Romanoff Dukedom: The Valk League (11)

Somewhere in the maze-like corridors of a certain fifth-level basement, a young man could be seen leisurely taking a stroll. It might be a tad distasteful, but he was trying to sightsee what the Erantel prison could offer.

As he was walking, the sound of his footsteps tapping on the stone floor echoed within the cells lining up on both sides of the hallway. It was the most noticeable out of all the crying, heaving, and groaning that could be heard throughout the area.

The cellars on the right part were filled with demi-humans who were injured, some way or another. Their tails and ears were cut off, some had their eyes gouged out. Most of them had bodies riddled with lacerations and broken bones. These were only a handful of the myriad of sufferings that these captives had endured.

On the left side, the shifters did not have any evident damages on the surface of their bodies. However, their gazes conveyed exhaustion beyond what slaves would experience.

The common ground of these two groups was that they appeared to be in a severe state of malnutrition. Furthermore, they were dressed with a thin piece of clothing that looked as if they had been procured from garbage bins.

In the Atreschivel Empire that was established by humans, shifters and demi-humans were treated as savages unless they belonged to a family that held significant power. Basically, the placement for non-humans in their community was on the two opposite ends of the spectrum- the influential rich or the dirt poor.

If they ever wanted to live a normal, commoner life, then their only choice was to abandon the confines of Atreschivel.

Shifters were the strongest among the beast species. They could fully assume their beast forms and use their capabilities to their limits. When it came down to it, the Empire treated the shifters better than the demi-humans for the reason that they were purebreds.

Even within the beast community, shifters were regarded as the strongest. In total, only ten percent of the beast population were shifters. Usually than not, they held positions of power.

Demi-humans, on the other hand, were beasts who were born from the union of a human female and either a male or female shifter. Since they're not capable of summoning the same power as Shifters, they could only use their skills for trivial jobs such as construction and mercenary commissions.

Still, that didn't mean that they could live without being ridiculed. They're basically treated the same way as slaves and beggars.

The great divide between these two beast types only worsened as time went by.

The current Emperor implemented a tax reform that compelled the beasts to pay an unsubstantiated amount of money in exchange for being allowed to live in the Empire. To better visualize how ridiculous the amount was, it would take a Demi-human three years to earn the money to pay their one month's worth of tax.

And that was not the worst aspect of the tax reform. From the moment they were born, a beast was already required to pay taxes, ultimately placing the burden on the head of the family.

For those who could pay, the Empire let them live a month of peace before forcing them to pay their tax for the succeeding month.

As for those who couldn't pay, they were imprisoned in the first-level basement of Erantel Prison.

On the other hand, the area where Ius was strolling around was full of murderers and aggravated assailants. They were also the prisoners who had been staying the longest inside the prison.

'I definitely agree with the notion that an Empire's reverence is reflected in how they treat their prisoners. This place is still the rotten dumpsite that it was from the former Emperor's reign.'

Ius amused himself by lambasting the very Empire that he was serving. Although, his perpetually taciturn countenance was undisturbed as he scrutinized the faces of the inhabitants of each cell.

The Romanoff heir wasn't fazed with the heated gazes that he was receiving from the ensnared jailbirds. They were too weakened to pose a threat to him. Moreover, they had no way of beating one of the strongest wolf shifters.

Ius heaved a sigh once he arrived at the end of the corridor. He shook his head as he massaged his temples, having had enough of the search.

'There are no unfamiliar entities nor a similar scent to those folks of the snake clan. I simply wasted my time here when I could've been scouring through the nearby forest. In the first place, why would the runaway disguise themselves as a prisoner? What's the purpose of running away only to be locked up?'

Hardly containing his disappointment, the young man turned around to take his exit, sparing no additional glance towards the detainees. However, not even a minute into his walk, someone spoke to him out of the blue.

"Boy, what's troublin' ya?" A gruff and low-pitched voice of a man prevailed over the hushed murmurings.

Ius did not hesitate to face the cell to his right side, considering that he's familiar with the utterance along with the scent of the person who had interrupted his saunter.

"Sir Prev, I see that you're finally where you belong. It's nice to know that you're alive and kicking." The lad responded to the abrupt questioning, staring directly in the eyes of the old man seated at the farthest corner of the dark booth.

"Ho ho, you're still a cheeky brat. Who's troublin' you this time? The Bears? Tigers? Primates? Or perhaps- the reptiles?"

A smile crawled its way up to Ius' previously blank face. However, the corners of his mouth didn't reach his presently patronizing eyes. He approached the cell where the man called Prev was in and gripped one rod of the barrier with his right hand. The young man was gripping the bar so tight that the veins in his hand bulged to a point as if they're going to rupture.

"Shut your mouth, you senile dog."