North of Lancaster is a rundown slum.

Once upon a time, this area was also an ordinary civilian area. Although it was not as elegant and noble as the south aristocratic area, it was not as prosperous as the business district in the east of the city, and there was a big gap with the black market that was slightly chaotic in the west. Live a life.

-Until the death of Tierra.

Although the city of Lancaster has not been damaged much, it is based on the city's core aristocracy and business district.

In fact, the civilian area was the part that was affected the most by the war. Due to the lack of management and repair, the civilian area is now reduced to a slum and has become dilapidated. Many buildings that were destroyed by the war at that time, even now They are still in ruins that can collapse at any time.

In the ruins of one of the houses, three trembling little children are surrounded by a bonfire that will go out at any time, trying to draw some warmth from the flames.

Simba is an orphan. His parents died in the war a few years ago. The house they left was occupied by a group of rogues. The young Simba's resistance was not only useless, but by those The rogue robbery stole all his money and rushed out.

In the end, he fell into the ruins of the house and met Shazu and Nana, who were also orphans.

The three little children snapped together and formed a small group. On weekdays, they helped the businessmen in the business district to do odd jobs. Occasionally, the thief barely managed to make ends meet.

But this year's frost and fog season was unexpectedly long. Before the frost and fog season came, their food and firewood were already used up. Even the few coins in their hands were spent completely, but the sun There is no meaning to show up from the clouds.

"The fire is about to go out, add a little more wood." Shazu suggested to Simba with some hesitation.

"No, the wood in this house can no longer be demolished. It is now very fragile. If you demolish it again, it will be destroyed by a strong wind."

Simba shook his head and said.

The long frost and fog season has caused the price of firewood in the store to rise to a bundle of Lynn, which Simba cannot afford.

"brother……"

Leaning on Sha Zu, Nana, a thin-skinned girl with closed eyes, half-dreamed and said awakely, "I'm so hungry ..."

The two boys looked at each other, but let alone two little children at this time, even the adults had no good way.

"If it doesn't work, I'll take a trip out of town to chop some firewood back ..." He gritted his teeth and made a decision: "As long as we can bring back three or five bundles, we will have our own firewood and food for Nana It's up! "

"Don't do stupid things!" Shazu's face changed, and he was discouraged again and again: "The cowards who remembered Lynn didn't come back alive. This year, the coyotes in the forest were many and cruel. Many experiences. Rich old hunters and well-equipped city guards have been planted! And I heard that the mercenaries in the tavern said that they also saw the rather rare dragon tooth salamander outside the forest, that thing is more scary than the saber-toothed tiger! "

"But there is no other way out," Simba said with some pain. "Frost and foggy seasons can't find other odd jobs, and there are no people on the street who can start ..."

Shazu wanted to say something, but at this time, the two boys stopped silently—they heard footsteps outside.

It was a very light voice. If there was not a thick layer of snow on the ground, they would crunch when they walked up, I am afraid they would not hear each other's approach at all.

Could it be a slaver?

The two little guys stared at each other, and quietly plucked up the small half-headed stone on the ground, nervously speeding up.

If a child like them is caught as a slave, this life is almost over-no one who normally needs a slave will buy a dirty and filthy child as a slave, and 80% of them will be sent to the underground black mine until they are tired. , And even the food of various monsters that were directly used as gladiatorial are thrown to the other side to eat ...

As a result, when the man appeared at the door, Simba and Shazu were subconsciously relieved. Although they were still alert to each other, they were not as exaggerated as before.

The comer was a tall, thin, middle-aged man. He called himself Mufasha, carrying a long, thin, strange single-edged sword that was very different from the mercenaries' heavy thick swords, and would be frozen tomorrow. , But was only wearing clothes like vagrant sackcloth casually sewn up.

But to say that he is a tramp, the clothes were washed very cleanly, no trace of stains were visible, and there were no ugly wrinkles on the clothes, which was very flat.

Obviously, whether it is washing or ironing, a lot of energy is wasted, so that Simba has produced ‘Is it necessary to wash clothes so often? 'a feeling of.

This is not the first time Simba and Shazu have seen him.

Not long after the frost and mist season started, the middle-aged man was enthusiastically asking if he wanted to join a mysterious church ~ lightnovelpub.net ~ The specific church did not say exactly, so Simba once thought it was a Unspeakable cults will no longer care.

He didn't want to bring some strange cults with his brothers and sisters in Shazu. In the end, he was inexplicably offered as a sacrifice to the evil gods or something.

Fortunately, the other party did not have much entanglement, and after being rejected by Simba, they left.

The other side also appeared a few times afterwards, but all were the same as the first time. If the persuasion failed, they left directly.

Seeing the two teenagers holding stones in his hands, Muffasa made a gesture of surrender, showing that he was not hostile.

"This ghost is so cold, don't mind if I come to grill it a bit?" As if he hadn't noticed the vigilance and hostility on Simba's faces, he approached the campfire by himself.

No one saw what he did, but the bonfire suddenly flourished a lot. Only the small half-ceilinged room flickered with fire. The warmth spread, making Simba feel like he was taking a hot bath. It's just as comfortable-even if he can't remember when he last took a hot bath.

Mu Fasha glanced at the bone of a cow's knee in the corner of his eyes, and raised his eyebrows.

So he didn't know where to take a helmet-shaped pot rack on the campfire, took a handful of clean snow from the outside and put it in the pot to cook, and then took out a bunch of spices that Simba could not name. Put it in the pot, finally take out a piece of bacon, pull out the long sword behind yourself, brush it a few times to cut into pieces as thin as parchment paper, and cook in the pot.

This made Simba couldn't help blinking. The long sword was a kitchen knife for cutting meat? But it doesn't feel so convenient for that long, won't it hurt others?

After a while, the scent of the broth escaped, and Simba couldn't help but swallow.