Chapter 22: The Trost District
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After passing through the enormous gate of Wall Rose, the two children finally entered the Trost District.
The soldiers at the entrance couldn't help but glance at Naruto several times.
His appearance stood out far too much: his messy blond hair, the marks on his cheeks, his striking blue eyes, and the strange clothing that mixed familiar elements with others that were completely unknown to them.
Moreover, his appearance was unusually eye-catching for a child his age. However, after confirming that they were only two children, the guards decided to let them pass without asking any questions.
Naruto looked around the district with curiosity. It reminded him quite a lot of Shiganshina. Mikasa, on the other hand, was seeing everything for the first time.
She had lived almost her entire life isolated in the mountains with her parents, so every street and every shop caught her attention. However, the memories of her parents soon dampened her spirits.
At that moment, as her mood began to sink, she heard Naruto start talking.
Naruto began telling her about some of the interesting things he had seen the previous day.
He was only talking because he found them interesting while remembering Shiganshina, but Mikasa believed he was trying to distract her, and a small smile appeared beneath her scarf.
And, as she walked beside him, Mikasa briefly glanced at Naruto, who continued looking straight ahead.
Naruto continued walking through the streets of Trost, observing every detail of the district. However, something caught his attention.
Whenever someone wanted to take an item, they would hand the seller a few small metal pieces before leaving.
Naruto watched the same scene several times until he decided to ask.
"Aetheria... why do they do that?" he asked curiously.
[Money, which consists of those metal pieces, is used to obtain something in exchange for a certain amount of money.]
Naruto understood the explanation, but then remembered something.
Without stopping his walk, he raised one hand, and in an instant, a golden coin appeared between his fingers.
He looked at it curiously.
Almost at the same time, a screen appeared before his eyes.
[Name: Infinite Money Coin]
[Type: Spatial Object / System Device]
[Production Quantity: Variable by Naruto]
[Durability: Indestructible]
[A coin created by the system capable of generating any registered legal currency. Its appearance, weight, material, and value will be identical to the original. It can create unlimited coins of the same type for as long as the user desires. It cannot generate anything that is not money.]
Naruto read the information carefully and then looked at the coin again.
"How do I use it?" he asked while spinning it between his fingers, checking that it didn't change even when he applied a little force.
[It's simple. You only need to hold the coin and imagine what you wish to create.]
[Since you are not yet familiar with the currency used within the Walls, the system has already identified the local currency.]
A new screen appeared.
[Recommended Currency: Official Currency of the Walls]
[Currency recognized by humanity within Walls Maria, Rose, and Sina.]
[Would you like to create this currency?]
[Yes] — [No]
Naruto calmly looked at the notification while holding the golden coin between his fingers.
Then, without thinking about it too much, he chose the only logical option.
The golden coin emitted a faint glow.
A moment later, several coins identical to the ones he had seen being used in Trost appeared.
"Interesting..." he murmured.
Without giving it much importance, he gathered all the coins, putting his golden coin away, and walked over to Mikasa.
The girl looked up curiously when Naruto extended his hand. A small pile of coins rested in his palm.
Mikasa accepted the coins with some confusion.
After seeing Naruto point toward the shops and then toward her, she understood that he wanted her to keep the money.
Mikasa held the coins a little more carefully and then nodded softly.
With that settled, the two continued walking through the streets of Trost.
Mikasa carefully put the coins away, understanding that they would need them to obtain whatever they required during their journey.
As she walked, she looked at the coins she was carrying for a moment. Then she raised her gaze and continued walking with greater confidence.
Naruto simply followed her.
Mikasa knew this world much better than he did, so he decided to let her take the lead.
For the next while, the girl stopped in front of several different stalls.
She bought provisions and some basic tools for the journey.
She asked for everything to be placed into small cloth sacks so they could be transported easily.
When she finished, she returned to Naruto and began handing him the sacks.
He received them without difficulty. To Naruto, the weight was practically nonexistent. However, instead of carrying them, he simply raised one hand.
In an instant, all the sacks disappeared as if they had never been there.
Mikasa's eyes widened slightly.
It was the same ability from before, the one Naruto had used to take out the jacket and scarf.
"Naruto..." the girl called, looking at him curiously.
The Uzumaki turned his head toward her.
"What is it, Mikasa?"
"That... umm... ability of yours..." she said, pointing to the place where the sacks had been. "What is that?"
Naruto looked at his hand for a moment and, after thinking about it briefly, understood what she meant.
"Do you mean my inventory?"
"Inventory...?" Mikasa repeated, intrigued by the strange ability she had seen him use more than once.
Naruto simply nodded.
"My inventory is an unlimited space where I can store things and take them out whenever I want," he explained, brushing the matter off as unimportant.
Mikasa remained silent, clearly surprised, while at the same time lost in thought.
A place where they could store objects without having to carry them... that seemed even more incredible to her than many of the other abilities Naruto had shown her.
She lowered her gaze and began thinking.
Mikasa immediately understood how useful the inventory was.
As long as Naruto could take the objects out whenever they needed them, they wouldn't have to carry supplies or worry about losing them or having them stolen.
Mikasa softly nodded to herself.
Without realizing it, she had just found one of the most practical uses of a system's inventory.
With a small gesture, she asked him to take out one of the sacks they had just bought.
The blond nodded, and a moment later, the sack appeared in his hand.
Mikasa opened it and began handing him its contents.
Naruto, without asking any questions, stored each object inside his inventory.
When the sack was empty, the girl placed the coins they still had inside it and tied it shut with the string. That would make them much easier to transport.
Just as she handed the coins back to Naruto, a loud commotion caught both their attention.
They both turned their heads at the same time.
A few meters away, a thief was fleeing with a stolen bag while, nearby, several men were threatening another man with knives.
Mikasa watched in silence.
It was the first time she had seen so many people gathered together, and also the first time she had witnessed so much violence outside of the tragedy she had experienced the day before.
A slight sense of confusion appeared on Mikasa's face.
Naruto, on the other hand, watched the scene with curiosity, showing no surprise.
After a few seconds, he spoke almost instinctively.
"They say Titans are humanity's greatest threat... when they're their own enemies."
After finishing his sentence, he blinked and tilted his head slightly.
He didn't understand where that thought had come from, nor did he remember ever learning something like that.
After a few seconds, he simply stopped thinking about it. However, not everyone did the same.
One of the men threatening the stranger slowly turned his head.
He appeared to be the leader of the group.
He stared at Naruto before shifting his gaze toward Mikasa.
An unpleasant smile appeared on his face.
When the two began walking away, he raised his voice.
"Hey, blond brat!"
Naruto paid no attention to those words, simply because they meant nothing to him.
As for Mikasa, she only gave him a brief glance over her shoulder when she heard the insult. Then she looked back at Naruto.
She noticed that the Uzumaki hadn't paid it any attention, so she decided to do the same.
That, however, seemed to irritate the man even more.
"Hey, you damn little shits!" he shouted, becoming increasingly irritated. "Can't you hear when someone's calling you?!"
Naruto continued walking as if he hadn't heard a single thing.
Mikasa, for her part, pressed her lips together slightly, but she didn't stop either.
The man let out a contemptuous laugh.
"Yeah, keep walking, brats! You, blondie, with that shitty hair and those fucking whisker marks on your face! You look like a damn stray cat!"
Mikasa glanced back for barely a second, her expression remaining completely cold.
Then, without saying a single word, she looked forward again.
Naruto hadn't even noticed the insults.
That seemed to infuriate the man even more.
"Are you fucking ignoring me?!"
But the two continued walking away, paying him the slightest bit of attention.
At this, the man finally lost his patience.
"Damned brats!" he growled under his breath.
Without thinking too much about it, he separated from the rest of the group and quickly began approaching them from behind.
Mikasa heard the approaching footsteps and slightly turned her head.
"Naruto, move..."
But before she could finish the sentence, the man had already raised his arm, preparing to strike the Uzumaki.
Naruto stopped.
His head slowly turned backward.
And, the instant the fist came within reach, Naruto raised one hand.
CLACK!
His fingers closed around the man's wrist.
The movement was so effortless that it didn't even look like Naruto had to exert himself.
The man froze completely.
Naruto did too.
For a few seconds, Naruto simply stared at the wrist he was holding. Then he raised his gaze toward the man's face.
His blue eyes reflected genuine curiosity.
"What are you doing?" the Uzumaki asked with genuine curiosity, not understanding what the man was doing.
The man tried to pull his arm away.
It didn't move.
"Let go of me, brat!"
Naruto tilted his head slightly. He looked at the wrist he was holding again and then looked back at him.
"Why?"
The man gritted his teeth and used all his strength to free himself.
Nothing.
He couldn't even make Naruto's arm move.
Mikasa had stopped a few steps ahead, silently watching the scene.
Naruto didn't seem angry. He didn't even appear to be threatening the man. He was simply holding him while trying to understand what had happened.
"You tried to hit me," Naruto finally said, as if he had just realized it.
The man swallowed.
Naruto blinked.
"Why?"
There was no anger in his voice.
Only curiosity.
The second man had watched the scene with his eyes wide open.
For a moment, he seemed unable to comprehend what he was seeing.
His companion, an adult considerably larger than Naruto, had his arm completely immobilized by the blond boy.
"What...?" The initial surprise quickly disappeared. "Let him go, you little brat!"
Without giving Naruto much time to react, he advanced toward him and threw a direct punch.
Naruto was still focused on the man he was holding. But Mikasa reacted first.
She stepped between them.
The second man tried to strike her, but Mikasa deflected the attack with her arm and used the momentum to close the distance.
THUD!
Her knee slammed into the man's abdomen.
The air immediately left his lungs.
Before he could recover, Mikasa spun around and delivered a precise kick to one of his vital points.
"Gah...!"
The man stumbled backward several steps, completely off balance.
Mikasa stepped forward and delivered one final kick to his leg, causing him to lose his balance.
The man fell to his knees.
"Shit..." he breathed with difficulty as he clutched his abdomen.
Mikasa remained standing in front of him, her expression cold.
Unlike Naruto, she had actually needed to exert herself a little.
Not much.
But enough for the man to understand that attacking that girl hadn't been a good idea either.
Naruto blinked a couple of times as he watched her, showing little surprise and more curiosity.
"Mikasa...?" he asked curiously.
She didn't take her eyes off the men.
"No..." The voice that escaped Mikasa's lips was barely a whisper, but it remained firm. "I won't allow... anyone important to me to be hurt again."
Those words escaped before she could stop them. Even she didn't fully understand why she had said them.
She only knew that, after seeing Naruto endure two consecutive attacks, even though neither of them had actually harmed him, something inside her had found it unbearable.
She would never stand by and watch someone be attacked again.
Never again.
Naruto remained silent for a few seconds before looking at the man he was holding.
The man tried to take advantage of the moment to free himself.
"Let me go, you damn brat!"
Naruto looked at him.
"You're still trying to hurt me."
"I'm going to—!"
Naruto simply moved his arm, throwing a punch at the man he was holding. It wasn't an especially strong blow. He didn't even seem to have intended to cause any harm.
His fist barely connected with the man's face.
THUD!
The body was sent flying several meters before hitting the ground heavily, where it rolled slightly before becoming completely motionless.
"Oh..." Naruto muttered, looking at his own fist, then at the man lying in the distance.
Mikasa also froze. Her eyes widened slightly.
"Naruto..."
The second man, who had fallen to his knees after Mikasa's attack, tried to get up.
He couldn't.
His body trembled before collapsing again, this time falling unconscious.
Then a voice came from behind them.
"What the hell...?"
The leader of the group stood completely still.
He had seen everything.
First, he had seen Naruto, a damn child, stop an adult with one hand.
Then he had seen Mikasa, a girl even younger than Naruto, take down his companion.
And finally, he had seen Naruto punch the man he was holding and send him flying as if he weighed absolutely nothing.
The unpleasant smile had completely disappeared from his face. He looked at his two companions on the ground. Then he turned his gaze back toward Naruto.
For the first time, he didn't see a brat. He saw something he couldn't understand.
"What the... fuck are you two?"
Naruto tilted his head slightly.
"Us?"
The leader instinctively took a step backward.
Naruto simply looked at him with curiosity, not understanding why the man was acting that way, but he simply didn't pay it any attention and turned around.
Mikasa, seeing this, looked at the men for a moment longer before turning around and following Naruto.
All of this had been witnessed by everyone around them, none of whom had any idea what the hell had just happened in those few seconds.
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