Today is a bad day for Deluo; nothing seems to be going his way. When the bleak morning sun woke him from the tent, he discovered a layer of ice had formed on his sleeping bag.

"Achoo!" Deluo rubbed his red nose vigorously and then rubbed his cheeks with his palms to make his skin regain its vitality. The biting cold wind excitedly blew in from the corner of the tent, showing off its strength in front of the man, reminding him that this was indeed the coldest time of the year.

The sound of a few horse snorts outside let Deluo know his steed was unharmed. If this last horse fell too, Deluo would have to rely on his own two legs to get to Yim's capital. But most crucially, should such a situation occur, the provisions he carried would definitely not hold out against the severe cold.

The snow outside the tent had reached up to his calves, which made it difficult for Deluo to walk on. He complained about this mission while packing up. This is the third time he's going to Yim to purchase enough medicines and food for the camp. Those despicable snake-men always maliciously smear poison on weapons, making already scarce medicinal herbs even more lacking.

Besides that, his soldiers also needed suitable weapons. "Soldiers?" Deluo couldn't help but smile bitterly at this thought. "They are practically just a bunch of farmers, more adept at wielding pitchforks than longswords."

Yet, this was the only way to keep them alive. At the beginning of the year, Holy Pate suffered a great defeat; their attack on the snake-men turned into a foolish suicide mission of Paladins thrown into the firepit. The entire northern front became a big mesh, full of holes and fragile threads. So in February, the snake-men launched a full-scale attack, with both Haisas and Yim now facing direct combat pressure. Fortunately, Wislin at the Five Realms Fortress still held the line, so the southern lords and the Dwarf Kingdom remained unharmed for the time being and could continuously supply other regions with resources.

Although he had spent some comfortable days at Lynch's mother's inn, apart from doing chores like 'throwing out drunkards', he had so much free time that chatting with the two maids was the only way to pass it. But as the signs of war became more apparent, and more refugees came from the north, they carried little food, and more importantly, had no jobs to sustain themselves.

After dealing with numerous troublemakers, Deluo realized that if things continued this way, not only would Lynch's mother's inn go out of business, but even the village they lived in would become a ruin. He had to rely on his reputation to gather and train this motley group, restraining them. Letting them vent their anger on the snake-men under the banner of a "patrol team" was much better than on the wooden houses in the village.

But this was no simple task, so he had to go to Yim again to gather some food. The heavy snow delayed his progress on the road, and the death of his mount in the cold only made matters worse.

He kept complaining while speeding up his busy hands. He discarded anything unnecessary to lighten the poor horse's load. Even so, the red horse grew weaker by the day, looking at Deluo with pitiful eyes. With no other choice, after some hesitation, the warrior threw a small pot deep into the forest.

"From now on, I'm just eating barbecue!" Deluo said angrily to his horse, leaving six footprints in the snow alongside it. "If this doesn't work, I'll have to eat grass just like you! You foolish horse!"

Something drifted across the sky, blocking the pale sunlight. The surrounding temperature seemed to drop again. Deluo looked up, seeing a huge black city floating in the east, gently skimming over the endless mountains. In this world painted white by snow and ice, the flying castle, supported by flame-red clouds, became the only bright color in Deluo's view.

"Oh, my god, what on earth is that?" Deluo said, brushing some fallen snow off his head: "I thought a giant dragon was the largest object that could fly in the sky."

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