The Shadow of Prosperity (2)
The slum—a dark part of any nation. Murder, kidnapping, smuggling—a breeding ground for all sorts of crimes. In this world, it’s an even worse hellscape. People die, and no one does anything about it. On the contrary, they rummage through the possessions of the deceased.
Even the Royal Capital Guard, akin to a police force, doesn’t venture here. It’s a lawless zone within the kingdom, a haven of evil where no one holds anyone accountable.
I realized how kind the world I lived in was. Because…
“Meaaat!”
“Wait, little kitty! I’ll eat you up nicely, hahahaha.”
The moment I stepped into the slum, I was attacked. Apparently, they even eat cats here. With glazed eyes and spitting saliva, they wobbled toward me. Even their movements showed obvious health issues.
I had no choice but to run. I was too naive. This isn’t a world where faking your identity would solve everything. This is a completely different world.
I jumped over the trash discarded on the roadside and kept running. The streets were filled not just with beggars, but also thinly dressed women and tattered men disappearing into the shadows with them. I didn’t know what they were up to, but I just ran.
Fortunately, my pursuers didn’t follow me for long. They lacked stamina.
(This… this requires drastic reform, but… everyone’s eyes are dead.)
Once I had escaped, I began exploring the surroundings. I hid in shadows to avoid being seen and climbed rooftops to scout from above. I continued pursuing my original goal.
At first, I didn’t understand, but it seems even the slum has some form of work. Needleworkers seemed to live relatively decent lives. It’s likely that there’s a hierarchy even within the slum. The areas closer to the surface had slightly better security, but the deeper you go, the worse it got. Murders happening out of nowhere seemed commonplace. Right in front of me, a brawl broke out among several people.
By eavesdropping on conversations, I learned that someone named Marcus and his faction were being attacked. Those with shady pasts despised Marcus, while weaker individuals seemed to harbor or help escape people they thought were associated with him. Occasionally, there were counterattacks, but they were mercilessly suppressed.
It was likely a kill-or-be-killed world.
“Wait, if you take that, I won’t survive this month!”
“Shut up! Like I care about your damn life!”
Hearing the commotion, I looked down from the roof to see a man in his mid-twenties being assaulted by a muscular middle-aged man. The younger man was extremely skinny, while the older man had a sturdy, muscular build. In a fight, the younger man wouldn’t stand a chance.
“Tch, what a lousy haul.”
“Please… without that, my family won’t survive… give it back.”
“I said shut up!”
The middle-aged man took the wallet from the fallen younger man, looked inside, and complained. The younger man clung desperately, but he was kicked in the stomach and curled up in pain.
Getting hit in the stomach really hurts… And with no guards in sight and my magic unusable, I couldn’t help.
It was a horrible sight to witness. The middle-aged man left without further incident.
“I’m sorry… Shuli… Zion…”
The younger man, groaning, whispered the names of his family. I moved.
Climbing down from the roof, I used Quick Draw to retrieve money and a potion. It was a commercially available potion I had bought as a reference for mass production but hadn’t had time to use.
“Meow~”
“Huh?”
I placed a gold coin and the potion in front of him and left. It’s unacceptable for his family to suffer. I couldn’t just leave it be. Families should be happy. While I couldn’t do much now, I could at least do this.
It didn’t seem too late yet. Someone like him, who had loved ones to protect, could move forward. A man who first apologized to his family deserved to be saved. My goal was set: dismantling the slum.
They must be given work, and the rampant outlaws must be apprehended. However, even they seemed to have connections with nobles. I saw a well-dressed man, unlike a typical slum dweller, buying slaves.
Apparently, he was taking them to a certain noble’s estate. That noble… I’ve remembered their name. Immediate arrest is necessary. Those are clearly illegal slaves.
In Arland, only criminal and debt slaves are recognized. Debt slaves are guaranteed food, clothing, and shelter, but the woman being taken away was clearly resisting.
I tried to help but was thwarted by the guards. I lunged at an unguarded man but was hindered by the guards, resulting in a cut to my leg. The sharp pain made it clear: escape was my only option.
“Where the hell did that damn cat go?!”
I managed to leave a scratch on the robed man’s guard but injured my leg in the process. Perhaps it was too reckless. I’ll report this to Father later.
My leg had a cut. It wasn’t deep, but the pain and bleeding tormented me.
Hopping on one leg, I left the area. I’ll go home today. I’ll be scolded, but I saw what I needed to. The first step is clearing out the outlaws.
Since I couldn’t teleport, I decided to seek help from Mr. Coote. Oh no, the bleeding’s making me dizzy…
???’s Point of View
In the lawless slum of the Royal Capital, a small figure walked. It was nearing evening.
The figure of a girl cautiously glancing around as she walked would be mistaken for a boy if not observed closely. Her hair was short, her face dirtied, making her gender indistinguishable. She could easily be mistaken for a beggar boy, but she was indeed a girl.
“Haah… I’m going to get scolded again.”
The girl was returning from begging. Looking at the few copper coins in her hand, she sighed. This wasn’t enough to meet her quota. She had been ordered to collect 15 copper coins daily by the men occupying the orphanage. Defiance meant the younger children would be sold off, or so they were threatened.
When she first ended up at the orphanage, things were better. A kind priest took care of them, and supporters provided aid. Though they lived in poverty, they managed to eat.
But that life didn’t last forever. A year ago, the priest succumbed to a plague.
The children left behind faced despair. The orphanage wasn’t funded by the church. Priests rarely visited the slums.
And one day, men came to the orphanage.
“Your priest owed us money. Pay up, or we’ll sell one of you brats!”
Whether the debt was real was unclear. But they claimed to have proof. The document, written in complicated text, was beyond the children’s comprehension. Like the other kids, the girl couldn’t read.
“But Father always said if we prayed every day, good things would surely come.”
Living on the edge, memories of the smiling priest who always told them things would improve began to fade. He had said that doing bad things would drive away good fortune.
So the children in the orphanage refrained from doing bad deeds.
The girl had a dream. Back in the happy days before ending up in the slum, she had always admired the magicians in picture books. Her parents had read her stories about them at night.
The girl had mana. But she didn’t know how to use it. Magic requires knowledge. She couldn’t handle it without proper understanding, and improper use could lead to disaster.
Her parents hadn’t been able to afford magic books. So, the girl couldn’t use magic.
A traveling magician once told her she had mana, but she wasn’t even sure if that was true.
“One day, I’ll enter the royal castle and become a great mage… like the queen or princess of this kingdom. Then, I can help everyone.”
Her heart felt a bit lighter. Dreams give you the energy to move forward. That’s how she endured her current life.
For now, she had to hand over the small amount of money she had to the adults at the orphanage. They would scold her, maybe even hit her. But she wanted to protect the younger children as much as she could. The girl walked quietly but swiftly through the slum to avoid having her money stolen by other adults.
As she carefully made her way, she spotted a kitten lying injured in the shadow of some garbage. The kitten had a leg wound and was immobile due to the bleeding. She didn’t need to guess what would happen if it were left there.
Her first thought was food. Survival meant eating whatever was available.
But for some reason, she felt she shouldn’t eat it. Her instincts told her so. However, helping the cat wasn’t feasible either. She barely received any food herself. Her childhood friend at the orphanage would surely disapprove too.
“But… it’s such a pretty cat. Maybe it belongs to someone rich? Maybe they’d reward me if I return it.”
Unconsciously, she justified her actions with self-interest to ease her conscience.
She picked up the kitten. It was limp but still breathing, merely unconscious. Using her late mother’s handkerchief, she bandaged the wound to stop the bleeding, then headed to the orphanage.
Little did she know, this encounter would dramatically alter her destiny.
What do you think about this chapter?
