Chapter 113 Population Issues In An Elven City

As I made my way down the street. I looked over at a small cafe which had a few elves sitting outside, basking in the sun whilst eating their food.

It was so peaceful.

As I walked past it, I couldn't help but feel a slight desire to go and try something.

I guess I can spare some time.

I made my way inside and a short little elven girl dressed in checkered clothes and an apron greeted me.

"Welcome, just one person?"

"Yes."

"Ah, take a seat wherever you'd like."

I looked around and in the end, I decided to sit by the window. The waitress handed me a menu and brought a small jug of water.

"Order at the front~"

With that, she walked off to serve the other customers. I took a look at the menu, scanning through the various different foods on offer. There were a huge variety of foods which I hadn't eaten for ages. There were things from omelette rice to fried chicken to burgers.

As I looked through the menu, I noticed that the currency seemed to be in a weird item which I didn't have. It was called 'Krena', I definitely didn't have any of it on hand.

Ah, this was awkward.

With such an advanced society, I doubted that they'd just take the gold or other ores I had in my inventory.

I guess I'd have to find a way to get some of this currency if I wanted to buy things here. Surely I could just sell my items at a pawn shop or something. Noticing this issue, I sneakily exited the store and made my way down the street.

As I got closer to the main gait, I noticed that there was a pretty big commotion.

Out of curiosity, I made my way over and eavesdropped from behind a building.

,m "...please, let us in... the vampires..."

"...we're going to die if we stay out here..."

"...please, I beg you..."

There were the crying voices of lots of humans.

I looked over and saw an elf who appeared to be a high-ranking official based off of their clothing which seemed quite eloquent. The official was talking to some of the elven guards about the situation.

"...What are we going to do about all of them?" the guard asked.

"...We're running out of housing, don't let them in unless they're ranked in the top 100."

"...What?"

"...It's what I said, you can confirm their rank by asking to see their [Shadow Realiser]."

"...But..."

"...I told you, we don't have enough space for everyone, we have to prioritise the more capable ones. If they're ranked in the top 10,000 then tell them to stand by until I get further confirmation."

"...So, I should turn all of these people away?"

"...Yes, just follow my instructions."

Even if this was the biggest city in probably the entire apocalypse, there was still only a limited amount of space. I guess they must have been taking in humans in droves and as a result, the city is beginning to get overpopulated. It was to be expected that something like this would happen. They seemed to be prioritising the stronger humans which made sense.

I glanced over and looked at the guards who were escorting out the humans who were begging to get in. I guess some people just weren't as lucky as others. I assumed that there were likely other cities they could try to find refuge in, although this one was definitely the most prosperous by far.

Past the gate, I realised that there were extremely large groups of people who were all huddled outside. I guess the vampires must have really been destroying human settlements at an alarming rate. With all these people outside, it was going to be hard to even find the high-ranking ones, after sifting through thousands of people.

After witnessing this scene, I decided to turn around and go back down the street.

Far in the distance, there was something that resembled a castle. I assumed that that was where the royal family was staying. There was another wall separating it from the rest of the city, albeit the wall was significantly smaller and thinner than the main wall. There were a similar number of guards around that wall as there were around the main entrance.

I guess the royal family was really important here. Well, I kind of figured as much based on Elrich's story all that time ago.

Elanor was probably stationed within that section of the city. If I wanted to talk to her, I'd have to find some reason to enter the castle. I had several thoughts, but I wanted to see if I'd just be let in due to my status.

I slowly made my way over to the guild building and talked with the guild woman who was at the counter.

"Hey, I want to talk to Elanor, is there a way I can do so?"

"Elanor... do you mean the royal guard."

"Yes."

"Ah, it's pretty hard to get permission to enter the royal palace."

"Can I send a messenger or something?"

"You can't without good reason."

"Hmm..."

Without good reason... I wonder what a good reason would classify as.

Well, for the time being, I guess I'd just wait. I wasn't exactly in a rush to talk with her either. After having a chat with the guild woman, I left the building and made my way back toward my house.

Actually, I was going to find some way to get some currency.

I looked around the main commercial area which was filled with various stores and services. There didn't seem to be any pawn shops although I did come across something that resembled a bank.

With no other ideas, I decided to just make my way inside and see what I could do.

There were a large number of other humans in here as well for some reason.

There seemed to be some staff members who were patrolling the area. All of a sudden, one of them noticed my armband and called out to me.

"Are you a leaderboard human?"

"Yeah, I suppose."

"Ah, alright, come this way!"

The other people in the bank looked at me with envy as the staff member opened up a separate area on the counter just for me.

"Don't mind them, we were told to give special treatment to leaderboarders."

"Ah, okay..."