"Ian?"
Hearing someone call his name, Ian looked up and saw a vaguely familiar man standing at the tent entrance with a bowl of porridge, cautiously waving to him.
It was Aike, a young man from his village. They were not close, but they often saw each other.
Meeting someone he recognized in this unfamiliar camp felt like finding an old friend in a foreign land.
"Ian? You survived too!" Aike sounded much friendlier than he used to.
He seemed far more spirited than Ian had expected, and his complexion was healthy. His clothes were a little torn, but he looked much more presentable than the bedraggled Ian.
"You're here too?" Ian asked, somewhat surprised.
"I got lucky." Aike sat down beside him. "I fled into the mountains a while ago and nearly froze to death. If the people from the Red Tide Fief hadn't found me, I reckon there wouldn't even be bones left of me by now."
"The people from the Red Tide Fief?" Ian looked at him, his eyes full of questions.
"These people here!" Aike's eyes lit up, and his voice rose with excitement. "Haven't you heard? We have a new lord now! His name is Lord Louis Calvin."
"Calvin..." Ian murmured, repeating the name.
"Yes, him!" A note of reverence entered Aike's voice. "I was up in the mountains before, fleeing for my life with a few others.
"They sent people into the mountains to find us, carried us down on their backs, fed us porridge, gave us medicine, and even gave me a temporary identity tag. They said I'd get food as long as I worked."
He spoke with animated delight, as though recounting something deeply glorious, his eyes shining.
"The new lord isn't the kind of noble Baron Merrick was, spending every day