Chapter 45: Good Neighbours
They walked out the gates together, and were greeted at the front door of the apartment by two smiling men in leather coats and aprons from the butcher’s shop. It was as close as they could find to armour for the door guards, and it would have to do for now.
"Hello, my name is Kallista De Marimgar. I am a Coordinator Class student at the Academy, and I am temporarily in charge of supplies and logistics. As you’ve likely guessed, we’re pretty strapped, since there are no supply trucks coming, and the army cleared out everything that they could access before they relocated.
But as a welcoming gift, I have brought you some supplies. Do you have a camp stove, or other source of fire?"
The men at the door nodded. "Indeed. I go camping a lot, so I had more than one stove, plus some spare bottles, and we brought the propane tanks from all the barbecue grills in our building. We’re cooking in one kitchen to prevent waste."
Kalli nodded. "Excellent news. These are for you, then."
She purchased a bag of rice and a bag of pinto beans, at two points each. 25 kilos per bag would last them a while, even with a hundred people. She just hoped that they had some spices, so it wasn’t completely bland.
"That’s... generous. I think it’s actually more than most of us had in the house when all this started."
Kalli laughed. "This is not a cook at home with a full pantry sort of neighbourhood, from what I have gathered. If I’m not wrong, you both had corporate jobs before."
Both men nodded. "We were building security at the Trafalgar building. Unfortunately, it’s all glass, and when this all started the earthquake shattered all the windows. So, we headed home, but nearly everyone in the building worked for a tech firm."
Kalli shrugged. "It will take some adjustment, but if we can stabilize things, those skills will be in demand again. Probably not in the same way, but perhaps repairing electronic gear for the heroes, or programming software to calculate dungeon loot and mission rewards.
If we can find more of the students, we will have a pretty solid chance of keeping this district secure."
Then it occurred to Kalli that while many things had happened around the Academy, she didn’t recall any earthquake. Could it have been one of the giant monsters that they had seen out the window during the first event?
"We will send someone over either later today or tomorrow to see how you’re doing, and to tell you if we’ve found any work that the heroes are willing to trade supplies for."
The door guards laughed. "Well, I see that you’ve got your own security teams. But I can think of a few jobs that the residents might do. You see, we didn’t just save the residents, the building staff are here too.
Knowing who the Academy students were before they were heroes with superpowers, I am willing to wager that they’re used to maids and someone to clean up after them."
Beth giggled. "Academy guidelines, part two. No personal domestic staff are allowed within the building. Learning self-sufficiency builds character. But I don’t think that they would object to at least having a few custodians and cleaners around. I will suggest it to them, and everyone can rotate so that it doesn’t breed hard feelings."
The big man winked at Beth and shook his head. "Can you imagine what would happen if we sent Sandra to clean rooms?"
"Other than her ending up pregnant?"
The guards laughed, but Kalli got the point. Not everyone was suitable for the job. They would have to find other things for people to do, so that the entire building wasn’t relying on a few people with jobs.
"Alright, we should head back. Hopefully, those supplies will last you a few days. Purchasing them from the System Store isn’t cheap, and we don’t know if there is a limit to how many we can buy. But I will make sure that you get more when I can," Kalli informed them.
"We will do our best to get the building set up. We transplanted everything from the gardens, and took every edible plant from the building. Even if we have to set up boxes on all the balconies, we will do our best to make it work if we can get through the early stages."
A balcony of potatoes and such was not going to be enough for a family, but it would take the strain off, and as they stabilized the neighbourhood, there would be more room to work with.
The tops of all the empty warehouses were prime locations for rows of planters, at least for a few years while they were still stable. After that, it was anyone’s guess.
But maybe more people could start getting powers if they kept working at it?
Kalli had a Class, but wasn’t a "Hero", so it was theoretically possible.
She led Beth back to the Academy while the door guards arranged for the supplies to be sent to the kitchen. Bean and rice soup would be their staple for a while, so they could save what they brought from home and scavenged from this building.
Which wasn’t much. The Academy students and the rat demons had both been there before them.
Throughout the afternoon, more students were brought back, and not all of them were in great shape. The healers were working overtime to get them back into top condition, but most of them had either been injured and went into hiding, only coming out when they saw other students, or they had valuable skills and were held hostage by groups of survivors.
Most of those hadn’t been found yet, but the number of students was growing fast now that they had set up the makeshift cell phone tower.
All the students could access the student portal and app again, so anyone who dared to turn on their phone would see that there was signal and have a chance to receive the push notifications.
That was what they were banking on to help them find the others.
Only students of Marimgar Academy would see the message, and the tower wouldn’t connect anything but other phones that were on the same tower. So, only those nearby could be contacted.
It was far from perfect. But with everything else out, except basic satellite service, it was better than nothing, and it was bringing them a steady stream of students.
And it was bringing Kalli a steady stream of points.
Rescuing students was a Hard Mode quest, and the System awarded her a net twenty points per student. Enough that she was considering giving them all a welcoming gift to encourage them to stay and be productive.
It would also cut down on injuries, but Kalli wasn’t certain just what she should hand out.
The composite battle armour? A weapon? Both? Something else?
Setting the standards too high seemed like it would just drain the Academy’s reserve, as she considered her points. Most of the points that she had were going to end up going to the kitchens and to security, and they still wouldn’t be enough if the influx slowed.
