Apocalypse Landlord: My Tenants Are All Beautiful Heroines.-Chapter 30: It’s Your Fault

Raghav tightened his grip on the rusted crowbar, standing in front of a dilapidated pharmacy. The glass entrance had been shattered long ago, and the insides were ransacked.

It didn’t seem like there was much left inside, but it was Raghav’s last hope. Even so, he hesitated.

"Why did they have to raise prices so suddenly?"

His destination wasn’t to scavenge for resources, but to get them from the South-side survivor camp. His son’s fever wasn’t going down. So he did all sorts of demeaning jobs just to get three caps for fever medicine.

However, when he got there, reality slapped him.

The medicine that used to be two caps worth was being sold for five caps now. He couldn’t believe the prices rose by more than twice overnight.

People in the slums in the outer region of the camp didn’t have much going on for them. But they stayed in the camp for two reasons.

First was basic protection and scraps of food, and the second was cheap medicines.

The chief, Karina, didn’t care about the prices of other stuff, but she had been hellbent on keeping the prices of medicines, especially the basic ones, to the minimum.

The low pricing was the reason no one hoarded medicines. But somehow, things changed overnight. The prices went up and suddenly, none of the traders cared about Karina’s orders.

Raghav wanted to lash out, but he was weak. Besides, he knew the price of insubordination. He had already lost his wife to it, he couldn’t bear the thought of losing his son too.

Swallowing the anger, he bought a rusted crowbar and the cheapest armor piece, a reinforced hoodie, and left to look for meds.

"Please... just let there be something," he muttered.

He hadn’t even set foot inside when there was a loud bang. A bullet hit the lamppost right in front of the pharmacy. Raghav froze on the spot.

The bullet had made too much noise, and noise was kryptonite for scavengers.

Grr... Grr!

"Shit!" Raghav exclaimed and ran towards the camp.

Getting medicine for his son was important, but so was staying alive. As long as he lived, he could work for more caps. It’ll take time, but it was better than dying out here.

"If something happens to me... there’s no one to look after him..."

***

Meanwhile, back at the apartments.

"It’s more difficult than I presumed," Aiden shrugged.

Marcus, who had been guiding Aiden’s aim through the scope of the other rifle, was disgusted and horrified.

"How did your aim veer off so far!?" he yelled.

Marcus didn’t recognize Raghav. After all, hundreds of people lived in the slums. He couldn’t possibly remember them all. However, he did recognize the gear he had as only their survivor camp made those.

When he saw the man outside a pharmacy, he realized something was off, as no one from the camp would have to risk their lives for medicines.

However, those questions could wait. Even though they were far away, he wanted to help the man. So he thought he would have Aiden kill a nearby goblin. That way, Aiden could learn how to use the rifle while aiding Raghav.

But instead of hitting the goblin, the bullet hit a lamppost over a dozen feet away. To make things worse, earlier only one goblin had noticed the man, but because of the noise, a dozen goblins were charging towards the man now.

"What’s the fun in hitting idle monsters?" Aiden said, putting the rifle on his shoulder. "Now that we’ve got goblins on the move, shouldn’t you be showing off your marksmanship?"

"...you did all this just for that!?"

Marcus couldn’t believe his ears. He thought Aiden was a pretty stand-up guy, even though it felt like he had a screw or two on the loose sometimes. But he had never expected him to pull a stunt like that.

As much as he wanted to argue with Aiden, it wasn’t the time. He quickly loaded the rifle and took aim. The man was clearly malnourished and could barely run, unlike the goblins, who were full of energy after spotting prey.

Bang!

One shot, one kill.

"Oh, nice shot!"

Marcus ignored Aiden’s praise and cocked the gun again before firing once more. Another goblin fell, but unlike before, they weren’t getting scared by their dying comrades.

The group did not have a hobgoblin leading them. A leader’s presence meant the group wouldn’t have to go hungry for long periods of time, as hobgoblins were smart, unlike regular goblins, and knew how to plan hunts.

In comparison, regular goblins were akin to scavengers. They ate whatever they got their hands on. Now that they had found a weak human, they would not let him go even in the face of death, especially if they were hungry.

"Damn it!" Marcus cursed after missing a shot.

A Remington only held three bullets in the magazine and one in the chamber. He could only hit four shots before reloading, which required a minute.

Now that Marcus missed the last shot, he didn’t bother reloading the gun. He grabbed Aiden’s rifle and began shooting again.

Perhaps he was amused by the farce, so Aiden reloaded the rifle Marcus had discarded.

Marcus had shown Aiden how to do that, so Aiden was just doing it for experience. He had just finished when Marcus swapped the gun again.

"What happened? Missed more shots, did you?" Aiden smirked, but still reloaded the weapon.

Marcus didn’t reply, but Aiden was right. No matter how good his aim was, the gun had technical limitations. As the man ran towards the camp, he got further away from the apartment.

With an increase in distance, Marcus’s accuracy dropped sharply. The precision dropped from 75% to 50% and then to 25%. With each missed shot, the likelihood of Raghav’s survival became negligible.

Right before their eyes, Raghav entered an alley... and never got out. The next second, Marcus threw the rifle aside.

"You bastard!" he yelled. "How dare you—?"

In contrast to Marcus’s rage, Aiden kept smiling.

"You’re smiling!?" Marcus gritted his teeth. "You’re a monster!"

"Am I, though?" Aiden asked, tilting his head. "As far as I know, it is your fault."

Marcus was flabbergasted by the comment. He couldn’t think of a single reason why it was his fault. But Aiden’s next words froze him to his spot.