Leveling Up Wives In The Apocalypse

"So you want to take all those people off my shoulders and… do what?" Marcus asked while leaning back in his chair.

'I just called him out on the reasons why he keeps them here in the first place. I guess it's only normal for him to pretend to care about them,' Mathew thought.

"We are going to lift the burden of keeping them alive, safe, and fed from you," Nadia stepped up and said. "Don't you think you are asking too many questions now?"

"Girl…" Marcus looked at Nadia for a second before shaking his head with a disappointed expression. "Men are talking right now, shut up."

"Oh, Marcus…" Mathew whispered, replicating the man's expression and shaking his own head. His hand found its way to the handle of his newly obtained sword. He then half-opened his eyes while already invoking his mind's flesh. "There are many things I can pretend not to notice or outright ignore," he said.

Mathew took a step forward.

Two of the Marcus officers tensed up, recognizing the small changes to his expression and general aura.

"But I'm not going to allow a fucker like you to insult my wife," Mathew said, properly raising his head, opening his eyes, and then sending a deadly stare right at Marcus' face.

The air in the room tensed up. The rest of Marcus' officers finally realized what was going on. Their hands moved down, hovering around the various spots where they kept their weapons.

"That's fine," Marcus said, going against the general flow and not showing any signs of being pressured. "I apologize," he said and even lowered his head while doing so.

"Good," Mathew diffused his aura, "good call," he added as he stepped one pace back.

"Still," Marcus smiled. He then leaned forward and put his elbows on the edge of the table before cupping his hands together and resting his chin on top of them. "You want my people, don't you?" he pointed out. "While I still want to know what are you going to do with them, there is something even more important I want to ask," he said with a disgustingly charming smile.

"What are you offering in return?"

'That's quite the risk he is taking,' Mathew thought as he cast a quick glance at the officers around Marcus' table.

By seemingly putting the matter of the people's well-being on hold while steering the discussion towards flat-out negotiation of the prize, he was putting their trust at risk.

'Or…' Mathew squinted his eyes a bit while a single thought coursed through his head. 'Or he is trying to see who's smart enough to realize that's what he is actually supposed to do.'

Marcus was a leader of the survivors' camp. As such, the general well-being of specific people within his group… couldn't be his main concern.

His job was to ensure that whoever was within the camp would be taken care of to the best of what the camp could provide while extracting every last bit of value from them in return.

And right now, to ensure the most benefits for the camp, he couldn't focus on the well-being of the people he would potentially send away.

He had to focus on the perks of the people that would remain.

"By taking them away, we will cut you free from the burden of keeping them," Mathew replied while the way he looked at Marcus changed a little.

When the entire encounter started, he considered the man to be just a human monster like many in the apocalyptic world. Someone who didn't spare his own people or random survivors for the sake of his goals.

Mathew also knew the man was fiercely intelligent due to how he always appeared to be prepared for everything that was happening around him.

But now, Mathew looked at Marcus with a dose of genuine respect.

Because save for all the traits already mentioned, he also knew how to be a leader. And being a true leader was what Mathew desperately aspired to be.

"That's an added benefit," Marcus replied after a moment of thought. He then relaxed his hands and put them flat down on the table. "Not the benefit you need to offer if you want this exchange to be equal."

"What if I throw a merchant to the equation?" Mathew asked with a small smile.

'No matter how I may respect him now, it doesn't change that we are on opposite sides of the negotiation table right now,' the young man thought, taking a deep breath as he devoted himself to using every card that he had hidden in his sleeve.

"What merchant?" Marcus feigned ignorance.

"The one you already know I summoned. Or should I say," Mathew put a cheeky smile on his lips, "the merchant that your people are checking out right now?"

The expression on Marcus' face soured a little. Once again, Mathew proved that his earlier statement of knowing everything that was going on… wasn't all that far from the truth.

Marcus closed his eyes and took some time to think.

"Summoning a merchant only takes a hundred zombie cores," he then said upon opening his eyes back up. "That's not enough."

"I don't like to waste my time on haggling," Mathew replied. "So I will throw two hundred zombie cores and not a single concession or item more," he stated.

"You got way more than that from just the horde you took down a few hours ago!" Marcus protested.

"You are right," Mathew smiled in return. "A horde that I took down," he pointed out. "And a horde that would take this place down if not for me and my girls," he then added.

Marcus closed his eyes again, taking his sweet time to calculate his options.

"Back to the earlier question we are, it seems," he said without opening his eyes. "What do you need them for?" He asked while opening his eyes and staring right at Mathew's face. "Or rather, how are you going to treat them?"

'That means, we got ourselves a deal,' he thought while openly smiling.

"Oh, I will work them all to the bone," he admitted right away and without even a shred of hesitation. "But!" he then added, raising his eyebrows when he saw the souring expressions of some of Marcus' officers. "But I'm also going to protect them, feed them…" Mathew smiled with confidence, ready to put the last nail to the coffin of any and all opposition.

"And I will allow them to usher in the luxuries like running water or a shadow of a normal life that my camps have to offer."