The city hall is situated at the center of a park. There are other establishments—smaller offices—built around it. Its main entrance leads directly to the parking lot in the park and the other offices.
This layout made it easier to barricade the entire place. Cars, sandbags, and riot barricades sufficed at the entrance. That was how they held up against the zombies. They utilized the chokepoints and killed them there. The mutated zombies are dispatched by the city hall's growing espers.
Unfortunately, they weren't ready for threats other than zombies and crazy humans.
The swarm of insects attacked early in the morning. Their modern firearms worked well against them, but the problem was their vast numbers and sudden attack. The guards weren't ready for their arrival and were forced to abandon half of their barricaded areas and offices. Only then did they re-establish a smaller but stable defense line.
To this, espers and gunmen toiled during the entire night. The abundant resources reclaimed from the police station and an SDF Base supported their consumption until now.
"Tsk, tsk. When will this end?"
"Worry about your ammunition first. The logistics staff said it won't last for another day."
"Then we're fucked?"
"Yes!"
"Haha!"
The men's ugly faces were repeatedly drowned by their crazed spending of bullets. Adrenaline kept them fighting; their mental resilience being brought forcibly back to the top.
Amidst the crazed gunning, they saw a group of four: one man, three women. Each one is beautiful, with the man dazzlingly handsome.
The ones who saw them stopped firing. Their mouths opened in a slack.
Sparks of purple electricity surrounded them. Any insect who intruded within a certain range stopped moving. The group of four went past these immobilized insects, yet they never stood up again.
They are dead.
They involuntarily swallowed their saliva. The thought of pointing their mounted machine guns at them flashed for a while… before they restrained themselves.
More and more people saw the commotion. Before others could act, an official of considerable status walked straight to them. He flung his rifle to his shoulder before beginning his greeting.
"Saya-jou! They are—?"
The twintailed beauty directed her gaze towards Eishi. Only when the latter nodded did she speak.
"He's my boyfriend, Hiraoka Eishi. Yukinoshita-san and Hiratsuka-san are espers… as well as our friends."
She did not waste any words, emphasizing the words "boyfriend" and "espers" to the official. Saya recognized him as one of her father's most loyal retainers, Doi Tetsutarou. His clean-cut and parted bangs gave him a trustworthy look.
Tetsutarou eyed the three people before swallowing his questions whole. He decided to trust Saya, for now at least.
Eishi, however, disliked this slow process.
"Let me lend you a hand."
He decided to establish his authority.
Click.
The surrounding gunfire halted as the world turned into a pale gray. Eishi took out a burning homemade molotov from the system space. He has thousands of replicated molotovs.
Without hesitation, he threw them to the swarms of insects. The glass bottles shattered. The alcohol inside came in contact with the burning cloth, causing a sea of flames to emerge.
Eishi's throwing rate exceeded most machines. The molotovs he threw struck with great accuracy. He avoided patches of grass, opting to choose places with cement.
Soon, ten seconds were up.
Click.
The world returned to normal. Tetsudarou hasn't recovered from his skepticism when the sea of crimson flames erupted in his sight. The other gunmen also stared at the scene with shock, with the few barely breaking out of it.
The remaining gunmen exterminated the leftover insects. The new arrivals feared the scalding flame. It acted as an invisible wall, causing them to move to other places instead.
Out of the three women, Saya had the biggest reaction.
'How did he do it?!'
One blink was all it took. Eishi's physical prowess is already terrifying enough. Adding a strange superpower into the mix made her fear… and respect him more.
"I came here for one thing, Tetsudarou-san."
He paused before speaking out his demands:
"I want to meet my father-in-law."
*****
"What? She's here? Brought by someone?"
The man's deep authoritative voice resounded in the room. A good portion of the city hall's ammunition is placed here.
The current mayor and the de-facto leader of the city hall, Takagi Souichiro, visited this place to personally account for their resources. His white long-sleeves revealed the explosive physique hidden underneath. His tall stature and sharp gaze commanded respect out of everyone—humans and espers alike.
What was once a huge pile of guns and bullets rapidly dwindled under the insects' assault. Their worry was no longer a lack of manpower, but of resources.
"Yes! One of her friends emitted sparks of lightning, killing every insect nearby. The other hasn't revealed her strength, but I have a hunch she is just as strong. Her boyfriend is also a strong esper…"
Tetsudarou proceeded to explain everything he saw with complete honesty. His evaluations ended with an unexpected remark.
"I am worried about the young miss' safety."
Souichiro fell silent, allowing him to continue explaining.
"I am afraid her boyfriend… or rather, that strong male esper has other intentions in meeting you. I advise you to call back Madam, Takagi."
He looked at Tetsudarou. He has been Souichiro's friend and retainer for over two decades. His ability to detect microexpressions is top-notch. The brief encounter with Eishi and his group made him feel something was wrong.
"No need. I will meet them."
"...Understood."
Souichiro left the room, with Tetsudarou at his tail. The latter understood his decision.
In the face of a strong esper, the first thing to do is to stabilize him. Having a direct confrontation from the moment they meet is bound to make things irreversible between the two parties.
With the city hall in such dire straits, Souichiro chose to risk his life in this meeting.
Soon, he arrived at the meeting hall. His eyes first met with Shizuka-sensei who remained standing behind the seats.
'A martial artist..?'
The power beneath her pupils made his pupils shrink. He involuntarily grasped the sheathed katana in his waist.
Souichiro's gaze shifted between Haruno and Saya. The former seemed like an ordinary office manager, while the latter flashed a complex look at him.
Finally, it landed on Eishi.
His previous temperament prior to the apocalypse was already strong. He spoke less and had a 'momentum' around him. His experiences in the past ten days made it stronger.
Souichiro said nothing and sat on the seat opposite them.
"Greetings, father-in-law. I came here to do business."
Eishi's words sparked the conversation.
"Elaborate."
Souichiro wasn't one to be defeated in momentum. He met Eishi's gaze head-on.
"I can trade for 9mm M9 rounds, 5.56mm M4 rounds, and evolution fruits."
"What do you want in exchange?"
"Two things. Hot weapons and evolution fruits that I do not have. One of each."
Eishi's words struck Tetsudarou dumb. A highschooler obtaining ammunition is way beyond his expectations.
'There really is something wrong with him!'
His body tensed as he scanned the three people opposite of them.
'Evolution fruit, those special fruits…'
Souichiro has another focus in mind. Compared to hot weapons, evolution fruits are the highest-level strategic items.
Eating one awakens an esper's power and strengthens their physical bodies to a certain degree. They also found out that eating more fruits will lead to a 'level-up' of sorts.
Ammunition is also important. Their current stability lay on gunning down the insects.
"How many fruits can you provide?"
"As many as you want."
"..."
He looked at Eishi one last time. His gaze never landed on Saya again, disappointing her.
"I can't blame you if you don't believe it."
Eishi summoned five bowls filled with golden grapes. He did it again, a small mountain of 9mm bullets piling up on the meeting table. He made no efforts in hiding his spatial backpack ability.
Souichiro's gaze shifted ever-so-slightly. This verification hit the mark. Though he remained wary against a strong esper like him, he wouldn't lose his head on the negotiating table.
As for Eishi's sources, he wouldn't bother asking. Not to mention Eishi's strength, Souichiro follows his bottom lines. It is one of the reasons why he rose to his current position.
He never compromises on his bottom lines.
"Tetsu."
"Yes!"
"Bring me the shared logbook of the depot room."
A few minutes later, Tetsudarou returned with a thick logbook in hand.
"Mark the ones you do not possess."
Seeing Souichiro pass it on, Eishi raised his eyebrows before letting out a nod. He glanced at Haruno, with the latter nodding at him.
'Takagi-san really is upright…'
One of Eishi's reasons for bringing Haruno in is due to her [Spirit Eyes]. She can perceive malice detected to her. That was the basis of her 'favorability'.
Tetsudarou showed a bit of malice while Souichiro held none. It is a clear indication that this trade will go through.
He went through the logbook and saw many things he did not have. Rifles and pistols are the things he has the most. It was the grenades, RPGs, and smart-guided missiles that threw him off.
'They even have this?'
Eishi spotted a military drone. The people at the city hall attached it with an explosive, turning it into an explosive drone.
When he turned the pages to the 'fruit' section, Eishi found hundreds of different types. What's more surprising were the annotations. They listed it as "fire fruit", "electric fruit", and so on.
"The city hall must have someone who can tell apart those fruits."
"That's right." Souichiro confirmed it. "Eating those fruits can awaken new talents. There does seem to be a limit for it."
"A limit?"
Souichiro's words made Eishi pause. His tone of asking was more rhetorical to hide his cluelessness.
"It depends from person to person. Some people stopped feeling attraction to three talents. Sometimes, it was four or five."
'Three talents???'
Eishi could only sigh at their luck. He piled up almost a hundred of spirit-type fruits to gain the [Spirit Boost] talent.
'Was it luck? Quite impossible. Then it's in the fruits. They are stronger.'
He immediately pinpointed the difference.
The lightning-type fruit he ate is very strong compared to other evolution fruits. It gave him a talent right after eating one.
In terms of his group's haul, spirit-type fruits are dead-last.
'I need to study about these fruits more. I have a feeling they work the same way as the second-order's penetration problem…'
He thought of his dilemma at the second-order. First rank fruits no longer worked on him as they could not 'penetrate' deeply into his skin and muscles. Eishi has a strong feeling these evolution fruits work quite the same in the first-order.
Weaker evolution fruits find it difficult to affect deeper layers of skin and muscle, hindering the level-up progress. Stronger evolution fruits can accomplish what tens of thousands of weak golden grapes can do; eating one might allow others to level up several times at once.
As for the talent acquisition limit, Eishi kept it in his mind for now.
Soon, he gave the logbook back to Souichiro. The latter was surprised by how many items he wanted. Every single explosive was marked by him.
He looked at Eishi with a questioning look.
"The RPGs will cost 5,000 of these grapes. Oh, if you aren't aware of it, 1,000 of them are enough for someone to upgrade three to six times…"
Eishi briefly explained the 'scaling' of the espers he saw from the system. This further convinced Souichiro of his capabilities.
They are here still grasping things around. Meanwhile, Eishi already has a well-founded system for identifying espers.
"We leveled up nine times before facing a major change. I called those stars. The major chance is orders. In every order there are nine stars. As for our strength… we are all second-order espers."
"..."
The two officials went silent for the second time. Tetsudarou stared at Saya with disbelief.
'Even Takagi-jou? This man is not as bad as I first thought…'
While Souichiro remained silent, his thoughts weren't far off. Eishi's intimidation decreased slightly after that revelation.
Him granting Saya this strength meant he took her seriously. Of course, there is also the possibility he was lying.
"He is telling the truth, father."
Saya's words dispelled their remaining suspicions.
"The smart-missile RPGs, I will give the equivalent of 10,000 grapes. The smart drones, 2,500…"
Eishi's pricing was far more generous than they expected. The city hall's huge population led to them amassing hundreds of fruits, yet one man outranked them in terms of numbers—by the thousands, atop that.
"The golden fruits can be converted to a corresponding amount of ammunition. As for these fruits, I will offer a price once I see them."
"Alright."
With that, the "trade" was concluded successfully.