A visit to the Slums

After a few minutes of me trying to find the way back to the guild we arrived with no more interruptions. Next to the door already stood Irena. Her blond golden hair shimmering underneath the Sun, she seemed a bit stressed out and was constantly watching a small pocket watch in her hand and her left food twitched.

I was just about to call her over when her gaze suddenly turned to me. Almost instantly most of her clear distress vanished and, in its stead, shined her typical warm smile and she rushed over to us.

"VALIE! YOU ARE BACK!!! I am so relieved to see you again!"

And she jumped at me with her arms wide open. I was too surprised to react on time and she made us both fall to the floor. Me on the bottom. It kinda hurt. And I couldn't breathe nor see. There was something soft pressing against my face.

"Mphmhmm!" I tried to get Irena off of me and flapped my wings wildly on the ground. Luckily Irena tried to get us both up herself but kept hugging me tight. Maybe I wasn't so fond of hugging after all...

"Valie! Your back! Did anything happen? Was anyone mean to you?! Oh, but those clothes... they are so cute, trying to be cool my little girl!" And she pressed her cheek against mine. She reminded me of an animal my master had told me about, a cat was it, I believe.

"They are not cute! And no, everything went fine"

"Sure Valie, it looks 'cool'! If anyone was mean to you just say the word and I beat them up~" she said happily. "But where did you got the money for all of that?"

"I sold stuff"

"Ahh... sorry, I wanted to give you some, but I needed to buy the goods for the Refugees first, you understand that? don't you?" and her tone became almost pleading.

"It's fine, honestly calm down Irena. I need your help"

Her eyes begun to sparkle, and I could see tears of joy flowing out of them.

"VALIE NEEDS HELP FROM MEEEEEE! This is the best day of my life! Just say what it is and I'll help you with everything I got!"

"Ehm... thanks for being so enthusiastic... Miss Bunny here needs our help to find her daughter"

The Bunny women awoke from her short stupor and started pleading.

"Lady Irena I beg of you to find my daughter!"

"Before we talk about that could you please tell us your name?"

"Oh pardon me, my name is Shira and my daughter is called Shiroia"

Thus Shira and me told Irena the whole story. Irena seemed all fired up about helping the Bunny women. I also told Irena about what the guard said to me, even though I was slightly worried that she might refuse to help, out of consideration for me...

"OK. That settles it. Any danger to my cute little Valie must be exterminated immediately. The earlier the better, but we have to make sure that we eliminate each and every one of them, or they might get funny ideas! ...and separating children from their parents is an unforgivable crime too! I shall bring judgement upon those Fools!"

Her priority order seemed a little off, but at least she was onboard.

"Thanks Irena! You're the best! Let's head out to Miss Bunny's House!"

"Could I trouble you to not call me that? It's embarrassing..." Shira mumbled very silently and I overheard her, I liked miss Bunny more.

"Yes! Just give me a moment, I'll inform Brandon and the Others.

[Friend of the animals: Bird Familiar]" Irena chanted a spell and a few seconds later a little bird approached her and landed on her palm. Irena moved her mouth towards it and whispered something. Then the bird left.

"Whoa what was that, Irena?" I asked very curious about what had happened.

Irena smiled as usual "It's a skill, Friend of the animals. I can use it to temporarily contract animals and give them small tasks, for example deliver a message"

"The bird can talk?!"

"No, not exactly. It's done via wind magic. It conserves my voice and can release its content once before it disperses again"

"That's so cool!"

"It sure is! But I have to be careful. If I harm a contracted animal the skill will be locked for a certain time. I once summoned a cute albino fox pup and cuddled it a bit. Couldn't use the skill for two months... Well, whatever let's get moving!"

"Yes please do so" Shira said, seemingly a bit worried about our groups priorities.

We followed Shira outside the city gates, nothing unusual happened along the way. Only the guards manning the western Gate seemed to obviously look the other way when Shira left. We walked along a dirt path along the walls and after a few minutes arrived at the Slums.

I had never seen slums before and the contrast of living inside and outside the walls was big. Every 'house' or rather hut was a miracle on its own. They seemed to be standing rather due to force of will or some kind of magic than logic. And even to me it felt they could all break apart at any given moment. They were made out of rotten wood planks, tattered cloth and worn-down ropes. There was also another problem. The smell. In the city it was mostly clean and the smell of various foods prevailed. But here... I smelled... various 'waste products' of living beings. I would honestly rather camp in the wilderness than living here. My expression changed to one of disgust. Irena didn't do much better either. Only Shira seemed unfazed by all of this, but she noticed our clear distaste.

"I am sorry that you have to witness this... but that's how we life"

"That's bad. Why don't you just go camp outside?" I asked.

"We can't. It's unsafe for most to just camp outside, especially those with children"

"Ohh..." I was a bit embarrassed that I didn't understood why they had choosen to life here. I had to understand that my situation was a whole lot different than theirs.

"We can only hope that the Kingdom will one day accept us as citizens and grant us some land to work on... Ahh were here, that's my home"

We stood before a hut which looked just like all the others.

"Okay. You said your daughter was on her way to play with a friend of hers, right? Could you tell us where that friend lives?" Irena asked.

"Eh sure? But as I said she had gone missing after she left her... also would it be okay for you if I would stay here? I have a little son inside who is waiting for me. He is still very little and can't be left alone for too long... I am sorry"

"No. That works just fine. Could you just describe the way to this friend of her's?"

Shira described the way to Chanu, the friend of Shiroia as well as his and her daughters looks.

We left Shira behind and made our way through the filth ridden streets. The streets were filled with people cowering under crude tents and all sorts of waste. But there were also a few children happily playing around. Almost all of the people were Demi-humans, most of them beastmen and I saw not a single human. We drew quite a bit of attention, but most seemed to be keeping their distance.

"The Holy Kingdom truly is anything but holy... Bunch of jerks... should all Piss of and die" Irena spoke to herself.

"Are those people here because of them?"

"Mostly. Yes. The Holy Kingdom has in recent years increased their oppression of Demi-humans, only dwarfs are an exception. And thus, many had to flee"

"Sounds like a place I should just burn down when the time comes..." I mumbled to myself.

"What did you say?"

"Ehhm nothing... no nothing. Just said that they're meanies!"

"Yeah... just sad that we can't do anything about them" a flash of resignation came across Irena's face.