The favelas are a dangerous place, few people are very nice, usually for the most part only the poor live in the favelas, this is because those who live in the protected areas of Novo Redondo have to pay some fees and some taxes, these collected revenues are used to improve the living conditions of the population, in the case of security, basic sanitation and so on.
Many people do not have the luxury of living in the protected and legal areas of the city, because their financial situation does not allow them to do so, which is when they end up in the favelas, a place where there is no need to pay taxes or duties. Consequently, the government does not offer security to the residents of the favelas or basic sanitation, but even so, many people live in the favelas, ignoring the negative aspects.
Even in the favelas, as in any sociable place, there is a hierarchy, organized bandits made up of renegade mercenaries, these occupy the top of the situation in the favelas, then comes some petty crimes, there are also some eccentric but powerful people, for unknown reasons, these people live in the favelas, but rarely present themselves to the public.
In a tavern in the slums.
The tavern is full today, many men drink happily, chatting and laughing loudly, with so many people talking at the same time, it became difficult to follow a conversation, but for these people it was something normal, good-looking women served drinks to the men, they wore exciting and revealing clothes, which showed their cleavage and legs, the men cast looks full of lust, they are not disgusted on the contrary, they are enjoying it.
In the tavern, some mercenaries were hired to maintain order and the safety of the customers, so that no one crossed the line. It was forbidden to fight, deliberately cause trouble and other types of confusion. You could not take any liberties with the women in the tavern unless they allowed it.
Faced with a cheerful atmosphere in the tavern, three men entered, and when they did, the entire tavern that had been in a cheerful atmosphere until a moment ago, now a deathly silence fell over the entire tavern, one could even hear a needle falling.
The three men walked with apparent arrogance towards the best table in the tavern, the men who were centered there obediently withdrew without complaints, when the men sat down only then did the tavern regain its previous air, the noisy and cheerful atmosphere gathered everywhere.
— So, have we found them yet?
One of the three men who had just arrived at the tavern spoke, he seemed to be the leader of the group, he was in his 60s and had a gloomy air about him. The other two although a little inferior were also gloomy, like a corpse.
- Yes, I sent team B to capture them without alarming anyone, the commander can rest assured.
Of the three, the effeminate man answered his commander's question, he had a malevolent look on his face, the other man, the third in the group, was quite burly, covered in muscles, but with pale skin, he spoke looking at the effeminate man with a stern face.
—Butcher, this time you are not allowed to fail.
The effeminate man or rather the butcher spoke hurriedly.
— The vice commander need not worry, I butcher will not disappoint the commander and the vice commander.
The 60 year old man or rather the commander nodded and spoke.
— It wasn't easy to find the werewolves, they usually hide very well, now that an entire family has been successfully located we can't miss this opportunity.
The two men, the vice commander and the butcher, agreed with the commander's words, and then he continued speaking.
— Although the operation is carried out in the favelas, it has to be clean and quick, otherwise we will face death.
As it turned out, the three men planned to kidnap a family of werewolves, something that is forbidden by the laws of the kingdom. In ancient times, the slave trade was a normal thing, there were incessant conflicts between the different races, but after the great racial war this practice was abandoned, now different races live in harmony, therefore forced slavery is seen as taboo, only voluntary slavery is accepted, this applies to the kingdom and other kingdoms and empires on the continent.
- How many people did you send? The commander asked, the butcher answered.
— there were 5 men, all silver level mercenaries.
For mercenaries there was a classification recognized throughout the kingdom, copper level, silver level and gold level. For levels before silver they are apprentice mercenaries, when a mercenary ranks among the strongest of his race he becomes a copper mercenary, for silver mercenaries they have to defeat 10 copper mercenaries at the same time to be classified as such.
—Alright, 5 silver-level mercenaries should be enough, let's drink.
For gold-level mercenaries, it was a level that few could reach, because to become one, one had to become a level 1 primal being, normal people viewed people who evolved as immortals. Even becoming a level 1 primal being in a small town was a feat to be proud of for a lifetime.
In big cities like Novo Redondo, being a primary school student is just the starting point to evolve and become truly strong and who knows, achieve immortality and fly to the skies.
Of the three, the commander is a gold-level mercenary, a level 2 primary being, the vice commander is a gold-level mercenary, a level 1 primary being, and the butcher is a peak silver mercenary who has not yet evolved to become a primary being.
— Hey. You, the blonde, come serve me a strong drink.
The commander called a blonde woman, with striking curves and her cleavage on display, the woman went to the table with a jug full of drink, the woman filled the glasses of the three with very strong cachaça.
***
A little girl with silver hair was being chased by two boys, as she ran, she screamed.
— Help.. help, these boys want to do indecent things to me, someone, please help me.
As the girl rolled her beautiful blue eyes, tears fell as she jumped from rooftop to rooftop. The scene showed an obvious case of banditry against a delicate girl being chased by two boys who looked like the villains. If a person with common sense saw this, he would undoubtedly defend the girl being chased, but strangely the residents of the slum who saw this scene did not care.
The favela residents had seen this scene thousands of times with the same protagonist and different villains, so they didn't bother to intervene.
Of course the boys chasing the little girl were John and Alex and the girl being chased is the wolf girl who stole John's bag, they had been in a chase for 2 hours, John was very angry and embarrassed, the wolf girl talked all kinds of nonsense to paint John and Alex's image black. I, the young lord, of a vast territory, being accused of chasing a little girl, what a joke waiting for me to get my hands on you, you stupidly stupid thief, John thought.
Alex was also furious, not for himself, but because his young lord and friend was being slandered.
— You crazy thief, wait until this young lord gets his hands on you, you'll see what's good for your cough.
John was getting tired from running so much, at this point he didn't care about measuring his words, he thought revealing his identity would help a little, but who would say it wouldn't work at all, instead the wolf girl would mock him.
— Young lord my ass, come get me, This young lady is going to teach the young chicken lord a lesson.
The girl laughed as she ran, young lord my ass what kind of young lord only has copper and silver coins in his purse and a ring that isn't even worth a gold, not to mention he doesn't have an escort, the girl thought and concluded that John was lying just to make her stop, if John heard the wolf girl's thoughts he would undoubtedly cough up blood.
The wolf girl jumped from rooftop to rooftop gracefully. A werewolf's agility is undoubtedly surprising, but her natural stamina also left something to be desired. After running so much, the wolf girl stopped on a rooftop. She was faced with a dilemma. She was on the rooftop in front of two wooden houses. To get to the other side, she would have to jump, but unfortunately, she felt that she couldn't jump. The distance between the rooftops was too great for her. She didn't have enough balance to jump to the other side.
The little girl looked back and saw that her pursuers had increased their speed, and now what do I do? They are so close? She thought. The girl had two options: first, let herself be caught and second, try her luck and jump anyway. Taking another look back, she made up her mind. She took a few steps back and ran forward, jumping, but unfortunately, she was unable to successfully jump to the other side. She was left hanging from the roof of the wooden house on the other side. She grabbed the roof with her left hand and was suspended in the air with only one hand supporting her entire body.
If only she had let go of the bag in her right hand she would have been able to climb up onto the roof, but the way she held the bag tightly in her right hand showed how important its contents were. The girl was about to fall, her left hand unable to support her body, she was slipping. The wolf girl never thought about letting go of the bag to save herself.
By this time John had caught up to the girl, why didn't she just drop the bag? Forget it, John thought, he passed the girl.
— Hey, you stupid girl, put the bag aside if you don't want to fall.
The girl did not take advantage of John's goodwill, she even scoffed saying.
— Leave me alone, young chicken lord.
After she shook a bit, her hand slipped and slowly let go and she was falling, the girl closed her eyes resigning herself to fate. After a while she realized that she wasn't falling, she opened her blue eyes and saw a boy tightly holding her hand.
After the wolf girl was a little confused, she didn't know why the boy in front of her saved her, she looked at John with a complicated look on her face, to everyone's surprise the first word that came out of her mouth was not, pull me, thank you or a word that suited her precarious situation, she yelled at John.
— Let me go. Let me go, you young chicken lord.
John got angry, damn, a guy does me a favor, and then yells at me, what a stupid little girl, I'm going to scare her a little, John thought. Then he spoke sarcastically.
— Aie, since the girl asked nicely, this young lord will do her a favor.
And then he smiled like a villain and loosened his hand that was holding the girl, she began to slip little by little.
— hahaha... Houhahah.
John's laughter grew louder as his grip loosened. The wolf girl's cute little face changed, she saw that the boy wasn't joking, she swallowed her pride and demanded that John pull her up.
— Pull me. Pull you chicken lord, don't you dare let me fall. I am royalty of the werewolf clan, if you dare let me fall I will sentence you to death.
John was stunned, he had never seen such a shameless little girl in his life. Because of this he decided to take the scare to the extreme, his laughter increased.
— why would a royal steal a few coins? And why would a royal walk around like a dirty little pig? Ha ha ha?
John let go of the wolf girl's hand, and grabbed it again, his laughter became even more sinister, Alex at his side was perplexed, he didn't know why his young lord acted this way, he was kind and polite a moment ago, but now he's acting like a scoundrel, on the other hand John was having fun, give God what's God's and give bad luck what's Caesar's, if you want to play then let's play, John thought.
With a defeated look a voice, thinner than a mosquito sounded.
— Please pull me up.
John stopped his laughter and spoke.
— What? I can't hear you, you want me to drop you right?
The girl bit her lips and spoke louder.
— Young lord, can you please pull me up.
After she said that, a blush appeared on her fleshy cheeks, when John saw this it was as if an arrow hit him right in the heart, he couldn't resist a girl blushing with shame, it's not that he was some kind of pedophile or anything, it's that his body still had some influence on his mind and the most important thing on earth was rare, if not impossible, for a girl to blush with shame. Even his younger sister on earth only cried when she had a fever, he was delighted to see girls crying in the animes they watched on earth.
After a while, John pulled the wolf girl up, he didn't want the girl to cry because of him, after seeing the blushing girl his anger was completely extinguished, he had distorted mathematics, for him a blushing girl is equal to a good girl, that's what John had in mind after watching so much anime, in his defense he says to himself he's never seen a villain blushing no matter the genre of the anime.
Now the three of them were standing looking at each other, they were silent for a long time, when two full minutes had passed, John broke the silence.
— Hey, wolf girl.
The girl didn't answer, John spoke again.
— Wolf girl, give me my belongings.
The girl still didn't respond. John sighed and said in a soft voice.
— Just give back what you stole and you can go, I'll pretend nothing happened between us.
John was already fed up with standing on the roof of someone else's house, he just wanted to get his bag, buy something to eat and then go take a look at the castle, after all it was late and lunch time was almost over, he didn't like eating at inappropriate times. But the girl now seemed mute and refused to say anything.
***
On the dark side of the favelas.
In a wooden hut, a woman in her 30s was lying in bed, her face was pale, her silver hair was turning gray despite her age, she seemed to be very sick, she coughed every few minutes, the woman's blue eyes showed concern.
- Izabela hasn't come back yet? Where has she been?
The woman lying in bed told the other woman who was taking care of her.
— I don't know, she would have come back by now.
A teenage girl who was caring for the sick woman spoke with a worried look, she saw a damp cloth on the forehead of the sick woman in bed.
— It's very dangerous for us to be wandering around, we have to be cautious and Izabela knows this very well, because...
Cough
Cough
Cough.
The woman coughed even more because she was emotionally agitated, a teenager tried to be cautious.
— Don't worry, auntie, Iza should be back soon, auntie stay calm and I'll go get her, how about that?
The teenager spoke with a smile on her face, she didn't want her beloved aunt to get even sicker. It was already a great sacrifice for them to hide in the slums of the Venhorst territory in Novo Redondo, since then her aunt's illness has been getting worse.
- Okay, you go look for Isabela, I'll be fine.
The teenager adjusted an old blanket covering her aunt's fragile body, she then possibly headed for the exit door, suddenly without warning, a bang sounded and the door flew colliding with a teenager, the door hit her and she fell to the ground, blood gushed from the wound on her head, her vision became blurred and she fell unconscious.
Five figures enter the broken door, all five armed with swords and spears. The woman in the bed tried to get up to help the teenager, but was unable to. She fell to the floor. The men who had just entered swept the area with their eyes, and saw two women lying on the floor, one of them speaking.
— One is missing here.
He pointed to two men on his left and gave his orders.
— You two, look around, she must be nearby.
He looked at the other two and said.
— You and you, love these two and cover their eyes and mouth.
The four men each followed their orders, two went out to search the surroundings and the other two took some ropes and tied up the sick teenage woman, her eyes and mouth were covered as well as the muscular man tempted.
After 20 minutes, the men who had left returned. One of them spoke.
— Boss, there's no sign of a girl.
The muscular man nodded, scratched his thick beard and spoke.
— Very well, fix the door by organizing everything, let's wait for her here, it will be futile to search. The little girl has to come home sooner or later.
The man gave a sinister laugh, even his men shivered, after that they returned to the door and hid inside the cabin waiting for the wolf girl to return, silence took over the place.