Chapter 84: A reality of the poor

Its going to be hard to get close to the palace, I bet security is high since cells of enemies might remain. I walk down the roads of the massive capital city, capital cities are absolutely supersized in Ancients World. Some capitals only hold 15 to 20 million people, but capitals like Zenith are capable of holding 100 million people. It goes to show the true size of Ancients World compared to mine and the size of their armies. I look into the starry sky and see a beautiful clear night sky. I wish earth had something like this, but pollution is a real problem. I see no citizens around and only see official workers, the guards are on high alert.

I walk for a little while and see a pub still standing. The only ones are guards and merchants though, most of the wealthy nobles live outside the city and away from the capital. Chance are they are still unharmed by the recent war. You can always count on the nobles to run and hide when they are called on for war, its rare to find one that isn't a coward. I pass the pub and all the drunk guards, most of them lost their homes too so I can understand getting drunk.

I despise alcohol and any drugs, I've never tried them and I never will. Watching my sister go through what she did really showed me the reality of drugs, I'm glad her fate has changed this time around. While I'm walking my thoughts drift to Alsoma and the monsters there, this war will eventually progress. The question is where is the next target, the closest kingdom to Alsoma is Kroria, the country of Kroria is known for its wine and industry. They are also this continents leading steel manufacturers, I bet there borders are being heavily fortified. It is a key location to defend against the monster armies.

Speaking of monsters I wonder how many species have sided with the orcs. The system lied to the players, and most are finding that out now. Another reason to be suspicious of J&X, I've never heard of a malfunctioning system A.I. and I doubt J&X programmed it to lie to the players. Players will eventually step in and start helping in the war once they reach level 50 and tier 1, and once the player population reaches level 150 tier 3 leveling speed will slow down. The amount of exp to level up at that point will be huge. I'll have a hard time getting levels with a half exp debuff, and I know for a fact that players will start leveling up fast really soon.

Avalon is another topic I need to think about, NPC's and player alike know very little of the place. The players that are there currently will be there for a long time, I wonder how many players were reassigned to Avalon. 80 million maybe, doubt its over 100 million. Alsoma was a small country so it would have a small player population. I wonder how many countries will fall till this war ends, I want to do something for all those that were captured by the monsters. It will have to wait though, and I doubt that by the time I can do something many would be alive from birthing so many monsters.

Monsters grow at an accelerated rate, when a female is used they can produce many offspring of monsters in a short amount of time. They use them till they die or cant give birth anymore, after that they throw them away like garbage. Fills me with anger at the thought of something like that happening right now. I didn't pay attention enough to notice that I'm in the old poverty district. I can tell because there's many homeless and sick people here, I look around as I continue to walk. This war has caused much pain, but these are the ones that suffer the most. The ones that are looked down upon.

Every society has to put the value on everything, I wonder what my world would look like if money and greed didn't exist, probably wouldn't have advanced far as a society. Peace traded for material things isn't something I agree with either, and that's what happened. Competition brought revolution, and revolution brought money, and its circles back around to where money caused competition. An obvious oversimplification, but it holds accuracy and truth. I'm stopped in my tracks as a little girl grabs my leather pants. "Can you please spare some coin? My mom really needs medicine and we cant afford it." I look to where the little girl is pointing and see a sickly pale woman, could be a scam. Unlikely though, the mother really does look sick.

I look down at the little girl begging so she can save her mother. I see myself in the kid, I would do the exact same for my mom if need be. "Here you go kid, should be enough to get whatever your mom needs." I pull out a bag of about 15 gold pieces and hand it to her. She looks ready to cry, I look over at her mom and see that she is trying to look grateful with the pained look on her face. Their father must have died defending the city, Harold probably used the poor men since the middle class and rich refused to fight. I watch her run back to her mom and hand her the gold. She tries to get up, but falls down hard. I cant stand here and watch this anymore, I walk over and help the woman up.

I sling her arm over my shoulder and support her as she can barely walk. "I'll take you to the healer, just tell me where it is." She looks ready to pass out, I watch her lift her hand and point ahead of us. It isn't much to go on, but I'll make sure she gets there. I try and walk with her by my side, but she trips and goes limp hanging off me. Instead of saying anything I pick her up and carry her, I carry her in my arms and let her rest. Since my strength stat is so high she feels as light as paper, I walk down the street and her daughter and son follow behind me.

Eventually we make it to a make shift campsite where rubble has been cleared out. I see sick and wounded shoulders inside the tents. I carry her in and look for someone who can help her, soon I make eye contact with a middle aged nun. I find an open cot and set her down, a guard in the tent says something to me. "This tent isn't for the poor! Take her back where she came from and I wont execute you!" I look at the man with fury, something inside just hates people like him to the point that I would willingly kill them without provocation. I'm about to reach for my sword, but the middle aged nun stops me.

I look at her and she nods her head no, she then looks at the sick mother. "If you have money for treatment I'll help her. I'm sorry for his actions earlier, he is under strict orders from the general." She says that as she points towards the guard. He looks at me with anger, I believe he was ready to fight as well. He is a low level guard as well, I can tell by the armor he is wearing. Most likely under level 50, I don't have the patience to inspect him. I turn my attention back to the nun and tilt my head to the kids.

She looks over at them and sees the bag, the daughter hands it to her and she sees the amount. "This is more than enough, whatever she has wont kill her yet. I'll be sure to cure your wife before sunrise." I slightly nod my head no in pity at the mention of being her husband, we are around the same age so I understand the mistake. "Ah, I see. Your a better man then most in these walls, if more people reached out a helping hand this wouldn't be a dire situation. I'll watch over the kids and mother, your work is done." I make my way to the exit of the tent and I look at the guard one last time. He doesn't acknowledge me, I hope he does his job and protects these people. If I hear something happened here I would make sure all responsible parties pay for it.

I make my way out of the tent and look towards the palace, only a couple more miles till I reach it. I start on my way again and I think about what I can do to help these people. I doubt Jackson will be able to do anything, despite being a king he has to listen to his nobles. If he doesn't they withdraw their support and move to a new kingdom with there wealth. Its a disgusting reality, but if you don't have money then you are screwed when war comes around. That's why most soldiers are from poor families, its because they have no where to go once they reach adulthood. One of the many flaws of humanity and its treatment towards each other.