The next day, Hunter went to the Tribunal to pay the bail and brought out a thoroughly exhausted Alvarez.
"What happened, Uncle? Did someone beat you up in there?"
"Not that. The guards were quite diligent. It's just... hard to put into words."
Alvarez waved a hand, unwilling to dwell on it. He looked around. Blood Port was shrouded in a thin morning mist, and the sea breeze carried a warm, humid scent, utterly unlike the Northern Territory.
"You know this place well, right? Show me around."
Hunter wanted to say that he did not actually know it well either. Not long after being sent here, he had been transferred directly to Castel, so he had not stayed in Blood Port for very long.
But he had even been to Castel. Could a mere Blood Port possibly intimidate him?
"Um, then let's take a look at the docks first."
Before coming, he had roughly inquired into Blood Port's current state. It was now divided into the dock district, industrial district, residential district, and central district.
The central district consisted of the schools, the Tribunal, the railway, and the building where Theus worked. It was considered the busiest part of all Blood Port.
The former upper city, meanwhile, had gradually declined. With the nobles gone, the area had slowly lost its former prosperity.
Moreover, with the Prince secretly fanning the flames, many buildings in the upper city had been destroyed. After taking over those nobles' properties, he had not hurried to restore them.
Once Blood Port's industry had developed for a while, the area was redesignated as a residential district, and many workers moved in. Many people from the former lower city had become neighbors of Grand Duke Tis—a rather poignant turn of events.
It was early morning, and workers poured