Chapter 23 - Rich Boy

"What is this place?" Julius asked himself as he watched through the land which existed outside of the kingdom which prospered so much. He couldn't believe the conditions that the people were forced to live in. He could've never imagined that there was a place where people were treated like dirt.

"Why?! There's plenty of food and riches to be spread around, so why? Why are there people living like this?" Julius continued to ask himself as he began to tremble.

In the distance, he found an old man which was walking with a cane as he looked to be looking for something. Seeing his opportunity Julius approached the old man and tried to ask him a question.

"Excuse me-" said Julius but before he could finish his sentence, the old man quickly turned around and whacked Julius with his cane.

"I DON'T HAVE ANY COINS! LEAVE ME ALONE," the old man yelled out as he began to tear up from exhaustion. Although if Julius had been hit before he began training, he would've been hurt by the old man's attack, that didn't happen due to him becoming an iron wall from Jun hitting him with a stick with increasing strength for a whole day.

"Why would you think I would take money from an old man?" Julius asked in confusion and worry.

Once the old man got a good look at Julius' clean cloths and his pocket which looked to be filled with something which was most likely money, he realized that Julius was probably from the kingdom.

"What do you want with us? Are you here to beat our people then go back to your fancy home?" the old man asked.

"What?! I'm not here to do anything of that nature. It would be better if I were to ask you this. Let's say I'm not from either the kingdom or this place. Why is there such a large divide between life styles between this dreadful place as compared to that of the blooming kingdom?" Julius asked.

"Huh?" the old man replied as he didn't understand what the child in front of him had said which caused Julius to reply with a straight face which signified the expression of "Are you serious right now?".

"Basically, why are they rich and you're poor?" Julius tried to dumb it down a bit so the old man could understand.

"Ohhh, you should've said that from the start. Well, most people don't know but I was fortunate enough to learn why during my life in here...." the old man began to talk which caught Julius' attention.

"The real story begins about 120 years ago at which the great kingdoms had finished rebuilding their kingdoms from the war. Everything was going perfect for them. There was no sign of war and their people were prospering. However, there was a slight problem. Due to the sudden peace, there was a baby boom in which the population quickly rose. The kingdom had a choice of either expanding the kingdom walls which would cost them a fortune or isolate those who made less money than them into the outside world while they kept evolving," the old man continued the story.

"However, the people who were kicked out began to protest in anger after they were forcibly kicked out into the wilderness. In doing so, there was a civil war between the two sides. After a year of getting massacred and the kingdom seeing that it was causing bloodshed decided to make the exiled people an offer. That being that the people outside the kingdom could work labour like jobs and would get paid one gold coin a month. At the time, it was a good deal but because of inflation, one gold coin a month for intense labour isn't enough anymore," the old man finished.

"So why not stop working completely? If they don't have any workers, they'll improve the money they give you," Julius advised.

"Don't you think we tried that? They didn't care. They left us to die. We can only have enough to buy scraps and survive off one meal a day if we're lucky. The worst part of it is that there is rumour they'll stop paying us completely and in turn kill us from starvation. Once we're all dead, they'll finally expand the kingdom since they have the ability to do so," the old man explained.

Hearing the words of the old man infuriated Julius. He couldn't believe that the people who he looked up to for his entire life could do something this despicable. At first Julius thought that it was just Mary's kingdom but the more he thought of the other kingdoms, they probably opted for the same option which Mary's one did.

However, this wouldn't be the end of Julius' tale with the people who were exiled. He had other plans for them. There was no way he would allow all of them to be killed as if they were nothing more than insects.

"Thank you old man," said Julius before pulling out 3 golden coins from his pouch and giving it to the old man. The reason he didn't give him more than that was because he could become a target for those who would be willing to rob others. 3 gold coins would've been enough to last him through a month without much trouble so it wouldn't be too suspicious.

Once he had given the coins to the old man, Julius walked off as to not make a scene so that he could explore the outside of the kingdom. After some time, Julius heard a sound from somewhere. Once he looked to the left of him, he saw a group of kids which looked to be just a bit older than him calling to him in a narrow corner.

"Come here," one of the said in an inviting but demanding tone. But nevertheless, Julius walked up to them as if there was nothing wrong with the situation.

"Hey there rich boy. You're not from around these parts, are you?" the tallest one of the group asked which made Julius realize what was about to happen.. The group of boys surrounded him but even so, Julius continued to stare down the tallest one of the group.