Winter of Year Twenty-Seven of the Xin Era (I)

Winter of Year Twenty-Seven of the Xin Era (I)

Winter of Year Twenty-Seven of the Xin Era, the Northern Kingdoms, the Lant region.

Thanks to its unique terrain—a low-lying basin surrounded by mountains—even though most places beyond the Northern Kingdoms' borders had already become bitterly cold, blanketed in snow and lashed by icy winds, this basin had been fortunate enough to escape the winds and heavy snowfall.

There was no snow here. The sky was still that particular gray-blue, tinged with gray, that belonged to crisp autumn days, and the sunlight still shone down with strength.

Of course, although there were no snowflakes and the weather was fine, the dry, cold air was still bone-chilling. Passersby's breath would inevitably turn to white mist the moment they exhaled.

The temperature was probably hovering just above zero?

At that moment, Annie, Elena, Frieren, and Fern were walking along the streets of a fairly large town.

To ward off the chill and avoid standing out, even these powerful mages had forgone warming spells and had no choice but to change into thick winter clothes.

For example, Fern wore a simple, elegant dark blue fleece dress with a cloak over it. Elena wore a well-tailored gray wool witch's dress, its collar and cuffs trimmed with soft white fur—warm, yet still befitting her self-proclaimed elegance. Even Annie had put on a thick red coat with a white fur-trimmed hood, making her look more like a delicate snow doll.

The most eye-catching of them all, perhaps, was Frieren, who was dressed quite unusually.

Not only had she put on her thick elven travel cloak, she had also wrapped a seemingly very warm, cream-colored fur scarf around her neck—a rare sight. It covered half her face, leaving only her calm green eyes visible, along with her white