4 4: The Capital (1)

"Has host decided on which field she'll take?"

Eva continued to ignore the system's question for the nth time as she tried to go about her day in the city.

She asked her next door neighbor, Sylvia, for some parchment she could put in between her clothing to get warm, where she promised to share her spoils at the end of the day, specially if it was food.

Knowing fully well how much more difficult it is for the single mother of four to procure food to keep her young ones fed, Eva walked out of the slums, at least a tad bit more warm and confident that she will be able to brace the day.

Off she was, navigating through the city of Maine.

Maine was one of the four great cities of the Kingdom of S'alazar, located southwest of the Capital. The other two were called Dais, the City of Wizards, and Warren, the City of Warriors.

If one could see the disparity of the living conditions when Eva left the slums and entered town, it would leave a foul taste in the mouth indeed. Maine was known as the poorest city of the kingdom, with slums scattered at the borders, which were not an uncommon sight.

But it was known to all that S'alazar itself was a thriving nation. This fact is obvious when one has seen the capital. It was often described as a cornucopia, where wealth was abundant and no signs of despair was seen.

To anyone, this only made sense, as this lavish city housed the King, the Governor, and the Judge- the three most powerful cultivators in the land.

The obvious social injustice would have been felt by any who hailed from the poorest parts of the three outer cities, but alas, most of them had never even seen the inside of the Capital. How could they, when the travel tax required to enter the Capital was so outrageous?

It just made it so that many were not aware of the extreme wealth that exists in their nation while most of them died due to hunger and poverty.

Not yet aware that she will soon be the force that abolishes such injustice, Eva went about her usual routine, asking people if she could do odds jobs in exchange for scraps of food or waste parchments.

The usual jobs she could have done were washing clothes and clearing grass, but it was winter. No one wanted frozen undergarments and grass was hardly a problem.

So Eva started knocking on the doors of various establishments, inquiring for any service she could provide.

This went on for almost half a day, and her energy was already running low.

Hungry and lacking sleep, Eva cursed at the system for keeping her awake last night.

But trying to shake off the last conversation she had with the system, she approached a bakeshop whose signage had a smiling pig.

Although a shop that sells bread with a pig mascot did not make sense to Eva, the bakeshop was clearly better off than the surrounding businesses. This was considering that the owner was able to hire a wizard to enchant the signage, making it so that it floated above the roof and the pig winked every now and then.

Thinking that maybe this owner could spare some unsold goods, she rapped on the wooden door.

Happy that the baker didn't immediately shoo her away upon seeing her appearance, Eva asked if she could be of service to the baker.

Turns out, the baker was just looking for a runner.

Eva thanked the gods for smiling upon her empty stomach today.

"Which gate do I approach again?" Eva asked the baker once more, and attentively took mental notes so that she won't screw up.

The baker was just finished giving his terms about the payment.

"Does host need more information in order to decide on which field she'll take?"

Eva jumped at the voice inside her head, startling the old baker.

Thinking that Eva reacted badly to his offer of paying her with a basket of stale bread, he got mad and immediately tried to go back in the shop.

Eva panicked and quickly explained that his offer was so wonderful that she had jumped in elation. She even added that her excitement was because she had never eaten such high-quality bread in her life, and so she was surprised hearing the baker's generous payment for such a simple errand.

The baker still looked at her in suspicion, but much to Eva's relief, he reluctantly gave the letter she was to deliver to a guard at the Capital gates anyway.

He probably thought to himself that this was just another strange girl who was crazed due to hunger.

After the baker went back inside his shop, the smile on Eva's face was wiped away as she stormed to an alleyway and demanded that the system show himself.

"You!" Eva stormed in front of the system's face, with her shaking finger pointed in between his eyes.

"Are you TRYING to sabotage me?"

The system looked at Eva's finger between his eyes.

"Negati-"

"Shut up!" She huffed and stomped her foot. "I don't even care that you partially saved my life. In fact, what I'm trying to do is forget that you even exist."

If a person walked by and saw Eva flailing her arms in the air, shouting by herself, she would have probably been reported and scouted by personel from the Asylum already.

"But clearly, you would repeatedly make yourself known until it ruins my life." She looked at the system exasperatedly, crossing her arms. The system just stared back, saying nothing.

"Oh, gods forbid. Fine! I'll be a friggin wizard." Eva stormed away from the alleyway and headed to the direction of the Capital.

"Affirmative.

Congratulations on completing the introduction.

Loot: 100 XP awarded.

Loan payment processed.

Thank you for paying your loan of 100 XP.

XP status: 0 XP.

New quest detected.

Would host like to hear details of quest now?"

"Jack off."