After bidding farewell to the Wandering Poet, the group returned to the tavern and rented a room.
After a peaceful night’s sleep, they packed their belongings. Going downstairs, they found Ale already in a corner of the tavern, flipping through a book. Beside the thick to sat a mug of beer with a full head of foam.
’Honestly,’ Colin thought, ’she looks like a straight-A student cramming for an exam at a noisy internet cafe.’
"Are we leaving now?" Ale asked, looking up.
"Let’s wait until after we’ve had breakfast," Colin replied, then went to the bar with Kase to order their morning al.
Speaking of which, supplies here were surprisingly plentiful.
The tavern even served things like grilled venison steak and fried sausages. It seed this supposedly resource-scarce Northern Lands wasn’t much different from the south.
After they finished eating, the group headed for the local sled shop.
The streets were crowded today, filled with people wearing white Cloaks. It was unclear what was going on.
With a new person in the group, the other two suddenly fell silent. Under the circumstances, Colin didn’t say much either.
They eventually found a large house with a courtyard. A sled runner was nailed to the doorfra, and the sound of incessant barking poured out from the windows, making it rather noisy.
"Is this the sled shop?" Colin called out, spotting a man in the courtyard.
"It is. You looking to rent a sled? What size?" The man, who had been eating breakfast in the courtyard, walked over. "Hm? Kase? You’re back?"
He spoke with a thick northern accent and, like the others outside, wore a white Cloak.
"That’s . I’m an Adventurer now. This is my party," Kase said.
Colin added quietly, "I’m with the Five-Stringed."
"Ah, they told ," the man muttered. "Six sled dogs, one large sled, and enough food for twenty days. That’s what I can provide."
"Thank you."
"Sled’s over there. I’ll go get the dogs."
The man pointed to a large, cloth-covered object in the corner of the courtyard.
Colin went over and pulled back the cloth, revealing a large wooden sled. It was already cramd with food, looking quite crowded.
A short while later, the man led six sled dogs out of the house.
These sled dogs were much larger than breeds like huskies, with thicker legs. They looked incredibly sturdy.
They were quiet and reserved, clearly a different breed from the ones barking wildly inside the house.
"They have Winter Wolf blood in them, so they can understand human speech. To go sowhere or turn left and right, just pull the reins or say it out loud."
"Cut the chatter," Kase grumbled. "I’ve run this route I don’t know how many tis, Old Kirk."
"Still have to say my piece," the man said with a sigh.
’No wonder these creatures are so powerfully built,’ Colin thought, recalling his own past ordeal with Winter Wolves. ’Those creatures are famously intelligent, which ans these sled dogs should be quite convenient.’
The man ruffled the fur of a sled dog with two dark circles around its eyes. "This is the lead dog. His na is Pepe. You mainly just need to command him..."
The man then gave so more instructions on trivial matters, like how to care for the sled dogs. Kase already knew all of it. After a brief chat, the man said he had things to do and left the courtyard.
"Let’s use my Dinsion Bag. We can save a lot of space by putting the dog food inside," Ale said.
"Sounds like a plan."
Colin and Kase then stuffed all the dog food into the Dinsion Bag. It was clear the bag’s internal space was indeed quite large.
"Let show you how to drive a sled," Kase announced, taking the driver’s seat as if it were his birthright.
Colin said, "I guess you finally found a chance to show off."
"Not everything can be solved with books, you crafty Mage," Kase said with a laugh.
The others climbed onto the sled and settled in.
At the Half-Orc’s command, the sled dogs began to pull, and the sled lurched forward.
The sled glided slowly down the road.
Listening to the sound of the runners scraping against the snow, Colin, who was used to horse-drawn carriages, found the experience sowhat novel. Plus, riding a sled felt steadier than a carriage.
Just as they reached the town gate, Kase suddenly brought the sled to a halt.
Colin looked ahead.
The villagers in their white Cloaks were all standing at the town entrance. From his high vantage point on the sled, he could see over the crowd to two figures in black Cloaks standing outside the gate.
At a glance, the two people in black Cloaks appeared to be one old and one young: a young man and an elderly woman. The woman was holding a swaddled infant.
"What’s going on?" Colin asked.
"That’s the Ri Festival," Kase said calmly from the front. "Weren’t you curious about how people survive here? That’s your answer."
While they were talking, the people in black Cloaks slowly turned and began walking out into the endless, snow-covered plains.
Hearing the na "Ri Festival," and connecting it with everything he had seen and heard since arriving in town, Colin suddenly had a deeply unsettling suspicion.
"Every year, the tribes and towns here have to perform a ritual. Depending on their size, they send out a certain number of travelers. Small places send one, larger places send a few. Those who are sent out will walk deep into the snow plains for the entire season."
Kase continued, "Hunger, cold, death... Lady Ri will do everything in her power to torture them until they die in the snow. For her, mortals’ fear of winter is the very source of her Power.
"Rember the ’Cold Light Walkers’ I told you about a few days ago? That’s how those Ghosts are born. Tortured beyond endurance, their suffering makes them incredibly powerful, and they envy every living being."
The Half-Orc’s tone was placid.
But his words sent a chill down the spine.
Colin saw Orelia, sitting beside him, her eyes glistening with angry tears.
She said, "How can this be? Is there a Church of the Morninglord here?"
"There is, but do you rember the last ti you saw the sun, pointy-ears?"
Kase said, "The so-called winter calamity is Lady Ri blocking out the sun here, letting the cold spread south. Simply put, the Morninglord is useless here."
Listening to Kase, Colin felt a chill run down his spine again.
This Lady Ri was without a doubt an Evil Deity.
And if that was the case, it ant the entire Snow Deer Valley was this so-called goddess’s livestock farm. The people living here were no different from cattle in a pen, just waiting to be slaughtered. And the manner of their death...
Now he also understood why there was no information about monsters here.
As the Shepherd, how could Lady Ri allow monsters to harm her own flock?
After the people in black Cloaks had walked off into the snow plains, several giant moose suddenly ran over from the distance.
They ran all the way into the town, knelt, and closed their eyes.
The surrounding villagers then stepped forward, skillfully slaughtering these animals that had delivered themselves to the slaughter with Small Knives, accepting the food bought with the flesh, blood, and suffering of their own people.
"This is the benefit. The goddess sends food. It’s not much, but it also ans she permits people to hunt here. And those trees that shouldn’t be growing here will grow a little taller for people to use," Kase said flatly.
Colin thought of the venison steak and sausages he had seen this morning.
Then he recalled the look on the Half-Orc’s face when he saw the golden fields, and the scene in Rommon where he cursed while eating every last bite of the spicy food, even though he couldn’t handle the heat.
Food definitely held a special aning for the people of Snow Deer Valley.
Once the white-cloaked townspeople had dispersed, Kase gave another command to the sled dogs, and the sled began to move forward again.
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