I could hear that voice.
How sweet and revolting it was.
It came from a young woman. Her hair was long and flowing like silk; her skin was as fair as someone in their mere twenties, and within those melancholic eyes, filled with colors I could neither recognize nor understand, blood and entrails were reflected.
"Enough. You, above all others, shall bear this curse of mine. All of this ugliness, a madness deeper than anything else."
Her eyes began to bleed. I could no longer see any color in them; her already somber eyes grew even darker as they were dyed a deep, saturated crimson.
"Hah, hah...
May you suffer ultimate agony for all eternity,
May you grieve the deaths of your kin,
May you eventually become a man of nothing."
And then, she plunged her hand deep into my chest, holding it there forever...
But there was one thing she didn't know: I had long since ceased to feel pain. I had long since lost my kin. And I was already a man of nothing.
It made me wonder: would this curse even hurt me?
…
[Upper Bridge District, Sui Cornal City, Cinderella Monarchy]
"Ugh... I don't want to wake up at all."
Waking up sluggishly in ruffled pajamas on a messy bed, roused by the sound of traffic and the laughter of people passing by outside the window, Lenore glanced at the calendar on the wall. It was Monday, the start of the week, a fact that only made one want to sink back into laziness and go back to sleep.
'But if I don't get up and go to work, the only thing left to eat is run-off fish...'
He staggered to brush his teeth and wash his face, then ate a quick slice of sweet red bread from the Velvet region paired with a cup of instant coffee. After putting on his funeral attire, he grabbed a few White Crystal notes and stepped out of his lodgings into the central district street.
On his way to the center, unlike usual, he had to take a detour through several smaller neighborhoods instead of going straight. He needed to avoid the eyes of the police and certain Church officials who, for some reason, had been gathering in large numbers in the Upper Bridge District lately.
'Could it be that a Signer or some Arcane terrorist organization has appeared in the Upper Bridge District?'
Muttering to himself while walking down the stairs of a smaller bridge to reach the main thoroughfare, he suddenly stopped by the roadside and pressed his hands together in prayer.
Beside him lay the skeleton of a pigeon, still clinging to a few scraps of decomposing flesh.
A moment later, where the pigeon bones had been, nothing remained but a bit of ash and black scorch marks on the ground.
As he entered the center, the familiar sounds of the street immediately flooded his ears, signaling that life here was continuing as peacefully as any other day.
"Sandwiches here! Sandwiches! Premium Velvet red bread with Compass Bat meat! Only 5 Green Crystal cents!"
"Anyone want Arcane Items? Crafted with high-grade Miracle extracted from Sonecho, the Capital of the Ariel Union!"
"New Marseille internal combustion engine cars..."
Glancing past the stalls and advertisements, Lenore walked up to a weathered newsstand where a middle-aged man was dozing off. He tapped his knuckles on the counter to signal a customer.
"Eh, huh? Oh, it's Blackwood. The 'Fisherman' as usual?" The man startled awake, instantly snapping into a sharp business posture.
"Yes, the 'Fisherman' newspaper, please, Mr. Bill." As he spoke, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a Blue Crystal coin to hand to the vendor, but the man quickly pushed it back toward Lenore.
"Sorry, lad, but the price is now one Blue Crystal and two Green Crystal cents."
"What?! Even the newspapers are hiking prices now?!"
The man sighed, pulled a cigarette from his pocket, reached for a small jar containing a colored powder on the shelf, sprinkled it over the cigarette, lit it, took a deep drag, and exhaled.
"Yep, exactly. I heard the wood and ink shipping routes at sea are blocked. Some Arcane Species rose from the depths and started attacking ships, so the route is closed while they wait for the Church personnel and the Government to handle it."
"Is it that bad?"
"Extremely. It's like when your girlfriend gets angry for no reason."
Staring into the newsstand owner's eyes with a judgmental look, Lenore pulled another Blue Crystal from his wallet and handed it over, his face twisted in agony at the loss of more money.
"Please give me 8 Green Crystal cents in change."
'Damn Arcane Species!! Why the hell do they have to attack ships out of nowhere?! 8 Green cents is almost a whole Blue Crystal, a fifth of my weekly damn salary!'
To be fair, the currency standard of the Cinderella Monarchy was quite simple compared to other nations. White Crystals were paper notes with the highest value, followed by Blue Crystal coins, and finally Green Crystal cents, which were smaller than the Blue ones.
The conversion rate was even simpler, far from the complexity of the Pie currency of the RRH Republic: 1 White Crystal note was worth 5 Blue Crystals, and 1 Blue Crystal was worth 10 Green Crystals. This meant 1 White Crystal equaled 50 Green Crystals.
For an average person living and working in the Cinderella Monarchy, the average monthly income was about 2 White Crystals and 5 Blue Crystals. That was why many people rarely bought newspapers or considered reading a luxury for the upper class.
The reason for the high price of papers and books was that the Cinderella Monarchy was built upon an Arcanic Anomaly that existed after the Era of the Burning Flower. This anomaly caused any objects related to knowledge or books to be unable to be manufactured, they would simply burn to ash as long as they were within the range of the Anomaly.
This made the import of books a top priority alongside educational development. It wasn't uncommon to see Cinderella children playing outside; instead of running or playing hide-and-seek, they chose quiet spots to read or practice scientific experiments and discuss them.
Because of this upbringing, Cinderella people were heavily influenced by what they read. They deeply respected pure love from romantic novels, fine food from cookbooks, and especially knowledge. You could tell just by how they cherished books, compasses, or telescopes kept in glass cabinets.
"Haha, why the long face, kid? Your girlfriend mad at you or something?"
The newsstand owner chuckled, taking another deep drag of his cigarette.
"It's not that..."
"Hey now, making your woman sad is a no-go. You remind me of the time when I..."
Shuddering as the owner prepared to recount one of his romantic tales, Lenore quickly grabbed the paper and made up a random reason to escape.
"A-Ah! My stomach hurts! Excuse me...!"
He slipped away before the owner could even ask if he was okay. As he walked, he sighed to himself.
'Typical Cinderella person. Besides, I don't even have a girlfriend.'
After checking the map of the bridge system in the Upper Bridge District and identifying his meeting point, Lenore headed down the path leading to the adjacent bridge, turned left, and climbed up to the next bridge. After a series of zigzagging routes, he finally reached the rendezvous.
'Whoever thought building a city on a series of bridges was a good idea deserves to go to Former Wonderland...'
Realizing he still had time before the meeting, Lenore sat on a nearby bench and watched the bustling crowd. He saw children laughing, couples freely showing affection, and cars emitting fragrant, colorful smoke. A shadow of gloom crossed his face as he watched the peaceful scene, and then he opened his newspaper to read.
Royalty, technology, politics, short stories, and so on. He read through the snippets slowly, missing no details, until his eyes stopped at a small blurb in the corner:
[THE 'CROWN' TERRORIST ORGANIZATION STILL NOT FOUND]
Frowning, he folded the paper and covered his face with a sigh, hiding eyes that were now even gloomier than before.
'Still... not found.'
Just then, a voice appeared.
"Excuse me, sir, but may I ask you something?"
The voice belonged to a girl in a pale white nun's habit. The outfit was accented by numerous chains wrapped around her waist, with one chain hanging down like a silver silk sash, highlighting her slender waist.
On her shoulder was a beautifully handcrafted silk band featuring religious symbols: a tree holding a white apple emitting a halo, encircled by a snow-white snake skeleton swallowing its own tail. She bowed with her hand over her chest to show respect, revealing a prosthetic hand made of exquisite porcelain joints.
Behind the blonde nun, Lenore saw two others. First was a muscular middle-aged man with graying hair. Despite his scarred appearance, his expression was relaxed, almost gentle. Around his neck was a necklace that sparkled in the sun, revealing artistic silver engravings set with a clear green gemstone, giving him the air of a high-ranking military officer despite his simple white shirt and thin black coat.
The other person was the one who impressed Lenore the most. She had short black hair reaching her shoulders, with hints of blue-black at the tips and numerous silver-white hair segments hanging down like wings. One of these 'wing' segments was tied right between her eye and ear on the right side.
These details suited her strangely well, giving her a look that was, wild?
She tilted her head to look at him, and Lenore flinched. Her eyes were a hazy yellowish-red with hints of blue and green beneath the iris, looking like lenses reflecting everything, with pupils slit like a reptile's.
'What is she...?' Lenore thought to himself.
She wore a sleeveless white shirt. The back of the shirt turned charcoal gray and extended to her knees like a cloak, matching perfectly with her black skirt.
Her gaze toward him was full of intense interest.
"Ah, of course. How can I help you, miss?"
"Praise Lord Grimm. Could you tell me—"
The nun began to speak, making a sign over her chest, drawing a point from top to bottom, then two circles, one bisected by a line and the other encircling both. But before she could finish, her face was violently pushed aside. Before Lenore could see what happened, he only heard a "Gah?!" from the nun as she was replaced by the girl with the wing-hair, who shoved her face close to his with excitement.
"Hey, you!!"
"Uh, y-yes?!"
For some reason, as she approached, the tattoo hidden beneath his white glove suddenly grew hot.
"Look, look! I have a piece of hair tied between my ear and eye on the right! It's just like yours, except yours is on the upper left!!" She babbled while twirling her hair, then looked straight into his eyes and said with curiosity, "Hey, do you think this is destiny? Our meeting, I mean?"
"...Destiny?"
That word... felt agonizing to him.
"Or maybe we're long-lost siblings?! Think about it, who else would style their hair like this!!"
She laughed loudly, as if her comment was the funniest joke a person from the notoriously dull RRH Republic could ever conceive.
"...I'm sorry, I don't have any family or siblings."
"..."
A silence fell over the four of them, including the nun struggling to get up and the muscular man who had been reaching out to stop the wing-haired girl. Guilt flooded the girl's face.
Then, she suddenly burst into tears.
"Sniff... I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean it! Uwaaaaaaaa!!!"
Panicked by her sudden emotional outburst, Lenore stumbled forward to help her up, but before he could act,
THWACK!!
"Ivoryyyyyyy! You dare push your sister?!!" The nun roared, delivering a powerful chop to the wing-haired girl's head. As Ivory shrieked, the nun continued her revenge by grinding her knuckles into the girl's temples. "Ow, ow! Uncle Port, save me from Sister Nine!!"
Ignoring the girl's pleas for help, the muscular man stepped toward Lenore and apologized while the tragedy continued behind him.
"I am truly sorry for Ivory's words. She has a bit of trouble controlling her emotions. Though we'd love to make it up to you with a meal..."
He hesitated for a moment.
"We actually don't have any money right now. So, could we ask if there's any work in Sui Cornal where we can earn money quickly? We... really need funds urgently." He winked, and Lenore immediately understood the implication.
'Underground work is fine too?'
"Oh, it's alright. As for quick work, you need a degree or at least a professional certificate. If you have one, you can head to the city center, that big bridge over there. They usually post short-term openings with high pay."
He then looked toward the Bridge Bottom District. These were the areas located directly underneath the Upper Bridge Districts, beneath the bridges themselves. It was a city that was the complete opposite of the structures above, the architecture was inverted, clinging to the bottom of the bridges.
Unlike the bright and safe Upper Bridge District, the Bridge Bottom District was home to countless criminals and underground gangs constantly at war. The Bridge Bottom District was smaller, existing only under a few bridges near the city borders. The reason criminals could move around the 'bottom' was simply because they possessed Arcane Items capable of inverting gravity for the wearer.
To prevent citizens from witnessing the bloody scenes of criminal life, warning and barrier systems were in place to keep the public from wandering into areas where they might be kidnapped or caught in crossfire. Consequently, security in the Bridge Bottom District was extremely lax, as most Government and Church forces were focused on preventing criminals from entering the Upper Bridge District.
Pointing toward the Bridge Bottom District above their heads, Lenore hinted:
"But you must be careful not to enter the Bridge Bottom District. The criminals there love betting on fights. Sturdy men like you easily drive them wild during matches, which means the money earned is equally high. Just be careful not to catch their eye, especially near that tunnel leading to the northern bridge-bottom area."
"I see. Thank you, young man."
"You're welcome."
The muscular man turned and called the nun and the wing-haired girl to follow him north. As the nun and the man dragged the girl along the ground, she lifted her head, looking at Lenore with expectant eyes and waving.
"I'm really sorry! It was nice to meet you! I'm sure we'll meet again! Very soon!!!"
With a strained smile, he waved back.
'Hopefully never!!'
As the three silhouettes faded into the tunnel, a luxury car pulled up to where Lenore was sitting. A door opened, and a man appeared.
"Mr. Blackwood, let's go."
"Mhm."
On the way to the funeral where he was about to work, traffic became congested. Bored, he opened the window to look outside. As he glanced up toward the Bridge Bottom District, he saw a fight in progress.
A blonde girl in a nun's habit stood opposite a thug. She was holding up a porcelain middle finger and saying to him:
"Your mom's fat."
The thug roared and charged at her, but a moment later, a 'crash' and a 'thud' echoed simultaneously. The thug's head was planted into the ground, and the crowd began to cheer while the girl blew smoke off her hand.
Within that crowd, there was a muscular man with a relieved expression and a girl with wing-like hair cheering louder than anyone else, her emotions characteristically over the top.
For some reason, seeing that scene, Lenore cracked a small smile, remembering the wing-haired girl's words that they would meet again soon. He closed his eyes and leaned back into his seat as the car moved on.
'What a bunch of idiots.'