Chapter 136: The Glittering Slum

 

Uriel paused as she look at the street before her. She told Cecilia to lead her to the poorest location in the city. When Uriel was flying overhead she saw that this city did indeed not have a slum or at least one that was extremely obvious. But she still expected there to be a poor district, after all there had to be someone to do the dirty and undesirable jobs.

However, what Uriel saw before her was closer to a tourist attraction. She saw glowing signs with the words “Casino” and “Brothel” plastered across flashy buildings. Yes there were some plainer buildings but they looked only slightly shabbier than the other houses Uriel has seen.

“This is the poorest place in this city?” Uriel asked as she raised a brow and turned to Cecilia.

Cecilia just smiled in response as if expecting this response.

“You can go and ask anyone if that is true. I didn’t know you were coming, I had no way to plan this. Ask as many as you like, ask the whole district, I am in no rush.” Cecilia replied calmly.

Indeed it was true, Uriel had an ability to see if one was lying. It was not an omnipotent ability, she could only discern if there was any deceit from those that were weaker than her. Her ability was useless against the ancients, against something like the Ancient Serpent Serchax Uriel would not be able to tell if she was lying.

However, against humans her ability was more than enough to tell if they were lying. The Empress should know this as well, Uriel’s ability was rather well known. Someone like Empress Cecilia would most definitely know about this especially with something like the Great Beast in her company.

“It’s not that I don’t believe you, it’s just that if this is the poorest area in this city then I wonder if the streets of the rich are paved in gold.” Uriel replied with a smile.

“You flatter me, but please speak with them. I am sure you will find even the least in the city have enough to spare.” Cecilia said.

“Then I look forward to our conversations.” Uriel replied before heading down the street.

If Uriel had to describe this place, it was that it was a den of sin. But the poorest areas of cities usually were dens of sin, and this place was rather nice as far as dens of sin were concerned.

“Hello, may I have a word.” Uriel said as she passed a rather burly-looking man. He had a shaved head and a dragon-shaped tattoo across the right side of his face. For all intents and purposes, he looked like a thug that would find himself in the company of the criminal underworld.

“Yeah? What do you want?” the man replied gruffly. Uriel noted that he was surprisingly civil in tone.

“Can you tell me about this place?” Uriel asked and she noted how he paused for a moment as he looked her up and down making sure to pause his gaze at her ample bosom.

“Anything specific you want to know?” the man asked as he returned his gaze to her eyes.

“I heard this place is the poorest region in the city…” Uriel began but was cut off.

“But it doesn’t look that poor? Well you must not be from around here. The Great Beast hive does most of the building. This entire place was built on the crown’s gold. Ever since the Empress took over she started slapping regulations all over the Empire. Now your buildings need to meet safety and hygiene standards. Thanks to all the new laws there's basically no crime here anymore.” the man replied.

“No crime even in a place like this?” Uriel asked.

“Aye, the Great Beast and that Spymaster are always watching. You break any laws and his enforcers will drag you out of your bed in the middle of the night. At first, there were gangs but they didn’t last long. 

Do you know how scary it is for all the gangs to disappear overnight? The Night of Emptied Beds we call it. One day we woke up and found out that almost a thousand gang members just vanished from their beds. No one was stupid enough to try anything after that.” the man replied.

“Then what do you work as?” Uriel asked.

“I work at the red hotel down the road, you can see the sign from here. See?” the man said as he pointed at down the street.

“The pink one, the Blushing Peach.” the man said.

“Red Hotel?” Uriel asked.

“Oh right, you probably don’t have stuff like this were you’re from. It’s basically a hotel that also has a brothel and a small casino… a small place to gamble. It’s supposed to be an entertainment establishment.” the man explained.

“That is legal here?” Uriel asked as she raised a brow.

“Oh yeah. I was surprised too when the new laws came down. I had a chat with the taxman about it a few weeks back. He said the Empress is of the view that you can’t stamp these type of things out by outlawing them. I used to work security for a brothel in the past so yeah I can tell you it’s almost impossible to stamp out.

I bet there’s even a brothel in heaven honestly. But anyway the tax man said the Empress feels if they can’t remove it then she might as well regulate it and get some tax money. Plus from what I’ve seen most girls become whores because it’s a last resort so at least now they can get some legal protection since their jobs are now legal.” the man replied. Uriel paused at those words and her mind wandered to the fact that there were indeed illegal brothels in the realm of Heaven. They were few and far between since the Seraphim were not very lustful as creatures but still, some of them had their urges.

In fact, Uriel herself has tried to remove these things from her home but she ended up finding out trying to stamp such things out was like chopping off hydra heads. You remove one and two more pop out.

“I see, thank you for the information.” Uriel said with a bow.

“Uh huh, I don’t think you are going to work here are you? You don’t seem like the type.” the man said and Uriel calmly shook her head.

“It’s been a pleasure, thank you.” Uriel said and the man simply nodded before continuing on his way.

Uriel watched the man go down the street and she turned to face Cecilia.

“Ask your questions.” Cecilia said calmly and Uriel scowled in response.

“How do you justify allowing such depravity in your Empire. To even sanction it and legalise it. Do you mean to tell me that even drugs and underworld syndicates are legal as well?” Uriel asked.

“Of course not.” Cecilia replied calmly.

“So I assume you have dealt with them since you have such a thorough information network. The ring leaders should be imprisoned or worse I assume?” Uriel asked and Cecilia just smiled in response.

“The underworld has been dealt with, but as for the ring leaders I am afraid they walk free.” Cecilia replied and Uriel just narrowed her eyes, sending her the message to stop being coy.

“The underworld reports to me. Everything and everyone in the Empire reports to me. Legal or otherwise.” Cecilia replied calmly.

“What?” Uriel asked with an edge in her voice.

“You see Archangel criminality will always exist. Just as how the inclination to obtain a prostitute or gamble exists in everyone. Deny the people that release and they will find other ways to obtain it. I am not sure how it is in heaven but down here things like these cannot be stamped out. Only controlled…” Cecilia said as she turned to look down the street at the red light district.

“Controlled…” Uriel scoffed as if scarcely believing her words.

“Yes, chaos cannot be destroyed, it can only controlled. You can only bring order to chaos but you cannot destroy chaos.” Cecilia said.

“And how are you so certain?” Uriel challenged.

“Well have you succeeded? Last time I checked my Empire is the most orderly in the world right now. You see that?” Cecilia said as she pointed at the street filled with brothels, casinos and cheap but functional housing.

“That is my slum. You won’t find a better slum anywhere in Terra. Running water, working plumbing, no violent crime. A teenage girl can walk down that street past midnight and no one will lay a hand on her. How many other cities can claim such a thing? The amount of murders and rapes in my empire in the past month can be counted on my hands.” Cecilia said calmly as she turned to face the street.

“You may not agree with my methods but can you deny the results?” Cecilia asked as she glanced at Uriel.

“Go and speak to them if you wish. Talk all you want, I have time.” Cecilia said as she gestured down the street.

Uriel locked eyes with Cecilia and in her heart she knew Cecilia was right. Her results do speak for themselves and Uriel cannot deny it. She has never seen such an orderly city. Slums existed even in the ancient world. To have what amounted to a tourist attraction be the slum of a city was impressive to say the least. Uriel knew this system would never work in heaven but at least here it seemed to be working. But whether or not this worked depended on if there were no abuses and this was not all just a front.

Uriel continued down the street and then she spotted a young woman exit this building. Uriel shifted her gaze and saw that the sign said “The Blushing Peach” which was the exact establishment the man from before was talking about.

Uriel moved towards the woman and gave her a friendly wave. The woman simply tilted her head in confusion before stopping and waited for Uriel to approach.

“Hello.” Uriel said and the girl responded with a small nod.

“Can I help you? I don’t think you are here to work right?” the woman asked.

“No, I don’t think we will be signing up for employment here.” Uriel replied with a laugh.

“Yeah you don’t seem like the type. Your clothes are too nice.” the woman said with a chuckle of her own.

“Thank you, I am actually just curious about what your life is like here. This place is so different from where I came from.” Uriel said and the woman just nodded with a small smile.

“Yeah living with monsters can do that. So what do you want to know?” the woman asked.

“Are you treated well here?” Uriel said and the woman nodded.

“Well it’s about as good as a girl like me could ask for. I’m not from Averlon either, I came from Cathay. Girls like me who are born to nothing don’t have that many options. I hear they are going to be rolling out the employee benefits thing across the entire empire but I didn’t want to wait for a few years considering my line of work. A girl is only beautiful for a short time after all.” the woman replied with a shrug.

“I’m Catherine by the way.” the woman said as she extended a hand.

“Anya, a pleasure.” Uriel replied as she shook her hand.

“Heh, you talk fancy. Nah you definitely don’t belong here.” Catherine replied with a laugh.

“So what do you do for work?” Uriel asked.

“Me? Well I’m one of the stars of the Blushing Peach.” Catherine replied with a smirk.

“Stars?” Uriel asked.

“Yeah, I do dances and I sing. Then the customers can bid for me and I’ll accompany them for the evening. If they want to get under my clothes and between my legs then they gotta pay extra at the end of the night.” Catherine said and Uriel tried not to scowl at the brazenness with which she spoke of how she sold her body.

“So does that afford you a comfortable life?” Uriel asked.

“Oh hell yeah, it pays really well, especially in this city. Are you kidding me? With the underground rails all running through Averlon this place is flushed with gold. I once got a hundred gold in a single bid and the guy paid another hundred to sleep with me. That was some rich merchant’s son who apparently just landed this great deal for Ether crystals. Apparently, the Mage institutes are just gobbling them up like apples so there’s a shortage.

You know how much I earned before the Empire came along? My first client paid me twenty coppers to serve him and his two friends. Fucking cheapos…” Catherine finished with a huff.

“With 200 gold coins, I could build a really nice place in a village somewhere. Stuff is expensive in this city but having rich men pay you this much more than makes for it.” Catherine said with a smirk.

“So do you have any plans after your job here?” Uriel asked.

“You’re a curious one ain’t ya? Well if you really wanna know I want to open a flower shop in the merchant district back home in Cathay. If I really end up with alot of cash I want to start a perfume shop. I always did like nice smelling things.” Catherine said with a faraway look that was filled with excitement for the future.

“What was life like before the Empire? This was a rather recent thing wasn’t it?” Uriel asked.

“Oh don’t get me started on that. The first time I spread my legs it was pried open. I lived in a slum in the capital of Cathay. I was sixteen then, some thugs got their hands on me and had their way with me.

But now I hear from my folks the slums are gone in Cathay, the slums were cleaned out and new houses were given to the residents all paid for by the crown. Something about the slums being a disease hazard or something along those lines. So now my folks live in a fancy new stone house rather than a rickety shack.” Catherine said.

“You seem rather calm about your past trauma.” Uriel replied gingerly and Catherine just shrugged in response.

“I don’t know where you are from but a pretty girl like me that lives in the slum didn’t exactly have much of a choice. I let those thugs use me for an entire year, they would just show up at my door and I would let them use me in my room. It’s either that or get kidnapped and treated like an animal.

At some point I decided that if I was going to get fucked every day I might as well get paid for it so I signed up with a local brothel. Honestly, my hope at the time was that I might catch the eye of some noble. Who knows he might bring me into his fancy house and I may even become a maid once he tires of me.

You can’t focus on this kind of stuff like that when you come from where I came from. Besides life is great now and those thugs aren’t breathing anymore. The rapists have all be nabbed and shipped off to the Black Box last I heard.” Catherine said.

“Black Box?” Uriel asked as she tilted her head, feeling a slight unease at that ominous name.

“Oh that’s the Great Beasts home, no one knows what exactly happens in there. The main theory is that they are fed to his hive to make more of his monsters. I don’t really care honestly, they are just parasites anyway. What goes around comes around right? They used my body so now they get theirs used. 

Besides these monsters are really useful. There ain’t no bandits anymore, the Great Beast’s hive took care of all of them. Heck, even the mercenaries and the adventurers ended up enlisting in the military. They just didn’t have jobs anymore because the hives were so good at their job. Some of them ran off to Voleria then Voleria went under the Empire. After that most of them have just decided to enlist. Although I did hear some ran off to Divonia… something about a war going to happen soon…” Catherine said as she cupped her chin.

“A what? A war?” Uriel asked in surprise.

“Yeah, I heard the Merchant Princes and the Divonian Empire aren’t getting along right now. Wait where were you from again?” Catherine asked.

“Divonia…” Uriel replied softly as she privately wondered why she didn’t know about this. She knew there were tensions but to say there was going to be a war?

“Then how the hell did you not know?” Catherine asked in confusion.

“I’d like to know that too…” Uriel replied in a strained voice as she tried to ignore the wry smirk she could feel on Cecilia who was standing right behind her.

Uriel thought the main problem was demons but the intelligence branch had assured he that the demons were not in position to spark a conflict.

“Yeah I heard since the Great Beast has taken over it has shaken up the whole political situation or something like that. Apparently that has somehow caused the old rivalry to flare up again.” Catherine said as she shrugged.

“If you have family or something there you should probably… you know… do something. Like get them somewhere safe or something.” Catherine said.

“Yes I probably should…” Uriel muttered in response.

Whether these are just wild rumors remains to be seen. But that would have to wait until she got back to heaven. If she found out that the intelligence branch has been slacking off they were going to find out why Uriel had a seat on the Divine Council…

However, Uriel was torn from her thoughts when she heard the door opening. She looked up to see a priestess exit the Blushing Peach. The sight of a holy woman exiting an establishment like this naturally stunned Uriel.

“Catherine? I thought you were heading off to buy something.” the priestess said as she approached.

“Oh hi Junie! I was but I ran into Anya here, she’s from Divonia and was asking about this place. It must seem strange to her.” Catherine replied cheerily.

“I suppose it should, even I find it strange at times.” the priestess named Junie replied.

“This is Junie, she and her husband moved here from Voleria a few months back. She’s a great dancer, you should see how the guys go crazy over her when she’s on the pole. Especially with the priestess get up, I mean who wouldn’t want to drill a priestess?” Catherine said cheekily in response Junie turned bright red in embarrassment.

“CATHERINE!” Junie shouted red faced.

“Kidding…” Catherine replied with a laugh. Uriel knew she was lying but she still wondered why a priestess was here of all places.

“Honestly… I am not a dancer…” Junie stammered in response.

“Oh calm down you, look at Anya’s face, she doesn’t buy it. Although a dancer in some priestess robes might have been a good idea if the temple wouldn’t come down on you for doing it. Forbidden fruit and all that.” Catherine said cheekily,

“I am… ahem… I am a priestess of the temple. I was here to check on the health of the employees here. Their line of work does involve a certain degree of disease risk.” Junie said stiffly, still red faced.

“Not me, my flower is very healthy.” Catherine replied with another cheeky wink.

“You bed one man a day at most, your risk is significantly reduced.” Junie said dryly.

“That’s because I’m ex-pen-sive…” Catherine replied in a sultry voice.

“Yes you are Catherine…” Junie said in slight exasperation at Catherine’s antics.

“You are from Voleria? What made you come here?” Uriel asked.

“Well, it’s a long story. But one of the main reasons was that I could get married here. The new temple laws haven’t been implemented in Voleria yet so I couldn’t get married. Also my husband wanted to get away from his home, his old lover was not the most loyal woman…” Junie replied with a small sigh.

Uriel paused for a moment at her words as she internalized her words. She felt she was about to ask an extremely stupid question…

“Priestesses can’t get married in Voleria?” Uriel asked in confusion. Uriel was the avatar of love, mercy and fertility. So part of worshiping her also meant finding love. Why would the temples bar the union of two souls?

“Are you sure you are from Divonia? It’s the same everywhere, the priesthood in Divonia started this whole thing centuries ago.” Catherine asked as she tilted her head in confusion.

“Are you just really sheltered or something? Or do you just not pay attention to what’s going on?” Catherine said bluntly and to Uriel that really stung. She who was basically the Goddess of Love and Marriage had no idea that her closest followers were not allowed to get married…

 

I suppose I am abit of both it seems…