Ashes Remaining in the Snow

Looking up, one could see the rolling mountains and forests to the left of Labi Village, shrouded beneath layer after layer of dark clouds. These clouds occasionally drifted nearby and brought Rosa Kevin's Curse, but the mountain range remained the place where they were most active. At the peaks, Black Snow carrying Rosakavin Curse lay like a ticking bomb planted there.

"Swish—swish—swish—" Bujier polished the short blade he had just finished forging. "What a sharp, fine knife!"

In the dim forge, Bujier opened his eyes wide. Though his vision had long grown blurry with age, he could still see the blade gleaming, its silvery edge reflecting the festering sores on his face.

"Old woman, my knife is finished! I dare say this is the finest blade I've made in my entire life!" Bujier called toward the inner door. A narrow passage connected the forge to Bujier's home. Inside that dark, foul-smelling house stood a wooden double bed. Its carvings were delicate and beautiful, a wedding gift Bujier's father had given him when he was young. Even after decades, the bed remained sturdy and showed not the slightest sign of damage.

An old woman lay sprawled across that bed. Green slime clung to her silver hair, and festering sores covered her exposed skin. Yellow-green pus mixed with blood dripped onto the bedding. From head to toe, the old woman was too horrifying for words.

"Old woman... we can leave now..." Bujier came through the passage carrying a small kerosene lamp. "Ever since we caught this terrible curse, I've wondered whether we should leave this world sooner. You said you wanted to wait a little longer, wait for Koyana to come back before we left. Unfortunately... we won't live to see that day..."

The old woman neither wailed nor spoke. She merely listened quietly to her husband's final words. Bujier pulled open his collar. The curse had already begun. "Three days ago, these boils on my body started bursting. Rather than wait until I can't move at all before dying, we might as well take the first step ourselves..."

The old woman on the bed remained utterly silent. The swollen boils had left her unable even to close her eyes.

"How pitiful..." Bujier said, stroking 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 murmured as she stood before the abandoned church. "Before, whenever everyone heard the church bell, they came rushing over... Why hasn't a single person 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 Denolan's mother would be the first person she visited. 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 earth, Fanafuna reached Denolan's doorstep without much difficulty. Withered shrubs and green muck gave off the stench of dead fish. As Fanafuna walked down the path through the courtyard, she kept weighing things in her mind.

"Creak—"

The door to Denolan's home 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 tiptoed up to the dark second floor. The room on the left was Denolan's mother's bedroom. Ever since Denolan's father and brother had died from Rosa Kevin's Curse, Ridena had shut herself in 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 the door to Ridena's bedroom... Just as Fanafuna had guessed, there would always be someone in the village who could not survive the winter. Fanafuna left Denolan's home and headed for the next villager's house, while the kerosene lamp remained on the dining table.

"Hey... Grandma Rosa, was what I said to Sister Fanafuna at noon selfish?" Leichina sat on a bench in the bedroom, speaking with guilt. "Before... or rather, ever since I was old enough to understand, everyone in the village had been eager to help our family. Whether during the busy farming season or in everyday life, everyone took such good care of my sister and me. They often taught us all sorts of things too. But I actually said something like that... I know holy water is important to everyone, but I really... I'm scared... That pain... I don't want to..."

"What did you say? I didn't hear you..." Rosa came down from the second floor with a belch, still holding half a potato. "I only remember someone being very unfriendly to me, an honored guest, this morning. Ben merely offered a tiny comment on lunch, yet you harshly criticized my suggestion. That wasn't selfishness, it was... hmm... a lack of proper table manners! I strongly demand an apology from you! 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 ancient evil god, but... what kind of god eats potatoes until she's full?" 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!"

"Evil god... I heard evil gods are powerful and terrifying, and they like eating living sacrifices. Hmm... but aside from your very sinister appearance, Grandma, nothing about you has anything to do with an evil god."

"Hmph! Rude brat!" Rosa said, lifting her skirt and walking 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 emphasize my status as an evil god, no one ever believes me! The world is empty, and the believers are in hell? I'm leaving this place that doesn't respect my identity!"

"Good riddance."

"Hmm... You don't intend to persuade me to stay? If you're willing to lower your head and admit your mistake, it's not as if I couldn't consider staying."

"No! I have absolutely no intention of asking you to stay. Still, I don't think Grandma Rosa's skin is thick enough to keep mooching off us without leaving. Though maybe that isn't certain... You aren't an ordinary person, after all. There was such heavy Black Snow before, yet you actually dared to come out without clothes. Hmm... Is it because, as an evil god, your shamelessness has a long history, and your perverted habit of going around naked has been passed down through the ages?"

"I was naked... not because I have some weird habit! I..."

"You?"

"I... I was robbed by bandits and stripped of everything... That's why I walked naked... through the snow..."

"You..." Leichina looked at Rosa with a complicated expression. "Hmm... Elder Evil God can get robbed by bandits too?"

"Ah!! That's called a tiger being bullied by dogs when it leaves the mountains! The world is unpredictable!"

"Grandma..." Leichina said, patting Rosa's shoulder, "I suggest you see a doctor. Your delusions might get a little better. Also, if you were robbed, you should have reported it sooner. That would have made it easier for the soldiers to catch the criminals."

"Well... I did report it to the soldiers in the city."

"What happened?"

"They closed their eyes and escorted me out of the city. Then the people outside the city brought me here..."

"Hmm... Were you naked when you reported it?"

"I think so..."

"I suddenly understand why they went to all the trouble of sending you to such a remote place..."

"That isn't the important part."

"Then what is?"

"The important part is that I came out of this forest! I went to the city to buy food for my subordinates! But after walking around all day, I didn't buy any food, and all the money on me was stolen..."

"You've gone crazy enough to be like this, yet your family still felt safe letting you go shopping alone? They really have big hearts..."

"You're being far too rude! They're my subordinates! Subordinates! And I'm not crazy!!"

"All right, all right. It isn't that Sister Fanafuna and I lack compassion. It's just that you know the state of our family... no... the whole village. 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 grows heavier. But out of humanitarian concern, you can take as many of the potatoes and corn upstairs as you can carry. Consider it food for the road."

"You're just sending me away like that? You underestimate me too much! Is Rosa Kevin that kind of evil god? Sob... sob..."

"Hmm... There is one thing about your actions that matches what you say. I almost believe you're an evil god." Leichina looked helplessly at Rosa, who was clutching potatoes in both arms with an ear of corn in her mouth. "Although the cursed potatoes in our house are yours to take, Grandma... wouldn't it be better to use two baskets than bite one with 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 notice the baskets by the windowsill... Wouldn't it be better to admit it generously? Besides, failing to notice the baskets was just a momentary lapse. It isn't some capital crime, and no one would laugh at you. Did you really have to rush to make excuses...?"

"Hmm... So that's how it is. Then I won't stand on ceremony..." With that, Rosa took two vegetable baskets from beside the first-floor window. However, the way she carried them this time looked even more ridiculous than when she had held the potatoes before. As the potatoes in one basket spilled out while she staggered, the corn in the other basket bounced out as well.

"Kid, help me pick up the potatoes and corn that fell out—"

"You really are obnoxious! They wouldn't have fallen out if you hadn't taken so much! And... I gave you food, and now I have to help carry it too? Can't your attitude be a little better? As an evil god, can't you have some manners?"

"What manners do evil gods have? Being ungrateful and shameless like this is exactly in character for an evil god."

"If you weren't an old woman, I would've hit you already."

"If I were a few years younger, you still wouldn't be able to beat me, blanket-wrapped brat."

"You..." Only then did Leichina realize he was still wrapped in the blanket from earlier.

"Wait... Why haven't I mocked 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?! And here I was kindly giving you food!"

After a round of bickering, Leichina finally saw Rosa off. The inn returned to its former silence, and 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 only my sister and I are left at home. I really don't know when all this will end..."

Leichina looked out the window. Black snowflakes had begun to fall once again from the dim sky...

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