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"Ryuji, forget it."
"He's already been bitten by a zombie. We don't need to do anything."
Nanami Kento called out to stop him.
After all, Amano hadn't turned yet. Nanami couldn't bring himself to kill him.
"You're lucky, kid!"
The burly man, Ryuji, returned to the truck.
"Let's go. We'll deliver the gold, trade it for food, and this mission will be finished."
Nanami started the engine.
The two pickup trucks drove off one after the other, heading toward the supermarket…
...
Inside the supermarket.
Mafuyu and Hana sat close together, watching an educational video.
"Look, you can also do it like this… and like this."
"I had no idea before."
Mafuyu watched carefully, committing every detail on the screen to memory.
Hana didn't bother remembering anything.
She preferred being passive anyway.
"Sister Mafuyu, did you already know Master before all this?"
The ever-curious Hana asked.
"Yeah!"
"I lived in the building across from his."
"I used to see him jogging downstairs every day."
"A few times I wanted to say hello, but he ran too fast. I could never catch up."
Mafuyu covered her mouth and laughed.
She had thought they might get a chance to meet someday.
Who would have guessed the apocalypse would arrive first?
Still, it worked out. Now they knew each other… even if the way they met was a little strange.
"Oh right, Sister Mafuyu…"
"What if Master goes out a lot and we get hungry?"
Hana raised an important question.
"That's actually a very constructive question…"
"You're right."
"If Master only leaves for half a day, that's fine. But if he's gone for one or two days…"
"We might go berserk."
Mafuyu pinched her chin thoughtfully.
"Exactly! What should we do?"
"We can't just go out and eat people."
"And eating other people probably doesn't have the same effect as eating Master."
Hana voiced her concerns.
"I've got it!"
Mafuyu's eyes suddenly lit up.
"We can secretly collect a little while Master's asleep at night."
"Then we store it in the freezer."
"That way we'll have some saved up for emergencies!"
Mafuyu said proudly.
She really was clever. Only she could come up with such a brilliant idea.
"But… what if Master finds out?"
Hana looked worried.
"Don't worry!"
"After his nightly exercise, Master sleeps pretty deeply."
"When the time comes, we'll each take a turn."
"If we're gentle, he shouldn't notice."
Mafuyu patted Hana on the back encouragingly.
"Alright…"
"Let's give it a try."
Hana was finally convinced by Mafuyu's persuasion.
Just then, the sound of brakes screeching came from outside.
Two pickup trucks appeared on the surveillance monitor.
"Master's back!"
"Let's go greet him!"
Mafuyu jumped up immediately.
They had only gone about an hour without seeing Julian, but it felt like days. They missed him terribly.
Mafuyu opened the door and rushed out with Hana. The two of them punched and kicked their way through several zombies before reaching the pickup truck.
"Master!"
Mafuyu leapt straight into Julian's arms.
"Woof!"
The little golden puppy barked, apparently woken up by the noise and expressing its dissatisfaction.
"Master, you brought back a little guy!"
"He's so cute!"
Mafuyu immediately scooped up the puppy.
"Master, I want a hug too!"
Hana followed right behind and threw herself into Juliann's arms as well.
This time the impact was even stronger.
After all, it was like being hit with a pair of oversized airbags.
"Alright, alright. Let's move these bags inside first."
Julian pointed to the bags of gold in the back of the pickup.
"Okay!"
Each of the girls grabbed two bags in one hand and easily carried them toward the warehouse.
"My god… how are they stronger than me…"
Ryuji stared in disbelief.
And they looked completely relaxed doing it.
Terrifying. Absolutely terrifying.
"Alright, let's settle the accounts."
Julian turned to Nanami.
"Brother Julian."
"If it weren't for you, we'd probably all be dead down there."
"How much we get and how it's divided… you decide."
Nanami spoke sincerely.
Julian thought about it.
This haul totaled over 500 kilograms of gold.
Half of that would be 250 kilograms.
Based on the exchange rate he had posted online for his "delivery service," that could be traded for at least 2,500 jin of food.
But…
He also considered a practical issue.
Nanami's camp only had a few dozen people. If he gave them that much food, they wouldn't be able to finish it before it expired.
"How about this."
"I'll give you 1,000 jin of food."
"Plus ten crates of milk, five crates of beer, and one crate of hot sauce."
"The food only lasts about ten days, so don't try to ration it too much. Eat as much as you can before it spoils."
Julian said after thinking it over.
"1,000 jin?!"
Nanami's eyes lit up.
That was far more than he expected!
On this trip, although they had provided the key, without Julian's strength they wouldn't have taken a single gold bar out of that place. They might have died there instead.
In his mind, even three or five hundred jin would've been generous.
Yet Julian was offering a full thousand.
They even threw in some beer and a few jars of hot sauce.
Now that was the good stuff.
The guys had risked their lives coming out to scavenge supplies. If they could go back and crack open a cold beer…
Totally worth it.
"Brother Julian, you're really being too generous!"
"I'm almost embarrassed taking all this!"
Nanami scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
"Well… should I cut it in half then?" Julian joked.
"No, no, that's not necessary!"
"Let's just go with what you said!"
Nanami grinned sheepishly.
"Clear the road first. I'll go get someone to bring the goods out."
After saying that, Julian picked up the remaining bags of gold and walked back into the warehouse.
"Brothers, clear the path!"
"Nanami led his men to clear out the wandering zombies nearby. While a mutant zombie was a death sentence for them, these ordinary ones were easy enough to handle."
Before long, Hana drove a forklift out of the warehouse. As an intern, she had watched people operate one before and picked up the basics.
Soon everyone started loading the supplies.
A thousand pounds of goods was no small amount.
Two pickup trucks weren't enough.
In the end they had to grab two small vans as well before everything finally fit.
"Alright, Brother Julian."
"This trip's been a massive haul."
"If you ever need anything, just contact me anytime!"
Nanami looked completely satisfied.
With this much food, the people back at the camp wouldn't have to ration every bite anymore.
"Take this one. A souvenir."
Julian tossed a gold bar into Nanami's arms.
They had risked their lives going down into the vault with him. They deserved something to remember it by.
"Alright!"
"Hope we meet again someday!"
"Brothers, head back!"
With Nanami's order, the convoy rumbled off toward their camp.
"I heard gold is soft enough to bite… is that true?"
Nanami put the gold bar in his mouth and bit down.
Sure enough, it left a dent.
"Boss, you're biting it raw like that? Aren't you afraid gold dust might get stuck in your teeth and you'll swallow it?"
The burly Ryuji laughed beside him.
"What's there to worry about? In times like this, who cares about hygiene?"
Nanami waved it off.
Whether they'd even live a few more days was uncertain. Why bother thinking so much?
"....."