Chapter 15: Levaerûn: The Lawless Town Prt 5

Nighttime arrived at the town of Levaerûn. Just like last night, the dark side of the town once more emerged again from the surface of the marketplace.

The human slaves were being displayed in front of the shop for the crowds gathering around to see, along with the dealers blocking and discussing with any potential customers.

I closed my eyes as I felt the gentle wind touching my face and looked up to the starry sky where the full moon was currently present.

The moon showed up again, which means It's already been some months since I was summoned here. It's hard to adjust at first, but life here has slowly become a part of me now.

Besides, I'm actually an otherworlder, and nobody had noticed it aside from Rudolf. 

Maybe the magic book has something to do with this; too bad I will never know because I accidentally burned it into ashes.

The wooden door opened, and the gentle smile of the old man emerged and walked towards me.

I think he came here to get the clothes hung on the clothesline.

I nodded at him to answer his smile.

"My daughter, Lina, mentioned you earlier; she said that you're quite approachable, which is relatively rare behavior for a new visitor to this place." He put his hand on his chest. "By the way, I'm Heizou Cross, the owner of this inn."

I smiled. "I'm Troy Hercules."

He stood next to me and pushed his eyeglasses while looking at the scenery beneath. "Have you been enjoying your stay in Levaerûn?"

"It has most of what you would expect from a place called a lawless town."

He gently chuckled and slowly shook his head. "Maybe it doesn't look like it at first, but this chaotic place is a safe haven for many people who have nowhere to return to." His eyes locked onto a certain group, watching them roaming the marketplace.

I turned my gaze to the group he was watching and found three familiar faces, the four youngsters earlier. Now, there were not only four of them. Walking with them were five children, consisting of beastfolks and demon children much younger than them.

Their huge, genuine smile was completely visible while buying food in one of the stalls.

I turned my eyes to mister Heizou. 

"Do you know them?"

He nodded.

"Along with escaped slaves from the human kingdoms in the Capital, they arrived here a few weeks ago. The three elders of the group are trying their best to help everyone in their group to survive. I used to give them food to help them, but they just suddenly stopped coming. Maybe they decided to continue their lives on their own and felt like they were inconveniencing me. Which is quite sad."

"It must have been hard to be in their situation."

"Don't worry, those children are exceptionally strong."

I know they are; I saw it firsthand, but I also saw how desperation has been pushing them to their very limits.

"May I ask, Mister Heizou, if it's alright?"

"What is it, Troy?"

"Why did you decide to betray your family? I heard that aristocratic nobles don't have a good relationship with demi-humans or other races. Do other nations have the same treatment towards other races?"

He remained silent for a few seconds before finally answering my questions.

"I felt like it was too much. For other races, it was hard to live here, especially when the nobles already ruled this town. My family was the first to settle here. This place used to be free in my earlier years in this place when rules were still non-existent." He pushed his glasses up. "But after the rebellion and even with the current state of this town, it is still much better to stay in this chaotic place than to live in greater fear within the kingdom's territory. This place has little to no order, but human's judgment towards demi-humans and other races has no sympathy, and I can say the same to the demi-human kingdoms towards a human like me."

There's no place to go.

"Just like those children who have no place to go back to. This is the only place for us. For some, this is a place where you can do whatever you please, but for us, this place is our very last sanctuary. This is the only place where I can peacefully live with my daughter without the judging eyes of others."

Now I understand. A place where the people who have no place to go. 

This is what kind of place it is.

And what it should be.

The only thing this place lacks is order.

"Mister Heizou, I just have heard earlier about the people known as the faction leaders. Do you know them?"

Mister Heizou's eyebrows instantly furrowed. "Why? Are you interested in challenging one of them?"

I faked a chuckle. "No. Why would I? I'm just curious."

If one of those faction leaders like Xin, I might have become like the Minotaur earlier.

"I see." He nodded. "This entire town is under the governance of three factions, each with their own territory, and the three faction leaders are the most powerful individuals in this town. Each of them is so strong that two of the three leaders are still governing their factions since they were established ten years ago."

So, since the three factions were founded ten years ago, only one of them got replaced? I heard that tons of visitors come into this town to challenge them. I don't want to know what happened to all of them.

"May I know who they are?"

"Of course, it's not a secret in this place anyway. The faction leader of this place we're standing on is Leo, the invincible of Fang faction." He pointed his finger towards the middle part of the town, which I hadn't been to yet. "The central part of this town is under the governance of the second faction, the Marionette faction, led by the Puppet master, Light."

He pointed his index finger towards the farthest part of the town. "And lastly, half of the town is currently under the control of the Spriggan faction, led by the Shadow fairy, Freya."

"I see. Now that we're at it, I've met someone named Xin earlier. Do you know him?"

He smiled. "Of course, remember when I said that only two of them remained in their statuses? Three years ago, Leo defeated Xin, and he gladly gave up his throne and agreed to become Leo's right hand."

"That's why people are calling him Master Xin earlier."

"Yes, because even if he's no longer in position, the respect of the people, not only in this faction but all over the town, didn't lessen. After all, Xin, along with the other two faction leaders, defended this place for seven years against the attack coming from the knight and shadow dwellers of the Capital during the war that ended three years ago before Leo arrived and took his place. They are the heroes of the citizens of Levaerûn," Heizou explained. 

"I see. It's good to know about it."

That man deserves mad respect.

Now, there's only one thing that I have to do.

If I can't find a good place to live, why not establish one?

I stared toward the marketplace and watched the scenery beneath us. The only lacking in this town were quality and unison. This town might prosper. 

"First, let's unite all the factions first."

Can I do it, Cherubim?

[Is it what you desire?]

Yes.

[Then I'll support you]

And pray that I won't regret this.