Purgatory

"The environment here really is getting better and better."

Herpo the Foul strolled through the city with his hands clasped behind his back. Even if Alexandria City's shipping trade was already in decline, it should not have fallen so far that pedestrians were hard to spot on the streets. The once-bustling avenues were empty. The garbage that had littered the commercial district was gone as well, and all that remained of the stalls on either side of the street were the marks left by years of carpets being spread on the ground. As long as there were no people, the streets that had once been cramped, narrow, and hard to pass through were actually this broad and bright.

His contact with Nelson had been cut off for three days, and today was the day he had previously said he would arrive in Northern Europe.

"Without those stinking peasants, look how beautiful this place is. Bright streets, clean houses—even when their Pharaoh went on procession, the city welcoming him could never have been this clean, could it?"

Herpo the Foul's face was full of satisfaction and pride, as though he were actually a volunteer cleaning the streets. It was just that this kind of "cleaning" was far too cruel.

Tom followed silently behind him. He had not even had time to do anything, because it had all happened too quickly—so quickly that by the time he was saying goodbye to Kenttanka in the sea cave, Herpo the Foul had already transformed Alexandria City completely.

They turned the corner ahead and entered a street that ran parallel to the river passing through the city. The instant they turned, everything before their eyes changed.

As a city short of water, this street had once been the favorite leisure spot of Alexandria's residents. Merchants