I Am the God of Games

North of Lancaster is a rundown slum.

Once upon a time, this was also an ordinary civilian area. Although it was not as elegant and elegant as the noble district in the south of the city, it was not as prosperous as the business district in the east of the city, and it was far from the slightly chaotic black market in the west of the city. Live the day.

—until Tierra's demise.

Although Lancaster City has not suffered much damage, it is based on the city's core noble district and business district.

In fact, the civilian area is the part that was most affected by the war, and due to unmanned management and repairs, the current civilian area has been reduced to a slum and has become dilapidated. Many buildings that were destroyed by the war at that time are even now. They are still precarious ruins that could collapse at any time.

In the ruins of one of the houses, three shivering children were surrounding a bonfire that would go out at any time, trying to draw some warmth from the flames.

Simba is an orphan. His parents died in the war a few years ago. The house they left behind was also occupied by a group of gangsters. The resistance of the young Simba was not only ineffective, but by those The local ruffians stole all the money and drove them out.

In the end, he wandered into the ruins of the house and met two brothers and sisters, Shazu and Nana, who were also homeless as orphans.

The three children hit it off and formed a small group. On weekdays, they helped the businessmen in the business district to run errands and do odd jobs, and occasionally thieves, and they were barely able to make a living.

But this year's frost and fog season was unexpectedly long. The food and firewood they had stored before the frost and fog season had been exhausted, and even the few coins in their hands had been spent. But there is no point in showing up from the clouds.

"The fire is about to go out, add a little more wood." Shazu suggested to Simba hesitantly.

"No, the wood on this house can no longer be demolished. It is very fragile now. If it is demolished again, a strong wind will blow it down."

Simba shook his head and said.

The long frost and fog season has caused the price of firewood in the shop to rise to a bundle of leen, and Simba and the others simply cannot afford it.

"elder brother……"

Leaning on Sha Zu, the yellow-faced and skinny little girl Nana closed her eyes and said in a half-dreaming voice, "I'm so hungry..."

The two boys looked at each other, but at such a time, let alone two children, not even adults could do anything very well.

"If it really doesn't work, I'll go out of town to chop some firewood and come back..." He gritted his teeth and made a decision: "As long as we can bring back three or five bundles, we will have our own firewood and food for Nana. It's gone!"

"Don't do stupid things!" Sha Zu's face changed, and he repeatedly discouraged: "Few of those woodcutters who are thinking about Lien have come back alive. This year, there are many and ruthless coyotes in the forest, and they have a lot of experience. The rich old hunters and the well-equipped city guards are all planted! And I heard from the mercenaries in the tavern that they also saw a rather rare dragon-toothed beetle on the outskirts of the forest, which is much scarier than a saber-toothed tiger!"

"But there is no other way." Simba said with some pain: "I can't find other odd jobs in the frost and fog season, and there is no one who can start on the street..."

Shazu originally wanted to say something, but at this time, the two boys stopped their conversation tacitly-they heard footsteps outside.

It was a very light voice. If there wasn't a thick layer of snow on the ground and it would creak when walking, I'm afraid they wouldn't hear each other approaching at all.

Could it be a slave trader?

The two little guys looked at each other, quietly picked up a stone half the size of a head on the ground, and their heartbeats accelerated nervously.

If children like them are caught as slaves, their life is almost over - no one who normally needs slaves will buy dirty children with yellow faces and thin skin as slaves, and 80% of them will be sent to underground black mines to work until they are exhausted. ,

Even the food of various monsters raised directly as the arena is thrown to the other side to eat...

As a result, when that person appeared at the door, both Simba and Shazu breathed a sigh of relief. Although they were still wary of each other, they were not as exaggerated as before.

The person who came was a tall and thin middle-aged man. He called himself Mufasa. He was carrying a strange, long and thin single-edged sword that was completely different from the heavy swords of the mercenaries. It was freezing tomorrow. , but only wearing clothes that were casually sewn from linen like a homeless.

But to say that he is a homeless man, the clothes were washed very cleanly without any stains, and there were no unsightly wrinkles on the clothes, and they were very smooth.

Obviously, whether it is washing or ironing, a lot of energy is wasted, so that Simba has a question of 'Is it necessary to wash a rag sewn clothes so often? 'a feeling of.

This is not the first time Simba and Shazu have seen him.

Not long after the first frost and fog season, this middle-aged man asked them enthusiastically if they wanted to join a mysterious church. Forget it.

He didn't want to bring the Shazu brothers and sisters to join some strange cult, and in the end they were inexplicably sacrificed to the evil god or something.

Fortunately, the other party didn't bother much, and after being rejected by Simba, he left.

After that, the other party also appeared several times, but they were the same as the first time, and they left immediately after the persuasion failed.

Seeing the two teenagers with stones in their hands, Mufasa made a gesture of surrender, indicating that he had no hostility.

"It's really cold, don't you mind if I come to bake a little fire too?" He seemed to have not noticed the vigilance and hostility on Simba's and their faces, and he leaned over to the bonfire on his own.

No one saw what he had done, but the bonfire suddenly became much more vigorous, and only half of the ceiling was left with the flames swaying, and the warm feeling spread, making Simba feel as if he was taking a hot bath. Just as comfortable—even if he couldn't remember the last time he took a hot shower.

Mufasa glanced at a hyacinth bone full of tooth marks in the corner, and raised his eyebrows.

So he took out a helmet-like pot from nowhere and put it on the bonfire, took a handful of clean snow from the outside and put it into the pot to boil, and then took out a bunch of spices that Simba couldn't even name. Put it in the pot, and finally take out a piece of bacon, pull out the long sword behind him, and cut it into parchment-thin slices with a few strokes, put it in the pot and cook it.

This made Simba blink his eyes. Is that long sword a kitchen knife for cutting meat? But it feels inconvenient for such a long time, won't it hurt others?

After a while, the aroma of the broth dissipated, causing Simba and the others to swallow.