Orion maintained a casual appearance as he walked calmly on the highway, instantly killing any zombie that came close to him.
"How are you doing this?" Mai, for the first time, couldn't help but ask Orion about his power. He'd shown her many more shocking things, but this one made her unable to suppress her curiosity.
"The light beams, or how I'm able to see through the back of my head?"
"Both," she said.
"Won't you be visible to them?" Orion looked up and noticed multiple tiny people in the distance, all looking at him from their makeshift watchtowers.
"No."
"My abilities are different from yours. They come from runes instead of your system. This beam of light comes from a grade-one rune. It's one of the stronger ones among the others that I know, like the lava one that you saw me use before," he said. "As for the aiming…"
Technique: Omnidirectional Marksmanship
Origin Energy Cost: 10000 Units
"It's called Omnidirectional Marksmanship. A technique that allows me to leverage my highly sensitive senses and identify the position of zombies just from their sounds. It's equivalent to focused echolocation used to identify moving objects. I can accurately identify the location of things around, but that's all."
He'd naturally held back quite a few of the nitty-gritty details that were the true reason it took him five hundred years to truly grasp that technique completely. This technique essentially made him a better Daredevil, honing his senses to their limits and giving him a lot more benefits than just marksmanship.
Aside from that, he'd learned another technique, but that one was classified as knowledge due to its nature. It was what allowed him to constantly keep the cleaning rune perpetually active while consuming a small enough amount of Runic energy that it was outpaced by his natural regeneration.
Knowledge: Passive Rune Activation
Origin Energy Cost: 10000 Units
It had been another thing that took him five hundred years to master. But it was truly a useful ability. It not only applied to Aspected Runes, but normal ones as well. Passive activation was a far more efficient method of utilizing runes than the direct kind that immediately consumed Runic Energy and didn't last as long as he would have liked, having a burst effect. The effects of passive activation were naturally weaker, but consumed almost a negligible amount of Runic Energy to have a permanent effect. But even then, runes as a power system itself were overpowered enough in this world that the light rune's constant passive output could release a light bright enough to force people to close their eyes as if they were directly looking at the sun, but that was all. It couldn't do anything to zombies. The cleaning rune, however, significantly benefited from this, as the passive activation merely reduced the range to a few inches away from his body but brought the cost all the way down to a single unit of Runic Energy for keeping it active for four hours.
With both of these purchases and the expenses of his previous night, the Origin Energy Orion possessed had already fallen to the four-digit mark. But the improvements were truly worth it for the powers that he had now gotten. Looking at the shocked actions of the settlement's scouts, his efforts had borne fruit and sufficiently displayed his strength to them.
"You know…Sakurajima-san," Orion said. "This feels good. Actually, being able to see you walking beside me. Usually, you are just non-existent and lost in the world."
"These lasers are too randomized and go too far."
"You wouldn't even be able to react before one of them pierced you," Orion nodded. "You don't need to hide yourself from them, you know? The kind of firepower I have, I can even tank their bullets with my defensive rune. Even if they are armor-piercing rounds."
"It's safer this way," she said.
"We'll probably have to share a room under those circumstances. I hope you don't mind."
"You can take the couch," she said. "I don't care much."
"Anyone hearing your words would think that you are the one who is helping me out," he chuckled. "At least you are willing to talk to me a little now. Before yesterday, you rarely ever spoke full sentences to me."
Mai pressed her lips together after hearing his words.
"Stop contemplating if you want to disappear or not. Just nod at my words and move on. Why do you have to read into everything?"
By now, he was close enough to the settlement and switched to even weaker light beams that would only pierce through single zombies. He didn't want to damage their walls and such with his attacks. Soon, he reached the end of the highway.
"This is the Kobe Bridge, right?" Orion asked, standing before a makeshift wall that prevented him from crossing over the river and into the settlement.
"Yes, that one is the Koshigoe Bridge," she pointed at the other entry point of this defense line further ahead. "The river provides them with a solid defense against the zombies while funneling them."
A few seconds of patience rewarded Orion with the opening of a door on the side, barely enough to fit one person. Through it, a blonde man with a slightly authoritative aura around him, giving Orion a similar vibe to a politician.
"You said this place is run by the third son of the Shinomiya family, right? Any idea who this is?" Orion asked.
"I haven't had any contact with them before. Their main area of influence has been limited to Tokyo," Mai said.
"Greetings," the blonde man said, not having noticed anything amiss despite Orion talking to Mai right in front of him. "My name is Hayasaka Masato. I'm the second-in-command of the Shichirigahama Settlement." He politely extended his hand for a shake.
"Hey," Orion extended his hand. "I'm Orion. Orion Vaelor. I'm not from around here."
"May I ask your purpose in coming here? Your personal strength has been evident from a distance. I'm…I'm not sure what we can provide you."
"Cautious, huh?" Orion chuckled. "It's nothing. I've grown tired of endlessly killing zombies and want to rest for a few days. Maybe get a haircut. Do you have any qualified barbers or hairdressers?"
"We do…"
"Great. I'll join you guys for a few days, providing my support to get rid of some of the more troublesome hordes of zombies," he said. "I'll probably stay here for a week at most."
"Have you been to other settlements near us?" Masato asked.
"Hayasaka-san. I've been traveling for a while." That was a lie. He'd casually strolled to the settlement from Mai's apartment in less than an hour. "How about we have these conversations after some rest?"
"Of course," the blonde man nodded with a smile. "Please, follow me."
"You've never been inside this place, right?" Orion asked Mai, without anyone sensing anything amiss despite him speaking normally.
"I never needed to," she said. "But from what I remember from my occasional encounters, the leader is very ruthless and doesn't mind killing people."
"This place probably doesn't have any prisons."
"You think they execute criminals?"
"Probably. That would be a solid deterrent effect in the current situation."
Inside, Orion was led through the street, observing the people who manned the makeshift watchtowers on top of the riverside houses.
"Apologies, but we don't have any suitable accommodation prepared. I will have to ask you to stay in a room at the Koshigoe Kodo Inn for the night. I will prepare something more suitable by the morning."
"No need to be so unfamiliar, Hayasaka-san," Orion waved his arm dismissively. "I won't stay here for too long anyway. No need to displace your residents for my... sake." His voice rose an octave as he felt a knife pressing against his side and glanced at Mai's frosty expression. "On second thoughts, a house would be better. Preferably with a kitchen and a couch."
Masato noticed the shift in the man's tone and mentally noted it down without mentioning it. "It would be our pleasure, Orion-san."
"Can you tell me about the settlement? How do things work here? Do you guys have an internal currency? What about bartering? This place has a fishing dock, so you probably get quite a bit of oceanic fish. Is there a class system as well?"
"You seem to have travelled through quite a few settlements, Orion-san."
"You didn't answer my questions," Orion said without addressing the man's words.
"We do have an internal currency system that works on Yen. But it is limited to services, food, and the monthly auctions—though there has only been one. The next one is in a few days. You cannot spend money to move into a better residence. We don't have enough resources to enable that. To earn, you must participate in the settlement's defense, or barter your services with other people."
"Not bad," Orion nodded. "You've got a good thing going. What about this auction? What kind of stuff goes here?"
"Slaves, generally. But there is the occasional weapon that is found when scavenging."
"So there is a class system here," Orion concluded, feeling a chill coming from Mai beside him.
"There are slaves and residents, but there are unofficial classifications between the residents as well. The defenders all have special privileges that the service-providers don't. There are also the fishermen, who are considered separate from them due to the fact that they are responsible for most of the food."
"So do you guys only eat fish, or is there other stuff?"
"We have enough to last us until farming becomes feasible. We are trying to cultivate some crops."
"Not bad, not bad at all," Orion said. "What about the slaves? How does that work? Is it just sex slaves, or more? Like sending a slave to fight on the front line and getting the appropriate remuneration."
Masato paused. "For now, no. The ones who end up as slaves are usually the ones who can't contribute to this community. For example, someone who found a large amount of money outside decided to lounge around. That's not allowed. If we don't see the source of people's money, then they either become defenders or are enslaved. If they had enough strength to serve as defenders, they wouldn't be in this situation in the first place."
"Understandable," Orion said. "What about laws and rights? Or is it a free-for-all for now?"
"The defenders and residents naturally have some core rights. The laws are simple: no infighting, no killing, and no stealing. Anyone found disobeying is immediately executed at the leader's discretion."
"Ruling with an iron fist," Orion commented. "Interesting. So slaves have no rights?"
"None. You can kill your slave and no one will mind," he said.
"Dark. What—"
"We're here," Masato said, stopping in front of a building. "This is the Koshigoe Kodo Inn. Please follow me inside. Your room has already been prepared."
***
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