Village of the Sandy Dunes (2)

'The desert sand is getting to me…' Lynch thought as his coughs grew more and more intense as time passed.

"Are you sure you're alright, dear?" Hissa asked quietly from the side, a cup of water in hand. "Your coughs are getting stronger than earlier."

"The s-sand." Lynch coughed out, the arid environment making his condition even worse. "I'm… I'm not used to t-this kind of p-place."

Wheezing slightly, Lynch accepted the cup of water from Hissa, who was staring worriedly at the young boy. Drinking the water slowly as to not aggravate his sore throat, Lynch made a mental note to find some kind of way to get rid of the murky state of their drinking water.

If not, then he'll just have to get used to its look. Silver lining: at least the murky water doesn't taste that different from regular water.

His stomach groaned slightly in protest of the water intake, as if to mock his ideas. Lynch paused, gulping the water, and set the half-empty cup aside, feeling a little sick.

Hissa crouched down as she approached the youngster, her troubled eyes peering into Lynch's suffering ones. "It's okay, dear; I'll have Rahim get you some herbs to help you adjust to the change and get rid of that awful cough."

Nodding in agreement, Lynch lied down while Hissa stayed true to her words, the creaking noise of door slowly closing itself the only reminder that the young boy was now alone again in the house.

'I need to adapt.' The knowledge imparted to him via reading fantasy fiction, which turned out to be fantasy non-fiction, always hinted at something imperatively important for all Isekai'd characters to have.

Adaptability.

There have been stories of side characters who were isekai'd but failed to adjust being kicked out of the gene pool in a matter of days. And in situations where the environment or location they were transported to was some kind of tough survival nonsense or something out of a grimdark fantasy cranked up to 11, they didn't even last a few hours.

'I'm lucky…' Lynch thought as he stared at the ceiling. 'Shitty area, but kind villagers, at least those I've met.'

Asad was like that strict uncle who would take no bullshit but would gladly help people in case of an emergency. Rahim is an older brother who has too much responsibility on his shoulders but is willing to shoulder it. Kareem the Elder (Lynch guessed because he wasn't introduced to him formally, as of yet), a grandpa that cared for the family, in this case the entire village.

And Hissa is the mother who would do anything to make her child happy and healthy, and with how things are playing out, Lynch might be included in that list.

Breaking out a tiny smile, Lynch was reminded of his own mother, the one back on Earth. His smile then died a silent death as he recalled the cause of her death.

Overwork.

After her cremation, Lynch changed. That was the day he began binge reading novels to meet his escapist needs. It didn't matter what genre it was, whether it was fantasy, science fiction, or simply a slice of life. He only desired to be free of life's worries, if only for a little period, before returning to the fray.

He was young then, barely even reaching his teens. But nobody in the family, and that included his dad, refuted the fact that, as anti-social as he is, he is practical and pragmatic as all hell.

He knew that reading novels all day would not be worth a damn in the future when even his dad would be leaving him as well.

He wanted to live, not just for himself but for the efforts his mother made to make him have a place in the world.

'And then he went up and died on me on my 19th birthday.' A bitter smile crossed Lynch's lips when he recalled that particular memory. 'The damn drunkard. At least I threw all my coping energy into reading and not drinking. Thanks for the advice, dad.'

'And here I am making jokes about the death of my dad.' Lynch chuckled. 'I am fucked up. Says something about Joshua still being my friend over the years, though.'

As he was lost in reminiscence, he didn't notice the slightly ajar door or the soft footsteps buried underneath Lynch's breathing.

It wasn't until a tiny head entered his vision that Lynch immediately got up, startled by the sudden intruder.

"Wah! Sorry!" The perpetrator, a young girl who had mistakenly called Lynch a ghost earlier, closed her eyes and waved her hands.

'… How does one look so adorable while apologizing in the real world?' Lynch silently mused as the girl, Hasana, if he remembered correctly, continued to wave her arms in a rather cute attempt at apologizing.

After a few moments of panicked apologies, Lynch chuckled, which got the attention of the young girl with dark brown hair and a tawny skin tone.

It also made her remember why she was here in the first place.

"I forgot!" Hasana exclaimed while looking at Lynch, who tilted his head to one side. "I'm sorry for calling you a ghost!"

"Oh, that." Lynch hummed. "Why'd you c-call me a ghost… ghost earlier?"

A cough in the middle of his question caused the young girl to look at him with slight concern, but ultimately, she shook it off in favor of answering Lynch's question.

"Your skin!" Hasana half-said, half-shouted, "You are so white! You look like a ghost Mama keeps on telling me in her bedtime stories!"

"… Fair point." In truth, Lynch was also put off by his skin color. He wasn't this white back on Earth, he was a healthy shade of light brown. Either Jorge had a low-key albino gene, if that was even possible, or his parentage were just that white.

'I'm banking on the latter.' Lynch concluded while his eyes drifted over to the excitable young girl. "Want to be friends?"

"Yes! Friends are awesome!" The young girl literally jumped right into his face, causing Lynch to stumble backward slightly. "Oh, I can't wait to tell Wadha!"

And just like that, the young girl exited the house just as fast as she had entered his life.

'… That happened.' Lynch stared at the wide-open door for a few moments before shrugging. 'Friends, huh…'

"Dear? What did I miss?" And a few seconds later, Hissa arrived at the scene.

"I made… made a friend." Lynch coughed in between, but there was no mistaking the slight smile he had on his face.