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"The solution to the water problem..." Mathew muttered, repeating Marcus\' words.

Then, a playful smile played on his lips.

"There is none."

It was as if the thunder struck the room. For a short moment, not a single person dared to make a sound inside. And then, everyone started shouting all at the same time.

"What the hell do you mean by that?!" Marcus screamed out, slamming his fists against the table.

For a moment, he stared at Mathew with a hateful look in his eyes. And yet, despite the level of rage he displayed, he calmed himself down.

"No, now I see," he muttered. "It was only a ploy to take my time and attention somewhere else..." he whispered to himself.

Marcus\' eyes opened up wide. He then turned his head to the nearest officer to his right.

"Bart, you go and..." Marcus was about to give an order when his face tensed up a little. He then turned his eyes and looked at Mathew, his expression twisted in curiosity. "If you have no method of obtaining water, then what in all hells did you want to talk to everyone about?"

Mathew smiled. He then closed his eyes and shook his head to the sides.

"One of his men entered the room and is checking out the merchant," Norbert reported, making use of Mathew\'s closed eyes.

"Didn\'t I already say it?" Mathew then asked, opening his eyes and looking right into Marcus\' face. His lips quivered as he struggled to hold back a giggle.

Something extremely out of place given the current circumstances.

"I wanted to talk to everyone about the solution to your water problem," Mathew then revealed. His smile turned even brighter than before while the corners of his lips continued to twitch hard.

"Excuse me?" Marcus raised his left eyebrow, taken aback by Mathew\'s statement. "Didn\'t you just claim that it was all a lie?" he pointed out in a tired voice.

His face screamed \'those damn kids,\' while some kind of divine source supplied him with patience to deal with the other party.

"There is no way to increase your water supply, that\'s true," Mathew replied. "Or maybe there is? Like digging a well? I dunno," he stated, spreading his arms open and shaking them. Mathew then brought his hands behind his back and raised his chin. "But reducing the demand for it by a huge margin? That\'s certainly possible."

Marcus stared at Mathew\'s face for the next few moments. He opened his mouth a few times only to end up closing them, refusing to put his thoughts into words.

"You just want to kill a bunch of useless folks," he then forwarded a guess. "Am I right?"

Mathew could no longer hold his giggle back. So, rather than openly laughing in the other party\'s face, he covered his mouth with his fist while his body shook in the convulsions of pure amusement.

"That would certainly be one way to do it," he admitted.

Mathew shook his head and took a deep breath to calm his giggles down. He then shook his head again before properly regaining his calm and composure.

"But no, that wasn\'t my intention," he corrected the man. "I simply wanted to take them away."

Silence ensued within the room.

Mathew\'s sentence caught aback not only Marcus alone but also all of his officers.

Sure, they didn\'t take an active part in the discussion so far, limiting themselves to just some silent comments, murmurs, or nodding their heads whenever they agreed with their leader.

This time, however, they all turned perfectly still and silent.

\'That\'s…" Marcus finally came to his senses. "That I didn\'t actually expect," he admitted.

And for the first time since he allowed his fit of rage to the outside world, his expression calmed down a little.

His rage stemmed from the fact that Mathew came here to bother him seemingly for no reason at all. And now that he learned it wasn\'t necessarily the case, he no longer had any reason to stick to said rage.

"I do happen to know about you," Mathew said, cupping his hands together before stretching his arms up and releasing a long yawn. "Quite a lot at that."

Mathew leaned his head slightly to the side and smiled gently.

"And you don\'t strike me as someone who would keep seemingly useless people just to burden those who can actively contribute to the survival of your group," he said. "Ah, don\'t get me wrong," Mathew quickly raised his hands to stop anyone from interrupting him. "I\'m not saying that approach is wrong. With the world as it is, we need to accept drastic measures for a new norm," he admitted before taking a short pause and lowering his head.

Mathew then brought his eyes up, giving Marcus a look at his upturned eyes and a small, sneaky smile.

"But I just can\'t help but wonder, isn\'t the only reason why you keep all those non-combatants that only eat away the precious little resources you have…" he raised his eyes on the officers gathered around their leader. "The combat-gifted people who wish to protect their non-combat-oriented friends and family?"

This was the problem for any and all groups that wished to retain their fighting strength in the face of the endless dangers of the apocalypse. Gathering people capable of fighting was one thing… but if they knew how to fight, then there was a huge chance they already fought to protect someone they cared about.

How could one gain their loyalty and support then, if not by offering a safe house and basic necessities to those whom the combatants cared for?

"That\'s…" Marcus squinted his eyes. He then threw a quick look at the people surrounding him.

That alone was enough for an answer.

"That\'s partially correct," Marcus admitted.

\'You just don\'t want to fully admit it,\' Mathew countered… albeit only in his thoughts.

Now that some sort of connection was there, he saw no point in actively seeking to disturb it by arguing with the man over the semantics.

"Then, how about we help each other out?" Mathew suggested, spreading his arms open and putting a wide smile on his face. "How about you let me take all those people that you consider useless?"