgrade (Wooden Bed)?]

[(Wooden Bed) upgraded to (Common Bed)]

[Would you like to upgrade (Common Bed)?]

[(Common Bed) upgraded to (High Quality Bed)]

"There. This is now your personal room." He said after he is done upgrading their bed.

They are currently on the room next to his, the homunculi were arranging a lot of their handmade furnitures for the girls.

"Wow! Thank you!" Odette said with a happy expression.

"Hum..." Dinah only nodded to the side.

Then, the War System turned to him with a look of befuddlement.

"What about you?" She asks with a tilt of her head.

It seems like she is disturbed at the fact that their bed are a higher quality than the one from his room.

"Don't worry about it. I'll take care of it." He said with a dismissal wave.

She stares at him for awhile before slowly nodding to him.

"Neil, what about the pizza box?"

He felt like palming his face again.

"Okay. I'll create one for your room."

The two made satisfied noises as he leaves the room. Before leaving, he told them to wash their body first. There is a bath on this room that he is not using, so he let them be.

As he got to his room, he looks at his status.

[Status]

Neil Howard (Human/Male)

Upgrades : 64

"Hmm... maybe I should upgrade everything in my body again?"

He muttered to himself as he goes to his bed.

[Would you like to upgrade (Common Bed)?]

[(Common Bed) upgraded to (High Quality Bed)]

After he is done turning his bed into something that have a full soft bedding and a luxurious looking design, he goes to upgrading all parts of his body at once.

This costs him 30 upgrades, which left him with 33 upgrades now.

He decided to stop upgrading for now. These upgrades can be used for emergencies.

As he was done doing that, he heard another call from his phone. Going there, he takes the phone and accepts the call.

"Yes?"

["Squad E reporting. We estimate their incursion going to our base, and seeing it. Awaiting orders, sir!"]

"Tell me what you learned about them?"

["Roger"]

Then it shows him a file containing every key information that the people have said in the passing.

Someone named Hughes are leading twelve groups of people. Each group are composed of fifty workers, and twenty armed men. The armed men are assigned by twelve guys who Hughes seems to be friends with.

They heard of someone named Michael, who seems to be feared by many of the workers. He didn't know what's the reason because the only thing they say are that he is terrifying.

They also heard something about compensation, double pay, more food, and paying tribute. He can guess why they are saying that, though he is unsure if he is right on his conjecture.

He reads some of the info that his scouts have gotten, and felt a bit depressed when he haven't seen any info that's pointing to his family. He shakes his head before continuing on the other info.

There is the leader, which he already knows. The outpost seems to be really owned by that person. Then, he saw very interesting piece of information.

"So the leader have a System?" He exclaimed in surprise.

He have thought he is the only one who have it, but this fact feels like a cold water being dump to his head.

'Yeah right! Of course there are some others who holds the Systems here! Your not special, Neil!' He chided himself internally.

Then he looks at the other info. The group of people who are coming here seems to be called as the Expedition Party. It seems like they are here to increase the food stocks and other valuable materials to their outpost.

"Expedition Party..." He is dubious about that.

If they are truly a party, then why are they leading the workers like they are some sort of prisoner?

He can't help but feel like his theory is right. Maybe the leader of the outpost is truly an oppressive one.

"Shit! Stop thinking like that!" He shook his head again.

He didn't want to be that judgemental. He is not the law after all.

This might be the apocalypse, but he didn't want to act so righteously. It's not like everything he thinks is always right. That's just not right.

People who thinks like that are self-centered or narcissistic. He have the common sense of a normal person.

He wanted to see the best of each person, despite being aware just how ugly they tend to be. It's not like he is the best judge of a character.

He will wait for a bit, investigate for a bit more until he is very sure that these people are being oppressed. He needs further proof to cement it.

Then....

"What then?"

He really didn't know. He didn't want to go around and kill people because of some nonsense like taking out evil people or something. Killing is bad, it's a common fact of life.

Even if someone have a reason to do it, it is still an absolute act that cuts a person's future away. It just can't be undone.

Even most soldiers aren't proud of the fact that they fought on a war. They got trauma not just because their comrades are killed besides them, but because they themselves have killed someone.

It doesn't matter who you kill. It will affect the psyche of any person.

People who doesn't feel anything by killing someone is not normal. They are totally psychos, or just have a complete case of apathy.

He didn't want to be like that.

But he also can't abandon these people if they are really being oppressed.

"... Right. I'll just rescue them when the time comes."

He have the resources and the manpower for it. These robots looks very strong, so he thinks they can rescue the people without having any fatalities on their side.

"I'll investigate more, and make sure of my info!" He said with conviction.

Then he turned to the feed again and see the people just ordering people to take whatever is valuable.

"What about the squad in charge of investigating this outpost?"

["Still searching"]

He nodded at that. "Okay, continue investigating. Please make sure to gather more intel."

["Roger"]

After that, the call has been stopped.

He laid on the bed and looks at the ceilings. He felt apprehensive now that he is slowly unveiling how people truly lives in this world.

'Maybe it's just this part of this world?' He hopes, though he knows that is just a wishful thinking.

Then he remembered something and stood up. He operated his smartphone and then called the Starnova who seems to be currently on a standby.

As his call got through, he quickly told him to go the group of people from yesterday.

"Right. I did promise that I'll come back again." He said while rubbing the back of his head.

~~o~~

"What did you say!?"

Grunt exclaims in surprise after learning about the visit from a mysterious man while he was gone.

"Yeah... he didn't do anything to us, and he seems so sincere in his words, but we made sure to be as wary as possible."

"It is still dangerous. You should have run away!"

Jasmine takes his attention with a cough. "You don't understand. If you see his robot, you'll know that we are outmatched!" She said with her eyes narrowed dangerously.

Grunt glances at his group and see them nodding along with her words. He sighs.

"Then... you said that he is going back?"

"Yes."

His face turned into a grimace at that thought. He didn't know what that person wanted to them.

They are just a ragtag group. The people here might be somewhat special, but they are just the run-of-the-mill party that anyone can see on this region. They don't have any treasures or something that they hold that's interesting.

"Maybe that person got interested by our lady here?" Rook teased.

"Don't joke about that!" The girl in question hissed at his way.

"Yeah. Chill girl!"

While they are being their chill selves, they heard some noises on the distance. All of them immediately became alert and directed their attention to it.

From there, they see the Sentai ripoff walking slowly to them with it's hands raised up. Just looking at it looks felt so ridiculous.

'Really?' Grunt thought with a complicated look.

He is also shocked. His Divine Sense didn't managed to detect this unit as it got closer. His Divine Sense can sense at least five hundred meters away from him. Even machines are not spared by his senses.

["Good morning everyone."]

All of them are just staring at the robot cautiously. Their eyes not leaving his stature, like they are making sure that he won't do anything funny.

'This guy... it's truly strong...!?' Grunt widened his eyes as he felt the overwhelming aura it is releasing.

Rook told him that it is a robot of some sorts, though he feels that the person is not just as simple as a moving hunk of junk like that.

The Sentai ripoff, despite it's hand raised in a non-threatening way, is not showing any openings. Every avenue of attacks were somehow covered by it's innocuous stance.

He can see it in his mind. The way they will be easily defeated by this robot. It makes his spine tingle.

'I have to respond here!'

He didn't notice Rook trying to converse to the robot as he took a step forward and look straight at the glowing digital eyes of the robot, his face grim.

"Hello. I am the leader of this group. What do you want from us?" He asked in a grave tone.

The person on the other side sounds surprised seeing him that serious, though Grunt didn't pay it attention. He wanted this talk to be done as soon as possible.

["Ah... right. I just wanted to talk. You know, nothing so complicated."]

The way the person on the other side said it so nonchalantly makes him feel a bit offended.

"What do you want to talk about?"

The person on the other side seems to be troubled by his pointed questions.

["Okay. It seems like we started on a bad foot."]

["Why don't I make this clear. I don't want to harm any of you."]

["Please believe in me when I say I just wanted to talk. There is no hidden meaning behind it. It's just talking and nothing more."]

Grunt stares at him. He seems to be trying peer at the person himself. Then he takes a sigh.

"Okay..."

He takes a step back, relenting his overwhelming pressure that he seems to be releasing without him noticing.

["Thank you"]

["Ahem... so as I was saying. I am here to know you all better and have someone to talk to. That's all I wish for."]

"So anything?"

["Yes"]

"Oh. Then can you tell us about yourself?" Jasmine interjected.

They felt alarmed when one of the intelligent person of their group ask something that will surely offend most strong people. The way she ask it seems to be too strong, like she is trying to take charge of the conversation.

["Sorry. The only thing I can say is that I am an American, and I'm still in highschool before waking up to this crazy world."]

They are surprised at his admittance. Though, it's not much info. They are even shocked that he even answered without feeling offended by her tone at all.

["What about you?"]

They felt a bit hesitant to say anything, though Rook seems to be more brave than the others.

"If your asking about us, this is our own current state. We're looking for food, killing monsters, stocking up on resources. The usual thing."

["Oh. You need food?"]

Hearing the person behind ask that, their gaze intensified.

"Will you give us some?"

["Of course... but wait.."]

They tense up, thinking of any reason why he suddenly hold up.

["Right. If you can give me the local currency, then I will trade with you"]

"Okay." Grunt immediately agrees.

If it's trading, then it's all fair game. Trading is the way to exchange products on this world. Anyone who cheats the others are just shameless and they will be condemned by any of the communities if they learned about it.

"What are your stocks?"

["We have pi--I mean other things like burgers and lunchboxes. I can deliver it to you and it will still be warm. If you also want to, I have water I can spare."]

Their eyes widened at the list of items he is revealing. They can feel some of their drool coming out of their mouth as they think about it.

They are only eating cold and hard loaf of bread. Most of the time, they have to go around the forest and eat the mushrooms or nuts within it. It is not even sure if it's safe or not.

They don't have any place to cook, so they always wait for the merchant to come here so they can exchange for something to eat.

As for water, they are heating the water from the nearby water with their worn down cauldron. They are using cut up plastics that are turned into improvised cups.

So hearing him say that is like a great boon for them. It's been a long time since they tasted something like that.

"Yes! I'd like to trade for that! How much for it?"

["I'll leave that to you."]

After that, they made some small talk until the person behind the voice of the robot leaves with a promise of taking some food with him when he comes back tomorrow.

It felt like they hit a jackpot at that.