The Boy of Iron Bucket City

The Scott Imperial Nation was a very poor empire. Although, strictly speaking, most empires in this world were relatively poor, the poverty of the Scott Imperial Nation was particularly pronounced. There were even several cities in this country that were essentially giant slums. Iron Bucket City, located on the border of the Scott Imperial Nation, was a typical example of a "city of slums."

Iron Bucket City had no true city lord, nor did it have any real order. This city filled with poor people was almost completely ignored by the great nobles. No one cared about the state of this abandoned city, because it could not produce any valuable wealth.

For that very reason, the vast Iron Bucket City had practically become a gathering place for criminal gangs of every size. The poor throughout the city paid "protection fees" to the gangs in exchange for shelter. Crime, death, violence... all manner of dark tragedies were the true mainstream of this city!

Today was another morning in Iron Bucket City. Damp air carrying a faint chill drifted through the disorderly streets between the buildings. The falling temperatures before the arrival of Winter Season had already covered many eaves with a thin layer of frost. Before the frosty morning mist dispersed, no pedestrians who could not afford cotton clothes appeared on the deserted streets. Beneath the eaves of certain dilapidated "dangerous buildings," however, many homeless people dressed in torn rags crowded into cramped spaces for warmth. From time to time, one or two corpses that had failed to survive the cold night were thrown out of those shelters.

The alleys of Iron Bucket City were filled with these starving and freezing vagrants. When the temperature rose a little around noon, perhaps a few of them would stand up and "change professions"