Chapter 5: CH 5 : A deal from your dear

As we continue traversing through the forest, a loud growl escapes my tummy.

[Dear Princess, we have been walking for a while now, when is this city of yours going to appear?]

[It's very close, just bear the hunger a bit more]

[How come you aren't dying of hunger like me over here huh]

[Since little, I was trained in proper royal etiquette, being on empty stomach for a few days is nothing to fret about]

[...]

Well, that's cruel...

Though she probably considers it a good thing, I can't help but think of it as less than torture. Maybe it's my modern values conflicting here, but that revelation didn't help my bad image of the kingdom's royalty.

After walking a bit more, the denser forest quickly started dispersing, and finally, a bright shining light hit my eyes. After adjusting to the sudden light, my vision became clear and a large city came into my focus.

Large walls surround the city, with moats laid all around it except for one grand entrance.

[This is a city governed by Count Richard, being on the border between the kingdom and the church's territory it acts as a massive hub for trade between the two, making it perfect for blending in for some time]

[mm, since there's a lot of trade and business people are abundant here then the amount of corruption here must be quite something]

[*CLAP!* Exactly, my friend. Almost every city or even a town requires a permit card for entry, but here there's one other thing that can give us entry]

[I see...and that "other" thing would be nothing but money hmm]

[Correct again, since we now have some amount of money thanks to you, it's the perfect place that allows for a couple of nobodies like us to enter]

The money she's crediting me for, we go from the house of that teacher I killed. Since the concept of a bank only exists in big cities, the villages and small towns here have no means to securely store their money, so I thought most people likely kept their money at home somewhere safe. 

Luckily I was correct, we found 2 small bags of gold inside a small hidden storage beneath the floor, the location of which was easily spilled by the owner himself. Thus giving me one more reason in justifying the murder inside of my mind.

As we approach the gate, I notice a bunch of small tents scattered on the outside. Some were made of mud, some of decaying clay, and some people slept out in the open with nothing to protect them from the harsh cold.

[These people are...]

[Those rejected by even the scum of this place. All of them want to enter the city and start a new life but where is the money going to come from? Their hearts aren't twisted enough to rob someone for money, yet]

["Yet" you say, then what about those who do goes to those lengths?]

[They enter the city and soon get caught for their crimes, they can't change faces as we did so easily]

[Then why haven't the king or even the church done anything for these people?]

[They gain no advantage in helping them. Aiding them might help their public perception, but when have those who rule by force cared for their public image]

[well that's...]

[On top of that, even if the public protests, the nobles, and royalty can simply use magic to easily subdue them. What are they gonna do with their pitchforks against a burning fireball coming their way]

[that's a bit grim I would say]

[It surely is, but I'm a princess no more, so these matters don't concern me now]

[also true I guess...own safety before others I suppose]

So it's a dog eat dog world I'm in here. Power and force seem to be the ruling power of this continent.

And when a continent goes to such a state, then from all the history books I have read in my own world, a revolutionary uprising is sure to come to overthrow this power structure

From the way Anabelle is describing the situation of commoners, the said revolution doesn't seem far off to me.

Some revolutionary forces must be forming beneath the shadows of this continent, the only question is when will those forces reveal themselves to the king, nobles, and the church.

As I continue contemplating further into the matter, we finally reach the gate. 

There's a huge line formed in front, mostly merchants with their wagons ready to sell their products inside and some tourists wanting to travel the city. 

The guards in front inspect the person and after checking for their identity card allow them inside.

Slowly we push forward and finally without any incidents reach the guard.

I stand behind Anabelle, as she goes up and whispers something into the guard's ears. After which, his ears perk up and he let's us inside the gate without any further delay.

[What did you say]

[The magic words]

[ugh]

She avoids my question by throwing a wink my way, ugh, that smug face, I can't help but love it too.

As we enter the gate, a large and wide busy road appears before me. Alongside the road, several shops resided with thousand of people buying stuff and simply roaming around.

Moving along the road, I notice several alleyways peeking from between the shops, my intuition telling me to memorize the structure of these alleys as quickly as possible.

Further on, we reach the main square, a massive garden being its center with four main roads leading to their respective districts. According to the map hung outside the park, we came from the market district. On the left was the housing district, the right led to the work district which had various government and company buildings, and finally, the straight one led to the governor's district. There reside various houses for government officials and the giant manor of the governor himself.

We make our way to the work district, again I notice several alleyways in between the massive corporate and government owned buildings.

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After a few minutes of walk, we stop by a building with the sign of barracks outside it. On the right of it was a small alley, entering it we notice a worn out rusty barrel. Anabelle opens the lid and puts one bag of money inside and carefully closes the barrel back again.

With two claps she shakes off the dust from her hands and proudly declares

[Thanks to my ingenious, I, Anabelle, have allowed the two of us to safely infiltrate a city. Now we can rest for a bit, earn some money and make our way to getting a boat for escape. A perfect plan indeed, though quite simple for someone of great stature like me, wouldn't you say, Rosa my dear!]

[eegghhh]

Though her haughty attitude stirred emotions of great embarrassment inside me, it still made my heart flutter.

She called me "my dear" aaaaaahhhhhhhhh...

Since we have already reached the point of such an intimate pet name, surely the step is me confessing

Her blushing and acting timid, me showing my flowery charms to woo her emotions

Then two of us flirting without anything yet to name our relationship

She realizes her own feelings for me, but before she could reveal them, I confess again.

We cry together, hug tightly and then kiss in front of the ocean and then and then and ten heheeheheehe

*CLAP!*

[eeeeeeeeeeeepppppppp!!! my LOVE!!]

suddenly my dreams shattered, as two palms slapped my cheeks and suddenly rubbing them aggressively

[huh? what "my love"? have you finally lost your mind? You were just staring into space as I gave my great speech, that's quite rude in this world you know]

[eh? hah? huh? OH! ha.. haha.. hahahahaha, i-it's n-n-nothing, absolutely nothing, just me being silly me, you know me, silly Rosa, ahahahah]

It seems like I got carried away in my fantasies.

I quickly needed to change subjects

[ahahaha....AH! by the way, there's a change of plans occurring now]

[hmm? what do you mean]

her eyes sharply glaring at me, she likely isn't expecting anything good, but that's the way I want to do things

[Your plan to escape to that demi-human land is simply stupid]

[huh?]

[You don't know their culture, their language, the way they view us humans, calmly thinking, it's a very dumb idea]

[Y-you WHAT!!?? HOW dare you mock MY idea]

[Princess right now is blinded by her sense of emergency, you likely want to leave this continent as quickly as possible, you should contemplate about this stupid idea tonight and you will see the obvious yourself]

[...ghhhhh!!]

[And for the next couple of days think about my idea, whether you like it or not, bur personally, I think it's an great idea that will benefit us greatly in the future]

[...]

Though her face is distorted with anger like a demon, I take her anger as an approval to continue speaking

[I sense an uprising of the commoners coming in the near future, and not just a small one, a major one that is capable of changing the very structure of this society. Along with the news of the demon king invasion flying around, this continent will fall into great chaos very soon]

[that's.....]

[Admist all that, their search for the princess will be delayed indefinitely, but what's far more important is that right now we are a couple of nobodies in this society, nobody knows us, nobody knows of our background, our personalities, anything at all! and that's where we strike gold]

[...]

[I propose that we take full advantage of the chaos soon to come, make lots and lots of money from it and live the rest of our lives in luxury together]

[and what do we do before this "chaos" of yours starts?]

[Start making preparations and laying the groundwork for capitalizing the most from the turmoil]

[yeah...but how do we do that exactly?]

[Hey! I'm not alone in this, you claim to have a great mind, if we combine our minds together I'm sure we come up with a great plan for that]

[uhuh..]

[So! What do you say, Anabelle!? Do you want to run away to some foreign land or do you want to join me in this endeavor and in the meantime, those who treated you like some cheap prop make their lives a living breathing hell]

[...]

Though she doesn't speak, I know my words have reached deep inside her

[As I said, think about it for the next couple of days and tell me clearly. This is your own decision and life, after all]

In the meantime, we shall find a cheap inn to stay in for the next couple of days.