The Greatest Sinner

The second guard was shocked by Evan's actions. He had not expected that a seemingly simple guy could do something like that.

The man didn't even dare to attack Evan, he didn't have the courage to do it. He knew that Evan would kill him just as quickly.

While the man was trying to figure out what to do in such a situation, Evan walked past him with a calm expression on his face.

Most of Inlas was the slums, and that's where Evan found himself. He looked around and thought to himself, <I haven't seen streets like this in a long time. There was dirt everywhere, broken-down houses, dilapidated walls, and lots of poor people walking around in torn and old clothes. Although, only that way such a place could look.>

Evan passed a narrow alleyway where three people were talking. A man's gruff voice was heard, "Listen, buddy, we're protecting you from bandits, and that's why you have to share with us."

He was tall, bald, and dressed in simple leather armor.

The young and frail-looking guy stammered back, "I don't have any money...I don't have enough for food...please..."

Bam.

The second man immediately punched him in the stomach and said harshly: "You know, you could be sold on the black market and get a lot of money. My brother and I are good people, and that's why we protect you, and you don't want to share with us?!"

After such a hard blow, the young lad could barely keep his feet. With trembling hands, he handed them a pouch of copper coins.

"AHAHA, okay then, we'll be back next month. Have a good job." 

The bald man said contentedly and headed for the exit. But suddenly they saw a tall young man in a long black coat. Evan was standing at the end of the alley leaning against the wall. He stared at the bandits with a curious look.

"You, what do you want?!" One of them asked rudely.

They thought Evan wanted to deal with them for robbing the guy.

"You've just said you could sell this guy on the black market. That means you know where it is, right?" Evan said calmly. He wasn't interested in this guy's fate, he needed to find the entrance to the black market, and these two could help him with that.

One bandit smirked: "Sure, this town is one big black market, but I know what you mean. Five silver coins, and I'll take you there."

Evan nodded and put his hand in his pocket, and pulled out five silver coins.

Evan's pockets were not full of coins, they were empty. When he put his hand in his pocket, he simply pulled those coins out of his spatial ring. Evan knew where he was going and prepared in advance by exchanging gold coins for silver and copper coins.

He tossed them to the man and said briefly: "Show the way."

The bandit smiled contentedly and, with his companion, headed for the exit of the alley, "Okay, follow me."

In the slums, even five silver coins were a luxury. Most of the people here worked all day for just a few copper coins. There were many rich people in this city, but there were hundreds of times more poor people.

"Wait!"

They were about to leave when suddenly they heard the voice of the guy who had just been beaten and robbed.

"А? What more do you want?" The bald man said, irritated. He didn't want this guy to make him look bad in front of a wealthy client like Evan.

The guy barely got to his feet, looked at Evan, and said: "Please, I need my money. I can't survive without it!"

Evan looked at him and calmly said: "What can you do for me? Do you know how to get into the black market? Maybe you know something that might interest me?"

The guy hesitated and, after seconds, replied, "No...I..."

It was actually a rhetorical question. It was obvious that the guy had no way of knowing about such things. Evan didn't want the guy to keep bothering him, so he let him know he was useless for him.

"Let's go." Said Evan to the two bandits as they walked out of the alley.

The two men went after him, and the guy stayed in the alley.

Evan wasn't surprised by what he just had seen. In a city like this, such things were quite normal. The strong oppressed the weak, and there was no one to protect them. Whereas other developed cities had guards to keep order in the streets, here the guards created the mess.

While following the two bandits, Evan saw a boy of about ten stealing bread from a vendor. Unfortunately, he was caught up, and instead of stale bread, he got a couple of bruises.

< That's the slums, but there's also the central part where all the wealth of this city is concentrated. I wonder how different it is from the slums. There is nothing but poverty here. I hope I'll manage to find a high-class informer>, Evan thought.

Ten minutes later, two men had led him into a dark alley. They reached a large, inconspicuous gate.

The gate was old and dilapidated. It looked as if it would fall apart in a few months.

The bald man knocked on the gate six times.

The gate creaked open, but only slightly, as it was held back by a thick iron chain. Through this slit, a muscular man could be seen, who said briefly: "Codeword."

The bald man muttered something quietly, and then the guard removed the iron chain and let them in.

They entered, and the bald man turned to Evan: "Are you interested in anything else? I know this place well, it's one area in the slums that you might call a black market. Here you can buy anything you want, only pay."

In Inlas and especially in the slums, the black market was not concentrated in any one place. It was divided into several districts, each patronized by some criminal organization.

It was impossible to enter these areas unless one knew the code and where the entrance was located. There was not a single soul in that dark alleyway where the gate was located. It was impossible to enter this place by accident. Moreover, no one was allowed in without the code anyway.

Evan dipped his hand into his pocket and took out a silver coin, and threw it into the hands of the bandit.

"First, tell me the codeword, and second, show me where the best informer is around here," Evan said calmly.

The bald man caught the coin and quickly said: "The codeword is - "The Fallen Coin soars to the heavens." What about the informer... there's one who's undoubtedly the best here, but..."

"But, what?"

"Well...If you want to meet him, I'll just tell you where the place is. No amount of money is worth going back to that psycho..."

Evan was surprised. He could clearly see the fear in the man's eyes. Still, Evan had nothing to worry about, he was quite capable of standing up for himself.

"Okay, tell me where I need to go."