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The little boy stared at her, dumbstruck.
Why didn't the god he believed in come to save him?
"That's because, because there are too many people who believe in Him," he stammered, scrambling for an answer. "There's so much suffering in the world. How could a god save every single person?"
"Oh?" Luo Wei's tone curved upward with skepticism. "But isn't god supposed to be omnipotent?"
"How could a god fail to save people simply because there are too many who suffer?"
"And the righteous gods you worship are so kind and merciful. How could They let the world become like this? How could They allow so many people to live in misery?"
The little boy grasped for an excuse. "Because they're all sinners. Sinners are punished by god. They have to repent for their sins."
Luo Wei's laugh was short and cold. "Little thing. By that logic, you're sinners too?"
"So have you repented? What exactly did you do wrong?"
A flicker of confusion crossed his face. "I, I..."
He genuinely didn't know.
Luo Wei pressed forward. "Your family was murdered. Was that because they were sinners too?"
"The little ones behind you are starving to death. Also because of sin?"
"The priest said we're born sinners!" the boy said, voice rising.
Luo Wei held his gaze. "An infant, with no past life and no life to come — tell me. Why would it be a sinner?"
"I..." The words died in his throat.
Why was he a sinner? Why was a baby a sinner?
The priest had said it was because their birth caused the Creator God's death. That their very existence was the original sin.
But the gods themselves were born from the Creator God's remnant soul. Why were they free of guilt?
The little boy worshipped the God of Wisdom. He wanted to become a hero like O'Drick. He believed that wisdom could solve anything.
And yet, sitting here now, he realized he wasn't clever at all. He couldn't even work out why people were supposed to be sinners in the first place.
He thought for a long, long time, turning it over and over, until something finally clicked.
"I... I'm not a sinner. I'm not a sinner, am I?"
Luo Wei's eyebrow shifted slightly. "Still a little brain left in there. Not completely washed out."
She held out her hand. "Come here. With a head that small, the God of Death and Time wouldn't even bother glancing at you."
"And don't worry about me wanting anything from you. As you said yourself — you have nothing. I'm simply feeling generous."
The little boy took one hesitant step forward, then stopped and turned back.
Five pairs of bright, wide eyes looked up at him, full of trust. They were so small. None of them could even climb out of the cellar on their own.
He made his decision.
He turned back to Luo Wei. "Okay. We'll go with you."
"Wise choice," Luo Wei said.
She withdrew her hand and called over her shoulder. "Troy, carry them all out."
"Understood." Troy walked over in long strides.
A few minutes later, a row of tiny children stood lined up beneath the castle gate, small faces flushed red in the biting wind. Beside them stood a knight as straight and rigid as a poplar tree, expression as severe as a sentry at his post.
Luo Wei took one look and nearly laughed. "Troy, you look like a villain who just stole a bunch of children."
Troy pressed his lips together even tighter. He did not like these children.
One of them , a three-year-old boy , had peed on his armor while being carried out. Because he was scared.
Luo Wei decided to stop torturing him. She turned and gave her orders. "Chris, check how many flatbreads we have left on the carriage and bring some out for the kids."
"Yes, Master!"
"Bailier, Gale, go to the stone house and grab some dry grass. Get a fire going."
"Yes, Master."
She looked back at the boy. "That body in the cellar — who was he to you? How do you want to handle it?"
"That was Grandpa Pigu." The boy's eyes filled. "He was our clan leader."
"I don't want him to be gone. Can Grandpa just... keep sleeping?"
"He can." Luo Wei crouched down to meet his eye level. "What's your name, little one?"
"Yager. Yager Augustinia."
"Augustinia?" Troy's voice cut in abruptly.
Luo Wei glanced at him. "What is it?"
"Augustinia is the name of the God of Wisdom." Troy's expression was hard to read.
"Descendant of the God of Wisdom? Royal blood?" Luo Wei asked.
"No," Troy said. "Most of the Western Plains royal families carry the surname O'Drick. None of them are Augustinia."
O'Drick had been the God of Wisdom's son, but he had built a new kingdom on the Western Plains. Later generations, out of gratitude and reverence, took his name as their own , giving him his own dynasty, his own lineage.
Those who worshipped the God of Wisdom directly were few. Fewer than the followers of the God of Thunder, even fewer than those of the God of Fire.
"Just a surname." Luo Wei turned back to the boy. "Could be coincidence. Yager , do you know what happened to this castle?"
Yager nodded, steeling himself to remember. "Many days ago, Grandpa Pigu was teaching us letters here. Then a group of bandits came charging down from the mountains..."
The old clan leader had been at the castle gate with the children when the sentries raised the alarm. Bandits outside.
Grandpa Pigu hid them in the cellar. They crouched underground and listened to the sounds of the fighting above , steel and screaming and hooves on stone.
The bandits had ridden in on warhorses. Iron spears punched through the villagers' chests. Nearly a hundred people had been in the castle. Almost half of them died.
When Yager eventually climbed out, only two dozen bodies remained. Everyone else had vanished.
Grandpa Pigu told him they'd been captured. That they'd be made into serfs.
The bandits came back and searched the castle several more times. Yager had no idea how long they'd been down there. Only Grandpa Pigu sneaking food in from outside had kept them alive.
Until Grandpa Pigu stopped coming. He'd starved to death , but the other children didn't know that. They didn't understand what death was. They only knew Grandpa Pigu had fallen asleep.
Yager wiped his face. "That's all I know. I never left the cellar."
The stone slab was too heavy. He couldn't lift it.
Gale had the fire burning by now. The group settled around it, and when the story was done, no one said anything.
Luo Wei was thinking.
Bandits with warhorses. Bandits with iron weapons. What kind of raiders had both?
The Seco people had pillaged village after village and could barely scrape together a handful of iron blades. So why were these "bandits" so well-equipped?
Unless they weren't bandits at all.
But a well-trained army.
Luo Wei raised her eyes. Troy's gaze met hers at exactly the same moment. Neither of them needed to say it.
A kingdom's soldiers disguising themselves as bandits to raid border villages and pad their own coffers , it wasn't unheard of. It wasn't even unusual.
This place was closest to the West Tower Kingdom. The rest was obvious.
"Troy," Luo Wei said. "I need you to make a trip. Take the children to Sistad , take Griffin with you."
These kids couldn't make the long crossing of the ice plains with them. They were all bone and hollow cheek. They needed food, and they needed it soon.
"Understood." Troy nodded. "I'll be back before dawn."
A hundred kilometers away.
After crying its presence across the sky above the castle, the Griffin had flown off to entertain itself. It hunted wild wolves and rabbits out on the ice plains, eating until it was roughly half full.
The sky was dimming toward dark. The Griffin banked its wings to head back to its fragrant master , and spotted something on the ground below.
Something moving fast.
It widened its golden eyes and dropped lower.
What was that?
A small silver wolf sat perched on the back of a white bear, the two of them blazing across the snow-covered ice plains at a full sprint.
➤ Next: New Year's Blessings and Playful Movements
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