Black smoke rose from the ruins of house after house. The light rain that had fallen not long ago had failed to extinguish the flames spreading through the town; instead, it had only thickened the smoke.
From afar, the entire town lay shrouded in a sinister black haze, chilling to behold.
It was evening, the time when people should have been finishing a day's work and preparing supper. Yet not a single resident walked the streets that ought to have been bustling. Those who should have been heading home after their labor now lay sprawled across the ground, beneath them pools of blood slowly drying. Inside their homes, the families waiting for their return had likewise died beneath blades, regardless of sex or age. Quite a few had even been deliberately stabbed once or twice more, to ensure they were dead.
The only place in the entire town that retained even a trace of life was the lord's manor. There were naturally nobles in Merchant Faction territory, just as there were merchants in Noble Faction lands. The local lord was a baron keen on business. Every evening, checking and organizing the day's accounts by lamplight was his favorite pastime.
He would never enjoy that pastime again, because he and every original member of the manor had become headless corpses piled outside the gates.
Now, the ones bringing life to this manor were a group of cold, weary executioners.
The soldiers had each found somewhere to sleep, their snores rising and falling one after another. Some assigned to patrol held cold, sharp weapons as they silently circled the manor, while atop the manor's highest watchtower, Count Hous, who ought to have been equally exhausted, wrapped himself in a thick blanket and gazed into the distance.
He appeared to be standing watch,