CHAPTER 22: WILL BE FIXED SOON!

What I didn’t realize at the time was that, the moment I walked off, Esther’s eyes followed me intently. Her hand, which had been resting tensely on her hip, immediately relaxed.

"Phew... that guy feels dangerous..."

"What did you say?"

"Nothing."

...

After the stabbing incident, I didn’t run into any hidden quests or unexpected events.

In fact, things were so quiet, I started to wonder if I had somehow wandered into the wrong district... because this didn’t feel like the West Borough at all!

According to my memories, the West Borough was crawling with criminals. You had to constantly watch your back, pickpockets, random thugs demanding protection fees, and if you refused, they wouldn’t hesitate to rough you up or even stab you. On top of that, there was always the risk of being swarmed by desperate, hungry vagrants.

But strangely enough, I encountered none of that.

’What’s with the sudden peace and quiet?’ I thought to myself, scanning my surroundings.

Soon, I spotted a man leaning against the wooden railing of his house, puffing on a tobacco roll.

I walked over and cleared my throat.

It had become a habit of mine to clear my throat to get someone’s attention instead of waving or saying hello. Saved me the trouble of speaking too much. And clearly, it worked.

The man instantly took notice of my presence, glanced over, and eyed me with suspicion. "Who are you?"

"Kekeke, I’m just a nobody," I blurted out, following my intrusive thought.

I initially wanted to try to lighten the mood by starting off a friendly laugh, but what I didn’t expect was that what came out of my mouth sounded more like a creepy giggle than anything else.

’Fuck, what did I just say?’

I froze. And so did the other guy before he took a few steps back. I could feel his suspicion spike almost instantly.

"Wait, wait! I’m just kidding! I’m harmless, really. Can’t you tell?" I hurriedly raised both hands, palms open, trying to show I meant no harm and came in peace as I noticed him edging toward his door.

Upon hearing my words, he stopped retreating but still kept a safe distance between us.

"What do you want? Why did you come up to me?"

I got straight to the point.

"Do you know what’s going on around here? This area used to be crawling with thugs and vagrants, but now it’s like they’ve all vanished."

The man relaxed his shoulders, took a drag from his tobacco, then said, "You don’t know? There’s been a plague going around. I’m not sure when it started, but a lot of people started getting sick. There’s a saying—’only idiots catch illness’—and I guess there’s some truth to it. So far, it’s mostly the vagrants and thugs who’ve come down with it."

"What about the residents here?" I asked.

"They’re fine. Look at me, do I look sick?" he said confidently, then coughed severely right after, while pointing to himself.

I gave him a slow scan from head to toe. Then I averted my gaze.

He caught that immediately. "Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?" he asked, suddenly looking concerned.

"You might not look sick," I said, "but who knows what’s going on inside. You should stop smoking that tobacco. Otherwise, your lungs might give out."

He squinted at me like I had just told him the sky was green. "What do you know about tobacco? Lungs, huh? Kid, that nonsense might work on someone else, but not me. You just had to say it to me

of all people."

He held up the half-burned roll with a kind of reverence, almost like worshipping it.

"If it weren’t for this little thing, I would’ve thrown myself off that bridge years ago. It’s because of tobacco that I found the will to keep going. To me, it’s not just a commodity I bought to fulfill my craving, but it’s also a reminder that it once saved me. This is my savior!"

I was speechless. More importantly, I realized there was no point arguing with a smoker, especially a heavy one like him.

It’s not like anyone in this world knew about the health risks associated w

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.

And of course, there were plenty of vagrants lining the sidewalks.

What really caught my attention, though, was just how many vagrants there were. Dozens, maybe more, lying on the ground, huddled under torn, rugged blankets, or slumped against walls.

And yet, the people walking by barely reacted. Their expressions were normal, as if they’d long since grown used to the sight. It was nothing new to them.

As I went deeper into the district, the number of vagrants grew. Some storefronts were completely blocked by sleeping bodies, making it impossible to even open the doors.

Amidst my observation, I suddenly heard something.

"You low-life bastards! Don’t you have anything better to do than loiter in front of my shop?!"

The shout was so loud it brought everything to a halt. People stopped what they were doing and turned their heads toward the source.

Naturally, my attention was drawn too. No way I’d just walk past a commotion like that. I mean, who turns down free entertainment? Ignoring it would’ve been a total waste."

As I looked over, I spotted two men in a heated argument. One was clearly a Radhanian, judging by his dark skin and massive build. The other was a vagrant, thin, with matted hair and clothes that looked like they hadn’t been washed in ages.

Just then, the vagrant shouted back.

"Shut up! It’s not like we purposely chose to sleep here!"

"Then go sleep somewhere else!"

"I can’t, there are no other places for me to go."

"That’s your problem! What’s it got to do with me?!"

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!"

ith tobacco anyway. Talking about lung damage would just make me sound like a lunatic. And really, even back on modern Earth, people kept smoking despite warning labels printed right on the packaging. If that didn’t stop them, why would my warning work here?