It must've been past noon when I remembered that I hadn't eaten anything since arriving in this world, and that thought made me hungry. I assumed that nobody would be giving away food or money in the slums, and finding a temporary job around here must've been equally unlikely, so I decided to keep searching for a place to stay and worry about food later. Roaming the slums looking for a job wasn't a very glamorous adventure, but it was dangerous in its own right and I wanted to avoid stealing and causing trouble if possible. I might've been strong enough to defend myself, but two days was a long enough time for an enemy faction to prepare something nasty if I angered the wrong people.

As I was considering my options and asking the heavens for inspiration, I came across a strange spectacle: several thugs were dragging a middle-aged man and a younger one out of a house and along the street in my direction while the screams of a woman could be heard from inside. The two men were badly beaten, but still tried to fight off the gang. I knew that they stood no chance. They'd just get knocked out trying to defend that woman who was at the mercy of those bastards.

Angering the wrong people was a dangerous game to play, but what screams "adventure" louder than risking your life to help a bunch of strangers? I rushed in and swung my club at one of the thugs who had his back toward me. He heard me coming and managed to dodge just in time to avoid my strike. I shouted at the two men "Fight! I help you!" as the thugs insulted me and began to pull their daggers.

I could see five gangsters in the street, plus three inside of the house. Good odds. I struck the one who'd evaded me square in the jaw and he fell to the mud like a sack of potatoes. The others didn't seem bothered and approached me with the intent to surround me. The closest thug went for a stab, but I parried it with my club by striking his hand and making him drop the dagger. Without giving him a moment to recover, I bashed him over the head for a quick knockout. The other three tried to surround me, but as soon as they turned their backs to the two bloodied men, each of them grabbed the knife arm of one thug, leaving only one to attack me. He made to stab me, but I saw it coming and circled around grabbing his free arm to prevent him from facing me. Then I brought the pain down on the back of his head and he was reduced to a convulsing mess on the ground.

While the two pairs were busy wrestling for the knives, I attacked again and brought another gangster down. The younger man was now free to help the older one with a barrage of punches that knocked the fifth gangster to his knees, where the older man finished him off with a kick to the head.

"Grab knife and follow me!" I said to the men, who promptly did so before rushing into the house. Three bad guys and three of us. I was surprised to see a second woman there, already half naked. If we'd been just a little faster, we could've caught the remaining three guys defenseless, but they were already on their feet and ready to fight when we entered the house.

I released a flurry of strikes on the closest enemy, who put up both of his arms to block until he couldn't endure it anymore and exposed his head. My last blow crushed his nose with a spray of blood and laid him flat on his back. Meanwhile, the others exchanged knife swings and the two men that I was helping were on the losing end of the fight, although they hadn't received any lethal wounds. The older of the two women threw a clay pot at one of the thugs and hit him in the back of the head, which was distracting enough to make him open his defense and let the younger man stab him in the gut. When the bleeding thug clutched at his abdomen as a reflex, the man stabbed him repeatedly while screaming like a maniac. At the same time I helped the older man by striking his opponent in the elbow, which made a terrible cracking noise, to create an opening. The older man wasn't as vicious in his attack, but still managed to stab the thug in the eye and then in the throat.

As the last gangster choked on his own blood and slowly collapsed to the ground, the older man dropped the knife and stared with a look of horror fixed on his face. The younger man was still jumpy from the rage, looking around as if searching for more enemies, while the two women hugged each other and cried kneeling on the floor.

"Oh, by the Light... What did we just do? I killed... I just killed a man!" said the older man with tears in his eyes. I guessed that should have been my reaction back at the castle if I wasn't such a heartless bastard.

I went outside to give them some privacy and to loot the bodies of the thugs that were splayed in the middle of the street. Not much to find aside from four silver coins and a handful of copper coins. If this world obeyed the rules of stereotypical fantasy, that sum of money would be enough to get me food and a place to stay for the time being. As I was picking up my amazing treasure, people began to emerge from the nearby houses and sniff around. The neighbors had watched the entire fight, they knew exactly what was happening from the beginning, but only decided to come out after the trouble was over. Typical.

They gathered at the house of the family that had just fought for their lives and spewed nonsense that made my blood boil.

"You stood up to Knifey's men, are you mad?"

"Now they're going to burn all our houses to ash!"

"Why didn't you just pay the fee and keep your head down?"

On and on they went, until the younger man got fed up with their bickering and drove them away by threatening them with the still-bloody knife. As they passed me by, they cast accusatory glances at me, but none dared say anything. As I was getting up to leave, the older woman stopped me.

"Thank you for helping us. Trouble ain't over, but we'll never forget what you did for us today."

"No trouble." I meant to say 'no problem,' but couldn't remember the word.

"Those sons of bitches been lookin' for an excuse to touch my sister for a long time. Glad you were here, stranger," said the young man, still holding on to his rage.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

"Glad to help."

"We ain't got much, but please let us know if there's anything we can do to repay you," said the woman, who must've been the mother of this family.

"I need food and place to sleep for two days. You can do?" I replied, and the woman nodded immediately.

"House is small but we'll make room for ya! And if them bastards come knockin' again you can just kick their asses again!"

I had no intention to act as a guard dog for this family, but explaining that would've been difficult with my limited vocabulary, so I simply remained silent. We entered the house and saw the father hugging his daughter, who did nothing but cry. Upon catching sight of me, he bowed his head saying:

"Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. I can't even think about what woulda happened if you wasn't here. Now we gotta take care of them dead guys 'fore they start rottin'."

"I'll do it, Pops. Just dump 'em in the old square, cover 'em up good," said the son as he made to pick up one of the corpses. His father stopped him and said:

"Can't just carry 'em like that, we gots wrap them up so nobody knows nothing 'bout it. Bring me some sheets or some sacks."

Thus I watched them put the corpses in two large sacks and carry them off. I offered to follow just in case, but the mother told me not to worry and promised to serve me a bowl of soup, so I stayed. The daughter was still weeping while her mother stoked the fire, and only stopped when her father and brother, who came back after twenty minutes, told her to stop being an ungrateful brat. She switched to full anger in a heartbeat, and said to them:

"You can't ever tell Maxis 'bout this, you hear me?! This all happened 'cause of you anyway!"

"Who be Maxis?" I asked, already anticipating the answer.

"Just some fancy-pants rich boy who my little sister here been gettin' all lovey-dovey with," said her brother.

"We are in love and we're gonna get married, you pig-headed bum!"

"See how she tryna talk all fancy and elegant? Wake up, sis, he don't love you! If he did, you oughta be livin' in some manor, eating lamb and wine every day."

So the quarrel continued for a few minutes, but I stopped paying attention. Seeing the fire alone was enough to make my stomach growl and I struggled to find anything more interesting than the promised bowl of soup at that moment. While I was waiting for the meal, the thought came to me that the unconscious thugs would have to wake up eventually, and I wondered what they'd do then. In the end I worried for nothing, because just as my soup was being laid on the table I saw the first guy standing up on wobbly legs and tumbling away like a drunkard, clearly still confused. After that they began to wake up and scurry off one by one until the street was clear again.

By that time the sun had begun to set and I decided to ask the older woman some questions about this city. She was the only one to stay in the house after the two men had gone off to finish their work for the day and the daughter had expanded her tantrum by storming off with a friend who'd come to check on her after she 'heard what happened.' Letting that girl run around on her own; in the slums and near dusk, no less; looked like a terrible idea to me, but her mother only gave a weak sigh and complained about her powerlessness. No wonder those gangsters wanted a piece of her ass, she must've been the local slut already! Still, it had been a convenient encounter for me, considering that I took no damage in the fight and walked away with a few coins, so I had no reason to oppose her antics.

"I need work, where find?" I asked the woman, hoping she'd say something about an adventurer's guild of sorts, but she only mentioned the local gangs hiring muscle, the brewery where her husband and son worked, the fields and the lumber mill outside of the city and the merchants at the main square before she got distracted and began rambling about unrelated matters. I was about to ask her about weapons, but changed my mind. If I was going to another town in two days, perhaps it'd be better to hold on to my money. Then I suddenly remembered what one of the neighbors had said earlier: "they're going to burn our houses." What if they came back for revenge while I was asleep? What if they blocked all the exits and lit the house on fire? I needed a plan in case they tried something, so I made some small talk while waiting for the two men to return and looking around in search of potential emergency exits, but found none.

In truth, the house was little more than a shack. One door, two windows, and everything was in one room. If someone decided to trap us inside and burn it down, our best plan would be to break down the door, but although the house was small and poorly maintained, everything in it was well built and I doubted our capacity to damage it fast enough to escape from the smoke. Why keep fussing about it? If we die, we die. At least it was easy for me to forget about the matter, since everything in this world made me feel like it was made purely for my amusement.

It had gotten dark outside, so the family got worried about the girl who still hadn't returned and went out to look for her. I helped the two men do rounds through her usual spots while the mother stayed at home, until we found her in a small shrine of the Light, like a humble church, praying by herself. I was a little surprised, but it must've been common for the people of this world. She was on her knees, but not in the way I'd expected. That didn't make her less of a brat, and actually didn't exclude my assumption that she was a slut, but at least it prevented her from falling any lower. After she'd been reprimanded by her family, we all went to sleep.

The mother gave me a blanket and a pillow, and I slept on the floor. It was by no means comfortable, but after an entire day of fighting and walking around I was too tired to care. The next day I woke up later than the others, who were all gone. The house hadn't been burned and all my possessions were still under my blanket, so it was a pleasant morning. I decided to go get some breakfast, for which I retraced my steps of the previous day searching for any one of the food stores that I'd seen. In a few minutes I found a small bakery and bought some bread for two copper pieces. I ate it while taking a stroll toward the center of town, out of the slums. Everything looked peaceful, the weather was pleasant and I saw few people out on the streets at that time, which must've been an hour or two before noon. When I got bored of walking and worried that I was too close to the center of town, it was time to turn back.

I arrived back at the family's house in the slums just in time to find the daughter searching for me.

"Oh, Mister Bawb, I got bad news! Methinks the guards be lookin' for you, I saw a herald talk about a 50 gold bounty for a man who gots just your face!"

"That be bad. I leave now. Say my thanks to your family."

"Is it because of what happened yesterday? So unfair! Them thugs were in the wrong, not us!"

"Not worry, say you never know me and you be fine. Tell your family be careful. Good bye," I said to her, and immediately walked off deeper into the slums. I reached an area where the shabby houses became tents and the smell of human waste became so strong that I started to regret my lack of shoes and tried to mind my steps. It was disgusting. The only thing that made it tolerable was that unreal feeling which had never been interrupted. I was superior to this place, I was on my way out, I was a killer with no conscience and I wasn't going to sit there and wait amidst the filth.