Like a child who had committed a wrongdoing, Anya’s heart leapt violently. He walked quickly on his heels across the muddy dirt road, trying not to be distracted by the sound of his own heartbeat. The world was turning completely white. Even when he pulled the robe’s hood over his head, the wind immediately flipped it back over. Later on, it became so bothersome that he didn’t even bother with the hood. His long brown hair fluttered messily in the wind.
The homeless people he had seen frequently at the alley entrance on the first day were nowhere to be seen. The streets were truly, literally, deserted—not even a mouse could be found.
‘I was going to ask for directions….’
He had rushed out of the inn feeling that if he stayed still he would miss his chance forever, but Anya didn’t know which house those kids lived in. Northernmost didn’t have a proper address system like other cities. Moreover, they were too busy struggling to get by day to day to have any custom of decorating their homes or cultivating anything. All the shanties lacked distinction and there was no proper way to tell them apart.
‘Still, it looks like everyone evacuated. Thank goodness.’
Anya decided to think positively. If the homeless people had been there, he might have struggled even more trying to evacuate them.
“Since it’s a natural phenomenon, I can’t stop the snowfall itself.”
Just then, a familiar voice came from beyond the white curtain. It was Riario.
“We have enough food and materials. As long as we don’t collapse from an avalanche, we can hold out.”
Good heavens, Evernight was there too. Anya was horrified and quickly hid himself in an alleyway. Black cloaks passing side by side through the square could be glimpsed through the falling snow. Fortunately, they seemed too preoccupied with the urgent situation to spare a glance at some corner alleyway.
“The key question is how many days this will continue.”
“By the way, are you going to keep leaving the prince like that? You can’t ignore him forever, Commander.”
The moment Anya heard the term referring to himself in their conversation, he immediately covered his mouth with both hands. At the same time, a wicked curiosity poked at Anya.
“Ignore? It’s ridiculous that such words would come from your mouth.”
Evernight let out a light snort. Then he suddenly turned around quickly, as if sensing a presence. Anya bit down hard on his tongue to prevent any sound from escaping and hid himself deep inside the dark alley. Fortunately, the thick snow fog obscured the view.
“What is it?”
“…I sensed a presence.”
“A monster?”
“No. It’s not bloodlust.”
“Then it must be some mouse. With the weather like this, even insignificant creatures are struggling to survive. Anyway, to continue what I was saying—isn’t it different from me? I’m just a mage and you’re the husband, aren’t you? Anyway, you’re married, so try to get along well. It’s painful to watch.”
Riario and Evernight walked past the alley where Anya was hiding. Fortunately, their steps weren’t heading toward the inn. They seemed to be returning to the Wall.
“Shut up. I’m trying my best, so don’t nag me.”
Evernight answered as if disgusted. Anya’s hands covering his mouth trembled finely.
“Why do you hate him so much? You seemed to be trying hard though.”
“It’s an age-old loathing bestowed by bloodline. That guy and I fundamentally cannot mix.”
The surroundings were so quiet that even though he didn’t want to hear it, Evernight’s voice struck his ears clearly. Anya’s body trembled in shock. His robe had gotten terribly dirty, but he wasn’t in the mood to care about such things. He had known that Evernight disliked him, but hearing it right in front of him made his mood sink noticeably.
Anya stood there in a daze for a long while until he suddenly came to his senses at the sound of bells ringing throughout the square. Evernight’s words were right. Perhaps… no, truly he and Anya might never be able to mix for their entire lives. Then what should he do?
By lucky chance, Anya met a guard patrolling the area and found out where the widows’ house was.
“It’s here.”
The patroller wondered why the mistress of Tildyen was wandering the streets alone with disheveled hair, but unable to ask such questions of a high-ranking noble, he obediently withdrew.
“Mistress?”
The innkeeper, who had been moving wooden planks to reinforce the roof, ran over when he saw Anya. Then faces he had seen once before popped out from here and there. They all looked like they couldn’t understand at all why Anya had come to such a corner of the village.
“I, I heard you were sh-short on help. I st-stopped by while passing through.”
Anya deliberately spoke in a bright voice, unable to show his gloomy mood in front of people.
“Pardon…? You, mistress? Oh my, oh my, that’s absurd. It’ll be terrible if the Duke finds out.”
The innkeeper was horrified and waved his hands. Perhaps it was because of the cold, but his face was pale white, making him look like someone on the verge of death.
“Th-that person went near the W-Wall. There’s no r-risk of being caught.”
“Oh my, oh my, I’m telling you it’s absurd.”
“It’s an or-order.”
Anya blurted out those words in his anxious state and was surprised by his own words. Unlike Tildyen Rock, his reputation wasn’t bad here. Of course, it was a reputation as fragile as a candle in the wind that could turn at any time if they found out his bloodline was Claicer. In any case, Anya decided to make full use of this. Otherwise, he would be overprotected even here.
Anya couldn’t understand Evernight, who would cast him aside whether he was ignored or not, but now suddenly said it was dangerous and he shouldn’t do anything. The boy had now become capable of reasoning quite selfishly.
“An order… you say, so we have no choice but….”
Having lived in Northernmost and heard all kinds of vile and humiliating orders from noble lords, they were rather reluctant about Anya’s order. Still, since it was called an order, they couldn’t disobey.
“I, I brought something to eat.”
Anya slightly revealed what he had packed from the inn from inside his robe. The innkeeper’s expression immediately hardened coldly, but Anya deliberately ignored it.
“We need to finish repairing the roof first, so could you take care of the children for now? We haven’t been able to look after them all day today.”
A woman said. It was a sort of trick since they couldn’t have the mistress do dangerous work. Anya obediently agreed. Anything would do.
Joel and Ronan’s gang, who hadn’t been able to properly greet Anya while watching the adults’ reactions, finally smiled brightly and guided Anya.
“This way.”
Anya followed the children into a nearby house. The house was near the end of the Wall and close to the village’s outer wall. This place was far from the square, so it was especially quiet. And the house… was shabby. The wooden door rattled incessantly in the wind, and each time it made a creaking sound that grated on the nerves. The window was half-broken, with planks nailed over it as reinforcement.
“There’s no st-stove. Aren’t you cold?”
With the exterior like this, the household items couldn’t be intact. Inside the house, there was no real division to speak of. On one wall was a kitchen attached, and on the opposite side was a bed. The bed was very crude, consisting of thick straw laid on wooden planks with cloth draped over it.
“We need to get new firewood. We’ve cut down all the nearby trees so we have to go far… We’ll probably all go together on the weekend. Until then, we have to endure.”
Ronan wiped his running nose with his sleeve and grinned. As the child said, the fire in the kitchen hearth was almost going out.
“Come this way, mage, no… mistress. The wind doesn’t come in as much here and there are blankets too.”
Ronan scurried over and pushed aside all the miscellaneous items on the dining table, lining up a large bottle of goat milk and cups. Then he brought a pie wrapped in paper from near the hearth and placed it on the table.
Anya quietly shook his head.
“L-let’s eat th-that later.”
Then he spread out the food he had brought from the inn next to the kitchen hearth. It would probably be better to make stew if several people were to taste it at least once each. Stew didn’t require any special cooking skills and was perfect for filling one’s stomach solidly on such a cold day.
“R-Ronan. May I use a kitchen knife and cutting board?”
“Of course!”
Ronan excitedly and quickly prepared a blade that was crude but sharply honed enough to handle anything, and a wooden cutting board. Children began to gather around Anya.
“J-Joel, peel the onions, and you tw-twins, tear the bread into thumbnail-sized pieces.”
Anya quite skillfully assigned tasks to the little ones. The children, who had originally helped the adults at the Wall, capably carried out Anya’s orders one by one. Anya cut the peeled onions Joel brought into large chunks and stacked them carefully in a brass pot.
“Should I peel the potatoes too?”
After finishing with the onions, Joel started preparing potatoes even without being asked. Anya also sliced the potatoes and put them in the pot. After that, he added carrots and cut butter made from solidified goat milk into small pieces, mixing them in here and there. Finally, he piled chunks of rabbit meat and goat meat that the inn’s kitchen chef had already prepared on top, creating a quite presentable result from poor ingredients.
The little ones younger than Joel and Ronan ran around pattering, neatly arranging chipped bowls and utensils on the dining table.
