Looking from left to right; left thumb and index firmly pinching the bridge of her nose; Elizabeth could confirm one thing…
“Yup, this is a slum…” <Elizabeth>
A slight frown crept up on her face as she began to walk away in a random direction from her home for as long as she could remember – which was basically since she was born. No, actually since slightly before she was born since she met with Mr/Mrs Voice…
Well anyway; her gaze moved across the muddy paths. Unsure how much of it was actually mud as she felt the squidgy slush seep through her toes with every step – making her grimace at how pointless it was to just wash her feet but at least she would also be given the orphanage an unwanted bath as well. The thought of such brought a s*** eating grin to her face with an accompanying giggle.
‘Houses’ everywhere were at most falling apart stone structures with no extra work done on them while worst case was more like a shed – one which had a similar design choice as the chair… Thinking of the chair she just got kicked through made her right hand softly rub her ass – her arse wasn’t physically sore but her memories were still fresh enough to make her feel the phantom feeling of crashing through the chair.
The people weren’t much better. All around her was overcrowded with people who sometimes had even less on than her in her potato days. Some were doing better than others – managing to find some work here and there to manage to feed themselves but judging by the eyes on those people they weren’t going to be able to keep hold of that money for long. In one direction she even saw five yelling and fighting over scraps of bread – deciding it wasn’t worth the trouble she simply turned away from the scene.
<Is this what they mean when they say something is like a crab bucket?>
She pondered while her eyes fell upon another sight of a woman with long grey ears poking out of her head; each grabbed by a grubby wolf man who stood in front of his. The brown wolf’s bare ass pointing towards Elizabeth as he rocked back and forth as the constant sound of slapping rung in her ears – sloppy as it seemed the bunny was long beyond caring about drooling as she just put up with it. In her arms she held two smaller bunnies with more resting on a piece of rough tarp she likely managed to scavenge. She already had a total of six children but from the size of her rounded belly there would soon be more on the way.
<What… Is he doing to her?>
Elizabeth felt a flame light up in her heart, she wasn’t going to go out of her way to stop a group of five but saving one pregnant woman from being beaten by a single man should be easy enough… As she moved, however, the wolf man let out a groan as his speed picked up for a second. White joining the drool down those fleshy orbs that were beating against the woman’s chin.
Thick and goopy murky white dripped down as soon the wolf’s speed fell once more as his left hand dropped one of the woman’s ears. Letting out a satisfied sigh he would move backwards and grab some scrap cloth off the floor to tie around his waist as the woman seemed to bob her head back and forth slightly before pulling away. As the wolf would throw some small copper disks onto the tarp.
“God woman, ya sure know how ta make a man’s coin count. Best whore on the goddamn street even with a batch of brats.” <Wolf Man>
“Well I wouldn’ be if I could help it but with way more extra mouths on the way…” <Bunny Woman>
“Don’t need ya fuckin’ sob story, we all have one, jus’ fuckin’ swallow more c*** and take the complements – you woman have it far easier since all you need to do is wait around with your legs spread!” <Wolf Man>
“Yes sorry… Thanks fa the coin, come again soon…” <Bunny woman>
The wolf man waved away the woman as he walked off into the dirty alleys once more as she just continued to lay there amongst the now crying bunnies. Holding two to each breast to let them suck onto her modest chest greedily. Licking the white around her mouth she would spot Elizabeth in the distance and just give her a soft but tired smile.
<Well I guess I would be tired as well with… Well this every day… Wait I thought wolves were supposed to eat hares so what happened – ugh I hate being a kid! Nobody tells me anything!>
She wasn’t sure what just happened – she wasn’t even 7 yet – but one thing was for sure. She wasn’t going to stick around in these slums long enough to find out what exactly the wolf did to the hare even if she was curious to the point of brief anger.
Shaking her head and deciding to be the bigger girl (at 3’11) which seemed like a challenge, but, she was tall for her age so given a few years she’d win for sure!
Looking around once more, walking down the streets away from the large stone wall which she didn’t know the height of (partly because she couldn’t count past 7) she found the sight wasn’t as rare for the woman of the slums. Though not as many children as the bunny people which wasn’t too surprising due to them being… Well rabbits.
Not all of them were having their faces rammed – some instead were instead bent over and taking it from behind and some were sat on top of the men’s laps moving up and down at different paces. All them men seemed content as she spotted something – a hard rod would be coming from the men and the woman would take that into their various holes.
She wouldn’t see more than one or two per alley but it wasn’t a rare situation in the area which the slums covered.
<Isn’t that where they pee from? Why are they peeing on each other…>
She thought with a tilted head but the smell kept her from releasing her nose and she wasn’t about to ask. She wasn’t so naive as to think a lone child would be safe in a place like this. Maybe it was a good thing Phik kept them all under lock and key…
Unlikely, but a hero is meant to see things from all sides to come to the best outcome.
“Oh~ That one is shoving it in her poop chute~!” <Elizabeth>
She said while taking in the sights like it was a zoo. Of course, not everyone was doing the deed. Many were fighting, some were crying and others… Well, she hadn’t seen them move so she could only hope they were sleeping. Though the buzzing flies seemed to indicate otherwise.
Shaking her head she continued on her way. Where was she going, one may ask?
The adventurers guild…
***
Obviously…
She had no idea where she was going! As such she would once more just be wandering around as looking at the people around her… Well, they were all looking away from her so most likely they weren’t going to answer her questions.
After wandering out of the slums she would find herself stepping onto hardened dirt. Although it was also made from dirt – it was at least maintained to a degree where it wasn’t made in a similar fashion to ‘The Bog’ from back in the orphanage.
The streets as a whole were also more busy with a lot more clothing on the people walking. Here and there one could still see someone who was obviously from the slums however they seemed to be doing physical labour and there were very few women from the slums around. Most likely because it was easier to make more money from letting guys pee on them with the white goo…
<I thought guys peed the same stuff I did. At least the children with me in the orphanage do. Huh, maybe it changes when you become an adult?>
She tilted her head at her curious thought which was – surprisingly – somewhat along the right lines. The buildings were slowly getting more and more quality. On the border between decrepit and habitable there was a fairly large wooden building where she would see her first adult elves. None of them seemed particularly happy about it and were wearing skimpy outfits.
She was curious, after all, at least one of her own parents was a High-Elf. She’d heard about these buildings before, in fact this may have been exactly the building Phik was talking about as she noticed some of the older girls talking to the girls inside the building…
This was a brothel. A low class one at that. This was the place she wanted to avoid most.
She didn’t understand much about the world but she understood the stigma around prostitutes (even if she didn’t understand why); which was obviously something a hero shouldn’t associate with. After all, as a hero, she was likely going to face a lot more trouble on her path than even what was currently bogging her down.
She accepted that much.
However, she should at least try to take the high ground which would mean her avoiding that kind of stuff! Quite the contrary, she should probably work on tearing those places down!
Taking one more glance over her shoulder towards the destitute building – this building morally compared to it’s companions – as she continued away from these slums and hopefully her past.
***
As she wandered through the city on her search for the elusive adventurers guild she would decide to use her brain a bit.
<Adventurers would usually work outside the city except for the bottom most ranks so it would have to be close to one of the gates outside and they also need to drag their completed kills into the city. The nobles will also be mad if there were bloody corpses being dragged everywhere I bet. However, I don’t know anything about the city, never mind the country we’re in… Guess I’ll just walk towards a wall?>
She was unconvinced and honestly not too confident in her assumptions however, to her surprise, there it would be in eyeshot of the large metal portcullis (that was currently lifted enough for wagons and people to enter and exit). A large building with many people in armour of various shapes and sizes walking in and out. The base floor would be made from what looked like cobbled stone coming up from the floor – seemingly embedded into the foundations which likely hinted to a basement – while the second and third floor of the building would be made from wood.
However, similar to the other houses around, these wooden floors would be far different from the shoddy feeling that came from those in the slums. Well aligned and proportioned – with no visible nails hammered through and even with real windows installed! This was the first time she’d even seen windows… Or rather she didn’t see them? Saw through them?
Well it didn’t matter, what did matter was it seemed the guild had money to spare where some wooden shutters would’ve likely been enough. Though the bottom floor did make use of such shutters but that was likely because adventurers were known for being rowdy.
In front of her was a large pair of double doors with the overall size of the place far out stripping her dingy little orphanage! There was a sign but… Well, she couldn’t read. What was understandable however was the sign above right at the corner of the door – directly facing towards the gate to catch anyone’s eye who was walking in from that direction. It would have a green background with a sword, spear and stave behind a kite shield.
There were also areas on the side of the building with wagons parked – likely for shipping off of the goods the guild had collected from their worker bee’s – but that wouldn’t matter to the little girl so she wouldn’t worry about it.
Entering the building there would be desks where people had carried bloodied bags and herbs to one of the many counters that were there on her left. Slightly further up from that were large wooden boards with smaller boards hung from a rope and one of the many nails in the boards. Above each board was a single character but since she couldn’t read she wouldn’t be able to understand what exactly it was and some were for more scarce than others.
In front of her were even more desks that would be taken in the wooden boards that the people took off from the left wall.
<So those must be the main reception areas while the left desks that are closest to the entry gate must be for exchanges of resources and hand in of successful quests! The wooden boards must then be the quests!>
Nodding her head in satisfaction she continued looking on. The right would basically just be a large bar – nothing to do with her as a pure hero like herself. There were tables and chairs basically everywhere except for in front of the exchange counter – likely to keep bloody corpses away from food?
Shaking her cute little head since it wouldn’t have anything to do with her – especially the food part as much as she wanted to complain…
Deciding to get the full details she would line up and wait…
A few minutes of waiting later she would finally come up upon the counter which would come up to her chin. In front of her eyes was a beautiful wood elf with short brown hair done in a perm with a little emirates hat pinned into her left. She wore a balck undershirt with a forest green open sleeved jacket – her flat elven chest as obvious as the quest boards – but due to the height that was all Elizabeth could really see. She was, however, wearing a forest green short-skirt with black thigh highs and simple green Moccasin. This made what showed of the skin of her thighs and arms very clear – showing how fair her skin was.
The receptionist just kind of looked down on her with a faintly tilted head wondering what this little kid was doing. Judging from her clothes she seemed more like a newly hired slum brat at one of those brothels than anything she’d have to deal with.
“Erm, girl, we don’t allow brothels to advertise here so could you go back to your owner?” <Receptionist>
Following her declaration the sound of a friendly face made its way barely over the girls shoulder. It was a dwarven adventurer. Not too high ranked – the average D ranker – but he was a jolly fellow. Though, it had to be said he had a problem of trying out every new girl at brothels. This probably made him the best man for the job though as she turned to him with a warm smile.
“Earl do you think you could show her ou-” <Receptionist>
Her words stuck in her face as she was about to nod towards the girl but found herself meeting the girls eyes and… It terrified her. At first she thought the girl was just an elf but looking into those eyes she knew she’d misunderstood. Those purple, draconic eyes faintly glowed a faint gold as they burned their image into the woman’s mind. Making her think she was looking directly into the eyes of the city lord himself.
It was hard to understand whether this was on purpose or, like many half-breeds, her activating her power on instinct but either way the fear was put into her.
“I’m not a f****** brothel worker, I came to be an adventurer to train myself to be the stronger hero!” <Elizabeth>
“Little missy I think it may be best if you settle down.” <Earl>
The heavy armoured dwarf would move to touch the girls shoulder, turning around the girl would see the warm face smiling only to look back at the receptionist who was in cold sweat as well as a few other guild workers behind her. Even beyond that there were many adventurers in the place with their hands on their weapons.
Blinking a few times (causing the gold from her eyes to vanish) she would tilt her head – not understanding what that reaction was but then would just assume it was her language as a similar thing happened whenever she got mad and shouted at them.
“Ah, sorry… I’ve been having a bad day and got kicked out of my orphanage for fighting back against the owner after refusing to go to a brothel…” <Elizabeth>
It wasn’t exactly a lie but it certainly went around the topic the long way. However, it would also seem that Elizabeth forgot one thing.
“Well whether you can become a hero or not, which I really doubt as there is already a hero and it is said there can only be one at a time, you’d need to reach the age of seven. And, since I can’t see your status I’m going to go ahead and assume that you’re six?” <Receptionist>
The woman was obviously not too happy about being scared by a child – she knew it wasn’t exactly the girls fault as she obviously hadn’t been taught to control her racial abilities but she was still grumpy over it.
“O-oh…” <Elizabeth>
Being told so, Elizabeth began to pout and look down towards the ground as she would walk towards the door. She heard the faint murmuring at the desk between the dwarf adventurer and wood-elf receptionist.
“You didn’t have to be too harsh to the bairn Aggy – she’s just lost and confused in a world she can’t understand and won’t understand her…” <Earl>
“Well at the same time I’d rather not deal with some bastard child who only fantasizes about something she’s clearly not…” <Aggy>
Although her words were harsh her tone wasn’t – in fact it almost sounded like she held some pity for Elizabeth… Elizabeth of course hearing this as she has fully enhanced senses from being a dragon and enhanced eyesight & hearing from her high elf side.
<Just you wait… I’ll show you what a true hero looks like>
A smug smile on her face returning as she turned her head up proudly as she walked out the door. She would show that pretty but strict miss what it meant to strive for something until you got it! And, she certainly didn’t need any help to do that!
As such, Elizabeth turned her sights onto the portcullis.
