The Slums.
Located on the south side of the gathering area, the streets were full of potholes and puddles of murky water. As Renji walked by, he could smell something like weeks-old dirty socks. But judging by the expressions on people’s faces, it seemed like they were used to it.
The trash cans were overflowing and buzzing with flies and mosquitoes. Eileen told Renji that the garbage trucks only come by every two weeks. That’s actually better than before; they started coming more often after a disease outbreak in the area. Otherwise, you might not see a garbage truck for a whole month.
Even in a poor area like this, there were different levels of housing. Most common were the shacks, made of a few wooden poles and some fabric. Renji could see through the gaps in the door curtains that these tiny spaces housed families of three or even more.
A step up from that were the mud-brick houses. They looked like lumps of clay from the outside, but at least they offered better protection from the elements than the shacks.
Finally, the “luxury” housing in this poor area were what you could barely call “apartments.” These low-rise buildings had about three or four floors, each floor housing a dozen or so families.
The exterior paint and plaster of these apartments had long since peeled off. The rusty ladders used for climbing were creaky, making Renji worry they might collapse at any moment.
Luckily, Eileen’s home was on the second floor. For some reason, seeing Eileen take out a key to open an old-fashioned lock made Renji feel like she was living the high life.
It just goes to show, happiness is relative.
Click.
With the sound of the key turning in the lock, Eileen reluctantly opened the door for Renji. This was the first time she had brought a man home from outside, and even though it was out of necessity, it still felt weird.
“Hope I’m not intruding,” Renji said as he stepped in. Eileen had already told him the place was empty, but he thought it was polite to say something.
Renji had imagined a scavenger’s home to be a cluttered, dirty place with no room to move. He was even ready for it to smell weird.
But what he saw was totally different.
“Do I need to change into slippers?” Renji asked as soon as he stepped inside, looking at the clean floor and the neatly arranged slippers by the door.
Even though the slippers looked pretty worn out, just the fact that there were slippers to change into seemed astonishing and out of place in this poor neighborhood.
“Up to you, my mom’s not here anyway,” Eileen said, walking past without changing her shoes. Clearly, this good habit was something her mom had instilled.
After putting on the slippers, Renji took a quick look around. Eileen’s home felt like it was around 400-500 square feet, but it was well-organized and seemed to have everything you’d need.
What caught his eye was that this small space actually had a living room and two other rooms! It was clear that these partitions were added later. Whoever lived here wasn’t just settling; they were trying to make the most out of the space. 𝘪𝑎.
“Stay in the living room; I’m going to change. I’ll see if I can find something for you to wear,” Eileen said before heading into another room. She quickly popped her head back out,
“Don’t do anything weird!”
“Do I look like that kind of guy?” Renji asked.
“Yes!”
While Eileen was busy changing, Renji took the opportunity to look around. The frayed sofa, worn-out tables and chairs, faded tablecloth, and flickering old light bulb all spoke to Eileen’s tough financial situation. Even the kitchen faucet was dripping intermittently.
But on the flip side, from the slippers at the entrance to the lack of dust on the old furniture, and the neatly tied garbage bags, everything was clean and orderly. It was a stark contrast to the mess outside and showed a positive attitude toward life.
Finally, Renji’s eyes landed on a corner of the living room wall. It was covered in awards.
“The Most Improved,” “Third Place in Blackhole Plains Math Contest,” “Excellent Character” “Star of Creativity,” “Outstanding Novice Nun,” “Basic Mechanics Certification,” “Civilization Role Model”…
The awards clearly belonged to Eileen, dating back to when she was a little girl.
This was a bit of a revelation for Renji. These weren’t just fluff awards; they were the real deal. Some were from church-affiliated schools, and others were from international training organizations. It made him see Eileen in a whole new way.
Renji saw that the newest award on the wall was six years ago. That would mean Eileen was just out of grade school back then. Looks like her schooling stopped all of a sudden.
Parents usually put up awards like these when they’re proud of their kids and have high hopes for them.
His eyes then shifted to a family photo next to the wall of awards. A young Eileen was in the picture, chubby-cheeked and smiling. Her mom, with long brown hair, held her hand. She wasn’t dressed fancy, just a simple linen shirt, but she was stunning. Renji thought Eileen got her good looks from her mom.
One thing puzzled him, though. Why did so many moms like to tie their hair in a side ponytail? It looked nice but seemed risky. He wondered if that had anything to do with Eileen’s mom’s illness.
Finally, his eyes moved to where Eileen’s dad should be. Oddly, that part of the photo looked like it had been ripped off.
Come to think of it, Eileen had mentioned her mom a lot but never her dad. Even the slippers at the door were just two pairs.
“He’s dead,” Eileen’s voice came from behind him. She had changed her clothes.
She glanced at the family photo he was looking at and said flatly,
“He died from a backlash of internal Tainted Miasma. He lost control on the second day after becoming an Eclipse and was killed after turning into a monster.”
“The night before, he was excitedly telling us about the bright future he envisioned. He thought he could make a lot of money with his Eclipse abilities and take us away from this chaotic place to a hopeful big city.”
“It’s messed up, right? My dad left us just to get some weak power. He said he’d protect us, but he didn’t even know what we really wanted,” Eileen said, her fists clenched, showing she wasn’t as cool about it as she seemed.
“I’m sorry,” was all Renji could say.
Now he got why Eileen really didn’t like the word “Eclipse” and why she ended up scavenging, despite all her awards as a kid.
“So, the kobold’s clay statue that time was…” Renji remembered the item that led to the gang’s downfall. Given the world they lived in, Tainted Miasma items weren’t something just anyone could have.
“Yes, that’s right. He found it in the black market. It’s what turned him into an Eclipse. It’s also the only thing he left us. I’ve kept it with me, never thinking it would actually come in handy one day,” Eileen said, shaking her head with a wry smile before quickly changing the subject.
“Look, all this happened six years ago. I’m not some little girl who needs comforting anymore. I’m telling you this because… here, your clothes.”
Eileen handed Renji a wrinkled worker’s outfit that looked like it hadn’t been worn in years.
“We don’t have any men’s clothes around here. The only thing you can wear is something my dad used to wear. If you think it’s bad luck, just suck it up.”
Speaking of which, Renji had been wanting to say something since he first saw Eileen in her new outfit.
“Is this what you call a change of clothes?”
“A ragged coat, torn leather pants, and… work boots? Other than looking a bit cleaner, how is this any different from what you were wearing before? You still look like a scavenger! And couldn’t you at least put on some makeup?”
Renji couldn’t help but look frustrated.
Eileen looked a bit embarrassed and annoyed. She thought she’d spent a good amount of time getting dressed in the other room, only for Renji to say she looked the same!
She tugged at the corner of her faded coat, which she had washed several times, and said a bit dejectedly,
“What else can I do? These are the only clothes I have, scavenger clothes! I don’t have anything else, let alone makeup! Sorry for being poor, okay?!”
Ignoring her frustrated response, Renji pondered for a moment and then looked at the money pouch tied to Eileen’s waist.
If he remembered correctly, she had taken it from the bodies of the gang members when they were collecting candles from the goblin corpses.
He had turned a blind eye to this likely substantial sum before, but now…
“Miss Eileen, would you like to know what it feels like to be a noble lady?”
“No, absolutely not!”
Eileen immediately saw what Renji was getting at and clutched her money pouch protectively.
Too bad for her.
“No, you do,” Renji said, using his contract to control Eileen’s actions, making her reluctantly hand over the money pouch to him.
“Also, I’d like to make a good impression when I meet your mom. You know how important first impressions are. So lead the way, Miss Eileen. Let’s go to the most expensive and luxurious clothing store around.”
.𝒎