Divine System: Land of the Abominations

Nero stood transfixed, not sure what to say.

'They sound genuine.'

For a moment, the entire world zoomed out of focus.

It became blurry and distant, as though he was not on it.

What was this feeling?

It had been so long, he had already forgotten what it was or how to recognize it.

He sighed as the world slowly returned back to normal.

"But we cannot afford to be naive..." He heard Obed saying.

"If we leave things as they are, we'll have our throats split open in our sleep."

Nero was silent for a moment.

Then he glanced around. The world around them was relatively silent.

Whenever he met any eye, they quickly drew their gazes away.

But there was one set of eyes that refused to look away when their gazes met.

The young man, Emif from Kanka, stared at him with wide eyes.

Nero stared back.

Then without warning, bent over and fished out some bread and meat from the crate.

Obed stared at him with raised brows,

"Cain. What are you...?"

Nero ignored him and walked over towards Emif.

After a moment, Nero found himself staring down at Emif who looked up at him with distrustful eyes,

"What the hell do you want?"

Nero pushed the portion of bread and meat out into Emif's hands.

His eyes widened,

"This... What is this?!"

Nero smiled, although his smile didn't quite reach his ears,

"What? Don't you want to feed your brother?" He said, nudging his head at the little boy behind him.

Emif grimaced. He turned around and stared into the eyes of his little brother. He was not the last family he had, but both their parents had died in the voyage to Liedenstorm. They had to cut back heavily on their rations, and after what happened the night before, most of their food had already been sullied by defiled blood.

Just a few hours ago, the Templars had come to clean up the field, carrying the bodies of the deceased and the Abominations as well as any food that could have been sullied by blood, both human and Abominable.

In the past, there has been an incident of those who ate food tainted with human blood during a war. Because of that, the humans developed a taste for blood and flesh in their hunger, turning into terrifying Abominations that roamed the plains.

It had become a cautionary tale, and in circumstances such as these, it was best to be safe than sorry.

He frowned deeply,

"I have no idea what you are getting at, but I'm not into playing games. I don't need your charity."

Nero snorted,

"This isn't charity. Do you want it or not?"

Emif hesitated.

In reality, he was also very famished. He hadn't eaten for a long time now.

He felt a tug on the hem of his clothes,

Looking down at the exhausted face of his brother, and the look of pure hunger in his eyes as he gazed with drool in his mouth at the bread and meat in Nero's hands, he felt a twang of guilt.

He pressed his lips together, fighting the inner conflict.

Nero felt his hands become lighter. A smile appeared on his face,

"Good. If you need some more, just come right over."

Emif had a clueless look in his face,

"Why are you doing this? Why help us?"

Nero glanced back,

"Because I need you as fed and strong as possible."

There was a strange look in his eyes...

Then he turned around and walked back to his campsite.

They all stared wide-eyed at the grinning Nero approaching.

"He's gone mad." Geor muttered under his breath.

Nero ignored their looks of worry and spoke with absolute confidence,

"I have an idea."

Obed sighed tiredly,

"And what would that be?"

Nero chuckled,

"You'll see in a moment..."

Just a moment later, the sound of footsteps approaching reached their ears.

Nero turned around and saw a group of people dressed in dull grey robes and sashes,

"Young man, if you can, please spare us some food as well."

Nero wore a serious look on his face,

"Or course I can. Please, we are all brothers and sisters here."

The man in the lead of the group wore a joyful, almost teary smile as he bowed in gratitude,

"Thank you. Thank you!" He said profusely.

Without hesitation, Nero picked out another portion of bread and meat and handed it over.

Geor grimaced. He leaned down and whispered into Nero's ears,

"I thought you said you have no intentions of throwing all the food away."

Nero shook his head and turned his nose up as he whispered back,

"This is called making an investment, Geor."

Geor's brows twitched,

"What is that?"

Nero frowned, "I have no idea. But it should be fine."

As the other group left, a new group came up to them. Again, Nero gave them a portion.

Then another came.

And then another.

Until there was left just a portion of food.

Glancing at the bottom of the now very empty crate, Nero felt something surge within him.

The feeling was very new, but it wasn't terrible at all.

He took the last potion out and quickly separated it into five smaller portions before handing it out to the others.

"Eat up, guys. We'll need all the strength we can get for what is to come."

Lucy grimaced as she picked the bread and shoved it into her mouth,

"Shumff fusss bff."

Nero was silent for a moment,

"That is..."

Lucy swallowed the mouthful and pointed the bread at his face,

"What are we going to do about food now?"

Nero shrugged, "Isn't it obvious? We'll hunt for our food."

Lucy frowned, "But there is—"

Suddenly, a voice came from behind,

"There is huntable game within Malady's Garden."

Nero glanced up and turned around.

Behind him was a group of people. And at their head was Emif, glaring down at him with his pale eyes...

Nero grinned,

"Is that so..."