Silver City was very different from what Wolf had expected to see. It’s not just that it was different from the Dreamscape idea of a city he had. Every manling settlement in the world was different from that parody. No, that wasn’t the problem.

The issue was that, apart from Honest Man’s Place, every settlement Wolf had seen so far had some semblance of order. The buildings were neatly arranged and streets were wide enough for at least two people to walk abreast. Major streets even had enough room for two carts to pass each other without touching.

Entering a city that had such a haughty name, Wolf expected beautiful masonry, silver ornaments on homes and well dressed people walking the silver paved streets. Even in his most pessimistic vision of Silver City, it wasn’t worse than the wealthiest town the Johns and Josh caravan had passed.

The mess that greeted Wolf after passing through the wooden gate in the roughly made palisade was barely fit to be called a human settlement.

The first thing Wolf noticed was the stench. Even with his senses dormant the reek of unwashed bodies and feces hit as hard as a hammer. The horrible smell was so bad it dug out the forgotten memories of Muddy River and the dirtiest pigsties back from Wolf’s childhood.

To the left and to the right of him Wolf could see wooden shacks strewn about in haphazard manner. It was just as bad as Honest Man’s Place, but with hundreds of times the buildings. People milled about, pushing through narrow alleys and pressing against each other. They were filthy, skinny and most of them appeared to be seriously ill.

This is a city? The peak of civilization? Wolf wondered and couldn’t believe that this was the place his father had told him stories about. This was the place where the rich and powerful congregated and ruled from? It was more like hell on earth, than anything else.

The only place free of the stinking dirty crowd was the main road, which stretched off into the distant horizon. Following the road with his gaze Wolf could just barely make out solid stone walls a dozen kilometers away.

Why isn’t anyone on the road? Just as that thought crossed Wolf’s mind he heard a coarse croaking.

“Hey, step down from the main road, unless you’re invited to the upper district. If you loiter there the guards will come over and beat you up.” A filthy man beckoned Wolf.

The skinny man was in his thirties, but the grimy beard and saggy, loose skin made him look like he was at least fifty.

“Get over here, otherwise you’re in for trouble!” the man repeated urgently and Wolf hesitantly did as the man had asked.

He moved down from the empty road and entered the smelly sea of unwashed bodies covered in soiled rags.

Wolf followed the man into a somewhat emptier alley. The shack next to which they stood was shaking, and Wolf could hear moans and grunts coming from inside.

Wolf had no idea what was going on in there, but quickly concluded that the building was of horrible quality that people living inside wailed over their misfortune.

Seeing the state of the surrounding objects, which Wolf hesitated to call buildings, he realized that houses back in the Oakwood Freeland were mansions compared to the structures in which these big city folk lived.

The boy shook his head, not understanding what people were thinking, coming to live in the city. Then he looked at the man that gave him the warning.

“Thank you kind sir. Is it really true that I would’ve gotten beaten if I had stayed on that road?” Wolf found the whole thing hard to believe. Why couldn’t he stand wherever he wanted?

“Sure is,” the bum answered. “Just keep looking at the road. You’ll soon notice that the only ones walking there are the folks wearing fancy clothes. You know, merchants, nobles, those kind of folks.”

Surprisingly, the filthy man somehow managed not to falter when Wolf called him ‘kind sir’.

“That road is called the Silver Road. It’s over fifteen kilometers long, but you won’t see no folks like us standing on it,” the man paused for a moment, then continued talking.

“You know, there are four Silver Roads leading into the city. They say that each of them goes straight to the Duke’s palace.” The man spoke as if he was some sort of an expert when he was just another beggar that had heard the story from someone else.

“Um, thanks for the information. Who are you?” Wolf was somewhat confused. This man didn’t have a good air about him. Not just because he reeked. He had an aura of a crook, but didn’t give off a bloody feeling… Why was such a person helping him?

“Me? The name’s Glib. That’s what people around here call me. When I first got here everyone kept calling me glib. I used to be an urchin just like you before they kicked me out of my hometown. But I found myself a backer once I got here, and now I’m runnin’ my own business. Do you want to work for me? You’ll get warm food and a place to stay.” The man talked fast, waving his hands about while talking.

Looking at him, Wolf was certain that he was trying to trick him somehow, but he didn’t see where the problem could lay. He was just offering him a job. If Wolf wasn’t interested he could simply refuse. Worst case scenario he’d chop Glib’s head off and be on his way.

“What kind of work?” Wolf asked warily.

Glib wouldn’t be glib if he hadn’t noticed Wolf’s internal conflict. He just wasn’t aware that the conclusion Wolf had reached was ‘Worst case scenario, I’ll chop his head off’.

Blissfully unaware, Glib continued his quick-tongued pitch.

“Don’t worry little guy. I smuggle kids like you into the upper district. Once you’re there you can go around begging. The rich folk that live there will take pity on you, you see. Then they toss you a coin or two and you get to eat. The thing is, you have to hand over half the money you make. If you don't, the guards will get you, and I’ll just pretend I don’t know anything. That way you get to eat and sleep with the other beggar children in the upper district.” Glib kept on talking and talking, while Wolf waited for the man's tongue to spasm.

How can you talk so much? And how can you know how much your beggars are making? But I really do want to move into a better district than this place here.

I mean, the living conditions here are much worse than back at Sean’s settlement. What do all these people eat? It doesn’t look like they have any farmland to grow food and hunting is also out of the question.

Question after question popped in Wolf’s mind, but he could ask them all later. Right now Wolf wanted to get out of this place, and this Glib fellow seemed like the best way to do it.

“I would like to go to the upper district, but I don’t want to work for you. How about I pay you and you get me there?” Wolf straightforwardly asked Glib when the man was taking a breath.

Apparently even he needed to breathe in order to continue his monologue. Wolf started believing that the man could inhale without pausing his yapping.

“Pay me? Sure... There’s that option, but it’s really expensive. It will cost you…” At that moment Glib carefully examined Wolf.

Despite the travel-worn clothes the boy was clean. He had smooth skin and stood with his back straight like an arrow. This was not what a peasant child looked like. In fact not even children of wealthy merchants had such an air about them.

“… three gold pieces,” Glib finished his drawn out sentence.

Wolf was stunned by the amount. With that kind of money he could feed Oakwood Freeland for half a month, maybe even longer.

“That’s way too much,” Wolf said while shaking his head. He might not know how much money beggars made, but it sure as hell wasn’t three gold pieces.

“How is it too much? If you went there and worked for me you could earn me money for years. Folks inside the walls are filthy rich. Some kids even earn more than ten silver pieces a day. If you do a bit of counting you’d see that in less than a month I can earn a shiny golden coin from each of my many children,” Glib said proudly while explaining how he exploited beggar children.

“Do you see how much I earn? So even if I asked for five or even ten it wouldn't be unreasonable. But here I am honest as sunshine asking only for four gold coins,“ the bum explained his expenses with an honest look on that rotten face of his.

“What do you mean four? A moment ago you were asking for three,” Wolf exclaimed. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Was this man so forgetful?

“Right, right… For only three gold coins I will get you into the upper district. See how generous I am? I’m not even asking for four coins, when it is perfectly reasonable to ask at least that much,” Glib said with an honest smile that lacked a tooth or two.

Unlike Wolf who was lost in this new kind of social interaction, Glib was like a catfish in muddy water. He now knew that this boy had three gold coins on him and not just that, the boy was willing to part with that kind of money.

“Fine! Fine! I’ll pay you three gold pieces, but only once you get me into the upper district,” Wolf grumbled, but Glib was the one who made a face as if he had eaten a loss.

“All right, if you really insist, I guess I can get you there for the humble price of three gold coins. You’ve gotten yourself quite a deal, little boy. I have to take care of a few things, but I’ll be waiting in front of a place called the Singing Thot around sunset. It’s a famous place and it’s really close to the gate to the upper district. Just ask around when you get near the gate. You can’t miss it. Well, got to run! See you there!” Glib yapped his tongue, then just by taking a couple of steps vanished into the crowd as if he had performed magic.

What just happened? Wolf was still in shock, recovering from the experience of being scammed for the first time.

Try as he might, he couldn’t figure out what just transpired. Even after going through the scene again in his mind he was still confused. Why did he agree to such an exaggerated price? If he didn’t know any better he would’ve thought that the Glib fellow used Mind Trick on him. The only problem was that not even an Archmage could easily charm Wolf…

Eventually Wolf shook his head.

Glib, huh? Well, I guess he really was glib… With that thought Wolf started making his way towards the upper district gate.

The crowd was unbearable. He’d never seen a real crowd, let alone this seething mass of humanity. Even though Wolf would normally take two to three hours to cover that distance, that was because he was baiting bandits. Otherwise he could cover fifteen kilometers an hour easily with the Greater Fleet of Foot.

However, here the speed with which Wolf could move made little impact. It was difficult to make any progress because of the people in his way. So, Wolf decided to take the main road whenever he saw that there were no guards around.

As Wolf walked the empty road, looking at the sea of people to the side he wondered why nobody else tried doing as he did. True, there were people that were practically touching the road hawking food and various goods.

Among them Wolf saw women wearing scant clothing, with cheap makeup on their faces, which made them look ugly as far as Wolf was concerned. They weren’t selling anything, but did their best to make themselves seen from the road.

They were winking and doing those fake smiles, but they were much different than in other towns he’d passed. These women had despairing, hollow eyes, most of them even had swollen faces and bruises which were poorly covered by cheap makeup. Passersby sometimes groped their withered breasts or stuck their hands between their legs while laughing throatily.

The more energetic women cursed them while those that looked really tired didn’t react at all. They were like walking corpses stuck doing the last thing they did when they were still alive. Wolf was grossed out, and didn’t really get what was going on, but he didn’t really care about these strange zombie women he’d passed.

As he walked on the so-called Silver Road, a small caravan leaving the city cursed him from a distance, but Wolf ignored them. He simply walked into the crowd and the caravan guards couldn’t do anything about him except curse loudly. After pushing his way through the crowd for a while, and safely passing the caravan, Wolf stepped back to the main road.

Who came up with a stupid rule like this? Why are they staying away from the road?

Whenever Wolf walked into the crowd there would be kids trying to pick his pockets. His pockets didn't have anything worth picking, while his Ring of Holding was covered by the fingerless gloves he wore. Even though Wolf appeared completely destitute, pickpockets still made the effort and uncomfortably groped Wolf where they expected him to keep his money pouch.

Even though they couldn’t steal anything from him, these people annoyed Wolf to no end. He slapped the face of anyone trying to mug him. He showed restraint and didn’t seriously harm anyone, just sent them stumbling back.

One skinny fourteen year old youth was enraged by the slap and lunged at Wolf. Wolf barely glanced at him. He ducked under the fist, then slammed his palm into the youth’s chin. The young man was sent flying, along with several of his teeth.

Even though the boy hit the ground hard nobody paid him any mind, well save for the people he brushed past. Several people accidentally stepped on his sprawled body, but contrary to Wolf’s expectation nobody offered any help. Quite the opposite. Another youth came over and robbed his unconscious coworker.

As Wolf watched this dog eat dog scene he remembered his father’s words. Son, this is not a nice place to live in. He could finally see what his father really meant. This place was a horrible environment for a child to grow up in.

Not really knowing what he could do to change this, Wolf pressed on. These were strangers. He shouldn’t care about them.

As he walked down the Silver Road, Wolf noticed a patrol in shining armor. They were slowly heading towards him, also walking down the road. Before they noticed him, Wolf stepped to the side and merged with the crowd. He walked next to the road and paid close attention to these men.

The contrast between the dirty ragged rabble and the well dressed men in shiny chainmail armor and leather tunic uniforms was staggering. They didn’t seem to belong to the same world.

When the guards were some two dozen meters away Wolf spotted a boy in the crowd. He was a year or two older than him and running away from someone.

“Stop that pickpocket! He stole my money!” the person chasing after the boy shouted, but the crowd didn’t give a damn. In fact by not acting they favored the small build of a child who had an easier time darting between adults.

Unfortunately, while looking back, the urchin seemed to have lost track of his surroundings. He ran out onto the road at the wrong moment, finding himself standing right in front of the guards.

The guards barely spared him a glance as their captain swung his truncheon straight at the child’s head.

*Crack*

With a sickening sound the boy’s skull fractured. Before he could even fall down the captain gave him a vicious kick to the stomach and sent him flying back into the crowd.

“This road is not for the likes of you!” the man bellowed, not caring whether the child was dead or alive. He just lowered his cudgel and moved on as if he had just swatted a fly, not a young human being.

Wolf couldn’t believe what he was seeing. This arrogant man had killed a boy just for stepping onto the road! And the crowd that completely ignored everything that had happened. They acted as if it was completely normal and natural!

The only one that showed any reaction was the man that was chasing the boy. He picked up the leather sack the dead boy was tightly grasping. He shook it and when he heard the coins jiggle he sighed with relief. A moment later he kicked the corpse a couple of times before turning around and leaving.

Wolf was utterly stunned. This was a city? This was the peak of human civilization that his father talked about?! This was more barbaric than bandits in the wilderness!

Has the whole world gone mad?