Ryoma: The Slanted World

Chapter 4

Ryoma slashed the final flesh hound when it lunged towards him, he was cornered in a certain alley where he stood in front of a large wall of brick that is impossible to climb.

Or I could but I ran out of stamina from all that running.

"Haa... aaAhhh."

Trying to catch my breath and everything feels fuzzy, after running almost 50 kilometers away from where I came from, I arrived in this silent abandoned city.

"Uwah! T'ere's a lot of meat aroun' 'ere!" The sound of an old man can be heard nearby.

"Young lad, was 't ye who kill'd all these mutts? I see twen'y of mutt meat around ye, ye sur' be somethin'!" The homeless old man with tattered, ragged clothes complimented me when he revealed himself from under the shade of the tree.

I'm actually too focused killing these mutts that I didn't notice a person nearby, but it saves me time. I need to know what is this place and what happened to this world.

The homeless old man was collecting the meat out from the mutts I've killed using his jagged knife.

I dropped my sword, sat on the ground and leaned on the wall and I managed to catch my breath.

"Old man, care to share those meats you've collecting?" This is not what I should've asked but I'm really hungry this time. Even this hound's flesh will do, I wont hesitate. The old man looked at me, and he laughed like he heard a joke.

"Ye kill'd 'em all the way 'ere, of cours' ye got yer share."

I'll take that as a yes.

・・・・

We both sat around the campfire and grilled the meat on the fire. The night was silent, the only thing I hear are the cackles of the fire, but one that amazed me though that despite the city is abandoned, those street lamps we're still running, though some of those lamps are completely destroyed or blinking as I would say. But nonetheless, it still gives us enough lights to see around the area.

Weirdly enough, even though I retain my memories from my "past life" (that time where he was a samurai being chased in the woods.) I quickly understood what are the things around me. Things that don't exist in my time period, heck I can even use spoon and fork easily but it feels like it has been already implemented by the time I arrived here.

What was my purpose? Why am I chosen? What are my current task?

I don't know. For now, I'm gonna ask this old homeless man In front of me and hopefully he gives me the answers I need.

Ryouma grabbed one grilled meat on a stick, then ate it. It tasted similar to a beef but it has the fat of a pig. It's all easy to eat.

"Old man, can you tell me about this world?" As stern as I look, I feel like I interrupted the old man's dinner.

As he finished gobbling his grilled meat. "Hmm... Tha' weapen' of ye'rs' r quite foreign. Ye'r not from this lan', ar' ye, lad?"

Nobody has seen a katana? Strange.

"Wel', not tha' it matters, I tell ye. This lan's al' ended. As ye can see, it' all barren wastelan' n, full of corpses'. Peep'l frem this area are long obliterated by tha' 'white blast' or exploson' I hear. I reckon thos' poor souls turn' dust as wher' all came."

"Can you tell me more about this white blast you spoke of?" I became more intrigued.

"It happened lon' long days before you arriv'd lad. Of cers' ye not the only one who's fo'eign tha' came this land. A lot of em becam' dog foods from thos' meat you ate. Ye a lucky one. Gaia chose the prop'r lad this time."

This is gonna be a lot information to take in.

The old man told Ryoma what happened in this world first and foremost. Nuclears, devils, and all. However, they use a rather religious terms all because this country— this world, doesn't know anything about advanced technology such as beams and drones.

But, they are no actual demons in this era, all because it is unnatural for mythological creatures to appear out of nowhere in steampunk age, or the age of rotten as the old man says.

Demons, or rather, people who possesses advanced technologies, are still out there. Apparently, their motives are quite unclear.

⚫

It's early in the morning and I packed my stuffs, preparing for another journey in this rotten world.

I wonder what's my pupose for this role? I have no "advanced technologies" that those "demons" has, but all I got is a sword.

"Ah, ya fin'nally awake, lad. Ye going out alrea'y?"

"Yeah, thank you for your kindness."

"Hm.... As I said before, you're the first person I see walking around from that chapel filled with hounds."

Hm? That's weird. Usually this old man speak in unusual accent but...

His tone changed drastically.

"I got to thank your charity for that meat laat night, might as well give you a parting gift in return. Go forth once you turn right, and you will see more settlement not far from here."

I quickly look back on the old homeless man, but all I see... was nothing but a number of crows flapping away from where the old homeless man stood.