Vol.1 - Chapter 1: A New Journey! (7/10)

After the boy's words, the man nodded his head in agreement. Before Shin could ask what was on his mind, the man in front of him continued the conversation.

''Nice to meet you too, Shin. You must really know nothing to be wandering around like this. It's good that a young man like you is curious, but things are a bit complicated in this city, especially in this area.''

While saying this, he was also wondering how the boy in front of him would react. After all, according to him, he was a little boy who had just started his journey. He thought that travelling in such a mysterious and dangerous place might arouse fear in him. When the expression on the boy's face did not change even a little bit in the face of what he said, he continued his speech with a smile.

''I guess you still want to satisfy your curiosity. As I said, it may have seemed strange to you that I suddenly appeared in front of you, but if you want, you can follow me and learn something. I can't stand here and chat, but I'm free all the way to the center of the city, so it's up to you whether you trust me or not.''

After saying that, he slowly moved in front of Shin and started walking.

'The sun has already set. This is a strange place indeed, and I have no idea what it will turn into in the middle of the night. It would be better for me to go back. This guy seems to be trying to help me.'

So the chestnut-haired boy started to follow the big man who was already on the move.

---

''Actually, I didn't come here because I wanted to. It was the closest city around here.''

''Hahaha!''

Hearing the boy's words, the big man suddenly burst out in laughter. Shin was surprised because he didn't understand what was happening. He started to think about whether he had said something funny or not, but before he could come up with his own answer, the man next to him cleared the question marks in his head.

''I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself for a moment. You know, this is Katim. You must not have had much luck to be dragged here at such a young age.''

Shin was completely enlightened by the man's last sentence. At first he really didn't know anything about this city, but the conversations he had had with the people he had met since he arrived had sparked a few ideas in his head. Now he thought that by talking to the man next to him, he could learn something extra from him. That's why he preferred to pretend that he didn't know much.

''I think you are right. I've heard that this is not the best place to start a new adventure. However, when I think about how the war affected this place, it seems a bit ridiculous. The capital is closer to the elves, isn't it, and this place is somewhat close, but wouldn't it be a waste of time and materials to bring the army here? After all, there is a huge gap between the nearest settlement and this city. There are no people living in that empyt area.''

''Haahh...''

The big man sighed deeply and fell silent for a few seconds. There was a slight sadness on his face after the boy's last words. At the same time, this sadness was followed by anger...

''You are absolutely right. A war fought through this city would be to the detriment of the whole of Ardevant Kingdom. But this city, which is supposed to ensure the rise of Eastern Ardevant, does so through war, but not through trade!''

Shin asked with an expression on his face that showed he did not understand the situation.

''If it is to their own loss to involve Katim in the war, why would they march from here? Also, don't they know that the city is suffering from this, isn't this one of the cities of the kingdom?"

''This is a place where trade is it's core and the city is right in the middle of Eastern Ardevant. At least East Ardevant as seen on the map. So it has a location that could be very important in the future. However, unfortunately, our kingdom has decided to choose the present over the future. Because they made this choice with a sneaky plan, only Katim was harmed, not their army. In other words, they just threw this city away!''

''I think I basically understand the situation, but what could they have done if they didn't send the army? What do you mean by a sneaky plan?"

''You must really come from a deserted village. Anyone who knows Katim knows what's going on here. Anyway, if you really don't know, let me explain it simply. They used Katim's system to send 'adventurer' troops here. Since these troops were not part of the army, Ardevant didn't have to do much to lead them. Thus, the kingdom's soldiers were not harmed and they could use Katim as an extra fortification to pressure the elves.''

''Then why did Katim suffer? Don't they have adventurers here too, why didn't they just use them? You guys would have made money and Ardevant would have benefited more too.''

Shin continued his questions with his mind full of doubts. The fact that he had so many questions this time had silenced Kulong for a while, but he seemed satisfied with that and had a smile on his face.

''Although you are young, you are quite sharp, but unfortunately there is more to this story. Of course, at first we thought it would have been better to use the adventurers from our city, but in the end it was just another 'adventurer' unit and they could have contributed to our business. After all, if they had sent the army of the kingdom, the army could have sat idly by and consumed what we had until they received orders, right? And what do you think these 'adventurous' troops did from the moment they arrived? They've done nothing but talk crap. On top of that, they said they were here to protect the city and tried to impose tribute on us. Even though they were sent by the kingdom, they consumed our supplies even more than they needed. The kingdom didn't even see these expenses, let alone cover them!''

The big man was getting angry as he continued to talk. Shin, on the contrary, was pleased to learn new information, but there was a small problem for him as well. As they talked, they had almost reached the center of the city. So, taking into account the growing irritation of the man next to him, he asked the most comprehensive questions he could think of in order to learn more.

''I really don't understand, Kulong-san. There must be many strong people from the guilds to defend this place. Why would Ardevant send people to protect Katim and do something that would do more harm than good?"

''The reason for that is quite simple. Ardevant never really considered Katim to be important at the first place. Anyone who has lived in the city for only a few years at any time since it was founded can understand the situation. Knowing this, the people of Katim gave up on Ardevant a long time ago. But this time it is Kingdom's stupidity that makes me mad! It's obvious that they don't care about us, but we are part of the Kingdom of Ardevant and we are as much a loyal part of it as any other city. So it's completely absurd that they would harm us for no reason! It's not just the use of our supplies, but also Ardevant's management of these 'adventurer' troops. What they really wanted when they sent them was to attack the elves in small groups and distract them, but as I said, Ardevant let these troops go and hardly interfered with them! These 'adventurers' were so fond of themselves that they stayed in the city almost the whole time and sucked us dry by using the name of the kingdom! Even though there were a lot of unlawful trade guilds here, the big and loyal guilds like the Golden Raven Guild, where I am from, suffered a lot. It was enough for them to satisfy the kingdom with their occasional small expeditions, and in the end, we, the people of Katim, were the losers in the war.''

Kulong spoke for a long time without stopping. Shin was also satisfied, thinking that he had learned some good things with the responses he received.

''Haahh... Anyway, that's all in the past. You came here at the best possible opportunity. By the way, what did you want to learn about the city?"

Shin was a little stunned that he asked this almost after their talk was over. He asked him the last question in his mind and the most important question of the day for him.

''Ahh, that's right, that's why we started talking about it. I almost forgot when I was caught up in what you were saying. As I said, I don't know much about the war, but I don't know this city either. That's why I was looking around, but the place just a while ago caught my eye. It looked different from the rest of the city. Darker and more mysterious.''