When Kairos began thinking about it, the situation that Chen was in was probably better for him than he thought. He was a person that wasn’t yet at peak D rank, but one that would reach it soon.
Seeing it that way made the situation seem almost ideal, as someone that just reached the peak of D rank wouldn’t be too hard for him to get rid of.
After all, they wouldn’t have the time to limit break any of their stats, and also wouldn’t be prepared to defend themselves against others that were hunting these kinds of people specifically.
With this in mind, Kairos nodded to himself.
“Wow! You really are strong Chen, do you mind if I join you then?”
The people with Chen seemed a little annoyed with his suggestion.
“What? You just doubted him so much, now you want a free ride?”
“Get out of here! We don’t need someone like you!”
“Who do you think you are? Scram!”
Chen smiled bitterly when he heard all of that. He let out a light cough, which made everyone else fall silent.
“It’s not that I particularly dislike you. I understand the need to distrust others, so I hold nothing against you being that cautious. However, you must also understand that we cannot be all that trusting of you either. As such, it’s simply too hard to accept you in the group.”
Kairos was somewhat disappointed, but didn’t find this situation expected. He put on a sad face, like a person that deeply regretted his actions.
“A-Are you sure? Is there really no way that you would take me?”
The group seemed to be in a consensus.
“No!”
“Impossible!”
“Go away!”
Chen shrugged his shoulders.
“I’m fine with the team I have now. I’m not looking to get anyone else… unless they can prove their worth.”
Kairos exaggeratedly put a hand on his forehead.
“Ah! Then what can I do to prove my worth?”
Chen rubbed his chin.
“Well, what are your capabilities? Can you fight, or do you have an ability that helps you locate resources?”
Kairos narrowed his eyes slightly. He began wondering which one of his abilities he could expose that would be enough. However, most of the abilities were too offensive related. As for his mana vision, he wanted to keep it secret.
After a few moments, he coughed.
“Um, I can fight a little bit!”
The group did not seem pleased with that.
“If you can fight, then why are you so scared of Chen then?”
“I can fight too! I bet you wouldn’t be able to last long against me!”
“Hah! I bet you aren’t even at the D rank yet!”
Kairos put a hand on his chest as though he was offended.
“I-I reached the D rank a little bit ago!”
Chen shrugged his shoulders.
“Even the latest person to reach the D rank was several days ago, and that was only because he wanted to earn more points while he was still a lower rank. If you’re only that strong, then I have no plans of accepting you.”
A glint flashed by Kairos’ eyes as he made a sad expression. He had lowballed himself a little too much and didn’t want to take it back now. After giving a short glance to Nicole, he spoke once more.
“Ah, I see… but at the very least, can you take my friend, Nicole? She’s pretty strong and has found food before.”
After hearing that, and under Kairos’ gaze, she slowly stepped up so that the others could see her. She looked down curiously, wondering how strong this Chen person could be if Kairos seemed to be this willing to partake in his group.
In her mind, it was possible that he had already reached the C rank.
“U-Um, hello?”
Practically everyone was quite attracted to her appearance. At this point in the apocalypse, it was pretty normal for everyone to be pretty messed up and dirty. This even went for Chen to a certain extent, but not a crazy amount.
Nicole had access to showers all the time and had a naturally good appearance, making her quite attractive even though it was from quite the distance. Although Kairos had access to the same things, he also got covered by blood a lot recently and didn’t take the proper care to wash himself, so he blended right in.
Once everyone saw Nicole, they were a little surprised, but still reluctant.
“Mmm… should we take her?”
“Well… we can’t just take any stranger.”
“But the poor girl doesn’t have anyone to defend her!”
Nicole furrowed her brow when she heard that.
“I have Kairos to protect me! I-I asked him to!”
Hearing that, actually gave the opposite impression that Nicole was trying to set.
“The poor girl only has him?”
“She won’t last long if the only person protecting her is that guy…”
“But should we really bring along a dead weight?”
Chen seemed to hesitate when he heard what everyone else had to say. He let out a sigh and called out to the rest.
“Alright, how about we hold a vote. If the majority wishes to take the girl in, then we will. It isn’t too big of a deal to just bring one more person on board. Raise your hand if you agree to take her.”
There was clear hesitation among the nine, but one after another people began raising their hands up. After a minute or so, six people ended up raising their hands. Seeing this, Chen nodded.
“Alright then, it appears we are willing to take in the girl.”
He turned to Nicole and called out to her.
“Hey, come with us! We’ll help keep you safe.”
Kairos’ eyebrow twitched as he couldn’t help but feel the double standards. He had to state something making him worth taking, while they were quite willing to take in Nicole despite her not even saying all that much.
Kairos gave her a subtle nod and was about to whisper to her to kill off Chen once he reached the peak of D rank, but before he could, Nicole began freaking out a little bit.
“What? If you’re taking me, that means Kairos can come along as well, right?”
Chen shook his head.
“I’m sorry, but we just don’t have that kind of space. Come on now, I understand how it feels to abandon someone you would consider a teammate, but we do what we have to in order to survive.”
Hearing this, Nicole clenched her fist.
“What? No! No, I’m not going! If you aren’t going to take Kairos as well, then I won’t go!”
The people in the crowd only became more sympathetic when they heard that.
“She’s such a caring girl!”
“Wow… she won’t even abandon a dead weight? I’m not a bad person, but I’m not sure if I could be that compassionate.”
“We can’t let someone that sweet die!”
Chen smiled bitterly.
“Girl, sometimes we have to make a choice. It may be a hard one to make, but I’m sure you understand what you have to do.”
Nicole frowned rather intensely.
“I… I know what I have to do.”
Chen nodded when he heard this.
“Then join us, won’t you?”
Nicole slowly shook her head.
“No. What I have to do, is stay with the person I’ve trusted. The person that I’ve chosen to be with! If that kills me, then so be it! I’m not someone so attached to living, that I’ll abandon the things that make me what I am!”
Kairos blinked a few times as he watched her continue. He wanted to stop her but realized that this direction wasn’t too bad either.
Upon hearing that, the group began letting out helpless sighs.
“I guess… we have to take in the dead weight as well.”
“Someone that never abandons their comrades… that sounds like a great teammate to have!”
“Maybe we should just do it then, we can just pretend the other guy isn’t a part of the group!”
Chen looked a little disappointed with how things went. He looked up with a bitter smile and shrugged his shoulders.
“Well, looks like it’s your lucky day, Kairos, isn’t it?”
Kairos smiled and tried to stop himself from looking too smug.
“Yes, I’m very grateful for this opportunity you’ve given me. Chen, was it?”
Chen nodded.
“Indeed it is. Though, understand that your position will only be secure if you provide enough contribution to the group.”
Kairos nodded.
“Understood, sir.”
With that, he backed off, and went to a door on the roof, planning to go down that way. Nicole looked rather confused by this.
“Um… why don’t we just jump off? That would be much faster, right?”
Kairos took a deep breath.
“Just come with me for a second.”
Hearing that, Nicole decided to comply.
Once they got into the building, they found it was rather decrepit and actually had a few monsters within. It seemed that they were sleeping though, so none of them were startled. From here, Kairos whispered to Nicole.
“That Chen person is very close to reaching the peak of D rank. If we wait for him to get enough points to reach that point, then one of us could kill him for our promotion mission.”
Nicole blinked several times in surprise.
“Eh? That was it? Then… Then why did you try and make me go with them?”
Kairos shrugged his shoulders.
“I planned on letting you wait for Chen to reach the peak of D rank and kill him for your promotion mission.”
Nicole let out a soft sigh.
“Ah… of course. You wouldn’t just send me off to someone random like that.”
Kairos blinked a few times.
“Uh… yeah.”
Nicole smiled.
“Haha, sorry for doubting you.”
Kairos shook his head.
“I didn’t make it all that clear. It’s fine that you misunderstood. What matters is getting this kill. Would you like to do it?”
Nicole tilted her head to the side and put a finger on her chin.
“You can do it. I will get the next one.”
Kairos raised an eyebrow.
“Don’t tell me you’re too scared to kill someone now.”
Nicole slowly shook her head.
“No, I understand. I’ve been thinking about it a lot ever since I killed a person on my own, and when you… killed others. It’s just something we have to do, and there’s no helping it. After seeing the promotion mission, it became even clearer to me.”
Her eyes widened ever so slightly.
“That I have to learn to be cruel. Because that’s the only way I can become strong enough to protect you.”
Kairos stared at her strangely.
“Not yourself?”
Nicole smiled bitterly.
“I suppose that too, but only because I can’t protect you while I’m dead.”
Kairos let out a soft sigh.
“You shouldn’t value my life over yours so much?”
Nicole pouted.
“I… I know. But that’s just how it is. I can’t really change it anymore.”
She then smiled brightly. Kairos couldn’t say anything more when he saw her like that. The two of them walked down the steps silently, avoiding the monsters piled up in the halls, and eventually made it outside.
Chen raised an eyebrow when he saw them.
“What took you so long?”
Kairos scratched the side of his head.
“There were many monsters inside. We had to be quiet if we wanted to go down.”
A boy in the crowd raised his fist.
“Then you should’ve just told Chen! He would’ve killed all the monsters!”
Chen raised his hand, making the boy quiet down.
“Killing monsters unnecessarily is just a waste of time. This works out anyway.”
Hearing this, Kairos couldn’t help but feel the need to interject. He coughed a few times.
“Well, killing monsters will give points! So I think maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea to try…”
He did everything he could to hide the smirk that was threatening to form on his face.