The streets of the Southeast District looked as terrible as ever.
The muddy, filthy roads were mixed with urine and human and animal waste, filling the air with a nauseating stench. Ragged children ran barefoot through it, while their fathers toiled somewhere in even worse conditions. After finishing their housework, their mothers stood by the roadside to see whether they could pick up any business.
Fabino pulled out a handkerchief he had prepared beforehand and covered his nose and mouth, lest the stench knock him unconscious. The Empire's decree prohibiting the dumping of excrement had clearly not been enforced here.
Fabino remembered that only five or six years ago, a severe plague had broken out here, claiming roughly a third of the population. He had originally thought there would be fewer people afterward. Some places had indeed looked rather lifeless at the time, but before long, with the influx of new immigrants and the birth of another batch of children, the place had become even livelier than before.
Fabino had to admit that, in terms of vitality, this damned place was remarkably resilient.
But when his gaze fell on the street in the distance, his mood soured.
That was where he had been robbed and beaten the first time he came to the Southeast District. As the only son in his family, Fabino had always been pampered. From childhood to adulthood, he had never even heard a harsh word, much less been pinned to the ground and beaten. In his panic, he seemed to have swallowed a few mouthfuls of rotten mud. It had taken Fabino half a year to convince himself to stop dwelling on exactly what that mud had contained.
Yet whenever he revisited the place, a shadow still inevitably rose in his heart.
Fortunately, whenever he felt