Days started early in Hasam.
Before the sun was fully up and the birds began singing, the villagers were out of bed, tending to their livestock. They’d feed their livestock, then herd them into a pasture shared between cows, pigs, sheep, goats, and more.
As the animals made their way into the field, the sound of their cowbells would echo throughout the village as it bathed in the dim light of dawn. Every morning would start like that.
Next, the villagers would gather in the plaza in front of the mayor’s house, do some group exercises, and then head to their respective fields.
After doing some fieldwork, the villagers would prepare breakfast. Then, for the rest of the day, they’d take things pretty easy.
And that was an average day in the town of Hasam.
Zelos watched the village’s peaceful little routine play out through the window.
“Mmm... I wonder how my own farm’s going. Apparently, when I’m gone, the coccos tend to it in the morning, and the neighbor kids take care of it during the day. Can’t say I’ve ever seen them doing it myself, though...”
Zelos had casually inspired Santor to create a work program to teach skills to orphans and give them a way to earn some pocket change.
With a whole lot of money and not much to spend it on, he’d left some with Duke Delthasis, who could distribute it to anyone willing to help out on the farm. The scheme had proven popular with the orphans and the elderly, who couldn’t work their old jobs anymore.
People in this world often holed themselves up in their homes as they grew older, with few opportunities to get out. Meanwhile, bored, destitute orphans filled the streets of Santor, making them a hotbed of crime.
All sorts of problems like this plagued the city, and Zelos had merely taken the first step toward solving some. While he hadn’t seen it as a big deal, his idea had led to policies that were now doing a lot for people who otherwise couldn’t work.
Recently, more and more people had been traveling to big stores and farms to participate in the work program. In turn, public order in the city’s old town had improved considerably.
Pleased with these developments, the duke had decided to take the program up another level. He’d started by asking elderly participants to describe the jobs they’d done in their younger years so he could assign work suited to their skill sets.
These elders and their skills had been the cornerstone of the Duchy of Solistia in years gone by, and some of them were true artisans. It’d be a shame, the duke figured, to let such talent waste away in retirement.
Not every old person had been a master craftsman in their heyday, but the others could still boost the economy significantly by helping at farms managed by the ducal family. They’d even earn themselves a little extra money in the process.
There was one hitch, however: Most highly skilled artisans, whether young or old, lived in the duchy’s larger towns and cities. Very few stayed in remote villages, which meant that, unless the local nobles put in the work to support the program, farming villages like Hasam wouldn’t see the benefits anytime soon.
I can’t imagine they have enough experts to spare to send to Hasam. Not that that’s my problem, I suppose. Anyway...
Turning away from the window, Zelos saw Lisa and Shakti sprawled out on the floor of the large guest room they were in.
They’d collapsed from exhaustion last night and hadn’t moved since.
Not that you could blame them. They’d spent almost seven hours running around last night trying to stop Yui’s rampage. And up until Yui had collapsed, they’d been terrified they might be killed at any second.
It looked like a hurricane had run through the room. Everywhere Zelos looked, he saw torn-up books, shattered pots, and collapsed shelves—not to mention the knives embedded in the walls and floors.
Yui’s rampage had been so horrifying that even Zelos had thought, Ah, crap. This is bad news. I’ve gotta run. The memory alone was enough to make him shiver.
As he ran his eyes over the carnage, he realized Yui and Ado were absent.
Well, she was pretty damn jealous. I guess she might’ve dragged him off after everyone collapsed for the night? I know I fanned the flames, but at the end of the day, it’s a matter between husband and wife. I probably shouldn’t get involved any more than I already have.
There had been no stopping Yui’s rampage.
And a big reason for that had been the set of seven blades, the Normie Eradicators, that one of Zelos’s fellow Destroyers had crafted.
Troublingly, every one of the knives was enchanted with dangerous magic and a curse that polluted the user’s mind.
It wasn’t possible to simply uncurse the user—you had to do something about the knives themselves—and if the user had the full set of seven, the curse was twice as strong. They also nullified magic attacks, maximized their user’s physical capabilities, and inflicted the Mental Corruption and Mad Warrior status effects to boot.
It was such a diabolical set of weapons that it had turned Yui, a relatively low-level priest, into a foe none of the others had been able to handle.
Worst of all, their effect remained even when their user wasn’t actively holding them.
You sure have a vendetta against happy couples, don’t you, Ted?
Pretending he wasn’t just as bad, Zelos peered off into the sky and reminisced about his old comrade, who was probably still somewhere in Japan.
“Well, I think Ukei and the others should be awake by now,” he said to himself as he stepped outside.
It was time for what had become part of his daily routine: sparring with his coccos. It helped train them while also giving him some exercise.
He wanted to make sure he stayed healthy.
Before long, the sounds of battle rang outside the mayor’s house.
Hah! Hyah!