The caravan entered Black Mine City.
One of the people on the big cart looked around with his eyes opened widely in wonder.
"Impressive, isn't it?" a young woman sitting in a big chair asked with a smirk.
"Oh, yes, mistress!" the young man spoke respectfully.
The young woman swiveled a small pipe around her fingers a bit before pointing at the white "sky".
"Light shines from every spot on the ceiling," she said before pointing below the boy. "And since humans are not big enough to block out all the light, we don't cast any shadows here."
The boy looked to his feet and saw with surprise that there was no shadow beneath him.
Usually, the Sun cast a small shadow around everyone, but not here.
The young boy looked around, and his gaze soon fell onto the black mountain walls.
"Mistress, why is there no light coming from the walls?" he asked.
One of the men beside the young girl on the big chair frowned.
It was already an honor that their mistress was willing to talk to this newcomer.
The boy noticed the look of the man and looked down in shame.
However, the mistress began to laugh a bit. "Light protects us from the Specters, but too much light will turn everyone insane."
WHOOOM!
Suddenly, the young boy was surrounded by brightly shining light.
He stood up in a panic but quickly realized that he wasn't being attacked.
Instead, he just looked around.
Everything around him was white, and it was difficult to see much.
"Do you feel the stress?" the girl asked.
"Yes, mistress," the young boy answered with squinted eyes. "The light makes it difficult to look around."
The girl dispelled the light, and the boy released a sigh.
It felt rather overwhelming and stressful when so much light was coming from every place around him.
The young boy also looked at all of the black buildings and wanted to ask what materials they were made of, but a strict look from his mentor stopped him.
The next moment, the young boy focused on all the different caves at the edge of the gigantic city, and he quickly noticed something interesting.
The people going in and out of the luxurious gates of the caves were dressed very well, while the majority of people in the city were dressed poorly.
It seemed like the elite of the city lived at the edge of the city, while the peasants lived near its center.
This was the opposite of most other cities.
Usually, the elite preferred living in the center of the city due to security reasons, while the poor lived near the edge.
Although, security probably wasn't a big issue here.
The boy had been to a couple of cities by now, and he was certain that no other city he had visited was this secure.
There were barely any entrances, and the few entrances, that were there, were extremely fortified.
Additionally, the boy noticed that most of the people living near the center of the city were malnourished and short.
He had seen malnourished people in every city he had visited so far, but he wasn't sure if he had ever seen that many of them in a single city.
Surprisingly, their clothing was not really damaged and was even quite clean, actually.
Yet, most people were gaunt and were basically just walking around like zombies.
The boy also noticed that many of the Extractors and rich people were eating some kind of black food, and he wondered what that was.
The caravan traveled to one of the mountain's walls and continued up a ramp towards a higher level of caves.
The boy watched with interest as more and more of the city became visible.
Crksh.
The boy heard the subtle sound of someone biting into something crunchy and looked to the side of the caravan.
One of the guards accompanying them had just taken out one of the black sticks and bit into it.
"Hey, what are you eating?" the boy asked, peering over the edge of the caravan at the guard.
The guard looked around in confusion.
"Up here," the boy said, and the guard looked up, finally noticing the boy.
"This?" the guard asked, pointing at the black stick in his hand.
"Yep," the boy said, nodding a couple of times.
"It's black chocolate," the guard said. "It's the most delicious food in existence!"
Then, the guard tore off a small piece and held it out for the boy. "Wanna try?"
The boy looked at the offered piece with interest and stretched his hand towards it.
Yoink!
But then, a hand came out from behind the boy, grabbed his collar, and pulled him back.
The next moment, the boy's mentor peered over the side of the cart and looked at the guard. "I must apologize for the boy's rudeness. Our caravan prides itself on pure and honest trade, and it is against our policy to accept anything without something in return. We will consider buying a piece from an official source later. Thank you for your understanding."
"Oh, yeah, sure," the guard said, pulling the piece back. "I hope I didn't put the boy into trouble. I only wanted to help him a bit."
"It's all fine. You don't need to worry," the mentor said.
Then, the mentor turned towards the middle of the cart again and glared at the boy, who was looking down in shame.
"Rule number two," the mentor said strictly.
The boy took a deep breath. "Do not allow the outside into the inside," the boy recited.
"Explain the point behind rule two," the mentor commanded.
"Any and all outside influences, be it people, Specters, or objects, could potentially be dangerous to the caravan. Nothing is allowed to pierce the veil between the outside and the inside without explicit permission from one of the three administrators," the boy said.
"Why did you attempt to break this rule?" the mentor asked.
The boy wanted to argue.
How was this trying to break the rule?
It was just a piece of chocolate.
"I thought it wouldn't be dangerous," the boy said. "It's just a piece of chocolate, and the entire city eats the chocolate without any issues. It seemed safe."
"Following whatever the majority does leads to an early grave," the mentor spoke. "If you follow the majority, you will end up in the majority."
Then, the mentor pointed at the husks wandering through the city.
"This is the majority."
The boy silently looked at the city.
Soon, a feeling of guilt rose in his heart.
"Be careful of the outside," the mentor said. "And be especially careful of this so-called chocolate."
The boy looked at the mentor. "Is the chocolate bad?"
"Does it look bad?" the mentor asked.
The boy looked around again.
He saw several people eating it, and all the people eating it seemed quite strong and wealthy.
"No," the boy said.
"Not even a little bit?" the mentor asked.
The boy looked around again.
No, everyone seemed healthy.
The boy shook his head.
"Truth of the world: Number one," the mentor ordered.
"There is no benefit without an associated cost," the boy recited.
"Do you see a cost?" the mentor asked.
The boy looked around.
"No, everything looks good."
Then, the boy sighed as he realized something.
Without hesitation, he recited another rule. "When there is no cost, the cost is especially high."
"Correct," the mentor said. "When there is no cost, the cost is especially high. There is always a cost, and when you don't see the cost, it means somebody or something is trying to hide it from you."
The boy just nodded.
Then, he looked at the couple of Extractors he could see.
Almost half of them were eating this black chocolate.
"What's the cost of this chocolate?" the boy asked his mentor.
The mentor frowned while looking in a random direction.
"It's better if you don't know," the mentor said with a deep voice.
The boy blinked a couple of times. "Why?"
The mentor sighed. "Just… don't break the rules, okay?"
The boy was surprised that his mentor was so nice suddenly.
"Don't ask about the chocolate again," a sweet voice said from behind the boy.
The boy turned around and looked at the mistress in shock.
"Yes, mistress," the boy spoke respectfully.
The mentor looked at the boy for a bit, but in the end, he sighed again.
He had been with the caravan for decades, and it still wasn't easy for him to accept this life sometimes.
They traveled through the western parts of the Grand Continent, and there were several cities with obvious Specter activity.
Even more, almost all of these cities followed a similar pattern.
One part of the population is consuming endlessly, while the other part is starving.
Their mistress was powerful enough that they would be able to fight a city, but that was the extent of their power.
If it were only one city, they might do something.
But the fact that this involved several cities meant that their opponent was very powerful.
From what the mistress had once said, she knew who her opponent was, but she never told the mentor.
Suddenly, the girl turned to her right and chuckled a bit.
'Finally decided to become active?' she thought with a smirk. 'I wonder if this city will change significantly.'
"Mistress?" the mentor asked, looking at her in confusion.
He wasn't sure why she had suddenly laughed.
"It's nothing," she said.
"It's just that a guest just left us."