“You are pretty strong, non?”

Oh, that was it! She had a slight accent! It was so subtle I almost missed it. But now, the no… that was French!

“Ah, I think I might be?”

I smiled, looking over the slaughtered men. Pure bloodbath. I had to be soaked as well.

However, Ayo Guh did not mind that. She squatted down in front of me, shoved the knives in my back pocket and pulled me on her back.

“Oh, wow, you are freezing!”

“You don't have to carry me, you know?”

“Nonsense. I can’t leave you here, lying in the cold. Instead, tell me, do you need those bags?” She pointed at the tin bags.

“Yes, they are important. I have to trouble you to...”

She picked them up easily. How was she so strong? Didn’t Schwartz thoroughly bring her down without using this contracted god's ability? Where did that power come from?

Piggybacked, I got carried around the corner, where she also picked up the suitcase.

After 10 minutes we arrived at a construction site, smoke escaping from somewhere far up the top of the unfinished building.

So this did not count as a room… I should have guessed!

“Who are you? State your business!” A tanned woman with long hair shouted, pointing a spear at us. She wore a woolen pullover.

“We would like to warm up, if that’s possible.” Ayo Guh explained.

The woman still mustered us suspiciously. What else would we want here?

“Follow me,” she escorted us into the hall.

We followed a dark corridor and then moved up a wide, improvised wooden staircase. The air smelled like wood.

Before we entered the door on the second floor, she stopped.

“Inside the air is filled with chipped wood, please cover your mouth and nose.”

A little helpless, I tried to get my shirt's collar over my nose, only using my teeth. Eventually I gave up. “Ayo Guh, can you…?”

She understood immediately and to my astonishment pulled out a black face mask from my pocket and pasted it onto my face. It must have belonged to Schwartz and the other men.

The woman opened the door and gestured for us to go through. On the other side a man received us. He escorted us into a big room–or rather almost-room with a lot of people in it. One of the side panels had a massive hole.

Outside a snow storm raged. The snowfall had become so heavy you could barely make out the building on the other side.

Even though the cold breeze from the hole cooled down the room and occasional snowflakes lost their way to the inside, it was warm inside.

The man explained to us the structure here.

There were two teams working on the temperature.

The administrators of the heaters—that was an improvised system of hot water from the roof going through a rain gutter pipe that went through the room and ended in a bucket on the broken wall—were stationed at the roof. They were the ones who originally invented the system and now made sure that everything ran smoothly. They collected the snow on the roof and controlled the waterways.

The other group called themselves the collectors. They cut down wooden planks on the second floor, the only floor with flammable materials, and also collected snow from outside. They were the largest group.

Four additional people were responsible for security. The woman from outside with the spear and the man, escorting us here, were both part of it.

Almost all the people in the room sat down somewhere in the middle.

On the left wall furthest from the hole sat two women hugging their legs. 

On the wall of the door we came in sat an old man with a long, white beard and eyebrows, and a bald head. Gloomy, he looked out the hole and didn’t realize us coming in.

The remaining people were positioned around the heating pipe. 

This was also where Ayo Guh carried me. I was thankful that most of the people ignored us. 

The floor squeaked from her and the man’s steps and from her soles formed small puddles of water from the melting snow.

Before she put me down, Ayo Guh silently placed the bags, excluding the suitcase, on the laminated floor.

I sat on the stacked tins like on a throne. It wasn’t a bad feeling.

[Body condition: cold*]

[Paralysis; time: ∞*]

[*Please warm up to resolve the debuff.]

As soon as we entered the room, I could already feel my senses coming back little by little.

The young woman, almost still a girl, next to me ogled me curiously. But she didn’t say anything.

She was cute. She had a small face with an upturned nose, and her ashen blonde hair was put up in a ponytail. 

“Di-rring!”

[You are currently warming up.*]

“Di-rring!”

[Your negative status effect “paralysis” weakened.]

I wiggled my fingers a bit. When I raised my hand to click the star, it was as if at least a ton was holding my head down.

[*time till complete recovery, 4 hours 59 minutes]

Five hours? Would I be able to move before that?

I would have to try it out, since I couldn’t ask the system now that I was surrounded by people.

Across the pipe, there was a commotion. Nobody shouted or got physical, but they bristled with rage.

Without a person with absolute authority, it was only a matter of time till the situation exploded.

For now, I need protection. The girl next to me wouldn’t be helpful. 

Anyone…

On the other side of the pipe, facing me sat a suit-wearing man in his 50s or 60s, another about my age, and an older woman.

“What are you looking at?”

The older man asked gruffly.

I looked away. My neck muscles felt stiff, like tire rubber.

“So now you’re pretending, huh?”

Was he picking a fight with me?

“Thinking you are something better than old me, being young and handsome. No respect, the youth of today.”

Did he just mistake me for a guy? Again? Schwartz did that too…

My shirt made it very apparent, that I was indeed flat like a pancake, but I never had problems with people recognizing my face as feminine.

“Di-rring!”

[Error! Error fixed!]

A new message?

[God, ‘Rain of Trisect’ tries to send you a message.*]

[*Rain of Trisect, “Hey Human, your friend is in a contract with an evil god. You better keep your distance from Ayo Guh.”]

A contractor! …interesting. Wouldn't that mean, that she had an ability similar to Schwartz?

The man still rambled.

An evil god… Better have them on my side. No matter if evil or not, right now, power was more important.

“Oh! Can you please shut up?!” The young man yelled at the old man. “Can’t you see that he doesn't care about you? Just give me a break, honestly…”

“I’m sorry, my uncle is a little…” He rolled his eyes around one time and grinned, “you know?” 

The woman sighed. 

She brushed a strand out of her face. Her hair had already started to gray. Watery blue eyes mustered me. They seemed to look right into me. Unconsciously, I had raised my shoulders.

Then she closed her eye lids and her breathing became rhythmic and slow.

In the background, three people moved. I recognized one of them as the young boy Phee. The others were two women, one tall, one petite. Phee held something in his hand.

The boy backed away from their raised index fingers. He came closer and closer in my direction. There was a half-eaten chocolate bar clutched in his fingers.

He only needed one step and he would fall over the uncle-nephew-team and the woman exactly at the hot pipe. Luckily, he took a step sideways. 

“They really only covet his chocolate. What petty human behavior…” Ayo Guh had crept up from behind of me. She looked at the women with disdain. 

“Hey, kid, come here. You two, what are you doing?”

What was she doing? 

“He has more than ten chocolate bars! We haven't had anything to eat for hours. How will we survive? Who knows, how long we will have to stay here. At least he should share!”

They were coveting the food. I understood, but it wasn't the kid's responsibility. 

“Food, huh?” I mumbled.

“What?”

“I just thought, of course, you would share your food with everyone here?”

“Naturally. If I had any, I would share it,” the smaller woman replied.

Ayo Guh leaned down and whispered in my ear. “What are you planning?”

I had seen the looks of everyone sending Ayo Guh, filled with admiration.

“Right. Let us see about that,” I said, “Come here, Phee, we will protect you.”

{Woah! That is so nice of you!}

“Just wait and see,” I whispered to Ayo Guh.

The boy came over. I patted his back, giving him comfort. “Do you trust me?”

He nodded.

“Give that lady over there one of your bars. We are doing a little social experiment.”

First, he hesitated, then he nodded again, pulled out a chocolate bar from his green jacket and handed it to the smaller woman.

In case it escalates, I am counting on you, Ayo Guh…

The woman looked at the piece of candy. Then at Phee, me, Ayo Guh, and again at the chocolate bar. Now, finally reaching her goal, she opened the plastic.

I intersected. “Stop right there.” The bar already touched her teeth, she stopped and took it out of her mouth.

“What do you want?”

“Show me.”

“What?”

“Show me your oh-so-great food distribution. I am curious.”

Ayo Guh understood, what I was trying to do and chuckled. A few others too.

The man, who earlier had grumbled at the youth, looked at me with big eyes and then started laughing loudly.

“Right! Show us? How about you give me a piece of that chocolate bar too.”

“…This is only one chocolate bar.”

“So? If the amount of food were enough, don’t you think, everyone here would already be full?”

“He has so many-!”

“So, is he responsible for everyone’s nutrition, then?” I asked her.

Again, Ayo Guh leaned down. “Don't you have a lot…” She pointed at my throne of tin bags. 

“Shh.” I smiled. “Look around you. This isn’t nearly enough to feed everyone, is it?”

“What is not enough to feed everyone?” A high pitched female voice loudly asked into the room.

What? Who was that?!

“You are! …definitely too scrawny, yes, yes. No flesh on your ribs at all. Friggin’ youth of today and your skeleton bodies. Why can't the women today not appreciate some nice curves,” the old man quipped.

“Uncle!”

I turned to the blonde girl next to me, who looked at me with innocent eyes, leaving the uncle-nephew-duo to argue about manners.

“Do you really have food? I’m hungry too.” She pouted. 

Everyone deadpan stared at us.

The situation erupted in commotion. I could barely understand anyone, until a broad-shouldered man shoved everyone aside, marching straight forward. In front of me, he stopped. His frame blocked my full 180° visual spectrum.

“Are you the one, who allegedly has food?”

Ayo Guh looked at me in terror. 

“No.” I said nonchalantly. I did not allegedly have food.

“You don't have food?” The man asked.

“Do you have food?”

“What?”

“Do I have food? Do you have food?”

“No, I don’t...” Unsure, he looked at the guard at the door.

Fast, he recovered and raised his chin again.

“You are to give up your food for the common good. Stand up.”

“And what if I don’t?”

Other people started to intervene.

“We all are suffering here!”

“You made the kid look like a victim, but you are just a hypocrite yourself!”

“How can you be so selfish?”

“Right! Selfish are you!”

I jumped up. But I didn't move from my place. Ayo Guh tumbled one step back. I took advantage of the dropped volume. 

“If I understand that correctly, you say, that I am – someone who just came here– responsible for everyone’s hunger?”

Silence.

“That’s right!” A man shouted. “Everyone has to contribute!”

“Right!”

“You are just selfish!”

I raised my hand like if you want to say someting in school. They quieted down.

“If everyone has to contribute, what are you all contributing?”

“...”

“I did not come here to be squeezed dry by a bunch of opportunistic bastards.”

Sheepish, they looked to the side. 

“But… I will give you a chance, since I'm not a monster.”

Their attention went back to me.

“I let a few of you make a deal with me. 3 people, otherwise we will use it up too fast. I will give you food, but make sure what you offer is worth the same.”

The sudden silence let the still arguing uncle’s voice resurface.

“-and don't even work, you don't put enough effort in to get a house!”

“The prices are through the roof! If I could, I would trade you for a house.” The nephew got all worked up. “My credit points are just so bad because of the loan I had to take out for e-du-ca-tion! That's what you value so much after all!” 

Trade? Credit points? That reminds me. People did that in fantasy novels all the time.

“I also accept payment in Existence points.”

The man with the big frame in front of me had slouched together. He was unsure of what to do in the situation. This wasn’t what he had expected.

“Di-rring”

[Dragon Anima, “Only Contractors can pay with Existence Points! They cannot mobilize it themselves, though…”]

Oh, thank you, Dragon Anima.

“For anyone contracted to a god, contact them, you can pay 1 tin for one Existence point.”

“Clap! Clap! Clap!”

“Who knew that we had such a smart and resourceful newcomer? Hugo, why didn't you come to me? You know, we cannot just steal people’s wealth" The Chinese man wearing a black suit narrowed his eyes when he looked at the big man, "even in times like this. I apologise for Hugo's behavior.”

“…Sorry, Mr. Li.”

Mr. Li was the Chinese tech guy from Mata that I met in the tower!