The Otome Heroine's Fight for Survival: Volume 1 [Parts 1 to 5] by Harunohi Biyori

Author:Harunohi Biyori
Language: eng
Format: epub

Chapter 7: Slums

It was late at night when I finally arrived at the town. The gates, surrounded by stone walls as tall as a two-story building, were already closed. Even if they’d been open, however, they would’ve seen me as a juvenile vagrant, given how dirty I was from my training and exploration of the forest. It would probably have been difficult for me to enter the town. Why, you ask? Because in this country, certain actions were restricted based on social class.

According to my knowledge, the people of this continent were broadly divided into four categories. First there was the ruling class—the nobility. They were free to travel anywhere within the country, and even internationally, provided there was a reason.

Next, there were commoners. These people paid taxes, either as citizens of the nation or as subjects in a fiefdom. They could travel anywhere covered by their family registry—say, within the territory overseen by the baron who ruled this land. To go to another noble’s territory, however, a toll of one silver was required as tax.

Below them were the free people, also known as vagrants, who did not own homes. They didn’t pay taxes, but they were restricted from traveling anywhere and had to pay the one-silver toll every time they entered a town.

At the bottom of the ladder were the slaves—essentially, people who had been sold into servitude, willingly or no. Perhaps the word “serf” might be easier to understand. They worked under their masters, tilling fields and earning wages based on the harvest. Within that limited scope, they could have families, but lacked the freedom to quit their jobs. While the old hag at the orphanage had sold orphans, and nobles and the wealthy were known to keep slaves as mistresses unlawfully, this wasn’t commonplace, so let’s exclude those cases.

Right now, my status was that of a free person, so it would have cost me one silver to enter the town. Not only that, free people with no registry or residency ran the risk of being ignored by guards if they fell victim to crime. An ill-intentioned gatekeeper might’ve robbed and enslaved me, especially if they could tell I was a street urchin.

I wanted to get into town not only to replenish my food supplies but also because I wanted a weapon I could use, and...something else.

Technically, even a “free” person (funny term, that, since they were afforded few freedoms) could reach a status close to that of a commoner through affiliation with one of the four guilds, depending on their rank in the organization: the Adventurers’ Guild, the Traders’ Guild, the Sorcerers’ Guild, or the Alchemists’ Guild. Of these, the Adventurers’ Guild was the easiest to register with, but even so, it required a Level 1 combat skill, which was beyond my reach at this point.

Back to the topic at hand: unlike the small rural town where I’d used to live, this was a larger town, where the ruling baron lived. Getting inside would’ve been difficult, but that woman’s knowledge had taught me a secret way in.

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