Deep beneath the Green Forest Municipal Building.
Three people sat around a heater, savoring hand-ground coffee.
"Speaker, are you sure it's all right to send Watson and the others to guard the entrance? If..."
Before he could finish, the person beside him gave him a dismissive look.
"Tep, you worry too much. In weather like this, do you really think Watson and his people would betray us and let outsiders in?
"Come on. The snow's almost two meters deep. Who would come here now? Who even could?
"Stop worrying over nothing."
Tep fell silent. The man had a point.
In conditions like these, forget people—even an Armored Vehicle would struggle to get through.
Speaker Dres, who had been quietly stirring his coffee, looked up at them.
"Relax. Watson and his people just got their hopes up after hearing the news about Golden Tooth a few days ago.
"But honestly, who would still take in people from another faction at a time like this?
"If it were the Black Shield Police Department or the Aurora Animal Assistance Society, I might believe it.
"But the Black Rock Trade Association? Do you?"
A sneer crossed Dres's face.
Dres looked every inch the elite aristocrat: lean, capable, and impeccably dressed and groomed.
Even with the Extreme Cold Disaster upon them, and the Green Forest Council Alliance beset by troubles within and without as infighting continued,
he still maintained the bearing expected of an elite aristocrat.
It was the result of decades of unwavering discipline.
At his words, the other two councilors grew thoughtful.
"Honestly, I don't understand how the Black Rock Trade Association dared try to recruit our people. They're even weaker than we are. Their intelligence network used to be worth something, but now the whole city's frozen over. Any refugees who were