As much as I might have wanted to, it was difficult to argue with Slave's assessment of the city. Even to someone like me, the division between those who had seemingly everything and those who had seemingly nothing was just too clear. So many of these quests were essentially instant fixes, in many cases offering just a single gold coin, or healing someone who was sick or injured. Okay, admittedly, I'm a lot better at healing that most humans (I think?), but it still feels like so much more could have been done, the wounds and sickness often worsened by long suffering, and could have surely been easily treated before they had reached this point.

That said, I can't really judge them as easily as Slave can. I know that humans are very complicated creatures, perhaps unnecessarily complicated, and again, all of us have reasons for being the way that we are. I can't so easily dismiss it as simple malice or cruelty. In our own way we're all doing the best that we can, even if that sometimes, often in fact, isn't nearly enough.

I'm mercifully distracted from that depressing line of thought when a small creature bumps into me. "Oh, terribly sorry, Miss!" the black bird says in a feminine voice.

"Oh, that's quite alright!" I reply with a smile. As much as I like humans, I can't deny that it's nice to see another creature that I can properly communicate with. Aside from Vile and Slave, it feels like it's been a while since I've met one. Well, aside from the wolves, of course, but that wasn't an encounter which I look back on fondly.

The crow smiles back, gives a polite nod and takes to the skies. Slave, on the other hand, looks to the departing bird with an annoyed expression. I guess that cats and birds aren't on the friendliest of terms... just like cats and dogs, cats and mice, cats and... huh, cats really do have a lot of enemies, don't they? She's quite a rare exception, being so intimate with a rat, where most would just see them as food. Oh well.

Slave is somewhat quiet as we walk, although I think that's more due to me focusing so much on quests. I suspect she's hesitant to speak up, lest I force her to do some as well, but I have no intention of doing so. As much as I would love for her to enjoy them herself, she gotten a taste and that's apparently enough for her.

Not all of the quests could be solved by simply handing out a coin of laying my paws on a wound, however. Some were the more conventional fetch quests, and a few others were more vague. There's a repeating quest which I've gained from multiple people which disturbed me greatly. They spoke of missing children, and asked me to help find them. The problem was that there was no waypoint or additional details offered. Perhaps I was meant to question the locals for more information, but that's obviously beyond my abilities. All that I can do is ignore it for now, and hope that either the solution will come with time, or that someone else could solve the problem for them. I really did hate the idea of leaving such urgent matters unresolved, though.

Our travels, largely unguided beyond following a general trail of offered quests lead us into a somewhat nicer portion of the city. Clearly not the wealthiest district, as one could see the taller, elaborate walled in buildings in the distance, but the people wore clothing that wasn't quite on the verge of falling off of their backs, and moved about with more purpose, whereas so many of the poorer folk sat idly, seemingly exhausted.

With the healthier people came fewer quests, however. There were still some around, but it was no longer every other person who offered one, as was the case in the poorer district. I did find a place which offered an unusually dense cluster of them, however, a grand and ornate stone structure, lined with six statures of winged humans, each holding a large, precious gem of varying colors to their chests. I stopped at the pale stone figurine of the winged woman to the right of the large gateway, thinking that she looked somehow familiar.

"Oops! So sorry, I'm just so clumsy today!" A familiar voice said, following another bump against me.

"Heh, it's fine!" I say to the crow. "Don't worry about it!"

The black bird offers another polite nod before flying off once more. What a nice woman! It's a shame she didn't stay to chat but I guess she must be pretty busy. Slave similarly watches the crow leave with a likewise familiar expression of disapproval, but says nothing.

One thing that I hadn't yet mentioned about this city is the smell. It... isn't great. Maybe it's just a product of being so large and so densely packed with humans, but there's a prevalent stench of filth, sickness and rot. Some of this, of course, I have observed first hand, but it was like a miasma that covered the entire region, no matter where one walked. Even this grand and lovely cathedral offered no shortage of the scent.

There's a reason for it in this case, however. The large structure is filled with sick and injured people, very few of them severely so, and all standing within an organized line. Most are adults, but some hold crying children within their arms, and every one of these humans wears a worried expressions. Well, all except for one. At the innermost point stands a heavyset man in an ornate white robe. An elaborate wooden box lay open at his side, and one by one the humans would approach to him, exchange some simple words, and he would press his palms to their head, flooding them with a rather familiar looking light.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

I recognized it right away as healing magic. It wasn't exactly the same as my own, but similar enough that I could tell even without noticing the signs of sickness and hurt immediately melted away from the humans on contact with him. The healing is only part of the transaction, however, as each of the visitors would also place several coins within the box before stepping away, the next in line repeating the process.

Even without taking them, I could tell what the quests offered by the people in line would be: Healing quests. I rather enjoyed those type. Admittedly, I'd much, much rather have people not be sick or wounded in the first place, but it was something that I could very easily help people with, and it was always fun to put my paladin abilities to practical use.

I step up to the middle of the line, pressing my paw to against the pant-leg of a tired, elderly looking man and smile as the holy light flows through him, and his spirits are immediately lifted. He was so happy, and the pet he offered felt very much earned! Now, onto the next one...

"What's this? Get out of here!" A gruff voice calls out and I let out a yelp as I'm struck on the flank with the wooden base of a spear. The room is lined with what I had assumed were decorative suits of armor, but it turns out that they also have people in them! Angry, angry people who are quick to chase me out of the building!

"What was that about?" I grumble to myself, my flank still aching. Okay, had I only suffered a single point of damage, and it was mostly my feelings that were hurt. Still, I figured that counts.

"You were stealing business from the church by offering healing for free." a small, also familiar voice says from my side.

"Mistress!" Slave calls out excitedly, rushing to the rat with such speed that I was sure that she was going to bowl the small rodent over, but she managed to stop just in time, giving the filthy fur of the rat a gentle lick. As much as I'm glad to see them reunited and think the gesture to be a sweet one, I couldn't help grimace a little at the sight of it, unable to stop myself from imagining the taste.

As for Vile, while naturally far more subdued, she also seems glad to be reunited with her pet. Or at least she did at first. Her expression darkens as she studied the feline, Slave's own expression turning similarly demure. "You used your 'enrage' ability again, didn't you?" she glowers.

"Um... maybe..." Slave replied meekly, avoiding the accusatory glare of her mistress.

"It wasn't her fault!" I interject, "You see there was this bear and..."

"I didn't ask you." the rat looks to me with a similarly accusatory expression, which makes me shrink back a bit as well. Admittedly, I feel someone at fault for the incident as well. Had I been better prepared and managed to join the battle on the first combat round, perhaps we could have finished it without her using her ability. Not that I really understood why using it was such a bad thing, of course, but both the cat and rat seemed to fully understand it. Of course there's also the fact that she wouldn't have taken the quest in the first place without my commanding her to.

"I'm sorry, Mistress." The black cat says, her head lowered. "I take full responsibility and make no excuses."

"Um..." I say, more than a little hesitant to risk the rat's ire once again, but still wanting to defend Slave, "Why is her using that ability such a bad thing? It seems to be really powerful!"

I reflexively wince a little, expecting the rat to be angry, but instead she just sighs, the initial tension gone from her small, scraggly body. "Aside from what it does to her mental state..." Vile says, a point I fully understand. Both times that I had seen the black cat under the full effect of that power had been rather terrifying, "...she is a defensive fighter at heart, and one should never give up defense in favor of offense. Sure, hitting hard can be incredibly useful, but defense is what will keep you from dying. Especially in her case, giving up her primary strength in exchange for bolstering a weakness is just a bad idea all around, and it could easily get her killed."

I couldn't really argue with that. The hit that she had taken from the bear would have likely killed me outright, and even with her massive amount of HP, I was admittedly worried. In truth, I haven't always been fighting as defensively as I should, either. You only have one life, after all. Still, I can't help feeling as thought there's more to it than that, something that the rat isn't telling me. Probably just my imagination.

"Well, what's done is done. I suppose it's my fault for trusting Squire to look after you...." she said in a voice teasing enough to imply that she's joking, but I won't deny that the remark stings a little bit. Still, I couldn't deny the accuracy of it.

The important thing is that we're back together.

"Wow, how does this keep happening? I don't know what's wrong with me today!" the crow says, offering a very welcome distraction from my growing guilt. I didn't mind, of course, but I have to admit, I do find it surprising just how clumsy the crow is. With so much room to fly around, I wouldn't expect her to bump into me so often! Well, I suppose that not everyone can have my level of natural grace and poise!

---

Slave: "Are we going to be staying here long? This all feels kind of directionless so far."

Vile: "Don't worry, it's going somewhere, and this is a shorter arc than the previous couple."

Squire: "I think it's nice! We get to just relax a little, heal some people and do some quests! Now everything has to be exciting, after all."

Vile: "You wouldn't think so, but you're wrong."