章節 10: THE KING'S INTEREST
The system told Amber about the man who was following her secretly, but she pretended to know nothing and just continued to walk to the slum area.
When she got there, she could feel a lot of people looking at her, but she didn't feel anyone with any ill intent toward her. "Uhm... hello," Amber greeted the little boy she came across and smiled faintly which stunned the slum dwellers.
Amber was the first person to ever smile at any of them since most people hated to associate with their kind.
The little boy took a step back to put some space between him and Amber while keeping his mouth shut. For a moment, Amber felt awkward because it appeared that the child was avoiding her when she meant no harm to him.
"What do you need from him?"
Amber heard the voice loud and clear but she didn't see anyone talking to her. In the dark tunnel, the only person she could see was the little child. If it wasn't for her system, she would never know that there were many people ahead of her.
Amber coughed drily to clear her throat while looking around, pretending to be wary of her surroundings. Of course, she can't just go there and act all calm and composed. People would be suspicious of her.
"Hello. I'm Amber. Uhh... I'm not sure if you've heard of me, but I... I'm here to share a little something with you guys," she said while keeping a faint smile on her face. "Do you have a leader who manages the slum area or do you just - "
"We have a leader," said the same person who spoke earlier, and not long after he said these words, a small ball of fire illuminated the tunnel where Amber stood. "I'm Paustin. I work as a palace guard during the day or at night, depending on the shift assigned to me. Follow me if you want to meet the leader."
Amber nodded her head and followed the young man. In her mind, she was guessing that the man was probably not twenty years old yet. The little boy was also walking silently behind her.
"May I know why you are living here? Don't you have a better place to stay since you are a palace guard?" Amber asked and her voice echoed in the tunnel, burying the faint sound of her footsteps.
"I was born and raised here. In this place, we help one another as long as we have something we can provide. Now that I have a work, it's my chance to help others as well. At the same time, there are always those kinds of people who would forget their roots, so even if others have grown and found work, we are still unable to improve our lifestyle here."
"Did you ever think of leaving this place as well?"
Paustin stopped in his track but he didn't look back to meet Amber's gaze. Instead, he took a deep breath and sighed. "It's only natural, right?"
"Of course, it is!" Amber answered instantly to disperse the gloomy atmosphere hovering over the young man. "In fact, I'm quite surprised that you stayed, but I salute your kindness."
Paustin laughed because of her words, and she smiled, too.
The two of them picked up their pace and started walking again. Amber was quite surprised when the young man led her to a narrow ascending staircase on the wall of the tunnel. They walked for about a minute and when they reached the end of the staircase, the system notification stunned her.
System: "This is the so-called slum area, the kingdom's hidden filthy secret."
[You're telling me that from the perspective of other people, the kingdom is great?]
System: "You are the only outsider who knew about the slum dwellers because of my help."
[I'm a little speechless about all this. I mean, I know that slums exist in every corner of the world – no exception to even those rich countries, but I never thought that a kingdom would intentionally hide them to appear prestigious.]
System: "I know you are not happy with this, but please refrain from making enemies. Although you are not alone in this world because you have me, I still hope to avoid any dangerous encounters."
[I know. I also want to survive and explore this world. This is my second chance to live, so I'm not going to waste my time making enemies.]
"Miss Amber?" Paustin called her name while waving his hand in front of her. "You look distracted. Are you that surprised about the situation here?"
"I... yeah," Amber admitted with no hesitations. "I mean, the area is already considered outside of the capital, right?"
"Hn. That is right. We're already outside of the gate."
"I don't get it," Amber muttered while keeping pace with Paustin. "Is the King not worried about spies? I mean, they could get into the capital using the tunnel, right?"
"Sure, they'd be able to enter the capital that way, but it will be difficult for them as well. You've seen how dark the tunnel right? In truth, there are magic stones laid in the tunnel and if you are detected to be a spy of another country, the tunnel will light up and the stones will explode."
"I see. Thankfully, I got myself registered yesterday." Amber muttered in relief.
Paustin wanted to respond to her words, but they already arrived in front of the leader's tent, so he decided to just announce their arrival. "Mathias, someone's here looking for you."
"Get inside," replied the man from the inside of the tent. Based on his raspy voice, Amber could tell that the person was most likely old.
Paustin opened the tent for Amber and led her inside it. Since it was a slum area where most people didn't have money to buy food, Amber expected the tent to be a little spacious. Contrary to her expectations, the tent was cramped with so many things.
Books were piled everywhere and there were dried plants in many corners of the tent. Her system even identified the plants for her based on their scent. Mathias was no ordinary man. He was an herbalist.
"Good evening," Amber greeted the man and handed the bag of vegetables and fruits to him. "I got these from Mrs. Petra," Amber said without telling the man that she bought the supplies. "Did you guys eat already?"
Mathias stared at Amber's face for a long time before accepting her help. He found her strange. "Where are you from?" he asked because he was sure that someone with a good heart like her must be from a far place.
Amber told him the story she created which was the same story she told the guards yesterday when she arrived. "I just really want to live in a peaceful place and helping others gives me peace of mind. I hope you won't refuse my help."
"No, I... We're thankful. We are very grateful for your help. The kids will be very happy to have something to eat tonight."
Amber stayed for a little while and chatted with Mathias without thinking about the time. She enjoyed talking to the old man, as if she was talking to her grandfather whom she would never see again in this life. Paustin already left to look for several women who could cook a big pot of vegetable porridge and distribute it to others – prioritizing kids and elderlies.
When the food was finally served, Amber received a system notification which surprised her once again.
System: "You've helped 538 times today."
System: "You've leveled up! Excess points will be carried over to the next level."
System: "System will now reboot. Please don't do anything reckless in the next 12 hours while I'm off."
[Okay. I'll just do another experiment tomorrow. I hope you will bring me good results.] Amber thought to herself as she watched the countdown for her system to reboot.
*
On the rooftop of the building across the inn where Amber rented a room, Regis stood imposingly and mighty while waiting for the woman to show up.
Half an hour ago, Timothy told him about the strange woman who became the talk of the town. It was said that she arrived yesterday and spouted nonsense about her different views in life and the values that her parents taught her. At first, the townsfolk hated her for speaking her thoughts as if she was so righteous and never committed a sin. However, she suddenly started helping others in the morning and never once complained when someone said something bad to her.
Regis got so interested in her, and before Timothy could finish his report, he left the palace in disguise. He asked about the strange woman who came into his kingdom and someone told him that she was renting a room in Maya's Inn.
He was waiting for her to show up. "Let's see what kind of woman you are," Regis muttered with his crimson eyes not leaving the entrance of the inn at all.
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