Chapter 22

*General Pov*

"U-um… Young lord?" Cloud called out from behind, hesitantly.

"Hmm? What is it?" Aldrich, who was walking forward, turned his head at the back.

Cloud looked at the bag in his arms, a subtle sweet aroma of freshly baked loaves of bread was coming out from it.

He shifted his gaze to the guard captain, who was carrying another similar-looking bag. Then finally he looked at Aldrich, "I was thinking...why do we need so much food…."

"Hmmm...I guess food is an important factor for converting people." Aldrich said as a matter of fact. And changed his attention to the front.

"What?..." Cloud muttered, and question marks started appearing over his head.

He again turned to the guard captain, trying to understand what his lord said.

"Leave it. We are not capable or qualified to understand the thought process of our great Lord." said the guard captain in a deep tone. He gave the impression as if he is revealing a divine truth.

Cloud's eyes widened, 'True….The young must have a profound understanding of what he is doing right? How can I, being a servant and a commoner, hope to understand the thought process of my master?'

Heeding the words of his superior, Cloud gave up his attempt and focused on walking forward.

After walking a small distance, Aldrich stopped his pace and asked, "From here the slum starts right?"

The guard captain also stopped and gazed at his surroundings, "Yes, young Lord. It is the slums."

Aldrich looked around. Truly, this place is so different from the main city. The sewage drains are running free on the roads. Hips of garbage are dumped everywhere. Not even an inch misses of liters.

Children can be seen running around naked. Some people are quarrelling in the streets. Others are just ignoring them. Flies and mosquitos are buzzing everywhere. The houses were primarily made of straws and mud. They were extremely cramped. Many houses were even built in the middle of the streets, blocking the roads.

'Yeah… without a doubt it's a slum.'

"Alright let's get going." saying so, Aldrich walked forward and the other two followed him.

While walking in the streets of the slums, many people were staring at them. Or more specifically at Aldrich. Some of them were women who blushed after glancing at his face.

"Umm…Excuse me, do you know where the 'Malaba lane' is?" Aldrich asked one of the men sitting in the corridors of one of the houses. He looked extremely drowsy and drunk.

The man raised his head and looked at Aldrich. After looking drowsily for a few seconds, his expression became twisted.

He opened his mouth and barked out. "HOW THE F*CK DO I KNOW HUH!!?"

Aldrich and the others were caught off guard because of the sudden outburst.

"Hey-" the guard captain was going to say something. But before he could say anything, a kick came flying making the drunken man lay flat on the ground.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?" The owner of the voice cried out. She(a woman) got near the man and kicked him one more time. "Why do you always act like this!? You have no work to do and just drink and gamble every time." Saying so, she continued kicking him a few more times until the man started growling out of pain.

Aldrich and co. just watched the entire thing unfold. Honestly, the attitude of the woman scarred them a little.

After kicking the man to her heart's content, the middle-aged woman looked at Aldrich, which made him flinch.

"You.." The lady said.

"Y-yes?" Aldrich flinched again.

The woman looked at his face and suddenly gave a gleaming smile, "Wow! You are so handsome!"

"Eh!?" That came out of nowhere.

"You have such a nice face. So beautiful eyes, so high nose….." And she continued praising him.

Hearing her compliments, he scratched his cheek and flashed an awkward smile, "Thanks...I guess?"

After praising his appearance a bit more she said, "I am so sorry that my useless husband yelled at you. Please don't mind, ok?"

"Oh… No no, it's fine. Don't worry."

"Hehehe, You wanted to know where the Malaba lane is right? Just go to the right and after walking about twenty steps it will come." The woman said.

"Ah! Thank you for telling us."

"Oh No no, It's my pleasure."

"Then….We will be taking our leave."

"Yeah. But please do visit me before going ok?" The woman said, with a slight blush.

"Ahaha… hahaha..ah" Aldrich just laughed awkwardly at that.

*MC POV*

"I am sorry young lord, that man disrespected you." The guard captain said after we parted ways with that woman.

"Oh, Don't worry. It's not your fault. It's not like he knows me. Then again, we are in a slum. This type of thing is common here." I said, dismissing his guilt.

We walked forward in the direction the woman showed us.

"Climb, give me one piece of bread from your bag and captain please lend me the bag you are carrying."

I took the things from them and said, "Now whatever happens here don't interfere. I will tell you what to do afterwards. Understand?"

They both nodded to my satisfaction.

Taking the bag, I started munching on the piece of bread which I took from Cloud. It was not the best quality, but it was fresh.

As we were walking down the narrow lane, a hooded person, about a few inches shorter than me, ran toward us. He collided with me causing me to stumble back a bit. The bread and the bag in my hands fell down on the ground due to the impact.

The hooded person hurriedly snatched the bag which had fallen and made a run.

Both Cloud and the guard captain didn't make any move as per my instructions. After the person disappeared from the site, they looked at me seemingly asking what to do now.

I didn't say anything the whole time this incident happened. Instead, a subtle smirk can be seen on my lips.

*Heh* 'Looks like the fish caught the net.'