A small room with brick walls.

A wooden door with metal bracings and two guards stationed outside.

One windom located up high, barred by bars.

Wooden chairs and a wooden table that went through violent beatings.

This is an interrogation room, alright. The only thing missing are obvious bloodstains and dents on the walls to wear out our nerves as we wait for the interrogator.

"You seem relaxed. Are you used to being brought to the guard station? You are a merchant, so maybe you have a bribe ready at hand?"
""I'm relaxed because I don't have any other way to leverage the situation. I can either panic and worry or just sit here until they decide on what to do with us. Worrying about things you don't have control over is always a losing battle. I also don't have any bribe. You found me with a pointy stick and a plant of wood as a shield. They also confiscated all of our belongings. Everything I could sell is there. What else can I give them, my clothes? I think your clothes have a better value if we want to bribe them."
"Hmmp! No one is foolish enough to commit such a crime in the city, especially a crime as stated by the hero. Even if they do have the idea, I'll claw their eyes out if they try."
"Then the only thing we can do is wait. I don't know what is common nowadays, why don't we use this time for you to inform me of the latest news?"

I doubt the two of us would end up dead just because of the scene we caused. At most a few years in prison or paying a fee along with a sermon at best.

The rabbitkin was confident that nothing terrible would happen when I captured her, so maybe some hard rules are enforced. It's either that or she was severely looking down on me, which is very likely.

The presence of the hero is very strong in this world. Every law they made is set in stone and considered a taboo even by the most vile of villains. Every innovation they made is passed down as a masterpiece.

The guards called it 'survival of the fittest'. Even if that is what I think it is, the hero laws have some ground rules to ensure basic safety. To what extent that safety is, I can only guess.

I thought that the beast continent is already running on the 'survival of the fittest' rule but it seems that it is only a recent thing. The cause of the rule aside, this must mean that battles should be rampant throughout the continent. The guards said something about the towns being a safe zone, so this makes me very optimistic about our situation.

"From when do you know?"
"I'm not sure. Assume I don't know anything. I don't want to go in blind on everything. Otherwise, you can accompany me as I observe the town for a few weeks to catch up on the latest norms."
"Ugh, I'm starting to think that you are too much trouble. Fine, I'll explain what I can. We have time to waste right now anyway."

I only want to hear the general situation for now. The market prices and general trend of the goods sold can be taken care of later.

My merchant life starts by selling small things since I don't have that much to sell for my capital. It might decrease even more if some guards have 'itchy hands'.

"Hmm, I guess you should know the hero era. Even Though you are a turtlekin, you seem to be on the young side."
"I should be in my 20's."
"You! Are you telling me you were 'slowed down' when you were in your single digits? You were a merchant that young?"
"Age doesn't really matter much to us. It was also a family business. Nevermind about that and focus on recent events."

I should be in my 20's, I think. That was my starting age when I was a dwarf.

"Hmm, In the last 10 years, I guess the recent events is that the hero king died. Their continent was co-ruled by his children. The daughter became queen, while the son took care of external affairs. He should be staying at the central island taking care of business. I heard he was collecting materials for something but the story changes every time."

He is collecting materials and he completed his search.

"The biggest change should be when the king announced the survival of the fittest rule. At first, many thought that he was trying to undo the peace that the hero worked for but he made rules that must be followed."
"It's weird to have a survival of the fittest rule be in place but have other rules to be above it."
"That is because while some are against the rule because of the hero, others have their blood boil the moment they hear that news. Even with all the tournaments and fighting den that are available everywhere, we always felt something missing. This survival of the fittest rule awakened our dormant battle lust, so while there is opposition, there are a lot of people looking forward to it."
"Wouldn't such a rule only create chaos everywhere?"
"That is why some rules are made to be above it. Also, our population has been good because of the hero's laws. The time before the hero was passed down in my family, and that was the true survival of the fittest era. Every tribe herded together and fortified their territory."

The information on what started and what happened before the great war here is still a mystery to me. It doesn't even matter since it has been so long. However, if I had to guess, it should be that every race was fighting for their own and skirmishes from every side is a daily occurrence. The frustration must have reached a boiling point, which led to the massive war.

"So, now that we have enough population, and enough period of peace, the king brought forth the old rule again. I wasn't there when he announced it at the capital but from what I heard in the taverns, he wanted to sharpen the claws and fangs of this continent that has been soaked and turned soggy during the time of peace. The rules that are strictly enforced are that there should be no annihilation of any species, no attack at the ancestral territory, no attack on those who haven't come of age, no slavery, no rape. The victor can enforce a condition for the defeated, as long as it does not violate the rules. Towns, and cities are a safe zone. However, private duels can still happen in them but can only happen in arenas and have to be agreed by the two parties."
"Isn't that a little one-sided? What would happen to the weaker species? Also, wouldn't others just stay in their ancestral territory?"
"The weaker groups attack outside and only in groups. The ratkins in particular are very cunning, they place traps and dig everywhere to catch those outside. The worst is that they always attack with a group of 50, which is the maximum number of groups."

Fifty ratkin attacking all at once is a lot yet not in terms of how many they are if we base it on how much rats reproduce. It's a very chilling sight back in my old world but when they are human size, I imagine the creepy feeling is amplified. However, this rule must be to offset the advantage of those species that have explosive reproduction speed.

The strong would disdain forming too large of a group, while the weak won't attack alone. This should be fine until the strong put down their pride and banded together to dominate the field. However, once that happens they would not want to share the peak with others, so they will fight amongst themselves. Once their numbers went down, the weak would come back and the cycle would return again.

I guess it's more balanced than I thought. I wonder how they came to the 50 group maximum. Did they take the weakest species and let it fight with a single strongest species, until they have the proper ratio?

"The ancestral territory is a safe haven. However, it can't accomodate all of the population of the whole species. The weaker species have more numbers, so while some huddle in their ancestral territory, others need to find a way outside. The strong species also don't have enough space in their ancestral territory. However, their ancestral territory is sparsely populated. They prefer to wander outside and battle others."
"Then why are you wandering alone? Rabbitkin should be part of the weaker species."
"Hmmp! I have already defeated a lot of those so called 'strong' species before I met you! I was out training myself. My mother thinks this rule was brought by the king to prepare this and the future generation for a dangerous threat. I am the best fighter in our village! When the rule was spread to the continent, we all moved to the ancestral territory. There were too many people, so those who can fight trained those who haven't come of age. Once you are fully trained, you can head out by yourself or in a group. Only those who can't fight and a few teachers stayed there. I was the best fighter of them all, so I went out a couple of months ago when I came of age!"
"Hmm, I didn't realise things have become dangerous. However, this is good news for us."
"Good news? There will be fights everywhere. I was defeated by you, so I agreed to be your employee but you need more than me and you to protect the merchandise! You want to run out of money before we even reach the next town?"

Ah, so this is why she agreed to be my employee, and why she said that I don't need to restrain her. I was the victor and the condition didn't violate any of the rules. I gave her the choice and because of the benefits plus her defeat against me, she accepted the condition.

If I knew of this earlier, I wouldn't have wasted time trying to restrain her. We didn't have to walk into the vicinity of the town dressed like that, and we wouldn't need to be brought here in the guard station.

"It's fine, we won't leave this town for some time. I said we would stay here until I caught up with recent news but this news will push back my schedule for a bit. We have to start recruiting before we go to the next town. In the meantime, I'll try to see what I can sell here."
"Sell here? Are you going to buy something and just add to the price to make money? I know you merchants are bloodsucking beasts but no one would buy your goods if there is somewhere cheaper, you know."
"I know that. I'm not going to do that. Have a bit of trust in me. I'll explain more later. We need to get out of here first. I'll do the contract with you too after we leave."
"Hmmp, just remember our agreement. If I challenge you, you have to agree and if I win, I get everything!"
"I know, I know."

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

*Unlock* *Creak*

"Excuse me, I hope I'm not interrupting anything. I just have a few questions for you two."

Finally! It looks like they are finally done making us wait. They have been talking about us in the other room behind us. Their voices were soft and far, so it should be a few rooms behind us. It seems their hearing is really good to be able to pick up our conversation from that far away.

I could only hear their conversation at the level of whispers, so I didn't catch some things. I wonder how much they could hear from our conversation?