“Haven’t you heard of the incident that occurred in Silverleaf some days ago?”
Asher tapped his fingers on the stone armrest, his eyes fixed on Adam.
Adam furrowed his brows. “I have not heard of it, my lord. I just returned from the frontlines due to the situation in the city.”
“I see. There was a rebellion in Silverleaf, and hundreds were caught in the slaughter, including the family of the blacksmith that made the armor your men wore previously. The ‘Ark Armor Set.’.”
Asher pointed at Moses. “He was the one that saved the blacksmith’s remaining child at the cost of looking deformed, and he also called the warden who reduced the casualty. He saved hundreds of lives.”
Asher stopped there.
He watched Adam look at Moses, and his clenched fist opened.
“I see.” Adam sighed.
Although Adam seemed to have accepted Moses, Asher knew Adam would never forget the sight of Moses placing his wife before the barbarian army to stop him from using his talent.
Both men might never be friends, but the truth was that Moses was a changed man. He never had the love Adam had and was bound to a cold, cruel warrior. Enjoy exclusive adventures from empire
And now, Adam refused to let go of a past grudge. For now, Asher decided to look away.
However, he believed something would bring these two great barbarian warriors together once again.
“You shouldn’t have questioned the lord. You might lose his favor, and that would mean your end.”
Katarina whispered to Adam, causing him to clench his teeth as he realized his blunder. He should have asked Asher when they were alone.
Thud!
Adam fell on one knee and bowed. “I apologize for brutish behavior.”
Asher chuckled. “You’ve been forgiven. Rise.”
Asher’s light tone made Adam feel relieved as he rose to his feet.
“Now…”
All of a sudden, Asher’s light and warm tone dropped several degrees, causing everyone to shudder.
Adam’s pupils dilated.
“… Why are my people dying?” Although his tone was still calm, everyone could feel the piercing glare of a giant wolf.
It was like staring right at a predator.
“My lord, it’s winter. The winter snow has been contaminated by the abyss force, so the cold brings a great plague that takes the lives of hundreds every winter, but this winter’s plague is worse than any we have ever faced.”
Katarina sighed regretfully.
“I also heard the Crimson Temple is unable to send priests to our aid.”
Asher’s eyes flickered. “Is this sickness frostbite?”
“My lord, people die in their sleep. Frozen into ice stones.”
When Katarina said that, Asher’s eyes widened to the limit.
“Those with battle force and magi force can protect themselves but not forever. We will eventually succumb because our bodies are fighting it as we speak. Those who have eaten lots of our high-quality products last longer, but it doesn’t change the eventual end.”
“When did this start?!”
“We noticed it two weeks ago after the death of an entire family, all frozen. Since then we’ve counted the loss of 400, and it’s rapidly growing by the day.”
“What!”
Asher rose to his feet. “Why haven’t I been informed of this?!”
“We don’t know what to tell you. We haven’t figured out if this is everywhere in Bashan or if a dark mage is causing it.”
“Deploy the entire legion; the outskirts of the city and beyond should be searched. Send a letter to the Crimson Temple; I want every available priest/priestess and every free apothecary to be here.”
Asher couldn’t help but feel slight fear. This time he wasn’t facing a beast tide or a human army but combating nature.
He always knew the weather in Bashan would be a problem, but he never knew it would hit him this hard in the first winter!
The first month was coming to an end. Soon, they would enter the second month, which was much colder.
Come to speak of it, snow came too early in this world and lasted a complete three months before stopping.
This made winter a season of fighting for survival rather than celebration like it was on Earth.
Long after everyone left to fulfill his orders, he sat on his throne thinking. Several thoughts had gone by, but none of them could fix this dilemma.
Even if Sapphira came, her magi force had a limit. She would eventually run out and need time to refill, but such use would expose her to abyss force!
The priests/priestesses were at risk of corruption.
Entwining his fingers, Asher breathed out heavily.
The next day, he had those who lived in the lowest of the lowest stay in the lord’s manor because this place was warmer.
In three days, the lord’s manor was crowded. Asher stood on the wall, looking at Ashkelon, which was covered in snow and ice.
His city was dying.
In these four days he had seen over a hundred people’s frozen corpses. Strangely, it mostly happened when they were asleep.
Then the body was at its weakest, giving a chance for the plague to win the battle and consume the body.
‘It feels as if nature is bent on letting me know that I have no place here.’
Asher sighed.
Even after deploying thousands of soldiers, they found nothing. Not even a trace of a single abyss creature.
Because of the blood of the abyss creatures, they thrived in winter while red-blooded beings like humans and other races died during this season.
The thought of buying fire elemental crystals came to mind, but the cost would cripple the treasury, and even worse, the fire crystal they used wore out after a night.
This meant they would need peak-grade crystals to last three months! Each one was 100 gold coins, and there were over 100,000 living in Ashkelon!
That would mean he needed 10,000,000 gold coins! That was billions of bronze coins!
The treasury didn’t have such money, and even a kingdom would be crippled to bring out such a sum at once for something that wouldn’t produce anything to fill up the chasm left by the 10,000,000.
‘Only one option remains… the system.’