I was momentarily surprised as I didn't expect my fire affinity to go up so quickly. Though, I was quickly pulled out of my thought as they all started to move together.
While we were walking, Lyra used his fire to warm all of us. I couldn't help but feel happy about his actions. Not because the cold was more bearable, but because the more he was using his affinity, the more my own affinity will go up.
We met a few wolves on our way to the shelter, but Lyra quickly took care of them. Seriously what was his level to kill them so easily?
As I was studying him more and more from behind, I slowly started to get more confident about Lyra's identity. Only he could experience such rapid growth in such a short amount of time.
Lyra, Roselle, and Julius talked among themselves with radiant smiles on their faces while I was left apart. It reminded me of the past.
'Indeed it seems like the moment our interests diverged, they started to drift apart from me.'
Even though I was slightly angry that my 'companions' drifted away so rapidly, I couldn't resent them. After all, even I would have chosen the easy way if I didn't know better about the situation that will without a doubt unfold very soon.
After a few more hours, we finally came to the 'shelter' Lyra was talking about earlier.
"Is it the shelter?" Roselle asked with surprise.
"It looks so... shabby." Julius added.
"It does look shabby. However, if you have a better place to stay, then you can go on your own." Lyra's voice stood strong in front of their behavior. Nevertheless, they quickly changed it after hearing him.
After all, they wanted to go back to a somewhat of civilization as quickly as they could.
To be honest, I didn't know if we could call this place a shelter. It was just a few houses covered in ice and snow where multiple people were eating happily and living their lives as if nothing happened.
It was almost as if they had completely forgotten about the reality we were in right now.
We walked in the middle of all those people toward a house that looked like the leader was in. The people were without a doubt more than a hundred people. Men, women, children. They were all shivering in the cold, yet were happy.
It seems like facing monsters scared the shit out of them.
Before coming to the house, the doors opened and a man greeted us. He had a large scar on his face and has military clothes. He was accompanied by two other people who looked like his subordinates.
'Well, it seems like he put some false order in here.' I sighed internally as the leader approached us with a smile.
"Lyra, you bring more people with you," Even though he was talking to Lyra, he was only looking at our bags. "Everyone, welcome our new guest."
They all started to cheer us as if we were heroes. There was even a little girl who came and hugged my leg.
"Mister, mister, is there food in your bag?" She asked innocently, yet what she said changed the eyes of all the people looking at us completely.
Now that they knew we had things to feed them, they would start leeching on us without a doubt.
"Are you here to join us?" The leader asked as Roselle and Julius nodded. "Great. And judging by your look, you guys know how to fight."
"Yes, we know. We can help if needed." Julius smiled brightly as if feeling proud of himself.
I seriously started to get disgusted. All of this supposed to be shelter was just a disguise to show someone else's power.
I looked at Lyra, who looked back at me. Though, he quickly avoided my gaze as if he couldn't care less about the situation.
Was he that annoying in the original?
The people started to show us around once the leader introduced us properly to everyone. Though, they were still throwing a few glances at our bags from time to time.
During all those events, I stood silent, not a single sound escaping my mouth. Even though I was here now, it was only a matter of time for I to go as I didn't want to stay here for long. I only had one goal, and that was why I followed behind everyone.
"Excuse me, sir, can I have a little bit of food?" The little girl from earlier asked with puppy eyes. I could hear her stomach growling.
"What do you have in exchange?"
"Huh?"
The little girl looked at me in awe. She couldn't understand how bold I was, nor the other people in the shelter who heard my answer.
They were surely shocked to even hear such an answer during such a hard time in their lives. Nonetheless, I stood still and didn't quiver.
Not even in front of Lyra's piercing eyes. If he could kill someone by staring only, then I would have died already.
"W-what do you mean? I don't have anything to exchange."
"Then I don't h-have any food for you either."
A heavy silence fell on the shelter as everyone looked at me, even Julius and Roselle.
The latter quickly intervened to not escalate the situation further. "It's okay, here you go, you can eat this." She gave the little girl a chocolate bar before the latter ran away.
"August why are you acting this way?" Julius came to my side and asked me urgently with disappointed eyes.
"Is there a r-reason for me to give it for f-free?" Julius was baffled by my answer. Roselle as well. Yet, they didn't have anything to answer as in a sense, I was right as well.
I wasn't an altruistic person, to begin with, so I'll be even less in such a world.
However, it seems my answer dissatisfied Lyra greatly.
Lyra turned to face me, clearly annoyed by my behavior. "What is wrong with you? You can't just treat people like that." He scolded me.
"What do you mean? I didn't do anything wrong though." I retorted, my temper flaring up against my will.
"You were being selfish and heartless. That little girl was starving, and you refused to give her any food. How can you call yourself a decent human being?" Lyra shot back.
I bristled at the accusation. "I didn't refuse to give her food. I just asked her if she had anything to exchange. We can't just give away our supplies for free. We need to make sure we have enough to last us until we can find a way out of this situation."
Lyra shook his head in disbelief. "You're missing the point. We're all in this together. We need to help each other out, not just think about ourselves."
"Everyone? Are you kidding me? You're just making them lazy. You're the one searching for supplies while they sleep here and do nothing. Is that what you mean by being we're all in this together? I'm telling you, man, you're alone in this situation."
Roselle stepped in, trying to diffuse the tension. "I understand what August is saying. We need to be careful with our resources. But at the same time, we shouldn't forget our humanity. We can still help others without putting ourselves in danger." In the end, she sided with Lyra. Well, he was the leader type, so he was naturally attracting people.
Lyra sighed in frustration. "I'm not saying we should give away everything we have. But we should be willing to share what we can spare. We're all in this together, and we need to work as a team if we want to survive." Look at him trying to make people side with him.
In the end, I just rolled my eyes and started to walk away. "Fine. If it's like this, I shouldn't stay here. I'm not welcome anyway. Enjoy your lazy life, everyone."
Lyra threw his hands up in exasperation. He couldn't understand how I could even act like this.
With that, Lyra stormed off as well, clearly fed up with my selfish behavior. I glanced back and could see him go on the opposite side of me. I felt a twinge of guilt as I really like Lyra in the first place, but his foolishness made me unwilling to change my stance.
Julius looked at me with disappointment as well. If he could actually tell me something before I went away, it would surely be: "I hope you know what you're doing. You're just going to die at this rate. You're the one who'll lose something in this story."
But well, he didn't tell me anything nor did he try to stop me. So I just left them here.
Roselle shook her head and followed after Lyra, quickly followed by Julius as well, thus leaving me now completely alone.
Though, right now, I couldn't care less. After all, I got what I wanted.
[You have unlocked the Fire affinity.]