The road south from the Capital city of Conregulas, down to the West Gate of the border wall, leads in to the Hyenmahl (Hine-Mall) kingdom. This road is one of two major trade routes on the Continent of Maudraughn.
On this road is a 14 year old boy, wearing a hooded cloak and backpack. The cloak's hood was always up, he wanted to avoid anyone seeing his face, at least until he crossed the border. His black hair with deep blue highlights would probably be noticed if he was seen by someone who knew what it meant.
He had already been walking on this road for a week and a half. One of the lessons he has learned so far, is to stay close to other travelers, not exactly with them, but close enough that someone, or something, thinks your together.
The boy had been following a little behind a wagon full of furs, being led by four large men since this morning. They looked, and smelled, like they had been in the mountains without giving a care about hygiene for several months. Which probably wasn't far from the truth. They were fur traders after all.
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Fur traders are different from adventurers, mainly in the fact that they only hunt animals, and not monsters. Where as, adventurers only hunt animals when they need to eat. Anyone, including criminals, can be fur traders, but adventurers have to go through the Guild, where their levels and actions are monitored. If an adventurer starts doing criminal activity, or killing someone other than in self defense, they are black listed.
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The border guards had been keeping an eye on them since they got in the border crossing line. It wasn't uncommon for smugglers to double as fur traders, seeing how most people did not want to dig through the piles of furs and whatever filth was still on them.
When the traders finally approach the guards, they are told to move the wagon to the side for inspection.
"Hey, we ain't got time 'fer this. We gotta get these to the capital to trade." one of the traders said angrily.
"yeah, we been out there fer over'n a month. We need to get somewhere to set'in and relax." another complained.
"Sorry, but it won't take long. We got strict orders to search all wagons crossing. So just hold on a little bit and we'll get you moving again." Responded one of the guards, his insignia showed he was a captain of the guards.
'Kind of unusual for a captain to be on border guard during the week.' The boy thought as he watched from the line.
"You! Boy, come on and get with your group." another guard yells at the boy.
"Uhm.. I'm not with anyone, sir." he reponds while holding his palms up on either side of himself.
One of the traders looks back at the the boy and then at the guard. "We ain't knowin' who he is. He sure ain't with us."
The guard eyes the boy a minute and then says, "Your a bit young to be traveling by yourself, aren't you boy?"
The boy just nods to him and replies, "Yes sir, but I am 14 and I stick to the road and keep my knose out of trouble."
The guard pauses a moment and then asks him for his identification card. Just as the boy nervously reaches for it, the captain yells over at them. "He's fine, don't worry about it. Keep the line moving."
As he passed behind the captain, he overheard them talking about the reports of kidnappings recently, and so he was here incase any illegal slaves came through.
Feeling relieved, the boy passes through the gates and goes over to one of the 3 water troughs provided for travelers. After splashing his face with water and rinsing some of the dust off himeself, he scoops out a handful of fresh water from the supply pipe and takes a drink. He's still a bit paranoid about the guards asking for his ID card. Its a higher grade forgery, but he is still worried about someone using a high grade card reader. His ID should be fine with lower grade readers, but the presence of the captain had him spooked. It's not like he'd get in a whole lot of trouble, he'd just be sent back to that place and everything would stay the way it had been. He had finally managed to get away from it and planned on starting a completely new life.
This area was a bit of a travelers hub, so the boy thought it was odd that there was not some sort of village or town here. There was the water well that fed the three troughs for travelers, another well in a fenced in yard with the Guard post along the border wall. There were a few merchant stalls that provided food for travelers, at a price that sometimes seemed too high. Some sold clothes and other goods. There was also a few areas designated for resting or camping overnight, incase some arrived late in the evening.
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The border wall was guarded by a special branch of the military, which was actually comprised of men from both of the countries it sepperated. As long as the Alliance held, the border would be maintained this way. It wasn't like there was a strong need for a border these days. Ever since the Alliance was formed, there was hardly any animossity between the people of the two kingdoms. It's just that there was still the issue of one kingdom having different laws than the other. Along with keeping smugglers bringing items through so merchants would not have to pay trade terrifs on them. Magic items and equiptment, monster cores and mana crystals have a merchant terrif due the value of them and the loss of commerce for the kingdom they are leaving. Also, the rules on slavery in both countries were almost the same. Mostly, the fact that Slaves had rights, to a certain extent, except for criminal slaves. Though most criminal slaves did not end up working in or near public areas or areas that nobles or the higher class people could be found. Criminal slaves were mostly used for hard labour. Males worked in metal or coal mines and stone quarries. All criminal slaves also had Magic sealing performed on them when they were marked as criminal slaves. Most regular slaves, which were those that were indebted to others or gave up on their own lives to the point that would rather be a slave to someone than to try to make their own way through life and have to deal with the problems of regular life. Basically, they failed to get anywhere in life on their own, and decided it was better to have everything provided for as someones slave instead of having to solve everything themselves. This idea really confussed the boy, but it was successful in one way. Homeless people and beggars where seldom found. Where as, in other countries, it is said that the larger cities have them living on the streets which makes the streets literally filfthy and the stench of which is unbearable to some. However, they are also treated harshly, and crime rates in those areas are said to be higher due to the slums in them.
Unfortunately, since there is no real way to monitor all the slaves and the treatment thereof. There is the problem of underground or black market slavers, who are known for dealing in races other than human, as more of a, enterainment value for some nobles and higher class people. Hyenmahl is a larger kingdom, with more villages and small towns than cities. Some of these villages are tucked away in remote areas and are mostly beastmen tribes of either Wolf-folk, Panther-folk, Rabbit-folk or Fox-folk. Each of these beastment tribes have different specialties that make them useful for specific types of jobs. Especially in military, guard and city patrol jobs. However, like many other issues some people with their knoses in the air and the "I'm more important and more privelaged than everyone else" attitude, they also have perverse tastes and are the reason the black market and underground slavers will risk finding and kidnapping beastment. Majority of black market slaves, have magic sealing devices or enchantments put on them. Some even have enchantments put on them so they can not sya or even try to write anything about how they bacame a slave, or they will suffer emense paiin and possibly die from it.