Herald of Steel

Chapter 1412 The Dark Part of Zanzan (Part-2)

The backstreets of the Eastern District were littered with illegal gambling dens, entertaining a significant part of the city's men every single day.

The occasional gamblers made up the bulk of the clientele, men who simply went out once a month with their friends for a good time.

They were there to drink, eat, smoke and just have a generally good- the winning was simply the icing on the cake.

It was a rather innocent pass time.

It was just too bad that for many, this relatively harmless hobby soon turned into a full fledged addiction.

They became hooked on the thrill of the game, one where winning or losing was secondary.

Some of them, even if they were to win a million ropals, would come the very next day to try and win two million.

These were the gambling addicts, people who could not get up in the morning without the thought not going to the dens.

And many of them would soon become the next type- the desperadoes.

Men who had lost it all to the house and now their only hope of salvation was to bet on a miracle.

'Just one more roll! One more and I will surely get my money back!'

They were like in a sinking ship, but instead of abandoning the vessel and saving themselves, these men would only keep digging, hoping for a lucky breakthrough.

Then soon, their losses became so huge that it became almost impossible to pull out even if they wanted to.

They might have lost their life savings, their house, their land, or even their own family's freedom to the predatory houses.

So having no realistic way of earning that much money, their only escape seemed to be to keep gambling, to keep hoping for a miracle.

Alas!

For ninety nine percent of these poor suckers, their holes would only get bigger and bigger, until they were swallowed whole by their vice- 'The house always wins!'

As for the ones who hoped to be in the ultra lucky one percent, well they still needed to compete with the last types of players to try and earn back their freedom.

Players who were desperate in need of money for other things like buying medicine for their sick son, getting their daughter a good dowry, trying to keep a struggling business afloat, paying back some other loan, and many more.

Some even tried to raise the taxes they owned from their lords from these gambling dens!

This was because one could have had a particularly bad harvest or the lord's demands for the year might have been unreasonably high due to wars, foreign campaigns, or even simple greed.

Whatever the case, the peasants were required to pay the demanded tax no matter what, or.... well not paying one's taxes was not a wise move.

They did not just throw people in jail for it.

Retaliation was far more brutal, coming in the form of beatings, seizure of personal property, and even enslavement.

So left without any way out, the men were forced to resort to these illegal ways.

Adhania was generally a conservative society, where women were expected to cover everything from the elbow down to the ankles. They also wore loose, flowing clothes that did not reveal any of the shape of the body.

Hence in the eyes of most men, these waitresses wearing tight bodices and short 'miniskirts' might as well be walking naked.

No, in fact, they were perhaps even more attractive than fully nude because the clothed parts left the main things up to the men's tantalizing imagination.

Alongside these mixed establishments, there were also buildings that fully ditched any plausible deniability and outright advertised themselves as brothels.

Pimps and small girls waved at passing men openly on the streets, asking them if they wanted to have a good time and cordially inviting them in.

Also, to clarify, those small girls did not serve as courtesans. The people of Zanzan at least had that much decency.

Aged around seven to twelve, these girls were usually employed by the brothels as servants and chore girls, as well as 'makeshift billboards'.

They would use their innocent smiles and youthful looks to draw passing men to the real business, sometimes even tugging and pulling their sleeves into the red light building.

These girls were really clever, with the most clever ones even having the chance to become ladies in waiting for high class courtesans, tasked with getting their mistress new customers.

As for the working girls who were not that skilled, or their brothels were too poor to effectively advertise their wares, well, then they would have to get down to the streets and do the job themselves.

Alexander even noticed many of them on his tour.

The sun had by now turned soft and completely orange, and with the signal of the imminent approach of the night, many of these women were eagerly looking for work.

Sadly for Alexander, he did not get a single call from them.

In fact, the moment he appeared, these women fled like he was the plague, running into the building and shutting all their doors and windows.

As already said earlier, Alexander and his huge entourage stood out like a sore thumb.

And operating in the grey area of the city for so long, these working ladies were very experienced in detecting trouble.

So it took but an instant for them to know whoever had the guts and power to move around this shady part of the city like they owned the place was not good news.

It might not necessarily be the pasha, but it had to be someone at least close to him.

Whoever he was, they wanted nothing to do with him.

"Haha..." Alexander gave a hollow chuckle seeing this.

Prostitution was a touchy subject in Zanzan and it was right for the ladies for the

Let us say no to piracy! Don't take part in a crime! Don't patronize thieves!

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