By this time Alex had a more or less clear idea about the structure of Almon city. Almon city was divided into 4 districts for inside out. The innermost area was the noble's district and the most beautiful part of Almon. Surrounding that was a corporate district where all official works were handled, like city authority, different guilds houses, offices, and biggest shops. The largest area was the market district, where most of the people lived and shops and facilities could be found. The eastern and southernmost part of the outskirts of the city were slums and was the most unhygienic an unsightly part of the city. While his workplace was in the market district, very near to the corporate district, Alex used to stay at least part of the market district, towards the outer edge. This made him see the struggle of the poor more often. But he himself was in no position to show any sympathy and such.
One weekend while he was returning from his workplace a little bunny-girl, around his age, tackled him and started running with his money pouch. Alex's senses were much sharper now and he immediately realized that it was a pickpocket. Bunny race people were known for their evasiveness and running speed. But Alex easily chased after her. The girl entered a small ally and kept switching her ways to hide her trail. But soon Alex did a wall run and jumped to climb to the roof of a building and kept following her. When he finally caught up with the girl and knocked her down to take his money pouch back he saw how malnourished she was. She even had countless small and medium injuries here and there. When the girl was about to run away in fear, he grabbed her wrist and gave her half of his salary for that week. The shop owner was very happy with Alex's work and now used to give him 1 silver and 50 copper coins. So it was quite manageable to him. He didn't ask her anything. In his previous life, Alex rose from extreme poverty. Thanks to his scholarships and part-time work he could study in that life. So Alex knew what hunger was. Yet in this life, he was really helpless. He couldn't even take care of his own ambitions. For a practical man he knew that even if he gave up on his dreams and became some sort of charity guy, he will not be able to change anything.
Another day when he was going towards the gym from his work, he was almost knocked by a noble's carriage. In return, he received a beating for his recklessness which wasted that guy's precious time. Yet it was probably the best course of action for him to avoid any more complications.
And thus, days were passing by. One day afternoon a rich young little missy with blond hair with red strips, wearing a gorgeous blue dress, came to the boutique shop with some city guards and aristocrat people. It was a common sight to see nobles with guards, but not with city guards. Within a few moments, the shop owner also came in her carriage and she was personally escorting the little missy who was looking for a gift for her father's birthday. Usually, Alex stays indifferent towards the customers but seeing the shop owner treating the little girl with such delicate care he curiously asked one of the employees if he knew anything. The employee was stunned to know that Alex knew nothing about the city lord's daughter's identity and mockingly told Alex about the girl and others. Alex was shocked to know that one of the aristocrats was the city force's strongest mage. The tall-looking man looked like he was in his late 50s, with a small goatee and a decent face with a bright complexion. When the girl saw Alex at the shop counter doing paper works she got curious. After all, Alex looked even younger than her, and he was not working as an ordinary employee. She went to the counter, tried to figure out what Alex was doing, and asked him whatever she felt like to ask. After all, she was an important customer, so Alex tried to entertain her to his best abilities.
Seeing that Alex was getting a good conversation with the girl the shop owner said, "Alex, why don't you help Miss Hellcat in finding what she wants."
The Hellcat family was in charge of looking after the city. Alex also knew this fact. So he accompanied the little girl with a smile in her endeavor. Alex knew the noble formalities and coupled with his mature impression the aristocrats were quite amused. It's not a common thing to see a little boy working as an accountant. After browsing items for quite some time, Patricia Hellcat finally picked a pendent for her father and left satisfactorily. Alex had received 1 silver coin for his good services, which actually left him somewhat happy.
That night when Alex returned from the gym to his residence, he found three city guards outside his lodging. When he neared the gates, one guard abruptly stopped him and asked, "Are you Master Alex, working at Madam Gwen's boutique shop?"
"Yes, how can I help you?"
"Please come with us, we need to interrogate you for a serious matter."
After a sigh, Alex continued with the city guards to one of the outposts. There were many people present apart from the city guards. Alex was asked what he was doing till now, and what were his interactions with Patricia. Alex tried to cooperate to his best till he was relieved late at night. Apparently, Patricia was kidnapped while she went to a washroom of a hotel on the way returning from the boutique shop. Alex left for his residence somewhat dejected. Not because Patricia was kidnapped, rather for the waste of time. When Alex reached his room it was dead night. Alex request the manager to send someone to his workplace in the morning to inform him that he will be taking leave for the next day due to the incidents and offered him three copper coins.
The next day, Alex woke up quite late. After visiting the bathhouse and having a decent lunch Alex decided to roam the city. So he took some copper coins from his stash and went towards the outskirts. Shops at Outskirts were quite cheap. Thus Alex was heading towards the market area near the slums, to visit Alchemy and other stores to find any alternative for awakening. Although this was not his first time, Alex still continued his search. After wandering for a few hours Alex halted at a food stall to eat something. He was about to sit on a chair outside the stall to order something when he saw a little bunny-girl hiding in an ally opposite to the stall and staring at him. The girl seemed familiar to Alex when he remembered about the little thief. Guessing that the bunny-girl might be the same theft that he met a few days ago, Alex smiled towards the girl and gestured with his hand to invite her. After some time when the girl was finally confirmed that Alex was gesturing to her, The girl slowly crossed the road with a sigh of expression and stood next to Alex.
"Are you hungry? Want to eat something? I will pay." Alex asked.
The girl nodded and was about to sit on the floor when Alex told her to sit on another chair.
"So what do you want to eat?"
"Whatever y…you like mister"
"Don't you have anything you like?"
"I … I never have eaten in such a place."
Since she had nothing to recommend, Alex placed the same order as him. After some time when the food was ready, the girl went and bought both their food and without wasting any time started happily munching on her food.
"So what are you doing here now? Looking for someone to pickpocket?" Alex asked. To his reply, the girl shook her head to deny the accusation and said, "No, I… I still have some coins from … from what mister gave me. The … they drove me away from where I slept, so … so, I … I was looking for somewhere to take shelter tonight."
"Who drove you away," Alex asked her curiously.
"Do … don't know. They had a young rich looking human girl tied up with them. They kicked me and my friends away from our place. We … we used to stay at an abandoned broken hut not so far away. We slept on … on the streets yesterday night."
It was evident that the girl was kidnapped. And the kidnappers wanted to hide her. The bunny girl's statements made Alex guess that the kidnapped girl might actually be Patricia, so he tried to ask the bunny-girl if she knew anything else, like who those people were or what the girl looked like. But the bunny-girl kept silent as if she didn't want to involve herself. Alex took ten copper coins out of his pouch and kept rubbing them in his palms. As if getting the gesture, the bunny-girl continued. "The … the girl had golden-ha … hair, with some red stripes and wearing an expensive blue-w … white dress. I really don't know who those people were. But … but those were bad people. I … I was curious and try ... tried to hear their conversations from the dark. The … they were talking about slaves or something. I don't really know anything mister. Please don't tell anyone about me."
At this point, Alex had no doubt that the missing girl was Patricia. At this point, he had a theory that Patricia was not kidnapped for ransom. Rather asking for ransom from the city lord was a very difficult job. Thus she was most probably going to be sold off as a slave. He felt a little bad for the little girl's predicament. After all, Alex had somewhat a good impression of her.
After pondering for a few moments he asked, "Can you show me the place?"