Several days before the first meeting of the Northern Frontier Reconstruction Directorate, a column arrived in Frost Glaive City to the heavy beat of hooves.
The banners of the Red Tide Fief snapped in the wind amid lingering snow and frost.
More than fifty knights shattered the silence with their hoofbeats, like a torrent forged from fire.
Their leader was the current Viscount of Red Tide, Louis Calvin.
The winter snow had only just receded, but the rot remained.
The fields and defensive lines outside Frost Glaive City still bore the scars of the insect disaster.
Shattered Brood Hive remains, gnawed bones, overturned wooden sheds, and charred trenches... everything reeked of a nauseating stench.
"They must have cleared this place once already, but still..." One of the accompanying knights covered his nose and mouth, his face ashen.
"Once the snow melts, the smell rises." Louis rode forward, his expression calm.
He had stayed in Frost Glaive City during the insect disaster before winter. The stench, bones, and air of decay before him were no longer enough to unsettle him.
But Emily, beside him, was different. Undisguised shock and sorrow filled her eyes.
This was where she had grown up, the beautiful home of her memories.
Now countless insect corpses covered those familiar roads, and frozen bloodstains still marked the city walls. In just one year, the place had changed beyond recognition.
"...Why did it become like this?" she murmured, her voice trembling.
Louis glanced at her without saying much. He merely rode closer and reached over to draw her cloak more tightly around her.
Emily lowered her head, fought back her emotions, and nodded softly before following Louis into the city.
The inhabitants had been evacuated and resettled. Most of those on the streets were patrol soldiers and temporary repair