The Slums, Water

Blaze and Leus entered an alley, And they kept moving forward for quite a while

'We've been walking for a bit and all I see is this seemingly endless wall'

Leus thought that to himself and asked

"Isn't it a bit too deep inside?"

"Yes, To enter the living districts you need to walk for a bit, It's designed like that to make it isolated from the rest of the city"

Blaze tapped on the wall beside him and continued

"To foster a dangerous lifestyle they must be isolated,

Also, If it was directly connected to the rest of the city then that would cause problems to the people who don't live in the slums too.

Thus, Earth Magicians built these long and thick walls, to make entering and exiting the slums only possible through this kind of long alleys."

Leus nodded

'They really thought this through'

After walking for some more time Blaze and Leus walked out of the alley, And they entered the living districts of the slums

Leus was observing what he was seeing

Different housing units, Some are big and some are small,

Each has a slightly different build quality but overall it's weak and not reliable

'Most of the houses are more like huts, The infrastructure is deteriorated'

There were many houses built with wood and a few stones to support it

If he looked deep inside he'd see somewhat bigger and stronger houses, But that's only compared to the wooden houses

'Ultimately it's all low quality but few are better'

Leus and Blaze slowly moved forward, And Leus took note of everything around him

Many people were sitting in front of their house rather than inside it,

Some were doing laundry, Others were just conversing, But what they all had in common is that they all looked impoverished, Poor, and not in the best shape'

Blaze slowed down and made Leus take the lead, Leus noticed that and moved forward.

Leus noticed how most people would just stare at him uncomfortably for long

'They all are blatantly staring at me, Interesting how in the city they take glances then look away but here they don't really stop looking'

But he wasn't really bothered by it, He just found their behavior interesting

'Cultural difference'

Every few houses they would see small children playing together, Chasing each other, or playing simple games

'Cute kids, The atmosphere here somewhat reminds me of my old life ...'

'It's interesting how everything about my past life looks so distant and unimportant ever since I came to this world'

Leus quickly ignored all the thoughts about his old life and continued walking

In front of a particular house, Leus saw a mother and a small girl

The girl looked very young, Maybe 6 years old.

The small girl was sitting on the stairs and crying and her mother was comforting her.

Beside the girl, There was an empty bucket.

'Interesting'

Leus was intrigued, so he walked towards the girl, and Blaze followed him.

The mother became visibly uncomfortable about their approach, but she didn't say anything.

When they were close enough, Blaze stayed a couple of steps back and Leus went towards the girl and her mother alone

Both the girl and her mother had red hair and red eyes,

Their bodies looked somewhat weak and showed signs of malnutrition, Just like 90% of the people Leus had seen since he entered, and the house was more on the lowest-quality side

'I think this means that they are of the poorest families here'

Leus walked to the girl and asked

"Hello, Why are you crying?"

The mother seemed nervous and tightly held her daughter's hand.

Leus found that very strange.

'Is she scared of me? But don't I look just like a kid?'

'Why would she be scared of a kid?'

' ... Is the situation really this bad'

The girl spoke through her tears

She pointed at the bucket and said

"Because I'm thirsty!"

Leus was ready to help but

'Why would they not have water? Isn't water a basic right?'

'It can't be to the extent of not being able to afford WATER, Right?'

So he asked

"Why don't you have water?"

The girl didn't reply and just looked at her mother

The mother was nervous, But after a few seconds she gulped and started talking

"Bec- Because my husband didn't pay Protection money today"

"Protection money? What's that?"

The woman was confused when she heard the question, She looked at Blaze, But his face was quite scary, devoid of any emotions

So she quickly turned around and looked at Leus again

"You don't know about Protection Money?"

Leus shook his head

"No, I'm not from around here, Just walking by"

"We pay protection money to the Sharp Fang gang, And they protect the district from other gangs"

'Huh ... So it's extortion'

But that still didn't answer Leus' original question

"Even then, What does that have to do with water?"

"Ahh- Yes, Everyone can fill two buckets for free from the wells, But if we don't pay protection money then we pay with water instead"

'Pay with water?'

' ... What a weird concept'

"And how much is that protection money?"

"1 bronze coin every two days"

Leus nodded, but honestly, he didn't understand

' ... How much is that'

He had no clue how much value a bronze coin held, but he felt embarrassed to ask the woman about that, so he turned to Blaze

However, Blaze's face was ...

'Strange'

Leus instinctively felt that Blaze wasn't going to answer,

So he turned back to the woman and asked a different question

"How much does your husband earn?"

"1 or 2 bronze coins per day, Depending on how the day goes"

'So assuming he earns 1 bronze coin per day, they take 50% of his earnings every two days, And if he earns two then they take 25%'

Leus asked a final question

"Are those, "Sharp Gang" .. Really protecting you?"

"Kind of?

If we don't pay they'll take our water, And if they decide it's not enough it could be worse ...

As long as we pay we are safe, So protection money protects us."

' ... So that's how it is ... Protection Money protects her from the gang itself, I see'

Leus put up a smile and said

"Thank you for your time"

He turned to the little girl

"Let me show you a trick, Close your eyes"

The girl looked at her mother and her mother nodded, So she closed her eyes

Leus extended his hand forward and silently cast Water

Within seconds, The bucket was filled to the brim with water

"Open it now!"

The girl's eyes sparkled with joy, She jumped and hugged Leus

"Wow, You're amazing!"

Leus patted her head

'No child should suffer like that just for water'

He was quite upset about it but didn't let it show on his face

'I can't come and judge their life .. I'll just do what I can'

The girl started drinking like she didn't drink for years

The mother was just staring at Leus with reverence

She bowed her head and said

"Thank you, Thank you so much, Good Sir"

Leus smiled at her

"No Ma'am, Please, It's okay"

The mother looked at Leus and opened her mouth, Then closed it again, She did that twice

Leus tilted his head

'Does she want to say something?'

He asked

"Is there something else you want?"

The woman lowered her head and asked in a low voice

"Can you fill another bucket too?"

" .... Yes, Sure"

The woman quickly went inside to bring the other bucket

'To think that something as simple as this is this important here ...'

Leus looked in the distance and remembered his encounter with Sal

'Once again, I feel indebted to everyone who helped me to become more powerful, Sal and My family ... I'll pay you back someday'