Suikoden VI

Chapter Six: Part Three

Note: I'm including a trigger warning for this chapter due to dark emotional content.

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Part Three

The rain had turned into a soft drizzle by the time Daunte and his group reached Farna. He had never visited the town in his whole life but his heart was pounding in his throat as he approached the town gates. There were no guards on duty to check for their identification books. Daunte could see from the gates that the streets were deserted. Several of the white and gray buildings looked abandoned.

"Whole families died during the Plague," Felicity said quietly. "And many of the families that got out never returned. Nobody wants to claim the houses."

"We...shouldn't have any problems walking around here," Daunte said. "But perhaps we shouldn't spend a lot of time here."

"I agree," Roen said.

Yuber stood at the gate, staring into Farna with emotionless eyes. "The scent of death lingers in the air," he said. His nose wrinkled. "And...I smell a lingering foulness. Disease does not have an appealing smell no matter how powerful it is."

Daunte was deeply disturbed that Yuber could not only smell death, but he could smell the Plague that caused the death and the Plague smelled repugnant to him. But Yuber did not look pleased at the suffering and death he could sense in the air, and Daunte took minor comfort from that. "You can smell the Plague," he said. "Then does that mean we are still in danger of catching it?"

"No," Yuber said. "The power of the disease has faded. But it was an incredibly powerful plague. The stink of it is stuck to the buildings."

"The Plague smells foul to you because it was unnatural," Leknaat said. Her complexion was pale.

"No, disease just has a foul odor," Yuber said sharply.

"Let's just stick together and see if we can find the recruits Oboro told us to look for," Daunte said.

"Can we stop by my house?" Felicity asked suddenly.

"A-Absolutely," Daunte stammered. "Lead the way."

Felicity walked ahead of the group down the deserted main street. Because of the lack of people and the dreary weather, Farna looked gray and colorless. Daunte heard soft conversations to the northwest and saw a small group of people standing in front of a building holding large backpacks. "That's the inn," Felicity said, casually pointing to the group. "Those are probably travelers looking to transverse the Red Tundra. After the Plague those were the only type of tourists that would come here."

"They are going to die," Yuber said bluntly.

"What?" Roen asked.

"I...don't not see weapons amongst their things," Silvano said warily. He wore a hat to cover his ears. "If they are intending on going south without arms, then they will most surely die."

Daunte watched the hapless group for a long moment. The battles in the Tundra were not nearly as difficult for us as in the East Forest, but we struggled. And if we struggled, then those people...

"I'll be right back," Daunte said, quickly crossing the street towards them.

"Daunte?" Roen called after him.

"Excuse me," Daunte said when he reached the group. "Are you intending to travel through the Red Tundra?"

"Oh absolutely," the man before him said with a cheerful smile. "We've never seen the L'enfer Sea before beyond the Tundra. I mean, we don't even know if it exists because no maps exists that show a complete southern Nagarea!"