Chapter 175 Volume 4 Prologue Part 1: The Start of the Calamity
The 3rd Calamity Era. Year 13907
Inside a thatched hat located on top of a mountain, an old man and a 4-year old girl could be seen sitting around a table.
The old man had a head full of white hair, along with a long, white beard that made him look extremely ancient. The only thing that ruined his appearance was his clothes, which were just made up or rags.
Sitting in front of him was the 4-year old girl, and her appearance was the contrast of the old man.
If the old man looked frail and decrepit, the young girl looked like she was full of life.
She had long, silky, black hair, which coupled with her wide, inquisitive eyes, made her look extremely endearing.
Her toothy smile along with her dimples just exemplified her cuteness.
That could be the reason why even now, the old man was giving the young girl a doting expression from his face.
"Grandpa! Tell me a story today!" The young girl shouted to the old man as she raised her short arms high in the air. "I want to hear a story!"
"But all the stories that I know are too complicated for you." The old man replied as his white hair flailed around him. "I really don"t have anything to tell you now."
"But Grandpa! I want a story!" The young girl seemed oblivious with the old man"s discomfort as she started to wail. "If you don"t give me a story, I will cry now!"
"Okay, okay! I"ll start talking now!" The old man looked like he was left with no choice but to accede to the young girl.
The old man cupped his chin, as he seemed to be debating on what to say.
A few minutes later, and the old man, whose left arm was being pinched by the young girl, let out a sigh as he said,
"Okay, I think there is a story that I can tell you now."
"Yay! Grandpa is the best!"
After hearing these words from his granddaughter, the old man looked up with a smile, with his gaze concentrated on the 3 Moons decorating the night sky.
The old man"s happy smile still did not disappear from his face as he said,
"My story will be about our 3 Moons."
"A story about the Moons? That is so cool!" The young girl said as she joined the old man on looking at the moons. "Our moons are so pretty! Maybe your story will be pretty too, right?"
"…Just like what I told you earlier, my stories will be complicated, and this story was one of them." The old man said as he picked up the pouting young girl, placing her on his lap.
"Look at the moons." The old man said as he pointed at the moons. "What do you see?"
"I see a blue moon, a yellow moon, and a green moon!" The young girl said as she started giggling. "They all look pretty!"
"Do you even know where these moons came from?" The old man mumbled as he absent-mindedly patted the head of the young girl.
"No! I don"t because you"re not telling it to me, Grandpa!" The young girl said as she let out a pout.
"Erm… don"t get angry, munchkin. I will be telling it to you now." The old man said as he let out an awkward cough.
"…"
The old man tried to ignore the young girl"s piercing stare as he asked her,
"Do you know that tens of thousands of years ago, we had no moons at all?"
"No moons? That"s bad! There"s nothing pretty to look at before!" The young girl said, as if she was not that worried with that just her grandpa said. "Grandpa, it"s a good thing that I was born here! I can look at the pretty moons every night!"
"Kierra, you seem to not understand what I say." The old man said as he lightly flicked Kierra"s forehead. "If there"s no moons tens of thousands of years ago, then how come they"re all here now? Don"t you find that fishy?"
"Grandpa, why are you asking me about these things? Shouldn"t you be the one telling me?" Kierra replied cheekily as she continued pouting. "Stupid grandpa, always asking me stupid questions…"
"Uck." The old man looked like he was about to cough blood, but he managed to hold it all in as he tried to recover his dignity.
He let out a cough as he tried to compose himself. It was only when he felt that he can talk that he started to tell his story.
[Tens of thousands of years ago, the night sky of our world was barren. There were no moons at all, with only the stars in the sky decorating it. The people at that time were all fine with that, since they were already used living that way. But all of that changed when the Queen of the Empire at that time gave birth to four girls. These girls were all twins, making them quadruplets.]
"Wow, you have princesses in your story!" Kierra shouted out as she clapped her hands. "Continue the story, grandpa!"
[…The girls that the Queen gave birth all grew up to be beautiful ladies, and this turned them into something that the whole Empire held dear. Every male in the Empire started to desire these beautiful ladies. However, it was not only their appearances that made many yearning for them. Each one of them has their own unique traits that makes them appear… more desirable.]
[Safirra, the yellow-haired woman among the four princesses, was always obsessed with studying the night sky and the stars that dotted it. That obsession of hers made her extremely knowledgeable in the arts of numbers and calculations.]
[Nessa, the blue-haired woman among the four princesses, was obsessed in writing and painting. Her written works and paintings were all of high quality, making her one of the finest artists in the Human Kingdom.]
[Drea, the green-haired woman among the four princesses, was always interested on gourmet. She was the best cook in the entirety of the Human Kingdom, but her ability to eat ma.s.sive meals was also a known thing to everyone. It was practically a miracle that she can still keep her figure even with all the food that she ate.]
[Then finally there was Claret, the red-haired woman among the four princesses. Unlike the other 3 princesses, Claret was mostly quiet, and there were no doc.u.mentations of her trying to communicate with people. She could still join with her sisters, but the way she did it was only through stares and nods.]
[Safirra, Nessa, Drea, and Claret. These 4 were the princesses of the Empire, and they can be considered to be the Empire"s crown jewels.]
[With their appearance and their talents, the 4 princesses were destined to live a happy life, wherever they go.]
[However, before these 4 princess could even enjoy their life to the fullest, something bad happened to them.]
[At the day of their 18th birthday, all 4 princesses suddenly vanished from their rooms, with no one knowing where they went to. Their parents naturally looked for where they could be, but even with all the intense searching that they did, they were unable to find out where the princesses could have been.]
"Grandpa, were they kidnapped by a dragon? Will they be saved by a handsome knight? Continue the story!" Kierra demanded as she started pulling the beard of the old man. "Faster!"
[…After a year of searching, there was n.o.body who found where the 4 princesses were. At that point, every person in the Empire started to feel miserable, as all of them loved the 4 princesses. They were miserable, as for they were extremely worried for their condition.]
[It was at that moment that the first moon appeared in the sky.]
"The first moon? Only one?"
[Yes, only one moon. The moon that appeared that time was the moon whose color was blue. Even the light that"s coming out of it was blue, casting a bluish shadow on everything underneath it.]
"The Blue Moon is cool! I want to take it home and play with it! It"s too bad I can"t reach it…" After seeing the sad expression the young girl"s face, the old man tried his best to console Kierra by patting her head.
This trick seemed to have worked, as the young girl was back to smiling again in no time.
[At first, when everyone saw the Blue Moon, they all panicked, as they thought that a Calamity was about to arrive. They… were actually right. That Blue Moon was something that changed our world as a whole]
"The Blue Moon changed the world?"
[Yes. Once the Blue Moon appeared, it gave our ancestors a blessing and a disaster. The blessing… was able to propel our ancestors to new heights, but the disaster went on to smack them down like a fly.]
"Ew grandpa! Why are you talking about a fly here? That"s disgusting!"
[….]