In front of a run-down building stood a 14-year-old boy with black hair and black eyes. His body was malnourished, and you could see the bones in his arms.

As he raised his head, he saw snowflakes falling from the gray sky.

"How much longer can I endure?"

His body was only covered in clothes.... are they even considered clothes? It would be more fitting to call them rags.

Looking down and unclenching his hand, he saw 3 copper coins.

"Ivar told me to get 10 copper, or he'd kill me."

Getting up from his sitting position on the worn-out bench, the boy decided to head into the old building in front of him. As he got closer, he could hear the laughter coming from inside.

The building was an old Tavern in the slums. Anywhere you looked, you would see people crowded together, be they beggars, old mercenaries drinking alcohol, or young women in skimpy clothes.

Heading towards the bar counter, you see an old man with a long white beard and braided white hair cleaning a beer glass.

"Leroy, you're here, boy. Did ya find anything yet!"

"No, ended up with nothing."

Kicking the air, Leroy turned around and headed to the left, where a door led into the storage room where Leroy and the other kids slept.

At the last moment, before opening the door, Leroy turned to look back at the mercenaries that had come into the tavern.

Faces filled with laughter, grizzly beards, and unkempt hair, rusted swords hanging from their waist.

'Mercenaries? More like a bunch of bums, risking their lives for the life of a drunkard.' 

Leroy went inside the room, where he found another young kid

"Leroy, your back!"

"Hey Arthur, how was your day."

Leroy caught the young Arthur as he ran into his arms.

"Good older brother, I helped master clean the tavern before it opened in the morning."

"Good job."

Leroy smiled as he patted the kid's head.

The room had 4 Beds, 2 on the left and 2 on the right.

Leroy and Arthur slept on the left, while Ivar and John slept on the right.

Going up to his bed, Leroy knelt and looked under the bed. He took out a small bag and put the four copper coins inside.

In the bag were about 7 coins now in total.

'Still short 3,' thought Leroy

Leroy put the bag back underneath the bed, stood up, and headed out again to earn some more copper.

"You're already leaving Leroy? But you just arrived." 

"I've got some stuff to do, Arthur, I'll see you later."

Leroy went out of the tavern and started roaming the streets.

All around, you could only see ransacked and old buildings, garbage was everywhere, and in every corner of the street, you could either see drug addicts, criminals, hookers, or beggars.

Leroy wasn't all sunshine, either. As a young kid, the only way he could earn copper was by stealing, as no one would give him a job.

He went toward a better part of the city while hiding from the guards, as they would not allow someone who looked like him to get close to other people for fear of him stealing, which was what he was doing, so he couldn't blame them.

Following the shadows and around the edges of the street, Leroy arrived at a more bustling area with carriages and people walking.

Leroy looked around until he found the right target, a young man who looked about the age of 25.

Running towards him, Leroy hit his shoulder, apologized quickly, and ran away.

Looking down at his hand, you could see a wallet in it.

Leroy quickly ran to an alley between two run-down buildings. Opening up the wallet, there were 7 copper coins inside.

Usually, no one in the slums would carry more than a few copper, as stealing and robbery often happened in these parts.

"It's my lucky day."

Leroy smiled, but that smile froze as a shadow covered the ground before his face.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't a rat."

Turning around, Leroy saw who it was that had talked.

It was Arnold, also known as the grave robber in these parts.

There were rumors that he would go around robbing people and sometimes even killing them for fun.

"What do you want, Arnold!" yelled Leroy

"You should already know what I want. Now, fuss up, rat bastard."

Leroy tried to run away, but Arnold took hold of his wrist, stopping him from doing so.

Dragging Leroy back, Arnold punched him in the face.

Leroy's nose started bleeding, his eyes already losing focus as his legs gave out, and he got knocked out.

"Taking stuff from these rats is the best; knock 'em out like a light in a punch," Laughed Arnold.

He turned around and Vanished behind the cluster of people.

Leroy stood there, knocked out, as snow started piling up on his body.

A half-hour later, he awoke with a scream.

Looked around and found that the snow had covered half his body already.

He couldn't stop the shivers as they enveloped him. Getting up as fast as he could, he started running to the tavern.

While he had been knocked out in a punch, Leroy's body had always been more durable than others. If someone else had a body as malnourished as Leroy's and got knocked out cold in the snow for half an hour, then they would most likely get sick and die in his condition, but he didn't.

At times, Leroy felt grateful for this blessing, but at other times, he thought it was merely a curse to prolong his suffering.

It was already starting to become night, and the moon could be seen rising in the sky.

Leroy arrived at the tavern and rushed in.

He went directly to his room to get in his bed and cover himself up to warm his body.

Opening the door, Leroy came face to face with Ivar.

A 15-year-old boy who looked as malnourished as Leroy himself.

He had Shaggy Brown hair that came up to his neck and piercing blue eyes.

"If it isn't my dear brother, I thought you had ran away for a second, y'know?"

Leroy froze.

He had forgotten entirely about Ivar's tax as he had been running back.

It would have probably been better to just sleep outside at this point.