Chapter 167 Volume IV - Chapter 12: An Ignored Side of the World
Most cities in the kingdom, at least except for a few in the east, are luxurious, developed, and modern.
People live in spaciousness, prosperity is high. Even if not everyone is rich, even if not everyone is completely fashionable, they never fall below the starvation line. They live an ordinary life as ordinary people. When you look outside, tall, eye-pleasing buildings fill your field of vision. And when you turn your eyes to the roads, you can find cars that every man dreams of driving everywhere.
At least, this is the case when a certain fact is ignored.
In fact, while every city has such a modern, spacious side, there is a part of it that caters to the poor, if not starving, people I just mentioned. Buildings, cars, and clothes are old there. It's not impossible to live there, the only thing you see from the outside is like looking at a city from the old times.
I mean, that's what the people observe and that's what they are told, that's what it looks like from the outside.
Nobody really knows what happens deeper into those parts of the city. Because those who are already rich, who have access to social media every day don't want to go there. They are afraid of it, even disgusted by it. They ignore it and continue their lives on the bright, happy side of the city. Without even a glance at the darkness, without listening to the voices coming from there, disgusted.
That's why the golden age of this kingdom is long over, and the sad end is actually very different from what everyone thinks; it's much closer.
Because the people who are ignored in this poor, dark, and even ancient region are ignored by everyone... They are persecuted to the point of not even being considered human, they live a life full of suffering.
What about now? What do I see when I look around me?
Dirty, drooling dogs on the sidewalks. Houses that are slowly decaying due to rain and lack of maintenance. Rats crawling from hole to hole, their bellies full of who knows what. Two brothers fighting over a loaf of bread right in front of us. A young woman entering a house wearing tattered pajamas, her intentions clear. And much, much more.
It is the complete opposite of everything I have ever seen in this world. The value of human life, which is always held in high esteem, is cheaper than water in this dark place. It is not even considered part of the city in the first place, and many services, including the police, ignore it. That's why places like this are also centers of illegal activities.
Drug and human trafficking, prostitution, organ mafias... All of these eventually end up here or start here.
Why don't the locals flee despite all this? It is because they can't move for lack of money. They don't even dare to think about it because their lives are in constant danger, because they are threatened.
For those who manage to escape... The way of life they are used to here, the language they speak, the differences in culture, almost everything is different from modern people. That's why the glittering people of the outside world, the way of life, despise and exclude them. It is made clear to them, easily or forcefully, that they do not belong to this world, and that they are completely different from each other.
So, they either go back to where they came from or they are forced to disappear, to die.
The former is usually preferred.
I clenched my teeth and my fist.
I... I could have come here sooner. I got too caught up in my new life, I showed myself only the beauty of this world. I ignored this kingdom that I wanted to fix, that I wanted to turn into a paradise as if I were one of those people I loathed.
I simply, as usual, ran away.
Absolute Mind took over. All these negative thoughts, emotions in my mind... Each one of them slowly faded away into the darkness. Leaving behind a void, a black void.
Yes... This is me... I am a being whose negative emotions are restricted, who is not easily stressed, but who bears all this burden.
Even if I am not physically a human being, independent of these emotions... I am not even mentally a human being, right?
So much so that now I'm telling myself that I'm going to fix this place, but until I can start doing something about this place, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, too many people to count will continue to suffer.
I... I don't even think about them in the first place. The real reason I want to fix this place is to create a beautiful world for my loved ones.
I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, waited a while, and then opened them again, this time more calmly, coldly. Then I spoke to Lucas, who had been standing next to me until now.
"This is what I wanted to show you."
And there in the middle of one of these rotten, dark, and smelly streets stood two people, Prince Lucas Cevilian and me, shining in their clean clothes.
"I..."
Lucas took a few more steps, looking around with wide-eyed horror, as he had been doing since we arrived, and he never stopped shaking.
"I didn't imagine it like this... I knew... I knew that part of the city was made up of poor people and that those photos that were everywhere were just the tip of the iceberg, but... This is too much."
His eyes fell on a boy standing on the side of the road next to cars that looked almost too old to start. He saw how she was shivering on the cold pavement in the winter, wearing thin clothes, and he made a face as if his heart had been ripped out.
He started to take off his jacket. He meant to give it to her, but I stopped him.
"I... I want to help him."
He was so dazed, so distracted that he didn't even realize what he was doing. He wasn't acting like himself, or rather, he couldn't act like himself. He was confused.
"The only thing you're going to do here by giving him that fancy jacket is to make that boy an open target. At the same time, if you do it in the middle of the street, you will also make yourself a target by drawing everyone's attention. Don't let your emotions get in the way of your logic."
I tapped him twice lightly on the shoulder and then, without waiting for Lucas to say anything, I approached the boy. I looked around first, making sure no one was around. Then I leaned down and shook him gently.
"Hey, are you okay?"
The boy opened his eyes trembling. He looked like he was dead, no more than ten years old.
"You can see me, right? Just nod your head, don't worry. I won't do anything bad to you."
The boy nodded his head up and down slightly, but his eyes were suddenly filled with fear and all kinds of it. He was afraid of me, or rather of people. And rightly so.
I smiled slightly. I looked up and looked around again, making sure that no one was around. Still, in a way that no one would ever notice, I took something out of my pocket and tucked it under the sleeve of the boy's thin sweater.
"I tucked two hundred wels under your arm, but don't spend it all at once or you'll attract attention. Spend it slowly, I'm sure you're a smart boy. I'm sure you understand what I'm saying."
As soon as the boy heard the words two hundred wels, he looked like a rabbit in headlights. Fearing that he didn't understand everything I was saying, I repeated it back to him and he could only nod his head. So, when I stood up, he grasped the money I had slipped into his sleeve and put it in a safer place for him. Then he smiled weakly, looking a little happy.
"Take care of yourself, and remember what I said. Little by little, not all at once."
The boy nodded gratefully, looked around briefly, and then lay back down as if nothing had happened. I returned to Lucas and then calmly started walking forward. Lucas continued to follow quietly behind me.
"You know a lot about this place... Did you live here before?"
"No, but if you spend a lot of time outside, if you don't have a mind like other people, and if you have a little courage, it's not that hard to get information about this place."
I squinted as I looked around at this poor old place. As we kept walking, we saw something else.
Toward the end of the street we were walking down, a man threw a large stone at the window of a house. The glass shattered in an instant, and the sound was followed by a low rumble from inside the house. The man jumped into the house, and it took only a few seconds for him to come out with a few loaves of bread.
Some of the loaves were black, even moldy. But the man ran at full speed with a sparkle in his eyes, holding them as if they were the most important things in his life.
One of the inhabitants of the house, an emaciated man, appeared in the broken window. He looked at the back of the fleeing man but did not even bother to chase him. He just sighed slightly and disappeared back into the house with indifference in his eyes, as if he was used to something like this.
We also saw another man dragging a dead dog. The dog was so weak that its bones could be counted, but the man dragging it had a look of triumph on his face.
On another corner of the street, we saw a man and a woman holding hands. Their clothes were in tatters, they were holding hands and leaning against each other. Flies were flying over them, and their skin color had shifted to gray. Their eyes were closed, but the traces of dried tears were still on their faces. The woman's belly was slightly distended, and in front of them, wedged between the stones, was a note that looked as if it had just been put there.
The writing on it was so strange that it was clearly written by someone who could not read or write, someone who was just learning to do so. I had to work especially hard to read it because the tears that had fallen in places made the writing so faint. So, I read the sentences by transforming them in such a way that they became clear to me.
"I only just realized you were dead. I'm sorry, Dad, Mom. I wanted to live a good life, but our dreams were too far away to come true. I'm also sorry that I was too poor to leave you a grave. I've heard of writing on tombstones, and even if this paper can't replace them and will probably be gone in a few hours... I wanted at least something symbolic. I guess you won't be with me on my eleventh birthday... my brother died before he was born too, it seems. But it's better that he wasn't born into this world, I guess. But don't worry! I'm not going to die, I'll live. I'm going to get out of here... grow up and get a job. Just watch me and see... For now, I hope dying really did take you to heaven. See you there in a few years... or maybe in a few months. Days...?"
I sighed deeply and turned to Lucas, whose eyes were trembling, looking sorrowfully at the two corpses. Then I spoke in a whisper.
"The kingdom, the nobles, the rich... Sometimes I feel like they're literally ignoring this place on purpose. I know, though, I'm sure they don't even know these people are here, let alone ignore it on purpose. Although probably even if they did, they wouldn't do much, and they can't do much anymore. It's not just this city. Every city in the kingdom is kind of like this, and if they want to fix it, they're going to have to go through a really long process and spend tons of wels. I mean... it's not impossible, but I don't think the current king would go for it."
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