Leveling Up Wives In The Apocalypse

"I'm back," Mathew whispered as soon as the shadowy realm around him collapsed.

The trips to the merchant's subspace took a strange kind of toll on the young man's mind. It wasn't tiring like strategizing or solving exercises. It wasn't exhausting like hard labor either.

Yet, the act of passing between the real world and the merchant's subspace continued to wear Mathew's mind away.

"Are those...?" Leila asked, stretching her hand out and pointing at the set of different weapons almost falling out of Mathew's hands.

"Yeah," Mathew nodded his head before carefully removing the first of the sabers. "Here," he said, passing it over to the girl.

"Thanks," Leila nodded her head, accepting the weapon with proper honors.

She didn't appear like someone who would pay any particular attention to such a small detail, and yet, she gently lowered her head before extending both of her arms out. She then accepted the weapon with just two of her fingers on each hand before bowing lightly and then taking a step back.

"I will graciously accept this blade," she whispered, before her fingers wrapped around the handle of the saber.

Then, with a quick pull of her arm, she brought the weapon in and stood at attention.

"Impressive," Mathew nodded his head, properly praising Leila's efforts.

"Not fair," Daria complained, lowering her eyes as she crossed her arms by her chest.

Mathew looked down, ignoring the obvious emphasis Daria put on her breasts. His eyes twitched a little.

'She received the weapon just a moment earlier and she already made a scabbard for it?' he thought, raising one of his eyebrows upon noticing the small detail.

"You should've thought about it earlier," Leila countered, pulling out her tongue to mock her cowife.

"I'm sorry girls, but being the first wife does have its perks," Mathew interjected as he attached one of the blades to his own side before grabbing the third and last one and kneeling down.

Back a moment ago, Leila gave all her grace to the process of receiving the sword. And now, Mathew fell down on his knees before Nadia, presenting the saber in his two outstretched hands for her to pick.

Leila gave the honors. Daria had the honor of holding on to the very first saber. But it was Nadia that was on the receiving end of said honors.

"Truth be told, I could buy a much more powerful weapon," Mathew admitted when he had to quickly raise back to his feet, too embarrassed by his own display of affection to remain on his knees. "I decided against it, though."

"That's sensible," Nadia nodded her head while keeping her eyes on the blade. She went as far as to slowly run her fingers down the blade's length, familiarizing herself with every nook and cranny of her new weapon. "There is no point in overpaying for the weapons if they appear to be the best way of earning cores, don't they?"

Nadia finally raised her chin and looked at Mathew. Yet, she didn't stop there, taking her time to glance over everyone else in the group.

"Don't tell me you didn't realize it yet," she then added in a half-voice, hints of shock surfacing in her voice.

'I did,' Mathew thought, allowing the corner of his mouth to raise in a small smile. 'But that's only one reason.'

"I can't believe this," Nadia released an exasperated sigh, shook her head, and looked at Mathew once again. "Can you tell me how much did you sell those machetes for?"

"Six hundred cores each," Mathew revealed without any hesitation. "Speaking of which, a single used machete was worth either a bit more than two sabers or exactly as much as saber and this staff," Mathew then elaborated a little bit more before showcasing the one piece of equipment he held back from others for now.

"This is...?" Nadia asked, leaning her head to the side. Yet, Mathew knew her for long enough to recognize the sparks in her eyes.

'She's excited,' he thought, a strange sense of accomplishment appearing in his soul.

To make his crush excited over the future and what it held while smack down in the middle of a zombie apocalypse?

"A stick of doom," Mathew replied, grinning from ear to ear.

Nadia's eyes opened wide, quickly followed by her mouth. But Mathew didn't give the girl the time needed for her to react.

"Just joking, of course," he added, spreading his arms out to soften the impact of the joke. "But I do believe it has something to do with magic," Mathew revealed before turning his eyes to the side and suddenly throwing the staff up.

"Huh?" Daria was startled when the long piece of wood suddenly came flying toward her, yet her reaction time was just good enough for her to catch it. "What was that for?!"

"I want this to be your secondary weapon," Mathew explained his intent. "We still don't know how to become a mage, how to gain the first magic ability that we could then exploit to force one's development on the magical path," he revealed his thoughts only to raise his hand and point his finger at the girl. "But with how high both your mind and arcane stats are, I believe you are the most likely one in our group to become a mage."

Mathew's explanation was sound and logical. He presented the most likely a magical accessory to the person that already was on the path leading to magic.

'Why do we need magic, though?' Mathew thought, perfectly aware of the one question that put a wrench in his otherwise perfect place. 'Besides my own wish to see it come to this world, obviously,' the young man added in his mind.

The truth was actually pretty simple. The cost of the magical staff was too small for Mathew to bother with it. As such, it cost him virtually nothing, just a measly amount of cores, to purchase it. And if such a random act of splurging could bring more useful abilities to his team, then it could only be called a great investment!

"Well then, I think I have no other choice but to accept it," Daria finally replied, fixing her grasp over the staff before ultimately putting it in her left hand. Yet, as her eyes alternated between each of her new weapons, the girl raised her eyes and looked up at Mathew's face.

"Thinking about it now..." she hesitated, before taking a deep breath and fixing her stare on Mathew's eyes. "Why didn't you get swords for Daniel and Norbert?"