I can hear that voice.
How sweet and disgusting that voice is.
It belongs to a young woman. Her hair is long and flowing like silk, her skin as fair as someone in her twenties, and in those melancholy eyes, filled with colors I could never know or understand, is a reflection of blood and viscera.
"Enough. You, more than anyone, shall bear this curse from me. The ugliest of all, more maddening than anything else."
Her eyes began to bleed. I could no longer see any colors in them; her already somber eyes grew even darker as they were dyed a deep, crimson red.
"Hah, hah...
May you suffer ultimate pain throughout eternity,
May you grieve in the deaths of your kin,
May you eventually become a man of nothing."
And then, she stabbed deep into my chest, holding it there forever...
But there was one thing she didn't know: I had already stopped feeling pain, I no longer had any 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 Constitutional Monarchy]
"Ugh... I don't want to wake up at all."
Waking up sluggishly in disheveled 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 lazily sink back into sleep.
'But if I don't get up and go to work, I'll have nothing to eat but Flow-Fish...'
Staggering to brush his teeth and wash his face, he had a quick bite of sweet Velvet red-bread and a cup of instant coffee. Once he had prepared his funeral attire, he grabbed a few White Crystal bills and stepped out of his lodging toward the district's central street.
On his way to the center, unlike his usual routine, he had to detour through several smaller neighborhoods instead of going straight. This was to avoid the eyes of the police and certain Church officials who had, for some reason, been gathering in large numbers in the Upper Bridge District lately.
'Is there an Inscriber or some member of an Occult terrorist organization appearing in the Upper Bridge District?'
Suddenly, Lenore's train of thought was distracted by a scent he had always been nostalgically familiar with: the pungent, sweet smell of rot that hit his nostrils just as he stepped onto the last stair of a small bridge.
He paused, instinctively turning his gaze to the base of a lamppost where a poor creature had reached its end long ago. Amidst the hurried footsteps of the crowd, the skeleton of a pigeon with a few patches of rotting flesh still clinging to it lay lonely, a faint trace proving it had once existed in this bustling place.
Sighing softly, he didn't move on but stood there quietly. He clasped his hands in prayer, then solemnly traced a circle and two sparkling stars across his chest.
When he left, the place where the pigeon's corpse had been no longer smelled of decay; there was no trace of rot left behind. Only a circular scorch mark remained, along with a handful of shimmering ashes swept into the void by the wind.
Upon entering 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 for sale!! Premium Velvet red-bread with Compass Bat meat!! Only 5 Green Crystal cents!!"
"Anyone want to buy Occult Artifacts?? Crafted with high-grade Miracle extracted from Sonecho, the Capital of the Ariel Union!!"
"Marseille cars with the latest internal combustion engines..."
Glancing past the stalls and advertisements, Lenore walked up to a weathered newsstand where a middle-aged man was dozing inside. He tapped his hand on the counter to signal his presence.
"Eh-huh? Oh, it's Blackwood. 'The Fisherman' as usual?" The man startled awake and immediately shifted into a brisk business posture.
"Yes, 'The Fisherman,' please, Mr. Bill," Lenore said, reaching into his pocket to pull out a Blue Crystal coin. However, the man quickly pushed it back toward him.
"Sorry, lad, but the price of the paper is now one Blue Crystal and two Green Crystal cents."
"What?! The newspaper price went up too?!"
Hearing this, the man sighed, took a cigarette from his pocket, reached for a small jar containing a colored powder on the shelf, sprinkled it on the cigarette, lit it, took a deep drag, and exhaled.
"Yeah, exactly. Word is the shipping routes for wood and ink at sea are stalled because some Occult Species emerged from the depths and attacked the ships. The route is currently blockaded, waiting for Church personnel and the Government to handle it."
"Is it that bad?"
"...Very bad. Like your girlfriend suddenly getting angry for no reason."
Staring into the newsstand owner's eyes with a judgmental look, Lenore took another Blue Crystal coin 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 Occult Species!! Why the hell are they attacking ships out of nowhere?! 8 Green Crystal cents is almost one Blue Crystal, that's a fifth of my weekly salary!'
To put it simply, the currency standard of the Cinderella Monarchy was quite straightforward compared to other nations. White Crystals were the highest-value paper money, followed by the Blue Crystal coins, and finally, the Green Crystal cents, which were similar to the Blue ones but smaller.
The exchange rate was even simpler, far from the complexity of the Pie currency of the RRH Republic: 1 White Crystal bill was equal to 5 Blue Crystal coins, and 1 Blue Crystal was worth 10 Green Crystal cents. This meant 1 White Crystal equaled 50 Green Crystal cents.
For an average person living and working in the Cinderella Monarchy, the monthly income was about 2 White Crystals and 5 Blue Crystals. That was why many people here rarely bought newspapers or considered reading a hobby for the elite.
The reason for the high cost of newspapers and books was that the Cinderella Monarchy was built on an Occult Anomaly left over from the Age of Burning Flowers. This anomaly caused any items related to knowledge or books to spontaneously combust as long as they were within the anomaly's range.
This made the import and export 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, perform scientific experiments, and discuss them.
Because they were raised this way, the people of Cinderella were heavily influenced by literature. They respected the pure love found in romance books, fine food from cookbooks, and especially knowledge. One only had to look at how they cherished books, compasses, or telescopes in glass cabinets to understand.
"Haha, why so gloomy, young man? Did your girlfriend get mad at you or something?"
The newsstand owner chuckled, taking another deep drag of his cigarette.
"It's not that..."
"Hey now, making your lover sad is a no-go. You remind me of the time when I..."
Shuddering as the owner was about to recount his romantic tales, Lenore quickly grabbed his newspaper and thought of an excuse to escape.
"A-Ah! My stomach hurts!! Excuse me..."
With that, he slipped away before the owner could even ask if he was okay. As he walked, he lamented to himself:
'Typical Cinderella people... besides, it's not like I even have a girlfriend.'
After checking the map of the Upper Bridge District's bridge system and identifying his waiting point, Lenore headed toward the ramp leading to the adjacent bridge, then turned left to cross the next one. After a series of winding paths, he finally arrived at the meeting spot.
'Whoever thought building a city on a series of bridges was a good idea deserves to go to the Old Wonderland...'
Realizing he still had time before the meeting, Lenore sat on a nearby bench and watched the bustling crowd: children laughing, couples freely expressing their affection, and cars emitting fragrant, colored smoke. A hint of gloom appeared on his face as he watched this peaceful scene, then he opened the newspaper.
Royalty, Technology, Politics, Short Stories, and so on. He read these snippets slowly without missing a detail, until his eyes stopped at a small headline in the corner:
[TERRORIST ORGANIZATION "THE CROWN" STILL NOT FOUND]
Frowning, he folded the newspaper 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 strand hanging down, making the ensemble look like a silver silk wrap that emphasized her slender waist.
On her shoulder was a beautifully handcrafted silk band featuring religious symbols: a tree bearing a white apple emitting a halo, encircled by a pure white snake skeleton swallowing its own tail. She bowed with her hands over her chest in a sign of respect, revealing a prosthetic hand with intricate porcelain joints.
Behind the nun, Lenore saw two others. First was a muscular man with grizzled grey hair; despite his battle-scarred appearance, his expression was relaxed, even kind. 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 jacket.
The last person was the one who impressed Lenore the most. She had short black hair reaching her shoulders, with the ends tinged a faint blue-black. Numerous silver-white hair strands hung down like multiple pairs of wings, with one wing-like strand tied between her eye and ear on the right side.
These details suited her strangely well, giving her an air of wildness.
She tilted her head to look at him, and Lenore was startled. Her golden-red eyes had faint hints of blue and green beneath the iris, looking like lenses reflecting everything, while her pupils were vertical, like a reptile's.
'What is this...?' Lenore thought.
She wore a sleeveless white shirt. The back transitioned into a dark grey, extending to her knees like a cloak, perfectly matching her black skirt.
Her gaze toward him was full of intense interest.
"Ah, of course. How can I help you, milady?"
"Praise Lord Grimm. Then, may I ask—"
The nun spoke while tracing a point on her chest from top to bottom, then adding two circles: one bisected by a line and the other surrounding both. But before she could finish, her face was violently pushed aside. Before Lenore could process what happened, he only heard the poor girl's muffled "ack." In her place was another face, thrust right up to his nose with manic excitement. It was the girl with the wing-like hair.
"Hey, you!!"
"Uh, y-yes?!"
Strangely, as the girl approached, the tattoo hidden beneath his white glove suddenly grew searingly hot, as if it were being burned.
"Look, look! I have a strand of hair tied between my ear and eye on the right side!! Just like you, except yours is on the upper left!!" She babbled while twirling that strand of hair in her hand. Then she looked straight into his eyes and said with a hint of curiosity, "Hey, do you think this is destiny? Our meeting, I mean?"
"...Destiny?"
That word, destiny... how painful it was for him.
"Or maybe we're long-lost siblings?! Think about it, who else would choose to style their hair like this!!"
She laughed loudly and rattled on about everything under the sun, as if her previous remark was the funniest sarcasm a citizen of the RRH Republic could ever conceive.
"...I'm sorry, I don't have a family or any siblings."
"..."
A silence fell over the four of them, including the nun who was trying to stand back up and the muscular man who had reached out to stop the wing-haired girl. The girl's face was now overcome with guilt.
Then, she suddenly burst into tears.
"Sniff... I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean it, Uwaaaaaaaa!!!"
Panicked by the girl's sudden emotional outburst, Lenore stumbled forward to help her up, but before he could do anything...
THWACK!!
"Ivoryyyyyyy! How dare you push me?!!" The nun roared, delivering a powerful chop to the wing-haired girl's head. The girl let out a yelp, only for the nun to continue her revenge by grinding her knuckles into the girl's temples. "Ow, ow! Uncle Port, save me from Nine!!"
Ignoring the girl's cries for help, the muscular man stepped in front of Lenore and apologized while the tragedy continued in the background.
"I truly apologize for Ivory's words; she has a bit of trouble controlling her emotions. Although we would love to make it up to you with a meal..."
He hesitated for a moment.
"The truth is, we currently have no money to pay. So, may we ask if there is any work in Sui Cornal that pays quickly? We... are in desperate need of cash." He winked, and Lenore immediately understood the implication.
'Underground work is fine too, then?'
"Oh, it's quite alright. As for finding quick-paying work, you need a degree or at least a specialized certificate. If you have those, you can go to the city center, that large bridge over there. They often post notices for short-term staff with high wages."
Having said that, he looked up toward the Bottom Bridge District. These were the areas beneath the bridges of the Upper Bridge District. Directly under those bridges was a city completely opposite in architecture: everything was inverted and attached to the underside of the bridges, forming the area known as the Bottom Bridge District.
Unlike the bright and safe Upper Bridge District, the Bottom Bridge District harbored countless criminals and underground gangs constantly at each other's throats. The scale of the Bottom Bridge District was smaller, existing only under a few bridges near the city borders. As for how criminals could move about on the underside of the bridge, it was simply because they possessed Occult Artifacts capable of reversing gravity for themselves.
To prevent citizens from witnessing the bloody scenes of the criminals, areas near the Bottom Bridge District were equipped with containment and warning systems to keep the public from wandering into zones where they might be kidnapped or caught in gang disputes. Consequently, security in the Bottom Bridge District was extremely lax, as most Government and Church forces were focused on preventing criminals from entering the Upper Bridge District.
Pointing up toward the Bottom Bridge District above their heads, Lenore hinted:
"But you must also be careful not to enter the Bottom Bridge District. The criminals there love betting matches. Sturdy people like you, sir, can easily drive them wild as spectators, which leads to quite a bit of money being earned. You should be careful not to catch their eye, especially near that tunnel leading up to the northern bottom bridge area."
"I see. Thank you, lad."
"You're very welcome."
The muscular man turned back and called for the nun and the wing-haired girl to follow him toward the north of the bridge. As the nun and the man dragged the wing-haired girl across the ground, she lifted her head and looked at Lenore with expectant eyes, waving her hand.
"I'm really sorry about earlier! And it was very nice to meet you! We'll definitely meet again, very soon!!!"
With a strained smile, he waved back at her.
'Never, hopefully!'
As the three shadows faded into the tunnel, a luxury car pulled up at the spot where Lenore was sitting. A door opened, and a man appeared.
"Mr. Blackwood, let's go."
"Mm."
On the way to the funeral where he was about to work, traffic became congested. Bored, he opened the window to gaze at the scenery. When he looked up at the Bottom Bridge District, he saw a match taking place.
A blonde girl in a nun's habit stood opposite a thug. She was holding up a porcelain middle finger and saying to the thug:
"Your mom's fat."
The thug roared and lunged at her, but in the next instant, a 'crash' and a 'thud' happened simultaneously. The thug had been driven headfirst into the ground, and the crowd began to cheer as the girl flicked away smoke rising from her hand.
In that crowd, there was a muscular man with a relieved expression on his face and a girl with wing-like hair cheering louder than anyone else with excessive emotion.
For some reason, seeing that scene, Lenore smiled a gentle smile, recalling the wing-haired girl's words that they would meet again soon. He closed his eyes and turned back inside the car, leaning against the seat.
'What a bunch of idiots.'