It seems like the people were crowding over the lady as the person that was healing her before, was healing her now again.
"Amon." A gruff man walked over and called out to Amon. His eyes peering at the steel sword hanging on Nadia's waist. And the big backpack that hung on Nyx's back. "Who are these survivors?" His eyes moved back to Amon as he asked.
"Fellow schoolmates that managed to survive. It appears they were heading to the central part of the town."
Nadia was impressed with Amon's observation skills. He deducted their intentions without them speaking a peep about it.
"Uncle Chakov and Uncle Thuren can tell you what happened." The boy added. Nadia sneakily looked towards the gruff man, following his gaze to her sword. The man stared at her, and unhesitatingly bared her teeth at him.
Baring her teeth like an animal was an odd habit that she got from hanging with odd people. She usually does it to scare away the men that are staring at her for too long, or strangers that are eyeing her. It was effective too.
"What an unusual girly" the man side but eyed Nyx's bag pack that was noticeably bigger than Nadia's.
"What a weird grandpa." Nadia stared at the gruff man, whose eyebrows twitched when he heard what the girl called him.
"What did you call me?"
"A weird grandpa, you keep on staring at Nyx as if you're gonna eat him." Nadia reached out to pat and point at Nyx. "You want to eat him?" She added.
Amon's eyes narrowed, as he tried to stifle a laugh, which came out as a snort. He covered it up with a series of coughs seeing that Nadia was looking at him knowingly.
"I'm pretty sure he's not tasty ."Nadia nodded as if trying to convince the older man that it was no good to eat the boy. "And if you really want to eat him, then I'd warn about the worms you could get by eating human flesh. It's pretty nasty, and I'm pretty sure you can die from it."
It was obvious that the middle aged man was eyeing the resources that both of them were carrying. And it was even more obvious that Nadia didn't appreciate the man's lingering gaze on their things.
"Girly where did you get so many things?" After a brief pause, the man asked. Perturbed by Nadia's inclinations that had double meanings.
"Oh from here and there." She simply answered.
"Oh? Like where?"
"Like over there."
"Over there where?"
" I went to do this and that, and I got over there where I got the things."
"..."
The smile on Nadia's face was like an impenetrable fortress that the older man could never break. Bianca, Nyx and Amon stayed silent. Nyx did so because he got nothing to add, while the other two chose to observe quietly.
Within a few moments the man suddenly reached out his hand, "The name's Kriel, you are welcome to stay here given that you can provide food."
Nadia paused and tilted her head for a second. Awkwardly Nyx grabbed the man's hand and shook it introducing himself. After him, Nadia finally shook the man's hand. "Romanov." Was her simple introduction.
She suddenly faced Bianca and Amon, and then she reached her hand out to them. "You two, call me Nadia." She ignored how there was a twitch on Kriel's face.
"Amon." The guy shook her hand.
"Bianca" followed by the blonde.
"Now that's out of the way, like I have said. Both of you can stay here, that is you guys can provide food at least a little for the camp." Kriel didn't hold back after seeing Amon's attitude to both Nadia and Nyx.
"Why do we need to provide food?" Nadia asked. Her question was unhurried, but it seemed like a question someone with no common sense would ask. Bianca can't help but snicker at her, but then turned silent when she saw that Nadia was being sincere.
"Well given the fact that you guys are under our camp, isn't it proper that you contribute a little?" Kriel furrowed his brows.
Nadia blinked slowly. "Oh, does being under your camp guarantee that we will be safe?"
"It's not guaranteed that you guys would be safe, but with the amount of people here it should be relatively safe." Kriel's eyes softened after feeling that he knew what Nadia was worried about.
"Ahhh, does that mean you guys provide shelter?"
"Not really, you would need to make your own sleeping quarters. Or you could pay others with cores to rent a ready made quarter. "
"No? Does that mean you guys can provide 3 meals a day?"
"No, you would need to look for your own food. The majority of the people around here go on hunting missions or rescue missions to earn cores."
"Then why do I have to contribute food when you guys can't seem to promise the basics? Hmm leaving this to a bunch of teenagers seems rather reckless no?" By every question Nadia asked Kriel's face became darker.
"Hmm, you guys can't even offer accommodations, and yet just staying on the camp costs me resources? What am I paying for? For stepping on dirt?"
"No you're paying for the fact that you are around some capable hands that can help you when you are in danger." Kriel answered, his arms crossed as he harrumphed at Nadia. He underestimated, Nadia, and now he had to awkwardly avoid the eyes of the people in the camp that had overheard the conversation.
"Aa, have you ever considered the fact that the payments that we are about to give are greatly overshadowing the things that you guys are offering?" This time hearing what Nadia said, Nyx couldn't help but purse his lips.
He thought for a second that what Kriel was offering was a good deal. If not for Nadia pointing out that it wouldn't be favorable for them in the long run, he would've unhesitatingly agreed to the conditions.
"Food, lodging– especially food. It's very hard to acquire those. We have to scavenge for food for ourselves, and we have to scavenge some more to contribute, then we have to build our own house and then—... And for what? Some help?" Nadia paused to see the face of Kriel that was embarrassed.
Although Nadia didn't say it out loud, it was apparent that she found out that he was trying to take advantage of them.
"Let me guess, you can't even guarantee that those helping hands would help us."
Kriel's face blushed with embarrassment.
Amon stayed silent, while Bianca chose to walk away. She didn't want to deal with Kriel's obvious underestimation with the two. Along the way she got exposed to Nadia's wit. And she didn't want to be under Nadia's radar any longer.
"Oh Mr. Kriel, how could I ever contribute to the camp? I'm just a weak teenager." The most damnable thing is, Nadia said this with the most monotonous voice and the most straight face ever. Nyx couldn't even laugh, and Kriel couldn't even retort.
Nadia stepped In front of the 40 year old man and stared dead center on his eyes. "Oh I'm just so so weak, I'm sorry Mr. Kriel I'm just gonna be a burden if I stay here." Nadia's dark eyes didn't reflect any light and her face was straight without emotions. "Don't worry Mr. Kriel I won't be staying here."
Kriel's face morphed. As if something was stuck behind his throat he couldn't utter a word. It didn't take a minute for him to know that there was something inherently wrong with how the things were going. What the camp needed was strong survivors, and he could've asked for their help. But instead he blew it by lusting over the girl's belongings.
Like a switch that has been flipped, Kriel's attitude turned a full 180° change. A smile bloomed on his face, and you can't even see his eyes from the way that he was smiling.
"You know what? It's ok you don't have to contribute food. But you have to at least offer some, for you guys to stay in the camp." He tried to salvage what was left of the situation.
"..." This time Nadia didn't face Kriel. But instead she faced Amon. "Tell me, did you also have to offer food for you to stay in this camp?"
'Poor bastard' Nyx couldn't help but shake his head at Kriel.
Faced with Nadia's stare Amon couldn't really do much, as such he answered truthfully. "No, I didn't have to offer anything. But in order for me to stay in a hut, I was requested to hunt and find more survivors with the others." Amon's temperament was still as cool as a cucumber, although Kriel was glowering at him.
"You're really relentless huh? You know you can still acquire some of our food by trading, but you didn't even think about that possibility." Nadia spat out disdainfully. She knew the worth that she carried, and she'd be damned if they could swindle anything from her.
After being found out the second time Kriel sneered. "Don't push it girl or you won't be able to stay here at all."
Nadia smiled "I wasn't planning on staying."
"I must agree with Nadia Mr. Kriel." Nyx nodded and spoke after a long time. "The terms and conditions you have said— aren't you just trying to swindle our food? You probably won't agree, but we are more than able to survive without any helping hands. I'm sorry Mr. Kriel but I'd rather live outside than stay with this camp."