It was Vonman who just came back home, as Aarni and Guina hoped.
But he was too late—the first thing he saw in the cellar was the corpses of his best partner and his dear brother.
Struck by heart-wrenching surprise, he rushed to Aarni and gazed at the two motionless bodies in disbelief.
Guina could not see what was happening outside her cot, but she still felt the disheartening air getting to her.
“What’s... What’s going on out there? Chaira? Aarni! Talk to me... Is that you, Vonman? It must be your voice. You finally came back to us. Quickly, tell me what Chaira and Aarni are doing. Why did they leave? No...”
Guina had an inkling of the situation, but she refused to believe it.
Vonman stayed silent.
“They... They’re too tired, so they fell asleep, am I right?” asked Guina.
“Yeah. They look so exhausted.”
“Let them rest then.” Guina was doing her best not to cry. “I want to join them too. But I can’t...”
For a moment, only the sound of people breathing could be heard in the cellar.
The city guard knew he had to proceed with his job, yet he somehow couldn’t decide his next course of action.
“You—” He collected his thoughts, so his voice sounded more serious. “Who are you? And who’s your companion?”
Hearing his words, everyone looked toward the door, where yet another visitor was standing—a young man wearing a well-kept nobleman’s attire.
Even though it was against the light, those in the cellar still saw the man’s clean composure that made everyone else’s existence appear to be humble in contrast.
It was the kind of nobleman who shouldn’t show up in this impoverished place.
“Who are you?” the guard asked again while inspecting the unknown guest up and down. “That’s not Heylan design, is it? I think it’s...”
Goldspink?
He gulped and quickly removed that thought from his mind. A noble from Goldspink couldn’t possibly come to Winter Tide City, which was pretty far from the borders.
Before the guard could question further, Vonman suddenly remembered something and rushed to the door. He then pressed his head on the floor.
“You-you gotta do something, sir! I know you can help them. Please!” Vonman
groveled while pointing to the corpses.
Is that a doctor? The guard shook his head. Doesn’t matter. These two are already dead.
“Their consciousnesses have dissipated with the last bit of their souls. They’re gone.”
Again, the guard thought he recognized that accent, but he just couldn’t make sure.
“There must be a way! Ghoul Whisperer once said something about bringing the dead back to life!” Vonman tried.
“Resurrecting the dead is a forbidden art. Even if they were to come back now, they would no longer be their true selves.”
With his last hope snuffed out, Vonman stumbled back into the cellar and repeated the names of his friends in despair.
“Who... Who did this?!” He jerked his head up and scanned everyone in the room. He then released several white-legged spiders from his hand. “You with the sword! You killed them?!”
Instead of answering, the guard simply looked to the stairs, where an adult refugee and a mad-looking woman were loafing.
“YOU TWO DID THIS TO MY FAMILY?”
No response.
Vonman lowered his head and began chuckling in an ominous way. “So be it. I’m gonna kill you all then!”
More spiders left Vonman’s body and filled the floor beneath him. Even the experienced guard shivered upon the creepy sight.
“*Slurp* Get me up, Vonman... I want to see Aarni and Chaira,” Guina suddenly spoke from her cot.
“Let’s not disturb their sleep, Guina.” Vonman turned to look at her.
“Just help me. I’ll tell you what happened.”
“Yeah... Fine.”
Vonman moved to the cot and carried Guina’s broken body in his arms for everyone to see.
Guina spent a moment looking at the two bodies below her.
“Sweet dreams, you two...”
“Tell me what’s going on here, Guina!” Vonman begged.
With teary eyes, Guina slowly explained what she knew about today, while the others listened quietly.
Angor frowned. If what the disabled girl said was correct, then the sad outcome was the result of a series of unfortunate events, added with coincidence.
When Angor received Aaron’s letter a day ago, he decided to pay Vonman a visit. Even though he didn’t like the kid’s cruel nature, he would like to add another name onto his recruit list.
Jon had agreed to get inspected by Sunders, which meant Angor would return to Brute Cavern as soon as he had time. It happened that Angor still needed one more recruit to finish his quest.
Upon arriving at Aaron’s camp, Angor learned that the kid, Vonman, hoped to save someone called Guina. Angor refused to get involved in random businesses at first, but he changed his mind when Vonman mentioned that Guina might be another talent. Apparently, when Ghoul Whisperer took Vonman away, Guina was sent to another apprentice called “Kuza”.
When Angor disposed of Ghoul Whisperer, Vonman escaped back to Heylan and found Guina tormented into the current shape by Kuza. Guina wasn’t the only victim of Kuza’s cruel deeds—the woman somehow found Aarni later and removed the boy’s tongue.
Even though Guina’s wounds were patched up, she didn’t seem fine enough to live very long. This was why Vonman made a difficult decision and went to seek Angor’s help.
And when Angor came to Heylan in hope of bringing two new talents to his organization, he saw such a sad episode.
...
While listening to Guina’s explanation, Vonman slowly glanced at everyone in the room. “A murderer, a conspirator, and a self-acclaimed doer of justice? You forced my friends to death... You’re coming with them. Every last one of you!”
“Heh heh... Ha ha ha HA!” The baker suddenly began to laugh.
“What’s so funny, ya fat bi*ch?”
The baker looked at Guina and said, “I remember you. You and Nini used to play together. And she would come back and tell me how good a friend you are.” Her expression changed from kindness to that of hatred. “Nini... Oh, my sweet girl. She was so kind. She didn’t mind hanging out with you, a homeless refugee. You were friends! Do you even feel any sorry that one of your OTHER friends killed my Nini?!”
Vonman held Guina closer to his body and glared at the baker. “I should have killed her a long time ago and taken her bread. What a silly girl. And that silliness saved her, cause I don’t want to hurt someone so stupid! She offered her food to us, so I let her go. Sorry? No. Filling our stomachs is always more important.”
The baker was laughing again. “Demons! My daughter is just a tool to you. I should have expected it!”
“I-I just want to live...” Guina muttered.
The baker looked at the dead bodies. “Ha! I’ve no regrets whatsoever! I’m coming after you, Nini.”
She ran into the wall, head first.
Together with the rotting corpse beside the stairs, the cellar now had four dead people inside.
Angor shook his head slightly. He didn’t feel like judging who was right or who was wrong right now. These people all had different standings, which led to bad results.
The boy Aarni might be the only one who was truly innocent in the matter, which was no longer important.
As Guina said, they were trying to survive.
And when such basic needs were endangered, people could easily throw away their morals and kindness.
People who strove at the very bottom of the world did not have the luxury of pursuing greater goods or mental virtue. Friends were temporary warmth in one’s life. Most of the time, they still had to travel their own paths alone.
And for the unfortunate, their paths were endlessly troubled by the dark and frigid winter, never to see the sunrise again. Earning tomorrow’s breakfast was enough to exhaust all they had.