Chapter 435: Entering the City
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
No matter which civilization, which dimension, or what era, it was common in most societies to have small percentage of people own most of the wealth. There had never been real justice in any society.
At that time, the situation was very tense in White Mountain City. In fact, most conflicts in most societies occurred because of the uneven distribution of wealth. With the help of Archmage Michael, Glory mercenary group had taken over White Mountain City and made themselves the new owners. They had full control over the three biggest granaries in White Mountain City.
Wars and death spirits were everywhere, which put everyone in danger but also provided some people great opportunities. More than a few people saw this opportunity, but some of them were not lucky, or might have already died. Some people did not have the funds to do anything. Anthony definitely knew the situation well. Unfortunately, White Mountain City and Stormenburg were quite different. White Mountain City had a population of about 170,000. When it was surrounded by death spirits, with more people seeking shelter there, White Mountain City had a population over 300,000. It was a huge burden for the owner of the city to feed so many people when the trade route was blocked and they could not get any supplies.
Before 20 days ago, Anthony had claimed that the city had run out of food. In fact, there was still a decent amount of food left, but Anthony had to make sure Glory mercenary group and Michael’s soldiers and horses had enough food and shelters. He could not provide the rest of the people with food.
Mercenaries in other mercenary groups were not stupid. They knew Anthony must have played them when they saw Glory mercenary group so full of energy. The disappointment and anger accumulated, and eventually fighting broke out. Anthony and Michael worked together to suppress it. The mercenaries in the riots were all killed. Glory mercenary group was able to keep control of the whole city.
The stability was earned by force. It was hard to criticize whether it was the right approach to keep the city under control. Anthony could not avoid having his reputation get hurt. After finding out the death spirits were already gone, mercenaries immediately all left White Mountain City except for those who wanted to keep a good relationship with Glory mercenary group. Anthony had no way of keeping those mercenaries in the White Mountain City. He could suppress riots and keep order in the city, but he could not force those mercenaries to stay.
As it was getting dark, Anfey and Suzanna quietly sneaked into White Mountain City from the northwest corner. Anfey wanted to ride a wagon into the city with Suzanna, but he worried that Suzanna’s beautiful face would attract too much attention. After talking with Arlanga and few others, he realized wagons would attract more attention, or even get attacked. Starving people were everywhere in the city. They had lost their minds and had become very irrational.
"Anfey, what is wrong?" Suzanna asked quietly.
"Nothing." Anfey shook his head. He looked like he was deep thought. As Anfey’s position got higher and higher, his vision had changed a lot. People followed orders in Stormenburg, so life was relatively peaceful there, while White Mountain City was in chaos.
He released telepathy to observe the whole city. He saw many things he never imagined would happen in White Mountain City. Two hundred yards ahead of him, two mercenaries excitedly swung their swords at a mouse. They looked like they were pretty bad with combat power, since they had difficulty killing a mouse. After a while, the mercenary in the front finally got the mouse. As he excitedly picked the mouse up, a shiny sword pierced his chest from behind. White Mountain City was not White Mountain City anymore. The city seemed to have more danger than Death Forest. A mouse did not seem to be enough food for two adults.
Two mercenaries on patrol saw what happened when they walked by the alley. They pulled their weapons out and prepared to run over. However, they were stopped by their head, who waved his hand impatiently to signal the patrol to continue to move forward.
If it were not group fight causing a bloody scene or trying to challenge Glory mercenary group, the head of the patrol did not want to get involved. He pretended nothing had happened. When everything became quiet again, a skinny wild dog came from nowhere. The dog sniffed the mercenary’s dead body, suddenly showed his sharp teeth and started to tear flesh off the body.
In fact, all the chickens and dogs in White Mountain City had been killed. This little wild dog had been the luckiest one, but its luck was about to run out. With an ear-piercing whooshing sound, a dark black arrow shot the little dog in the neck. That dog did not even make a sound before falling on the ground. A few mercenaries rushed out from the shadows. The one in front picked the dog up by the rear legs and shook it. He laughed with pride. The mercenaries behind him stared at the dead body on the ground. They did not move their eyes away from the dead body for quite a while. They were not too hungry and had the wild dog now, so they were reasonable enough not eat the dead body. If they continued to have no food for the next few days, they really did not know whether they would eat the body. The idea of eating a corpse made them feel scared and disgusted.
After the patrol turned down an alley, a girl around 20 years old walked up to the patrol. During this hard time, men could protect themselves with force while women could only exchange food for their bodies. No one needed to laugh at anyone else since survival was everyone’s priority. Many times, it was not that hard to overcome the humiliating feelings when survival at stake. The head of the patrol got horny when he suddenly saw a pretty face. He hooked his finger to signaled the girl to come to him. He put his hand into the girl’s shirt in front of everyone. He did not feel any softness on her chest, but few tough ribs. The girl had been starving for a long time. The fat on her boobs was used to supply energy for her body. The head patrolman looked annoyed and pushed the girl away. The girl did not want to give up and leaned toward the leader and smiled. The leader got pissed. He grabbed the girl’s head and kicked her chest and stomach few times. He kicked her on the floor at the end.
"Let’s go," Anfey said in a low voice. He did not want anyone to notice them, which was difficult. There were people, crime and tragedy everywhere in the range of his senses. People were hardening towards what happened around them. They watched bad things happening without interfering. They could not see hope for their own lives. Of course, they were in no mood to help others.
Anfey needed to avoid patrols from Glory mercenary group in case of any unnecessary troubles. Anfey and Suzanna moved fast at times and slow at other times. Luckily, it was cloudy that evening. No one noticed Suzanna. Anfey stopped in front of a store at the end.
Anfey reached out his hand. Now Anfey could already gather wind elements on the other side of the door without any magic tools. The wind elements blew the latch out a little bit and left a crack between the door and the door frame. Anfey pushed the door open and walked in.
A clerk in the store jumped up and alertly looked at Anfey. "You two are…"
"I am a bard, coming from Miracle Island." Anfey closed the store door as he talked to the clerk.
"Miracle Island. Flying Dragon originates there. You must have seen Gold Dragon, did you?" the clerk said with a pleasant smile.
"I did not see Gold Dragon, but I saw a three-legged green dragon," Anfey said.
"That is nothing. I have seen five-legged green dragons," the clerk said, relieved.
Anfey took something from his Dimensional ring and tossed it to the clerk. "Can you find the others?"
"Now?" The clerk hesitated for a second. When he saw the secret tablet, his face changed. "You are Master Anfey. Can you wait for a second? I am going to look for others," the clerk said.
"Sure. Is there anyone in the basement?" Anfey asked.
"No, nobody there," that clerk said.
"Can you unlock the basement first? We will wait for you in the basement," Anfey said.
"Yes, master." The clerk pushed the rear door open and ducked in. "Please this way."
Anfey and Suzanna slowly followed behind the worker. They passed a hallway and saw a stable ahead of them. In fact, Anfey had been here once. There had been few horses in the stable last time, but there were none this time. Hay was piled up to cover the entrance of the basement.
"You do not have to worry about the entrance. You can watch for others," Anfey said quietly. His sensing ability had a default. If he was in a closed area, he could not sense anything outside the room, and vice versa. Only when he was in a space with natural air flow could he clearly see his surroundings. The clerk used to work for Black Eleven, but Anfey still kept alert since he was in enemy territory.
"Yes, master," the clerk said and hurried away.
"Anfey, do I need to follow him?" Suzanna asked in a low voice.
"No need." Anfey shook his head and jumped out through the basement door.
"What are we doing?" Suzanna asked.
"We will see as things unfold," Anfey said. "These people have been stuck in the city and should know what White Mountain City has been through. Maybe they could give me an answer," Anfey said.