Chapter 19 - White City

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"What is White City?"

Brisa asked while helping the other members work on their operation.

Hearing Brisa's question, Gladius then answered while still doing his job.

"'White City' is what people call for Kingdom of Flevance. They have rich land, with white soil and vegetation, like a fantasy land in fairy tales. It's said to be incredibly beautiful there."

"Waahh!!"

Brisa was amazed while imagined it.

Gladius then continued his explanation.

"One day, they found a type of metal in their land called white lead. That was the source of the kingdom's fantasy-like landscape. They then used the white lead for furniture, dyes, cosmetics, and even weapons.... The beauty of this white lead products caught the attention of the whole world. And that's also what propelled Flevance into a thriving industrial center. Even the greedy World Government is trading in their products. Their white lead is an inexhaustible source of money."

"The White City is a symbol of glamor to the world. G for glamour!!"

Lao G interrupted.

Brisa then looked at Lepus with a twinkle in her eye and said.

"Waahh!!! Onii-sama, I want to see it!"

"Hmm.... Unfortunately you can't. That place no longer exists."

"Huh!?"

Brisa was surprised to hear Lepus's answer.

Lao G then spoke again.

"A century ago, when the white lead industry first started, the World Government did a thorough survey. And they found a surprising fact."

"Surprising fact?"

Brisa asked looking confused.

"White lead is toxic."

"Huh!?"

Brisa was surprised to hear what Gladius said.

Gladius then explained.

"White lead is not so dangerous if left in nature. But if processed, its toxic content will slowly seep into the human body.... But, blinded by the wealth they have obtained, the Government and nobles deliberately cover up this truth. While the people continue to exploit white lead, without realizing it.... And about the bad effect, if for example a young man slowly gets poisoned by white lead in his body due to processing it, then when he has children later, the life span of his children has been reduced since birth. And when the children already adults and have children of their own, then the life span of this newborn children will be even shorter. This effect continues for generations, until now in Law's generation, children are destined to die before reaching adulthood. But when people realizes catastrophe caused by white lead, it's all too late.... Due to their changing lifespans, each generation begins to feel its ill effects at almost the same time. Their skin and hair turned white and pale and the whole body felt pain. But every doctor in existence is powerless to deal with this situation. And so the death toll came to be and keep increased."

"So everyone died!? They are so pitiful, Onii-sama!"

Brisa was sad with tears in her eyes corner after hearing that tragedy.

Lepus then softly patted her head to slightly calm her.

"And that's where the real tragedy begins."

Senor Pink suddenly appeared after swimming on the ground and joined in on the explanation. And, all other members also continue to do their job and fight against the enemies.

"When they found out that everyone in White City was dying from the same symptoms, the neighboring countries assumed that the White Lead disease was contagious. So, they blocked off access in and out from all directions and isolated White City! Meanwhile, relying on the World Government's help, the nobles fled leaving their country and people to their own fate. And when the residents of the White City headed towards the border to try to save themselves and seek medical treatment, they were treated like monsters struggling out of their cages, and they were shot on the spot. As the saying goes, 'Fire across the river won't cross to this side of the river' which means 'Their problem isn't our problem'. A very 'normal' attitude in their eyes.... But, Flevance residents didn't stand still. They had a lot of 'metal', including bullets. And soon, war broke out. However, this also became a 'legitimate' excuse for Flevance's neighboring countries to 'strike back'. And they did it indiscriminately, so you can imagine what happened next... And so, the White City, Flevance, was destroyed and left nothing because of human themselves. And we can't blame a 10-year-old kid like Law being 'broken' after experiencing hell like that."

Brisa cried after hearing all that sad stories.

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Meanwhile, at the junkyard....

Law, who was holding a dagger which he found in the scrapyard, stood coldly staring at Rosinante who was sitting on a crate and reading a newspaper with his back to him.

Then, Law sneakily approached Rocinante from behind and then... stabbed him!

"...!!!!"

Rocinante was surprised suddenly feeling pain and spontaneously looked behind him! He looked stunned when he saw that it was Law who stabbed him!

Meanwhile, Buffalo, who had been secretly following Law, was also wide-eyed after seeing what Law was doing!

"H-He's breaking the blood rule! I have to tell Young Master!"

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