The days rolled past in Fallen Saint Village. Their situation only continued to worsen with time. With each day, their leftover rations continued to dwindle.
Nervous villagers passed one another along the narrow, dirt trails, their shoulders hunched and dark circles under their eyes.
"Did you hear?" a weary woman whispered to her neighbor, clutching an empty wicker basket to her chest. "Word from the town center says a high official from the capital city just arrived at the nearby county."
The neighbor gasped, her face draining of color. "From the capital city of the Feng Empire? Heavens... Why would someone from the Imperial Court come to our forgotten backwater?"
"Who knows? Some say he's inspecting the harvest; others say he's coming to collect the taxes himself," the woman replied in a hushed tone, looking around nervously. "If our village can't hand over thirty percent... we're all dead."
