Apocalypse Landlord: My Tenants Are All Beautiful Heroines.-Chapter 66: New Leader and New Threat
As the last hobgoblin fell, the enforcers couldn’t help but rejoice. They had won! None of them had incurred any injury. Well, apart from Caleb, who was perhaps rotting somewhere.
"Well done," Aiden smirked, clapping thrice.
The group wasn’t worthy of more than three claps for their entertaining performance. If not for Dexter’s unique utilization of the surroundings, Aiden wouldn’t have clapped a single time.
After all, winning over some hobgoblins when they were outnumbered and blind wasn’t a big deal in his eyes. But for the enforcers, his appreciation meant they would get bonus rewards!
"You there," Aiden said, pointing at Dexter with a crooked finger, beckoning him closer. "What is your name?"
"Dexter McCoy, sir!" Dexter replied, puffing out his chest.
"Excellent plan," Aiden smiled, patting Dexter’s shoulders. "You could work on the execution of the last part, but other than that, it was an interesting plan."
"Thank you, sir! Your appreciation means the world to me!"
Aiden raised an eyebrow, thinking the guy was doing too much. At the same time, he brought out Dexter’s tenancy profile.
+++
Basic Information:
Name: Dexter McCoy
Gender: Male
Age: 22
Status: Registered Tenant
Assigned Residence: Apartment 1409
Role: Unassigned
—x—
Talent Proficiencies:
• Cooking: 2/10
• Strategic Leadership: 8/10
• Cleaning & Sanitation: 5/10
• Child Care: 1/10
• Resource Management: 6/10
• Medical Knowledge: 1/10
• Negotiation and Commerce: 6/10
• Combat Ability: 4/10
• Exploration Suitability: 1/10
—x—
Recommended role:
• Domestic support role: Strategist
[Requires utility building: Command Center (locked)]
+++
Interesting profile and a unique trait. He would be a decent ninth-in-command. However, I can’t help but find it suspicious.
Dexter was talented in a couple of fields. Someone like him could’ve easily used his talents to lead a better life if he put his mind to it. Yet, he lived in the slums for a year?
It doesn’t make sense.
Karina was thinking the same thing. She could have used someone like him in the wolves. While Dexter’s combat abilities sucked, that could have been improved over time.
Maybe Dexter wasn’t what he portrayed himself to be, or maybe he was, and Aiden was overthinking things. Either way, it didn’t matter now that they were under the contract.
"You’ll make a fine leader," Aiden said, turning to leave. "From this day onwards, the enforcers are your responsibility. You will be rewarded for their triumphs and punished for their mistakes. So think carefully if you desire such a position."
Not only Dexter, but everyone else was surprised by his sudden assignment as the leader of their group. However, no one was jealous of him.
Sure, he would get additional rewards, but given the size of the group, someone is bound to fuck up, just like those two with the kukris did minutes ago.
As much as they would like to be rewarded, they didn’t want to risk it. They had all seen what kind of punishments Aiden gave, thanks to Caleb’s sacrifice.
"We should thank Dexter for taking the credit," the blonde guy with the kukri whispered. "If not for him, one of us could have been chosen instead."
Murmurs ran through the crowd. Some pitied Dexter, some saying he deserved it. Dexter, however, remained silent as if thinking about something.
"Thank you for the opportunity, sir!" Dexter replied. "It would be my honor to help ease your burden."
Aiden nodded and bought a bow from the system. It wasn’t an ordinary bow, but an Evo-Gear. One of many that Karina had brought over from the survivor camp.
"You’re not suited for close combat," he said, handing the bow to Dexter. "Try mastering the bow instead."
"T-Thank you, sir! I won’t disappoint you!"
[Tenant: Dexter McCoy achieved an emotional breakthrough. Loyalty has been upgraded to Faith.]
[Tenant: Dexter McCoy’s Faith rose to 1%]
"I hope for your sake you wouldn’t. Off you go now. All of you have worked hard. Take a rest. Your rewards will be delivered to you soon."
While they left, Aiden instructed the wolves to place the corpses in a line before leaving alongside Karina.
"Why does he want that?" Elena frowned, unable to tolerate the smell of corpses.
"No question," Marcus replied, whacking the girl on the head. "You do what he tells you, or do you wish to end up like the guy who got killed?"
That was enough to shut them up.
While the group got to work, Karina and Aiden headed outside. After all, there was one more corpse for him to put to use.
However, when they got outside, there was no corpse. There wasn’t even a drop of blood. The guards could have removed Caleb’s corpse after killing him, but they couldn’t possibly have removed all the blood as well.
"Sir! There’s a problem!"
Before he could spare another thought on the anomaly, a young man came rushing out of a tower.
"Where is the corpse?" Aiden asked, looking around.
"Bird... A massive bird..." The man panted. "It took the guy... and flew away!"
A creature hunted someone despite the barrier’s presence?
No, the boy was outside the barrier after being evicted. As for the gunshot, they probably fired it to scare the bird.
"What? Don’t tell me it returned!?" Karina gritted her teeth and gently pushed Aiden back inside the building while looking above.
"Karina?"
"It’s a ferocious bird," she replied. "It used to terrorize us a lot in the early days of the apocalypse. Even scavenging became impossible."
"Then one day, we found the goblins attacking it. No one knows how they got a bird so large, but they hunted it. At least that’s what we thought."
Karina clenched her fists, rage evident on her face.
"That bastard killed my aunt, and somehow it has returned—Aiden...?"
"Shush," he said, cupping her face to bring it closer to his. "I don’t like it when you grind your teeth. If your teeth get any sharper, we might not be able to have fun like this morning."
At the mention of their morning activities, Karina’s face turned red. All her anger evaporated just as quickly.
"As for the bird," Aiden mumbled, stepping outside. "I’ve been longing to eat something other than the processed meat."
