After the night's fires, stretches of bare ground lay exposed.
Under the morning sunlight, the townspeople silently cleared away the wreckage.
A member of the Welcoming Fortune Second Squad sat beneath a corner of wall that had escaped the flames, his face blackened with soot. He stared blankly ahead, without even the strength to close his eyes.
Suddenly, whispers came from behind the wall.
"It's almost time to make offerings to the Ginseng Fruit Tree again. Whenever this happens, the mayor kills a batch of people to hasten the growth of the Ginseng Fruit..."
"How come I never knew?"
"Heh, how many years can people like us live? We only wheedled that out of the Filthy Beggar. That old bastard curses people all day, but his lips are actually sealed tight. He rarely lets slip any secrets about the mayor."
"Doesn't that mean Good Fortune Born is the mayor's knife for killing people?"
"Not just Good Fortune Born. Everyone is."
"A lot of people have died these past few days, even though there's been no Eerie Mist."
"That's why I say the mayor is more of an Eerie Mist than the Eerie Mist itself."
"Then the most pitiful people aren't us, but the ones who work themselves to death for the mayor only to be killed. Everyone in the Welcoming Fortune Third Squad, ah..."
"I heard the mayor will escape Eerie Town after this round of offerings to the Ginseng Fruit Tree."
"What!"
"Shh... don't let anyone hear."
"How will he escape?"
"By killing enough people and stockpiling enough Ginseng Fruit, of course, then escaping with those close to him. But I reckon the mayor is just like that grand personage in South Town. He'll say he's taking people with him, but really he'll leave alone and pocket all the