'Cough! Cough! Cough!'
"Grandma! Grandma! Grandma!
Here, drink this.
It will make you feel better." Said a 16-year-old girl, with pimples and acne on her face.
Currently, within a small room, an elderly woman was lying down on a straw bed made from dried grass.
The elderly woman also had acne, pimples and rashes all over her body.
And within the room, one could see piles of rotten food, as well as dirt stacked up on one side of the room.
The air smelled musty and bad, but for some reason, no one in the room seemed to see anything wrong with it.
The elderly woman drank the brownish broth that the 16-year-old girl had given her, and coughed loudly again.
'Cough! Cough! Cough! Cough! Cough! Cough!'
The elderly woman looked at her granddaughter lovingly and sighed.
.
For close to 5 years, she had felt her body grow weaker and weaker throughout the years... which truly frightened her.
Luckily, she still had her son, her daughter-in-law.... as well as her 2 grandchildren to make her feel at ease.
True, she had lost her first son when he was still 16 at the time..... as well as her husband too.
But over the years, it had already been miraculous enough that death didn't demand for any member of her last son's family.
"Thank you little Minka"
"No problem grandma.... just tell me if you need more," Minka replied, with a warm smile on her face.
She then hurriedly went out to look for her 13-year-old brother, who was supposed to ho her dig up the cabbages in their backyard.
One should know that in this quarantined place, everyone had their own small garden at the back of their homes.
And because of the high number of people that died frequently, everyone was afraid to take food from others, from fear that they would spread some sort of unknown disease towards them.
So in this massive city, merchants weren't really available.
And if grains were really needed, people would go to the city lord's estate and beg for them instead.
.
Minka hastily ran to the back of her home to join her mother, in planting and farming.
As for her brother and father, they were currently at the front of the house.
Winter would soon be here in a couple of months, so of course, the rooms needed to be reinforced, as well as the windows and floors.
And so, everyone quickly did their jobs merrily.... as this was the only life that they knew of.
Even though they were in a city, they lived their everyday lives no different from those in the villages.
"All citizens should gather in front of the city lord's mansion!
All citizens should gather in front of the city lord's mansion!
All citizens should gather in front of the city lord's mansion!"
Hearing the very loud announcement, Minka and her family were immediately taken aback.
"Mama.... isn't that one of the city criers?"
"I... I believe so."
"The last time that they announced anything.... was over 9 years ago.
So what could be so important now?" Minka asked inquisitively.
.
While lost in thought, the young lady heard footsteps coming her way.
And when she looked up, she saw her father and brother Nibus running towards her and her mother.
And soon, everyone decided to leave.... except for their mom, who would stay back and look after the house, as well as grandma.
With that, they quickly made a 98 minutes walk to the city lord's mansion.
Of course, the city was a small one.
Because if it were Baymard, that walk would be way longer than that.
They walked and chatted with those around them about why they were summoned.
And the many theories that came out, made their trip feel short.
"I heard that they want to burn the entire city to flames."
"I heard that we have been marked as cursed and will be killed instead."
"I heard that this might have something to do with the new visitors that came in yesterday."
"_"
As they moved, all sorts of scary theories had been told by those around them.
But no matter what, everyone continued in, as they were truly curious as well.
And soon, Minka and her family had finally arrived.
Minka squinted her eyes and looked at the new faces standing above her inquisitively.
Were these the visitors that everyone had previously mentioned?
Who were they and what did they truly want?
.
"Your majesty..... do we begin?"
"Yes, enough people have already gathered up now," Landon said while looking at the massive crowd below.
With that, Mason soon stepped forward and held out a megaphone on one hand... and a script on the other.
Of course, the script was given to him by Landon.
"My dear citizens!
Once again, the deadly Shinjep plague is soon upon us again.
And just like last time, it will definitely claim the lives of many of us if we don't fight it!
For hundreds of years, we have never had any way of fighting the dreadful disease head-on.
But this time, it will be different!
This time, we have help from our brothers.
Many of you may not know, but Carona had recently befriended a new empire within the Pyno continent.
And that empire is Baymard.
So standing here before you all, is his majesty Landon Barn and his team...who have travelled for days and weeks in order to help us deal with our Shinjep problem."
Hearing what Mason had just said, everyone was completely taken aback.
What?
They were here to help them?
Who had said that these people were previously sent to burn them alive?
Ahh!..... gossip was truly scary!
.
Mason continued his grand speech, by examining why the people had been gathered, who Landon and his men were, as well as what they would be doing in Ngum city.
He also spoke about the Ngum City's future..... because if they could get rid of numerous diseases, then the quarantine band might be lifted permanently.
But of course, that would all depend on whether or not the people would heed their advice.
Of course Landon spoke as well too, and his majestic and kind voice was soon at it again.
Listening to him, Minka felt a strong wave of change take over her.
And soon, she wanted to volunteer to also help these strange visitors.
"Please line up in an orderly manner for checkup!"