“It is a strange thing that amongst all the races, Humans are the ones most fond of placing themselves in a position of power over others and reveling in that power. Amongst many other races, the idea of might makes right is often prevalent, but in those cases, those who are weaker would accept their lower station calmly, and the strong would take up their corresponding responsibilities instead of reveling in their power.

In fact, the other races look down upon those who become drunk with power, and such leaders were almost always deposed with haste.” - From a lecture by Garth Wainwrought, Professor of Socioeconomy for the Levain Institute of Higher Learning, circa 593 FP.

It had not taken long after the caravan entered Vusilan territory that Kino and Eilonwy noticed a stark contrast between the Empire and its neighbor.

Not long after they entered the Empire’s territory, the caravan passed through a field being cultivated. What drew their attention was how most of the people that worked the field wore what was practically little more than rags, and often had bloodied backs, while other people stood at the side, watching them work with whip in hand.

It was evident where the wounds on the workers’ backs came from.

“Don’t,” said the merchant that sat in front of them in the wagon. The man had noticed where Kino and Eilonwy were looking towards. “That’s what became of the people from the nations that the Empire conquered. They’re used up as slaves in all but name, doomed to remain as lower-class citizens all their lives. I don’t want no trouble, now, you hear? The Imperials can get rather ruthless at people interfering in their business.”

Kino and Eilonwy looked like they were about to retort, but a silent gesture from Aideen caught their eye and they swallowed that retort and just nodded mutely instead. The merchant then dropped the topic and the caravan went along its route, though with a more subdued atmosphere between the passengers on board.

Along the way they witnessed more such scenes, of people in rags being made to work by overseers that held whips. More than once a worker fell down only to be whipped until their back was bleeding and raw by the overseer, before they were made to work again without rest. It was a rather appalling sight to Kino and Eilonwy, who had not left the Lichdom much before this.

When the reached a city – Lushan, the third largest city in Vusila and the caravan’s destination – they saw more of the same, with some people being thrown around and made to act like servants by others. From what the merchant said, they already pieced together that the Vusilans practically considered themselves the upper class, and that the conquered lower class people were only fit to be their servants or worse.

The fact that they could see armed guards patrolling around frequently inside the city itself was testament to how some of those “lower class” people likely disagreed with that notion and might well have reacted with violence in the past. It was a subtle tell, but there were too many guards, who patrolled a bit too frequently in a pattern that was tighter than most, which when put together suggested some civil unrest in the Empire.

To better ascertain the situation, the three of them headed towards where one of their local agents was based. Naturally, as times changed, not all of the agents planted by the Lichdom centuries ago prospered. Some lines perished due to unfortunate circumstances, while others might have fallen into states that made it difficult if not impossible for them to perform their tasks.

It was one reason the wandering agents were sent out regularly. Part of the reason was to gather information, but another reason was to check on the deep cover agents and identify whether some of them needed aid or other things. Typically, rather than send out new agents from the Lichdom to replace agents whose lines perished over time, it was some of the more established agents in the vicinity that sent off a branch of their family to take over the responsibilities, the branches splitting to cover the different areas.

A couple such lineages perished due to the Vusilan expansion, but fortunately the Lichdom’s agent that happened to be based inside the Empire itself managed to save some others, and replace the ones they couldn’t save. The tavern that Aideen’s trio headed to was managed by an agent saved by the one based off the Empire’s capital, apparently by claiming distant relation to them and thus acquiring them asylum under the Empire’s rule, rather than letting them be treated like cattle.

Normally, Aideen would have expected that the locals – that was, the original people of the region who were now considered lower class – would have loathed the man for relying on his connections to save himself like that, but one look at the tavern showed that it was clearly not the case.

Most of the tavern’s clientele were obviously of the lower class, the conquered people, as was evident from the poor state of their clothing and their often pitiful physical condition. Clearly the tavern owner did not care about that, however, as they saw the man himself – or at least who they assumed to be the tavern’s owner – carrying bowls of thick porridge and serving them to the people there.

The locals ate their bowls of porridge and drank their thin ale without much word, and before they left the owner handed them earthen pots that they took with them. A few of the locals broke into tears upon receiving the pots, while Aideen and the girls watched with some interest from the side. They mostly sat around an empty table and slowly nursed their ale while they waited for the crowd to thin.

That turned out to be quite the long wait, as it took until a couple hours after sunset before the last of the tavern’s guests left.