Ice Vapor Goddess

Chapter 35 Chimney
"Hello—are you Ms. Selena?" Mathilde knocked on a door in the residential area.

The door creaked open, revealing a woman's face. She was a full head shorter than Mathilde, and one could see the woman's chestnut-brown curly hair mixed with gray and white.

She looked at Mathilde warily, like a wounded doe.

But seeing that the visitor was a young woman in a nun's habit, rather than a burly man, she relaxed slightly and asked, "Yes, it is. What can I do for you?"

Mathilde flashed a bright smile: "I am Mathilde, the Abbess of the Convent, and I have come to deliver eggs to you on behalf of the Gospel Church."

She raised her right hand, where she held a large basket containing eggs that were barely visible among the straw.

"Mom, is anyone here?" A weak voice came from behind, and Selena immediately showed that wary, doe-like expression.

“Go back, Ethel,” she said sternly.

Mathilde saw the girl; she was thin and small, her limbs and body like withered branches, making her head appear particularly large. Her gray-blue eyes were inherited from her mother and were sunken deep in their sockets.

“Jehovah Rapha,” Mathilde chanted the prayer, and light fell upon the girl.

She immediately stood up straighter, and the warm light and tingling sensation spread throughout her body. Many parts of her body no longer hurt, but she was a little hungry.

"Here you go, little one." Mathilde smiled and took out a piece of black bread, placing it in the girl's hand.

Selena looked at her and sighed softly, "Please come in... Mother Superior."

The room was very small, only about 20 square meters. There was no heating or fire inside. The cramped steel structure formed a small box, containing a wooden bed, a stove, and a stinking chamber pot.

Mathilde put four eggs in the food basket by the stove, then thought for a moment and added one more.

She sat on the edge of the bed where several clothes were laid out, and the girl Ethel obediently climbed onto the bed, trying to lean against Mathilde.

“That felt so good, Mom,” she said to Selena.

Selena stroked her daughter's head without saying a word.

"Is this just the two of you living here?" Mathilde glanced around at the surroundings.

“Yes.” Selena looked at her daughter’s hair and mechanically rubbed it back and forth.

Where is her father?

"died."

"How did you die?"

"Mining coal."

"A coal mine accident? Or what?"

"I don't know, he's dead, he's dead."

Is there any compensation?

"Yes, one pound. I'll use it to help Jack find a job."

Who is Jack?

"my son."

"Where is he?"

"died."

"Dead too? How did he die?"

"He climbed into the chimney and died."

Is it stuck inside?

"I heard so, anyway, he's dead."

"How old is he?"

"Nine years old." "Is there any compensation?"

"No."

How do you usually live?

"I work in a textile factory."

"How much pay?"

"Ten shillings a week, but that's no longer the case."

"why?"

"After the heavy snow, that textile factory closed down, and the textile factories here don't want me anymore... cough cough! cough cough cough!! cough cough!!!"

She suddenly started coughing violently, and Mathilde quickly comforted her.

But a large amount of blood suddenly gushed from her mouth, mixed with some solids.

"Jehovah Rafa!!" Mathilde quickly used Holy Healing to relieve her pain. She could only use Holy Healing five times a day, but she didn't expect to use it twice as soon as she opened the door of the first house.

"Is it the weaver's cough? How long have you been working?" She looked anxiously at Selena's blood-covered face; suffering had left too many marks on this woman.

"Cough cough... It's nothing... cough cough... Everyone's like this... cough cough..." She was still coughing. "You actually... know about this disease..."

“I…” Mathilde hesitated. “I know… mine collapses, mine gas explosions, getting stuck in chimneys, chimney sweep cancer, weaver’s cough, tuberculosis…”

She looked at Selena, whose shoulders were already hunched, whose skin was sallow, whose left hand was missing a finger, and whose lungs were probably full of cotton wool, tangled with the fibrous tissue of the lung lobes, and could never be cleaned.

“It’s rare… that even the eldest mother knows these things…” Selena gave an awkward smile.

Mathilde sat on the bed, staring motionless at the floor, tears streaming from her brown eyes as she wept silently.

She wanted to help, but she couldn't save this mother's life. She could make their lives a little better by sending them money and food, but there were many more poor people in the same situation. How could she help them all one by one?

A profound sense of powerlessness overwhelmed her.

After leaving there... after doing those things, she thought she had become stronger, at least others would address her with respect, but she still seemed so powerless.

What can we do to make this world a better place?
"Don't cry, sister." Ethel nuzzled Mathilde with her head. "Here's a doll for you."

She placed a small doll woven from sticks and rags in Mathilde's hand, with Ethel's name written on the back in crooked, misspelled characters.

"This is something very important, isn't it?" Mathilde wiped away her tears and said in a slightly nasal voice, "Why are you giving it to me?"

“My brother gave this to me. He said it’s called Black Knight. If I put it in the fireplace, Black Knight will crawl down the chimney and help me solve my problems.” Ethel looked at the dirty doll.

“But he was lying. Only my brother came out. I could recognize him even though he was wearing black clothes covered in coal dust. He would be very happy if I told him how amazing the Black Knight was. But then he got stuck in someone else’s chimney and became someone else’s Black Knight.”

Mathilde fell into a long silence. The rag doll with the tree branch skeleton was covered in soot from the chimney, and she could almost see the boy carefully writing his sister's name on it.

Each stroke, and even the misspelled letters.

But he had already died in someone else's chimney. His shoulders, hips, and ribs were forced and dislocated by the narrow, curved chimney. His wounds became infected in the coal dust. He died from dehydration and exhaustion, suffocating in the thick smoke. He made weak cries, but no one answered.

After he dies, his remains will fall into the fireplace of a wealthy household, and then be thrown out by the maids into the river or mountains.

“Here you go,” Mathilde said, placing the doll in Ethel’s hand.

"Because there are so many people in the world who need help, the man in black is too busy, but I have seen him. He said he remembers a girl with chestnut hair and gray-blue eyes."

"If you ever find yourself in mortal danger, put this in the fireplace, and the Black Man will come rushing towards you from afar. He can leap across rooftops, sometimes as high as thirty. He has eyes that can spot chimneys and can accurately locate Little Ethel's chimney. He will land on the fireplace and knock the bad guys away in the flames. At that time, remember to tell the Black Man how amazing he is, because that's what he looks forward to the most."

Ethel took the doll with a blank expression, then looked up.

He smiled at Mathilde.

"Ok!"

(End of this chapter)