When the first ray of morning sunlight shone into the inn room, Denolan was already awake. He rubbed his eyes, and an aching numbness traveled from the nerves in his arms straight to his brain.
"You're awake—" A young man around twenty stood beside Denolan's bed, holding clean water and food. "This morning, I saw you collapsed in an alley by the street. I brought you back without asking for your permission first. You're not angry, are you...?"
The young man gave Denolan the most sincere smile.
"No... no... Why would I be angry? You brought me back from the street and saved me. I'm grateful enough already! How could I be angry?" Perhaps the injuries inside his body had not fully healed, because Denolan's words came out a little stuttered.
"It's good that you're not angry. Could you tell me your name?" The young man sat on the edge of Denolan's bed and spoke slowly.
"De... Denolan..."
"That's a wonderful name." The young man smiled.
"What's so wonderful about it..." Denolan scratched his head awkwardly.
"Before time immemorial, that name meant beginning..." The young man placed the water and food beside Denolan's bed, then prepared to leave quietly.
"Um... could you tell me your name?" Denolan called out.
"Eliyi—" the young man said slowly. "That is my name now..."
"Eliyi..." Denolan lay on the inn's soft bed. "He seems like a pretty nice person..."
Canfor was located in the southern part of Elrina Forest and consisted mainly of three districts:
The first district was occupied by high-ranking officials, garrison commanders, important members of the church, and some wealthy and influential merchants. They owned vast tracts of land, including nearby villages and Canfor itself. After the Rosakavin Curse spread on a massive scale, most of them moved away from Canfor, with only the church and some merchants remaining.
Canfor's second district was inhabited by the middle class, led by small merchants, minor landowners, and small factory owners. They were numerous and also the group most severely afflicted by the Rosakavin Curse. Their residences spread outward in a fan shape around the church's cathedral. The church served as a buffer between the first and second districts, playing an indescribably important role.
Canfor's third district was where third-class citizens lived together. Its main buildings were handicraft workshops, waterwheels, mills, and vegetable markets.
Leichina led Rosa Kevin from Labi Village, and after walking for about a day, they finally reached Canfor's outer district.
"Hey, hey—hey, hey—Grandma Rosa, can you walk faster? I've been waiting here for dozens of minutes already, you know..." Leichina shouted from a hill fifteen feet above Rosa Kevin. "At your pace, I doubt we'll reach Canfor in two or three days..."
"You... you... you servant, don't you know this Demon King is old... How could I possibly walk fast..." Beads of sweat dripped from Rosa Kevin's wrinkled face. "You servant, can't you carry your master... I'm about to die from exhaustion..."
"If your attitude were a little better, I might consider respecting the elderly..."
"How is that possible! I am an Elder Evil God. How could I submit to a lowly undead creature like you!"
"Fine, then please do your best on your own, Lord Evil God..." Leichina sat on the hilltop and called out absentmindedly. "Keep it up... keep it up... Lord Demon King, you're the best~"
"You little!!! Clever brat... I was wrong." Rosa's newly gathered momentum immediately deflated. "Please show some traditional virtue and respect the old and care for the young. Carry me up there... I really can't climb anymore..."
As she spoke, the old woman collapsed limply halfway up the slope.
"I can't hear you~"
"Hm?! You brat, that's enough... I've already humbled myself this much! Don't push it too far—"
"Then I'm leaving~" Leichina said airily.
"Fine, I was wrong~ Mr. Leichina, please carry me up... I shouldn't have mouthed off."
"That's more like it..." Leichina walked down from the hilltop. As a zombie, both his endurance and strength far surpassed those of ordinary people. With a light lift of his hand, he carried Rosa Kevin onto his back.
"Grandma... you feel really heavy..." Leichina said slowly. "Have you ever thought about losing some weight...?"
"Shut up~ Is the fat of an Elder Evil God called fat? It's called substance, it's called foundation. Without the accumulation of hundreds of epochs, dreaming of possessing the foundation of beings like us would be sheer madness—"
"Uh... so you've been fat for hundreds of epochs..." Leichina carried Rosa Kevin toward the hilltop. "That really would be hard to lose..."
"Can you move away from the word 'fat'... It makes me very unhappy..."
"Fine, fine, fine—" Leichina said indulgently. "Then, Grandma Rosa, I want to ask something. If you regained your divine power, what would you do? Destroy the world?"
"That... I really haven't thought about it..." Rosa Kevin brushed her white hair behind her back. "Every time I awoke from slumber, countless heroes came to subdue me. I never knew why they came, nor why they died. Anyway, most of the time they died, and I continued sleeping... until the next hero arrived."
"Then... does your current state count as sleeping?" Leichina asked.
"No." Rosa Kevin answered decisively. "I'm awake right now. My power has merely been scattered."
"Your power was scattered?"
"Yes, this happens twenty or thirty times every epoch..." Rosa Kevin said slowly. "My main body is either sealed, imprisoned... degenerated... or else..." Rosa Kevin did not finish the rest of her sentence.
"Or else... what?" Leichina asked.
"Well, to deal with sudden situations like that, I usually gather a group of subordinates or create a group of creations to serve me until my power fully recovers."
"Uh... you gather all those strange monsters. No wonder heroes come to subdue you... Tell me, do you gather so many monsters because you want to destroy the world?"
"No. I simply want to live more comfortably. Running around everywhere just to make a living is far too inelegant."
"Eh!!!"
"What are you making that noise for..." Rosa Kevin said dismissively. "If you can lie down to eat, who would stand while eating? If you could eat delicacies from the mountains and sea every day, who would want radishes and cabbage..."
"Hm?! You actually have a sense of taste..."
"Eh... isn't your focus a little off? Besides, I'm not one of those inferior monsters. I'm an Elder Evil God! How could I not have a sense of taste!"
"Then... those potato... porridges you made before..." Leichina recalled the first thing Rosa Kevin had cooked. Even as a zombie now, the memory made him shudder.
"If you make something yourself, you have to eat it yourself. That's called not wasting food!"
"Mm... As long as you're happy..."
Before they knew it, Leichina had carried Rosa Kevin to Canfor's outer city. The people here lived little differently from the villagers of Labi Village. Most had tumors and pustules growing on their faces, but fortunately, they lived closer to the inner city's church. The holy water distributed for free every week could ease some of their suffering.
"Grandma Rosa, we've reached Canfor. What do you plan to do now?" Leichina asked.
"Now?" Rosa Kevin lightly jumped down from Leichina's back. "Of course, find somewhere to eat! I've been hungry for several days."
"Huh? Then where did all the potatoes and corn I gave you go?"
"I ate them all—" Rosa Kevin ran into an inn outside the city on her own.
"Oh my god... You ate all those potatoes? Your appetite as an evil god is way too huge..."
"I'm an evil god. How can you judge me with ordinary thinking~"
"That's true..." Leichina followed Rosa Kevin into the inn.
The furnishings were similar to those in Leichina's home, though even the tables and chairs were somewhat worse. Many of the people sitting in the inn were workers from nearby workshops or vegetable farmers. Since the innkeeper occasionally managed to buy holy water of relatively high purity, they gathered here to barter for it.
"Innkeeper... please... please let us stay a little longer... My husband has already taken our land deed into the city to sell it. Just... just give us two more days, and we'll have money to pay the room fee..." A woman holding an infant cried out. "Please... please give us two more days..."
"Two more days?" The innkeeper laughed coldly. "Who are you trying to fool? Your husband has been in the city for nearly a week. If he had money from selling the land, would you still be staying here? Get out, get out, get out! Don't disgust me!" With that, the woman, who looked like a burly man, raised her hand to sweep the woman out the door.
"Stop— How much does she owe? I'll pay it!" Leichina stepped in front of the woman and said.
"Eh—" Rosa Kevin looked at Leichina in surprise. "You actually have money on you? How did I not know?"
"You?" The innkeeper glanced at Leichina, then at Rosa Kevin. "Kid, does your grandmother know you're playing the hero? I suggest you get lost quickly and stop meddling in other people's business!"
"How much does she owe? I—will—pay." Leichina said each word clearly.
The innkeeper first smiled disdainfully, then curled her faded lips. "Not much... For food and lodging for a week, only thirty-five copper coins..."
"Here—" Leichina took out a silver coin from his pocket and tossed it to the innkeeper. "Keep the rest for our food!"
"Hmph—" The innkeeper took the coin without much interest. "I only have potatoes and corn here, no bread. If you want meat, your money isn't enough!"
"Then which is cheaper, potatoes or corn?" Rosa Kevin shouted.
"Stewed potatoes, three copper coins a plate." The innkeeper replied. "Roasted corn, five copper coins a plate."
"Then what about raw potatoes?"
"Raw potatoes that haven't been purified are five for one copper coin. Purified ones are one for one copper coin." The innkeeper glanced at Rosa Kevin. "At your age, you still dare to eat food that hasn't been purified..."
"One silver coin equals one hundred copper coins. Five unpurified potatoes for one copper coin... Subtract thirty-five, and that leaves seventy-five." Rosa Kevin's mind raced. "Round it up... and I can eat four hundred potatoes!"
"Ah..." The innkeeper was so frightened by Rosa Kevin pressing close that she staggered backward. Her wrinkled face was filled with delight, while something strange flickered in her green eyes.
"Um, if you eat like that... even if four hundred potatoes aren't poisonous, won't you burst to death..." the innkeeper stammered.
"I'm an evil god! How could poison kill me!" Rosa Kevin shouted.
"Ah~ Another lunatic..." The innkeeper held her forehead and shook her head. "Come with me... I still have plenty of unpurified potatoes. I'll just treat it as getting rid of defective goods..."
"Food... food... food..." Rosa hummed a little tune as she followed.
Behind the inn, a square warehouse made of wooden boards and an iron roof could be seen clearly. It was about the same size as the inn, and most of the food she purchased from vegetable farmers outside the city was usually stored there.
When the innkeeper pulled open a small crack in the warehouse door, Rosa saw unpurified corn and potatoes piled throughout the pitch-black warehouse. Painful cries and wails came from within.
"Witch, this is where the unpurified food is kept. Eat as much as you want, then get the hell out—" the innkeeper said viciously from outside the warehouse.
"Eat as much as I want..." An ominous green light shone in Rosa Kevin's eyes.
"Yes! Eat as much as you want..." the innkeeper answered. But at that moment, she did not realize this would be a decision she would regret for the rest of her life.
When the innkeeper fully opened the warehouse door, a bolt of black lightning instantly dragged Rosa inside. At the same time, miasma and curses tried to escape from the warehouse. Luckily, the innkeeper was quick enough to shut the door in time, preventing them from succeeding.
Afterward, the broad-shouldered, thick-waisted innkeeper returned to her inn. The woman who owed rent had long since disappeared, and Leichina was gone as well.
The innkeeper grabbed one of the attendants and asked, "Hey—where's that brat?"
"He was taken away by that crazy old woman."
"Tch—ran away fast..." The innkeeper snorted coldly, then released the attendant.
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