I Hate Systems

Chapter 63: Beginnings of the Secret Society (1)

“I see,” Compass Carburettor nodded, looking at the bruise on the boy’s legs that he had just massaged a bit, easing up the pain. He understood the gist of things, beginning to seriously loathe the people that were responsible for the state of things to have progressed to such an extent.

In the slum dwellings of Kettle City existed countless orphans. There was just a reason for that: Gambling. There was a prominent gambling underground society where all the rich and poor of the city mingled around, exchanging money in tremendous value.

And with the greed and hope of striking it rich overnight, every man or woman of the slums frequented such places. Though, those that were lucky enough to earn anything of semblance were few and far between.

And that too was because they had somehow struck a deal with the operators of such gambling dens. Addicted by the notion of getting rich, people wagered everything they had, sometimes even going to the extent of placing down their lives.

And without question, they lost, causing the owners to do whatever they wished with them. But, here ran a deeper conspiracy. To the east of Kettle City was a terraneous forest where the trees reached as high as 40 metres. Some of it was even marshes, layered with a shallow cover of murky water.

And native to this place was a vicious humanoid monster species: Grogar.

The Grogar was a humanoid monster with a furry chest, scaly limbs, and a serpentine head, with its neck spanning a length of 5-6 metres. Its body was similar to a human in size but possessed tough defence.

In the forest terrain, they used their necks to swerve around the trees and bite onto their prey. That’s why, the Heroica Empire never bothered to raid them. After all, there wasn’t any benefit in doing so, and the losses suffered would be disastrous.

Moreover, the Grogar never left their territory. So, the Heroica Empire left them as is, intending to keep using them to prevent any foreign kingdoms from invading. They didn’t need any resources to upkeep the forest while their enemies were unable to use the forest or anywhere near it to invade.

So in the end, leaving them as is proved greater beneficial. That’s how the Grogar was left unchecked. But, it seemed the Grogar had struck a deal with the underground of Kettle City. As to what was being traded, the children didn’t know.

But, the humans traded the harvested kidneys to the Grogar. It seemed the Grogar loved to feast on human kidneys the most, considering them a delicacy. So, every human that had wagered his or her life in the gambling den were robbed of both their kidneys that were then sold to the Grogar.

Without their kidneys, only death awaited them. And, this in turn created a surplus of orphans in the city. Without their guardians to protect them, they were abused by the adults part of the underground—related to the kidney business.

Those caught had their kidneys removed. As for the rest, if luck permitted, they survived. After all, it seemed they only needed a certain number of kidneys a month. Beyond that, the Grotak didn’t accept anymore.

That was the reason why so many orphans managed to survive to date. There were just too many of them by this point. As the city itself was massive, being one of the major cities of the Heroica Empire, its population was vast.

“How do you survive usually?” Compass Carburettor asked, noticing that the children were somewhat healthy, unbefitting of people living in the slums. Even though they had been abused, their eyes still maintained a glow of vitality.

Such characteristic was unbefitting to those who lived a life of abuse and fear. Their eyes should have been dull, listless even. So, Compass Carburettor was intrigued by the cause.

Upon his question, the children looked at the faces of one another, hesitating for a moment before saying, “There’s someone who gives us food occasionally. It’s thanks to that person that we can sleep with a full stomach. Sorry, mister, we’ll never tell their identity.”

“Yeah, we’ll never!”

“We don’t even know their identity in the first place. They wear a mask and baggy clothes.”

“It’s fine,” Compass Carburettor smiled, patting their heads, “Do you know where those goons live? Let uncle here deal with them.”

“Sure!” One of the kids smiled and showed the way, accompanying Compass Carburettor to the top of a decrepit building, pointing towards a workshop of sorts that seemed out of order. “That’s where they live. All the houses surrounding it have underground tunnels connected to it. And underneath it is where the casino exists.”

“Alright, you can leave now. Be careful for the next couple of days. Warn all the other children too to not go out during this time.” Compass Carburettor smiled, waving his hand, motioning for the kid to leave.

The kid was somewhat confused for a moment before he ran away from the place.

Remaining atop the decrepit building, Compass Carburettor observed the workshop for a couple of hours, obtaining some basic understanding of the situation as he returned to his room in the inn, noticing Fealta waking up.

“We have some work to do,” Compass Carburettor then said, “We’ll go with disguise seven for this task.”

“For all three of us?” Fealta was surprised, “Is this related to our mission?”

“No,” Compass Carburettor shook his head, “This isn’t directly related. But, since we are here and have the power to do so, I thought about ridding this place of some of the plague that has caused it to rotten. This foul stench is kind of irritating.”

“I don’t mind,” Fealta nodded, noticing Caithy wake up from the sounds of the conversation.

“If it in any way endangers our Kingdom, we won’t give our assistance anymore. That’s the condition we decided to fully support you with.” Caithy said, sporting a poker face as usual.

“It won’t,” Compass Carburettor said, thinking, ‘Well, it might improve the situation of the Kettle City though. But, as long as every place is rid of its major problems, I wouldn’t have affected the status quo. I’ll keep that in mind. Since I have started to act in one place, might as well extend it further and spread it everywhere.’

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