NOVEL NEXT Chapter 1737
"Do-do they really need to have these windows here?" Terra asked, staring out the window and down at the ground nearly twenty floors below.
"If these quarters won't be to your liking, we can try to find you a room with no windows. Or would you rather have a closet?" Marina cocked her head.
"The room is fine!" Terra immediately corrected herself.
I felt a bit annoyed though. It seemed like a minor thing, but I was pretty sure the slight was intentional. To the people here, Terra was just a golem. She was a thing, a tool for them to use. I had seen a couple of races among the residents of New Yan, so I had thought that the Jespain would have been a rather welcoming group like Chalm. However, it seemed that even they had their biases. They looked down on the animalkin, Esmere, and dwarves as inferior. Golems were only tools. As for the fairy, I wasn't sure. She had given Celeste a few odd looks since finding out she was a fairy.
The only ones they treated normally were Shao and I. Faeyna being an elf seemed to garner no attention. Rather, she was a maid, and that probably placed her as unimportant in their eyes. They also seemed to hold the same view of the lioness bodyguards. This dynamic was seen clearest in the rooms they gave us. I was given a large and beautiful room. Nice rooms were also given to the girls of my party. However, those designated as help were shoved into small, plain rooms with no amenities.
I knew that I was the lord and they were the help and that some level of this division was expected. I had already accepted my role as their leader. Yet, I didn't know what it was, but I felt like it was more than just a division of status. I hadn't mentioned any of the girls were my slaves, and I decided it was best to keep that secret. I let the girls know not to discuss that either.
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Slavery was outlawed in Jespain. That was one of the first things I confirmed with Marina when I got there. It was no wonder the slave guild hadn't sent Figuro or some other representative on their behalf. I wasn't worried about them trying to break the slave marks though. Rather, I worried that they would look down on the girls even more.
"Master, you seem lost in thought since you arrived here," Alysia spoke up.
As the one closest to my soul, she was also the one most entuned with my feelings. She knew when I was worried or upset before anyone, and she was in a place where she could ask secretively.
"Look at the crowds down there." I looked down at the streets below.
In my world, I wouldn't have been able to see anything more than little people walking along, but my eyes were much better these days. I could make out the people on the street with at least some detail, even from twenty stories away.
"What about them?" She asked.
"It's classism," I responded. "There is a clear social structure here. Humans, demons, elves, piscine, and other human-like species sit at the top. Animalkin are a bit under them. Esmere, Osterians, Dwarves, and those without standard body types are at the bottom. That's just the race. There is also a stratification between the leaders, merchants, and servants. I bet the poor aren't treated great at all."
"Is that so much different than Aberis? You have to be noble to even live in the capital. Most animalkin are seen as slaves whether they are free or not. All other species are merely tolerated if not outright hated. In the Ost Republic, the Osterians regularly put themselves over the humans. The only reason they overlook such things now is that you're the strongest and are human. The other tribes avoid interacting with each other at all, and could break into a fight at any moment."
"True… but this was supposed to be a more developed culture. I was expecting… I don't know."
The more I learned about this world, the more I realized just how much an abnormality Chalm was.
"Do you wish to get something to eat then?" Marina asked, her nonalarming smile returning to her face.