After walking for a few more minutes I finally reached my target, the Skyfall forest.
It was given that name by the local people because the forest extended from the back of the village, all the way down the mountain, creating the illusion that the forest was "falling" from the sky. It covered a vast expanse of land and although the forest was home to many wild animals, there had never been signs of any demonic beasts living in the forest.
Therefore I could safely enter the forest without having to worry about being attacked by a demonic beast. Any normal person would easily choose to face off against a lion on a daily basis over having to ever meet a demonic beast in their lifetime.
Unlike humans, demonic beasts are gifted with an extremely strong physique from birth. A casual swipe from them could easily take a human life. However, the most terrifying aspect of a demonic beast is their extremely strong bloodlust. Their desire to kill other creatures is so strong that it makes them lose control of their minds. There are stories of some demonic beasts that grow so strong that they become capable of controlling their bloodlust, thereby gaining intelligence.
I started to walk through the forest searching for firewood. The target was to find at least 50 pieces of firewood to make a stack of firewood that could be sold in the village. The snow makes it a lot harder to carry out the task since not only does it hide the firewood it also makes them soggy. Thus most of the firewood which I find lying around on the snow has to be thrown away because stores don't accept the bundle if the wood seems soggy. So there's another reason to hate winter.
"If I manage to find enough wood, then I'll be able to eat tonight. Else, I'll have to starve again."
As an orphan, this sort of isolated village is the worst kind of place one could live in.
It's far away from any major cities so it has no proper economy on which it runs on. Everyone works on a self-serving system and have neither the resources to waste nor the need to take care of anyone who isn't part of their family or circle of close friends. As such, if one doesn't have any sort of value, it doesn't matter how old you are, you're on your own.
"Having lived alone for so long, I've gotten used to it by now."
"After all, it's been like this forever."
In this sort of world… only the strong have the right to demand what they want. The weak can only shut their mouths and work to fulfill those demands.
Take for example that kids' father from before. In the past, the Village Chief wouldn't have even taken a second glance at the man if they met on the road. Even if the man were to have passed away the village chief would just utter a few insincere words of condolence to the family of the departed soul. But because he advanced his cultivation to a new level, the village chief personally visited his house to ask the child's father to work for him and strengthen their relationship. If one wants to get anything in this world, one must have a strong fist. That is the ironclad rule of this world, no different from the law of the jungle used by wild beasts. Otherwise, it doesn't matter how loud your voice is, it won't get you anywhere.
"The sun's up quite high now. I should take a rest."
Looking for a tree to sit underneath and rest, I started to wander around the forest. Over the span of 5 hours, I had found over 70 pieces of wood but only 23 of them qualified as firewood which could be used. Not good but… not bad either. After finally finding a comfortable place under a tree which had not withered, I sat down. Heaving a sigh of exhaustion, I took out my lunch and began to eat. Of course, this "lunch" was nothing more than a few pieces of dry bread and water. After eating, I rested for a few minutes and immediately got back to looking for firewood.
Finding a place with less snow would make things easier but it would be very hard to find such a place. Under the unlikely situation where one was discovered, it would be gone the next day thanks to the snowstorms that raged throughout the night. So it was basically useless to go looking around for one. It's better to just wander around the forest aimlessly searching for firewood than looking for a place without snow. Maybe in the future, if any of the villagers manage to learn some magic, they could change that situation.
Unfortunately, there had never been anyone with any talent in magic born in the village. Even the village chief was only a warrior, not a mage. A mage is respected and envied by everyone around them. They have the right to fight for whatever they want whether it be power, beauties or riches. Unfortunately one's talent for magic is decided upon birth and can't be changed. There are various ways to test for magic talent but most of them require advanced pieces of technology. The village uses one of the crudest methods to test for magic talent.
The village chief was fortunate enough to have found a manual with a few basic spells on the corpse of a mage.
"He'd been floating on cloud nine after finding it and announced it to the whole village. Of course, his whole world started to crumble when he realized that he had no talent for magic."
Ever since that day, he made everyone test their magic talent during their coming of age ceremony in hopes of finding someone with magic talent. So far all his attempts have been in vain.
The coming of age ceremony is something held on the last day of every year. All the children who are to become 16 years of age in the following year participate in it. By doing that, all those children start the New Year as adults.
Even though it is called a coming of age ceremony, barely anything happens. They just gather all the children into a field where the village chief gives them a short speech and then checks their magic talent by calling them onto the stage one by one.
After another 6 hours or so, I finally finished collecting 50 pieces of wood completing a full bundle of firewood. Tying the bundle of wood together into a stack, I started to head back towards the village. The sun had already started to set turning the sky into a field of crimson red. After finally reaching the village, I headed towards the market area of the village and go into old Yohki's shop.
"Ah! Lad. It seems you managed to find a full stack. Hahaha, your luck seems to be pretty good today. Here you go" said the shop owner as he took the bundle of sticks and threw 5 copper coins towards me.
"Isn't the market price 6 coppers per stack of firewood?"
"Ah yeah, about that. The village chief announced a few changes in the prices during yesterday's village meeting. A stack of wood is now only worth 5 coppers according to the market price."
I had neither the desire nor ability to question this matter any further, so I just nodded my head and pocketed the 5 coppers as I dragged my weary body out of the shop. I started to slowly make my way towards the bakery to buy some bread.
"Yarume-san, I'd like to buy a loaf of bread", I said as I gave her 3 coppers.
"Ah… A loaf of bread now costs 4 coppers, boy", said the shop owner as she looked at me pitifully.
"The village chief?"
"Yeah, sorry about that."
"Don't be. It's not like you had any say on the matter" I said as I pay the money, take the bread and leave the shop.
Earnings reducing and living costs increasing… the situation was becoming direr now that the snowstorms were becoming more intense.
How was one meant to survive in such a situation? I would usually earn 6 coppers at most per day by selling a stack of wood. 3 of those coppers would be spent on bread. The 3 remaining coppers would be left in case I didn't manage to find enough firewood to sell the next day.
But now, with a stack selling for only 5 coppers and a loaf of bread costing 4 coppers, I could only save 1 copper every day. The worst part is, if this were to happen again, then I might as well starve to death. It was frustrating that I could only watch on as other people decided how my life was supposed to be lived.
Begrudgingly walking back home while grumbling about how unfair the world is, my house finally came into view.
The sight of it alone reminded me of how serious my situation was. I couldn't even get mad about it. Calling it a rundown shack would be praising it.
"As uncomfortable as it may be… at least it provides me with a roof to sleep under. Not a very steady one but a roof nonetheless…"
The sun had already set a long time ago. The moon was now shining high up in the sky. For some reason, the longer I looked at the moon the more uneased I felt. It gave me a feeling of dread. I had no reason to believe this other than my instincts. However my instincts were one of the few things I could rely on in my life, so I trusted it very much. My eyes were glued to the moon for a long time, unable to move them away.
"It has a... red glow?" I asked myself as I tilted my head sideways.
"No. It's probably just my eyes playing tricks on me. Whatever it is, it shouldn't concern me anyway", I thought as I threw all thoughts regarding the moon to the back of my head.
Even though I had just returned to my so-called 'home'. I didn't really have anything to do. All that was left to be done was to eat some bread and go to sleep.
Lying down on the bed, I closed my eyes. My mind began recounting the events that happened today. Nothing special or worth remembering happened. My memories of today would overlap with those of the previous years with seemingly nothing to tell them apart. Other children my age would be going to school to learn how to read, write and do basic math so that they could find a job after becoming adults. But for me, all I could do was try to barely earn enough money to get past the day. School seemed like a luxury that I was never meant to enjoy.
It's not like I needed to go to school to learn. I probably knew about more things than anyone else in the village after having been taught by the old man. I just wanted to go to school so that I could know what it felt like to live a normal life. But, having repeatedly lived like this for 5 years, I'd already gotten used to this life which was duller than the snow that enclosed me.
"Will I ever be able to change my future? Or is this how my life is meant to be, fated to waste away in this unknown corner of the world?" I murmured as my consciousness started to fade away.
".... I … still feel… uneasy…"