’Something has changed.’

Evangeline couldn’t help but come to that conclusion as she stared at Adrian. The two of them were still walking towards their new destination, and Evangeline was following a step behind Adrian.

Something had changed about the young boy in front of her, and it had happened in the middle of their conversation. Adrian had suddenly gone quiet, and the shift happened right after.

As for what exactly had changed, it was hard to describe.

Outwardly, Adrian seemed no different from before. His expressionless face, his quiet demeanour, his disinterested gaze, they were all still the same. But it was the atmosphere around him that had shifted. Unlike before, when he gave off a dull vibe, the atmosphere around him had suddenly turned rigid.

’No, maybe it’s all in my head, and there’s nothing wrong with Adi.’

Evangeline took a deep breath and shifted her focus to her surroundings instead. And that was when she noticed some changes.

The air had changed.

It had become a bit stinky with a faint foul smell of oil and rot, as if they were nearing a garbage dump. The streets the two of them had been walking on seemed to be getting wider. The houses around the streets were also getting fewer in number.

As they took a turn and arrived in an area with a lot of vacant land and only a few buildings, they could see massive, tall cylindrical stone structures far in the distance, with pillars of black and grey smoke rising from within them.

Looking at those massive buildings that looked very different in architecture compared to the houses and shops in the city, as well as the noble mansions, her heartbeat quickened, and her eyes sparkled in anticipation.

’I really can’t wait to explore that place!’

Truly, it was moments like these that made her realise that she had indeed been reborn. She was no longer limited to only looking at scenery from a screen or a window. She could now walk closer and experience everything in its entirety.

But the stinky smell in the air became stronger the closer they got to those tall structures. And by the time they arrived at their destination, all the anticipation and excitement had drained from Evangeline.

She let out a shaky breath.

"What... what is all this...?"

There was a large river flowing in front of them. Coming from somewhere far ahead, the river took a sharp ’U’ curve in this location and was going in the same direction it was coming from. On the side of this curve, multiple cylindrical-shaped massive stone architectures stood.

Their massive shadows drowned the whole area around them, not allowing even a single ray of sunlight to illuminate the land below.

And the land surrounding those multiple towering stone architectures was filled with a sprawl of poorly made wooden houses. Most of them seemed as though they might collapse at any minute.

The streets were filled with mud and filth and rotting garbage was lying on the roadside everywhere. Most of the people in the area looked as though they were starving, with sunken cheeks and skinny bodies. That was the same even for children younger than Adrian and Evangeline.

All the men and women were doing some kind of physical labour. Some were dragging a massive rock by tying it to a rope, while some were using a saw-like tool to cut rocks into certain shapes. There were also some who were lying on the muddy ground, panting heavily as though they could no longer move.

This place... it seemed filled with misery and suffering.

Just then, a voice entered Evangeline’s ear. It was familiar, but somehow sounded different, sounded colder.

"I told you coming here wasn’t a good idea."

Indeed, Adrian had said something like that, but she had ignored it since he didn’t explain further.

She slowly turned to him, but was unable to meet his gaze, for some reason.

"Adi, did... did you know it would be like this?"

He must’ve, or there wouldn’t have been any need for him to say something like that. Adrian replied in the same cold, disinterested tone.

"I had an inkling, but even I didn’t think it would be this bad."

He scanned the area and turned back to her. He still wore his usual calm face; there wasn’t even a hint of unease and discomfort that could be found in his expression. It was as if the scenery in front of him did not affect him at all.

"I knew it must have existed, but it seems that we found the slums of this city. Quite a significant achievement for an adventure."

Evangeline felt that the last remark may have been mockery, but his disinterested tone made it sound like a casual remark. No, maybe it really was just a casual remark from him.

She looked at the large settlement spanning in front of her, the half-broken houses made of rotting wood, the streets filled with mud and filth, and the people with sunken cheeks wearing torn, dirty clothes.

Indeed, this was undoubtedly a slum.

***

Adrian glanced at Evangeline. As he had expected, she was quite shaken after witnessing the slums. It was an obvious outcome if he considered the sheltered upbringing of noble children. They knew little about the misery present in the world.

With her gaze still fixed on the settlement before them, Evangeline asked in a shaky voice.

"Why is a place like this... why does something like this exist in this territory? House Ravenshade is so prosperous and powerful, so why...?"

Adrian furrowed his brows at the strangeness of the question. The logic behind that question made little sense. Still, he decided to answer.

"Power and prosperity have nothing to do with this; even the most prosperous nations will have a slum within the territory they rule. There are no lands where slums don’t exist. Only their size and scale vary. This slum, in comparison, would be considered rather small."

As long as rich people exist, poor people will also inevitably exist, and the place where the poorest of them gather will inevitably become a slum. A ruler could, at most, limit the size of their territory’s slum, but erasing it completely was impossible.

If they remove it, it will inevitably form once again in the future.

Evangeline seemed like she had a lot to say, yet she couldn’t open her mouth. Adrian turned his focus to the slums.

As he observed the sad scenery before him, a strange question emerged in his mind.

’What came first, the factories or the slum?’

It was a question similar in nature to the chicken-or-egg question.

The tall architectures seemed to be stone factories that processed large rocks to make them suitable for commercial use by turning them into bricks or similar objects. There also seemed to be a few architectures for processing metals and glass.

So, in short, it was basically an industrial area focused on producing construction materials of this world. And since this world wasn’t too advanced technologically, construction resources were one of the most essential industries.

With a river nearby providing a water source, this area fulfilled all the conditions required for factories to be established.

So maybe the factory had come first. Maybe the labourers and workers working here slowly established their homes here as well, resulting in the creation of this slum.

But on the other hand, maybe the slum had established itself here first, because of the river. And since there was both land, water supply, and cheap labour available, these factories had established themselves here.

Just then, a large stone brick, the size of a cart, fell from above. Before anyone could react, it fell on one of the wooden houses, causing wood splinters and mud to scatter everywhere.

The house, on which the large stone brick fell, was crushed to the point that it was hard to even recognise as a house.

Evangeline’s eyes widened in horror as she witnessed the scene, causing her to rush forward instantly. It happened so quickly that Adrian wasn’t able to stop her.

He clicked his tongue and chased after her. Entering the muddy streets of the slum and carefully dodging the garbage lying around, he soon caught up to her and grabbed her by the arm.

"Where are you running off to? It could be dangerous here."

She began struggling to free herself from his grip.

"Adi, let go of me! People living in that house must’ve gotten severely injured; they need help!"

Adrian glanced at the scene once again and turned back to her, meeting her gaze.

"Look there carefully." He pointed to the scene. "If there were really people living in that house, they must’ve died from that. How are you going to help them? By burying their corpses?"

Evangeline bit her lower lip, her eyes shaking. Adrian scanned his surroundings, tensing his muscles.

"Let’s get out of here; this place probably isn’t safe for us."

Slums were supposed to be lawless areas where crimes and murders were rampant. With the two of them being children, people could easily consider them as prey.

And although Adrian was a Phase two mana user—someone far stronger than an average person—he was not alone. He also had to consider the safety of Evangeline. And since he didn’t know her combat capabilities, he couldn’t rely on her.

Without having any real-life combat experience, Adrian didn’t know if he could deal with a situation where multiple individuals came at him simultaneously while he had someone to protect. More than that, he wasn’t one to underestimate desperate people. They would use any dirty methods they could think of without reservation.

Turning around, he began dragging her away by hand, not caring whether the young girl struggled or not. He needed to get out of here as soon as possible.

But as they were leaving, they suddenly encountered another commotion happening in the area.