Chapter 42 A Grateful Lori
Chapter 42 A Grateful Lori
Knock! Knock!
Someone knocked it softly from outside and a voice, which they were all too familiar with sounded,
"Open the door, guys. It\'s me."
Hearing the voice, a smile appeared on professor Nina\'s and Ben\'s faces while James visibly relaxed too. As for Alice, she also let out a breath of relief before an angry expression appeared on her face.
She opened the door, turned around and went to her room, not wanting to talk to him.
…
After they waited for a while more, Luke had regained his consciousness.
He was confused at first because he was with Lori and others when he passed out in the garden near the city wall.
After Lori told him everything, he understood what had happened.
He was genuinely surprised to see Shadow because he had clearly pierced his sword through him when he fought him in the food factory. So, logically, he should be dead, but he was not.
When he asked how he survived, Shadow only smiled in response.
After hearing that he wanted to tag along with them without officially joining them, Luke was hesitant. It wasn\'t only because Shadow was his enemy before, and could be a spy, but also because he only wanted those who obeyed him in his group.
However, after they had a small private chat, he agreed to let him join.
After that, they wasted no time and started their journey back.
Although their group was now bigger with Rio\'s family, Julia and Shadow. They arrived at their destination within half an hour, thanks to Shadow leading the way.
Whenever they encountered a horde of zombies which they couldn\'t avoid, Shadow would attract their attention to himself and lead them away, before returning to the group without a scratch.
Everyone was in awe of his \'stealth\' skills, especially Keen, when he saw him walk by a presence from zombies at and above level 10. Although there were very few level 11 horde of zombies without them noticing.
Of course, this diversion tactic didn\'t always work, and they had to change their routes a few times too because his stealth skill had a limitation. It couldn\'t hide his presence from zombies at and above level 10. Although there were very few level 11 zombies, only two, there were quite a few level 10 in comparison.
This made Luke reevaluate the zombies\' growth rate. It had been only 12 hours or so, but many had reached such a high level. It was too horrifying.
Of course, if he knew the first 24 hours after the advent of mana were most beneficial for zombies, he wouldn\'t be too surprised.
But how could he know every single thing? The things he knew were general things which he came to know in his past life from the fellow slaves or his master\'s conversation with others.
…
Luke stared at Alice\'s back with a blank look before a bitter smile appeared on his face. It was only natural she was angry at him after his supposed trip of over 1 hour turned into multiple hours.
Whoosh!
Just then, Ben ran toward him and punch his shoulder, "Bastard! Why are you so late? Do you even know how worried professor Nina was for you? She wanted to go look for you, even though she knew she might die before she could find you. It was so difficult to stop her. I tell—"
Pow!
His rant was cut short when a fist landed on his head.
"Shut up and let them in." Professor Nina glared at him. His words made her seem as if she was a little, unreasonably stubborn girl. So, she was both embarrassed and angry.
"Hey, professor, don\'t him me. My head is weak." Ben cried out as he rubbed his head and then moved out of the way to let Luke and others in.
Luke glanced at professor Nina, feeling apologetic. Just like he treated as her as a family member, she also did the same so he could imagine how worried she must be.
After everyone entered the house, Lori introduced everyone to each other.
Professor Nina immediately took a liking to the cute Keen and, when she heard him say he was hungry, she hurriedly led him to the kitchen and served him food.
Luke watched this with a smile on his face. Ben walked over to him and whispered, "Hehe, are you feeling jealous that someone else is getting your dream woman\'s attention, huh?"
Luke turned his head toward him and looked at him as if he was an idiot.
"You really don\'t know what to say, huh? Can\'t you see he is just a kid? Even I like him, let alone professor Nina, who loves kids a lot."
"Tch! You don\'t need to lie to me. I can see it on your face," Ben clicked his tongue, clearly not believing him.
Luke didn\'t comment further on the topic, which made Ben stop talking about it.
"By the way, class prez went out to kill some zombies earlier and when she returned, she had reached level 8. What level are you?" He asked.
"Level 9." Luke smiled.
"Damn! You guys are really too much." He complained. He then grabbed Luke\'s hand and looked at him with puppy eyes. "You have to help me raise my level, alright?"
"Fuck, man. How many times I told you not to give me this look? It creeps me out." Luke cringed and pulled his hand out of his grasp.
"Heh, I won\'t if you promise to help me level up." Ben chuckled.
"You want to level up, huh? Okay. I\'ll help you tomorrow as we march toward the city wall." Luke said with a strange grin on his face.
"Uh! What\'s with that smile? What are you planning?" Ben flinched upon seeing his grin.
"Nothing." Luke just smiled, making her nervous. He wasn\'t planning anything, of course, but he found it fun to tease him.
…
After they had dinner, everyone found a place to sleep while Shadow kept watch.
Although the house they were in was on a small street far from the main road, resulting in very few zombies come here, they still needed to watch out for them and finish them before they could attract more.
That was why Luke decided that the strongest among the group, he, Alice and Shadow, would keep watch for three hours each. The first to keep watch was Shadow because he was the least exhausted of the three.
When Luke went upstairs to his room, he was surprised to see Lori waiting there.
"Why haven\'t you gone to sleep yet?" He asked, walking toward her.
"I thought I should prepare a hot bath for you to soak in and relieve your fatigue and I also wanted to thank you for saving my daughter. Just so you know, since you\'ve saved her, I won\'t renege on my promise." Lori said, a small rosy tint appearing on her cheek contours.
"Is that so?" A smile appeared on Luke\'s face when he heard this. His eyes roamed over her shapely body for a moment before he walked toward the bathroom, "Let me take a comfortable bath then."
"Wait!" Lori called out when she saw he was about to close the bathroom\'s door.
"Yes?"
"Mm? Luke… do you need me to, um… give you a massage while you soak in the bathtub?" Lori asked, feeling embarrassed.
"Alright. Come in." Luke nodded and went in. By the time she came in, he was already in the bathtub, his head resting on the edge, eyes closed as he enjoyed the warm water.
Creak~
Lori stepped inside and closed the door. She had a white towel wrapped around her body that covered everything below her shoulders and above her voluptuous thighs. Her long black hair was no longer tied in a ponytail but was open instead, falling down on her back like a beautiful waterfall. And her beautiful face had a rosy hue due to her being embarrassed.
If Luke had bothered to open his eyes and look at her, he would have been mesmerised. Unfortunately, he didn\'t.
Lori slowly walked over and kneeled behind the bathtub. She felt a little disappointed because he didn\'t turn to see her, but as soon as this thought appeared in her mind, she blushed, \'What am I thinking?\'
She then placed her soft hands on his shoulders and started to massage them slowly.
"Ah! Your hands feel good." Luke couldn\'t help but moan.
"Thank you." Lori smiled and started putting more efforts on making him feel good.
Earlier, when she saw him lying there, passed out. She felt very guilty because he had to give his all to save her daughter and keep them safe. It was then that she had decided to help him relieve his stress, regardless of how embarrassed she felt.
A few minutes later, she was done massaging his shoulders, back, and hands. She then stood up, leaned over him, and started moving her dainty hands over his chest.
"Yeah! You are good, Lori. It\'s feels good." Luke continued to groan in comfort.
After a while, she bit her lower lip; her face turning an enchanting shade of pink. She then moved her hands downwards and froze upon touching something thick, long, and hot.