25 The friendly and welcoming city

The inner area was exactly how I imagined a real city would look like. A large street stretched out in a straight line, filled with crowds of people. From time to time, a carriage could be seen crossing the main gate on its way in or out of town.

‘Ahhh, my adventurous spirit is burning bright once again.’

We ventured further into the city with no hesitation, until we reached what seemed to be the kind of residential area where nobles and wealthy people lived... which of course was protected behind yet another damned wall…

‘Wow, these people sure like building walls.’

"Buzz off, you bum."

And when we were within touching distance of the wall, an even bigger idiot than the two guards we ran into earlier, gave Limy a hefty shove to push her out of his way... Which was particularly hurtful considering there was enough room in the street to fit a dozen Limys.

“Go back to the suburbs where you belong, you eyesore.”

Following the shove, another man kicked her, making Limy fall down. All of that was followed up with some insults and spitting from the occasional passer-by. Limy didn't seem to mind in the least, but it was starting to make my blood boil.

—Let's get away from this place before I end up killing someone myself.

Even though we did not finish out tour of the city, what we had seen was enough for me to get a rough understanding on how it was structured. The southern part was the largest, and, since it had easy access to water due to the close proximity to the river, the vast majority of it was used for farming and agriculture. I did suspect, however, that the entire city was likely to be surrounded by crops anyway.

Past the second wall was where the lower-class people lived. The closer you got to the centre of the neighbourhood, the higher the standard of living. I assumed middle-class people lived there, since the more centric a location, the more protected it is. What lied North of there seemed to be the commercial district, since the architecture seemed overall better, and you could see plenty of people walking there and carrying stuff along with them.

However, there was a large part of the city that we had not been able to explore yet, the southeast area. I assumed those were the suburbs of the city, and I suspected that people took for granted that that’s where we came from, judging by the way they were looking down on us. I decided that it would be best to retreat to that area temporarily. Being treated like a bum and shoved around was a rather unpleasant experience, however, I thought it best not to draw too much attention for the time being. Best lay low and go unnoticed for now.

And right now, we weren’t exactly acing the plan. On one hand, the wealthy citizens were looking down on Limy since she was wearing some rather dirty and ragged clothes. On the other hand, her blue eyes and hair were drawing a lot of attention from the not so wealthy citizens. I had assumed that in this world, people would be used to more extravagant hair colours like blue, green or even purple, but that wasn’t the case at all. We hadn’t run into a single human that stood out in that regard. At this point, I was starting to feel surprised by the fact that only that Tzari guy had openly spoken to us about it.

‘This was a pretty big miscalculation.’

Hence the reason why I decided that we would be better off retreating to a less crowded part of the city. We would be less likely to attract unwanted attention there, which in turn meant less danger for us... At least that particular kind of danger... There would no doubt be other kinds of risks, but let’s take it one step at a time.

It didn't take long for us to reach the suburbs. The drop in the standard of living in this part of the city was noticeable, not only in the poorer quality of the buildings, some of which were outright dilapidated, but in the cleanness of the streets. There was litter all over the place, and all kinds of nasty animals ran rampant through the streets. I saw a rat passing a few centimeters away from Limy's foot... and immediately after, that same foot produced a set of tentacles that swallowed the rat whole…

—Limy, please stop snacking on anything that comes near you! And most importantly, don't liquefy yourself or any part of you while we are in the city!

—Sorry, master. I will not do it again.

She probably did that unconsciously. She was a slime after all. These monsters were a mass of snot without intelligence that crawled around devouring everything that crossed their path, whether it was a rat or a stone... Trust me, I speak from experience here… The fact that Limy was able to reason at all, made her quite the unique monster.

We continued to venture further into the suburbs without paying much attention to our surroundings. The people there didn’t seem to care much about us. Occasionally, someone would stare at the blue-haired girl with curiosity, but their interest would soon fade. Most people here seemed to be too busy worrying about their own misfortunes to care about us. We even ran into people that wore clothes more ragged than what Limy was wearing.

‘I had hoped places like this would not exist in this world.’

I couldn't help but feel a bit heartbroken imagining what these people had to endure on a daily basis, and realising that even in such a world, there were people that lived in such miserable conditions. However, I did not have the strength or the ability to do anything about it.

‘It seems that even in a world where magic exists, people are still tied by their social status. From what I've seen, humans seem to be weak… Even if it was possible to increase one’s stats, acquire abilities and so on, there are probably not many people striving to improve their life by going down that route… Facing monsters can be quite challenging, and, after all, they have enough on their plate just trying to figure how to survive.’

And then, we screwed up. Maybe it was because I was feeling a bit emotional seeing how people lived here. Maybe we just let our guard down since no one seemed to be paying much attention to us. Whatever the case, our idle tour brought us to an alley, and as soon as we set one foot inside, someone dropped a net on top of us and dragged us inside in less than a second. This someone was a man who looked even more sketchy than the thieves from the day before… although the one who worried me the most was not him.

"I can't believe there are still children who are stupid enough to walk around this neighbourhood alone."

Behind him was a fat man staring at Limy with a nasty smirk on his face. He was well dressed and appeared to be wealthy. I assumed he was either a nobleman or a successful merchant.

"Look at what we have here, a girl with blue hair. What a beautiful merchandise. We will no doubt make a lot of money selling such a special product."

When he finished speaking, he had a wide and unpleasant grin of satisfaction on his face.

—Limy, you can eat this one ... Actually, I would encourage you to do so right away!

—Master… I can’t move...

—What are you saying? Escaping from this net should be child’s play for you.

—My body does not respond.

Limy tried to move a little, but she could barely move her fingers.

“Resistance is futile. This net is enchanted with a superior paralysis effect. You will not be able to move a muscle. In fact, you won’t even be able to talk.”

—Alright then, I will just have to do this myself… Oh shit...

As soon as I tried to move, I realised I was also unable to use skills or magic.

[You are inflicted with strong paralysis.]

‘It’s a bit late to say that! Seriously… is there anyone with worse luck than me?’

And without any means to defend ourselves, that man kidnapped us...