Jola and his group left, running toward the city, after telling the guard that she was allowed. Samira walked to the city after getting a permission slip, when she got to the entrance there were gates that had been welded into the side of the building to keep some security.
Samira thought ‘They live above ground? How is that possible are there no aerial monsters in Lagos?’ and looked up wondering where the flying monsters that caused people to live underground where.
The inside of the city was lively; there were people all about doing one thing or the other, high humans jumping from building to building travelling with parkour. There were people advertising their merchandise on the side of the road, there were even children, most were wearing clothing made of monster material, the clothes weren’t beautiful at all, the people looked like refugees wearing rags.
Samira’s face brightened as she saw the sight, she wanted to be a part of this place. She entered a shop that sold books. Since the internet was down everywhere; people had to be more old school, printed information. She bought a map of the city, a note book, some stationeries and a city guide that used it to navigate to a motel.
She entered the motel’s reception and went to the receptionist’s desk and checked out the room prices and compared them to the city guide ‘It’s outdated’ she thought, the prices on the board were higher than what was written in the city guide.
Samira went out of the motel even as the receptionist tried to call her back, she checked and checked the city until it was evening until she found the cheapest place to stay, the room cost 1 en-code per week. She booked a room and went to her room to rest, it had been a long day.
On her way to the room there were other customers talking in the hallway or just passing, most of the male and some of the female customers didn’t give her side glances but just outright ogled.
She entered her room and lay on her bed, she closed her eyes but after some seconds she felt vitalized and opened them. She walked out of her room, headed to a restaurant, ordered some food and sat at an empty table.
She ordered what most people ate, boiled rice and some pieces of meat and water as she ate she found the food that was very unappetizing, she craved monster meat.
While she was eating a man came up to her table and took a seat opposite her and started eating his food in silence. The man was not so handsome but he wasn’t ugly either, he looked to be in his 30s, his height was around 5 feet 8 inches.
The moment he came to sit with her, Samira in her boredom and desire to entertain herself stopped eating, the food wasn’t tasty anyway, and stared hard at the man.
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Under Samira’s stare the man’s eating became a very awkward experience, his hand was shaking as he took his spoon to his mouth, his eyes were darting every which way to avoid her direct gaze and his legs were tapping uncontrollably. He was getting nervous and seeing this Samira began to laugh on the inside while keeping a poker face.
The man had just finished his food and was in a hurry to leave when Samira said to him “Why are you so nervous?” The man looked at her, he was dumbfounded but also worried he had caused her trouble, he replied “I-I just wanted to eat, a-and this was the closest table I found”.
Samira smiled warmly, she was trying to ease his tension, she replied “That’s not what I asked; I asked why you’re so nervous”. The man gulped and said “I’m sorry, I lost a bet and the punishment was me eating at the table of their choosing”.
Samira was now dumbfounded ‘Is he incapable of answering my question?’, she maintained her smile and said “That’s still not what I asked for, why are you so nervous? Even now that we’re talking you’re still shaking and avoiding the question”.
The man’s heart skipped a beat as he realized he had unconsciously avoided the question. He thought for a moment before saying “You are a Rank 4. I was afraid you would be annoyed and report me”.
Samira replied “Oh? So when a Rank 4 is annoyed by a lower Rank, the person can report the lower Rank to be punished? I’m new here so I don’t know much. Do you mind if I ask you some questions about how things run in the sanctuary?”
The man was shocked and thought ‘A new citizen? And a Rank 4 at that, what kind of sick joke is she playing?’ He responded “Um yes, as a rule people aren’t supposed to fight because of disagreements since fighting can easily lead to death now. So people are required to bring their cases to the moderators and a punishment is given to the party in the wrong”
Samira thought about it for a while and said “Makes sense, so is sitting at the same table as someone who is higher ranked than you considered and offense? Sorry, I didn’t even introduce myself, my name is Mira, what’s yours?”
The man responded “I’m Leke. It’s not an offense to sit with a higher ranked person, but I can be punished for purposely annoying one since that would be considered disrupting the peace as the city will have to dispatch a Rank 4 to protect me if you flipped out and although you would be punished for attacking me, my punishment would be far heavier considering I was the one who provoked you and you’re of a very high Rank compared to me”.
Samira laughed and thought ‘The laws are so straightforward, the sanctuary isn’t even trying to hide that they prefer people of higher Ranks but they also don’t want to lose the lower Ranks too’.
Samira thought ‘I guess that’s kind of fair? No, the city must be trying to corner its citizens into increasing Rank by making a punishment lighter or heavier based on Rank’. She asked “What Rank are you?”
Leke was confused ‘She doesn’t know, is she stupid? Can’t she just ask her IP?’ but he responded “I’m a Rank 2” without questioning her strange behavior.
Samira said “Is there a place where I can get information on monsters locations and such, like an adventure’s guild. You do know what I mean right?”. Leke thought ‘The hell is an adventurer’s guild?’ but still responded “You mean the Sanctuary Scout center. I can show you where it is”
Samira thought ‘He doesn’t know what an adventure’s guild is, he is certainly not fun’.