A city that looks like fortress

Ten minutes before his time was up in there, he went to the showers again.

The Avatars didn't tamper with that water.

He thanked the heavens for that.

Liam found the neatly folded clothes on a bench. It was only one pair. He guessed that the other clothes might have been delivered to his room.

He found the clothes a little too loose for his taste but they seemed to be normal here. He found a cloak under the clothes and smiled to himself. 'That attendant needs a raise.'

He took his dirty clothes with him as he left and saw a few people entering the communal bathing area.

A shriek sounded after a moment. "Ah, why is it so hot?" sure enough the water couldn't cool down as easily as the Avatars had risen it and they didn't care about anyone else. Sometime later when someone exited the sauna or hot spring to cool off in the cold pool, they couldn't break through the ice layer and had to resort to half measures such as taking a cold shower.

Liam went to the reception desk and asked what they did with the other clothes. Then he asked them to wash the ones he was wearing and went to his room. He checked the clothes. There was more than he expected. This didn't hinder their quality. It all looked good. There were another one of those special bags and he stuffed the clothes inside it with all his other stuff.

He laid down on the bed and started to examine the bag again. The small bag looked like it was fused with the glass, but how had they managed to do this. After some time he discovered that the stone had a tiny amount of energy inside of it. But the stone looked like regular glass. He poured his attention to the stone and a few minutes later it started to show results. A symbol started to make itself known. This was the first step of the secret. He knew this but his eyes were getting too strained and he had to take a break.

He left the inn and went to take a stroll. The sunrise was a couple of hours away and people were getting their stuff together. Unnoticed by Liam, the lady from the inn was following him from a distance.

Liam was observing the place thoughtfully. The whole structure seemed to have been built for efficiency. There was no place, that was useless. Every nook and cranny was filled with something. The people looked to be living comfortably despite being slaves.

He was against slavery, but this didn't look like that kind of slavery. The people were treated fairly and only the people without any marks were treated above them. Still, the so-called slaves were treated nicely.

'Maybe it's a sort of contract?' he thought as he saw people moving about with their business. He saw a vendor that was still open and asked what it was selling.

"Hah! That's nice, I'll take two, how much?"

"40 copper coins."

"Huh, that might complicate things," he sounded glum for a moment but brightened a moment later as he thought of something. "I will give you something but put it away as fast as you can, I won't take it back, I won't even accept it, so here," he had taken a silver coin out of one of the pouches and placed it in the man's palm, closing it right after. The man's eyes widened in surprise as he felt the coin. He had never held that coin before, so he could only guess what it was. It was much bigger than the rest of them. He mostly got copper and bronze for his wares. He had never held silver or gold coins. He thought that it was just a bigger bronze coin and thanked the man for his patronage. He packed up his wares after handing him five sticks of sweet candy, just to compensate for the difference.

Only that the difference was bigger then he thought and would find it out later when he started to count the money he had made that day. If he truly knew what Liam had given him then he'd probably give everything in the cart to him.

Liam revealed in the taste. He didn't think that he could get to taste something so sweet this soon. He also didn't think that this place had sweets, as it looked like a place where only the necessary things would be.

Thinking like that didn't get him anywhere. He walked around until he felt his side being lighter than before. He patted the place where he held the pouch and sighed, it was gone. So, this place holds pick-pocketers as well. How funny!

He closed his eyes and walked forward seeming to walk without direction. In truth, he placed another empty pouch on his side. By now they should have discovered that the pouch had been empty, so they should be targeting him now with a different kind of strategy.

They knew he was carrying some of his money with him. They couldn't get to his room as he was staying in a high-class inn. You had to prove that you had the money to stay in that place. There were even guards on every entry to the building. So, they couldn't clean out his room.

Little did they know that everything he had was on him. He was like a moving goldmine; they just didn't know it yet. They wouldn't ever find it out either.

Liam was training his perception, his eyes closed. He focused on everything that was around him. The smell of things. The direction of the small breeze. What smells that it brought? How far off to the side were the buildings? When was the next intersection and so on...?

Walking around like this, he caught a wif of a kid who was running around playfully with the other kids. The kid was giving off a familiar smell, and it made him suspicious. Liam caught the boy on his next run which would have made him stumble or lose his balance so he would have to interact with the boy's target, who was Liam.

The kid's heart raced like never before. He had been beaten before and being caught meant getting beaten. But nothing of the kind happened.

Liam opened his eyes.

"You have something of mine, return it and I'll buy your freedom," The man had said the vods every slave wants to hear. The boy didn't need to do anything to get it either, just returne what he took. He didn't think twice and gave him his money pouch back. He was a little embarrassed but he wanted freedom more than anything. He wanted to get away from the thriving group he had been forced in to. The thought, that the man was joking or scamming him didn't cross his mind. Even if he did, he wouldn't lose much but could gain much more, if he was telling the truth.

"Now tell me, where should I go, to make this little deal official?" this made the boy smile.

"I will take you there, it is always open," the boy's demeanor changed drastically. He looked very respectful.

The boy took Liam through the city to the other side of it. Zigzagging through it. Showing him alleys that he couldn't even notice before. It made him aware of secret corners everywhere.

He started to notice flies that followed their movements. Shadows that never left and only watched. Shadows that sometimes changed shape but always followed.

But the boy was true to his words and took him to the Trade Center of Maple City.

'So, it's a city... that looks like a fortress'