Interspecies Trader

Chapter 47 – Slums

Waking up from my thoughts, I realized I was in a section of the city I never explored before. The streets were narrow and dirty. The smell was bad, a mix of unwashed skin and fur with some whiffs of rotten food. Some species were sitting on the ground, wearing old and decayed pieces of clothing, watching me with empty eyes that had lost all hope. Some of the oldest people were also coughing heavily as if on their last breath.

I was in the city's slums, a dark and dangerous area if any. The contrast with the rest of the city was so marked that it felt like a different world. Yet, it wasn't that surprising. There wasn't a single place in the world that didn't have destitute people. Geola, the never-sleeping city, full of rich merchants and foreigners, was no exception to the rule.

It wasn't my first time in such a place since visiting a slum was part of my curriculum, for some reason. It felt like our instructors were telling us that this was where we could end up if we didn't do good enough. The true objective, though, was something I learned much later. According to the Trader Union's saying, everything could be used. They had proven it once more with how they handled slums and slum dwellers.

As I turned another corner, I bumped into a small form, which soon revealed itself to be a child, two heads smaller than me.

"Sorry!"

After excusing himself, he swiftly ran past me, running away at high speed. I wasn't stupid and I knew what this child had tried to do. Unfortunately for him, not only was I easily able to feel his hand