The Archivist's Ploy: A Tale of One Against The World

Blaze and Leus entered an alley, and they kept moving forward for quite a while ...

'Even after all this walking the way forward seems endless' Thought Leus to himself

"Isn't it a bit too deep inside?" He asked while glancing around

Blaze nodded

"Yes, to enter the living districts you must walk for quite a bit. It's designed like that to make it isolated from the rest of the city"

Blaze tapped on the wall beside him and continued

"To foster a dangerous lifestyle, they must be isolated.

Also, if it was directly connected to the rest of the city, that would cause problems for the people who don't live in the slums too. Thus, Earth Magicians built these long and thick walls; to make entering and exiting the slums only possible through this kind of long, narrow alleys."

Leus nodded

'They really thought this through'

After walking for some more time, Blaze and Leus finally walked out of the alley and entered the living districts of the slums ...

Leus started inspecting his surroundings

'Different housing units, some are big and most are small'

Each house had a slightly different build quality, but overall, it was weak and not reliable ...

'Most of the houses are more like huts ...'

'The infrastructure is deteriorated'

Many houses were built with only wood and a few stones supporting them ...

If he looked deep inside, he'd see somewhat bigger and stronger houses, but that's only compared to the wooden houses

'Ultimately it's all low quality, but few are better'

As Leus and Blaze moved forward, Leus took note of everything around him ...

Interestingly, many people were sitting in front of their house rather than inside it.

Some were doing laundry, others were just conversing, but what they all had in common was that they all looked impoverished, poor, and not in the best shape.

Blaze slowed down, Leus noticed that and took a couple of steps forward, taking the lead.

'Hmm, now where to go'

As Leus was thinking about that, he noticed how most people would just stare at him uncomfortably for long ...

'They all are blatantly staring at me ...'

'It's interesting how in the city they take glances then look away, but here, they don't really stop looking'

But he wasn't really bothered by it, he just found their behavior amusing

'Cultural differences I guess'

Every few houses they would see small children playing together, chasing each other, or playing simple games

'Cute kids, the atmosphere here somewhat reminds me of my old life ...'

'That reminds me ... isn't it strange how everything about my past life looks so distant and unimportant ever since I came to this world'

However, Leus didn't dwell on that for long; he quickly ignored all the thoughts about his old life and continued forward.

In front of a particular house, there was a mother and a small girl ...

The girl looked very young

'Maybe 6 years old or so'

The small girl was sitting on the stairs and crying, and her mother was trying to comfort her.

Beside the girl, there was an empty bucket.

'Interesting'

Leus was intrigued, so he walked towards the girl, and Blaze followed him.

The mother became visibly uncomfortable by their approach, but she didn't say anything, and so, Leus didn't stop.

When they were close enough, Blaze stayed a couple of steps back, and Leus went towards the girl and her mother alone.

Both the girl and her mother had red hair and red eyes.

Their bodies looked somewhat weak and showed signs of malnutrition, just like 90% of the people Leus had seen since he entered, and the house was more on the lowest-quality side ...

'I think this means that they are of the poorest families here'

Leus walked to the girl and asked

"Hello, why are you crying?"

The mother became even more nervous and tightly held her daughter's hand ...

Leus found that very strange ...

'Is she scared of me? But don't I look just like a kid?'

'Why would she be scared of a kid?'

' ... Is the situation really that bad here?'

The girl spoke through her tears, cutting Leus' train of thought

She pointed at the bucket and said

"Because I'm thirsty!"

Leus was ready to help but

'Why would they not have water? Isn't water a basic right?'

'It can't be to the extent of not being able to afford WATER, right?'

So he asked

"Why don't you have water?"

The girl didn't reply and just looked at her mother ...

The mother was anxious about the whole situation, but she gathered her courage, gulped, and started talking ...

"Bec- Because my husband didn't pay Protection money today"

"Protection money? What's that?"

"You don't know about Protection Money?" She asked in genuine disbelief

" ... No"

She looked at Blaze, but his face was quite scary, devoid of any emotions, so she quickly turned around and looked at Leus again ...

"I'm not from around here, just walking by" Leus said, trying to reduce her tension ...

The woman explained

"We pay protection money to the Sharp Fang gang, and they protect the district from other gangs"

'Oh I get it now ...'

'It's extortion'

But that still didn't answer Leus' original question

"Even then, what does that have to do with water?"

"Ahh- Yes ..."

She arranged her thoughts and explained

"Everyone can fill two buckets for free from the wells, but if we don't pay protection money, then we pay with water instead"

'Pay with water?'

' ... What a weird concept'

"And how much is that protection money?"

"1 bronze coin every two days"

Leus nodded, but honestly, he had no idea ...

' ... How much is that'

He had no clue how much value a bronze coin held, but he felt embarrassed to ask the woman about that, so he turned to Blaze

However, Blaze's face was ...

'Strange'

Leus instinctively felt that Blaze wasn't going to answer, so he turned back to the woman ...

"Uhh ... How much does your husband earn?"

"1 or 2 bronze coins per day, depending on how the day goes"

Leus started running a couple of calculations in his head

'So assuming he earns 1 bronze coin per day, they take 50% of his earnings every two days, and if he earns two then they take 25%'

'It's like a very high tax'

Leus asked a final question

"Are those (Sharp Gang) people.. really protecting you?"

"Kind of? If we don't pay they'll take our water, and if they decide it's not enough it could be worse ...

As long as we pay we are safe, so protection money protects us."

' ... So that's how it is ... Protection Money protects her from the gang itself, I see'

Leus put up a smile and said

"Thank you for your time"

He then turned to the little girl

"Let me show you a trick. Close your eyes"

The girl looked at her mother and her mother nodded, so she closed her eyes

Leus extended his hand forward and silently cast Water, and within seconds, the bucket was filled to the brim with clean water

"Open it now!"

The girl opened her eyes, and seeing the bucket, her eyes sparkled with joy ...

She jumped and hugged Leus

"Wow, you're amazing!"

Leus patted her head

'No child should suffer like that just for water'

He was quite upset about it but didn't let it show on his face ...

'I can't come and judge their life .. but I'll just do what I can to improve things'

While Leus was thinking of all this stuff, the girl started drinking like she hasn't seen water for years ...

The mother, on the other hand, was just staring at Leus with reverence

She deeply bowed her head

"Thank you, thank you so much, Good Sir"

Leus smiled at her

"No Ma'am, please, it's okay"

The mother looked at Leus and opened her mouth, then closed it again, she did that twice

Leus tilted his head

'Does she want to say something?'

He asked

"Is there something else you want?"

The woman lowered her head and asked in a low voice

"Can you fill another bucket too?"

" .... Yes, sure"

The woman quickly went inside to bring the other bucket

Leus sighed

'To think that something as simple as water is this important here ...'

He looked in the distance and remembered his encounter with Sal

'Once again, I feel indebted to everyone who helped me to become more powerful ...'

'Sal and My family ... I'll pay you back someday'

'I promise ...'