I traveled by a ship and disembarked at the docks of Manzanillo.

  I do not wish to delve into the details of what happened on the ship during the voyage…

  Let’s say it was not a pleasant experience.

  At least I got something good out of it that could come in handy in the future.

  As a whole, the city was a relatively good human settlement, for this Continent, which even had a stable supply of electricity – a commodity that was not often present.

  When I got out of the ship, the first thing the authorities did was to check me – who I was, for what I came and so on.

  Annoying things I would skip remembering about this time.

  I was under the weather due to the voyage and needed fresh air outside of this settlement.

  My initial plan, before the ship had set sails, was to stay in the first city we visited for a day or two, maybe do a mission and then go after I got used to the time difference, but now I had the urge not to see anything that could annoy me.

  When the check-up from the authorities was over, I bought supplies for around 20 days and was ready to continue my journey northeast from where I was.

  There were various stores, numerous people on the streets and some of the patrols had trained dogs with them.

  Some people had the leisure to own a pet dog, while some children happily took a stroll with their parents.

  I even saw the first steps of a toddler. The family was so delighted. It was so unsightly in my eyes. I wasn’t talking about their moment of happiness.

  The few street animals I saw were either well-fed and lazy sunbathing or were wagging their tails near a food shop.

  Even the birds were chirping happily.

  If I lacked the knowledge about the state of the outside world, I would have thought there was no infection.

  In my eyes, this was like a feast during a plague. So unsightly.

  But there was also a dark side to all this as a reminder of the human nature. The ugly, despicable, yet pretending to be “humane” human nature.

  What did even mean to be “humane”?

  On the streets, but mostly on the hidden alleyways, in the dark corners, there was the occasional beggar, the occasional slave and the occasional starved corpse, some of which were of children. Only those paid to dispose of them took notice of them.

  I laughed inwardly in mockery. The poor get poorer and the rich get richer. With such fairness, it was either eat or be eaten.

  The most regrettable thing was that this was what I expected.

  Well, as long as no random thug tried to rob, threaten or annoy me, I cared little about this.

  Even if a beggar were to come and beg me for spare change, even if they were to give me a sob story that I did not care about, even if they were a kid, I would just ignore them.

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  Why reward them for doing nothing but pleading? If it was a beauty, then there was something they could do for the spare change, but most of the better “goods” were already working somewhere.

  Only those with defects, too young to be useful, too hungry to move or severely sick were left on the street.

  Why should I help this rotten society? It was not like I was a saint or someone with nothing better to do than pretend to be kind.

  Why should I be so cruel to them to give them false hope? I am uncaring, but not a monster.

  I think that death, in a way, was a salvation for them.

  I saw no pleasure in the suffering of others. Unless needed, I would kill someone as fast and efficiently as possible.

  I entered a weapon store.

  There was a radio buzzing.

  Interesting. Did the city have something to transmit waves? This was ever rarer than electricity.

  The owner, I suppose, greeted me in the Mexican – a language I had no understanding of. It resembled the noise the radio was making.

  “English,” I said.

  “A foreigner? Greetings.”

  Oh boy, how did I love when the merchants said “foreigner”.

  He was showing a fake smile, thinking of all the ways he could scam me.

  Although it was better to leave this shop that might try to scam me, I still looked at the goods.

  Looking was free. If it were not, then this city would have one less shop.

  There were a few firearms, mostly pistols, and ammunition for a variety of weaponry. Some weapon attachments were on display, but no heavy weaponry.

  The provisions I came for were also on display.

  While I was looking around, another client entered. Unlike me, he knew why he was there and went directly to the owner.

  They looked like acquaintances, given their lively chatter in Mexican. I assumed it was Mexican.

  The person bought food rations for four days. I managed to see that he paid 25 LC and gave an additional five to the salesman.

  I found that price outrageous, even without the additional tip.

  “How much for four days for “mercenary food”?” I asked.

  “It’d be 40 dollars.”

  Nah, scratch that.

  I had no will to bargain and left.

  It was that or a commotion that might attract the authorities. Too much hassle.

  I entered another shop. The price continued to be questionable.

  It was not like I had no money, but if I spent like this, I would have to do more missions and waste more time.

  I had about half a year to complete what I had come for and wait for a ship to take me away from this hellhole. If I were too late, I had no idea when another such opportunity would come.

  By then, the so-called Тающий лед (Tayushchiy Led), Melting Ice, might start and be over by the time I return.

  They really thought and were getting ready to hunt down a ‘King’.

  If their endeavour is as successful as Кървавата Мери (Kurvavata Meri), Bloody Mary, humanity might as well recover another Continent.

  Anyway, I finally gave in and bought food rations and was off into the wilderness.

  I decided to skip visiting the local guild. I was too moody back then.

  I wasted more time than I thought I would – from mid-morning to mid-afternoon, I wandered around the city.

  I exited through the Northern Gate. The checkpoint was heavily guarded, with many soldiers checking the incoming people.

  On the walls, a few soldiers were patrolling while others stood sentries on stationary machine guns.

  Looking around, I found good spots where snipers might take position.

  Even I would think twice before starting a scuffle with the military here.

  Even from inside, I was able to see the long line of people who wanted to enter.

  Luckily, there was no martial law that forbade exiting the city or one that forced the guards to check my belongings.

  I did not have anything illegal (I think), but there were two belongings I preferred to keep hidden for the time being.

  The guards noticed that I existed, but did not care much about me.

  It seemed like exiting was the easy part, but entering was the problem.

  Being with that “merchant” ship was why I entered so fast.

  Yes, because I was not part of the crew, I was interrogated for about an hour while the crew was visiting the bars and brothels.

  From the outside, the city had a massive, well-defended wall with search lights ready for the night shift.

  The tallest vegetation nearby was the agricultural fields with corn.

  Even the trunks of trees were uprooted.

  I barely managed to see the workers working in the field. I also saw some of the patrolling squads there.

  The guards on the wall would be able to see anything coming from kilometres away.

  The use of nearby soil for planting was economically correct, but if a horde were to attack when the crops were ripe and ready for harvest, it would have cover to use.

  Even if the city were to survive, anything that had grown would be unusable.

  Losing such a prosperous settlement would be a devastating blow for this country.

  I walked on the uneven road.