Lowell

Chapter 24

Nor Harbor is still a little over a day off on foot. The air turns muggy and dark clouds start looming overhead once they're nearing town. Once they enter rain pelts down Yuri's back and his boot gets caught in a thick puddle of mud for a moment. There's something unnatural about how quickly the rain started once they approached the port town.

"Man, the weather sure changed in a hurry." He says trying to cover his head from the thick rain.

"Let's find an inn before we get soaked." Karol mutters holding his bag over his head.

"Estelle, what is it?" Estelle looks over the empty streets as they walk through.

"Oh, I-I just thought a harbor town would be more... lively than this." She says.

He nods noting the shut windows but the feeling of being watched. "Yeah, this isn't exactly how I imagined it either..."

Rita's foot splashes in a puddle and she's clutching the book normally on her back close to her chest. "But it feels like the kind of place that core thief you're looking for would hang out."

He shakes his head. "Dedecchi was headed for Torim Harbor."

"I'm sure the two are pretty similar."

"No way. It's only Nor Harbor that's scummy like this." Karol protests.

"What do you mean?" Estelle asks while Yuri's mind drifts and he walks up to board. Written is a sign asking for the account of all Krytians and half-breeds. 500 gald for each unmarked Krytian turned in.

Karol swallows. "Nor Harbor is... It's all because of the empire."

Estelle looks at the sign and cringes. "Why would-"

A yell tears through and they see a man covered in wounds and barely standing collapsed on the ground while a thug in armor digs his heel into his face and woman pleads for them to stop. "I told you what would happen to that little brat if you didn't have our money!"

"Please, sir! Not that! Please give me back my son!" He cries as the man kicks him again while another dressed in fine silks snorts smugly. "With this awful weather the last few months, we haven't been able to launch the boats." The two asshats just stare down at them like Merlwe used to and Yuri knows the words are futile. "Surely you realize sir, we can't hope to pay our taxes like this."

"You'd better hurry up and capture that Rhybgaro beast then, shouldn't you?" The armored man grins sadistically.

The man in silks laughs. "That's right. If you sell his horn, you'll never have to worry about taxes again. How many times do we have to tell you?" The man continues to plead and ask for them to understand but they kick him again and the woman frets over him.

"Savages." Rita spits.

"Is that the sort of scum you were talking about, Karol?"

"Yeah, the empire's influence is really strong here." Karol looks back at him and back at the ground. "I heard things got even worse with the new magistrate. He's some imperial big shot who does whatever he wants. He set up Krytian marking and charges high taxes."

"Which means there's no one to complain to if his henchmen act like that." Rita says and Estelle looks heartbroken.

It's understandable. She's only seen the niceties of the empire that sparkle and shine. "But how can that be… Krytian hunting was supposed to… and…" In theory marking Krytians or halfers was outlawed but it was still a preformed practice in places. Yuri's hand drifts to his pocket where a wood token marks him as an outlier. He hadn't started carrying it until he left the knights and while in a small town a group of thugs tried to turn him in for the bounty. Some places didn't allow or care about the bounty and let him be but those were few and far between. Zaphias didn't mark Krytians who lived in the city, which was just Yuri, but had very strict entry visas.