Chapter 28 – Doing What I Want to Do (part 2)

" Next! Traveling merchants? The information for the open market can be found in the merchant guild, from here just go straight and at the second intersection the merchant guild is on the left. "

"Thank you very much for the information. "

I walked in after the gatekeeper handed over my merchant guild identification card after he checked it. And this town I came to was the town of Draga, the connecting town between the town of Rockaxe and the border region to the west.

The area of this town was smaller than that of Rockaxe, but as a connecting town, it was quite filled with people doing activities. Most of them were merchants who would pass through this town to the next town.

My purpose in coming to this town was to find out about Baron Audey Drelisbeth von Draga who was the ruler of this town and any other information I could get about this town. But this time, I came using my status as a craftsman who was a member of the merchant guild and not as an adventurer.

There were quite a few vendors along this main street including those selling food. The appetizing smells caught my attention, and considering the sun was still right above my head, it seemed like I would try some of the food stalls for lunch.

As I ate the meat skewers in my hand, they tasted quite delicious with the herbs and spices used. A pair of eyes looked at me from behind one corner of the building.

A child around 10 years old was looking at me, more precisely at the food in my hand. As I moved my hand, his eyes followed where my hand was moving.

"Oi, boy. Do you want this?"

The boy was startled when I called out to him, he swallowed his saliva and seemed to want to run away from me. I grabbed him by the shoulders and held the boy back before he could move.

"Wait a minute, if you want this food. You have to help me first. " with a scared look on his face he turned to me. "I want you to show me the city. After that I'll buy you some food. How about it?"

I brought the food I hadn't eaten closer to the boy, smelling the scent from a closer distance made the sound of the boy's stomach rumble.

"Take this, when you're done I'll buy another for you as a reward. "

"Te-thank you," the boy thanked me and took the food from my hand and ate it with gusto.

After finishing the meal, his face looked happier than ever, I immediately asked him to show me the city.

We went around to several places, from the merchant guild and adventurer guild, the market, shops, parks and churches. When in front of the church I asked him to come in and one of the sisters there recognized the boy who took me there.

I had a chance to talk to the sister and learn a bit about the condition of the churches and orphanages in the city.

According to her, they are only able to accommodate very young children due to limited funds. Every now and then, they give simple food donations to the children on the streets, and it was because of this that the sister and the child who accompanied me got to know each other.

From what I've heard before, churches and orphanages usually get their funding from donations made by visitors and donations from the city government.

Just like Count Fernando did when he took the financing for the renovation of the orphanage when he heard that I was going to add some children that I was going to buy from Dalmore.

Speaking of which, before coming to this town I had handed over the necessities for the orphanage's renovation using the wood supplies saved while tidying up the area around the Secret Base.

And coming back to the present, with the lack of funds the church has, it could be due to mismanagement of finances by the church or it could be due to the lack of donations they receive.

And it could be the government in this city that reduced their budget to help this place.

After seeing all the places he knew, it was time for me to keep my promise and buy the boy some food. After getting the food I had promised, the boy looked hesitant to eat it and it seemed like he was planning not to eat the food and take it home.

I told the boy to eat the food in his hand because it was his wage for the day, I would buy something else for him to take home as long as he showed me the inn and kept me company until the afternoon at the park not far from this place before I visited the bar in the evening.

He seemed hesitant at first, but after a while the boy took me at my word, and as we passed the time, I listened to the various things he knew.

First of all, he lived in a slum with his grandfather and younger brother, and according to him, the number of people living there was quite high. 

No place is perfect, although Rockaxe city is quite prosperous with its location near the great forest of Ragnag, there are still people who are less fortunate and have to live in slums. However, it seems that the condition of this town is worse than the town of Rockaxe.

The lives of the lucky and the unlucky in this town are quite contrasting as more and more people live in the slums, while some of the merchants who come to this place are getting bigger and more successful.

Some of the older people who live there try to guide the young people who are there not to do anything bad, but with the increasing number of people living there, the slum conditions are getting more and more unsafe.

This child's grandfather was one of the old men who tried to guide the residents in the slums, so he was educated not to do anything wrong to others and because of that when I asked him to be my guide around the city he readily agreed.

The rest of the time I heard some of the other things this kid told me, and after the sun had set enough, I bought him some extra food to take home.

I offered to take him back home, he had refused me because of the poor condition of the slums, but after saying I was strong enough to even fight with a big wolf and win, then he accepted my offer.

And yes, the conditions here are much worse than what I saw in Rockaxe city, the condition of the buildings, the people there and the cleanliness are much worse.

When people saw me walking there, the look in their eyes was not pleasant at all, until they saw the child walking with me then their eyes changed. After escorting him to his home, I gave the boy the smoked meat I made at Secret Base for him and his family.

I also gave him a necklace with a simple wooden carving and said it was a protective charm for him and his family, one of my merchandise that I wanted to sell in this town.

My destination after this was an inn that was also a bar, I left that place without any problems, although walking there without the child was enough to make me realize the condition of this place that was not friendly to outsiders.

As I was just coming out of the slum area, I saw someone I seemed to have seen somewhere, that person also looked at me and was surprised.

Their next response was to immediately turn around and run away from me.

"Hee... That's rude of them. "

Of course seeing something like that in front of me made me want to chase after them.

I quickly chased after them and as they turned into a quieter street, I caught the collars of two of the three people who ran when they saw me just now.

"Oi, you guys... Why are you running like that after seeing me?"

"Of course we ran when we saw you! After what you did to us that time!", I could only be confused at their words and tilted my head. ""Don't tell us you've forgotten about it?!!" """

The three of them said that in unison. Of course, I don't remember their ugly faces.

"We're the ones you beat up at that villa!"

"Aaa... You were Dalmore's men that time!", I could only laugh awkwardly when they said that. Those who thought they had a chance to escape, immediately tried to break free from my grip, but, unfortunately, I was still firmly gripping the collar of the two people's clothes. "You guys think you can run away from me? How about we have a chat first.".

““ Hiii!!! ””