It was evening and the sun was setting in, the tour of the city was almost over as just onest ce was now left. Albert tried to avoid it as well, but especially after Ethan''s earlier disy he had to give in to his demand.


    This was a ce that Ethan already knew about after reading books. It was a ce that at least for him was even more terrible than the slums.


    If the slums were a salvageable issue of mentality and money, then ''that'' issue was one of morality and the society inrge itself, and to solve it was a huge pain in the ass.


    In the carriage, Earlene was looking at Ethan with hesitation as if she wanted to ask him something.


    "What is it?" Ethan asked as he felt strange someone staring at him so intensely.


    "Tell me, as far as I have been told... You shouldn''t have known about those slums. Then how did you figure it out?" She asked curiously.


    "That''s easy, a developed and secure city like this is bound to have peopleing from all over the Kingdom in search of work—earlier that man also said that he came to fulfill his dreams. But no matter how great Adenberd is, it cannot facilitate so many people at once.


    This gradually creates an umtion of people who could not make it big in the city and instead lost all the money they hade with. In time, these people lose more and more as a result of desperation and bad life decisions. They have no ce to stay, and no money to go back to where they came from... And as a sad consequence of this, slums are formed." Ethan exined his reasoning.


    "That makes sense! However, you have promised them to help in the heat of the moment... But how will you aplish such a task?" Earlene inquired.


    She could think of a few ways herself but that would require some bitter and bold decisions, a lot of wealth as well as a period of some years.


    And she did not believe that the Duke would want to spend so much wealth and effort merely on Ethan''s whimsical promise no matter how good of a man he was.


    Ethan turned his head and looked at Earlene with a mysterious smile on his face as he said, "In the heat of the moment... You say?"


    Earlene''s eyes widened as she finally got the confirmation that Ethan was indeed up to something all along. She already knew that he was even more clever than everyone''s wildest imagination and beliefs. She felt a tiny bit excited in anticipation of what Ethan had nned.


    The carriage moved further east of the slums, it wasn''t far from the slums and so they reached in a matter of few minutes.


    The ce that the carriage arrived at was a ve Market.


    Yes, a ve Market—the concept which was unanimously as well as utterly despised and frowned upon in modern-day Earth.


    But even Earth had this heinous practice at some point In history, but where Ethan was reincarnated was neither earth nor a modern society. The world he was in was much crueler.


    As a human being, Ethan was naturally against the idea of binding human beings in shackles, and given the time and chance, he wanted to abolish this concept in Akarxia as well.


    However, that was easier said than done. The reason was that very wasrgely normalized in Akarxia, so much so that Anicia was the only one along with Ethan who felt ufortable and odd as the carriage stopped just outside the market.


    Not to mention that it was a huge industry that supported Kingdoms and Empires economically to arge extent throughout the continent.<novelnext></novelnext>


    ''Are you... Going to buy ves?" Anicia asked in half dissatisfaction and half doubt.


    Her mood was dampened in the first ce after the traumatic experience of seeing a slum, and now Ethan had brought her to a ve market for some reason.


    She was kind but not that naive and knew that buying ves wasmon among the nobility along with all the ones who had enough wealth to afford them. However, some dark practices often happened that concerned her.


    "Mayhaps, I might as well try and save some poor souls," Ethan said benevolently lying through his teeth.


    "O-of course..." Anicia averted her gaze embarrassingly feeling guilty for misjudging Ethan for a moment there.


    ''Sorry Anicia, but I can''t naively solve this issue by buying every ve I see.'' Ethan sighed and thought inwardly.


    ''Trauma often shapes up strong, decisive characters, and going forward... I will need such strong and loyal people by my side. This is, unfortunately, the most suitable ce where I can find such people. What a royally fucked up world this is!''


    Ethan mused as he got off the carriage and proceeded to stroll into the market with everyone else following him.


    The ve market was in an open field where various ve traders had opened up their ''shops'' next to each other as various rich buyers from different backgrounds looked through the market for their specific requirements.


    Ethan was inwardly disgusted but did not show on his face as he saw different types of people whether they be strong or weak men, beautiful and skilled women, or small children standing on bs in ragged, dirty, and torn clothes along with cors on their neck in front of each ''shops'' on exhibition.


    Ethan and party immediately drew everyone''s attention as many immediately recognized Ethan from his hair and extravagant clothes as well as the elite bodyguards.


    Thinking that they might get to catch a big fish, the traders immediately rushed to market their ''goods'' as they bragged about how good the ''quality'' was, making Ethan frown with revulsion.


    Anicia was totally relieved when she saw Ethan''s expression. Although she had been engaged to him because ofplicated reasons, she truly was bing more and more fond of him as the days went by.


    Even if Ethan did not care at all about the ugly practice of very, she would understand, albeit with some bitterness—as she knew very well that not everyone was kind and righteous in the world.


    "Young Master, these ves are not forced into very, they either sell themselves because of circumstances or they''re being punished for they havemitted some kind of crime," Albert said thinking that Ethan was feeling guilty judging from his expression.


    Even though he knew that it wasn''t theplete truth nor a total lie, he said it anyways to presumablyfort Ethan. In reality, humans often made up such convenient lies to justify themselves.


    "You''re surely kidding me old man, do you really believe that to be true? Are you sure there''s no ''shady business'' going on?" Ethan asked calmly.


    Albert sighed and averted his gaze in shame as he thought, "s, Young Master is too clever..."