"Originally, Ana lived in the third district. That's the name for the whole area behind this wall. The people who live there are... Poor, weak, and completely pushed away from society. They are living with too many people in a disproportionate place, too little to comfortably house all of them. Moreover, they only get the bare minimum of food from outside. It's a literal hellhole there." Lance explained.
"But why are they staying there, then? If it's that bad, can't they move to some other place, maybe outside the city even?"
"You have to be aware of a few things. First of all, getting out of Vinclum is not as easy as getting into it. In order to leave through the gate you either need support from a high official or a special badge. You should've one of those badges, which makes you able to leave the city whenever you please. But these people don't have them, so they're stuck. The alternative is leaving by boat, but neither the pirates nor the merchants are fond of intruders on their ships. Often they land back in the city, recaptured as slaves and sold off to some noble. Being a slave to a noble is a fate far worse than being in that hellhole..."
"That's awful..."
"It is, but it's the sad reality. Surprisingly enough, nine years ago there was not even a single stone standing between the two districts. However, after the fall of Sarah Domevale, daughter of the deceased Tarroc Domevale, a few nobles took over the city, banished the poor to this place, and built a wall around it to separate them from the city. 'A necessary cleansing', they called it. Since they targeted a few minorities that weren't liked by the common man, they managed to get the support from the people too..." Lance balled his fists in frustration.
"Aside from the poor, they also sent convicted thiefs, swindlers, drug dealers and so on to this place. In other words, they gathered the ones they deemed to be the lowest of society in one place. The result is a cesspool of unorganized human beings, left with nothing but their primal nature. I probably don't have to tell you the atrocities that happen in there..."
Rose gulped. Lance was basically telling her she was only a few meters and a wall apart from hell, in which literally everything was possible.
"A few years ago, I managed to acquire my current position. It was a post nobody wanted to be responsible for, and the noble I had taken it from even tried to give me money for taking over. Of course, I did not need nor want that filthy money. The first times I went into the place were rough, but after a while the people somewhat opened up. I helped them get food and work, and they allowed me to set some rules in return. It helped me to gain some control over the district, and returned some peace to the people there. Heavy crimes still happen, but they're way less frequent and less tolerated."
Lance did not seem fond of the wealthy people, despite being one himself. Somehow, it didn't struck Rose as strange, considering he voluntarily lived at the edge of a poor, chaotic district. Yet, she wondered if he had chosen this path mainly because of sympathy for the poor, or out of hate for the rich.
"Ana's parents lived inside this district. They were very poor, just like the others. Child birth was and is rampant in the district, but so is child death. Even with the support they're getting nowadays, still about half of the children die before they turn one. Note that Ana was born before I had this position, a time in which there was no support at all. Children were even less likely to survive the horrible environment... But Ana was an exception. She somehow pulled through and managed to grow up in that mess. Moreover, her parents had protected her so much that she barely had come into contact with anything remotely bad. She is a very lucky girl in that sense."
Rose nodded. Ana's parents had been heroes for the girl. They kept her alive and healthy and protected her from all the danger in an area most likely close to a war zone. She couldn't imagine how much effort and how many sacrifices they had to make to keep the girl away from all that sadness.
"Three years ago, in an attempt to give the people inside the wall a purpose without risking retaliation from the noble's side, I let a factory be built on the edge of the city, in place of the original gate. The goal was to allow the people inside the third district to do some basic work, while earning extra money or food for themselves or their relatives. The project kicked off well and people started to work. One of those people was Ana's father."
Lance looked down into nothingness while he continued the story.
"However, I was too naive. I believed that giving the people more food and money would do good for them, but it created a huge gap between workers and non-workers. There were only a set amount of people the factory could accommodate, so thus only a handful of people reaped the rewards of the system. People who were not allowed to work were jealous of the ones who were, and jealousy turned into anger, which in turn turned into fights and stealing. I had, in my attempted goodwill, upset the balance and it somehow wanted to straighten itself back again. I mean, it was only natural. Some people were barely alive, while others had enough food to pass the days without any issues. We managed to solve it after a few days by expanding the factory and distributing a portion of the total rewards to all the people, but it was already too late then. Probably hundreds had been attacked those days, including Ana's family. Her father and her mother died protecting her before her eyes, while a group of violent robbers took away all their food and money. When I found her the day after sitting next to those bodies, I immediately knew that was the direct result of my naivety. Their deaths were blood on my hands."
"But you only wanted to do good! There's nobody who could've predicted it would turn out that way..."
"I'm happy you want to comfort me, but it was a fatal mistake I cannot oversee. The factory is the reason why some of the nobles supported me, but maybe if I'd pushed harder it wouldn't have come to that. Either way, that's when I took in Ana into my house. It was the only way I could atone for my sins. But soon enough, the nobles found out and threatened me by saying they would not allow Ana, 'a filthy third district bug', to live here. Of course I ignored them, but one noble went a step further and staged an assassination attempt on her. At that time I did not have security or maids, so it was easy for them to break in. Luckily I had slightly deviated from my normal routine that day, catching them red-handed. Even though I still don't know who had sent them, I managed to put pressure on the nobles, treating it as a personal attack. The Council, an entity that among other things makes the judgement of issues between nobles, judged that my house was off the jurisdiction of the nobles. I have no idea why that man helped me, but it might be the only time in life I was grateful to him."
"That man?"
"Geoffrey Domevale. Yes, as you might suspect, he's the older brother of Sarah Domevale. However, he was not in the city when his sister fell, and was smart enough to give up his right to rule when some nobles had taken over the power. In return, he gained the position of the head of the Council. While he can't make decisions without support of the other judges, many respect him and his reasoning and follow his judgement."
He sighed.
"However, apart from that, the man is a basta- Oh, I'm sorry for my rude language! I mean to say he's not a very friendly type, especially towards non-nobles."
There was clearly some beef between those two, but Rose decided not to ask. She wanted to hear the continuation of the story.
"He decided I had helped the third district a lot, and therefore I was free to do with my house what I wanted to do. He proclaimed my house a 'gate between the second and the third district'."
"So in other words, you could let people from beyond the wall come here?"
"Yes. However, if they ever escaped, it would be my responsibility to get them back or face the consequences. I'm still sure it was a trap to chain me down whenever he wanted, but I accepted anyways. It was exactly the freedom I was looking for. Apart from Ana, I took in a couple of other people, mostly the young ones without a family to take care of them."
"The maids..."
"They're all from the third district, properly trained over the years. They get food, a place to sleep and even a nice salary. Additionally, as long as they're working here, they have the freedom of a citizen of the second district. They can roam around the city, as long as they have their identification with them."
He took out a badge out of his pocket. On it, a female name was engraved, followed by Lance's full name and some kind of signature.
"Now, initially I wanted to keep Ana here as well, but after the assassination I was not sure about her safety. I hadn't found that noble and chances were that he would like to get revenge on her if she freely walked around in this city. That's why I sent her away to a small city at the edge of Terra, close to Equilibrium. There she would be able to live an ordinary life, get a proper education and maybe even learn some amazing magic. However, this year, it appears she decided to come back. The reason is..."
He stared deeply into the distance.
"She needs to see her parents again. Ana has never been able to give closure to her past or give a proper goodbye to her parents. Everything had gone so fast, from their deaths to her departure, that she hadn't been able to give all those events a proper place. Now that she feels she's ready, she might want to say the final words she'd never been able to tell them..."
Rose saw the sadness in Lance's eyes. Behind the mask of nobility, she saw a honest, hardworking man who wished for nothing more than the happiness of the ones he cared for. He would probably do anything to keep Ana safe, yet he couldn't just dismiss her feelings. Her whole past was hurting him as much as it was hurting Ana.
"Hey, Lance... Is it okay if I go with Ana instead of the guards?"
"..." Lance didn't seem convinced.
"I think if you send guards with her, she might feel she's still being protected. First by her parents, then by you, and now by the guards. She'll get a better closure if you allow her to stand on her own legs. With me there, the feeling like she has a bodyguard around her all the time, will surely be less. I will still be there if anything happens, and I promise you I will do everything I can to protect her."
"...You're right. I cannot protect her or keep her away forever. I'm sorry to impose on you again, lady Flori, but will you take Ana's hand in my place and guide her to her parent's graves?"
Rose nodded. She could not forsake that little girl. Just like she could not forsake her sister, or anyone else that had been dear to her. She would do anything to protect them...
They were finished. The story had taken quite a while: it was already past noon, and Rose's stomach started making funny sounds. Lance laughed upon seeing yet another embarrassed face, and invited her to walk with him to the dining hall. When they entered, a few of the maids were already sitting there, waiting for their master to arrive. Ana was sitting there too, talking enthusiastically to one of the maids. Apparently, she had cleared up already and went back to her usual, playful self. When she noticed Rose and Lance entering the room, she happily waved at them.
Rose happily waved back, upon which the whole room got filled with suppressed giggles, followed by joyous talking. A few maids started chatting with Rose, asking who she was and where she came from. After a while they mischievously questioned her about the time she had spent alone with Lance. For each question that got fired, her will to live sank deeper into the ground. When she looked at Lance for help, the only thing she got in return was a giant grimace. He was clearly enjoying it and not planning to step in between.
Aaah, why are they all like this!
The dinner took a while, but it was overall a pleasant experience. While the maids were formal to him, they were not afraid of Lance. Some even dared to question him just like they questioned Rose, but he plainly ignored the questions. Rose sensed bonds that were not simply master and servant. They were bonds built on trust and gratitude, more similar to the ones good friends have. There was still a sense of superiority, but nothing more than a boss would use to direct his workers to make the work go smoothly. Everything felt natural, and everyone seemed happy. It was the flip side of Lance's self proclaimed naivety. While he indirectly might have ruined some people's lifes, Rose was sure he had made up for it more than enough. After all, he was desperately trying to help these people by combating the symptoms of an evil individual that had built the wall and put those people behind its stones...
"You are always welcome here. The guards will recognize you, so you can enter whenever you want. And, my lady, of course it would make me delighted to see your face again." Lance bowed graciously.
"Sir Lance, thank you for your hospitality. I will take you on that offer, then." She had no idea how to bow like a noble, but she gave it her best try. She saw a few maids smiled, but they all seemed to respect her attempt.
After that, Rose went outside. Even though she would've liked to stay for a little longer, she had to start searching for Chi, the girl in her memories. The city was big, and Rose had no idea how long she would be here. The longer she would wait, the bigger the chances were that she would leave the city before she would be able to find her. She came all the way here, there was no way she would let her slip through her fingers that easily. With that thought, Rose started walking down the road, making her way through the labyrinth of streets, desperately searching for the single girl in her memories.
