Relief from the Candlelight Society

What kind of place was Rhine?

Frey could not answer. When he first set foot in this city, all he felt was novelty.

The crowded streets and dilapidated buildings all felt somewhat familiar to him. He had spent over a decade in White Stone Fort, and no one knew slums like these better than he did.

But why did Rhine have slums too?

Well, it did not matter. At least he knew his way around places like this. Frey consoled himself with that thought.

So, based on his experience, Frey planned to find places where crowds gathered to gather some information and, while he was at it, make contact with the local gangs.

Slums like these were usually controlled by all sorts of gangs. Government orders did not work here—if the city's administrators could establish order in a place like this, it would not be a slum.

But Frey soon sensed that something was wrong.

He wandered around the lower district for a long time and discovered that the only places where people gathered seemed to be the Church.

No—not churches. There were no churches in the lower district. It seemed that churches could not even be bothered to open their doors to the people living in this mire.

Instead, there were food distribution points run by the Church.

Yes, the Church handed out food in the lower district. Any believer of the Candlelight Society could come and receive it. The Church called it relief.

There were always long lines at every relief point. The people looked hungry and wore ragged clothes, yet all of them devoutly chanted praises to Candlelight.

It truly shocked Frey.

After spending an entire day investigating the lower district, that shock reached its peak: throughout all of Lower Rhine, there was not a single gang.