The raging flames climbed up the wooden eaves, illuminating the bewildered and astonished faces.
The rising black smoke, like a homeless ghost, stood out with its crackling wails amidst the silence of the crowd.
This was the southwestern corner of Mammoth State, a small village called "Stone Village"... or at least it used to be called that.
The majority of its inhabitants were free citizens of the Empire.
However, unlike in other regions beyond the Wasteland, being a free citizen here was anything but a point of pride.
Since most of the fertile land along the river was controlled by nobles, even the few free citizens who had land to farm lived in considerable poverty.
If a typical serf had to eat six meals of Red Soil a week, the free citizens would have to endure seven or eight, barely surviving in a half-dead state.
Of course, this excluded those who managed to survive within or near the settlements.
