The Damaged City

The north wind carried a faint stench as it blew toward the heart of the city. Canfor's streets were mostly populated by elderly people with physical disabilities; it had become difficult to see any of the younger generation in this town.

Canfor's economy had long since declined. Most wealthy merchants and powerful families had emigrated to other cities or countries, and with the loss of its upper class, Canfor had begun to be selectively ignored by the nation. Because of Rosa Kevin's Curse, vast stretches of farmland had withered—either becoming impossible to cultivate, or producing cursed crops. Soldiers and officials had gradually withdrawn from Canfor on that pretext. Before long, Canfor would truly die...

Fortunately, Canfor still retained some value as a city. As a vital route to the Bikasoya Empire, many merchants risked coming here to evade heavy tariffs. Bandits and thieves were also quite happy to live here.

"This city can truly die now..." Sister Aislanna watched the citizens begging for holy water in the church, the corners of her mouth twitching unconsciously. "If those adventurers hadn't come to subjugate the Demon King... perhaps our city wouldn't be so full of poverty and sin..."

Aislanna's voice was extremely quiet, as though she feared being overheard. Yet ironically, the place where she distributed holy water was precisely where Canfor had once erected statues for the heroes who defeated the Demon King.

There were over forty marble statues in total. To accommodate them, the city had deliberately reserved this place in the center and built Hero Square. At the center of the square, where Aislanna stood, was a statue of the hero Ocast. The handsome, powerfully built young man held up the head of a giant serpent, looking imposing and majestic. Unfortunately, as time passed, these stone carvings lost their splendor, and even the great achievement of slaying the Demon King had faded from everyone's memory.

"Sister Aislanna..." After the residents had received their holy water and dispersed, Fanafuna limped over from a corner of the square, carrying a palm-sized clay jar in her hand. "Sister, winter is coming, and the Black Snow is falling more heavily. Could you give me a little more holy water..." Fanafuna knelt on one knee and kissed Aislanna's left hand.

"As for holy water, this week's supply has already been distributed. If you need more, please wait until next Sunday." Aislanna instructed the novices beside her and prepared to leave with her empty clay jar.

"Honored Sister, please pity someone like me. My body is crippled... my hands and feet are inconvenient, and I live very far away... Please, have pity on me..." As she spoke, Fanafuna fell to her knees. Her left hand tugged at Aislanna's hem while her right quietly slipped a handkerchief wrapped around silver coins into Aislanna's pocket.

"What a pitiful child..." Aislanna helped Fanafuna up as usual. She felt the silver coins in her pocket, her brow furrowing slightly before her expression settled. She said to the novices beside her, "This lamb yearns for the Lord's blessing. We should bring her to share in the Lord's glory."

With that, she led Fanafuna to the nearest church. Canfor's districts and streets were chaotic, but that did not affect the sight within the church. The domed church bore the emblem of the Otons Church—a cross enclosed by a semicircle. Before the doors stood a crystal statue of the Holy Father, dazzling with shimmering colors. Inside the church was a sacred pool, from which the holy water normally given to citizens came.

The holy water ordinarily distributed by the church was a miracle produced after priests and nuns prayed and the High God responded. The holy water would automatically appear in the chalice at dawn the next morning, whereupon the priests would draw it out and pour it into the sacred pool for baptisms and purification.

However... as the Rosakavin Curse spread, the church's holy water was nowhere near enough for Canfor's residents. Even diluting it in the sacred pool before distributing it to the people was only a drop in the bucket.

"The sacred pool is ahead." Aislanna pushed open the church's heavy doors. Dozens of clergy members were kneeling on the ground, praying for the High God's blessing.

"May the High God bless us." A priest hurried over to receive Fanafuna.

"Revered Father, my body is plagued with many ailments, but compared to my brother, I do not even suffer a tenth as much as he does. Could you allow me to bring some holy water back, so he may feel the blessing of our Lord?" With that, Fanafuna knelt down and lightly kissed the priest's shoes.

"My poor child, of course you may bring holy water home. It is the High God's blessing, and it is only right that we share it together." The priest helped Fanafuna to her feet and led her toward the sacred pool.

The clear, clean pool water carried a faint floral fragrance. Though the water in this sacred pool had been diluted several times, it could still purify Rosa Kevin's Curse. Fanafuna took out her water jar and lowered it into the pool. When just a few drops from the sacred pool splashed onto the tumor on Fanafuna's left leg, she immediately felt the tumor shrink considerably.

"It really is holy water..." Fanafuna murmured.

Meanwhile, Sister Aislanna, who had led Fanafuna into the church, bounced the handkerchief in her pocket and handed it to an elderly nun praying nearby. Though the nun was old, her eyes were sharp and her mind clear. She put away the handkerchief Aislanna had given her, slowly rose, and approached the priest. After whispering a few words in his ear, she knelt again before the divine statue to pray.

"Thank you, Father. May the High God bless you." Fanafuna held her clay jar and was about to leave the church when the priest suddenly called out to her.

"My dear child, you should know that you are not the only one suffering in this world..." The priest snatched Fanafuna's clay jar and said, "You should learn gratitude and kindness..."

"Splash—" The water in the clay jar was poured back into the sacred pool.

"Father!" Fanafuna tried to seize back her clay jar, but when she looked around at the nuns and monks, they were no longer praying to the High God. Every one of them was staring at her. Fanafuna could only fall to her knees, praying with trembling hands. "Our revered Father, your kindness is beyond compare. Not even the morning sun of spring can rival you. Could you grant us a little of the High God's mercy... This is the only hope for people like us."

"My poor child..." The priest tossed the clay jar back to Fanafuna. "This holy water is a gift from the High God to you, but remember that there is too much suffering in this world. Show more kindness and make more sacrifices."

Fanafuna held the clay jar, with one-third of the holy water still inside. She let out a long sigh, rose to thank the priest. The priest smiled faintly, his smile full of benevolence and solemnity.

"How much longer, Fanafuna..." Denolan looked at the oppressive dark clouds in the sky and spoke without thinking. A few flakes of black snow drifted gently onto his clothes.

"Damn it! Black Snow is coming again!" Denolan wrapped his clothes tighter and rushed toward the stone temple ahead. This ancient stone temple was the meeting place he had agreed upon with Fanafuna. Though the temple had been abandoned for a long time, it could still serve as temporary shelter from the wind.

The broken stone structure was constantly flooded by the north wind, its waves of chill piercing Nolan's heart. Outside, a merchant caravan made up of over a dozen burly men was passing by. Through a crack in the stone building, Denolan vaguely made out their clothing and appearance.

They were dressed very warmly. They wore no hats, but had scarves tied around their heads. Short blades and longswords hung from all their waists. They looked thoroughly unfriendly and were certainly not the sort of merchants who came here often. No one familiar with Canfor would travel through Black Snow. Yet every one of them was full of vigor, showing no intention of stopping to avoid Rosa Kevin's Curse.

"They really aren't afraid of dying..." Denolan said from inside the stone building.

As the dark clouds overhead slowly gathered, a tiny snowflake drifted down. The caravan paid it no attention whatsoever. The snowfall began to intensify, and some in the caravan noticed that the snow's color was wrong. Snow elsewhere was colorless or white, but the snow here was dark brown.

"Boss, look, the snow here is blackish brown..." One man in the group held out his hand to catch a snowflake. The moment the black snow landed in his palm, it vanished without a trace.

"Don't worry about it. We just need to deliver the goods to the designated place." The middle-aged man leading them shouted, "We already wasted too much time in Milrado. We need to hurry..." Before he could finish, a sharp pain surged through his internal organs.

"What is this..."

One after another, people in the group began to show symptoms. Tumors grew over their bodies, blood began to pour from their mouths and noses... Dark brown snowflakes fell mixed with the blood of the caravan members. The land fell utterly silent, and it was only after an hour that the Black Snow finally stopped.

"It seems the Black Snow is over..." Denolan peered outside through the crack. Thick green rotten soil covered the caravan's corpses. This soil was what remained after the Black Snow melted. It bore no curse, but it was somewhat toxic. If someone ate food contaminated by this rotten soil, they would experience severe hallucinations. Plants grown in it would also carry Rosa Kevin's Curse, causing mutations and illnesses in people.

"These people probably weren't smugglers..." Denolan covered his mouth and nose as he approached the corpse nearest the shack.

The corpse belonged to a middle-aged man. He was fat, but dressed luxuriously, with beautiful gemstone rings on his right index and ring fingers. Though the gemstones set in the two rings were different colors, both were high-grade elemental gems refined from Dragon Blood.

"Who was this guy?" Denolan removed the two rings from the corpse. Based on the discerning eye he had developed over the past few years, he knew very well that anyone who could wear such precious gems was no ordinary person. Denolan turned the corpse over and searched it carefully. He found a parchment scroll on the man's body, along with a large bag of gold coins meant for travel expenses.

"Boss, there are corpses ahead—" Voices came from the direction of Canfor, followed by the neighing of warhorses.

"Damn... someone's coming!" In his panic, Denolan hid the parchment scroll in his boot. He concealed one gemstone ring in his clothes, put the other in his mouth, and then hurried back into the stone building.

"These people appear to have died from the curse brought by the Black Snow... They should be merchants." The leader was a young man with a red agate talisman hanging from his chest. He grasped the agate talisman, murmured a brief prayer, then looked at the people lying on the ground.

"Search them and see whether they have anything valuable. Be careful not to catch Rosa Kevin's Curse."

Through the stone crack, Denolan could clearly see the bandits stripping the caravan members naked to search them. They intended to squeeze every last bit of value from the dead.

"It's been so long, and Tiadam's twisted tastes are still this bad..." Denolan recognized the bandit leader. His name was Tiadam, a brigand entrenched in Canfor who made his living by robbing merchant caravans from nearby cities.

Though Tiadam was a bandit, Denolan did not have a bad impression of him. Tiadam occasionally sold the food he stole to Canfor's residents at prices below the market rate. Denolan had once bought flour from him.

"Boss, it looks like someone already tampered with this corpse." A lackey called out after examining the middle-aged man's body.

"Is that so?" Tiadam dismounted and surveyed the surroundings. Pointing at the stone temple where Denolan was hiding, he said, "There's nowhere else nearby to hide. If someone found the good stuff before us, they must be hiding in there." The moment Tiadam finished speaking, his lackeys rushed toward the stone structure where Denolan was hiding.

Seeing the bandits closing in, Denolan opened the bag of gold coins he had found earlier and laid it out intact behind the door. Then he knelt down, waiting for Tiadam's arrival. But he had no intention of handing over the rings hidden in his clothes and mouth.

Just as Denolan had expected, the bandits' greed for gold far outweighed their interest in him. Dozens of gleaming gold coins instantly seized their attention. The bandits ignored Denolan kneeling nearby and immediately began fighting one another over the coins.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Bandit leader Tiadam kicked the doorway, and only then did the bandits stop fighting.

"It's just a bag of gold coins. Is it worth turning on each other?" Tiadam snatched the bag of coins. "I guarantee every brother here will get gold, but I'll divide it when we get back! That way you won't start fighting again!"

"Thank you, Boss!" the lackeys shouted in unison.

"What about this kid?" One of the bandits gave Denolan, who was kneeling nearby, a kick. "He's the one who put the gold there."

"Is that so?" Tiadam lifted Denolan's face with his left hand. "Brat, you look a little familiar. It's really not easy to find someone as pretty and clever as you in a place like Canfor." Tiadam's right hand reached for Denolan's clothes, searching him inch by inch from top to bottom.

Denolan said nothing in response to Tiadam's actions. He knew he would not be able to keep the gemstone ring hidden in his clothes. Fortunately, he still had one ring in his mouth.

"Hmm! Let's see what I found..." Tiadam pulled the gemstone ring made from Dragon Blood from Denolan's clothes and tossed it to the nearest lackey.

"Could this be... a magical ring made from Dragon Blood..." Among Tiadam's lackeys were people familiar with the market for magical items.

"A gem of this purity... I've never seen one before..." The lackey's hands trembled nonstop. He looked more excited than if he had found a bag of gold on the ground.

"Is that so? Then how much can this ring sell for?" Tiadam's expression remained calm, while his right hand continued searching Denolan's clothes, trying to find something more valuable.

"If someone can afford it... this one ring is worth at least three thousand Kralimaya Gold Coins..." The lackey spoke in an almost trembling voice.

"Three... three thousand..." Hearing the ring's value, Tiadam's hand stopped. He stammered, "A ring with just one gem can actually be worth that much... We truly found treasure today... At that price, forget Canfor—even in the royal capital, it could buy dozens of acres of fertile land."

Yet when Tiadam looked at Denolan, he calmed down again. Even after such a treasure worth thousands of gold coins had been taken from him, this kid showed no reaction at all and had not uttered a single word.

"This kid?" Tiadam curiously leaned closer to Denolan. His short golden hair carried a faint scent of bread and butter. Tiadam's left hand gently stroked Denolan's short hair while his right hand reached deeper. The lackeys around them tactfully left the shack and closed the door behind them.

An hour later, Tiadam opened the shack door looking refreshed, the Dragonblood Ring pried from Denolan's mouth tucked against his chest. Having lost his priceless treasure, Denolan could only lean in a corner of the stone temple with a complicated expression.

"Here, this gold coin is for you!" Tiadam took a coin from the earlier bag and tossed it to Denolan. Then he lifted Denolan's face and said, "Next time you find anything good, remember to tell me, brother!"

"Oh~ Good brother..."

"If Yalila finds out, then..."

"Shh, that's the boss's private business. Stop talking. Say too much and the boss will chop your head off."

"What are you talking about!" Tiadam glared at the two whispering lackeys. "If any of you tell Yalila about what happened today, I'll cut off his head immediately!"

"Understood—" the lackeys shouted in unison.

"Good! Brothers, no hunting today. We're heading back!" With that, Tiadam spurred his horse toward Canfor's outer city. Only after the dozens of bandits had left did Denolan emerge from the shack, clutching his head.

"Denolan... what happened here?" Fanafuna, who had finished collecting holy water from the church, stood by the roadside and asked. Naked corpses lay all around her.

"Well... I... Fanafuna... listen to my explanation..."

"You're all right... I was just a little surprised... that you seemed somewhat familiar... with a bandit like Tiadam..."

"Fanafuna, it's not what you think!"

"No need to explain... I was standing beneath the tree the whole time. From the moment Tiadam went inside, I never left."

"I'm not familiar with a bandit like Tiadam..."

"I know you didn't kill anyone," Fanafuna said coldly. "You were only forced into it by the circumstances..."

"I..." Denolan had nothing he could say and could only stand dumbly before the temple.

"Let's go—we still need to reach the inn at the crossroads before nightfall." Fanafuna spoke distractedly.

"All right..." Denolan replied.

By then, the sky had gone completely dark, and a heavy snowfall was about to arrive.