Chapter 212 Who doesn't work, doesn't eat
"He is going to kill half of us now, trust me," a voice reached Mathew's ears as he moved deeper into the open space of the floor.
"I bet he will turn all the girls into his sex slaves..." another one joined the choir of the former students.
They were all cuddled up in the corner of the open space, as far from the broken areas as they could. Yet, even though there were several classrooms that they could turn into their living space, it appeared as if they didn't seem happy with such an obvious idea either.
'Well, who am I to judge how they live in this shitty world?' Mathew asked himself, ignoring all the whispers as he approached the survivors and stood his ground.
'They are terrified,' he then thought once taking his time to slowly scan all of their faces.
Mathew could see the girls that were used by the vicious group of students on the first day. He could see some of those vicious students trying to hide as far away from him as possible too.
'There are less than thirty of them,' he thought, only for his expression to darken. 'Less than half appears to have any predisposition for combat, and even less than half of those are trustworthy enough to provide them with weapons.'
Mathew's silent judgment was as quick as it was harsh. Yet, in the reality they all found themselves in, the young man had no wish to appear merciful at the cost of compromising the safety of both his people and his plans.
"Everyone, listen up," Mathew finally spoke out once he made sure that no survivor appeared to harbor any vile thoughts. "Contrary to what I can hear you guessing, I'm not here to pick some infants to eat for breakfast," he said, only to cross his arms on his chest as he shook his head to the sides in fake disbelief. "But yeah, I'm going to make your life much harder from now on. So unless you fear hard work or do not wish to contribute in exchange for all the resources I wasted on you already..."
Mathew gave the crowd a momentary pause to let them slowly digest his words. Yet, cutting his sentence on such a threatening note as he did, Mathew allowed the tension to rise up as well.
"Unless you are either of those two kinds of people, you generally have nothing to fear," he then revealed, spreading his arms out as if to showcase just how obvious this was.
"Ummm..." one of the girls sitting roughly in the middle of the group fearfully raised her hand. "Excuse me...?"
"Yes?" Mathew nodded his head as he looked towards the girl with a calm, neutral expression on his face.
"What are you going to make us do?" the girl asked, her hand barely moving any higher than her head. Yet, even while curled up as she was, her body still trembled as she spoke out.
"It's simple," Mathew said, attempting to calm both the girl and everyone else by speaking in a plain voice. "I'm going to put you all to work. I'm not going to punish you if you refuse to help, so you don't need to worry about that," he then added, finally saying enough to burst open the ball of the survivors' anxiety and give them some peace of mind.
"I'm not going to provide for anyone who slacks off, though," Mathew then quickly added.
'Playing on the balance between hope and desperation...' he thought, accurately judging the truth behind both his words and then their pacing. 'Am I turning into a villain or something?'
"But I guess that doesn't satisfy your question, does it?" Mathew then openly smiled while keeping his eyes on the one girl that proved to be the bravest of the crowd. "In short, I need five people to volunteer for a hunting unit. Everyone else will be turned into workers tasked with cleaning, fixing, and then improving this place to turn it into a proper fortress."
Mathew's plan was simple.
With the current amount of cores in his hand, he could only afford to equip five fighters. While this number could be increased by compromising on both the quality and the type of weapon he would choose for them, the young man hardly saw any point in wasting cores on something that would be too weak to be of any use.
"And what if someone has usable skills?" one of the guys that didn't belong to the group from the first day spoke out.
"And what it is that you can do?" Mathew bounced the ball back, genuinely happy to hear the question.
After all, for more than half of the workers, he already had a future in mind. Yet, as it would only come true once they would go beyond the stage of just establishing fortresses, he saw no point in revealing the truth just yet.
"I can cook really well," the young man stood up as he answered, only to turn his right hand into a fist and then slam himself squarely on his chest. "And I mean, REALLY well," he then added.
"Good," Mathew replied with a smile. "Then, from now on, you are tasked with cooking for everyone."
The whole area then turned silent. It appeared as if the girl and the young man duo managed to sap all the courage the survivors here had in them.
"Oh, I forgot to mention," Mathew smiled at everyone, only to steal a glance towards his back to where Nadia stood.
Sensing his glance, the girl took a step forward, stopping only half a meter away from Mathew's back. And then, before Mathew could even say another word, she openly rested her right hand on the handle of her saber hanging down from her side.
"The hunters will receive two times as many resources as the normal workers. People with a specialization," Mathew turned his eyes to the young man from before, "like our new cook or," he then turned his eyes towards the junior that helped him come up with a mathematic formula for leveling up earlier, "our new accountant," he said, only to suddenly turn silent.
"Fifty percent more than the workers sounds reasonable, I think," Mathew then added after a short while only to then move his eyes back to their neutral position, trying to take the stock of the changes happening to every survivor's face.
"And those who refuse to work?" a voice from the crowd reached Mathew's ears. And due to him trying to look at everyone at once, the owner of the voice somehow managed to avoid Mathew's attention.
"It's like I said before," Mathew said with a smile only to feel Nadia pressing her chest against his back as she came even closer. "They won't receive a thing and will be free to do whatever they want..."
Mathew then raised his chin and released a small chuckle.
"They will be free to do whatever they want, but won't be allowed within the areas under my control anymore."
Mathew allowed another moment for his words to seep deep into everyone's soul. Yet, right as he was about to open up his mouth, massive mayhem sounded from the direction he sent Carol and Norbert to.
'I guess if it's the start or the conclusion of Carol's training,' Mathew thought, only to roll his eyes and then bring them back on the crowd. "Now then, do we have any volunteers for the hunting squad?"
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