William’s speech was met with cold silence. No one was willing to volunteer to go out and face those zombies again. The zombies had struck fear into the hearts of everyone here.

“I’ll volunteer!!”

Lisa volunteered herself and if she’s going then I’m going.

“I’ll go too.”

Now there were four people willing to go on the scavenge for food. After we volunteered, a commotion spread amongst the people. They were talking and deciding whether they should go or not but no one has volunteered yet.

“Ok, Mr.William, if no one wants to volunteer then I guess it’s just the four of us. Listen up everyone, while we’re out there don’t go fighting each other again, ok? We need a safe home to return too so please take care of each other.”

Lisa grabbed the three of us by the arm and was going to drag us away but multiple voices interrupted her.

“Wait, I’ll join.”

“I want to join.”

“I want to help.”

In total, about 18 other people decided to volunteer. After hearing them volunteer, Lisa happily dragged them away. The Men in Black dismissed the meeting and returned to find Lisa lecturing the volunteers.

“All 18 of you men have GUTS!! But guts isn’t going to be enough when we face those zombies. From today onwards all of you are part of Lisa’s Life Boot Camp. I won’t accept any whiners!!”

“Umm, what are we doing?”

“Shut your loose lips soldier!! From today onwards, address me as Legendary Commander Lisa, or Lemmander Lisa for short.”

“O-ok.”

The men were shocked at Lisa’s attitude. It didn’t seem like she was serious about this at all but none of them could refute her.

“What’s she doing?”

“I’m not sure myself but I think she just created a boot camp.”

“Jude, get your butt over here!!! Just cause you’re a cute little brother doesn’t mean I’ll go easy on you.”

She pounced on me and dragged me to where all the other guys were. I was left there sitting next to them as Lisa went to speak with the two men in black.

“She’s funny isn’t she?”

“Yeah but it’s not bad. The atmosphere’s been so depressing lately but she just makes it bright.”

“She’s pretty cute too. She’s short and just makes you want to protect her.”

“Yeah, I agree. She’ll make a good girlfriend.”

“She’s married.”

I’m not going to let anyone check out my big sister when she’s going to marry Tom. None of you stand a chance against Tom.

“Oh, I see.”

“Damn, guess she’s taken.”

“Your name’s Jude right?”

“Yeah, and you are.”

“My name’s…”

“Silence you dung beetles!! It’s time for training.”

We all look at Lisa in confusion but we soon learn what she means by training. Lisa pairs us into groups and begins teaching us how to take an opponent down to the ground.

“Since you’re all beginners then I’ll teach you something simple. It doesn’t matter if you just know this one move but it’ll definitely help you fight against zombies. The first thing you want to do is get in close proximity to the zombie. It may be scary but remember, there will be teammates around to save you so go in with all of your power. The second step is to shoulder bash the zombie’s chest. We’ll create some sort of shield apparatus so smash into the zombie with that. The key point to this is speed and power. Go in as fast as you can with as much power as you can and then retreat. Don’t stay in too long or the zombie might grab you. The third step is a little more difficult but all you have to do is sweep the zombie’s leg while mid bash. The zombie will lose its balance from your bash and the sweep will ensure that it falls down. After that will be attacking the zombie in its head. It doesn’t matter if you can’t execute these techniques perfectly but remember, your teammates have your back.”

After her instructions, Lisa demonstrated in front of the others by using the techniques on me. She didn’t hold back at all and I fell to the ground many times. My body was still hurting but I didn’t tell Lisa because I didn’t want to ruin her energetic mood. Our training continued on for an hour before Lisa stopped us. The two men in black who had disappeared during our training returned with stuff within their hands. It looked like the metal grates and legs of shelves.

“Everyone gather around. We will have a 30 minute break before we train again.”

“Finally.”

“My vision was getting blurry from being tossed around.”

“If we went on any longer than I might have puked.”

“Hahaha, good. That means all of you were training well. William and Gareth will explain to you what they have brought.”

I wonder when Lisa learned that the man in black with black hair was named Gareth. She really does make friends easily.

“What I have right here is a simple makeshift shield we have torn off of the shelves. A handle was installed so you would be able to hold it. Because we don’t have many tools to adjust the shields, some may be bigger than others so choose the one you can carry.”

“What I have are the legs of the shelves. We plan to have everyone carry one of these but considering the weight of them, we might change our plans. These are simple weapons we will use to bash the heads of the zombies.”

Everyone’s face grew grim. They were finely realizing that they were actually going to go outside to kill zombies. This past hour has just been training but now it was getting real.

“Alright soldiers, go and pick out your weapons.”

Everyone stood up but Lisa quickly shut them down.

“Sit back down you dung beetles!!! Was I not talking to you? Am I going to have to write all of you up for insubordination.”

All of them looked at each other in confusion but I knew what Lisa wanted.

“Yes, Legendary Commander Lisa. Thank you for the opportunity to stand.”

“Hehe, good. All of you have to follow my little brother’s example. This is definitely not favoritism so don’t come complaining to me.”

“Yes, Legendary Commander Lisa.”

“Yes, Lemmander Lisa.”

“Good, now go on ahead.”

We all went up and looked for a weapon. I test out a few of the shields and table legs but I don’t think using the shield is for me. It was too heavy and it makes me unable to use magic from either hand.

I take one of the metal shelf legs and stare at it. It doesn’t look like it would pierce a skull at all with its blunt edges since skulls are pretty hard. I wonder if fire magic can melt this metal. In a corner of my own, I hide and begin melting the metal. I think it’s working? The metal was turning slightly red so if I make it stronger then I might be able to melt it.

“Legendary Commander Lisa, I’m going to do some research in our room.”

“Ok, let me come with you.”

We both enter our room and I immediately begin testing whether I can melt this steel shelf leg. I increase the power of my magic and it was draining my mana but it was definitely melting the steel. When it looked sharp enough, I cool down the sharp point with water magic.

“That’s amazing, Rudy. Can you do that for all of our weapons.”

“From how much mana this one took, I think I can do 6 or 7 before I pass out. Lell, can you gather everyone’s weapon.”

“Are you sure? I don’t really want you knocking out every time you run out of mana.”

“It’s fine, I’ll only be asleep for 30 minutes. Please take care of me when I pass out.”

“Haah, ok Rudy. Promise me you’ll be extra careful.”

“Yeah, I promise.”

Lisa heads off and gathers everyone’s weapons. I get to work and repeat the process of melting and passing out multiple times. By the time I finish the last weapon, it was around 2 p.m., 2 hours have passed since I started.

Using the method Fifi taught me, I begin to feel my mana pool. I close my eyes and I appear in a pitch-black area. There’s nothing around me except a small jug of blue liquid floating in the air. This shining blue liquid is what Fifi calls mana. Fifi explained that most humans usually have a limit to the size of their mana pool but if they train then it will grow. My mana pool wasn’t always stored in this glass jug, it used to be stored in a small glass cup.

Fifi said that when she first met me my mana was trapped inside of a glass cup. My mana had only filled up half of the cup but now it fills one-fourth of a glass jug. I was worried that the glass cup had transformed into a glass jug but it was apparently normal for this to occur. As a person’s mana grows, the container holding the mana also has to grow to accommodate the mana.

Looking at it now, it has grown a little more than the previous days. Fighting against the green goo zombie and the other zombies must have given me enough experience for the mana to increase. I can probably use Fire Blast 7 or 8 times now.

“Good job, Rudy. You’ve been hard at work so rest for a bit.”

I exit from the pitch-black room as I hear Lisa speak to me. I’m glad that I’m growing stronger.

“Thanks, Lell. Let’s go distribute the weapons.”

The two of us head out and deliver the weapons to the others. All of them were currently still training but this time it was different. Everyone was holding their shields and bashing into boxes filled with books.

“Gather around. I’m here to give you your new and improved weapons. They’re now called Spearheaded Leg Mk.2.”

“Hahaha, what a weird name.”

“Wow, it’s really sharp like a spear.”

“This will totally do some damage.”

Everyone was appreciating my work and it made me somewhat happy.

“Ok, all of you will be given an hour break before we head out. Take this time to mentally prepare yourself for a real battle.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Yes, Lemmander.”

In the time that I wasn’t with them, they had already become perfect subordinates. I wonder how Lisa was able to train them so quickly. Everything she has done lately has surprised me. I don’t think I would have been able to do any of this if I was in her shoes.

After finishing her speech we both head back into our room. It was only an hour but I was going to use this time to train. I’m still far away from being strong enough.

“Rudy, be my pillow.”

“Oh, ok.”

I thought she wanted me to be lap pillow again so I sit down on my knees. I pat my knees to signal her to come but she doesn’t.

“What’s wrong?”

“Not that pillow. You can’t sleep if you’re like that.”

“I wasn’t going to sleep though.”

“Nope, big sister says you have to sleep so you have to sleep.”

“Ok.”

“Lay down on your side.”

I follow her command and lay down on my side.

“Arms out.”

Both my arms extend forward like I’m a stiff robot. Lisa gets down and snuggles up close to my chest.

“Hug.”

She laid on my left arm and my right arm encloses around her in a hug. She was really warm. It was a different kind of warmth from her combing through my hair. I might like this even more.

“You’re warm, Rudy.”

“You too, Lell.”

“Rudy, can I talk about Rommy?”

“Go ahead, I want to hear more stories about you two.”

“Hehe, thanks. Let me tell you about the story of how I made Rommy blush.”

“Is that rare?”

“Yep, Rommy can say the most embarrassing things without a change in his expressions. He’s also very good at taking compliments. Wait, this story might be too raunchy for you. Hehe, you’re too innocent for it, I’ll tell you when you get older.”

“I’m not young. I can take raunchy stories.”

“Nope, I’m telling you a different story.”

She keeps treating me like a kid but I’m not that far from her age. It seems like she was having fun teasing me so I just give up on getting her to tell me her raunchy story with Rommy. I bet it's just about them kissing our something.

“Let me tell you about the time I got lost in Japon and how Rommy made my heart flutter. It all starts on a hot summer day in Japon. I had gone on a trip with some of my girl friends and at that time we were visiting a place near Rommy so I went to visit him. My girl friends knew about my relationship with Rommy so I told them that I was going to secretly surprise Rommy at his apartment. I left them and took the train to the town Rommy was staying at. Maybe it was fate but while I was using GPS to find Rommy’s place, my phone died. I wandered and wandered and still couldn’t find his place. I was in an unknown land where I didn’t know how to speak their language. I could have asked someone for help but I didn’t want to bother them. An hour passed and another hour passed by. It was so hot that my entire body was drenched in sweat but my heart felt cold. I just wanted to surprise Rommy but I got lost and I wouldn’t be able to do that. My vision was getting blurry and I think I was having a heatstroke but running towards me was a familiar face. His body was drenched in sweat and his face was full of relief. My entire was full of relief as I ran towards him. I kissed him so hard that day. My tongue intertwined with his and I wanted to be a part of him. I didn’t want him to leave me. We continue to kiss and kiss and kiss and kiss until an officer came and told us to stop. It..it...was so funny…”

Lisa fell asleep and I wasn’t sure she finished her story but it was nice to learn more about her and Tom. I hope I can be in a relationship like that one day. My eyes are growing heavy and my vision was darkening. Just like Lisa, I fall asleep.