Soul Society, Rukongai, District Two, Yamato District.
On a long, winding road, two groups seemed to have gotten into a conflict. They were gathered in the middle of the road, blocking the crowds behind them.
The noon sun was still somewhat glaring, sweat trickling down people's heads and kicking up a little dust from the ground.
Yet, looking at the blocked road, not a single person dared voice any dissatisfaction.
The reason was simple: the people blocking the road were nobles who stood at the pinnacle of power in the Soul Society!
It was a middle-aged man dressed in blue. A trace of disgust showed on his slightly plump face as he looked at the man bowing and scraping before him. In a thick nasal voice, he said:
"You lowborn trash should be grateful enough to have entered the Seireitei. Making you pay a little toll is for the future maintenance of this road, yet you dare make so many excuses to fob me off! Do you want me to chop off your limbs and throw you into the forest?!"
Hearing the man's words, the emaciated woman lowered her head. Her body trembled violently from fear, and her voice even carried a sobbing plea.
"My lord, we already paid the Shinigami of the Gotei 13 on the road ahead. We have no money left. This shipment is just medicinal herbs gathered in the woods. It's the money for my child's treatment. Please, my lords—if I give all of this to you, my child will die! Please!"
As she spoke, the woman dropped to her knees. She pressed her wrinkled forehead to the ground and repeatedly kowtowed, blood mixed with dirt streaming down from her brow.
That thin, blackened body and that appearance utterly devoid of human dignity plunged all the