Half-elf Notebook

Urban slums

"Huff, huff, they should have escaped." Xue panted and retreated to the wall at the edge of the alley, then carefully stuck her head out to observe the street.

After realizing that no one was following him, he found a place to sit down in the corner of the alley.

This wasn't the first time Xue had been chased and tracked like this.

To be precise, this is nothing new for the homeless kids in the slums.

Basically everyone has had similar experiences.

As for why? The reason is simple.

The business between slave owners and those in need - the slave trade.

Although slaves can be prisoners of war from the defeated side, nobles who have failed in political struggles, heinous criminals, vagrants with no human rights, and civilians who sell themselves when they have no other choice.

But most of the prisoners of war will be sent to the army.

There is no need to say more about the criminals. In many cases, they are not targets that slave traders can choose, even if they are caught.

Receiving a bounty is also far more attractive than making profits from slave trading.

However, the number of nobles and civilians is simply in short supply, so most slave traders will focus on - wanderers.

These poor people who have no identity and are not protected by the law are undoubtedly the best prey.

Even though the Fulant Kingdom imposed very heavy fines in this regard, it still could not stop these greedy businessmen.

Of course, the snow doesn't know or care.

Now she just wanted to get rid of her pursuers as soon as possible.

She returned to the little nest that belonged to her alone and ate the remaining bit of moldy black bread, which she had finally found among a pile of garbage in the slums yesterday.

It was a little sour, but still retained the unique sweet taste of pasta... I had planned to enjoy it slowly today.

Xue shook her head fiercely. She knew that no matter how much she thought about it, it would not solve the problem.

Xue trembled and stood up from the wall again.

She decided to go back to the street, not because anyone had spotted her.

Instead, the shop owner next to the alley is coming back. If you beg next to the shops in the civilian area, you may get some useless iron products and one or two pieces of black bread from the shop owner.

But there will be no such good thing in the slums. If you are caught, you will probably be mistaken for a thief and beaten up.

It is already late autumn in the city and the temperature at night is terribly low. If the wound gets infected at this time, it will basically not survive the winter.

The biting cold wind blew on the girl's face, making Xue feel the pain like being cut by a knife all the time, and her feet were so cold that she could hardly feel anything.

But reason still told Xue that she must not stay here.

That's right. Xue had already discovered on the way here that this time was not that simple. In the past, this hunt that lasted for half a day should have ended long ago, but it did not.

Perhaps it was because the merchants had a voracious appetite, or perhaps the hunters were just more diligent this time.

But either way, it's not good news for snow.

After wandering into several alleys and escaping from the sight of several pursuers who had already obtained their prey, the white-haired girl came to the largest market in the entire civilian area - the Rag Market.

The sludge mixed with decaying matter and feces was black and smelly.

On it were wheel tracks, potholes of varying sizes, and sewage pooling in them, and the goods sold by the vendors were separated from them only by a layer of linen.

It's a name that really suits its purpose.

Not only Xue had this idea, I'm afraid everyone who came here had the same idea.

Xue was trying to make her way through the crowded crowd, and she had to pay attention to her feet at all times.

Once you slip on rags, moss or something, you are likely to be pushed down and stepped on by the person following you.

No one will pity a homeless person.

If you're lucky, you'll just get some minor scratches and some smelly mud.

If unfortunate, perhaps the homeless person whose arm was "accidentally" trampled and broken by a passing freight donkey may be her role model.

She looked back from time to time, hoping that those muscular pursuers with swords on their waists would not appear in the crowd.

Amid the noisy hawking and the crowded crowd, Xue's thin body finally arrived at the end of the shabby market.

At this time, the old cloth on her body had been cut by something, leaving several holes visible to the naked eye, and there was a black footprint of neither deep nor shallow on her back.

It was probably kicked by a merchant who was driving his goods while on his mount.

Even so, Xue should thank the goddess of luck who may or may not exist.

Otherwise, she should be lying in the market now, waiting to be discovered by the market managers at closing time and thrown into a stinking ditch in an alley.

Of course, at least the snow did come here.

The place where citizens and paupers are distinguished, the border between the two areas.

A flight of ten steps, without any marble pavement, without any soldiers guarding it, and without even any name.

But behind these ten steps, which are in disrepair and in tatters due to long-term disrepair, is a place that countless wanderers dream of living in but will never be able to visit in their lifetime.

Civilian area.

In front of the steps, the snow stopped for a long time, as if it was making some mental preparations, or as if it was struggling.

Xue walked up the stairs carefully, her little face solemn and serious, her expression like a church fanatic.

And it seemed as if she was walking not on shabby steps, but on the luxurious marble steps of a church in a wealthy area.

Ten steps away, Xue soon arrived at one of the residential areas in the civilian area.

The stone-built townhouses are somewhat damaged, but the brick-paved roads are not prosperous but neat and clean.

To Xue's relief, her pursuers probably didn't expect her to come here, but she would never be able to return to that shabby, cozy little home.

Violating the rules and being worthy of being sold to merchants is the punishment that slum managers impose on homeless vagrants who do not know the current situation.

"Anyway... we need to find a place to rest first..." Xue no longer had time to think about the future. She was now hungry because she had not had any food or water for almost a day.

Thoughts are stuck together like a ball of paste.

The dizziness even made her unable to control her small and slender body.

But perhaps it was precisely because of this that Xue was able to walk here dragging her legs with several bloody wounds.

"?!" The sudden darkness in front of her eyes caused Xue to stumble to the ground.

In the end, she couldn't hold up her tattered body.

His little face was pressed against the cold ground, and his body was aching from wounds of varying sizes. His head was filled with an intense dizziness and a sense of faintness that made everything go blank.

Xue sent conscious commands to her body again and again, but human consciousness is ultimately unable to overcome instinct, especially when the body has reached its limit.

Xue eventually fainted beside an unknown stone wall like many other wanderers.

…………

"This is..." After an unknown amount of time, the "corpse" under the old stone wall moved its fingers slightly, and then the "corpse" slowly opened its eyes.

"Damn, this joke is not funny at all." Xue really wanted to yell, but her cracked and bleeding lips and dry and sore throat made it difficult for her to even say a word.

Xue is not stupid either. After working hard for so many years, she certainly understands what she should not do now, even though the situation is more desperate than ever before.

The snow almost drained every bit of strength left in this body.

She successfully turned over and sat up, but sitting with her body leaning against the wall was already the girl's limit.

And this only made her confused mind clearer.

No one knows when the next coma will come, nor does anyone know if we will be so lucky next time.

Even so, the dizziness that showed no sign of easing still hit Xue's weak nerves like a torrent.

Apart from that, due to frostbite caused by the low temperature, Xue hardly felt any pain from other wounds.

This is a bad sign - severe frostbite with wounds, if not treated properly for a long time, means disability and severe infection.

No disabled wanderer can live to see the sun of next spring.

Xue knew all of this and understood it very well, but the reality was that she tried and struggled, but the result did not change much.

"If I had known this would happen, I might as well have been a slave. At least now I don't have to die, right?" Xue smiled lightly, watching the sky gradually darken as the sun set.

She was at her wits end.

Before nightfall, the guards would drive homeless people who had entered the civilian area during the day back to the slums.

This is the "official duty" that the city guards must do in order to show that they are working hard.

But no one can always predict the unexpected.

Just like the owner of the house who just appeared in the snow against the wall.