Chapter 19 - Green City (1/2)

Green City, one of the great cities of the Forest Kingdom, was famous for its thriving market, which contained all kinds of merchandise for sale.

Unlike other cities, it had no forests in its surroundings and therefore used that space to its advantage to expand and build various types of structures. Apart from the capital, it was the largest city in the kingdom.

Furthermore, since it was located on the part of the kingdom that bordered the sea, it had no risks like the frontier cities. So the guard's number and their strength were remotely comparable.

But if this was a problem in the citizens' life, this was a blessing for the underworld groups that had a strong influence in the city.

Brigands, thieves, murderers, and every other kind of criminals had made Green City their point of reference. After all, no one would have been willing to always sleep in caves or other outdoor places. And in any case, they needed a place where they could sell their stolen goods without having to worry about being arrested.

The royal family, as well as the leading ministers, were aware of it. But they turned a blind eye because the city's various criminal groups each year donated a massive quantity of goods to the kingdom.

Thus, in Green City, it was possible to buy anything, including drugs and deadly poison and even slaves.

Although it wasn't an activity encouraged by the kingdom, it wasn't banned either. But, there were regulations about who could be sold as slaves. Only people without acquaintances and relatives or who had been captured in a war were sold.

Furthermore, there were cases of slave traders hiring bandits or murderers to assault innocent people and kidnap those who could make a profit as a slave.

Of course, they were rare episodes that only happened in places far from the big cities. After all, they didn't want to provoke the capital's wrath if they exaggerated with the attacks.

At that moment, a young boy from the outward appearance of 14-15 years, was crossing the city gates. He wore a low-priced, slightly worn brown robe. His brown skin was dirty with earth, and his hair was messy.

If it weren't for the wooden spear that stuck out, they might have thought he was a tramp. But the people who saw him concluded he was instead a young mercenary looking for work.

This boy was none other than Hei. To avoid creating a fuss, Bao Bei thought it would have been better if Hei didn't directly wear his silvery silk clothes. He should instead put some low-quality robe on top when arriving at the city.

Despite providing some protection due to their resistance, Bao Bei's silk was a precious material in the eyes of other people and could have brought inconvenient problems. At the moment, they didn't want to attract too much attention, not with Leaf Village's incident still quite recent.

So they took advantage of a group of travelers who were sleeping outdoors to steal one of their reserve robes. As compensation, they left the fur of an animal they had hunted that would be worth more than the cost of that old robe.

As a result, Hei entered the city without problems, leaving only a fleeting impression in the people at the gates.

As for Ye and Xing, they were hidden in their usual hiding places. However, along with them, there was also Bao Bei.

For the occasion, she had shrunk herself to become a tiny spider, and she hid on Hei's head. To prevent Ye from feeling alone, she would occasionally change position while moving towards his neck.

Accustomed to his mother carrying the three of them, Hei was very nervous with his mother on his body. Although Bao Bei had become tiny, for Hei, it was like he was carrying a valuable cargo. After all, he wanted his mother to have a good trip while she was on his body.

The reason for this choice was because, in her usual size, she would have attracted too much attention. At the same time, she didn't even want to send Hei alone to an unknown city. So she opted for this decision.

Because they didn't know where to start, Hei and his mother and his two sisters decided to follow the flow of people. Even if they didn't know exactly where they were going, it was an excellent opportunity to take a look at the structure of a city. After all, except for Bao Bei, their experience was limited only to the Multicolored Leaf Forest and Leaf Village.

Green City, therefore, didn't disappoint their expectations.

Unlike a village where there were mainly houses, here there were a vast amount of buildings not used as dwellings. They went from being shops that specialized in selling a specific product to structures such as hotels, public baths, schools, and so on.

But what surprised Bao Bei's three cubs was above all the number of people there. They were far numerous than the Leaf VIllage's inhabitants, not to mention the diversity between them.

There were people of low stature who wore low-cost clothes, usually with dark colors. In their tired eyes and the paleness of their skin, you could see that they slept little and worked hard.

Then there were the middle-class people who had a stable income and could afford a decent lifestyle, and they wore clothes of much better quality. Their appearance was decidedly better, and they wandered the streets slowly while taking a look around if something could pick up their interest.

Finally, you could see elegant carriages that carried people with bright clothes and adorned with precious gems. Their wealth was visible, but no one dared to have strange thoughts because they were accompanied by bodyguards.

To crowd the streets further, there were a lot of stalls selling their products. They were mainly agricultural, but occasionally, you could find stalls selling cheap weapons and tools as well as small items for the house. Their cost wasn't much, but because they were cheap, they attracted many buyers.

Not knowing where to start asking for information, Hei tried to stop some people, but none of them stopped to listen to him.

So Hei decided that instead of asking passers-by, he should try with the stalls' owners. But even these didn't pay any attention to him since he wasn't interested in their goods.

With no other option left to him, Hei tried his luck with the shops. He decided to try one that caught his eye: it was a herb and medicinal pills store; these items were used to grow one's cultivation.

Hei naturally had no gold, silver, or copper coins to buy anything, but he had a currency far more precious than all those: spirit cores.

Due to their multiple uses, their price was very high. Besides, in the negotiations concerning rare goods, gold and other currency had often no purchasing power. But spirit cores or spirit stones were always accepted. Regarding spirit stone, they were nothing but stones containing spirit power.

The main difference between the two was that the spirit cores' energy had to be diluted with other elements. Therefore they were mostly used in alchemy. Spirit stones, on the other hand, could be directly absorbed by martial artists to raise their cultivation, and they were also used as fuel for arrays.

The shop was very spacious inside and well-ordered. On the shelves, there were exposed various herbs and bottles containing pills, each labeled with a brief description of their use. Not all of them were used for cultivation, but many were specifically designed for combat, causing an immediate strengthening of a specific type in the one who swallowed the medicine.

As he began to turn to take a look at the goods on display, an annoying voice was suddenly heard.

”If you came to snoop, then you'd better go away. I don't have time for those who just want to see without buying.”