Prologue: Beat 2

The wind was still as strong as ever at the docks. The sky was no longer clouded over, basking the City of Vrircastre in the orange afterglow of the setting sun.

Sailboats, fishing boats, and large merchant ships that were currently anchored at the side of the riverbank all the way to the side of the sea were being swayed by the waves.

The birds chirped as they flew freely in the orange sky. The smell of salt, fish, and other things were mixed together in the docks, but the boy couldn't smell them since he was still in the garbage dump that was reeking with an unpleasant smell.

'I think it's enough for today, I got some leftovers for the others.'

He walked toward the riverbank that was less crowded after putting the leftovers he found in his pocket.

'I need to wash my hands and shoes.'

Though the river wasn't a neutral river since it was salt water but it was better than nothing. Getting clean water was not easy for someone who lived in the slums. The stickiness from the salt was way better than the filth from the garbage dump wasn't it?

The Dock of Jörgen was not near the sea. The dock was all the way from the west gate toward the sea northwest.

The river itself was long, from the west side to the center part of the city and went through to the east, its name was Sorren River, taken from one of the name of the general in the warring era, just like The Dock of Jörgen was taken from the name of the first king who built the dock before.

There was another river branch from the sea. It went from the west to southeast of the city. Passing through the downtown district and the abandoned side of the city, the ruins of

the tragedy that happened years ago.

It was a city fire that happened long ago, not long after The Dock of Jörgen was built.

The boy walked to the other side of the river branch, and cleaned his hands, feet, and shoes.

'Okay, let's go back.' He said in his heart as he walked toward where he lived.

The sun had to say goodbye for the day and the night fell as the shadows veiled the City of Vrircaster.

The cloudy night was quite cold since it was near winter.

The boy decided to walk on the less crowded streets since he was reeking an unpleasant smell. He didn't want to get beaten by some nobleman just because he walked past him like he did before. He was beaten almost unconscious by the nobleman's lackeys and snatched his money that he earned that day.

After taking a long walk, finally he arrived at his destination.

The Lower South Greywood District.

This was the most filthy, unorderly, and unpleasant place to visit in the whole City of Vrircaster.

Unlike the downtown district houses that were made of bricks, the houses here were made of wood. The narrow small street, the dirty drainage on each side of the street, the bad smell that came from it, and the hopeless atmosphere that this place radiated was unbearable.

The walls of the houses were full of holes or broken here and there. Although there were some shabby attempts to fix the walls of the dilapidated houses, there were still many holes. They looked really messy.

The walls of the houses' bottom part were pitch black, and moss was growing wildly on them because of the water that flooded onto the street from the clogged water drainage.

The houses roofs were made of greyish wood, hence the name of Lower South Greywood District.

The boy walked on the narrow filthy street, taking his usual route to his destination.

This was the safest route for him; the chances of him meeting other hoodlums would increase if he used other routes. They would beat him up and snatch away the money he was carrying at the moment

The area had a horrible smell since people didn't care about hygiene at all. They would take a dump wherever they wanted. However, the boy remained unfazed despite the stench; he had already gotten used to it.

After some time, a shabby house was seen, it was located quite deep inside the slums district. This district was like a maze, people could easily lose their way if they weren't familiar with the road.

Even for the boy it took quite some time for him to finally arrive at his "home" because of how deep it was located. He opened the door and went inside.

It wasn't really accurate to call it his home, because he didn't feel any safety nor comfort from there.

Because...

"WHERE THE F*CK WERE YOU? YOU ARE LATE!"

"I hadn't met the quota."

There was a man inside, sitting on a chair in front of a table full of empty alcohol bottles. His legs were resting on the table as he drank his alcohol directly from the bottle.

The room was filled with alcohol stench, the wooden floor was broken here and there, the walls were cracked as well. The room was only filled with five chairs and a table in the middle.

"WHAT?!" He wiped his mouth with his sleeve as he angrily continued, "DON'T... HIC! TELL ME YOU DON'T HAVE THE MONEY FOR TODAY?!"

"No, I have it." The boy said as he stared coldly at the man.

The man knitted his brows, he slammed the table with his hand and shouted angrily.

"YOU DARE TO STARE BACK AT ME YOU LITTLE SH*T?! HIC!" shouted the man as he threw the empty bottle toward the boy. The boy hurriedly raised his arms to block it.

"CRASH!"

The boy could only bite his lips. Tears came out from the corner of his eyes, but he just quietly wiped it away as he looked at his hands to search for the broken bottle pieces in case that there were some that stuck in his wounds.

The broken pieces of the bottle were spreading everywhere, his hands were full of scratches and bruises. Luckily, he didn't seem to be hurt anywhere else.

"AGH F*CK! HIC! YOU RUINED MY MOOD! GO CLEAN THAT UP AND GIVE ME THE MONEY!"

The boy was angry. He gritted his teeth and started collecting the broken bottle pieces with his hands. His hands were injured, but he could only tend to it later.

'I swear, I'll make you pay for what you've done someday.'

The boy vowed in hatred as he collected all of the pieces, put them together and threw it into the water drainage outside.

"Done? Hic… give me the money…"

He walked quietly and put the small pouch on the table.

"This is all I got."

"Let me… hic! See…" said the man. He was clearly still drunk. He sloppily opened the pouch, dropped all the coins onto the table.

"One… hic! Two…"

After some time, he grabbed all the money, put it back to the pouch and said impatiently as he waved his hand. "Go f*ck yourself, shoo shoo."

The boy didn't care and just went inside to the house, heading straight to a room at the corner of the house.

When he opened the door, a little girl ran over with a face full of worry. "Brother! Are you alright?!"

"I'm okay, Summer. It's just a scratch," the boy said smilingly as he patted the little girl's head gently.

"Brother! I got you some clean cloth, let's bandage your wounds!" A young boy looked the same age as Summer ran over with a piece of cloth in hand.

The two of them were wearing clothes that were full of holes or ripped. They were dirty; their hair and faces were full of dirt.

"Don't run, George," he sat on the floor quietly, "where are Adle and Roxel?"

"They haven't come back yet." The little girl said as she gently bandaged the boy's hands.

"I haven't seen them too this afternoon..." said George.

The boy knitted his brows. "Where are they? It's already evening…"

Not long after, they heard a loud voice from outside.

"WHERE THE F*CK WERE YOU TWO?!"

The boy quickly stood up and rushed outside, he was running when he saw the drunk man was going to throw an empty alcohol bottle just like he did before toward two children with dirty clothes, they were shivering in fear.

"STOP!" The boy shouted on top of his lungs as he ran. Fortunately he was in time, he faced his back toward the flying bottle as he hugged the two kids and shielded them.

"CRASH!"

"Argh!" The boy lost a bit of power as his legs slumped to the floor.

"BROTHER!"