A retired navy captain and one of the prominent figures of the past generations, someone who had spent a big part of his life in the sea, as well as someone who looked nothing short of a Greek god himself, Isah's dad was someone KiRA respected deeply.
-Salute!
"Good morning, Captain!" Standing before a six-and-a-half-foot tall, boulder-like person with a dense white beard, along with the deepest blue eyes KiRA had seen in the real world, he greeted his future father-in-law while looking him straight in the eyes.
"Morning, son!" The captain reciprocated his greetings with a salute of his own, greeting him with a smile of excitement present on his face.
"Haha, seeing that display earlier was quite something, son!" His voice was loud. They were inside– underground– their house right now, so the loud voice echoed as well.
-Slam!
They weren't supposed to be so loud though, so a slam came from behind.
"Triton! Don't shout like that!" Isah's mother, the person maintaining all the screens present in the underground bunker, could not help but shout at her dumb husband right now.
There were sensitive things here and loud noises could damage some of them. Some things weren't working in the first place so it was increasingly difficult for her to keep things up.
"Ah, apologies, apologies Miss Wife." While his beard was white, his short blond hair made him seem more attractive than the younger men of the neighborhood.
"Just shut up…"
Besides him, Isah's mother, a serene beauty in her middle ages, could not help her anger at her husband.
She had worked as a tech developer all her life so she had vast experience in things related to technology.
While she had not worked with the government, she was the one who worked with all the techs present in this bunker– the safe place connecting many other houses in the neighborhood.
These bunkers, made individually by the families that lived here over a long period, were the primary reason KiRA called this a safe place.
Just like this control room which they were situated under Isah's house, a general store on the surface, there were other facilities in this area that were better than a high-tech skyscraper.
"Greetings, Ma'am-."
"The world has ended, at least start calling me mother now, will you?" She looked at him, warmth present in them and, after looking back at the wall full of screens– of which only a few worked now– she walked up to him and hugged him warmly.
"It's good to see you safe, Haaa…"
She had clearly been worried about him. Seeing him also relieved her greatly.
"But stop calling me Ma'am, ok? I'm not that old yet." She was in her early forties, so yeah. She wasn't that old.
"Yes, Miss Aurelia." With a nod and a little smirk, he hugged her back and then looked back at the screens behind her.
The bunker was old. It wasn't a high-tech place either. It was made many decades ago and was clearly not in use.
There was dust everywhere, even the screens that were embedded in the walls were older.
Still, the network that they worked on was unique. Even though the internet had fallen, some of them were still working right now.
They were showing footage from around the neighborhood, as well as one or two of them showing footage from around the city.
Many of them were still out of service, but it seemed like she would bring them back. In fact, KiRA knew she must be waiting for his own aunt to get here.
The two of them were a phenomenal team.
Once they got here, he knew they would bring this whole place back to what it should have been in the past. Perhaps make it a good enough base for the people here.
Also, with the Captain here, he did not have to worry about the people's safety.
They might not have tactical weapons here, but his mere presence was nothing short of a war weapon.
Also, they had Isah, so he knew he could be away from the place for the time being.
"The cathedral? So, you're actually going?"
Her mom, Lia as they all called her, could tell where he was looking right now– a screen showing a certain dungeon that had popped up just recently.
"Yes. I'm pretty lucky it's not far from here. But, it's not going to stay there for long." From what he knew about this place, he knew it would vanish once the Tutorial for all the areas around the world ended.
At most, he only had half a day to get what he wanted from there. Also, knowing the infamousness of that place, he knew very well he would not be the only challenger there.
"What's so important that you're being so impatient, boy?" The Captain knew his nature, so he knew this wasn't how KiRA usually was.
He was a pretty calm and collective individual. Also, he was seeing a kind of greed that he had not seen in him in the past… he was the same person, he could tell, but something about him had changed with this changed world.
Still, he had not changed in any negative manner. At least, not in any way he could see.
If it was anything like that, he would have been dead by now. His intuition was telling him he was the strongest one among everyone present there, but that did not mean he could not be killed.
But, that wasn't needed right now. He was good. Besides, the bird that was sitting on his
head made him look far more adorable than he had ever been.
"It's something important to me, not something that will help everyone else collectively. If anything, I'm simply being selfish right now, but I want to do this. At least this time…"
Many special events occurred within the tutorial as well as right after that. If you had the right knowledge and right skills, you could earn things that would help you till the end of the tower.
Among these special events, there was one that he must not miss. Not in this important early stage.
"He's not going to listen to you even if you ban him, Mom. And, I know this is going to help us all somehow even if he's phrasing it like that." Isah knew this would be dangerous, but knowing him, he would end up earning much more than she was expecting from that place.
"Looks like there's no stopping him then." She smiled at him bitterly and shook her head.
While she might have tried stopping him, knowing his current level and strength, she knew it was not going to work. Even with their skills, he might just slip past them and get out of this place.
And, they did not want to do that to their future son-in-law.
"You should leave as quickly as possible then. Don't be late to greet your guardians. Oh, since Z is with them, they should be here by tonight, right?" Isah wanted to push him out since he was going away anyway.
"They might be here in a few hours if they don't stop to save everyone they meet in the path. But knowing uncle…" All of them knew how things might turn out.
[{ Hmm? Master? }]
Unity knew Zyon but not his father. She was confused as to why they all acted like that, but KiRA didn't tell her much.
He just smiled at the little bird and looked back at Isah.
"So? Wanna come with us?" He offered with a curious expression on his face.
"No way. I have to be here, dummy." And as he knew, she declined his offer readily.
"Of course."
She needed to be here until things calmed down.
Since he had talked with all the children and elders here, he knew the situation was still not that good in this part of the city.
The monsters were still coming, and since the surrounding places were falling to these monsters, the survivors were making their way here to take refuge.
For the children's and elder's sake, she needed to be here to protect them. That's just how she was.
"Well…" He nodded and gave her a small kiss.
It was out of the blue, but she liked it. Her face was flushed as well, so he was more motivated now.
"You should keep these. They might come in handy."
[You have transferred 100,000 IX to ID: Isah.]
"Hmm? Hey!" It was an absurd amount, even to her.
Besides, having all that money wasn't the problem here.
"I don't even have shop access! How am I going to use these?!" Besides increasing the level of her skills, all those coins were useless to her right now.
She couldn't even use that on all the people. But she didn't have to worry about that either.
"You should stop screaming as well, dumb Strowberry." Flicking his finger on her forehead, he took out a certain box he had obtained before he started his tutorial battles.
"Hmm?" she did not understand what that box was, so she opened it without much thinking. However, what she found inside made her eyes go wide in an instant.
"The rose of Cicilia??? What?! Where did you get this thing?!" while it was called a rose, it wasn't actually a flower. It was also an item in the right hands.
"Tell me what you need and I'll get it from Uni's shop. Use those coins to help others."
That was all he needed to tell her. She knew what to do with the flower and the coins. She was the smart witch, after all.
She knew how to take care of these kinds of things and resources.