Chapter 315 Insurance

"Either way," Beatrice threw a short glance at Marcus' lowered head before moving her eyes back to Mathew's face. "Are you done with the expedition?" she asked while crossing her arms on her chest.

"Only partially," Mathew shook his head. "We couldn't really go to check out the main objective when we stumbled upon all those people," he added while looking over his shoulder at the crowd passing through the school gates.

Those people were making all sorts of faces. Some were amazed by just how much space Mathew had under his control at this camp. Others were looking at the ruins of the southern wing with terror while the rest mostly looked around the place, looking all anxious.

"Oh, on another note, I can't see…"

Mathew sharply raised his head, giving the woman a tense look.

'I kept Daria's presence under wraps all this time. Is she really going to ask about her with Marcus still by our side?' Mathew thought, gritting his teeth.

The more time he spent with the man, the more he talked with him and the more he considered the situation… The better he thought about the idea of joining hands with him.

But doing so bore a massive risk. A risk that as soon as he would get all the benefits of such cooperation, he would simply take whatever he would consider valuable before leaving the alliance, potentially becoming an enemy greater than the zombies and mutants.

As such, keeping Daria in the shadow that Marcus couldn't peer into was small insurance, an ace card that Mathew really wanted to keep.

"Your…" Beatrice hesitated as she threw a quick look around the place, "your two wives," she said after coughing into her fist, acting innocent about the slip of her tongue. "I can't see either of the two," she then said while theatrically looking around.

"I bet they are busy helping at the gate," Mathew replied with a sigh. "The sooner we unload everyone here, the sooner we can go back to our expedition," he pointed out, crossing his arms over his chest as he tapped his foot against the road.

"That makes sense…" Beatrice said with a sigh as she looked in the same direction. She then shook her head and looked at Marcus again. "Is he joining us or something?" she asked while trying not to let her hate appear on her face.

"No," Mathew shook his head sideways. "Not yet at the very least," he then added while throwing the man a quick look himself. "As for the future…" Mathew spread his hands open. "Only God knows what will happen."

"I see…" Beatrice muttered. She then shook her head again before raising her chin and taking a step towards the gate. "Either way, I need to go and organize all the necessities for our new companions. And judging from their number, it would be nice if you could upgrade the services," she then added.

'So she already found out about those,' Mathew took notice while a small smile appeared on the corner of his lips. 'Well, she was bound to think about it when comparing the state of the rest of the town and the state of the school.'

"Will do," Mathew said as he took a step towards the gate himself. "I still need to upgrade our weapons as our old ones are already falling apart," he mentioned one of the most important points behind his visit to the school after the problem of moving the survivors between the camps.

Mathew then turned his head to Marcus before even going as far as to reach out and offer him a hand to stand up.

"You wanted to check out how we are going to treat those peps," Mathew said. "Are you coming inside or did you see enough already?"

Marcus raised his eyes and looked at Mathew's hand. He then parted his mouth and squinted his eyes, clearly about to chastise the young man for offering him a hand.

And yet, rather than speaking up, Marcus ended up closing his mouth. He then closed his eyes and reached out, accepting Mathew's help.

"I would love to claim I already saw enough," He muttered while giving a short look at the huge area within the school's barrier. "But truth be told, I didn't see anything yet."

"Let's go, then," Mathew hurried the man before taking a step towards the gate and turning his eyes towards Beatrice. "Did something of importance change while we were away?"

"Since we expected an influx of people, we reorganized the space around the compound," Beatrice revealed while keeping a look of vigilance on the side of Marcus' face. "The roof now serves as an observatory. We turned the third floor into a logistic area. The second floor changed to general quarters while we are using part of the ground floor area for workshops and warehouses," Beatrice listed.

"You will show Marcus around the first two floors then," Mathew ordered only to turn his head around when he noticed a certain hint. "Nadia!" the young man then called out, turning his eyes towards the girl's aura that attracted his attention.

"What's up?" the girl twitched and turned her head around.

"Your weapons," Mathew replied, "Gimme."

"Oh, you were going to upgrade them, right?" Nadia smiled before instantly pulling out both of her blades. "Ah, you want this blade too?" she then looked at the sword Mathew bought just a few hours ago while still at Marcus' place.

"Nah, I only need those used-up ones," Mathew smiled in response, taking Nadia's machete by its handle. "On that note, do you know where Leila is?" he then asked.

"I'm not really sure," Nadia shook her shoulders. "The last I saw her, she was hurrying inside the school. I guess she's preparing the room for the night already," Nadia shared her guess.

"Damn…" Mathew muttered, turning his eyes towards the school proper just ahead. "Even assuming she will stick to the same wing we are using for everything, it's going to be a pain to look for her…"

Mathew shook his head. He then ensured Beatrice and Marcus already reached the entrance before disappearing inside the building.

"I have a mission for you, then," Mathew announced. "I need you to go find Daria and get her weapon too," Mathew said, pulling out his own sword before passing it over to the girl. "Give her this blade in exchange," he added before averting his eyes and scratching his cheek. "Also, I still plan to go for that castle today, so once we are done exchanging our equipment," Mathew smiled, "I hope you will be ready to go."