On Wednesday morning, Shade was awakened as usual by the cat waiting for breakfast. When he went downstairs, yawning, to fetch milk and the newspaper, he found a letter lying on the doormat.
The stamp on the envelope depicted the scenery of Tis Lake and was quite beautiful. The return address was a small town beside Tis Lake on the East Coast of the Old Continent. It was a letter from Miss Mia San Gaode:
"It's already the middle of the Month of Frost's Descent, and Miss Goode's letter has finally arrived! I thought something might have happened to her."
Shade took his eyes off the letter, turned to Mia the cat waiting higher up on the stairs, and said:
"Look, a letter from your owner, Miss Goode."
"Meow~"
The cat licked her paws without much reaction.
Miss Goode's letters should have arrived at the beginning of every month, and the reason for this delay was also mentioned in the letter.
Unfortunately, the gradually declining town had suffered an outbreak last month, though it had already been brought under control. The Church stationed in town had discovered some terrifying signs and urgently requested aid from churches in larger cities. Though the local residents had no idea what exactly had happened, Miss Goode had already heard some implausible rumors.
Although her family had "already declined"—a point mentioned many times in the letter—it was still a prominent old family in the town and had access to information. According to Miss Goode, someone had discovered something strange in a harbor cave along the coast. Afterward, the Church's investigation team and police from the big city found something connected to the source of the outbreak in the town's ancient sewer system.
Miss Goode believed that the Church had everything under control. As for herself,