CHAPTER 30: WILL BE FIXED SOON!

Through the dirty cloth draped over my head, covering half my face, I could make out their worn-out clothes and the daggers strapped to their waists.

They were standing there with their arms crossed, trying way too hard to look intimidating.

"This road was opened by me," one declared.

"This tree was planted by me," the other chimed in.

"If you want to pass here, leave your money behind."

Walking from the forest to the city, then from the market district to the port, and now deep into the West Borough without a single rest, the fatigue finally caught up to me. My whole body was burning out.

On top of that, the sun blazed overhead like it had a personal grudge against me.

I was sweating buckets, and with every step, my body grew stickier and heavier. Not to mention, this body wasn’t in great shape to begin with.

Honestly, it was a miracle I’d made it this far at all.

As I wiped the sweat from my forehead, I couldn’t help but miss my old motorbike. Even though in a sense, it was only less than a day old since I last saw it.

How great would it be if I could bring all my stuff from Earth here with me...

"Sigh... How is it that my first day in another world had to be so miserable that it needed me to run to many places at once? It would be nothing if I were a fan of marathons or jogging, but sadly, I’m not. This was definitely not how I imagined spending my first day after getting isekai’d."

Despite all the complaints, I kept on walking, though my pace had grown slower, almost like a snail.

For a moment, I regretted giving all the money I had taken from the thug I knocked out to the starving girl. But when I remembered the look on her face, the way her eyes lit up, and the joy in the other kids when she ran back to them with the money, that regret vanished almost instantly.

I hurriedly shook my head, and carried on my journey while gritting my teeth.

...

When I finally entered the West Borough, I was surprised to find it wasn’t as crowded or bustling as I had imagined.

Everyone knew it was the most populated district in the city. But compared to the chaos of the market or the busy dock, what I experienced can be described to be only mildly noisy.

Then it hit me. It was already noon.

Most of the residents were probably already long off working or looking for work in other districts of the city. Richie was a perfect example. He left at sunrise every day to unload cargo at the docks and didn’t come back until late afternoon.

Still, a few people lingered on the main street, mostly women and children. It made sense as they were likely the families of workers who had already left earlier in the morning.put someone like you under protective custody. You know how they treat people like us."

"And even if by some miracle, they agreed to treat your case seriously, it’s not like they could protect you twenty-four-seven, right? My boss always says, ’You can guard against a thief for a day or two, but you can’t guard against a thief all the time.’"

I raised an eyebrow. "Since when did you get so good at talking? Quoting your boss now, too?"

Richie scratched the back of his head and gave an awkward laugh. "Ah, well... my boss signed me up for a tutoring class. Said I should learn how to read and write."

Then his expression shifted, and he cursed under his breath.

The vagrant suddenly pointed his finger at him. "It’s got everything to do with you! You damn Radhanian! Your people took our jobs, took our land! You think we ended up like this because of nothing? Go back to where you came from, you dark-skinned ape!"

"What did you just say to me?! I was born and raised in this city, longer than you’ve probably been alive. Don’t you dare blame your failures on me or my race!"

The shouting match raged on for another minute.

Meanwhile, I couldn’t help but mourn the lack of popcorn. The show was great, but there’s nothing to chew on!

"There’s corn in this world, right? Then what’s the odd popcorn corn exist too? If it does exist, maybe I could make it popular and make a fortune from it." I muttered quietly as the argument reached its peak.

"Pack up your things and scram! Don’t forget to bring your friends too. You’ve got five minutes. If you’re still here after that, I’ll personally throw you out," the store owner said threateningly.

As he turned around to enter his store, he didn’t notice the grin slowly spreading across the vagrant’s face.

"Die!" the vagrant roared.

No one saw where the dagger came from or when he’d pulled it out, but that hardly mattered. What did matter was that he was now lunging forward, blade aimed straight at the store owner’s back.

Neither the owner nor I had time to react. I stood frozen, shocked that the vagrant had a weapon and was willing to use it so suddenly and without hesitation.

The other onlookers were probably just as stunned as I was.

The dagger plunged into the man’s back. He collapsed to his knees instantly. Blood soaked his shirt.

"You..." he gasped, disbelief written across his face.

The vagrant looked just as stunned, then started laughing, taking a few steps back.

"Haha... I did it... I did it..."

His laugh grew louder, unhinged. "Haha... haha!"

Richie’s expression darkened. "No. He’s dead. We didn’t see him again after that night. Next thing we knew, we heard he’d been found floating in the Serayu River."

He paused before adding grimly, "His eyes were missing, looked like they’d been gouged out by talons. All the bones in his body were crushed, like he had been rolled over by a carriage or squeezed by something massive and heavy. His tongue was gone. There was a hole in his chest, like something had dug in and ripped out his organs. All of them were missing."

He let out a heavy sigh.

"How unfortunate. That guy had just gotten married... and was expecting his first child due next week. He went out drinking that night, thinking it would be his last bit of freedom before the baby came. None of us expected he’d be gone so soon."

I didn’t respond to Richie’s rambling. I just stayed quiet, but inside, something had shifted within me.

Up until now, I had been hesitant about moving forward with my plan. It would lead to many people dying, and I wasn’t sure I could carry that weight.

Everyone stared in silent shock as his manic laughter echoed through the street. Then, as though he had just realized the weight of his action, he quickly turned to flee.

But he didn’t even make it far before he tripped on something and went tumbling down. His face slammed into the dirt, and in the process ended up eating a mouthful of it.

"What’s the rush, mister?"

"If you had the guts to stab someone in broad daylight, don’t tell me you weren’t expecting any consequences."

"Damn it, Aiden! Don’t change the subject like that. We’re talking about your life! You could get killed any minute. Why are you acting like it’s no big deal?"

’Well, too late, the original Aiden already did lose his life,’ I couldn’t help but think to myself.

"It’s fine. Really. I didn’t come here to argue with you. Anyway, you’ve lived in this city since you were a kid, right? What do you know about the Sadis Gang?"

Richie, easily distracted by my question once again, fell into a deep thought and said musingly, "Well... I know they accept requests at Carnivore Bar, over on Mowa Street."

I nodded silently.

That lined up with what I remembered. Though it didn’t guarantee that their leader, or anyone important was actually based there. It could just be a front where they accepted requests while their real headquarters was hidden somewhere else.

Still, the fact that the Sadis Gang openly used the bar as a contact point meant it had to hold some deeper significance. It wasn’t a stretch to think that targeting the place would lead me somewhere useful.

"Mowa Street? Got it," I said, pretending like I’d just learned something new. The place was about an hour’s walk from here, or fifteen minutes by carriage.

"Anything else?"

"There’s a rumor," Richie said hesitantly. "I don’t know if it’s true or not, but someone once said to me, ’Rat" Peter has some kind of strange ability. Supposedly, he can talk to animals."

"A beast tamer?"

In Pangea, rare abilities like that weren’t exactly unheard of.

Aside from Divine Power, this world had many sources of power. There were Mages who used Mana to cast magical spells, and Knights who manipulated their life force into a powerful technique known as Aura.

Beast taming was just one of the many rare but possible abilities in Pangea.

"I’m not really sure," Richie continued. "I heard it from my drinking buddy who was pretty drunk at the time. He claimed he ran into "Rat" Peter on his way home and saw him talking to an owl, a snake, and a rat, like, actually giving them commands. And then all three animals took off in different directions at once."

"Is your friend still around?"

"Y-you! You dare to knock out Brad?! Don’t you know who we are?!"

"Isn’t it a little late to bring that up? You should’ve mentioned it before I put your friend to sleep."

I tilted my head slightly.