Chapter 59

Arya shook her head at the sight of the rag-tag group of villagers who looked like they hadn't gotten much to eat for weeks now. They smelled awful but Arya was sure she didn't smell like roses and sugar herself either.

She hid her disgust behind a mask of joy and calmness.

"Hello sir, My name is Arya and I'm the "Green-Eyed Princess.""

The piggy man looked at her with cunning and sly eyes like he was plotting something.

He bowed at a 90 degree angle in a cringey way that made Arya almost want to barf.

"Welcome Princess to my humble home."

He spread his arms out, gesturing to the little village that looked like it had suffered its unfair share of monster attacks, and Arya resisted the urge to punch him in the face or draw her swords.

Arya didn't like that look on his face at all.

He looked too fat and plump compared to the rest of the villagers and Arya knew that this man must be hoarding food.

No way would his belly be this big and fat if he was not able to eat well like the rest of the townspeople.

Arya wondered why the townspeople didn't try to fight back.

She saw some muscular(well, some of them were) and thug-like men and women in the crowd, armed with swords, axes, clubs or fists. Some carried pitchforks or scythes but they were all armed with something. But the most alarming of all-and a massive red flag-was that they carried whips in their hands or strapped to their waists. 

They looked healthy and well fed and Arya put together that they must be people that this piggy man must have paid off in food to act like hired thugs.

Arya eyed the man and saw his clothes-stained and dirty and straining for its life to keep him covered up-were made of very fine materials-and Arya wondered if he could be a noble.

No, she thought, it could be that he stole some clothes from somewhere given that crime has all but gone wild now.

How was he keeping the people in line?

Probably by controlling the food supply, Arya thought, answering her own question.

But where was he keeping the food?

The man cleared his throat and he gestured to a random girl in the crowd.

"You girl, help the princess to get cleaned up."

The girl, who looked to be around Arya's age with shiny white hair and pale yellow eyes, looked nervous and caught off guard but she obeyed.

The man then rolled his eyes and clapped his hands.

"Back to work, people!! Your highness, if you will, please allow me to escort you back to my mansion."

Two goons flanked his side like bodyguards and Arya wondered what in the world or who in the world could harm him. Certainly not the poorly fed and mentally scarred survivors/victims.

The crowd dispersed just like that in an instance except for the chosen girl and Arya noticed how those hired thugs were herding and watching over the people like sheep or…slaves.

"Work?"

That fat piggy man was leading the way and Arya made sure to stay as far away from him as possible but made sure that she was still about to see him as she followed him.

The white haired girl nodded once before her eyes widened and she looked a bit scared.

"Yes, my princess, he makes us work, claims that we "need to earn our fair share" but he and his goons get the good stuff while we have to work our asses off for scraps of food!!"

Arya noted how she kept her voice low and she kept glancing back at the piggy man and two of his goons like she was worried they might overhear what she just said.

Arya nodded.

"What kind of work does he make you guys do?"

"Normal jobs like cleaning, cooking, washing but…sometimes there are "special" jobs for young girls and women like me to….serve him in the bedroom."

Arya's anger shot up to "I want to beat the crap out of this fucker and make him pay for what he did" at the drop of a hat. Scumbag. Bastard. Asshole. He was probably blackmailing the poor girls for sexual favors with the allure of extra food.

"Bastard. What an asshole. How dare he take advantage of those women and girls and their desperation. Do you know his name or anything about him?"

The white-haired girl shook her head.

"No, he's a complete bastard but nobody dares to go against him. Not unless we want to starve to death. There haven't been any merchants or farmers coming to town for months now and nobody wants to step foot outside the town for obvious reasons. Our food supply ran out about 2 months ago and this bastard took advantage of our situation to take control. Who the fuck does he think he is?"

Arya frowned.

"Could he be an ability user? Like does he have any special powers?"

Arya was thinking maybe a pocket dimension to store food in or some sort of ability that allowed for someone to store stuff or summon objects.

The white haired girl shook her head.

"Sure, my princess, he does. I once saw him make a loaf of bread appear from nowhere just like he came from the middle of nowhere."

"A creation ability then. And a powerful one."

Arya read about creation abilities. Abilities that allowed the wielder to summon objects from thin air by will. Highly rare.

"We arrived, my princess."

Arya stopped in front of a towering mansion and she saw some men and women going about with their work like they were house servants.

"Sir, I think you have some explaining to do about the way you treat people."

Arya drew out one of her swords.