CHAPTER 35: ENTERING THE CITY

Wilderness: -

Early the next morning Ray woke up refreshed after sleeping the whole night after returning from camp.

He said his goodbyes to the chief and started his journey to the city.

(The monster fish will be called Goldie) 

Ray instructed Goldie to slowly pull the ship while he was controlling its direction from the captain's room of the ship.

As he moved forward, he saw a huge wall on his right side of the ship which was built with strong Black Rock.

The height of Black Rock was nearly 50 meters tall, and it connected various mountains on the side to form a great defense wall, and its total length was at least 5 miles, at the center of the wall was the entrance to the city where the boats passed through to enter the city.

While marveling at the construction of the city wall Ray slowly directed his ship through the entrance where various kinds of ships were passing through.

As Ray entered the city bay, he saw the harbor run in a > shape, as the ship moved forward the water level decreased and the heavy ships with larger sizes were parked from the entrance according to the sizes.

At the edge of the harbor lies a luxurious pier where a few ships have docked, those which are luxuriously decorated were meticulously maintained by the harbor management.

Ray slowly stopped his ship at the harbor got off the boat with Lily and started looking at the city.

As the chief said the outer area is built alongside the river which covers a radius of about 5 miles and is protected by the huge wall on all four sides.

Ray doesn't know if there are any other entrances to the city but according to the chief the city has about a total of four entrances.

Maybe he might have to tour around the city with Lily at a later date and ask Ruby to connect with Lily so she could see the outside world through the soul connection.

As Ray was observing his surroundings, he heard a timid voice calling to him and he saw a small child who was six to seven years old standing near him and timidly watching him.

Ray sat down on his knees and looked at the child who called him and asked gently, "Hello kid, what did you call me for."

"Sir, are you new here, do you want a tour guide, I can help you as a guide and introduce the city to you, please give me some money after the work is done." Asked the child timidly.

"Great observations," Ray praised the child, to which the child happily giggled.

While he was talking with the child a middle-aged man with a broken tooth while heavily drinking a bottle of cheap beer came to his side and pushed the child down.

"Get lost you kid, go and drink some milk at your home, don't come and steal the adult's work." warned the middle-aged guy rudely.

Ray frowned upon smelling a bad smell emitting from him and took a step back to avoid his approach while Lily gently lifted the kid who was pushed, dusted him of the dirt, and coaxed him from crying.

The Middle-aged guy saw Ray has aversion to him and spoke with slight displeasure: "Sir, this pier is under the control of the Black Fang gang, no one steels their jobs here, if you need a guide you have to choose from us or you go around the city and stop your ship somewhere else, but none will accept your commissions in the outer city after rejecting us." he warned Ray.

"I'm sorry but I don't need any guide, especially I don't like a drunk idiot to guide me through the city." Ray scoffed at his warning and rejected the deal.

"You who can't walk straight think you can guide me through the city, walk ten steps ahead without faltering a single step and I will employ you as my guide." Ray declared.

After the middle-aged man tried walking according to Ray's request and fell within two steps of walking on the road.

"Get lost," Ray shouted then took the child's hand and left the place.

The drunkard saw Ray disregarding him even after mentioning his gang's name.

The middle-aged man hung his head low in shame and anger and warned: "We Black Fang members will remember this and see how you will stay peacefully in the city." and left while trembling in anger.

Ray scoffed at his warning and took the child to a small stall nearby and brought fish skewers for the child and Lily who were watching it with mouths full of saliva from the moment they smelled the aroma.

Seeing the kid eat the food with hesitation at first then he watched Lily eat without minding anyone who was watching them and then he took a deep breath to gather courage and started competing with her.

As the kids were enjoying the food, Ray began talking with the shop owner and was informed by him that the words spoken by the drunkard were true and he asked them to leave the city soon after completing the work to avoid getting into trouble.

Ray thanked the stall owner, sat beside the kid, and saw him eat a few more of the fish skewers while forgetting about his competition with Lily and patted his stomach contently after completing the food.

Ray who saw the kid had eaten his fill then started asking the kid about his details.

After a lengthy chat, he got to know that his name was Jay, and he was waiting for his mother at the pier as she had gone out on mercenary work and not returned until now.

He was waiting for her to return as he did daily, and the money she left for him was taken away by the bad guys yesterday, so he thought of working while waiting for her and earning some money to eat as he hadn't eaten from yesterday evening.

And he got to know the kid stays in the inner city with his mother.