Seeds in the Ashes

Dark brown snowflakes fell even more heavily than yesterday, and new victims appeared on the decaying streets. Most of these drifters had been swallowed by the curse that consumed their original villages and had no choice but to come to the somewhat larger city of Canfor. Yet Canfor's disaster was not much better than anywhere else.

Every winter was when Rosa Kevin's Curse was at its strongest. Winter snow carried the curse down with it. Without the protection of magic or divine blessings, these snowflakes directly claimed the life of anyone they touched. Worse still, once this black snow touched the ground, it turned into green rotten soil that contaminated water sources. The polluted water could not be drunk, and if it was not purified in time, it would spread Rosa Kevin's Curse elsewhere, expanding the range where the black snow fell.

"I don't think a place like Canfor can hold on much longer." Oyana sat sideways before her vanity, combing her beautiful golden hair in the mirror. "The Black Snow has been falling harder and harder these past two years. I heard that even Tagro, dozens of kilometers away, has begun getting Black Snow. Do you think we should leave early and settle in the royal capital?"

"Ahh~" The man in the bed slowly stretched, then pulled Oyana firmly into his arms. "Don't worry, my darling. The Black Snow may be falling heavily, but it doesn't affect us. The ones dying are all those country bumpkins. I only hope more of them die, so land prices can drop some more..."

"It's not that land is expensive. It's that we don't have enough money. I've already taken loans from several magic banks to buy these country people's land, but the people selling land are all rich, and I can't push the prices down... Hey! Can't you take some money from the church and give me some breathing room?" Oyana coquettishly asked from his embrace.

The man pinched Oyana's cheek. "Darling, I may have some influence in the church, but I don't manage its money. If the church starts investigating, we'll be in trouble. You know what the people in the church are like."

"I know, I know... But what if your information isn't reliable? I've borrowed money from plenty of people. I even borrowed the dirty money that little bandit got from robbery to buy land. If your information is wrong, I'll have bought a pile of worthless junk." Oyana gripped the man by the throat. "I won't let you off then!"

"Rest easy, darling!" The man wrapped an arm around Oyana's shoulders. "I heard it from the bishops themselves. Next spring, the royal capital will send dozens of high-ranking priests here to purify Rosa Kevin's Curse. As soon as the church heard the news, it had already prepared money to buy land here. They're just waiting for next spring to come make a fortune. You only need to buy up this land before the church does. Even if it's just twenty or thirty percent, we'll never have to worry about food or clothes for the rest of our lives."

"You bad man, now that's more like it..." Oyana embraced him, and the two indulged in another round of passion.

"Ding—" The bell at Oyana's jewelry shop rang.

"Is anyone here?" Denolan walked in with the parchment scroll in hand. The dazzling array of goods made him dizzy: amulets, accessories, weapons, old magic books. This magic shop had everything related to magic.

"Is anyone here?" Denolan stepped over piles of ancient bamboo scrolls and headed for the back room. Although the shop had many magical goods, it was not large. The front room was only about the size of an ordinary wooden house, while the inner room was merely a partition.

A great many magical items had been casually piled by the entrance. A small number of high-end goods were displayed in the inner room for distinguished guests who could afford them. An even smaller number of magical items were carefully stored away by the owner, because those treasures would never be sold.

Denolan crossed the front room and entered the inner room, where exquisite magic staffs stood on display. Most had been supplied by the Thieves' Guild and the Mage Guild: the former through theft, the latter through legalized robbery. Of course, some mages also voluntarily sold their own staffs. After all, becoming a mage required more than mere talent...

"Is anyone here—" Denolan shouted twice in a row, but no one in the shop answered.

"How strange. There were always people here when I came before. What's going on today?" Denolan rubbed the back of his head and prepared to leave the magic shop.

But then a faint green light caught his attention. Beneath the bamboo scrolls, a glowing green lamp shone like a firefly. The lamp was jade-green all over, with a pair of jade serpents carved at either end. Its base was formed from two intertwined snake tails, while its handle was a vine forged from purple gold. The lamp's body flickered, radiating boundless magical power.

"Hey... little rascal, which of my things caught your eye?" Oyana pressed her voluptuous body against Denolan's back, and the strong scent of perfume flooded his nose. Only then did Denolan snap out of it and remember why he had come to this shop.

"Um... I'm..." Denolan had just begun to speak when Oyana placed her index finger against his lips.

"Don't say it yet. Come... let me guess..." Oyana's face was flushed, and her legs trembled faintly. She must have just gone through a fierce battle.

"Hmm... are you here to buy a staff from me?"

Denolan shook his head.

"Hmm... are you here to buy amulets or something similar?"

Denolan shook his head again.

"Ah... I know... You're here to sell something." Oyana lay down sideways, gently supported by levitation magic.

Denolan had just been about to nod, but a blue-green glow in Oyana's hand made him afraid to admit it. The light came from a ring on the index finger of her left hand. Its engravings and the brilliance radiating from its gemstone looked exactly like the Dragonblood Ring Tiadam had stolen.

"I... no, I'm not here to sell anything... I... want to..." Though Denolan's words came out incoherently, he knew that this woman must be connected to Tiadam and the others.

If a Dragonblood Ring worth three thousand gold coins had been enough to make those bandits kill and rob, then Tiadam and the others would dare to grind Denolan's bones to dust for the recipe to make Dragonblood Gems.

The thought made Denolan shudder. Only two paths lay before him now. The first was to hand over the parchment without taking a single coin. That might let him live, but why should he? No one would willingly give away a material recipe worth ten thousand gold for free, especially when the other party was a black-market shop connected to bandits. Even if he handed it over, he might not survive.

Thus, the second path became Denolan's best option—cooperation. He would use his ability to synthesize Dragonblood Gems to win Oyana over. With the exclusive method for making Dragonblood Gems in his hands, he could bind himself to enormous profits. He could advance and make a fortune, or retreat and ensure his own safety. So long as he was the only one who knew the gem synthesis formula, this parchment would be an amulet that printed money.

Just as Denolan finished considering his next move, an accident suddenly occurred. An explosion from the church across the street drew everyone's attention. The shockwave spread through the entire street. After a brief pause, the whole street erupted into waves of commotion.

"What happened..." Denolan opened the shop door and looked toward the street, only to see crowds of citizens infected by Rosa Kevin's Curse surging toward the other end of the road. Though the explosion had destroyed several buildings within the church, the citizens did not seem to care. Some even cheered.

"Looks like... Phantom Thief Bernard has struck again." Oyana spoke as though it were nothing unusual. "This should be the second time this week. I just didn't expect it to happen near my home."

"Phantom Thief... Bernard? Who is that?" While Oyana was not paying attention, Denolan slipped the parchment back into his sleeve.

"Oh~ You really don't know." Oyana gave a disdainful smile and turned to explain Bernard. "I'm not entirely sure what sort of person this phantom thief is either. I only heard that he uses some strange kind of magic. He specializes in sneaking into church chapels and stealing freely, taking all the church's gold and silver coins while casually throwing whatever he doesn't need by the roadside... Things like holy grails that produce holy water, and statues of holy sons used in purification rituals."

"Wouldn't a holy grail be more valuable in a city plagued by curses? Why abandon a cash cow that could constantly produce gold, only to take large quantities of coins that are inconvenient to carry away? And speaking of gold coins, all the gold in Canfor's churches combined wouldn't amount to as much as Molakasu has at home. Why doesn't Phantom Thief Bernard steal Molakasu's money?"

"That's why he's a phantom thief. He would rather steal from churches protected by layers of divine miracles than from wealthy men who only hired a few bodyguards. There are actually thieves in this world who specifically choose to chew rocks." Oyana rose to her feet and pointed outside at the street. "But speaking of phantom thieves... this is the truly strange part."

Denolan followed Oyana's gesture toward the far end of the street. Clean, transparent holy water poured from a cup, quickly gathering into a torrent that shot toward the sky. The citizens standing in the "fountain" sang and danced. Even in the early winter, when a basin of cold water could make someone ill, those citizens willingly let the cool current cleanse their entire bodies.

"Strange, isn't it..." Oyana said. "Not even the most devout monks could unleash a miracle like this, yet a thief can..."

"These people... the curse on them..."

Denolan paid no heed to Oyana's words. Looking at the citizens in the holy water and the curses slowly being removed from their bodies, a flame of hope reignited in his heart. Denolan stole one of Oyana's clay jars, then joined the crowd, intending to store some holy water before the church discovered it. Tumors and pain mixed with the holy water, becoming green liquid that flowed into the city sewers.

"This has been happening since around last month. Once every week. It's been more frequent this month than last, and this is already the second incident this week." Oyana watched the gushing holy water, still sitting outside her shop and telling Denolan about Bernard.

"Little rascal, Bernard means redemption and devouring in the Old Gods' poetry collections. If I'm right, this phantom thief may worship one branch of the northern Old Gods. But regardless, quite a few people have been saved thanks to Phantom Thief Bernard. Ah~ Of course, if this had started ten years ago, Canfor wouldn't have become what it is today, and I wouldn't need to leave this place." Oyana gently drew on the water pipe at her waist, then turned to look at Denolan.

"Where... where is he?" Only then did Oyana realize that Denolan had long since run to the other end of the street to fill his jar with holy water. "What a clever boy. Undiluted holy water like that can fetch a good price on the black market."

"Achoo—" A sneeze was followed by a clattering crash inside the magic shop.

"Yalila!" Oyana angrily returned to her shop. Inside, a silver-haired girl with blue eyes was gingerly picking up shattered magical tools from the floor.

"You little brat!" Oyana grabbed Yalila by the ear and dragged her into the shop's inner room. "If you're going out to play with your lover, then don't come back to your old mother!"

"Mom... no, Master, I... I can explain! Ow! Ow! Ow!"

"Explain?" Oyana stopped.

"Master, I can explain." Yalila looked at Oyana with innocent, watery blue eyes.

"Oh, really... I don't want to hear it! Do you know how expensive that amulet was? I bought it from the Quexila Mage Association for two hundred silver coins! Get in there and reflect on what you've done—" With no elegance whatsoever, Oyana kicked Yalila into the magic circle in the inner room.

Yalila fell as though into a pool, and transparent magical elements splashed up like water before returning to stillness. Oyana's magic shop was actually nowhere near as small as it looked. A spatial magic circle had been drawn in the inner room, and only by activating it could the shop's true space be revealed.

"The weather has turned much colder again..." Father Abelato walked along the road back to the main cathedral. He raised his head toward the gloomy sky. Layer upon layer of dark clouds made him wrap his trench coat tighter around himself. "The church on Kepier Street was attacked by Phantom Thief Bernard too. I wonder which bishop's... church... will be the next victim." At that moment, Abelato revealed a meaningful smile.

Not a trace of light remained in the dark sky, and tiny snowflakes drifted down from above. Today's Black Snow was far weaker than before. Though life had not improved much, at least today... everything had made a good start.

"Everything will get better..." Denolan hugged a jar full of pure holy water brimming with purifying power, curled up inside the temple where he had arranged to meet Fanafuna. "Things will always move in a better direction. With so much holy water... even when Mountain-Sealing Day comes, everyone in the village can safely make it through this winter. Everything will get better..."

Within the dim wooden house, Denolan finally had a peaceful dream. In it, he saw his wedding with Fanafuna. His deceased father and brother made a wooden bed for their new home, while his mother and old Talia from the village entrance wove the most beautiful flower crown for the bride... Everything in the dream was so tranquil and peaceful. Everyone in the village offered their finest blessings to the newlywed couple.

Yet however beautiful the dream had been, reality was just as cruel. Denolan would never forget that horrific sight. The once peaceful and beautiful village was now nothing but a pile of ashes. Charred skeletons among the ashes seemed to still speak of the suffering they had endured in life. A layer of yellow-green rotten soil still covered the bones. Perhaps for those villagers tormented by Rosa Kevin's Curse, death had been the best outcome...