NOVEL WEB Chapter 50: Chapter 50: The Bard
In the days that followed, Yuna simply chatted with Cipher as usual, refraining from any peculiar behavior. This gradually dispelled Cipher's earlier suspicions.
As the group drew closer to the capital, they began encountering other travelers on the road: adventurers, merchants, and, most distressingly, gaunt, hollow-eyed refugees in tattered clothes. These living corpses shuffled numbly along the muddy path toward Cloudsea City.
Many collapsed mid-stride, never to rise again. Before long, their bodies would be dragged into the adjacent woods by passing travelers.
Cipher didn't want to hear or know what happened next. She raised her hands above her head and covered her cat ears.
There was no doubt these were people from nearby towns and villages who couldn't pay their taxes or afford food. But why were they flocking to Cloudsea City?
It was no secret that the Church of the God of Life had dispatched numerous priests to aid civilians in the Grand Duchy of Kandela after learning of the famine. As the capital, Cloudsea City naturally had the highest concentration of priests, making it a potential source of free food.
The underlying reason for this mass migration was simple: survival. With life in the villages impossible, the exodus began with a single villager. Others followed suit, and soon the trickle turned into a flood.
The journey to Cloudsea City was long and arduous, and many wouldn't make it, collapsing along the way. Yet the road remained eerily clean, devoid of corpses. Later arrivals would drag the fallen to the side, ensuring the path remained clear.
Even Aria, normally a chatterbox with a gift for conversation, fell silent at the sight. After encountering the first two waves of refugees, she had given away most of her food, keeping only enough to barely sustain herself until she reached Cloudsea City.
Of course, she only gave away her own share. She didn't ask her teammates to do the same.
"That king... was he willing to sacrifice so many lives just to use the Hell Book? What could he possibly want? Was it really worth it?" Aria murmured, her head bowed.
"I don't know what he intended to do with the Hell Book, but I'm sure that, in his eyes, it was absolutely worth it," Cipher shrugged. "He probably doesn't even see these commoners as human beings."
Seven days after Yuna and her two companions temporarily joined their group—exactly half a month since Cipher and her party had departed Stone Pine City—they finally arrived at the kingdom's capital, Cloudsea City.
Before they even drew close, Cipher's eyes were drawn to vast stretches of withered, yellowed farmland. It was summer, theoretically the peak growing season, yet nearly all the crops outside the city walls had withered and died.
The scene was so unnatural that Fett detoured to inspect the fields. When he returned, his expression was grave. "There are traces of magic power in the soil," he reported. "The crop failure is undoubtedly linked to magic."
Cloudsea City was surrounded by fertile plains, making it a major grain-producing center and the logical choice for the nation's capital. If the king intended to orchestrate a famine, targeting this land was inevitable.
As Cipher approached the city gates, she saw the roadsides crowded with refugees. Huddled together in small groups, they stared blankly at the sky, motionless. Unless she strained her ears, she couldn't tell if they were dead or alive.
Clearly, the capital city couldn't allow such a massive influx of refugees, so they had been barred from entering. Having traveled such great distances, the refugees had no strength left to go elsewhere. They could only stay with their families, silently awaiting their final moments.
There were far too many refugees to count. Cipher scanned the surroundings, and everywhere she looked, she saw emaciated figures resembling desiccated corpses. Hundreds? Thousands? No, far more than that—too many to even estimate. True to its name, the Hell Book, she thought grimly. This scene truly lives up to the name of hell.
At the gates of Cloudsea City, the guards, noticing Cipher and her companions' neat attire, immediately recognized them as not being refugees and waved them through without question.
The moment they stepped through the city gates, it felt as if they had entered another dimension. The first thing they saw was a pristine plaza where a strikingly handsome man with short, light green hair and a tricorn hat stood on a raised platform. He played a violin and sang a song Cipher had never heard before.
There was no doubt this was a bard. A large crowd had gathered around him, quietly enjoying the music. When the performance ended, the audience burst into applause and cheers, with some tossing Silver Lions or Copper Oaks into the bard's wooden bowl.
Hell raged just beyond the city walls, yet inside, people were still indulging in life, listening to music and watching performances. Wasn't that bitterly ironic?
"Thank you all for your generous support! I'm truly grateful!" After his performance, the bard bowed deeply, picked up his wooden bowl, and gathered the coins scattered around it.
As the crowd gradually dispersed, the bard finished collecting his money. Suddenly, something caught his eye, and he strode directly toward Cipher.
He bowed slightly, adopting an exceptionally gentlemanly tone. "A truly beautiful young lady," he began. "The moment I laid eyes on you, I felt my soul ascend. Perhaps the very purpose of my existence was to meet you here, at this very moment. May I have the honor of knowing your fair name?"
"???" Cipher was visibly stunned. She pointed at herself. "Y-you're talking to me?"
"Of course, my dear lady," the bard replied with a smile. "Who else could I possibly be addressing?"
Cipher shuddered involuntarily. Goosebumps erupted all over her body, and her tail bristled slightly.
To be honest, she knew she was cute, but being so brazenly and awkwardly flattered for the first time left her feeling deeply uncomfortable.
In fact, everyone present was stunned, especially Douglas, whose jaw dropped in utter disbelief.