8 Welcome to Iron City

Looking at the young man in front of him, Henry can not stop frowning. As one of the guards with the function of checking all who enter and leave the city, it was the first time that he met a person dressed so suspiciously and that, moreover, not have an identity card.

"What's your name?" Watching the young boy in front of him,Henry had to admit that although he could see nothing but the eyes and mask of the person in front of him, he had been attracted by his eyes that shone like precious jewels.

"Loki"

After hearing the answer, Henry nodded once and wrote down the name of the boy in front of him on a metal plate.

"Last name?"

"I do not have"

Hearing the answer to his question, Henry can not help frowning again, but still he continued to write down the information the boy was passing. It was her job after all.

"Birthplace?"

"Forest of Blood"

Again Henry must stop writing on the piece of paper while watching the boy in front of him. The Blood Forest was one of the places that had been abandoned by humanity 10 years ago when a Dungeon Break destroyed all the villages and small towns that were there. Now the forest was only home to wild and dangerous monsters, with no dungeon to protect whoever tried to live there.

A place where only adventurers and high-risk traders dared to go, all for a few more gold coins in their pockets.

And Henrique could not imagine what a boy who seemed to be no more than 8 years old was doing in such a dangerous place, much less being born there.

"Your age?"

"14 years"

Hearing that answer and seeing how small and thin the boy in front of him was, Henrique began to believe the boy's story. Maybe he was an unwanted child who was left there to die and somehow managed to get back into town, but the way and the difficulty had left him without enough nutrition to grow.

Now the look of mistrust he gave the boy was replaced by a look of pity.

"Okay, all right now, just put your hand here and we'll be done." Speaking so far, Henry brought a small crystal ball and positioned it in front of the boy. The ball was a useful invention showing a different color depending on the situation of the person who touched it.

If the person were a wanted criminal, it would shine in a blood red color. If she were a lost person, in a soft green tone and had no information from the person in the database, she would shine with a gentle white color.

At the moment the boy touched the ball, a white color shone on it, and then a small metal card came out of the iron base beneath the ball. Something that happened when a person despite not having committed any crime, had an identity card already made, but not yet delivered.

Seeing this, Henry smiled at the boy in front of him and handed out his card, along with a small bag with a few gold coins. It was all the guard could do to help that kid, as well as pray that he could move on and find a place for himself in the city.

"Welcome to the Iron City, I hope your stay is pleasant. If you need a job, a clothing store on Esperança Street is in need of workers."

After giving the identity card and the bag with money, Henrique watched the boy entering the city and can not help but sigh. With luck the boy would find a job good enough to support him.

"Oh shit." Seeing the metal plate where he'd written the answers to the questions he'd given to the boy named Loki, he realized he'd forgotten to ask if he was from any tribe, and if so, which.

"Well, it does not matter."

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Looking down into the town and watching the people moving about like ants in an anthill, a sense of euphoria swept over Loki as a smile played on his lips beneath the hood. It was the first time in 10 years that he was entering a city and he could not help but be anxious about what was to come.

But this euphoria soon turned into an expression of anger when he saw that in one of the streets a young man dressed in extremely expensive-looking clothes was riding a 3-meter tall tiger-like monster as he ran through the streets. His expression filled with arrogance as he made people jump out of his way.

The problem was that one of these people was a little girl who seemed to be no more than five and had frozen in the middle of the street with a sack of bread and could not get out of time on the way to the tiger in time.

But as soon as Loki put his hand on one of the swords he carried around his waist, he was about to interfere. Five guards wearing black iron armor and spears appeared at the sides and front of the tiger. The next moment the guards had impaled the tiger with their spears and killed the animal while they stopped the force and caused the young man on top of the monster to be thrown into the air, falling face down on the floor in front of the girl.

Soon afterwards the young man was dragged by the guards along with the tiger's body as he shouted something about being the young master of a large family and that they would regret doing it with him.

"Astonished?" Looking to the side and seeing an old man talking to him, Loki can not help but nod his head before asking in doubt.

"But is everything okay? The kid seems to be some kind of big shot or something"

Hearing that question the old man laughed eagerly before glancing back at Loki, a smile on his face as he continued to speak.

""This is the Iron City, we are known by our laws as inflexible as iron. It does not matter if you are a king, a gentleman or the mayor of the city, if you break the laws, you are punished."

"Welcome to Iron City, young man, I hope you enjoy it here and remember to never break our rules"

Speaking so far, the old man smiled gently at Loki before moving on.

"Iron City huh? It seems interesting"