New World, New Life: I Became A Bigshot In The Ancient World-Chapter 318: THE SLUMS
Aristia chuckled. It had totally slipped her minds that the twins weren’t aware of her other identity.
"Yes, I’m Aris."
When she remembered their earlier question at Owen, she raised her eyebrows and asked.
"Wait. You really thought there were two boys of similar age and height named Owen following two girls of similar age and height named Aris and... Aristia?" She asked.
Her question made Heidi and Penelope’s faces turn red. They... hadn’t even thought about it.
Owen gave Aristia a grateful look. She had asked exactly what he had wanted to ask.
Except if he was the one, the question might be missing half of the politeness it had.
Aristia shook her head. It wasn’t their fault. The potion made it less easier to recognize someone. It was a bit like the masks characters used in movies that made it difficult for them to be recognized by other characters.
She turned to Vivian, reminding her of what she was supposed to do.
Vivian took the bottle, also drinking its contents. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮
Her eyes moved to her hair, and she noticed it really had turned brown.
Her emotions were a bit complicated, realising that her features now weren’t different from her family’s.
"Let’s go." Aristia’s words cut through her thoughts.
She nodded and followed after Aristia and Owen.
They got into the carriage and the carriage left.
Owen began talking to Vivian about everything they were supposed to do as Aristia’s information collectors.
Most of the work would be left for Vivian qs time went on because Owen had other things to do. He was Aristia’s aide and had a lot of other responsibilities.
Vivian listened attentively to what he was saying.
Aristia didn’t speak, only listening too as she stared out of the window.
"That’s all." Owen said once he finished speaking.
"And we’re here." Aristia said as the carriage rolled to a stop.
The three got down from the carriage, looking at the somewhat busy street. But it wasn’t too busy as evening was approaching and not much people were moving around.
Three children coming down from a normal looking carriage wasn’t eye catching, and no one paid any attention.
The three of them walked together, looking around the street.
Aristia just wanted Vivian to observe, just as she and Owen usually did whenever they were in disguise.
Such a thing was something the crown prince should be doing to understand the situation of the people and what was happening in the kingdom, but since Ivan was away and couldn’t do it, Aristia was doing it.
She knew that there were shadow guards probably doing that, but she still chose to provide any information she found to the king.
The advantage was that they were children. Others may keep their guard up when they see grown men, but when they saw little children, they would be less guarded.
She willingly chose to do this patriotic act for her kingdom. It definitely wasn’t because the king was paying her.
[Oops! I didn’t mean to reveal that bit.] She thought.
"Where are we going, pri— Aris?" Vivian asked.
Aristia rubbed her chin. "Hmm, let’s just stroll a bit."
And they did stroll... only to end up in the slums.
"Uh... How did we even end up here?" Aristia muttered.
But apart from that, she was intrigued.
She had never seen the slums in Amberale. She didn’t even know Amberale had places like this.
[Okay, the last sentence is a bit of an exaggeration. I think every kingdom has this side, no matter how perfect or flourishing.]
This part of Amberale was different from the rest. Unlike the clean cottages in the normal part of Amberale, here the houses were in bad condition.
Shabby cottages, broken doors and windows, or wooden planks that served as doors. The people she saw were in bad state, some wearing torn, dirty clothes that looked no different from rags.
The children she saw were quite thin, with dirty, unkempt hair that had turned mangled.
Aristia felt bad looking at them.
They entered the slums and felt eyes on them. Thankfully, they were putting on plain commoner clothes.
But even though, it didn’t make them feel safe. After all, for people in the slums, those outside the slums were better off regardless of whether they were wealthy or not.
Vivian’s face remained straight, but her eyes drifted to Aristia.
"Shouldn’t we go back?" She asked.
Just like Aristia, she had never been to the slums. The place carried a stiffling, despondent air that made her feel uncomfortable.
But Aristia shook her head. She was confident that nothing would happen. Even if something did happen, they would get out of it unharmed.
As she took a step, a small girl stumbled and fell in front of her.
Aristia and the others stopped.
The girl was probably just a year old and she was a bit less chubbier than a normal child. But her wide expressive eyes were bright even though there was dirt on her cheeks.
She fell, but she didn’t cry. Instead, she got up and dusted her hand with a hint of toughness, then looked up at Aristia with a smile and grabbed her dress, the dirt on her hand rubbing on Aristia’s dress.
Aristia looked down at her while the girl looked up. Lowering her height by bending her knees a bit, she asked. "Hello, what’s your name?"
The little girl wasn’t shy. She replied, "Moi... Moira."
Aristia couldn’t resist as she took out a warm bun wrapped in a wide leaf from the small bag she carried, handing it to the little girl.
Moira’s eyes lit up with joy as she collected the bun. "Thank you."
Aristia couldn’t help but smile, taking out a piece of milk candy.
Moira was ecstatic as she took the milk candy, waved her little hands and waddled towards one of the houses.
Aristia’s gaze moved away from the figure of the little girl. "Let’s go."
Later, she would speak with her father and uncle.
The three moved.
Vivian was a bit surprised. She didn’t know that Aristia was so kind. She didn’t even mind that the little girl had smeared dirt on her dress.
They received more stares as they went. Some would glance at them and look away, while some would stare longer, wondering what they were doing there.
They just passed an alley when all of a sudden they heard something.
"I will help you all. I promise."
