novelraw Chapter 295: A Good Man
Chapter 295: A Good Man
The joy radiating from the Tree-Lord was almost lost among the forest’s emotions, like a small boat on a vast ocean. But it was undeniably there.
The rusty axe lay at the foot of the tree, a deep gash marking the spot where it had been embedded. A short distance away, an umbrella tumbled across the ground, caught by the wind, while the oil lamp still stood at the tree's base.
“Take down the barrier,” Lu Li said to Anna, pulling up the hood of his raincoat.
Anna waved her hand, and the invisible barrier above them vanished.
Cold raindrops began to fall again, quickly chilling his body. Lu Li headed forward, following the route he had memorized.
After walking for some time, he spotted a faint silhouette through the misty rain.
Anna instantly vanished, and Lu Li approached the figure. “I thought you had run off.”
“Hardly. I, Barton, am no greedy merchant. But if you’d decided to end it all at the foot of the Tree-Lord, I certainly wouldn’t have been the one to stop you.”
Barton snorted, annoyed that Lu Li had underestimated him. But his attention quickly shifted to a more pressing matter. “You didn’t actually...”
“I was almost overwhelmed by the flood of emotions,” Lu Li replied, a shadow flickering in his dark eyes.Barton hadn't seen it for himself, but he had seen the results of the forest killing the ignorant many times. They would hang themselves with their own belts and suspenders, smash their skulls with axes, or bash their heads against sharp rocks until their faces became a bloody pulp...
He vividly imagined the horrifying scene.
“How did you manage it?” Barton couldn’t help but ask.
“Unconventional methods,” Lu Li answered calmly.
Barton understood. It had something to do with Lu Li’s mysterious nature.
“Seems I don’t need to warn you about anything,” Barton said, a complex mix of emotions in his voice.
Lu Li followed Barton, and about half an hour later, the dirt path under their feet gave way to a paved road.
They had returned to Elm Street.
There were no carriages for hire here, so they had to walk another two blocks before they finally spotted an empty one.
Lu Li needed to head to Snake Street first to take Barton home.
The name of the street hinted at danger, and for good reason. The district was on the southern edge of Belfast, right next to the slums.
It wasn't technically the slums, but the district was hardly any different—save for the occasional appearance of police officers or adventurers.
The slums of Belfast consisted of a dozen or so blocks of haphazardly scattered shacks, built from wood, stone, and sheet metal. They were ugly and flimsy. During the last hurricane, this district accounted for the majority of the city's deaths and destruction.
Most of Belfast's poor lived in the slums.
The residents of Sailor Street weren't considered poor. They had jobs and some form of income, unlike the inhabitants of the slums, who lacked skills, opportunities, and often even the physical strength for labor.
Gangs, illegal trade, crime—all of it flourished in this part of the city.
But serious incidents were rare—perhaps that was why the Council of Elders and the Belfast mayor’s office turned a blind eye.
Or that was just one of the reasons.
The uneven, broken roads were flooded with murky water, and the buildings were mostly squalid shacks. Stone structures and halfway-decent houses were almost nonexistent.
This was Snake Street, the “paradise” that most slum dwellers aspired to, and the absolute limit for any hired carriage.
The carriage stopped in front of one of the shacks. Barton tucked away the 60 shillings and the raincoat from Lu Li, and the driver helped him down.
“I need a detailed map of the Elm Forest. If you can draw one, I’ll pay you another 300 shillings,” Lu Li told Barton just as he was about to leave.
A spark of interest lit up in Barton’s eyes. “When do you need it by?”
“The sooner, the better.”
“I’ll send it by messenger tomorrow.”
Lu Li nodded and climbed back into the carriage. The wheels began to turn, and the carriage set off for Sailor Street.
They had gone only a few meters when the carriage lurched to a halt. A commotion could be heard outside.
Lu Li pulled back the curtain. “What happened?”
Blocking their path were three teenagers, around fourteen or fifteen years old, soaked to the bone without any raincoats. The driver turned to Lu Li, his voice anxious. “Sir, I think... I think they want to rob us...”
Lu Li calmly looked at the teenagers.
One of them, a girl, took a frightened step back. The tallest of the youths stammered, “H-Hello... we need money.”
Lu Li’s gaze swept over their thin frames. “What for?”
The tall teenager opened his mouth to speak, but the boy, who was even shorter than the girl, suddenly shouted, “We’re bandits! We don’t need a reason to rob people!”
If he had managed to keep his eyes open in the downpour, it might have sounded more convincing.
Suddenly, an angry voice cut through the rain. “You little brats! You think you can pull a robbery on Snake Street?!”
The teenagers flinched, and upon recognizing the approaching man, they cried out, “Uncle Barton!”
“You know them?” Lu Li asked, looking at Barton, who had come back upon hearing the commotion.
“Aye. Their mother used to live here, but she moved to the slums when she ran out of money,” Barton answered.
Lu Li asked, “Do you know what happened?”
Barton sighed. “I heard Maria is sick... They were probably trying to get money for her medicine...”
Despite his stern tone, Barton was inadvertently defending them, hoping Lu Li wouldn’t punish them once he knew they were doing it for their family.
“How much for the treatment?”
Lu Li’s question allowed Barton to guess his intentions. A faint light gleamed in his cloudy brown eyes. “Thirty shillings.”
The teenagers, as if understanding something, fell silent.
“Will that be enough?”
Barton was taken aback for a moment, then he chuckled. “Of course, it’s enough... You know, a grown man earns ten shillings for working ten hours straight in a factory. When Maria was well, she’d have to sew for an entire week to make that kind of money.”
Lu Li fell silent for a moment. When he had first arrived in the city, he too had to get by on just a few dozen shillings, though that period hadn’t lasted long.
Reaching into his pocket, Lu Li took out a 50-shilling note and handed it to Barton. “Give this to them.”
Barton didn’t ask why Lu Li had given 20 extra shillings. He understood the gesture, took the money, and limped over to the teenagers. He said something to them in a low voice.
“Go around,” Lu Li told the driver, letting the curtain fall.
Anna appeared inside the carriage, a faint smile on her lips. She seemed to be in a good mood.
The carriage moved around Barton and the children. As it pulled away, a cry came through the downpour: “Sir! What’s your name?!”
The children received no answer, their eyes following the carriage as it vanished into the rainy haze.