Chapter 202: Infected

"Sigh."

Helplessly, Strea's "guard" Kumo decided to intervene from here. Her matching pair of silver eyes swept through the crowd before she formed an objective in her head.

'Hostiles. Fifteen.'

'Killing intent. None.'

'Armed. All.'

'Casters. Three.'

'Gunners. None.'

"The best choice of action would be..."

Her voice was lost in the wind as she disappeared in the sight of many. A moment later, an Infected Kuranta saw a black silhouette descending upon him.

Bam-!

With a drop kick, his right shoulder was dislocated.

"Argh!"

Due to the pain, Kumo didn't even need to do anything before he fell to the ground while wailing.

Swooosh-!

Swooosh-!

She sent out two swift jabs, breaking the noses of the other Kuranta before collapsing.

"Damn her!"

Dust converged at a fast rate before it turned into a sand wall, protecting another Infected who was about to be knocked out.

Crack-!

Bam-!

Surprisingly, her punch pierced through it and connected with the female Infected's cheek. She was sent flying for a few seconds before she hit the door of a house.

"A knight?!"

"She must be!"

The three Casters of the group communicated with their eyes.

'Should be surrender?'

'Well..'

'You dolts!' Their leader, a Liberi man with orange hair, said internally. 'Do you think that she'll let us go that easily?'

'But boss... Look, the rest were only incapacitated without any serious injuries.'

'Right, right! Only Dylan got his shoulder broken since he and Tom are the unruly bunch!'

The poor guy who was sent flying by Strea was mentioned once more.

'They stooped low enough to steal food from children... I know how they feel right now, but I would rather die than do it.'

'You're spouting some knight-level bullshit, alright.' The other caster commented.

As an Infected, their living conditions could only be the worst. An entire area was sectioned just for them, yes, but the amount of Infected living in poverty here is very high.

After all, one would have many opportunities cut off just by being one! They can't have a job, people would go farther from them, and their government isn't tending to their problems and are only concerned with their well-being.

Their motley crew of 18 Infected formed a group in the Infected Area to struggle for living. However, things doesn't go smoothly always. Right now, they are on the verge of starvation due to Kazimierz's recent developments which led to even less support from the government. The original feeding program once a day turned into once every three days.

Hence, some couldn't help but steal food even from children... just to live.

Bam-!

Bam-!

Bam-!

While they continued communicating, the rest of them was getting knocked down one by one, either by a jab in the jaw, face, or a chop in the neck. One can say that Kumo is really as fleeting as a cloud, disappearing before reappearing near them.

It didn't take long enough for the knight-like caster to be knocked down with a downward punch from the head.

'Boss, that girl must be from a rich family. Let's not offend her further.'

'...'

Their boss went silent as he organized his thoughts. He then said:

"Put your weapons down."

"Bo-"

An Infected was about to ask him confusedly, but Kumo's jab to his stomach interrupted with his breathing before he fainted in the ground.

Kumo stopped in her place and stared at the leader silently. The latter couldn't help but think of the realization that he had just now.

'Our life is destined to be short.'

From the moment they became an Infected, it's the same as having a death timer in their heads. Their is no longer a matter of "how", but "when". There's not a cure for this highly-infectious disease, so the discrimination imposed by the world against them is the worst.

Whenever they are seen in the streets, people would think of them as sewer rats who had brought a plague in their place. They would actively avoid them, in fear of being infected by them too. Some doesn't even treat them as "living beings", but rather an "eyesore" that has to be removed from this world.

'It should be an eventful one, not something where we violate our bottom lines.'

Now, the boss understood the olden knights. He aimed to be like them in the past, but reality is too harsh that he had to discard that dream from a young age. Just as he is about to work in the General Chamber of Commerce, he was infected by oripathy and got his slot stolen by a supervisor with the reason of "Not needing any infected in this line of work".

Of course, he knew later that everything was bullshit, that the supervisor got the slot for his nephew. Alas, being an infected means that your basic privileges as a normal Terran is stripped. It would do no shit to file a complaint against the supervisor as the guys in the Judicial sector is disgusted with them, too.

Everyone is simply like that.

'To die with dignity, I see.'

"I will shoulder their consequences alone." He said. "Can you let them go?"

Kumo was still silent at this time. Though, she's doing it to hide her being startled by this sudden move.

"Miss-" Kumo was interrupted by Strea's tap in her shoulder. "Un."

The latter nodded, agreeing with what she is about to say.

"Uncle, what's your name?" Strea asked.

"Er, what?" The boss let out a stupid sound as he couldn't comprehend what is happening right now. "My name..? It's Tris."

"Tris...tan?" Strea subconsciously mumbled loudly.

"Right... It's something that my parents named after a great knight during the Leithanien War."

Though, the reason why Strea got surprised by this coincidence is due to how she knew a world where "Knight Tristan" is present—the world where Shiro is currently staying according to Cardinal.

"Shiro..."

"Miss?"

"It's nothing."

Strea recalled some of the open positions in their Nexus branch here in Kawalerielki. There's no branch manager at this time yet since they still haven't found a worthy person to take on the role, but she thought that this man can be one of the prospective branch manager.

While she trusts her own judgement, she couldn't make a hasty one. This is something that she learned after she lived in this world, all the while she struggled to kept her carefreeness.

In fact, she started this entire fiasco intentionally. Part of it is that she hated how the children's food was stolen, but she also thought that she could see the world of the Infected better—to see if there's something different this time around.

Unfortunately, there wasn't.

"Mister Tris, right? Are you interested in working for our company?" Strea asked before she pulled out a business card from her [Space Storage], the purple ring in her left hand.

Then, she placed the card on the gaps of his hand before she left the dumbfounded Tris.

'The world isn't always a nice place.'

Strea recalled what Shiro had told her when she's been happy to interact with other humans for the first time. The latter told her that reality isn't seen in rose-tinted glasses every time. Sadness, despair, grief, anxiety...

Strea might look like an innocent and carefree girl, but the innocence of her mind was lost long ago—when she stepped into the true side of reality for the first time. She managed to hold onto the other, but the former was replaced by maturity.

'You're right, Shiro... Still, nothing prevents me from trying to make it a better one, right?'