46 The Dark Side Of A Bustling City

After having killed both the old man and Lucius, Ark had gained a level, and he was a little distraught. No matter how much his [Mental Fortitude] skill helped, he still just ended two people's lives, and the feeling was definitely a little sickening if you thought about it. Ark didn't really want to think about it right now though, and he didn't really regret killing Lucius. The old man was a little debatable, but he still acted according to the situation, no matter how hot-headed he seemed.

Lucius would just mess things up for him if he was kept alive, he wouldn't be able to swallow the humiliation, and would just keep looking for trouble.

There were two different routes that Ark could have chosen with the old man, the first one, was the route Ark had chosen, which was to kill the old fogey, but the second route would be to heal the old man and show some mercy. The problem with showing mercy was that it would only be profitable if the person wasn't an arrogant asshole who saw themselves as superior to everyone else. Since their anger wouldn't be abated in the slightest if you just healed them, they would want to see you dead.

Besides, the repercussions of doing this would probably come later down the road, and at that time, Ark would have probably grown appropriately, at least to an extent at which he could protect himself. He still felt a little guilty for the old man's death, but there wasn't much else he could have done. As soon as the old man lost his arm, Ark felt that it was for the best to just kill him off completely. Who would want to live as a cripple in a world like this, where strength ruled everything? The horrible pain caused by such a wound was surely devastating as well.

Ark didn't delude himself to imagine himself some warrior of justice, but he wasn't evil, not by a longshot. Sometimes killing someone quickly was just the best outcome. Leah seemed to be in a daze by all of this though, and who could really blame her, she had just watched a youth her age kill two people because of a dispute.

Ark did reflect a little bit because of this incident though, the next time something like this happens, he would be less rash. He was just way too stressed out at the moment, as his only friend ran the risk of passing away each second. It was normal, who would be able to keep their calm under such a situation? Some people, but currently, Ark wasn't one of them.

...

From the shadows within the city, a human silhouette was silently watching the entire ordeal. As Ark killed both of the people from the holy church, the silhouette revealed a white row of teeth as it silently retreated back deep into the shadows.

...

Leah was currently on the verge of losing her mind, she was scared out of her wits, and she didn't know what to do at all, she wanted to just run away and scream, but she was afraid the youth would kill her as well if he was annoyed. She didn't think he would be that rash, but she couldn't be sure, and it was better to be safe than sorry when playing with your life. At first, she was a bit awed when she saw this handsome youth, but that awe had turned into complete horror at this point, and she just wanted to go home. Getting brought to this world had actually completely ruined her life, and a sliver of hate against those who summoned her blossomed in her gentle heart.

...

Meanwhile, in another place.

A dark silhouette was rushing along the alleys of a bustling city, while the streets were filled with food stalls and shops, filled with the smell of different kinds of food and aromas, filled with an atmosphere of happiness and joy, the alleys were filled with a weird odor. The alleys were lined with people lying on the street, filled with a desolate atmosphere, and no feeling of hope. This was the difference between two areas in the same city, and this was life. If you were well off or affluent, you could lead a happy life with the people you loved. But what about the people who didn't have money, family, or power? What about them? This was what usually happened to those people.

They didn't have the money to buy the food or clothes they needed, they didn't have the power to take what they deserved, and they didn't have any family to fall back on. Of course, only the bad cases would end up like this, but the fact still stands, life isn't fair, and everyone can't be happy. Now how do you fix this? You can't, at least not completely, all you can do is try and help as many as possible. This is where the holy church had failed miserably, or, well, not really.

You have to at least try, to be able to fail.

The holy church was created a long time ago, and they had seized massive amounts of wealth and influence at this point in time. There was no questioning it, the human world was mostly run by the holy church. But were they really a "holy" church? Of course not, in fact, they were worse than a lot of people, as Ark had just seen. They discriminate a lot more than normal people, believing everything other than light magic to be inferior. Especially dark magic which is heavily frowned upon, even seen as something evil. Even though the darkness element is just as normal and orthodox as the light element.

They also believe in human supremacy, even though that isn't the case at all. There is a multitude of races that are inherently stronger than humans, the only problem is their numbers. How is a strong race meant to be able to fight millions of humans, if they are only in the thousands, especially if the humans have the potential to grow infinitely?

The problem with this world's human society was that the holy church had too much influence. They could basically brainwash whoever they wanted, especially the poor common people since they all wanted something to believe in, something which could save their miserable lives. In fact, the holy church was quite the opposite, they collected a lot of donations, giving them wealth. With this wealth, they rapidly developed and started to grow their influence. With this influence, they started to quietly take control of multiple towns, cities, and even kingdoms. The tax that they collected was actually a lot more compared to other places, and common people suffered without their knowing. They just blamed their ruler, assuming he was the problem, even though the holy church was the one controlling everything from the shadows. This was a common scene around the Oshwalt empires sphere of influence.

The dark silhouette didn't stop until it appeared in front of an inn. The inn was pretty small for a big city like this, and it was pretty desolate at the front. The silhouette just barged through the swing doors of the inn, before speeding upstairs...