act17d0

Mission log day 184.

Currently, we are still holding fast in this run-down house.

The 184th day of the mission and the 27th day of reaching the aforementioned run-down house.

Who would believe that we've already lived in this place for 184 days.

We still have no clues about this world.

Two weeks ago, based on instructions from the locals, we left this run-down house and headed to another town.

Before we left, the townspeople said that it was a 'more developed place.' I am unsure if our definitions of developed are the same.

What happened? Turns out it was a bandit den.

No batteries, no useful information, not even a single person we could communicate normally with.

Of course, we didn't leave empty-handed. Tina 'acquired' a car.

The process was long and arduous, and used up much of what little supplies and ammunition we still had.

However, the car was heavily damaged during the conflict, and broke down soon after we returned to the house.

Alexsandr tried to repair the car, but this car didn't have an obvious fuel intake point, and on further inspection even the fuel tank was absent.

The engine's structure was completely incomprehensible to him, to the point he wasn't even sure if it was actually an engine.

The only good news was that it was a left-hand drive car.

Having been in this world for half a year by now, we are very certain that this place is not Earth.

Stealing cars and getting into gunfights, it's like we're fugitives in a post-apocalyptic film.

Those bandits with long lizard tails didn't even need to use guns, as they were able to throw javelins weighing up to 10 kilograms to a distance tens of meters away. The term gunfight may not be accurate here.

Some of them could even create huge fireballs from thin air and launch them, with the effect somewhere in between a grenade and an RPG.

This world is far too abnormal, to the point where I'm no longer surprised by anything.

The adaptability of humans often exceeds my expectations. It seems that we will continue to struggle to survive here.

Today will be the last day I'm recording. I don't plan on recording anymore.

The storage for this recorder is almost full, and the battery will not last much longer.

Our only source of power on this world is Tina's solar charger. Thank goodness this world has a sun as well.

What would happen if this charger broke, or if we used up all our supplies and ammunition?

To be frank, I don't know.

This situation still feels unreal to me, with everything being so weird......yet so natural.

Which way is the path back home?

Come on, Uman, look at this.

Hey, you don't eat vegetables?

Let me see what else I have here......

What are you doing?

Haa! Come and look at Uman, my little buddy.

You're raising a......what's this called again?

Originium slug, that's what the locals call these things.

You still have the mood to raise this?

Why not? I'm spending all day sitting on the roof after all, might as well find something to do. Can't be talking to my machine gun all the time.

Your job is to keep aware of the surrounding area's safety, not play around with this snail thing.

What you've said makes sense, but what are we guarding against? Those quivering Infected, or the townsfolk living a kilometer away who never come here anyway?

The only living thing that's come close to this dump of a house is a flying lizard, which I suppose helped out with the ration issue.

......Where's Tina and Kötz?

They went to exchange supplies with those Infected people.

Tina managed to hunt some stuff again yesterday. She's becoming pretty experienced at it.

Tina went out to hunt by herself again?

Of course, she's even enjoying it. She's been trying to capture a wild burdenbeast.

By the way, Kötz went to the town.

Remember that thing I dismantled from the car? Kötz said he knows a mechanic in town and wanted to ask about it.

Fine.

You're too anxious, Cohen.

Just relax, we can't return anytime soon anyway.

Learn from Kötz and go talk with those people. They're somewhat friendly, at least.

I still haven't learned the local language. Man, Kötz really knows his stuff.

That's what I'm afraid of.

Afraid of what?

Kötz is getting too close to those people. It isn't a good thing, the atmosphere around here is very abnormal.

That town is too full of contradictions. We've been here for nearly a month, don't tell me you haven't picked up on that.

A local government official who stays in his manor all day and never leaves......Oh, I guess the proper term is 'lord'? There's those fully-armed private soldiers of his as well.

And this 'infected zone'.

The entire region is governed by the same lord, yet these Infected are not allowed to live in the town. Even the other townsfolk are unwilling to approach this place.

They were driven here.

That's because these friends 'got a strange sickness'.

The act of separating the sick when an infectious disease is raging about is not uncommon after all, even in the past. At least the lord did not just lock them all up in prison.

Originium sickness......or was it Oripathy? I don't remember the exact term.

All we know about this sickness is that it is related to Originium, it is infectious and it is incurable.

But how does it actually spread between people? What does it being incurable actually mean?

No one's answered our questions, and assume that we should know the basic situation.

This disease is either common sense in this town, or it is common sense in this world.

If it is only contact with Originium ore that will cause problems, then I don't think that it is necessary to carry out quarantine measures.

Besides, the doctor also thinks that there is no risk of infection from our frequency and distance of interaction with these Infected.

This infected zone is just a wall-less prison, breeding hate between the Infected and the townsfolk. You can feel it even without seeing it for yourself.

The word I'm using is 'hate', not just exclusion and discrimination. Hate is carved into every word they speak, every action they do. It's become part of their culture.

Hate. You understand what I mean? This isn't just a problem about an unknown disease anymore. We shouldn't get involved in any local conflicts.

Just imagine this scenario. If the townsfolk began grabbing torches, raising pitchforks and rushing into these Infected's homes, what would you do then? Shoot them down?

Hard to say.

We have them to thank for our food, water and medicine for the past few months.

Before this, we've been trudging back and forth across this treacherous wasteland, being attacked by anything that moves and not getting even a single glimpse of civilization......until we got their help.

Do you really think we can just 'mind our own business', Cohen?

If they grabbed weapons and broke into Doctor Miarow's clinic, do you really want to just stand aside and watch?

As for the problem you mentioned earlier, I don't think the infectiousness can be ignored.

It's as if everyone in this world has undergone professional chemical warfare training. They are always covering up their nose and mouth, and being extremely sensitive about protecting their respiratory systems, no matter their age or gender.

I've repeated this point before as well, that we must prepare similar protections for ourselves......

The doctor also approved of us keeping our distance. Thankfully the Infected don't have any complaints towards this. Perhaps this is normal to them.

What did the doctor say about this?

I didn't ask him. None of us asked him.

Every time we mention this topic, he always looks as though he would rather avoid it completely. As long as he thinks our defensive measures are fine, I won't bother him about it.

(Shhh...)

'I did not order pizza.'

There's no need to match passwords, Miss Cohen.

It's me, Miarow.

Right on cue.

Hold on, let me open the door.

Good morning, doctor.

Good morning, Miss Cohen.

Good morning, Mister Alexsandr.

Heh, we were just talking about you.

You do realize you're raising an Originium Slug, Mister Alexsandr?

Yeah, this little thing is actually pretty fun to play with. Tina caught some earlier and this one was too small, so I kept it.

So you came to look for Tina?

No, I'm here to deliver stuff.

These are medical supplies, there were more leftovers this time.