act11d0

The rest... are just like me.

Everyone! Over here!

The route has been mapped out, and I believe a small group could make it back to Rhodes Island safely.

Wow, that was an unforgettable experience. Should I document it? Or try to forget it anyway?

Just don't use it to make money.

Give me a little credit!

This route... Would this route allow the people of Wolumonde to evacuate safely?

Hard to say... That's a lot of people, with even more wounded and prisoners. You can't leave the prisoners to die.

Right. Where's GreyThroat?

She... left. She had to see someone.

She'll join us later.

Oh? I'll go get her.

There's no need for—

No... There is.

I'm going to get her.

We should elect a new Schultz at once!

But after all he's done for us, we shouldn't be so fickle.

E-even so, we can't let an Infected wander the streets in broad daylight.

We should decide after we see the results of Schultz Severin's medical examination. He might...

No matter what the examination says, we can't have an Infected leading us! What will the nobles say?

Would tourists or merchants come to a town patrolled by an Infected?

Hey! Hey!

Outpost reports a convoy approaching! They're flying a Gendarmerie flag!

What?!

L-let's go see if the receiver still works. We have to confirm their IFF——

In the midst of the crowd's debate, the former Schultz, Severin Hawthorn himself, has long since fallen asleep from exhaustion.

He dreams of the moon moving forward across a shining plain, and women look up to the stars while men rebuild the towers.

He dreams that a giant rises out of the earth, his fallen son, and the giant casts away all the calamities, filling up the sundered land with its godlike power.

He dreams of the giant lifting his town onto his shoulders, carrying it toward the melting ice.

He dreams of songs floating on the wind, of the earth speaking, of Originium sinking back into the ground, and Oripathy disappearing from the world.

He dreams that the giant is Winterwisp, snow and water, the cradle of community, savagery, and civilization. He dreams that the giant stands firm.

He is tired, and his violent bronchial spasms do not bring him back to reality.

He continues to dream of leaning against his sickle, looking out over fields of golden wheat.

He laughs in his dream, until he weeps.

It is the first time he's cried since losing his son.