"You probably know a but already but let show you around" spoke Theli with Mila sitting on his shoulders.
She had lived in Sht'ole for not very long since she had moved here with her brother about a year back due to how cheap things were and also because he was looking for someone to treat his sister, this was how Theli had first met them.
"I didn't really go out much, Briam was worried about me going out alone without him" she said, a bit down when her she mentioned her brother.
"I see, well then, this is the main street, the most beautiful and cleanest street we have to offer here" he exclaimed, pointing at a filthy street with a guy passed out in the middle of it, who seemed to pissed himself in his sleep.
The only thing different about it was that the street was quite a bit wider than the others, apart from that, nothing changed.
"By the way, you see that old man passed out in the center? That's Malloy, he's sort of a celebrity around here" he said as he walked up to the stinking vagrant.
He wore very common clothing except that it was much filthier that regular and seemed to be slightly too large for the skinny man.
"Why is that?" she asked as she covered her nose to protect herself from the overbearing smell of pee and trash that hung around the passed out man.
"He's one of our super lucky citizens you see, he's homeless, an alcoholic and keeps attracting the wrath of all the worst persons you can find around but he keeps avoiding death and any severe injuries, you wouldn't believe it" spoke Theli, wearing a proud smile as if boasting.
"Run over by a carriage, poisoned countless times, assaulted, his life keeps getting threatened but he always gets out of it nearly unscathed and without any memories since he is always wasted"
"I tried to get the council to make him the emblem of the city but they refused, can you believe that?" he said as he started walking away, leaving Malloy to marinate in his own urine.
Mila could indeed believe that, who would want that to represent them?
"We have another celebrity around, apart from me of course, he should be at the bar around this time" mentioned Theli.
"Is he another drunkard?" asked Mila, not pulling her words at all.
"No, he just goes to the bar to talk to the drunk people about his stories, he thinks they make for a great audience" responded Theli as they arrived before a bar with an open door.
Inside, a wealthy looking man was standing on a table, he had frilly hair and some wrinkles on his face, sitting on top of his head was tricorn hat, in fact, his whole get up seemed to indicate that he spent quite some time on the sea.
Sht'ole was actually linked to the ocean, how this city stayed the way it was when it had such a great thing was a mystery.
"That's Timothy, that's the closest thing we've got to a noble around here, he has no title though and has in no way any etiquette either, he just dresses better and use fancy words that he doesn't actually understand" explained Theli while Timothy seemed to be retelling the story of an epic journey.
He was just telling people the time he sold some bowls for some great profit on an island.
"He is absolutely stupid and gullible but for some reason every time he tries something, it works out for great benefits, he thus believes himself to be a genius" added Theli.
"There is also Venec but he doesn't hang around too much on account that he is wanted for acts of banditism, there is a circus whose members are mostly from here as well, I mostly know a clown, jester and the musicians, they around at the moment"
"I recommended them to the king, that will be hilarious" he commented, mentionning that he could actually make recommendations to the king.
"And of course, among the celebrities there is Jeanne"
"Jeanne? As in, the great general?" asked Mila with uncertainty.
"The on who slapped the king of Mawlique in the face?" she then added, this was something that had went around quite a bit.
Jeanne hadn't actually slapped him, just threatened him at blade point while making sure he signed the peace treaty, she had sucker punched his wife straight in the face though.
Theli decided to keep that a secret, he would have Jeanne directly explain things to her instead.
"Indeed, do you think that she is cool?" he asked as they both walked through the most magnificient street of Sht'ole.
"Of course! She is great, I hear that she is super strong and pretty!" spoke Mila excitedly.
They walked some more as Theli pointed out to her the closest thing they had to some monuments, the only real thing they had was a single piece of stone with writings on both sides of it, one side described a battle who had taken place here a long time ago and on the other, the name of the combatants who had lost their lives during it.
There weren't a lot of names and the battle didn't seem to have been enormous at all but it had mattered enough for people to make a monument to it and honor the fallen warriors.
One man seemed to be guarding it, staring at the story side of it, he was always here and had nothing else to do even though he was supposed to be a city guard.
"You have to be careful around the monument or this guy will absolutely freak out and go on full ape mode" he said, making sure that the man in question wouldn't hear him.
"Say..." after a while, Mila decided to ask a question.
"Briam kept talking about something you did before we arrived, saying that you weren't just a doctor but also very brave, what was he talking about?" she asked, having been curious about this for a while but Malina wouldn't tell her.
"It wasn't much really, I just helped push back some invaders that had gotten lost and ended up here during the war with Mawlique, nothing out of the ordinary" he said, skipping the details that had made this event so memorable for everyone since they were a bit too graphic.
"By the way, has Malina talked to you about Ortenmia?" he said, telling Mila about her beforehand as she could get a bit surprised otherwise.