Villages that were once prosperous, perhaps full of laughter, are now silent and cold ruins. The wooden houses that were charred by the fire have not been stained with a trace of snow white, even after years of snow and ice. In the middle of the ruins of a pile of houses, there are obvious traces of a former well, which has long since been abandoned. The ruins of the entire village are filled with an eerie sense of familiarity. For Martha, those broken old memories that were once sealed in the bottom of her heart and never even calmed down and recalled them over the years surfaced little by little.

Although they are poor, what they have to eat will always be given priority to their parents - when the neighbor's two elder brothers bring a large sum of money Mira back here, the neighbor's uncle, who is not very well, will always buy some bread and dry food, and then generously distribute it to the whole village—including the old woman on the west side of the village whose two sons died early and are over eighty years old and have no one to support them, and the old uncle in the south of the village, who is always silent, rough-skinned and extremely dark. It is said that he was a huntsman in his youth, but was hit by several bullets on the battlefield and managed to save his life.

In addition, the two who are always able to send money back to the family, and the neighbor's brother seems to be also engaged in a job called "hunter" outside. Little Martha didn't know what the outside world was like, she just hoped that the two neighbor brothers who had never met before could get the shivering postman to deliver a paper bag full of Mira as soon as possible, and then exchange it for some food, so that she could look forward to the food that was unpalatable but filling her stomach, and a warm and simple stove that could make people feel warm in the cold winter in the north.

It was in this environment that Martha grew up to be fifteen years old – until that day came.

The two neighbors' elder brothers, since they were sensible, have been doing their jobs as "hunters" outside, and they have met in the future village. She had asked her parents more than once why her two benefactor's brothers had never shown up – and their parents had replied that for those who did their job, no news meant safety. Every time this happens, Martha's parents look a little worried, and then disappear without a trace. Martha didn't understand what they meant, and didn't understand why her parents kept saying this, until a heavy message came back to the village postman after a harsh winter that had just passed.

The two men, who had never met before, but who had only sent back to their hometowns with more and more money, and fewer and fewer starving people in the village, brought in an unprecedented number of Mira - when the postman took out the package containing Mira from the humble cart, the crowd who saw the heavy and huge package could not help but let out an exclamation, and some even let out a shrill cheer. Martha could understand that although she didn't know much about what it was for, she had never seen a large bag of money like it—ten times more than the most she had ever seen before. However, some, including their own parents and the parents of the two older brothers, did not have a good face. Perhaps they already knew what the consequences would be when something like this happened.

"I'm sorry...... This was actually two weeks ago. I'm sorry that the weather was so bad that it was delivered today. The person who delivered the package was no longer the same as usual, but said in a very heavy, very slow tone: "This is sad news. Both of their sons, in a previous clash in Calvard, ...... Unfortunately, he died. This is the hunting regiment to which the two of them belong, and according to the positions and merits of the two of them before their deaths, as well as the circumstances of their respective relatives, the condolence money and pensions sent by them, totaling ......"

Martha couldn't remember the rest of the words - she only knew that when she heard the word "sacrifice", she felt something break in her mind in an instant.

At the same time, it was the group of people who were still cheering, and they all fell silent.

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"Original...... This has happened. So...... Do you want to leave the village and become a chasesser after that? In order to inherit the responsibilities of the two of them, use the money earned to feed the whole village? Heliga listened patiently to Martha's story—the maiden wandered alone among the ruins of the village, gently caressing the charred pieces of wood that had been soaked in the wind and snow and beginning to rot and mold, and gently tread the land that she had missed the most, and which she did not want to miss.

"It's because of the two of them. But, at that time, I just didn't know what else I could do. Martha sighed, "The land near my hometown is all permafrost, and it is covered in snow and ice for half of the year, so the weather is very cold...... Nothing can grow on this land. I had heard from the monks of the Church that the salinized areas in the north had been deposited with some rainwater because of the plateau in the west, and that some crops could be grown, but ......" Martha suddenly closed her mouth and did not continue the subject.

"......" Helliga remembered Ain's words and was silent - it seems that after growing up and understanding, after learning about the Salt Pile incident, and understanding that it led to the current predicament of Northumbria, Martha is more serious about this matter than she can imagine.

"Anyway, I can't think of anything else to do but be a hunter. It's just that it's not because they want to inherit the ambition of the two of them and become the pillar of the village instead of them. Because I...... There is no hometown to take care of. ”

“…… What the? Heliga was clearly unprepared for this statement.

"Aren't you weird? If it is said that the village is uninhabited because of the loss of the source of funds, then how could the people at that time have the leisure to deliberately set the village on fire? Martha looked at Hyliga and asked softly.

"yes...... If so...... "Heliga looked around - for the inhabitants of Northumbria, there was no need to burn the village on fire, even if it couldn't stay any longer. So, according to Martha, this fire was ...... when people were still in the village?

He looked at Martha with an inquiring gaze. Martha understood the question in Helica's eyes, and nodded a little sadly: "Exactly. It was from that moment that I began to feel that the people around me were sometimes not as amiable as they appeared. On the contrary, there are times when these people can become the embodiment of evil. When their pensions arrived, the people of the village knew that from now on, there would never be more Mira to them - that was the last money they could get here. However, almost no one comforted the neighbor Uncle and his wife, who had just lost their two sons, but ...... Almost immediately, there was a big fight over what the money would be used for later. It was proposed that the money should be divided equally, and everyone should flee for their lives to relatives and friends elsewhere, and if they had the money as a so-called petition, they should not be rejected. However, some people seem to have no such choice, or simply burst out of evil thoughts in the essence of their souls in this situation......"

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For the last huge sum of money that could be obtained in the village in front of them, the people of the village were naturally divided into two factions with different opinions. Negative emotions such as dissatisfaction with the hardships of life on weekdays all erupted at this moment. No one cared that the real owners of the money should be the parents of the two dead hunters, who alone theoretically had the power to dispose of this huge amount of money, and no one cared about the fact that at this moment, in addition to the loss of their eternal source of income, like everyone else, they also lost their own loved ones whom they had not seen for several years—a double pain that no one could share in them.

The quarrel eventually escalated into a fight. Those who proposed to divide the money equally and disperse elsewhere were met with a lot of fierce opposition. Most of them no longer have relatives to turn to, or simply do not have the ability to live on their own—just as in the end of the world, people tear their faces apart for the last bit of resources, completely ignoring the social aspects of the past. However, the already hungry people did not have much strength to fight and argue, and in the process of arguing-resting-arguing again several times, the two sides finally reached a basic agreement under the persuasion of several respected old people in the village: to rate the money, and at the same time, to match it to different degrees according to the situation of each family. Ordinary adults can get one portion, the elderly with physical illnesses can get half of it, and children who have not yet grown up can get half of it...... Etcetera. And the couple who lost their two sons, under this operation that did not take into account their feelings at all, ended up just like other ordinary couples, and got two pitiful shares.

In this regard, the two were already so sad that they didn't want to argue anymore. After that, the people dispersed, packed their things, and when the weather warmed up a little more, they set off - if things had passed like this, it would have been a good result, but accidents, or rather inevitable, still happen in this situation.

When a person is born, he is neither good nor evil, just like a blank piece of paper, and what kind of person he becomes after that depends on his acquired education and personal experience. Therefore, there are bound to be people who exude malice in the process of growing up, and some people who share warmth. Those selfish people are obviously not satisfied with the benefits they have made from this huge amount of money, but they dare not speak out because of the attitude of the majority, but their eyes have already revealed that their ambition is not completely dead. At the same time, however, there are many sympathizers for the couple who lost their son. Among them, some of them know relatives who are quite good in other villages, and some have lived for most of their lives, and they have nothing to worry about for the rest of their lives, so it is better to burn the residual heat and let these people who should not have died here live longer...... On the same night, they took a portion of the meagre money that was already scarce and delivered it to the couple. Martha was also commissioned by her parents to take out half of the money and return it to its original owners, the couple, and to thank them for their contribution over the long period. Feeling the sincere emotion of the two of them, and looking at the enthusiastic faces of the others, Martha felt for the first time that there were still many people in this world who deserved to be respected—even in such a place.

It's a pity that reality played a big joke on Martha again. Just as these people were leaving in the middle of the night, the demon also quietly appeared behind them. Those who thought they deserved a share of the matter followed them to the couple's home—for them, the money sent by dozens of people was much larger than the part in their hands—and it was not without chance that, if they were lucky, they would have taken the money to the new capital of No, or even smuggled into the Empire. Most of them have no relatives and no worries, so they plan to get out of here as soon as they steal the money - but just when they think that the owner of the house is asleep and ready to do it, they don't realize that these two people are so sad that they can't sleep because of the loss of their two sons, and in this case, these people, who have been taking the money that the two of them have bought with their lives, still shamelessly attack this thing that does not belong to them at all......

The couple, who have been immersed in the grief of losing their loved ones all the time, and are too lazy to pay attention to the ugly faces of these people, finally can't bear it anymore. Driven by rage, they desperately swung their weak fists from malnutrition and struck at the thieves. Even if there are many people who are already thieves, they are not opponents in this situation, so they have to flee in embarrassment. It's just that even if the good people start to resist, they can't stop the evil people from being malicious - with the mentality that if it's not mine, you don't want to have it, these people set a fire before fleeing, and then fled.

Since it was a dilapidated village with dozens of people, the houses were built haphazardly out of dry wood and wood – and there was no fire safety awareness or anything like that. The fire spread rapidly, and in just a few minutes, it burned to the top of every house in the village. In the panic, people screamed and shouted to leave the house that had collapsed due to the heat and fire - Martha's parents were awakened by the screams of the people and the scorching air currents overhead, and they scrambled to pick up the most important things in the house and scrambled out of the house that had long been called "home" surrounded by raging fires. However, when they finally left the village, which had gradually turned into ruins in the fire, Martha's parents could not last long because they had inhaled too much smoke from the fire......

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