In one of the streets of Naucratis, Kaelis walked alongside someone he had just met, completely clueless about what had happened to him. He was trying to learn about this unfamiliar world from his companion— Carlos.

  The road they walked on was made of smooth, clean stones, finely crafted—likely by a master artisan.

  Kaelis lifted his head and began looking around again, this time focusing not on the people but on the buildings. Around them were shops in some places and homes in others. The lower and upper parts of the structures were covered in what seemed like expensive and quite ostentatious stones. The buildings were adjoined, separated only by alleyways in certain spots.

  He continued observing his surroundings, but now directed his gaze toward the people. No one dressed like Carlos was in sight. The people around them generally wore elegant or unassuming clothes that middle-class folk might get. Stone houses, workplaces, and fine attire—this place they were in was likely one of high prosperity.

  As all this passed through his mind, he thought of the surrounding individuals as "humans," but some seemed different. They couldn't exactly be called human; they had phenotypes of other races or were entirely distinct.

  Some were enormous, like giants. It would be a lie to say they didn't look intimidating. Others had long, pointed ears, resembling humans more closely. Some had bodies far hairier than normal, reminiscent of dogs or wolves. Others possessed cat-like ears and tails, appearing cute. Across all races, differences in skin color, height, weight, and body build were striking. These were the first things that caught his eye as he looked around; it was obvious there were many more.

  Kaelis decided to stop his observations and started talking to Carlos.

  “You said we're in Naucratis right now, but exactly where in Naucratis are we?”

  Carlos, who had been walking while looking at the road ahead, paused slightly at the sudden question.

  “Where are we right now? Hmm, we're in the part where the rich, crooked merchants, and middle-class workers live.”

  “Merchants and the rich, huh? So, is Naucratis some kind of trading city?”

  “Oh, you didn't know that? Naucratis is the heart of trade in this world. It even hosts a very famous Bazaar.”

  “The heart of the world's trade, you say? Then merchants or the rich from all corners of the world come here to sell their goods at that Bazaar you mentioned. That explains the multiple different races around us.”

  Carlos listened to Kaelis with a surprised expression, his face as if saying, "What is he talking about right now?" This was happening because Kaelis had voiced his conclusion out loud. Carlos straightened his expression.

  “You mean the people around us? As you correctly observed, there are many different appearances. The biggest reason is that Naucratis attracts visitors from all four corners of the world. I feel like I just repeated what you said, but I suppose that's the answer you needed.”

  “Exactly, thanks for the answer. But let me ask another question.”

  “———”

  “In a city with so many people possessing great wealth, I can easily say that the rich or upper class make up a large portion of society. But you don't resemble them at all.”

  “There's a big mistake in your reasoning. You shouldn't reach a conclusion by looking only at the full side of the glass. This city's visible glamorous part but it has another side—a side with so many people.”

  Kaelis seemed a bit surprised by what he heard; it wasn't exactly the answer he expected.

  “Is that the place you meant by our brothers' side?”

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  “Yes, the place where we're all brothers, where rich things like money can't come between us—the place I've known and lived in for as long as I can remember, meeting people there.”

  “Then, can I assume that's where we're heading right now?”

  “Of course, we're going right there now.”

  “So, that "We are the people they don't want to exist" thing is because of this?”

  “I didn't quite understand what you said, but that issue happened because they think we're worth less than five cents. Besides, to them, we're nothing more than microbes disturbing this part of the city and carrying diseases.”

  “What kind of disease are you talking about?’

  “The disease of poverty.”

  “The disease of poverty?”

  “Yes. When you looked around earlier, you saw the looks cast upon us, right? If you did, you must have noticed they looked at you even more. Their source is the poverty disease I carry. The clothes you're wearing aren't something people like us would wear, but they're not as clean as what they wear either. Those looks were confirming that the disease has now infected you and that you're one of us.”

  Kaelis was quite surprised by what he heard; Carlos was right. When he stood up from where he sat, even though he brushed off the dust, he had sat on the ground once, and a faint mark remained. The looks were indeed directed more at him then.

  Naucratis wasn't a city everyone could live in. They only wanted their own kind. This must have created class divisions here. Looking at the result, it seemed they had succeeded. They had quite successfully excluded poor people from the society they lived in.

  While having this conversation, they must have gotten quite close to their destination. The number of people here was much fewer compared to where they came from; the surroundings felt empty. At the end of the road, something like a bridge appeared. It was a large bridge, quite big. A bridge had to be there to connect two landmasses; it couldn't have any other purpose. And since they hadn't reached the place Carlos mentioned yet, there was still some distance. Was this bridge leading to their destination?

  As they approached the bridge, Carlos stopped in place and pointed to the bridge.

  “We'll get to the place I mentioned thanks to this bridge.”

  “It looks like a long bridge.”

  “Hmm, I suppose it's this long because they don't want to see anything from our side.”

  They began walking on the bridge. On both sides of the bridge, a river with a deep blue color flowed. It had a very soothing hue. The bridge was surprisingly made of stone. A stone bridge built on stone pillars. Kaelis thought about Carlos's words; the part about "I suppose they don't want to see anything on our behalf" was a sign that the bridge was actually built by the wealthy class in this part. But why would the rich build a costly bridge?

  ***

  The duo walked a bit on the bridge but still hadn't reached their destination. The sun was close to setting; evening was approaching. Even though the orange light of the sun hit them from behind, the opposite side—their destination—still wasn't visible.

  When Kaelis looked around, he saw that the orange sunlight from behind was being dimmed by a bright yellow light coming from his right side. He turned his head to the right. As soon as he did, his eyes experienced momentary blindness. Something unknown was emitting bright yellow rays. If he didn't know the sun hadn't set, he could have called it the sun.

  He squinted his eyes slightly, trying to see what it was. It was a palace-like structure. There was a vast distance between them—so far that the palace appeared about the size of a hand, or perhaps not even that. How could a structure emit so much light? Since stone wouldn't reflect light this way, it definitely wasn't made of stone.

  Kaelis directed the questions in his mind to the young man beside him.

  “Hey Carlos, what's that light on our right side? I doubt I'll be able to see again if I look any longer.”

  “Ah, you mean the source of that bright yellow shining light. That's a palace; its name should be 『Shining Palace』.”

  “『Shining Palace』? It's certainly living up to its name.”

  “Shining Palace is the palace where Lord Darius currently resides. Its exterior is made of pure gold and adorned with rare jewels, so even the slightest light makes it shine like a sun.”

  “Lord Darius? Who's that?”

  “I don't understand how you manage to surprise me every time. Lord Darius—I don't know his full name, but his name is Darius; "lord" is a title of respect used by everyone.”

  “———”

  “It's said that if you stacked Lord Darius's wealth as high as five houses all across Naucratis, it still wouldn't end. He's incredibly rich; in fact, the richest person I know. As far as I know he's one of the founders of the Naucratis Bazaar, and he's also the one who turned Naucratis into a trading city.”

  “Huh unbelievable, but it sounds like an urban legend. And how old is this guy? How much time did it take him to acquire all this?”

  “I've heard Lord Darius has been alive for quite a long time and has much more time to live; he must be someone who takes good care of himself.”

  Kaelis had never heard of such wealth even in his own world before. Someone called "Lord" by all classes must truly be immensely rich. Especially in this city where possessions meant everything—ah, but his contribution to the formation of this city was significant anyway. The class divide in the city was vast: on one side, the poor who didn't know what they'd eat tomorrow; on the other, the rich whose wealth could literally blind those poor people's eyes. Life had never been fair.

  After this palace conversation, the opposite side was slowly coming into view. By then, darkness had fallen over the city. The road was dark, but the moonlight and the irregular lighting from the opposite side illuminated the bridge road a bit.

  The houses on the chaotic side were mostly old, dilapidated, and in ruins. Most of these homes were made of adobe. Their upper parts were covered with whatever planks they could find, and sometimes tin roofs were visible. Due to the night, it wasn't fully visible, but if described based on what could be seen, it would be exactly like this.

  ***

  Kaelis and Carlos slowly descended from the bridge with measured steps. As soon as Kaelis stepped down, his foot sank a little—likely because the soil ground there had absorbed water and softened. They began walking on this dirt path that couldn't even be called a road. Most houses had no lighting at all, and probably because it was evening, most people had retired to their homes for sleep.

  As the two walked silently together on the deserted path, a yellow, dim light was on in one of the houses on their left. It was using a gas lamp for illumination. The light from inside shone out through the window next to the door.

  In front of the door, in the small house garden—or rather, by the roadside—someone was sitting on a wooden chair, leaning back.

  Carlos had changed his way and started heading there. In this place he knew nothing about, Kaelis had no choice but to follow Carlos.

  Carlos approached the house and the person sitting on the chair. The road was dark, but the light from inside the house illuminated the outside well, so the person was visible. Carlos raised his hand from behind and made a greeting gesture, saying:

  “Aunt Catalina!”