Chapter 25: Kio's Requests
As Luna's height was similar to Kaori's, and her appearance is quite youthful, Kaori thought she was underaged.
Technically, she was correct, since Luna wasn't even 18 years old yet.
For Luna's race, they reach adulthood at the age of 21, as she previously mentioned to Riko and Kio.
However, Kio felt insulted for being labelled with something he wasn't.
He was confident in his heart that he only loved Riko after they confessed their feelings to each other earlier, and he didn't want his sister to ruin his reputation.
"Ahem. Anyways, as you guys can see, these are one of the items produced in our world. It's a type of confection called a chocolate bar."
Luna and Mary were enjoying their chocolate with relish.
However, Dan wasn't too fond of sweets, so he passed his chocolate to Mary, causing her to be delighted at having a second one.
When Kio noticed that, he took out something else and threw it over to Dan.
"What is this?"
"These are potato chips, and they come in many different flavors. You open it by pulling apart the plastic."
After Dan opened the bag of chips, he ate it with delight, and Kio hoped that his request later would succeed by using these snacks to bribe him.
Dan then took out some dried meat from his Item Box and shared it with everyone else. However, the texture was a bit rough, and the taste was too salty to their liking.
Seeing that the Luna was eating the dried meat normally, he thought that she might be used to eating these kinds of food.
"Luna, are you fine with eating that? Isn't it a little dry and tough?"
"It's fine. The slave owner previously only fed us with some disgusting gruel paste or a piece of moldy bread. This meat is already many times better than what I ate before."
"Luna… from now on, I won't ever let you eat that kind of food ever again."
"..."
Luna recalled the tasty chocolate bar she had earlier, and she couldn't wait to try out some of his other snacks.
She lightly blushed, as she realized that she enjoyed the care and warmth that Kio is providing for her.
He stroked her hair a bit, feeling bad for her tough life as a slave.
Even though there were tens of other slaves earlier, he didn't know why he only cared for Luna.
When he looked over towards Kaori and Miyu, he could see the funny expression on their faces as they tried to bite through the meat.
"Haha, do you girls want to eat instant noodles instead?"
"No, it's fine. We'll eat what everyone else is eating."
Kaori didn't want to behave like a spoiled girl, when everyone else is fine with eating the meat.
Luna was curious about instant noodles, but when Kaori declined it, she knew she wouldn't have a chance to try it.
"Well, back to what I mentioned before, a few days before we got teleported over here, a zombie outbreak occurred in our city. Some of us managed to find shelter and food before we got brought to this world, but we were trapped inside a building. As we got summoned, we got taken to a white space where this System Administrator person allowed each of us to pick a class. We also got a Teleportation Crystal, which we could use to either teleport anywhere or bring a person over to us."
Kio briefly summarized their last few days, withholding the information about his skills, since that was his biggest secret. Even if he could trust the girls and Dan, he didn't want to carelessly spill out the details on all his skills.
"So that's what happened. No wonder you and Riko couldn't come back home right away."
Kaori was glad that they were safe, but she would've preferred it if he could've returned home with Riko, even though she understood that he wasn't in any position to do that.
"So, what's the deal with those zombies?"
Dan immediately shifted the conversation to the main point, as he wanted to know what kind of danger was brought into this world.
"That… I'm not too sure. In our original world, there have been fictional stories about these zombies, where a single bite or scratch wound can infect others, turning them into zombies as well. However, some stories have zombies getting stronger over time, while other zombies would remain the same or even weaken as time passes."
"Oh? These stories sound pretty interesting…"
"Keep in mind that those are all fictional. The zombies in those stories could be fast or slow, and some would even be strong enough to break down sturdy objects."
"What about the ones that were teleported with you guys?"
"Based on our previous observations, we found out that the zombies were a bit slower than us, and they also have exceptionally good hearing. However, they could smell blood if its closeby or if there is a heavy scent of it."
"I see. Earlier you mentioned that you currently don't have a way to cure the infection, does that mean there is a way to cure it in your world?"
"I don't know. In some of the zombie stories, there are scientists or researchers, who would spend time examining the infection and looking for a cure based on live specimens and tests. However, we were teleported away before we even got a chance to know if a cure was even created."
"..."
"Besides, as I mentioned previously, if those infected adventurers turned into zombies, we might be screwed if they become stronger than the original zombies that were first summoned over here."
"Shit… Well, thanks for telling me about all this. I'm not even sure if I could've kept Mary alive if it wasn't for your warning and this piece of information. Is there anything I could do to repay this favor?"
"To be honest, I did have something to ask from you, which is why I decided to share everything I knew with you."
"Ahahaha. I like your honesty, kid. So, what are you expecting from me?"
"Well…"
***
After they finished their meals, they all returned back to the campgrounds.
Previously, when Kio had asked for some favors from Dan, one of those was a party invitation to Dan, and he accepted.
Although Dan was slightly reluctant to give permission to bring Mary into the party, Kio explained that it was one of his given skills, and there would be no harm done to her.
He also promised to never bring Mary into dangerous adventures unless Dan was the one who requested it.
Now that Kio had some time for himself, he took the opportunity to use [Inspect].
Name: Dan
Age: 45
Level: 55
Class: Weapon Master
***
Name: Mary
Age: 14
Level: 1
Class: None
***
Name: Kaori
Age: 18
Level: 1
Class: None
***
'Holy crap, Dan is level 55. No wonder Ren got pressured by his aura earlier…'
Kaori had naturally accepted his party invite, so he could see her level, but there was nothing too surprising since she just arrived here about an hour ago.
Previously, he had already inspected Ren and Saotome, so the last person he could use the skill on was Fae. The other elves were too far away, and he didn't want to act suspicious by walking over towards them to activate his skill.
Name: Faelis
Age: 170
Class: Elemental Archer
***
'Dam, Fae is 170 years old? She only looks like she's in her mid-20's…"
Looking at her class, Kio assumed it was an upgraded version of a regular Archer class, which could be one of the reasons why she is the leader of all the elves over here.
Even though he also wanted to know about her level, he wasn't about to go out of his way to ask her about it or invite her to his party.
Before they entered their tents to sleep, Kio had a few more questions he wanted to ask Dan about.
"Hey Dan, do you know anything about the Revival Jewel?"
"Are you really planning on reviving your little girlfriend?"
"Yea. I promised that I would do everything within my power to get the Revival Jewel to bring her back to life."
"Even if it might cost you your life?"
"Yes."
"I like your conviction, Kio. Well, I do know a bit about the Revival Jewel, since my old party was one of the groups who had found a clue related to it before the rumors spread."
Since Kio had already introduced the girls and himself earlier, Dan didn't refer to him as 'kid' anymore, especially after he joined Kio's party.
"What?! You guys found a clue? What happened?"
"Well, it's a long story."
Kio sat down on the ground as he was resolute in listening to the full story about the Revival Jewel in Dan's past.
Miyu and Kaori did the same, as they wanted to gather as much information as possible to help Riko.
Luna also sat next to Kio, as she didn't want to go back to the tent by herself.
She already knew some things about the Revival Jewel, but she decided to let Dan tell his story before deciding on whether or not to voice out her knowledge.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
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Next few chapters will be a flashback about Dan's past, which is connected to the rumor mentioned in Chapter 10.
Hope you guys like it.
(FYI, Kio didn't just ask for 1 favor from Dan, the rest will be unveiled in the future)
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As always, please vote with your stones and leave comments below if you are enjoying it.
Thanks.
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