As they marched, Kron made another statement.
"Children and pregnant women, stay behind.
"All valuables found are to be brought back. Stealing warrants death"
Some slum dwellers were beginning to lament their decision. Like others said, they had willingly become slaves.
Others shrugged. After all the bad they'd seen, this was nothing special.
The adventurers had agreed on a pattern beforehand. They chose to go slow but thorough, splitting into five groups of ten, each one taking a space in the outskirts.
They soon realized that the promised remuneration didn't justify the amount of work they had to do.
Some thought to quit, but seeing others, they decided not to.
At the rate they were going, and the size of the slums, they calculated it would take at least five days to finish.
Then, the slum dwellers arrived and it sped up tremendously.
They had the slum dwellers follow the existing pattern, but with different tasks.
They scoured the streets and empty houses, picking out everything they found, before separating worthless from useful.
The useful items were brought to Kron, who had it screened once more as the slum dweller's definition of useful differed from the norm.
He threw those deemed useful into his space ring.
After, they called carriages meant for waste disposal, the waste carriage.
These carriages had single horses with a wide square wooden board fitted with four wheels attached to them, and were almost always dirty, emitting horrible smells.
Such a simple invention made its creator one of Niton's top hundred merchants, eventually becoming a Baron.
Others copied, but most the nobles deemed themselves too 'noble' to dabble in waste, leaving the few that did with all the profits.
These few took it a step further by having the royal family ban any other of making the same invention.
It was his next idea that made him rise above the rest.
He created what he called 'the dump'.
You guessed it, he used the land he was given as central ground for waste, where it would then be burned.
The royals were furious, but couldn't harshly touch him, and soon, they realized it was genius.
Unlike the Golden Age, mages weren't abundant enough to relegate some of them to waste disposal duty.
The merchant expanded his business by hiring people from faraway villages and having them slave away for him, and with that, he rose to prosperity, bought mana techniques and combat manuals, bought a big estate, found himself some knights, and got married into another noble family.
The creator's name was Avadin Kreel.
No, Baron Avadin Kreel.
Anyway, back to the matter at hand.
The carriage had the typical crew, three men in filthy torn clothes, their bodies stained with all sorts of decayed items.
Today, they were excited - grinning all the way - at the amount of waste.
Why? Simple. More waste meant more money, however little that may be.
They packed the waste within four buckets tied to the carriage.
Each bucket of waste sold for 10 copper.
Quite cheap, which was why many used it, and many using it meant…well, you know the rest.
From each bucket, the crew earned 3 copper.
These men eagerly packed as much as possible, calling their friends to grab the opportunity.
Kron wasn't stingy either, giving them added tips of one or two silvers.
The boys memorized his face. They wished all their hires were like this.
Kron himself had multiple thoughts swirling around.
Cabrera had left him with ten gold and directives to supervise the cleaning.
The more he thought, the more sure he was.
'I made the right decision'
He wasn't sure about the guild's inner workings, but buying the slums wasn't something just anyone could do.
Nor was buying space rings.
Then, where was Cabrera?
'He said he'd be back soon, but he's taking so long'
Kron stepped into the slums to check on the cleaning.
He was impressed. The waste was gone and the surroundings washed off its putrid smell, though it lingered.
At this rate, they could finish by the day's end.
Cabrera arrived an hour later with two water mages in tow.
They washed away whatever waste was stuck in the ground and moss others may have missed, adding more efficiency and effectiveness.
While that happened, they bought food for the children and the pregnant women, subsequently having them change clothings and clean up.
Kron smiled when saw the kids' astonishment at the new clothing, while some were moved to tears from the taste of good food and the ability to not feel hungry.
Such things were luxuries for them.
Later on, some slum dwellers died because the work was too much for them, while others killed themselves to save themselves from suffering.
Kron didn't fret. Rather, he advised it.
"You could do the same, save yourself the trouble and give up. It's really easy"
In the first place, they were screening the strong from the weak, and the first differentiator was their mindset.
If you couldn't push past such small things, what exactly would one be good for?
It's better they killed themselves as, though he didn't say it, things weren't going to get easier.
Meanwhile, Nathan and Fredrick were perusing the alleys while in cloaks.
Upon reaching a point, Fredrick whispers to a man seemingly sleeping.
"Follow me"
The man woke up and took them to a small store filled with inferior goods and few buyers, unassuming for sure.
Behind it though, they went through a door that led underground, while the man returned.
Lights were arrayed all over, allowing easy sight.
Many others were there, buyers and sellers moving around and bargaining in hush tones, with fights occasionally breaking out.
Nathan tensed.
'The Black Market'
Here, stolen and defective goods were sold in droves. It was where chance store owners restocked.
Buying from legitimate stores would attract needless attention.
Here, you didn't need to identify yourself, and anyone caught snooping around could be easily disposed of.
Nathan and Frederick bought armors, weapons, mana techniques, combat arts, kitchen items, slaves from multiple places, and many more expensive items and artifacts that caught their fancy.
Unlike the last batch, most of these slaves were either educated or literal, or both, and most were muscular.
"This should do" said Nathan and Fredrick nodded.
'Money is good' Nathan admitted.
He was a low level merchant in Traxford and his business wasn't doing so well.
That's why he accepted Cabrera's offer when he told him about the alchemy potion he made, and of course, showed him a platinum coin.
They bought a hundred slaves, and bought them clothes, surprising the slaves themselves.
Fredrick wanted to buy a mage, but there were none.
By the time they were done, it was evening, so they headed to the slums to check on Cabrera.
Upon getting to the slums, they found no one at the outskirts, but Fredrick knew they were within.
Checking the houses, he finds them empty, which made him nod.
Without a word, he took thirty-five sledgehammers from his space ring and handed them to the slaves.
"Break those houses down"
The slaves got to it, five men per building.
Built with inferior materials, it took only ten powerful hits to dent a deep crack. By the fortieth, it came crashing down, alerting those within.
Cabrera and Kron appeared.
"You should've said something. Didn't we agree to do this tomorrow?"
Fredrick nodded.
"We did, but you're making progress faster than expected, so why not start now?"
*Shrug*
Well, that was that. Cabrera and Kron went back to supervising, and soothing the anxiety of the cleaning crew.
The houses were to be demolished and used to fortify the foundation for better ones, while those made of wood were dismantled to be sold later.
The sounds of demolishing resounded, scaring those cleaning into working faster.
Slum dweller or not, they were still afraid of death.
Five hours later, the cleaning was done. Not the demolishing though, so those nearby were barely able to sleep.
Upon completion, the adventurers left without a word.
They were too exhausted to chit chat.
The slum dwellers looked to Kron for shelter, since their houses were being destroyed.
"Job well done. Follow me"
With that, he led them to the Gold Mole's former base.
It had been refurbished into a hotel, but it was empty.
They entered and Kron sat them down and served them food.
"Oh! How can it be this good?!"
"Wow!"
They exclaimed, finishing their servings in minutes.
They weren't sure, but they felt their fatigue melting away.
They looked at each other. They all wanted more, but none spoke.
Kron registered their looks and spoke.
"Eat as much as you want"
"You'll be needing it" he muttered.
Their eyes lit up, eating four, five, six servings.
After an hour, when they were done eating for a while, Cabrera came in.
"It seems you've had your fills"
They nodded while looking away nervously.
Then he unfolded a parchment in front of them.
"This is how much it costs"
They gasped, some almost regurgitating.
On the scroll, '159 gold' was boldly written.
Cabrera continued…
"Each bowl is 25 silvers. Must be worth it considering how many you all ate"
Then he folded it close.
"Don't worry, we're not going to hold you for it. This is us doing as we promised"
No one spoke as Cabrera clapped his fingers.
Boys came in with new clothes and handed it to them.
He pointed upwards.
"This will be your home from now on. We will feed you and cloth you-"
Then he paused.
"-but only if we deem you useful. Anyone becoming useless will be immediately discarded. And to be useful, you need to grow strong. Well, you'll need to survive first. I'll ask once, is there anyone who wishes to quit?"
They gulped, but no one thought of quitting. The taste of the food they ate and the smell of the clothes in their hands allured them.
Cabrera smiled, and ended with a warning…
"Remember, we owe you nothing"
"Kron, I'll leave it to you" Cabrera patted his shoulder and left.
At that time, someone arrived at their headquarters.
Frederick spotted him, a young man with light skin holding a wooden box, his short yellow hair disheveled.
