Chapter 218 The Unusual Miyuki
In less than half an hour, my impression of the frozen snow capital changed several times.
Initially, it was a chaotic city described by the hunter's family as having a clear hierarchy and wild mages running rampant.
After witnessing the city's gateway firsthand, one encounters the ancient capital, a city whose construction methods were ingenious, yet whose defenses were rather weak.
Now that I have officially stepped into the city, my impression of it has been completely reversed, becoming a shiny and beautiful exterior, but a rotten and stinking garbage dump inside.
Yes, I'm pretty sure I didn't use the wrong words to describe it.
This is indeed a large garbage dump that is only visually appealing.
The Frozen Snow City itself is a large urban complex that is almost entirely embedded within the hollow of a mountain peak.
However, unlike those mountain caves that are simply hollowed out but are worried about collapsing due to over-development, this city looks more like the hard but hollow flesh inside a cracked walnut.
The mountain shells on both sides are relatively open, intersecting and fitting together at a subtle angle overhead, supporting each other. A huge elongated rhomboid polyhedron structure floats in mid-air below, with iridescent halos moving up and down, just like a real sun providing light to the entire city.
Under the light provided by this polyhedron, the city, which spirals upwards from the outside in, is almost clearly visible.
Perhaps due to the shelter of the mountains on both sides, most areas of the city were not covered by snow.
Looking into the distance, near the very center of the city, a magnificent building composed of multiple spires occupies a large area, with a huge, pure white female statue clustered in the center. It looks human but is not entirely human, with four sharp horns protruding from the ring on its head, wings extending from its shoulder blades around its sides, its hands clasped in front of its chest, and a compassionate expression on its face.
Beyond this, there are no fewer than a dozen clusters of buildings with spires scattered throughout, surrounded and blocked by a tall wall, like an insurmountable chasm, enough to make ordinary people feel both despair and longing.
It was an exceptionally clean, pure white inner city wall, gleaming with a dazzling spiritual light. Beyond it were numerous patchwork stone houses, a jumble of gray and charcoal black.
The buildings near the inner city wall were relatively decent, at least with clean porches and colorful, sloping, stepped roofs. However, closer to the outer city wall, dilapidated shacks, leaning precariously and looking as if they might collapse at any moment, became the norm.
Solid wood, bearing traces of burning and violent destruction, is scattered haphazardly on the crooked cobblestone path that resembles a street. A toddler, covered in coarse hemp and rotten leather, sits blankly playing by the roadside, his purplish-red sores mixed with mud, emitting a foul odor.
"The environment here is much worse than when I left to embark on my journey a few years ago."
Shen Xue, her brows furrowed, gazed at the middle-aged woman washing clothes in the frozen, murky ditch and murmured softly.
I quietly moved closer to her: "I haven't heard you talk much about your past yet. And given the current situation, it seems your main activity this time will likely be limited to this city... Would you mind telling me about it?"
Miyuki glanced at me: "I don't care what your purpose is, because it's none of my business."
"As for this city, I can only say that my understanding of it is not comprehensive, but as far as I know, most of the stories are not interesting."
She paused, and seeing Alice and I approaching her at the same time, she simply looked around and cleared her throat: "As you can see, this is a city that arbitrarily divides people into the noble and the lowly, and builds upon that foundation."
"Because of the traditions left over from ancient times, the vast majority of people in the city believe in gods whose true faces are unknown. Those who consider themselves noble occupy high positions, preach morality, and after giving sporadic alms, they ask the recipients to repay a hundredfold."
"Poverty and hunger are the norm, but only by succumbing to reality can one barely survive. Otherwise, one can only choose to fight against ferocious beasts with a hungry body on the vast snowfield, or choose to sell one's dignity or conscience as a human being, becoming a plaything that those big shots can discard at will, or a shadow who handles dirty work."
The injured hunter couple stayed by their sick daughter's side, looking around timidly, their heads hunched and not daring to say a word.
The eldest son, though still young and having gained some experience, would occasionally glance at us curiously, his big, dark eyes darting around in their sockets.
"It sounds like a really backward place."
Alice, sitting cross-legged in the driver's seat, turned her head and casually swung the whip, letting the hairy ox pull the cart slowly through the city: "But I've heard that there are still noble families from the pre-dynastic era here, haven't they? Haven't those guys done anything about it?"
"Back in the time of Restalis, one of the inevitable consequences of deliberately creating class divisions like this was the embezzlement of the kingdom's property. The result was either extravagant indulgence or the accumulation of military power. Once discovered, the local lord would be severely punished."
As she spoke, she traced her fingers from her neck to one side, then deliberately tilted her head and stuck out her tongue.
“The nobles of the former dynasty…you mean that important family with a family name?” Miyuki hesitated for a moment, then shook her head. “I don’t know exactly what they do. The only thing I know is that most of their family members haven’t appeared in public for a long time.”
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