《GENERIC ISEKAI》 Arigato Truck-kun PART-1 *Click*
Are you sure you want to quit the meeting?
YES NO
¡°Yes.¡± I mumbled under my breath as I clicked ¡®yes¡¯. Gently pulling the headphones off, I sighed deeply, reminding myself of the frustration I had been containing for all this while. What was I frustrated about? I¡¯d be damned if I knew. Initially, I thought it was because I was not being productive, but turns out it wasn¡¯t true. Then I thought maybe it was because of the stress of preparing for the entrance exams for college- Who am I kidding? I¡¯d be the last person interested to go to college in the entire nation and me getting stressed for exams? What a joke. Even after suffering from these endless waves of temper for a year now, yet I am clueless about its causes. I doubt if it is depression, because of how much I can relate to the interviews of actual people diagnosed with depression on YouTube. Though I didn¡¯t take any steps towards concerning a psychologist or anything, that is still a work in progress. The pain in my backbone, a result of staring down at a computer screen for 8 hours long, snapped me back to reality. I immediately jumped out of the ¡®not very comfy chair¡¯ and stretched my back, popping a few bones back into their place. It was bliss to feel the muscles sore from lack of exercise tense up. Breaking the silence with a satisfyingly loud sigh, I rub my dried eyes and look around the room. The only word that came to mind to best describe was ¡°Chaos¡±. I saw a paintbrush alongside a kitchen knife on a PSP, beside a stack of papers in one corner of the room. I am pretty sure that you can easily imagine the remaining. The sight of the unclean room instilled even more anger in me. As they say, your surroundings affect how you feel. And with my surroundings like this, I wanted to punch someone in their face with all my might. Of course, doing that is not very recommendable considering how weak I am. Even someone 5 years younger than me can beat me to a pulp. At least that¡¯s what I think. I shut the only source of light in the room, the laptop screen, and turn on the lights. I reflexively narrowed my eyes because of the sudden intensification in brightness that stung my eyes. After a few seconds, I focus my eyes on the wall clock. ¡°6 o¡¯clock, huh?¡± I say to myself, ¡°Another unproductive day, I believe.¡± It truly was an unproductive day. Neither did I learn anything new, nor did I practice things I have already learned. By learning, I don¡¯t just mean academics. I have learned nothing AT ALL, today. Not like it differs from other days. This feeling of being unproductive has been lingering in me for the past year, ever since the beginning of the lockdown. Right after a week of lockdown, my high school switched to online means of teaching, months before other institutions did. At first, I listened to the classes, even better than when I attended school. But after a few days, I started getting bored. I mean, who would listen to a boring lecture, when you have other forms of entertainment like ¡®websites where you can talk to strangers¡¯, web series, anime, novels, manga, hen- you get the idea. So, from the past year, all I did was join the online class and watch or read something on another tab. No wonder why I cannot pass my exams. I yawn and rub my eyes again, trying to get some moisture in them to avoid the irritation because of the dryness. This was another problem I was facing nowadays. Google says it is because of staring at something for way too long, which would strain the eye muscles or something. Now that there were 4 more hours before my time to sleep, I wanted to do something different for once. I didn¡¯t want to go back to watching the same anime that was watching until a while ago, only for one reason: It is for people who are very very very horny. I think I was horny when I started watching it, but I didn¡¯t feel like watching it anymore. Honestly, I didn¡¯t feel like watching anything thing for a while. I want a break from this boring routine of being uninterested in everything. I want it so badly that I am fine with anything, even a walk. With that, I decided on a whim and grabbed hold of a mask and sanitizer. I slipped the sanitizer into my pocket and wore the mask over my face. Before locking the front door, I glanced at the mirror in a corner of the room for confirmation that my attire was acceptable to the public. After setting my hair with my hair, I switched the lights off, locked the door, and set off to go for a walk. PART-2 I had this lingering fear in the back of my head for a while, yet I was reluctant towards it. If I was paying enough attention to the events happening lately, I wouldn¡¯t have been in this situation. Then again, staying at home would¡¯ve been all the same, considering how desperate my Grim Reaper is. As I was saying, my Grim Reaper is dedicated to his occupation. Not to mention, he is very hard working and earnest, though with a downside of not being very creative. He is a man of many skills, one of which being ¡®Shape-shifting¡¯. This skill allows him to transform into many things, both living and inanimate. Thanks to this skill of his, he comes in many shapes and forms, ranging from a stupid murderer on a contract, who mistakes you for someone else and attempts to kill you; to a ten thousand pound, diesel engine-d, heavy load carrying truck which takes an interest in squashing female humans crossing the road. The methods that my Grim Reaper uses to get rid of me, are very similar (In fact, the same) to the ones used in ¡®Isekai¡¯ anime to teleport the MC to another world. For example, getting hit by lightning on a day with clear sky, or accidentally getting stabbed by your classmate during one of the Cooking classes... You get the idea. Like I mentioned before, he is not very creative. (But he sure is an otaku. From what I have observed, it seems like he has watched way more isekai anime than I did.) While my Grim Reaper¡¯s methods were pretty common, his sheer will to get the job done made one thing crystal clear. His intention to kill me. But there is still the question of why? The methods he uses are the ones used to teleport to another world, so maybe he is trying to do exactly that the entire time? His ulterior motives aren¡¯t that clear as his intentions are, but if he wanted to transcend me to another world, I would comply without a second thought. I could do that right now, but as I was saying, I still don¡¯t know if my speculations are reality. I halted my useless thought-train and got back to trying to breakdown the situation at hand. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! A woman is crossing the road. There¡¯s a truck moving swiftly towards the woman. Through the windshield of the truck I can see that truck driver is dead. How you ask? Well, his neck is bent humanly impossibly; which is more than enough to determine if he is dead. And the last detail that I would like to add is that I am the only living human near this situation who could save the woman. Did any bulb¡¯s glow in your brain? Yeah, now my grim reaper is as our beloved Truck-Kun. So, am I going to push that lady out of harm¡¯s way? Hell no. You know it; I know it, everyone knows it. It is a rule of thumb. Never push someone out of the way of a rushing truck; you¡¯ll get yourself killed (and eventually teleported; but that¡¯s not the point). This rule is especially true if you don¡¯t have parents, or if they seem non-existent while you are trying to be killed; and when you are a shut-in, NEET and have no friends. In my case, I meet all the prerequisites to be isekai¡¯d... Except one. I¡¯m not Japanese. Anyway, the reason I am still thinking about this situation when I didn¡¯t want to jump in the way to help the lady is because I don¡¯t want to spend my remaining life depressed for doing nothing to save this lady. So I have to do something, at least ¡°try¡± to do something, and if save the lady without risking my life. I had the idea of shouting at the top of my voice to alert her of the truck. But I don¡¯t know how effective it would be. I could also throw a stone at her, but there were other real-life problems, like how much my aim sucks. If I do throw it at the woman with some miracle, where am I going to find a stone in the first place? Well, if I looked hard, I might find one or two on the concrete road, but I¡¯m sure it would take long; long enough for the woman to be squashed. In the end, I did what I believed a logical person would under these conditions. ¡°TRUCK!¡± I screamed at the top of my voice, which is a loud shout in the ¡®TRU-¡® part and the ¡®-UCK¡¯ part in a broken voice. My throat felt sore after I yelled one word. I gulped audibly, checking at the woman¡¯s reaction. To my relief, she immediately turned and jumped out of the way, noticing the truck. I almost let out a sigh of relief, but I stopped when I observed something weird. When her eyes met with mine, the first thing I saw on her face wasn¡¯t gratitude or shock, but a pained expression that roughly translated to ¡®Poor kid¡¯. I would¡¯ve raised a sceptical eyebrow at this if my mind didn¡¯t put two and two together instantly. The truck that was moving forwards all this time had suddenly changed its direction and dashed towards the side. Towards me. Don¡¯t ask me how is it possible? I¡¯d be glad if someone told it to me. 3 metres... 2 metres... 1 metre. That¡¯s how far the truck is from killing me. In the end, it has come to this. What I was trying to avoid all this time, is happening. All this time I was trying to save myself and now I''m the one in danger. Though the fact that I am a very eligible person to be teleported, on one hand is a relief that I can start a new life, it still is a pain to die. I know that in most of the anime, manga, light novels and whatnot the customary method to be transcended is death; but there are still numerous other ways to do it. For instance, I could be summoned by someone from the other side. Imagine how cool it would be if a shining circle of sigils appeared beneath you and the next thing you know is that you are in another world. Or how about walking out of a convinience store and- (Okay, if I continue anymore, I might be sued for copyright infringement. I doubt if they are signing the documents already.) There is no point in blaming Truck-kun now for not thinking it through. All I should concentrate now on is how to stay alive. The part of my brain that still worked (unlike the other fraction which occupied itself with panicking) yelled at me to jump out of the way. But I doubt if it will work. The truck is simply way too fast for me to reach a safe position without turning into a two dimensional being. And yet, I decided to try. I wanted to try because I wanted to live. I wanted to live the life I always wanted. I am going to jump out of the way just so that I can survive and see the light of another day. I have to survive. I have to survive to change my now bland life to something better. I have to survive to make new friends. I have to survive to make a family that I always dreamed for. ... My body swung to the right and my feet pushed the floor beneath me, sending me flying in air. I felt the air slip through the gaps in my non-aerodynamic body as I travelled through space and time ever so slowly. I knew that the speed I developed in the short span of time was far from enough to dodge the truck crash. I don''t understand the point of this trial of mine, but I tried nonetheless. Ten centimetres. That''s how further the truck is from me. As I flew I noted my surrounding. I might sound like I''m exaggerating, but from this close, I could feel the heat radiating from the truck. I could also feel the wind against my hair, due to the approaching truck. The smell of diesel was evident. From the corner of my eye, I saw small wrinkle in the metal of the truck, strangely similar to a smile. Ah, the smile. I might have nightmares of it if I survive. The smile itself isn''t scary, but the fact that it''s a truck that is smiling is just disturbing. The smile implies my Grim Reaper is happy cause he can reap the fruits of his effort. The truck now is approximately 2 centimetres away from me. Huh, so I am going to die. Anyhow, I did enjoy my life on earth. Okay, who am I kidding? I probably have the worst possible life any person would have. Nevertheless, remembering the days I spent on earth would make me nostalgic, if I have an afterlife that is. Since I screwed up this life of mine, I''ll make sure to fully enjoy my next life if I have one. My head hit the truck''s wind shield. The glass broke with a cracking noise and my head sank through into the truck. I felt my shoulder against the cold metal of the truck, breaking my collar bone instantaneously. My eyelids were about to shut when it happened. PART-3 The colours around me suddenly bleached. All of the sounds around me ceased. An exhale felt impossible, as if air never existed. The pain I felt until a millisecond ago went blank. In fact, my skin seemed to have lost its sense of touch too. The force of gravity wasn''t acting on me anymore. This strange happening would have caused quite a bit of surprise in me if it were not for the recent revelation that Grim Reapers and Isekai-ing are very much real. Unlike any other MCs, I comfortably ignored the building up surprise and shock and observed my surroundings carefully. Fractals. That''s the first thing that I noted. Everything in my vision appeared to be made of fractals. All of them were made up of the same shape. It looked like circle at first glance, but the shape changed with time. Actually scratch that. Time itself came to a stand still, so I have no idea with respect to what the shapes are changing. After so time... No, after some observation, the circles deformed into loops similar to the symbol of infinity. Later the loops collapsed into itself and formed points. These points weren''t in the shape of fractals anymore. They looked like collection of points, except they were all I could see. The point dots then expanded back into circles, completing a cycle of deformation. The cycle continued and I stopped paying it attention. Instead I searched for other details, but my trial was in vain. My vision was the only working sensor and I all I could see were fractals. Or so I thought. Suddenly, I was snapped back to reality, which greeted me with a sharp sound of crashing echoing through my ears. My vision returned instantly, as if I just opened my eyes. My blurred vision became more clear and the influx of information I recieved made no sense when processed. The first thing I noted was that I wasn''t near the truck anymore. I am around 20 meters away from the truck which is now reduced to metal scraps due to crashing into one of the buildings. The only logical answer to how I came this far is that I jumped or ran till here. But, I don''t remember doing any of those nor do I think, given the time span I came here in, I could be the world''s fastest living being. Oh, maybe I am dreaming all of this, cause I hit my head to the truck right? I spontaneously rub my palm gently over my forehead, checking for any signs of bleeding but I found none. It wasn''t hurting either. Am I dreaming all of this while in a coma or something of that sort? Or is it the case where the soul of the person comes out of the body after death and views at the scene in third person? Despite how dumb those ideas sounded , under the current circumstances I considered all those seriously as possible reasons and did the primary check that they usually do in fiction. First to know if I was out of my body, I tried pinching myself and yes, I felt the stinging pain in my skin. So, I still am in my body and alive and conscious. Then what the heck just happened now? Just a moment ago, I was positive that the truck hit me head on, but now... It didn''t make sense. As a matter of fact, NOTHING made sense. How am I still alive after getting hit by a truck? What the heck were those fractals that I saw until a few moments ago? I got to calm down. Think. If you don''t understand what is going on, then all you have to do is get information from an outsider who witnessed it. An outsider. The woman. From the corner of my eyes, I see her gawking at me with a dropped jaw. From the expression itself, I could guess what her reply would be, but I asked her nonetheless. "What just happened?" Her expression changed, what I perceived to be a reply to my question, as an incomprehensible expression spread over her face. I knew she had heard me, but I repeated myself. "What just hap-" Before I could finish, I was interrupted by a loud cracking noise from the other side of the road. More precisely, from the building, which the truck had crashed into. I heard another set of cracking sounds, after which I saw a huge chunk of concrete falling right on top of me. And just like that, the looming shadow of concrete fell on me, crushing my ribs and almost every bone in my lower body. My eyes blurred and darkness engulfed my vision. The last thought I had before I lost consciousness was, ''Why is my death rushed?'' This isnt Isekai. This is illegal! PART-1 I regained consciousness an instant ago, but I refused to learn the situation of my surroundings and myself. Why you ask? Because my body felt tired and my mind felt numb. I figured it might be because of the inexplicably intense pain I experienced until moments ago. Pain... Why did I feel pain? Oh yeah, an enormous concrete block fell on top of me. Not to mention the momentum it would have gained under the effect of gravity. That reminds me, man, my death felt so rushed. Thinking about it now, it kind of felt similar those novels where the author wants to kill off a character but can¡¯t find a proper excuse. I mean, seriously, I notice the block of concrete breaking off from the top of a building and in the next split second the chunk is already on top of me. Where is the logic? Not just that, how in the world did that break off from the building in the first place? An explanation for that could be the fact that the truck crashed into the building and so the top cracked off. To me, that sounds as logical as having an earthquake in a clear blue sky. Anyway, now that I have isekai¡¯d into another world, I need to fabricate a plan that would make me enjoy this second life of mine to the fullest, unlike in my previous life. You would be mistaken if you assume I didn¡¯t enjoy my previous life. If I have to put my thoughts into simple words, I enjoyed my previous life as an introvert (that is, by watching anime, reading novels, playing games, and many ¡°shut-in¡± things). Now in this life, I wanted to live my life as an extrovert, with friends and family. Ugh I get embarrassed every time I say ¡®family¡¯. Sorry for taking that tangent. Getting back to making the plan, I have to get started from the basics. First, I have to work towards having steady finances for my food, shelter, and clothes. So my top priority would be to find a job. If we take anime as standard, one observation would be that most well-paid and respected jobs mostly depend on magic. Therefore, my affinity for magic would decide if I will get a proper job or not. Even if I happen to not have any magic at all, (which is uncommon for anime MCs but the recent surge in isekai anime where the protagonist is a weakling says otherwise) I will sell articles I am acquainted with and this world is not aware of. While I work on the quest for getting money, I need to make friends and girlfriends- Why did I just say the last part in plural? Anyway, making friends and having some romance in my boring single life would be my second priority. Though the first goal in the priority list is important for me to stay alive, the second one is what I am more interested in. It is because to make friends I have to go out of my comfort zone and talk to strangers. I think it will be harder to talk to an unknown person in a medieval world than back in mine, as people here wouldn¡¯t trust anyone that easily. The trust issues mainly arise because of the high crime rate and ineffective police or military. That¡¯s the plan I have in mind for now. But if there were to be some other unexpected developments, I would change the plan as per the situation.
PART - 2
PART - 3
The Shelters PART - 1 After a quick nod, I picked the coin off the table. ''Thank you very much.'' I mouthed the words and left the office with the red-colored emblem in hand. Though I still have questions to ask, I need more time to figure out the jumbled mess in my brain. I started walking back toward the bridge while processing the recently acquired information. So basically, there is no adventurer''s guild in this world. Not anymore at least. I did have an alternate option for a job if the adventurer''s guild wasn''t going to work, that is business. As an idea, it looks like a pretty good option, but it is a LOT MORE complicated than that if you think it through. Firstly, I need an investment to start the business, which I don''t have unless I suddenly get the status of an isekai protagonist that I should be getting. Two, the concept for the business. That needs a lot of time to brainstorm, time that I can''t afford as of now. Three, the advertising that needs to be done to reach out to the public. So, with those obstacles, this idea might not be the best. I let out a deep sigh. Suddenly remembering the emblem in my hand, I searched for pockets in my outfit but sadly found none. Only now that I have taken a look at my clothes have I realized that I am not wearing the same clothes as I wore before I... died in the other world (Jesus, this is so hard to come to terms with). Instead, I''m wearing a beige-colored cotton tunic that reached my knees and black pants. I would also like to add that I''m wearing briefs to keep DEEZ NUTS in place. All in all, my attire screamed ''This guy is plebeian''. Unable to place the emblem in a pocket, I gripped it tightly in my hand. This emblem is the most precious article I have as of now. It is a free pass for a shelter for three days. If I lose this, the odds will be against me so much that I would rather get isekai to yet another world by... maybe by a horse cart? I''m getting off-topic. Another option for a job that I can think of off the top of my head is hard labor. I hate this idea. Hard labor in medieval times from what I know didn''t have a great life. A physically taxing job that doesn''t pay much? No thank you. As I internally monologued, I found myself crossing the bridge and walking to the other side. Just a few minutes of walking and I can already say that I was right about the economy on this side is poor. The farther I walked from the bridge, the poorer the surroundings were. The place is densely populated with houses, whose residents knew next to nothing about keeping privacy. The residents screamed at top of their voice instead of talking. There were even a few incidents when I heard erotic noises coming from the inside of a home, louder than I would''ve liked. The people on the roads were also very rowdy and the drunk was making a ruckus. Coming to this side wasn''t the best idea, considering there wasn''t much safety around here. No offense to the people here, but I would rather not mingle with them, for I have grown up in a different era where small things like privacy and sanity matter. I turned around and took a parallel street to go back to the bridge. I didn''t have a place to be, so for the night, I decided to sleep there. But damn, sleeping under a bridge is so... depressing. This has the same vibe as something that I absolutely do not like. Soon I arrived in an open space, surrounded by houses. In the middle of the space is a podium, on which stood a well-dressed man (to medieval standards) reading out an announcement from a scroll. "... THE WEDDING IS ON THE DAY OF THE RISING OF NEIROOSE, THAT IS, IN 30 DAYS. THE CEREMONY WILL BE CONDUCTED IN THE EL SARHOSA SHRINE." The announcer continued. Apparently, this is a public announcement of the marriage of a royal. To the side of the podium, I noticed a queue that led up to another man who distributed something... edible, I assume. How convenient. I quickly joined the queue, waiting for my turn, while eavesdropping on the conversation two people were having behind me in the queue. "I don''t understand one thing. Why does the duke support that cuntehoare even now?" A man grumbled. "I don''t know. But I wish to see him skinned alive until he pleads for death." The other whispered, with a clear intent of malice. Ignoring the reply the second man gave, the first said "What has the swine even done to our duchy so far? Did he provide aid when the famine struck? NO. Not a single Sorka was given! That shit licker even increased the taxes the duchy had to pay. If it weren''t for our duke, this duchy would''ve been doomed." "Have you heard of this? The people are saying that the king is here to take the duchy into his direct control. It seems that this wedding is just a cover so that the people can''t argue about him taking over the land" "HA!" the other man exclaimed "If that''s how it is, then I will see that his majesty is torn apart like a rag doll. How dare that mud fucker!" "Oi! Don''t shout" The second man whispered loudly enough for me to listen. "Hmph, forget it. Even if that''s what he wants to do, the people of this duchy wouldn''t allow him to." The first man took a short pause before continuing "Victor told me the other day that the king came here because the people in the capital started protesting against the monarchy." "You mean Victor Barnside?" The second man enquired. "Yes. He came back from the capital around 8 days ago. He said that the people are very angry at the king for many reasons. One of them is the disappearance of kids from Yearna province. Some are saying that they saw demons take the kids away." "Demons?!" The second man asked incredulously. Right when the conversation started getting interesting for me, I notice that the man in front of me is offering me the... edible thing. I took the thing and left the queue. I really wanted to listen in on the rest of the conversation, but the duo took the edible thing and quickly left while eating it. Though I wanted to bite right into the edible thing (I shall call it a fruit, henceforth) , I noticed black clouds and early signs of rain. So instead, I searched my way back to the bridge. PART - 2 Except for a few years of my early life, I have always been a lone wolf. I stayed alone all the time, of my own will. I stayed away from the people who approached me, for reasons I don''t feel comfortable talking about. Naturally, staying alone has its drawbacks- Bullying. To no one''s surprise, I was bullied. The bullying wasn''t as extreme as it is shown in the media, but it isn''t the best feeling when you are being bullied. But there is something I learned over the years, stand up to yourself. Until my 8th grade, I did not fight back. But when I did snap for the first time, the bullies did not once again dare to try their so-called ''funny harmless pranks'' on me again. The way you fight back doesn''t have to be violence, it could also be some complicated mind games. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Oh, I did not specify the reason why I took this sudden tangent, did I? On my way back to the bridge, in a particularly dark alley, I saw a kid being bullied by three other kids. The victim looked like he is older than the other three, but a lot more weak and frail. The faded and tattered oversized cloak that he wore concealed most of his body, including his face, giving him the look of a hobo kid. He held onto the same fruit as the one I have, as if his entire life depended on it. One of the kids snatched the fruit from the victim while the other two held onto the victim''s arms making the hobo boy''s resistance useless. The bully with the fruit then went on to eat, lick and spit onto the fruit, ultimately throwing it onto the ground and crushing it with his foot. The hobo kid''s resistance died at the sight of the lump of fruit pulp on the ground. All of that happened so quickly that I didn''t know how to react. But is it okay to stop them? What if I end up in trouble because of this? The hobo boy looks a little younger than me. Shouldn''t he know to stand up to himself? That too the ones bullying him are like what? Fourteen? Surely a kid who is nearly seventeen or eighteen can handle three fourteen-year-old bullies, right? Hm... I would rather not get myself involved in this. Right when I was about to leave on my own way, I heard a thud followed by a grunt. I looked back into the alleyway to find the hobo boy on the floor, his face still looking at his wasted food. The other kids then proceeded to stomp on the victim, their faces getting wildly excited. I recognize this expression. I''ve seen it more times than I would like. It is the expression that arises from predatory behavior. These kids are enjoying their prey''s suffering. They need to be taught a lesson. I felt the urge to kick their puny asses, but right now, I''m alien to this place. I do not know the laws and rules, or how the people would react to something like hitting a kid. Not to mention, I don''t want to get in trouble again as I did with the truck incident by getting involved. Merely remembering that incident made my legs buckle and I almost had a blackout. But I quickly regained composure and stood upright. "Hey!" I yelled out loud. I paced forward, trying my best to pretend like an angry Karen walking into a shop to ask for the manager. I maintained a stern look on my face, though I doubt they could see it with the sparse lighting. Upon noticing my arrival the bullies fled, leaving the hobo boy behind. He did not react to my yelling, instead continued to lay on the ground in a fetal position (with his back facing me), quietly whimpering. The boy flinched when I placed my palm on his arm and continued to ask "Are you alright?" The boy didn''t reply. He laid there, continuing to whimper as silently as possible, probably to not let me notice it. Maybe he can''t speak? Or hear? Or maybe he doesn''t understand English? Whatever the case is, it is none of my business. I wanted to help him when the bullies were harming him and now I have accomplished it. I will have to leave now so as to not complicate things. Though the bullies left, for now, there is no telling if they will not return with adults. I can certainly handle three kids in combat, but I can''t go against a single adult who most likely does hard labor. I want to flee from this place, but I couldn''t just leave this kid who doesn''t know to defend himself all alone. "Can you get up?" I asked. The kid replied with a slight nod as he struggled to lift himself off the ground. I took his arm and helped him stand up. He pushed himself away from me once he stood up straight, making him lose balance and he fell on his butt. What''s his problem? He again got onto his feet and made an effort to find balance. I refused to help again, for obvious reasons. Now that the kid was up, I decided to take my leave. "I''ll be going now. You too should leave. Those kids might come back with others, so be quick." The kid gave me a quick nod again. I turned around and started walking away. Just before I exited the alleyway, I took a quick glance behind me to check on the boy. The boy crouched on the ground and was picking the crushed fruit off th- "Hey! Stop that!" And yet again I found myself getting involved in something that I shouldn''t be bothered about. He startled and looked at me. For the first time, I saw his face. Well, eyes. The rest of the face is covered with cloth. His eyes looked dull and lifeless. The hunger he felt explained why he looked so heartbroken when the bullies squashed the fruit. The kid did not throw away the fruit and instead continued looking at me. I lunged forward and pushed his hand away from his mouth. The fruit fell back onto the ground, making it more unappetizing. The kid exchanged looks between his food on the ground and me. Then he grabbed the fruit again and stepped away from me. I knew this wouldn''t end well. I had a bad feeling about this from the beginning. I sighed and stretched out my hand, offering the boy my fruit. I really shouldn''t be doing this. His eyes widened, and his disbelief was clearly evident. He strongly wanted to take the fruit from me but hesitated for some reason. "Take it." After a moment of the dilemma, he took the fruit hastily from me. He then went on to give me a slight bow. "Where do you live?" I asked. He stayed quiet, his eyes fixated on the ground. I should''ve guessed as much. Suddenly, I got reminded of the emblem in my hand. Should I give that to him as well? No, I cannot do that. I wouldn''t have shelter if I did. But on the other hand, he really needs some good rest to get back to being a healthy individual. Wait, no, what if he is suffering from a chronic illness? Wouldn''t that mean it is a useless sacrifice? Me, remember that you are not a cape crusader to go about saving people. Doing this doesn''t mean that you are being selfish, this is being logical. It means that you are in a sane condition where you are able to determine what is important for you. I immediately turned around and left for the bridge without once looking back. I spent rest of the night under the bridge. I didn''t sleep at all. Every time I felt like my mind was going to drift into a slumber, I would see a frightening image of the truck, keeping me awake for another few hours. Especially with all the open space, I had an irrational fear that the truck would somehow sneak up on me to end me. Though I would''ve liked to make good use of the 8 or so hours of time, my tired brain just gave up in the first half an hour of thinking. Even that half an hour was anything but productive. My anxiety about the hobo boy''s safety soared up. I wondered ''Should I have given him the emblem? No, I did the right thing.'' I said to myself. I also pondered about why the woman at the office deiced to give me the emblem. Because accommodation for three days isn''t cheap, regardless of the era. Wait, wait, wait. Chotto matte, what if the emblem means something like ''the person with it has to be murdered?'' The night was quite uneventful and conveniently it didn''t rain at night. PART-3 I stood on my feet and dusted my butt. Ensuring that I still had the red-colored coin in my hand, I got back onto the road. It was probably quite early in the day since I didn''t see many people around. I walked up to one of the people walking on the street and asked "Excuse me, where is the Shelter?" The man raised an eyebrow "Eggs?" Eggs? What eggs? He doesn''t understand English? Hold up. It''s a medieval era, so the English here would not contain certain words like ''excuse me'' and such? "Pardon me, where are the Shelters?" I asked again, this time without the modern English word. He guided while pointing his finger forwards "Walk straight and go left at the third turn." Bruh, it was the word. How dumb. I followed his instructions and soon enough I was at the gate guarded by two men. I walked to one of the guards and handed him the red emblem. He examined it for a moment and then returned it to me. He then ushered me to go inside the building and I diligently did so. As soon as I walked inside I saw a receptionist in his early 50s, sitting behind a wooden desk. I walked to him and showed the red emblem in my hand. His till then dead expression turned into one of annoyance. He turned around and yelled, "Joan! Bring that kid back! We have a red Robrum pass!" "AYE!" a reply came from across a narrow hallway. "That kid is quite unlucky. She''s been trying to get a room for the past 20 days but it never worked her way. If it wasn''t for the stupid army, we would have had more rooms to give." The man spoke as if he were talking to himself. From the hallway came two people, one of which looked familiar. "He has a Robrum?" The older of the two asked the receptionist. "Yes. Show him the room." The receptionist said. "But what about her?" The man asked, looking at the person by his side. The person is about five and a half feet tall, her body so petite that one would say that she is suffering from malnutrition. Hell, I wouldn''t have known that this is a girl if the receptionist didn''t specify her adjectives. The said girl wore a black faded and tattered oversized cloak that concealed most of her body. Her face wasn''t covered, unlike yesterday, and had a defeated expression. Her eyes looked just as dead as they did yesterday. Her greasy black hair was tied to a messy-looking bun. As soon as she saw me her thin and puckered lips parted as if she wanted to say something, only to be stopped by the receptionist. "We don''t have any empty rooms, now that this boy has come. Come back after 7 days or so." The girl almost looked like she was on the verge of breaking down. She stood with her head down, trying her best to not burst into tears. "Show him his room, Joan." The receptionist said. The man, Joan, waved for me to follow him through the hallway. Right when I was about to follow him, the girl tightly gripped my sleeve. "Please, let me stay with you. I beg you. I won''t stay in the room during the daytime. I won''t use the bed or take your food. Please, I beg of you." The girl spoke while sobbing and snuffling. I did not know what to do. The situation right now is that there is a single room left and if I were to take it, the girl wouldn''t have shelter. But if I share the room with her... I don''t have a what-if scenario for this condition yet. Looking at her condition and how weak she is, I wanted to help her. Not just right now, I wanted to help her yesterday as well. I turned around and looked at her. Her face was flushed red and her legs were shivering, unable to bear her underweight body. I don''t know if its a good idea or not, but since I''ve been cornered and being asked for a decision by this stupid ass narrative, "Alright" The girl collapsed onto her knees and bowed down, with her head near my feet, and uttered "Thank you, sir."