Barlow finished a day’s work and tiredly walked out of the Mage Tower.
A Second-Rank Rune Master in the border countryside is a person of considerable status who would even require a meeting with high-ranking nobles.
But this is the Royal Capital, where if you are gold, the brilliant Royal Capital only allows a Second-Rank Rune Master to serve as an assistant within the Mage Tower.
Barlow can be considered relatively fortunate, as the Twilight Tower he works in is a subordinate institution of the royal Mage Tower, affiliated with the Royal Profession Association, and he somewhat enjoys an official salary.
If there were no unexpected events, Barlow would be living on the edge of the Inner City, maintaining a routine between the Mage Tower and his home, but unexpectedly, an incident occurred.
His younger sister Sharen, whom he had relied on since childhood, fell ill with a strange sickness, becoming weak and continually coughing up blood, with sores that slowly festered. Recently, it seemed that more and more people in the Royal Capital were afflicted with this rare illness, and the Alchemists were scratching their heads, failing to produce an effective medicine.
There were rumors that using Holy Water from the Church could cure it, but the Holy Water is precious and its price has skyrocketed. Barlow, having no connections with the Church and no money, could only work part-time while carefully taking care of Sharen.
Because of this illness, Sharen had given up her studies, and just when she was about to give in, Barlow chose to pursue a mysterious loan that had been circulating in the Royal Capital.
With this loan, Barlow managed to obtain a small vial of Holy Water, which indeed improved Sharen’s complexion greatly after use; now she could go out for walks.
“You’re back, Brother?”
Seeing her brother, who had a hint of color returning to his face, waiting for her, Barlow felt that his fatigue and the awful smell of the Outer District didn’t seem so important anymore.
Living on the edge of the Inner City to save money for his sister’s treatment, Barlow had no choice but to move to the Outer District.
“Don’t you have a part-time job today?”
“My part-time job is taking a break today; it’s a perfect chance to take you out for a stroll.”
“No thanks, Brother, I still have to spin yarn. The lady next door lent me her spinning wheel; I need to turn the material into yarn in the next couple of days.”
With a twinge of heartache, Barlow looked at his sister’s hands and the simple spinning wheel behind her, saying, “The Priest said you need to get out more and breathe some fresh air. I just received my salary today; let’s go stroll in the Inner City.”
Seeing her brother’s firm attitude, Sharen nodded and followed him out.
The biggest change in the Inner City of the Royal Capital was that the streets now had more green-skinned Demons.
Noticing Sharen stealing glances at a few of the green-skinned Demons, Barlow explained, “Because the Prime Minister recently pushed forward a ‘Freedom Act’ allowing Demons to move freely in specific areas of the Kingdom.”
As soon as Barlow finished speaking, he saw a few nobles leading students in a parade not far away. The number of parades in the Royal Capital has been increasing lately; although the Lars Family has fallen apart and split into four factions, the dissatisfaction with the new King seems to be growing.
The noble leading the students shouted, “Limited freedom is not true freedom! We hope His Majesty the King can set aside discrimination and allow the peace-loving Demons to freely enter the Western and Southern Borders!”
The students behind immediately began to shout along.
“What has His Majesty done?”
Sharen looked curiously at the parade in the distance; after being away from school for so long, she was somewhat out of touch with current affairs.
“No, His Majesty hasn’t done anything; he just stipulated in the ‘Freedom Act’ that Demons are prohibited from entering the Western and Southern Borders, which are preparing for war. However, some believe this isn’t true freedom, it’s discrimination against Demons and a betrayal of allies.”
Being in a subordinate institution of the Royal Profession Association, Barlow inevitably hears such news, whether he wants to or not.
Barlow has some difficulty understanding this; His Majesty has already granted these Demons enough privileges, so why do these nobles still claim the King discriminates against them?
In Barlow’s view, these nobles just want to use the opportunity of the King’s reforms to find an excuse to stab the King in the back and thereby assert their authority.
At that moment, a frivolous voice came over: “Hey, little girl, are you free? How about we grab a meal together?”
A green hand patted Sharen’s shoulder, and she instinctively moved closer to Barlow, who also reflexively grabbed the hand.
“What do you want to do with my sister?”
But Barlow immediately regretted it, as the one harassing his sister was two Demons.
Seeing this, one of the Demons smirked and started shouting, “Help! Humans are bullying Demons again!”
Another Demon raised his voice, “What if we look a bit ugly? Who knew you humans would actually discriminate against Demons? Is this how you treat guests?”
Immediately, everyone in the street turned their attention toward them.
Barlow froze for a moment and quickly released the hand he was holding, explaining, “I didn’t, it wasn’t me; you were the ones who tried to hit on her.”
But it was too late; the noble in the parade saw what was happening and quickly brought people over.
One Demon began to cry out, saying that Demons were as noble as Elves, born able to use magic, but due to human jealousy, they were driven to the Eternal Frozen Land by the Lars Family.
Another Demon cried while wiping tears, recounting how pitiful the Demons were and the inhuman treatment they had suffered, how they were tortured by the Lars Family.
The more they spoke, the angrier the surrounding nobles became, as if they intended to devour the siblings alive.
“You humans look down on us; we Demons have maintained peace in the Northern Border, yet your King won’t even let us enter other places in the Kingdom.”
“And we just want to have friendly cultural exchanges with your sister, yet you humans treat us this way.”
After saying this, the two Demons gasped for breath and shouted, and as the crowd grew larger, Barlow felt increasingly at a loss for words, finally having to grab his sister and flee before the situation spiraled out of control.
After escaping home, Barlow managed to calm his sister down, but the more he thought, the more fearful he became. A colleague of his had been dismissed for discriminating against Demons, but that person truly looked down on Demons, while Barlow honestly didn’t have any ill feelings toward them.
Although Barlow had once taken history as an elective and knew why the Lars Family originally drove the Demons to the Eternal Frozen Land, he felt that was all in the past; the sins of the past shouldn’t be borne by today’s Demons.
Usually, Barlow wouldn’t proactively chat with Demons, but he treated them like ordinary people. Moreover, under Caudic’s strong promotion, Demons had already been portrayed as wise, patient, and peace-loving beings, and with the strong support of the nobles in the Royal Capital, who would dare to look down on the Demons residing there?
Even though this was clearly not his fault, Barlow still thought he might find an opportunity to apologize to them tomorrow. With an uneasy heart, after comforting his sister, Barlow dragged his tired body to sleep heavily.
