Chapter 2: of Magic Growth: The waking slums

"Where did the damn brat ran off to?"

Loud voices were echoing through the slums.

"Don't let her escape, she'll make us good money!"

I don't want to become your source of income, so please let me off.

Running through the dark alleys of the slums, devoid of most of the sunlight, I look back for a second.

Good, they haven't caught up to me yet.

Cursing the thugs in my mind I took a short break to catch my breath and sat down behind some broken down barrels. They weren't providing a good hiding spot but it's definitely better than nothing.

Just when I returned from my attempt of getting into the city I got into this situation. I wore a thick robe with a hood to hide my face and body, but some idiot rammed into from behind and the hood fell off. Of course, it didn't take long for some hoodlums to spot me and spontaneously deciding to make money off me. Or rather my body.

This is why I hate the slums. I can stand seeing the occasional corpse in the alleyways but spare me from rape or becoming a prostitute.

If I would service cute girls I might actually have considered becoming a prostitute. I would have had fun, made money off it and be in a slightly safer environment. But in reality, I'd have to service old men, hoodlums, and other riffraff. Just the thought disgusted me.

There would also be the problem of diseases. I wasn't sure whether I can even catch a human disease anymore but I sure didn't want to try. Getting ill now would have spelt death.

"Did you useless bunch still not find the damn brat? If you don't want me to cut off your dicks you better find her!"

I heard someone yelling, quite close to me. Had to get out of here fast.

Standing up I looked around for a moment and then ran in the opposite direction of the shouts.

I hope he cuts their dicks off since that means fewer men that look at me with lewd gazes or pose a danger to my chastity.

After a few more minutes I arrived at the small hut that was my temporary base. Opening the door I jumped onto the pile of straw in the corner and let out a sigh.

Finally safe.

Still breathing heavily, I lied down on my back and stared at the hole in the ceiling. The hut consisted of only one room and part of the roof was missing. It looked like it could collapse any second but it was surprisingly holding together.

Uhh, I'm hungry...

I grabbed the small pouch lying in the corner and took out the hard bread and the jerky-like thing. It tasted beyond bad but it was the only food I had. I stared into the pouch but no matter what I did, it didn't suddenly contain something more edible. I started nibbling on the bread and leaned on the wall, completely exhausted.

What should I do now? Where do I even get a silver coin from? Even if I did I get the feeling they would accuse me of stealing it.

Stealing would be in fact the only option I had. It's the slums, after all, if you didn't have the strength you wouldn't even get your pay, so proper work was basically impossible.

I was running out of options. At this point, I'd have to get really lucky and maybe find some friendly soul taking me along into the city or maybe I can find someone going to a nearby town that would be willing to let me join on the carriage.

Yeah, not happening, who would be willing to take along a girl from the slums without ulterior motives.

I let out another deep sigh. If only I could at least hide that I was a homeless child. I looked down on the clothes I was wearing.

A tattered brown robe and a long hempen shirt full of holes. I wasn't even wearing underwear.

I had been scammed out of my belongings on the day I arrived in this world. A merchant pretended to buy them off me only to steal them and trying to kidnap me along the way. His escort was confused and didn't quite understand what was happening when the merchant ordered him to capture me. Thanks to that I managed to escape, but I lost everything except the shirt I was given. Why only a shirt? I was in the middle of changing clothes when the merchant tried to attack me. I didn't have the composure to grab the pants or anything else in my panic. Thinking back on it I was surprised the merchant didn't panic when he saw my eyes and the guard probably didn't even see it.

The robe was something I later looted in the slums. The previous owner didn't look like he still had a need for it.

It was tattered and had various blood stains but at least it covered up my body and I could hide my face with the hood.

After that, I spent the rest of the week trying to find food, information and a roof. I was surprised at myself for how calm I was in this situation.

Humans adapt scaringly fast to new situations. Not that I'm human anymore. Not like I got much of a choice in the matter, either.

I grabbed the waterskin that was next to the pouch. It's water from a river near the city and vastly better than any water you would have gotten in the slums. That's still not making it good.

After I gulped down half the content of the waterskin I stood up and looked outside through the window. A few birds were announcing the end of spring, but other than them, it was silent in the streets.

It didn't seem like my pursuers were anywhere close but I should probably wait a bit more before leaving again. They were surely still looking for me.

Sitting back down on the floor, it's time to figure out the options I had left.

The first was prostitution.

I refuse. With all my heart.

Another option was offering myself as a slave to a slave trader. But the only ones that would have taken me, a monster, were underground dealers. I heard that legal slaves were actually treated well and even may have gotten the chance to get released and be employed properly, depending on the owner. That still did not guarantee anything even remotely but it would have been better than my current situation. Alas, as a monster I wouldn't even have been able to get to an official slave trader. They would have cut me down on the spot the moment they had realized I'm not a person.

The underground slave traders on the other side would have most likely taken me, but illegal slaves had an even worse life than I did right now.

Regardless, neither was an option since I didn't feel like offering my freedom and probably my chastity on a plate. The chances to be free again were minuscule.

A third option was to somehow procure a silver coin and enter the city. While that was the option I preferred the most, I had no means of earning money. All I managed was to relieve some of the more unfortunate inhabitants of the slums of a few copper coins. They didn't need them after all anymore and those few copper coins were sustaining my current lifestyle. With a copper coin I could buy a loaf of hard bread and with two coins I could buy a piece of jerky. When I asked what kind of meat it is, I was told it's better I didn't know.

That kind of scares me. It couldn't be... No, don't think about it.

The last option was to sneak into the city. I got really lucky that I overheard a conversation of an entrance to the city sewers inside the slums. But the local group controlling the slums had their eyes on that entrance, so unless something happened I wouldn't have been able to sneak through there.

There's another entrance where the river entered the city. The part where the river entered the city was closed off with a lattice, but next to it was a small entrance. The problem here was, that entrance was guarded all day and night. While being caught by guards was still better than being caught by the thugs, it didn't change that this was not an option.

I let out another sigh. I took off the robe, revealing a small knife that was bound with a cloth to my thigh. It was more for relieving anxiety than actual protection, but in the worst case, I could at least defend myself better than barehanded.

Knock. Knock.

The sudden sounds surprised me and I stared at the door. Some seconds passed until.

Knock Knock. Knock.

Slowly standing up I walked towards the door and opened it slightly, making sure I could close it in a hurry in the worst case.

Standing outside was a robed figure with their face hidden.

"Yo, it is me!" The figure said in a cheerful voice.

"Is this an identity scam?"

"Your jokes are not getting any better, dear."

"I'm sorry, but that wasn't a joke. You're the one who told me to make sure I know with whom I'm talking."

"Oh, right. I did tell you that, didn't I?"

In response to my complaint, the figure slightly lifted the hood to reveal their face.

"Satisfied?"

I nod. Two silver-coloured eyes were staring at me from beneath the hood. Opening the door wide I let them in.

"You still failed though. If it wasn't me I could have easily pushed the door open. I didn't only tell you to check the identity of the other person but also to hide your own, didn't I?"

"Uhhh..... But I made sure I could close the door immediately in the worst case!"

"Do you really think that you with your feeble strength could prevent that? Even I can easily overpower you, Yumi."

The person took off the hood, revealing themselves. A girl with beautiful silver eyes was shown. Unfortunately, that was the only beautiful thing. Her shoulder-length hair was so dirty it was impossible to make out the original hair colour and her body and clothes were smeared with mud and dirt.

She was over a head taller than me with a slender build and a moderate chest.

I'm sure if you cleaned her up she would end up being a really cute girl.

And yet, this girl took it upon herself to literally jump into a pile of mud. I actually saw her doing that.

According to herself, it was to prevent people from trying to kidnap her. Whether that actually worked, I didn't know, but I didn't want to try it myself. It may have sounded ridiculous considering my current state, but I did prefer a certain degree of cleanliness.

"I'm sorry. I will remember it next time, Karen."

This girl's name was Karen and she was, in a way, my benefactor and also probably the only reason I wasn't yet caught by random thugs, bandits, slavers and whatever other scoundrels were running around. She picked me up by chance when I was loitering around the slums on my first day here and was about to be kidnapped by some suspicious men. Since then she had taught me a lot of things necessary for survival in the slums. She also didn't mind my eyes. Considering she told me that demonkin often had these kinds of eyes as well, it's probably not the first time she saw that.

"You better do."

Karen heaved a sigh and sat down on the floor. She grabbed the pouch and took the remaining bread. After staring at the bread for a while her gaze wandered to the jerky in my hand.

"Is this all that's left?"

"Nn. That's all. But at least we still got some water from the river."

"Why is this all that's left?"

"Obviously because we ate it?"

"Then spit it out, I want something other than hard bread or that horrible jerky."

How unreasonable. Do you think I like this either?

"The jerky is still better than the bread. Want it?"

"No thanks."

Instant refusal. Karen really hated that jerky. It did taste bad but it's still better than most other options, in my opinion.

Seemingly having given up, Karen started biting into the bread.

Despite her complaints, she was still more used to this than I am. In contrast to me, she could properly bite into the bread. I didn't have enough strength in my jaw to do that so I had to slowly nibble on it. It hurt really bad when I tried to bite into the bread the first time.

"By the way, there was some commotion. Some of the trash was apparently looking for a cute girl. Was that you again?"

"Nn. Some idiot bumped into me and my hood fell off. Those people apparently saw it and immediately started chasing me."

Karen stopped eating and stared at me.

"Yumi, that wasn't a coincidence, you know?"

"Huh? What do you mean."

"They definitely planned to take down your hood to check whether you are worth attacking. That is daily work for them."

Now that she said it, they did react incredibly fast.

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"That you still escaped is impressive. Share me some of that luck, please."

"If I was any lucky I wouldn't be in the slums in the first place."

"That is true I guess. Maybe you used up your luck elsewhere?"

If that stupid wish actually used up all my luck, that'd be horrible. But I still hoped that I had at least some luck left.

With a Thud! Karen jumped onto the straw I was occupying earlier.

"Since you are here, I guess your trip to the gate was fruitless?"

"Nn. They demanded an entire silver coin to let me in."

"Ha! As if anyone here had that much money. Even if you did they would accuse you of stealing it."

So I was right. I did expect that would happen as well.

"I tried appealing to him, but he called me a dirty brat. I even went to the river yesterday to wash off the dirt. So rude."

"Yumi, you are dirty."

"Huh?"

"No matter how I look at you, you don't look like someone who washed herself. You are really dirty."

Rude! I really made sure to wash myself! And no matter what, I can't be worse than you!

"When you were at the river, did you even try looking at your reflection?"

"..."

She touched a sour spot. I didn't look at my own reflection.

While I kind of took a crash course for the slums and my new life, I was still uncomfortable with a number of things. One of those was most obviously my own body. Even if I couldn't remember the previous world clearly, I still had the awareness of a male young adult.

It's not that I disliked my new appearance and gender. If I were completely honest, I really liked it. I was cute and if I could I would hug myself immediately, despite not being a narcissist. Even so, it was occasionally a bit troubling. Seeing my own naked appearance was one of my troubles. I didn't have any intention to find a way to turn into a male again, so I would have to get used to it, but it would take time.

I said all this, but I still ran around inside the hut in only a long shirt that was barely covering my crotch area. Not to mention that the shirt itself was already plenty damaged and showed quite a lot of skin here and there. If I moved around carelessly I immediately exposed myself. It was extremely embarrassing when Karen started smiling and called my bottom half cute.

I really want some pants.

Karen herself was wearing her robe nearly all the time. The only time I saw her taking it off was when she jumped into the pile of mud. Below she was actually wearing a decent shirt and a long skirt. They were obviously both worn and dirty, but they were in a way better state than my half-torn shirt. Those must've been of really good quality, considering she was rolling around in mud while still wearing them. She also wore a pair of old, worn leather shoes.

"Well, did something else happen while you were out?"

Thankfully, Karen didn't press the matter and changed the topic. How thoughtful.

"Outside of being rejected at the gate and chased by lecherous thugs, no, not really."

That was already plenty. I didn't want even more to happen.

"How was it for you? Got anything?"

Unlike me, Karen lived in the slums for a rather long time already. She was a lot less hesitant to fight for her survival even if it meant stepping onto others and she knew clearly what risks were reasonable and which were not. But that was also exactly why she didn't try to escape the slums. The risk was too high.

"Good news or bad news, your choice."

"The good news first then."

"I found some sandals that may fit you."

Saying that she threw a pair of sandals, that she magically procured from somewhere, towards me. Shoes were actually quite an issue, because either you had some that fit you, or you walked barefoot. Running with loose shoes was near impossible and you always had to be ready to run at a moments notice.

Now, that all wouldn't have been an issue if I wasn't so small. I needed child-sized shoes and finding those in the slums proved to be a challenge.

I pick up the sandals that landed in front of me and inspect them. They looked worn but mostly undamaged. They were small, probably women's sandals, but they still too big for me.

With some luck, we may be able to adjust the straps! No more walking around on hard stones without shoes.

I crouched down to put them on and adjust the strap. At least I wanted to, but I couldn't figure out how.

After some seconds of fiddling around Karen stood up and approached me.

"Let me see."

She crouched down and started fiddling with the straps of both sandals. After a few seconds, she was done and checked if it was loose.

"Try walking, maybe jogging a bit. Tell me if they are loose. Nothing is worse than losing a shoe in the middle of running."

I stood up straight again and put some strength first on the right and then the left foot. After confirming that it didn't hurt I walked and then jogged in a circle.

"Seems good!" I declared with a smile. Finally I had shoes. My clothing articles increased by a whole fifty percent! If I counted each sandal separately even a hundred percent!

I would have never thought there'd be a day where I'd be this glad to get a new pair of shoes. Well, they aren't really new, though.

"Now, we only need to do something about the rest of your appearance." Karen said with a wry smile. She was staring at my legs. Actually slightly above. I followed her line-of-sight and noticed that the shirt I was wearing shifted around a bit. Perfectly with a tear right above my crotch area, exposing the smooth plains to the world.

I gazed at Karen, while my face turned slightly red.

"Pervert."

Surprisingly, I wasn't really ashamed of being seen. Maybe it had to do with me becoming a monster. Though, I was actually quite sure that I would have delivered divine judgement if it wasn't Karen, who I was familiar with, but lecherous men. Thankfully that wasn't the case, since even if I wanted to deliver divine judgement, I didn't even know how I would do that.

"Stop exposing yourself then. I am not a pervert. It is not like it is impossible to get something less revealing than that shirt for you. If you would just stop being so picky."

"After telling me to strip a dead person of their clothes I'm sure you're also going to tell me to jump and roll around in the mud, won't you."

"If you were willing I would tell you to do that, but you don't even want to wear the clothes, so I will be happy already if we get you at least slightly more covered up."

"It's not like anyone is going to see, I have the robe for that."

"I am seeing it, are you fine with that?"

"Nn, I am."

Karen averted her eyes in defeat.

I was fine with being seen but I was quite embarrassed seeing myself, or others. I might be weird.

Maybe, I might have been fine even if she wanted to touch, once she washed all the dirt off her hands. Though I wasn't sure about anything beyond touching. It was unlikely Karen would do anything like that though. In this past week I found out, that she is actually quite bad with dirty jokes and erotic things. She was fine if she was the one making the joke, but she immediately became embarrassed if someone else did it. She was surprisingly pure in this regard, despite living in an environment where sex and rape were daily occurrences.

"Anyway. Whether you are fine with it or not, you should still get something else to wear. I know the nights are currently warm since summer is approaching but you never know when we get bad weather or cold nights. And clothes are just clothes. It's not like a revengeful ghost starts inhabiting it just because you took it from someone who died."

"Ugh... I will... think about it."

She was right, of course. It was just me being obstinate. It already took all I had just to take the money from the dead. Stripping them down would be too much for me. Even the robe took all my willpower, and the former owner dropped it around a meter before he collapsed.

Though I say dropped, he probably took it willingly off, since it seemed he was killed while doing the deed with someone.

And outside of some blood, the robe was pretty clean.

It was a secret that I vomited that day. A monster feeling ill from seeing a dead human.

After walking a few more circles to get used to the sandals I turn towards Karen again, hoping to change the topic.

"So, what are the bad news?"

Karens face turned sour. At least I thought so, but beneath the dirt, it was hard to make out.

"The old men on the main street are... gone. That means we have currently no way of getting food."

"That's... really bad."

The old men Karen meant were a group of middle-aged men that were collecting the leftover food from the merchants visiting the city. Thanks to them we were able to buy cheap food with the few copper coins we had. Them being gone was really bad. If it was just Karen, she might manage with scavenging food here and there. But the burden she took upon herself, namely me, proved to be an issue. I didn't have the skills, strength or wits for surviving on my own.

"Shouldn't we have saved the last piece of bread and jerky then?"

"And then? If we are exhausted it will be even harder to find any food."

That was a good argument. Showing your weakness even once, meant it was over. While not truly that extreme, it was good to think of it like that.

"In any case, we need to secure food somehow. Enough for both of us. We might be able to scavenge some food here and there, but that is not a long-term solution. Best case we find a way to get you into the city, "

Frankly, I didn't want to stay in the slums in the long-term anyway, so the city would be perfect. That was my current goal in the first place.

Huh? Get me into the city?

"And what about you? That sounds as if you don't want to go into the city."

"It's not as if I don't want to live in a safer place... But I lived most of my life in the slums, the city is not a place for me, I wouldn't be of help for you either. Do you think someone like me who is on guard against everyone would be able to live there?"

"But..."

"Enough of that. That's hypothetically anyway. Rather than the city, think about the food."

I wanted her to come along, those were my honest thoughts. Surviving was my current goal, but that didn't mean I didn't want to maybe, not just survive, but live properly, without having to worry about food for the day. And that, of course, included other people that were with me. I hoped Karen would be one of those people.

Thinking for a moment I decided. If I found a way into the city, I would take Karen along, whether she wanted to or not. That was the least I could do to repay her for saving my life. It was a small bit of pride that I wanted to hold onto.

Upon those thoughts, I just couldn't help but start smiling.

"What are you smiling like an idiot now. You do know our situation is really bad."

"Nn. I know."

"Then stop smiling and think of something."

Even if you asked me to stop, I couldn't. If it weren't for her, I'm sure I would have lost all hope already and I wanted to believe that I could repay her for that.

Ah, but I will try to think of a solution. Really.

Rinne

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