Snow fell from the sky, which was hidden behind dark clouds. Each flake was as large as a goose feather.
Snow this heavy was rare even in Gefra. There were almost no pedestrians on the roads, and the occasional car passed by at an extremely slow speed.
The wet, slippery roads were a challenge to drivers' skills. The stiff corpses occasionally found by the roadside were another.
Everywhere was the same. There was a good side to everything, and a bad side as well.
Sometimes it was like heaven; sometimes it was like hell!
Behind windows obscured by beads of water condensed from steam, most Gefrans were experiencing a winter not much different from those of the past.
Occasionally... some people felt cold.
Occasionally... some people couldn't fill their stomachs.
Negotiations between the Gefran government and the Federation over food had entered their final stage. At the same time, the Federals had once again proven that they held the dominant position when facing Gefra, an empire that had stepped on the accelerator while heading downhill.
Gefra had contacted several other World Development Committee Member States, but unfortunately, all of them had refused to sell food to Gefra for one reason or another.
Some had put it tactfully, saying that their own countries didn't have enough food to eat.
Others had been less tactful, saying that they would have to sit down and discuss the matter with the Federals first.
Sit down? Discuss it? That discussion would probably drag on until next spring. By then, no one knew how many people would starve to death or how many would curse the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister's Cabinet in the cold and hunger.
In the end, Gefra decided to exchange the complete Four Special Alloy Formulas, two Battleship Important Technical Blueprints,