A dull longsword and a heartbroken villager

But the more I know, the more terrified I become.

As Bray was warned at the beginning of his adventure, the more you know, the more you fear, and the more you encounter.

Those who are still alive with Capra are in this state: they are afraid of everything, yet they encounter everything.

It's become commonplace for people to run into demigods while looking for something and be killed by others.

In the past two years, how many people have gone out and never returned?

To this day, people have not been able to explore beyond the outer city, and they still do not know what the towns outside the capital are like.

The situation in various places is also unknown, all intelligence has been cut off, and each safe zone is basically in a predicament of information isolation.

“Maybe I could be a messenger… but that would mean leaving home…” Bray muttered to himself.

Messenger is a profession that only appeared at the end of the previous era.

At that time, Bray did not have a deep understanding of the importance of this profession.

But looking back now, it was really important.

People wouldn't be so gloomy if they knew what other people in the outside world were like.

Risking death just to get a few words out to the outside world... that's a truly noble profession.

It's hard to believe that people from the end of the last era would have such respect for those in this profession.

Those were people who left their hometowns and gave up everything, including their own lives.

Bray doesn't seem capable of doing it... Thinking about it this way, I realize I'm not great at all.

I felt a little guilty back then, having such a prestigious profession.

"Hmm?" Levy tilted her head, looking at Bray with a puzzled expression.

She heard Bray mutter something about "messengers," but she didn't understand what this winter break was all about.

"It's nothing, I was just talking to myself." Bray subconsciously patted Levy's head.

Even though she's grown up a bit, Levy still enjoys Bray touching her head, and she even leans in to touch him herself.

This has absolutely nothing to do with age; if you like something, you like it.

“What a nice bed. Do we have to leave the safe zone to find one?” Bray patted his fanny pack and said.

"Shall we bring Naruko and Nia?" Levy asked, wagging her tail.

In the past, when Bray had time to leave the safe zone, he would never say that he wouldn't take Naruko and Nia with him.

Bray had the resources to protect so many people; he had already achieved his initial goal.

He held Nia in one arm, wielded a sword in the other, and then proceeded to utterly defeat everyone else.

I'd rather not go out this time, not because I think Naruko is too bad at the game.

So what if he's bad at the game? Bray thinks even if the sky falls and the earth cracks, this guy won't die.

Not to mention Nia, whom the talkative goddess specifically named as a lucky one.

“Naruko is teaching Nia how to use a camera, so forget it, we won’t bring her.” Bray shook his head; Naruko was busy with childcare, so he shouldn’t interfere.

Despite Naruko's seemingly unreliable nature, she appears to be quite good at teaching children?

Xiaoyou and Xiaoxue were also raised by Naruko, look how excellent they are (?).

As long as Nia doesn't make the same foolish mistakes as Naruko in the future, that's fine.

If I were to raise a second idiot and a madwoman... I'd want to die.

"Let's go, Levy, let's see if there are any requests we can make." Bray's tone was noticeably dejected after thinking about so many things.

“Oh!” Levy responded.

---

Inside the small wooden cabin, Naruko was teaching Nia how to use a camera.

“Mommy, Nia can’t hold on,” Nia said.

Her tiny hands couldn't possibly hold such a big camera.

I really want to smash the camera on the ground!

"If you can't hold on, just hug it," Naruko said, offering a seemingly reasonable answer.

"Mommy is so smart!" Nia hugged the camera and said cutely, without even thinking about how to use it.

Naruko herself hadn't considered this question.

But it doesn't matter, Nia looks especially happy right now, and that's enough.

How long has it been since the catastrophe that turned the world into this?

More than two years later, Bray can still recall it clearly.

It only took three or four days.

That was a time when no miracles were allowed to occur, because the time was too short to even allow for the formation of any miracles.

It is impossible to replicate the end of the Third Era, and the opponent is no longer the Bronze race, but the Silver race, which is from a higher dimension.

Not to mention that the Bronze race has gradually integrated into the Iron race's society since two years ago.

However, on the other hand, the relationship between the Bronze and Iron races seems to be relatively harmonious at the moment.

But as time goes by and everyone's safety is guaranteed, will they forget that they were placed inside an enclosure and start killing each other?

In that case, the bronze-level character will likely be the winner.

Many black iron species understand this, but they cannot avoid such risks.

The Bronze type requires the Black Iron type to have enormous human and material resources, while the Black Iron type needs the Bronze type's technology and combat power.

Currently, it's a mutually beneficial situation, and there won't be any major conflicts for the time being.

Of course, the situation where Bronze-class enemies bully Iron-class enemies will still exist, and no one can stop that.

It's worth mentioning that there isn't a single Bronze-level creature in this safe zone of the Imperial Capital. Even if there are orcs or elves, the majority of them are still humans.

This is probably because initially, the safety of this place did not require the assistance of the Bronze race.

The contradiction between the black iron type and the bronze type mentioned above will not occur here.

Therefore, Nia doesn't have to suffer in silence, which Bray is quite satisfied with.

Bray, with his hands in the pockets of his patched-up coat, led Levy down the chaotic street.

Strictly speaking, this cannot be called a "street".

The narrow passageway had been cleared out, with stalls or houses built from scrap materials piled up on both sides.

Although it wasn't exactly smelly, the air wasn't exactly fresh either; it carried the distinctive smell of sawdust and rust, but Bray was already used to it.

Everyone here is used to it, well... not all of them.

"Hmm..." The only one who found it hard to get used to this was Levy, who had a keen sense of smell =A=.

Levy had always found the place particularly smelly, and if Bray hadn't come, she would have preferred to lie in front of the cabin and sunbathe.

Now that there's no balcony, Lebby can only lie on the relatively clean table and snore.

The ground is fairly clean, thanks to regular cleaning.

Carrasco took cleaning very seriously in order to avoid a large-scale epidemic caused by filth and disorder.

The income is neither high nor low, so some people are willing to clean the entire safe zone once for a fee.

Not everyone has the courage to step out of the safe zone, and not everyone can bring back resources from outside.

Those who lack that courage mostly engage in infrastructure construction or reselling goods.

Who knows, even in such a dilapidated place, someone might become rich through business, but whether or not Carrasco will suppress them is another matter.

During this period, many things take precedence over business.

Bray didn't know much about it either, but since there hadn't been widespread famine, rebellion, or plague, it proved that he was generally right.

He couldn't see into the future; he could only focus on the present.

He has the foresight to see the future development, so he doesn't have to be a lazy bum who knows nothing but swordsmanship.

"Just as deserted as today." Bray tilted his head, looking at the small, dilapidated house with a "Union" sign hanging in front of him.

This house wasn't built with just wood; it also had many concrete pillars visible through steel bars, or covered with rusty sheet metal.

The main building is a nobleman's house, but this only occupies a small part of it.

The visuals have a vintage feel, but they fit the atmosphere of that era very well.

If a very luxurious and brand-new building were to appear, it would seem somewhat out of place.

The Adventurers' Guild isn't much bigger than Bray's cabin.

Bray pushed open the wooden door that looked like it could collapse at any moment and stepped into the place he had been visiting intermittently for the past two years.

Compared to the Adventurers' Guild of the past, the current guild doesn't even have a chair to sit on, and there's only one table, which serves as the reception desk.

Besides that, the most common things were the yellowed papers pasted on the walls.

The list is full of commissions that need to be accepted, and the pay is generally low, and the tasks are extremely difficult to complete.

The main difficulty lies in getting out of the city.

Many people simply place their requests here with a try-it-out mentality.

The Adventurers' Guild is maintained thanks to Carrasco.

Carrasco is everywhere...

"It's you again, uncle." The guild's mascot is no longer the receptionist girl from before, but a teenage girl who seems to be going through a rebellious phase.

I haven't seen that receptionist for over two years.

Is he dead? Perhaps...

Many familiar faces were no longer seen by Bray.

The faces that used to be visible in the Adventurers' Guild have mostly disappeared.

Bray didn't know whether they had survived and escaped elsewhere, or whether they had perished; he hoped it was the former.

Seeing this desolate scene always gives Bray a faint sense of loneliness.

He knew far fewer people around him, and even in a place that could barely be described as lively, he still felt as if he were all alone.

"I hate guys like you the most. If you have the means, you can keep any kind of girl as a mistress."

"How about you consider taking me as your sugar daddy? I'm pretty cheap." The girl with black hair was filing her nails.

The girl's clothes were covered in bloodstains that couldn't be washed off. Even though she took frequent showers, she could never wash away the scars on her face and body from the disaster.

Even though she is indeed a very lovely girl, these scars still make her disliked by others.

But it doesn't matter. Compared to all that, she just wants to survive.

“I’m not an old man, I’m not even 30 yet, I’m still a young man.” Bray said to the nonchalant girl as he picked through the list of cases.

“By the way, Levy is family,” Bray said casually, holding Levy’s hand.

"Mmm~" Levy smiled cutely 0V0, her tail wanted to wag, but she chose to restrain herself.

"She speaks fluently and perfectly, and hasn't even changed her lines in over a year." The girl has been serving as the mascot of this union for over a year.

The person who joined the most people in this union was this middle-aged man in the tattered coat.

However, she never asked the man's name, and the man never asked anyone's name either.

“If you’re sick, you can get some medicine from Sister Lizbern next door,” Bray said abruptly.

“Working as both a signboard girl and a cleaning lady at the same time, it’s normal that you’re sick from exhaustion.” He finished speaking and placed a request form in front of her. “Bang.” The girl slammed her hand on the table.

"What are you suddenly saying, old man?" The girl was startled by Bray's concerned question.

The important question is, how did this guy know he was doing two jobs?

"You bastard, were you following me?" She felt a chill run down her spine.

"First of all, I have a wife. Secondly, I'd rather search for pornographic books in ruins than be a stalker."