Hooves struck the frozen dirt road with crisp cracks, as though crushing a sheet of thin ice.
The caravan crossed from Coastal Province into Sabertooth Province. The towering Swordtooth Mountains stood like a barrier, holding the bitter sea winds on the other side, and only then did the chill in the air ease a little.
The scenery along the way was bleak, as was typical of winter.
A layer of white frost covered the bare fields. Villages were scattered sparsely across the land, with little cooking smoke rising from their chimneys.
As they approached Stone Salt Town, an unexpected change began to appear.
Newly built villages lined both sides of the road.
Though the houses were simple wooden structures, they stood in neat rows. Gray-white cooking smoke rose straight from every household's stone chimney, lending a touch of life to the gloomy winter sky.
Tristan pulled his cloak tighter and watched in silence.
There were none of the ragged refugees he had expected to see waiting to die by the roadside.
Several children in thick, coarse-cloth padded jackets chased one another beside a frozen mud puddle at a village entrance, their cheeks red from the cold and great clouds of white breath puffing from their mouths.
"Newborn Town provided them with temporary work for the winter," Veylin said beside him, his tone as level as though he were reading from a ledger. "With the extra merit points they earn, they can buy grain and charcoal to get through the winter."
The caravan unloaded a shipment of goods from the Royal Capital in Newborn Town and stayed there overnight.
Tristan had long heard of this legendary little town, but seeing it for himself was an entirely different experience.
Not a scrap of rubbish or filth could be seen on the level