Chapter 2 - The Theif's Son

Starving and drawn by the sight of festival food, Shinro is suddenly struck by a strange, fragmented vision — over two hundred children standing hopefully before a mysterious cloaked man, who places a baby into a wooden box. The vision vanishes as quickly as it came, leaving Shinro dizzy and shouting a name he doesn't understand: "Yaath." Shaken, he drops the broken bottle he'd been holding and, after calming himself, humbly asks the crowd for food. A kind old man, Mr. Brion, moves to help him, but is stopped when a WRO (White & Red Organization) official slaps the plate away. Other elders warn Brion not to interfere — the WRO controls their comfortable way of life. Reluctantly, Brion turns Shinro away, calling him "Ascot's greatest thief's son," words that cut deeper than his hunger. The WRO member mocks him further, ordering him to pick up the spilled rice by hand while the crowd jeers. Humiliated but not broken, Shinro throws the rice into the official's face, grabs a loaf of bread, and flees — hurling a second hidden handful of rice to cover his escape. The furious WRO man orders Chief Force Officer Katsu to hunt him down. Twenty officers pursue, but internally, the cowardly Katsu resolves to search the market first and let others take the risk of chasing Shinro into the notorious Mountains of Death — a place where over thirty people have died. The search of the market turns up nothing. Shinro has already vanished — arriving alone at the foot of the Mountains of Death, standing before a dark, unknown cave entrance as the chapter ends.