Leveling Up Wives In The Apocalypse

"And those are my wives," Mathew announced, biting himself on his tongue just a second too late.

'Damn,' he cursed his own carelessness as soon as he voiced out the last word. 'Wives? Who else in this world has wives?' he thought, gritting his teeth.

'Now they are going to take me either for a weirdo or some sort of a sexual predator… and I can't even reveal the truth!'

There was no way Mathew would be as naive as to reveal the existence of his system and even something as crucial as the details of how it worked to some strangers he just met.

If one had to be cautious when meeting new people before the apocalypse, then this rule became only far more important the moment the first zombie appeared on earth!

'And there is still the topic of this guy…' Mathew thought, turning his eyes towards the youngest within the other group, the only one who not only appeared to be within middle-school age but also wore a school uniform that only further reinforced that fact.

Seeing Mathew's piercing gaze, one of the teenage girls and the adult woman stepped in, each covering one of the young kid's sides.

'Huh?' Mathew raised his eyebrows. 'Are they trying to provoke me?' he guessed.

And then, he connected the dots.

They weren't trying to provoke him by shielding that kid. They were simply under a huge impression of his introduction and when they noticed Mathew's intense stare directed at the kid, they simply followed their instincts to protect the youngest and cutest member of their group.

'I wonder if they are aware,' Mathew asked himself as he looked away from the kid and towards the leader of the group.

The middle-aged man was currently busy gathering himself up from the ground. Yet, as soon as he got back from his legs, he instantly raised his hands in a pretty obvious gesture.

"We surrender," the man said, raising his hands high above his head.

At first reluctant, the rest of the man's group soon followed. They all dropped their weapons and raised their hands, finally proving they had no further plans of going against Mathew or his group.

"I expected you guys to put up a better fight," Mathew admitted before shaking his head in clear disappointment. "It makes one wonder just how did you get to survive for so long," he muttered.

Thankfully, Mathew said his second bit in a voice too tiny for anyone, save for his wives with their enhanced senses, to hear. And seeing the curious look on the leader's face, Mathew shook his head.

"Well, whatever," he said, clearly moving on from what he just said under his nose. He then slammed the high point of his saber back towards his belt before taking a few seconds to properly lock it in place.

"If I may…" the leader spoke up while still holding his hands in the air. "What are you going to make us do, now?"

Mathew raised his eyes at the man. Then, he raised his eyebrows.

"Nothing at all?" he replied in a voice that made it sound like a question.

"Huh?" the leader shrugged, clearly struggling to figure out Mathew's intention.

The young man… simply turned around and looked at his own group. And a mere moment later, Nadia stepped right past him, leaning forward as she inspected everyone from the other group.

"I don't see any real injuries, only some meaningless bruises," she muttered once she was done with her inspection. She then raised up and threw a quick glance at Mathew's face. "Thanks."

Mathew smiled lightly and shook his shoulders.

He was eager to participate in this fight for several reasons. First, there was the need to subdue the other party and show them the insurmountable gap in skill and strength between their respective groups.

Yet, that alone could be achieved with a far smaller degree of violence.

No, the real reason why the fight went out the way it did was Mathew's wish to gain some experience while fighting against not only armed but also well-motivated humans!

"Wait…" the leader lowered his hands to the level of his chest, only to then bring his right hand forward in a manner one could only see in the generation who went through the school back when corporal punishment wasn't a problem but a solution. "If you didn't mean to hurt us… What was all of that for?" the man asked.

"Ah," Mathew smiled, turning his face to the man as he showed him a kind expression. "It was so that you guys would be painfully aware of the gap in strength between us," Mathew happily explained, as if he was a passionate teacher who asked about some sort of quirky topic within his beloved subject.

The leader of the other party turned speechless. The rest of his group didn't speak ever since the encounter started, so their silence didn't make much of a difference.

Yet, it wasn't the leader nor the other members of the group that Mathew's attention ended up drawn towards.

It was the youngest of them all, the same kid that caught Mathew's attention before.

A chill went down Mathew's spine as he stared right into the kid's eyes.

He could sense the fluctuation in the mana. They were tiny when compared to what would happen once he would invoke his own abilities and a mere drop in the ocean when compared to the auras of some of the monsters that would sooner or later start to appear in this world.

Yet, knowing that the kid had some sort of skill... Didn't make it any easier to discern just what kind of skill he had.

'If I know anything, it's that he was either extremely lucky, brave, or just unhinged enough to somehow end up killing a zombie in the first hour of the apocalypse,'' Mathew thought.

"Was there a need to get so violent, just for that?" the leader of the other group protested, bringing what would appear as a valid point.

"Violent?" Mathew repeated the man's words while raising his eyebrow. He then released a short chuckle. "Uncle, trust me," he said through the tear of amusement that shot out from his eyes. "IF I wanted to do you harm," he started, leaning his head over his shoulder, "I would let my wives discipline you instead!"

Once again, Mathew carelessly stepped on a potential land mine. And judging from the twitch that instantly shook all three girls within the group, this time he had no chance of avoiding the explosion.

"Ah," he bridled himself, "forget that," he then requested. "It would be way too much pain to explain why I call those girls like that," he stated before turning his eyes towards the girls who already took a step in the back.

'Well, it's not a strange thing for them to react like that,' Mathew thought, shaking his head sideways. 'In this apocalyptic world, most would see women as nothing more but toys or tools,' he thought. "You have nothing to fear," Mathew announced, raising his hands in an attempt to calm the females down. "It's already hard for me to handle this silly harem of mine as it is, and I do not seek anyone else to invite to it!"