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Victoria boarded the train at the largest train station in the capital city.

As the train she boarded headed east, it made a wide arc from the east to the southeast, then continued straight south.

After heading southwest from the south, the train would eventually reach Bern City to the west, but Victoria didn’t turn that way.

Instead, as she headed further south, Victoria transferred to another train.

She continued south even more.

And then she got off at a station.

Victoria looked around the countryside with a puzzled expression, unsure if this was the right place.

The train station was a rustic one, with a stone-paved platform and a small waiting room.

In the distance, she could see fields covered in deep green, beyond which rose a majestic mountain range that loomed to the east as the train traveled south.

Victoria stepped out of the station with her luggage.

Splat!

As Victoria looked down, she noticed the muddy ground, and mud splattered onto her legs and bag.

But Victoria didn’t frown. As she watched, droplets of water unexpectedly bounced off her clothes, cleaning the mud and drying the moisture around the road.

Then, she glanced around.

Victoria frowned.

It was for no other reason than the sight of a corner that looked like a garbage dump. Several broken mechanical devices were scattered about.

“It hasn’t been long, has it?”

Victoria muttered quietly.

At first, she didn’t understand what it meant.

But when she realized it referred to the state of the broken mechanical devices, Victoria turned away and continued walking.

Without even a package to carry, she walked along the road that was a mix of dirt, mud, and sand.

Occasionally pulling out a letter and mumbling the address, she passed under a surprisingly hot sun, even in midwinter.

And finally, Victoria arrived at her destination.

Compared to the capital or Bern City, it was an undeniably old wooden building.

Victoria read the sign in front of the door and checked the mailbox once more before stepping inside.

After knocking and waiting, an elderly man and woman with tanned skin appeared. They asked her name with a blend of various emotions on their faces.

Victoria said her name, and they introduced themselves, saying, “It’s our first time meeting like this. Please wait a moment.”

Saying that, they called out Beatrice’s name loudly.

A moment later, a scarred woman with a haggard face came out dressed in loose clothes.

She was so different from three months ago, but it was Beatrice. Looking at her, Victoria asked cautiously, as if struggling to believe it.

“Mom?”

“Ah? Tory? Why did you come so early?”

Beatrice looked very flustered.

An old woman who approached the panicking Beatrice tried to calm her down. One concerning word stood out: daughter-in-law.

It meant Victoria’s grandmother. In that case, the man beside her was grandfather.

Ah!

This was Morris’s family home.

When a crisis occurs, the last resort is usually one’s parents.

Of course, most people don’t have parents they can rely on, but that’s just how it is.

The sheer number of anyone’s parents in the population is low, and to be born under a parent who can help you—well, that’s like shooting stars.

When there’s no wealth, or a culture that expects children to be independent, or all this and still being abandoned, or being born into a happy family only to find out that the family is merely a dream.

It’s not the child’s fault.

Mathematically speaking, more people fall into the categories above, which is the norm in an ordinary world.

Still, if many people believe they can create a happy family, they will get married. If that belief is shattered, like a world dulled in faded memories, people might stop trying to build families.

Even if currently, there are many unhappy people, if they can dream of a better future, they will continue to create families.

But if the society they live in sells dreams while cold realities prevent them from dreaming, then the future will disappear. How can one foresee a future with only the past to look at?

Investment happens because people believe in a better future. If every indicator shows a crash and you’re told to invest, few would take that plunge.

In that case, Victoria is lucky.

Not only did she meet her family, Morris and Beatrice, but she also met her grandparents.

“I came because it’s vacation. But where’s Dad?”

Before Victoria could finish her sentence, the expressions of her family around her darkened.

Huh? Did something happen to Morris?

“Yes, since you’re here, you need to see Dad.”

Beatrice approached Victoria, a somber look on her face, and hugged her tightly. Victoria’s expression went rigid, realizing what it implied.

“Mom, what exactly happened to Dad?”

Beatrice whispered softly while still holding Victoria.

“He’s a little… sick.”

Saying that, Beatrice released her hold on Victoria, took her hand, and led her inside the house.

Deeper into the home.

They entered a room that looked like a boy’s living space.

And she pointed to the bed inside.

On the bed lay a pale man moaning. The once slightly chubby figure was now just a skin-and-bones man.

But Victoria’s eyes weren’t on Morris’s face; they were directed at the opposite side.

His leg.

The area where his right leg should have been was sunken.

It was a pitiful sight.

She finally understood why only Beatrice had been responding until now, why there was no mention of herself, and why the letters had been inexplicably short.

They probably didn’t know how to express what to write about.

“Mom, what happened?”

Beatrice approached Morris and wiped his sweat before leading Victoria out of the room.

Once outside in the corridor, she began to tell the story.

They barely escaped a massive riot in Bern City, but during that time, Morris got injured, and by the time he hid it and arrived here, the leg was already in serious condition.

And the infection was so severe that his wounded right leg had already begun to necrotize.

So, it was amputated.

While that prevented the worst-case scenario, he had been bedridden for weeks now.

As Beatrice bit her lip, she told her daughter to prepare herself.

That’s the kind of statement given to someone who might die.

“Mom, how did this happen?”

Victoria asked while looking at the scars all over Beatrice’s body. But Beatrice shook her head side to side.

That meant she couldn’t share.

But it was evident just from looking at the scars that this was no simple injury.

Well, it’s strange to hold onto wounds without being treated while running away until sepsis sets in. Memories flash like hundreds of lights.

First off, these scars are fairly recent.

They’re wounds from not over two months ago.

And two months ago, Victoria visited Bern City. So, there’s a good chance she lived somewhere before coming here.

Hmm?

Now that I think about it, an incident was triggered by the events in Bern City.

Specifically, the mechanical devices being destroyed. But that wasn’t the end of it. There were also lynch mobs targeting those big company employees.

Would people act rationally when it’s easy to vent their anger in such a way?

If someone appeared to be with a large company, they’d become the target.

Let’s play football! You’re the ball! That’s what would happen.

Beatrice’s body was covered with scars.

The reason why Morris had to travel so far while hiding his injury.

And Victoria had just met her grandparents for the first time. Was it so uncommon for families to be close yet have such little contact?

It must have been dire enough to reach out to parents with whom they had no communication.

And even with parents they hadn’t been in contact with, it would be awkward to visit immediately after a house was taken away.

There were hidden facts in between.

But it seems Victoria doesn’t realize that.

No, it would be more accurate to say she doesn’t have the time to think about it.

Returning home to find her mother in shambles and her father dying? Moreover, her mother wasn’t just physically scarred.

Her pupils dilated too frequently, and her hands trembled faintly. She was trying to hide it from her child, but the more she tried to conceal it, the more evident it became.

Ugh.

It’s the worst.

In other words, that means it’s a truly marvelous situation for me to walk into.

I gathered my thoughts and stepped out of the car.

I wasn’t sure if there was such a thing as a royal transport pass, but they delivered me free of charge just for knowing the address. Of course, I had to change vehicles several times, but in the end, I was being transported, so I had no right to complain.

“Thank you.”

“Yes, please feel free to contact this number anytime you need.”

The person who had driven me handed me a business card.

Once I took it, the person returned to their vehicle. Shortly thereafter, the military vehicle drove off with a rattle, and I approached the house I had seen earlier.

Then I knocked on the door.

Creak!

Immediately, Victoria’s grandfather opened the door. He had a tanned complexion, thick arms and legs, and muscles honed from years of labor.

Surrounding him were rice fields. And from behind, there was a smell of livestock. Plants and animals. They didn’t seem to be struggling to eat.

In this country’s large cities, more people are dying from not getting enough food now.

Here, they were lucky…

“Who is it?”

“I’ve come to deliver some unpleasant news.”

He looked puzzled but I ignored him and stepped inside. I walked directly into the corridor that Beatrice and Victoria were using to create their own space.

“Hello, unfortunate humans.”

I approached the two, whose expressions reflected shock, and pushed past them into the room.

“Bell?”

As I got closer to the bed, a foul odor hit me. It was a rotten smell. Victoria, unable to approach, didn’t realize that parts like the armpits had already rotted, oozing fluid.

“I’ll offer myself to you. In return, after you handle all the tidying up, I’ll take everything I have. How does that sound?”

The flesh all over my body swelled, gradually becoming hard like pottery before slowly crumbling to sand.

And beneath that, a blue-skinned man, looking bewildered, stared back at me.

“Bell?”

“Hello, Morris. It seems you’ve had an unfortunate day.”

Then I turned to look back.

“Right, Victoria?”

Victoria avoided meeting my gaze.