Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
San calendar, 1358, Amos Icefield, in the Kingdom of Orc.
There was no four seasons around the year over there, but there was only one season above the Icefield and that was winter.
Above the cold and desolate Icefield, there were still a large number of Orcs in the North. In there, Istan City was the last city in the abyss icefield. If one walked further down, he would reach the end of the Alen Continent.
The city, with a population of less than 20,000, depended on hunting magical beasts, animals, planting special magical plants on the Amos Icefield, and the oceans to survive.
There was no wharf for airships unlike other cities in their Magic Crystal Era; there was only a broken Steam Train Station. Only one steam train arrived there every month. There was a lack of alchemy facilities which was popularized in that era. Only three simple large-scale alchemical boilers were available to supply heat in the city.
In addition, there were three steam cargo locomotives of the Elias Chamber of Commerce, an old magic transceiver in the conference hall. There were only a few wealthy families who owned some simple alchemy props, such as the alchemy stove, magic radio and other smaller gadgets.
“Compared to Primonius, we’re like the primitives!”
“There’re no grand theatre, no coffee shop, no bank, no ballroom, the shops in the street has nothing much to offer yet they’re extremely expensive!”
A girl who looked a little exotic was following her elder sister with a face full of dissatisfaction. They were leading four ice bears, dragging a sled and two big boxes.
Inside were the fishes they had just caught under the ice, including a special top-grade food, blue swordfish, which was only available from the Dead Ice Sea, it could fetch a very high price.
They both wore thick winter clothes, furry hats, leather gloves on their hands. The elder sister, Helen, was in front, and the younger sister, Agatha, was behind. Although they were exuding a strong exotic aura, their bestial characteristics were not very obvious; they weren’t very different from ordinary human beings.
After more than a thousand years of hybridization between the human race and the orc, most orcs had no obvious bestial characteristics, except for the accidental phenomenon of atavism.
Agatha, the younger sister, was like a leopard, she was full of strength and vitality between her every movements; she couldn’t even stop for a moment. Even in the present when she was on the sled, her buttocks twisted and turned, she was endlessly chattering and kicking up a row. She seemed like she was unable to settle down. However, her older sister was very quiet and always had a smile on her face, she was looking bright and warm.
“I think Istan City is pretty decent. It’s our home town. Everyone is very nice. They’re pretty good. Although it’s a little underdeveloped and poor, everyone is living a very happy life!” Helen said with a laugh, as if the place was really as happy as she described.
On Helen’s neck, there was a transparent pearl. Nobody knew that it was the legendary Pearl of Dana. But at the moment, the Pearl of Dana was transparent, without a trace of brilliance.
Only those who didn’t have any desire would enable the Pearl of Dana to be presented in that transparent color. If Lu Zhiyu was here, he would be surprised to find out that there could be someone who had no desire and had nothing she earnestly hoped for.
As the sled pulled by the ice bears approached Istan City, they saw a figure walking towards the city step by step on the snow. That person hadn’t arrived by the monthly Steam Train, but by walking.
The sisters’ sledges brushed past each other, and Helen immediately had a clear look of his appearance; he had a hideous and ugly face and he was a boar-people with obvious bestial characteristics. He looked a bit fiendish. In that moment, he was wearing a thin black cloak as he walked in the snow.
“That man looks terrible!” Agatha hugged her sister’s waist in fear.
“It’s wrong to say that of others!” Helen was angry and taught her younger sister a lesson.
“His choice of clothing is weird too. Nobody else wears this kind of clothes now, and here is the deep inside of the Amos Icefield. But I heard that the great figures from churches and professionals like to dress up and wear ancient style robes.”
“Maybe he’s the passengers who had lost his way while exploring the Amos Icefield!”
“Anyway, what a weirdo!”
While he was walking in the snow and ice, Bart raised his head and looked at Istan City in the distant. The ugly and vicious face and mouth began to twitch and he spoke, “Here I am at last!”
He size up Istan City, it had no walls, no Master Tower, no witchcraft boundary which was only owned by big cities, no groups of priests and army of Holy Knights residing permanently, there was only a small team of Holy Knights.
Apart from some major public buildings, most of the civilian buildings were small buildings with only two or three stories, covered with black and brown tiles. It was a really remote and obscure city. Even gods seemed to have forgotten about it.
It was a city at the end of the world, a city at the edge of Alen Continent, but it was the safest place for Bart.
“Here it is!”
Bart’s eyes revealed a strange glow, his original brown pupils was glowing with a green flame; it was the fire of the devil that was burning. He walked towards the city, his heavy steps on the snow lifted patches of snowflake, through the slope of the snow, he went into the city.
Bart was a powerful Level Four demon warlock wanted by major churches. He had been wandering on Alen Continent for more than 300 years and also been hunted and chased to kill by major churches for more than 300 years. The initial reason of the hunt was because when he first degenerated into a demon, he annihilated a whole village.
Later, as more and more people pursued him, he continuously fled and hid, constantly killing various devil hunters, indictment priests and Knight of Light of major churches. His bad reputation became increasing infamous; he was the second on the list among all the other figures in the warrants of demons by major churches.
After more than a decade of hiding in Primonius, the army of Arbitration Knights from the Faith of the Sun found him again, Bart then fled for another 300 years; he was forced into exile again.
This time, however, Bart didn’t want to flee. He was ready to fall into the abyss and break away from the world to become a wicked devil in the abyss.
He was going to offer sacrifice to Bartosz, the Lord of Deepest Abyss, to become a Demon Baron under his command. And the Istan City, which was located at the most marginal part of the world, without witchcraft boundary, without groups of priests and without an army of Holy Knights, it was just like a little girl without any vigilance and protections; the city had become his target.
He was afraid of alarming the professionals of the Faith of the Sun, instead of taking a Steam Train, he spent a full month walking over to the Amos Icefield from the North.
“This isn’t timidity, I’m following my heart! It’s the instinct and intuition of a specialist fugitive expert who has fled for more than 300 years and survived the pursuit of the powerful aces of various churches!” Bart asserted himself.