"Whoa..."
(O)
After coming into the city along a small path, Annie couldn't help widening her eyes at the desolate, dilapidated ruins before her.
"No way. This is Stormveil Castle?"
Honestly, she had never expected that Stormveil Castle, the place the big tree had pointed her toward earlier, would turn out to be such a rundown ruin.
Anyway!
After arriving, Annie saw that the houses, streets, and everything around her were all in terrible condition. Calling this a street would be generous; it was more like a stretch of broken walls and collapsed roofs.
Everywhere she looked, things were falling apart. Broken rooftops, shattered walls, fallen bricks, and rotten boards littered the streets. Who knew how long it had been since anyone had cleaned them up?
Weeds stubbornly crept out of the residents' homes. Judging by the ruined houses and rampant weeds, it was clear that Stormveil Castle had been in this state for quite some time.
At this rate, nine out of every ten homes might already be empty. Perhaps things were even worse than that.
At any rate, all Annie had seen on her way through the ruined outer walls was this wasteland. There were none of the bustling crowds, lively streets, or delicious exotic foods she'd imagined.
In fact, forget about delicious food—she'd seen hardly any living people at all. Whenever they spotted her or the Crucible Knight who wouldn't leave her alone, they scattered like startled rabbits and vanished in an instant. The few who didn't run were either Cursed Ones, with thinning hair, pale skin, and vacant expressions like the walking dead, or the Death-touched, who were literally walking corpses.
"..."
Behind Annie, the Crucible Knight who had stubbornly followed her all this way was equally shocked. Stormveil Castle was nothing like he remembered.
Whoosh!