Looking up, one could see the endless mountains and forests to the left of Labi Village, shrouded beneath layer upon layer of dark clouds. These clouds occasionally drifted nearby and brought Rosa Kevin's Curse, but their most frequent haunt was still this mountain range. At the peaks, the black snow bearing the Rosakavin Curse lay embedded like a ticking bomb.
"Shhk—shhk—shhk—" Bujier polished the short blade he had just finished forging. "What a sharp, fine knife!"
In the dim blacksmith shop, Bujier stared wide-eyed. Though his vision had long grown blurry with age, he could still see the knife's flickering gleam. Reflected in its silvery blade were the festering sores on his face.
"Old woman, my knife is ready! I guarantee this is the best knife I've ever made in my life!" Bujier called toward the inner door. A narrow passage connected the smithy to Bujier's home. In that dark, foul-smelling room stood a wooden double bed, its carvings delicate and beautiful. It had been a wedding gift from Bujier's father when Bujier was young. Even after several decades, the bed remained sturdy, without the slightest sign of damage.
An old woman lay sideways atop the bed. Green mucus clung to her silver hair, while rotten pustules covered her exposed skin. Yellow-green pus mixed with blood dripped onto the bedding. From head to toe, the old woman was an indescribably horrifying sight.
"Old woman... we can leave now..." Bujier came through the passage carrying a small kerosene lamp. "Ever since we caught this terrible curse, I'd been wondering whether we should leave this world sooner. You said you wanted to wait a little longer, until Koyana came back before leaving. But unfortunately... we can't wait until then anymore..."
The old woman neither wailed nor spoke. She merely listened quietly to her husband's last words. Bujier pulled open his collar. The curse had begun. "Three days ago, these boils on my body started bursting. Rather than wait until we can't move at all before dying, we might as well take the first step ourselves now..."
The old woman on the bed remained utterly silent. The swollen pustules had left her unable even to close her eyes.
"How pitiful..." Bujier said as he touched his white-haired wife. "It's all right. We'll be free soon..."
"Dong—dong—dong—" The bronze bell used for prayer rang through the village. The one ringing it was Fanafuna.
"What's going on?" Fanafuna muttered as she stood before the abandoned church. "Before, whenever everyone heard the church bell, they would rush over right away... Why hasn't anyone come today?"
After waiting bitterly outside the church for an hour, Fanafuna decided to carry the earthen jar herself and distribute the holy water door to door.
For personal reasons, Fanafuna decided that the first person she would visit would be Denolan's mother. First, Denolan's home was close to the church. Second, Fanafuna needed to tell Denolan's mother that Denolan had left the village.
Passing through heaps of rotting soil, Fanafuna reached Denolan's front door without much difficulty. Decayed shrubs and green sludge gave off wave after wave of dead-fish stench. As she walked down the path through the yard, Fanafuna kept weighing things in her mind.
"Creak—"
Denolan's front door opened. The furnishings inside were the same as when Fanafuna had visited before: a clean kitchen, a spotless bedroom, and the occasional scent of bread and milk drifting through the air. Fanafuna lit a kerosene lamp and crept up the dark stairs. The room on the left side of the second floor was Denolan's mother's bedroom. Ever since Denolan's father and brother had died from Rosa Kevin's Curse, Ridena had shut herself inside her room. She rarely spoke and almost never left the house. Denolan had taken care of all her daily needs.
"Aunt Ridena... Aunt Ridena," Fanafuna called softly from the second floor. "Are you feeling any better? It's Fanafuna. I came to see you, and I also brought you some holy water I bought."
No one on the second floor answered Fanafuna. She pushed open Ridena's bedroom door... Just as Fanafuna had guessed, there would always be someone in the village who could not make it through the winter. Fanafuna left Denolan's house and headed for the next villager's home, leaving the kerosene lamp on the dining table.
"Hey... Grandma Rosa, was what I said to Sister Fanafuna at noon really selfish?" Leichina sat on a bench in the bedroom, blaming himself. "Before... to be precise, ever since I became aware of things, everyone in the village had always warmly helped our family. Whether during the busy farming season or in everyday life, everyone took great care of my sister and me. They often taught us all kinds of things too. Yet I said something like that... I know holy water is important to everyone, but I'm really... scared... That pain... I don't want to..."
"What did you say? I didn't hear you..." Rosa came down from the second floor, burping loudly, half a potato still in her hand. "I only remember someone being extremely unfriendly to me, an honored guest, this morning. I merely offered a tiny critique of lunch, yet you harshly condemned my suggestion. That isn't selfishness, it's... hmm... a lack of basic table manners! I strongly demand that you apologize to me! And I condemn such behavior!"
"Uh... what table manners does an old woman who keeps burping after stuffing herself have? You keep saying you're an Elder Evil God, but... what kind of god eats so many potatoes that she gets stuffed?" Leichina's guilt was immediately interrupted by Rosa's change of subject.
"I told you, I'm an evil god! Please don't judge me by the standards of ordinary gods!"
"An evil god... I've heard that evil gods are powerful and terrifying, and that they all like eating living sacrifices. Hmm... but aside from your appearance being rather sinister, Grandma, nothing about you has anything to do with an evil god."
"Hmph! Insolent brat!" Rosa lifted her skirt and walked toward the front door on the first floor.
"Grandma Rosa, what are you doing?"
"I'm angry! What is wrong with this world? No matter how much I stress my status as an evil god, no one ever believes me! The human world is so empty, are all the believers in hell? I'm leaving this place that doesn't respect my identity!"
"Take care. Don't let the door hit you on the way out."
"Hmm... You have no intention of asking me to stay? If you're willing to lower your head and admit your mistake, it's not as if I can't consider staying."
"No! I have absolutely no intention of making you stay. But I don't think Grandma Rosa's skin is thick enough to keep shamelessly staying here without leaving. Then again, maybe it is... Grandma, you're no ordinary person. That black snow was so heavy before, yet you actually dared to come out without any clothes on. Hmm... Could it be that, as an evil god, your thick skin has a long history, and your perverted habit of going naked is deeply rooted too?"
"I was naked... It wasn't because I have some weird habit! I..."
"You?"
"I... I was robbed by bandits, and everything was taken from me... That's why I was naked... walking through the snow..."
"You..." Leichina looked at Rosa with a complicated expression. "Hmm... Even Elder Evil Gods can get robbed by bandits?"
"Ah!! That's what they call a tiger fallen onto the plains getting bullied by dogs! The world is unpredictable!"
"Grandma..." Leichina patted Rosa on the shoulder. "I suggest you see a doctor. Your delusions might get a little better that way. Also, if you were robbed, you should report it earlier so the soldiers can catch the criminals."
"Well... I did report it to the soldiers in the city."
"What happened?"
"They closed their eyes and sent me outside the city, then the people outside the city sent me here..."
"Hmm... Were you naked when you reported it?"
"I think so..."
"I suddenly understand why they went through all that trouble to send you to such a remote place..."
"That's not the point."
"Then what is?"
"The point is that I came out of this forest! I went to the city to buy food for my subordinates! But after wandering around for a while, I didn't buy any food, and all the money on me was stolen too..."
"You're already crazy enough to be like this, yet your family still felt safe letting you go out shopping. They really have big hearts..."
"You're far too rude! They're my subordinates! Subordinates! And I'm not crazy!!"
"All right, all right. It's not that Sister Fanafuna and I are heartless. It's just that you know the situation our family... no, our village is in right now. We can barely take care of ourselves, so we really can't help you. You should hurry home and find your family before the black snow gets worse. But for humanitarian reasons, you can take however many potatoes and corn upstairs as you can carry. Consider it food for the road."
"You're just sending me away like that? You look down on me too much! Is Rosa Kevin that kind of evil god? Sob... sob..."
"Hmm... There's one thing about your actions that matches your words. I really do believe you're an evil god." Leichina looked helplessly at Rosa, who hugged potatoes in both arms while clamping an ear of corn in her mouth. "Also, even though our cursed potatoes are yours to take, Grandma... wouldn't it be better to use two baskets than bite one in your mouth...?"
"Pfft—" Rosa spat out the corn in her mouth. "This is strategy, strategy! I'm an evil god! An Elder Evil God! I won't be so easily seen through by you mortals!"
"Uh... I think you just didn't see the baskets on the windowsill... Wouldn't it be better to admit it honestly? Besides, not seeing the baskets was just a momentary lapse of attention. It's not some capital crime, and nobody would laugh at you. Was there really any need to rush into making excuses...?"
"Hmm... So that's how it is. Then I won't hold back..." With that, Rosa took two vegetable baskets from the windowsill on the first floor. This time, however, the way she carried the baskets was even more comical than when she had held the potatoes before. As the potatoes in one basket came tumbling out, the corn in the other basket bounced out as well.
"Brat, help me pick up the potatoes and corn that fell out—"
"You really are annoying! If you didn't take so much, nothing would fall out! And... I gave you food, and now you want me to carry it for you too? Can't your attitude be a little better? As an evil god, can't you have some manners?"
"What manners would an evil god have? Being ungrateful and shameless like this is what suits an evil god."
"If you weren't an old woman, I would've hit you already."
"If I were a few years younger, you wouldn't be able to beat me either, blanket-wrapped brat."
"You..." Only then did Leichina realize that he was still wrapped in the bedding from earlier.
"Wait... Why didn't I make fun of you for being wrapped in a blanket? I've been calling you blanket-wrapped brat these past two days. Wouldn't I have been able to turn every argument around and win? Ah... ah, what a loss. It feels like I lost a hundred million."
"Hey! Are you an idiot?! I was kind enough to give you food!"
After a bout of bickering, Leichina finally saw Rosa off. The inn returned to its former silence. Leichina lay peacefully on the floor of the first floor, still wrapped in the blanket Fanafuna had covered him with earlier.
"That idiot Grandma Rosa is gone... Now it's just my sister and me at home. I really don't know when all of this will end..."
Leichina looked out the window. In the gloomy sky, flakes of black snow began falling once more...
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