On the first day of December, snowflakes began drifting down over the capital of the Gefra Empire.
Actually, it should have snowed here long ago. The air had been bitterly cold and damp for some time, but the conditions for snowfall had never quite arrived.
No dark clouds, no snow!
At last, the snow began falling in earnest. The front-page header of the newspaper by the corner of the table read today's temperature in the capital—eight degrees below zero! Such weather was rare in Gefra. In previous years, it usually did not get this cold until around the end of December, but now it was only the beginning of the month.
Ever since last winter, everything had become somewhat different.
Summer could kill people with heat, and winter could freeze them to death.
After kissing his wife and daughter, an ordinary worker put on his thick winter clothes and prepared to leave. As his wife saw him off, she asked him to stop by the supermarket after work that evening and bring home some food.
The man glanced at the newspaper by the corner of the table. On the front page, he noticed a brief report titled "Efforts to Ensure Food Supply."
He nodded in agreement and left his comfortable home.
The moment he stepped outside, the cold wind cut at his face like a knife. He tucked his hands into his sleeves and gripped them from inside to keep the wind from getting through.
He lowered his head and pressed on against the biting wind.
Actually, his mood was not as gloomy as the weather. The snowy white flakes made the whole world look exceptionally clean.
Every step he took on the snow produced a "crunch, crunch" sound and left behind a trail of footprints.
He glanced back. The