NOVPUBIn Chinston City, a city-state situated atop the mountains, harsh blizzards were an ever-present reality.
The icy wind swooshed across the steep mountain ridges, dancing with the whirling snowflakes.
The sprawling snow-covered highland, with snowflakes fluttering mid-air, each one seemingly alive as they twirled delicately before falling on the endless tundra.
Life still existed in this snowy landscape.
Occasionally animal footprints could be seen, gradually buried again by blizzards. At the end of these tracks, a skittish reindeer stood on the snow, staring in one direction. Not long after, as if sensing danger, it darted away like a loosed arrow.
The blizzard continued to howl.
The contours and patterns of the snowy terrain became clearer. A small figure seemed to be slowly moving against the wind and snow, far from where the reindeer had taken off.
Initially, it was hard to notice, but in time, the figure’s panicked and faltering footsteps became clearly visible, stumbling and nearly falling in the snow.
With labored breaths, the youth clad in a heavy coat finally dropped his suitcase, scattering his only somewhat decent set of aristocratic clothes and his identification papers from the south.
His skin, as white as the surrounding snow, framed big and bright eyes filled with panic and anxiety. His flaxen hair was as soft as that of a Southern belle from a prosperous city, now made disheveled by the blizzard.
On his trail were four to five robust men in hot pursuit.
Dressed in heavy hunting attire and adorned with magical beast fur hats, their sneering grins were savage and cruel. Each footstep left a profound indentation in the snow as they relentlessly closed the gap with the youth.
Clearly, these were hardened denizens of the northern city-state, and the distance between them and the young man was rapidly shrinking.
The youth trudged through the soft snow, each step threatening to swallow him whole.
His breaths were hurried; his cheeks, bitten raw by the chilling wind, yet he persevered in his desperate flight.
He broke the silence of the plains with the echoes of his pursuit, reverberating across the boundless snowy expanse.
The distant Frozen Forest was the youth’s lifeline.
He knew if he could reach the snowy forest, he’d have a slim chance of escape.
Even if it was faint, it was better than fleeing across the open tundra!
"Hey Southern Belle, come play with us"!
"Don’t worry, we don’t plan to kill you right away".
Accompanied by the shrill jeering of ruthless thugs, every not a few arrowheads whizzed by the young man’s back, but due to some kind of cruel mockery of fate, or due to an invisible barrier, they consistently missed the youth.
"..."!
The youth clenched his teeth without daring to look back, using the noise to judge the distance between him and his pursuers.
However, this gap shrunk faster than he had imagined.
He feared he would be caught far before reaching the snowy forest!
In the blizzard, the distance between the young boy and the bandits grew dangerously close. A palpable tension and crisis permeated the air, but the icy tundra’s indifference held no bias — it merely bore silent witness to this desperate pursuit, awaiting the outcome.
The survival of the fittest was the farmost rule in this harsh landscape.
Even people from the southern part of the empire had heard of the harsh conditions of the North.
Of course, now, even the South wasn’t safe.
The North was suffering not just from external threats but also from the recent reforms and chaos within the Empire.
Traveling north of Chinston City through several other cities, one would reach the northern front lines. The journey from Hezishan Province to Chinston City was littered with obstacles.
The young man’s mind was in chaos, unsure if his legs were numbed from the frost or weak from fear. He could barely hold on.
There were several mishaps.
His name was Shaar, the eldest son of Earl Candice’s family in the Protoss Empire in the South. His ancestors had a distinguished military record, but after two generations of wastrels, they were on the verge of bankruptcy.
So now he had to marry into a family in the North.
From some perspectives, his family sold him off, but essentially it was a mutual agreement that benefited both parties.
The Chinston family he was marrying into wasn’t bad at all.
The Lord of Chinston City, Viscount Levin Chinston, had become quite well-known in the capital in recent years as a successful businessman. His personal talent, his family’s long-standing business, and his personal ability to stand firm in the North had gradually bolstered the city-state and their family’s unstoppable rise to power.
However, as a family of merchants, the one problem the Chinston family always faced was being ridiculed as fake aristocrats who bought their nobility.
For this very reason, Viscount Levin Chinston was not well-received by many significant nobles every time he went to the capital. Whether it was simply them looking down upon him or the result of envy, even several Northern nobles slighted him.
Shaar, despite his incompetence, was an undeniably legitimate and prestigious member of an ancient noble family, bearing a noble lineage. His family had a prominent place in the history of the Protoss Empire long before the Holy War began. 𝚗𝚘v𝚙𝚞b.𝚌𝚘m
The Chinston family saw the appeal in that.
Reportedly, his betrothed was a notably excellent and proud individual, who achieved a third-order status at 17. She was set to attend the Protoss Royal Academy in the capital this coming summer, destined to have a bright future as a noble.
And his family couldn’t even afford to pay the academy fees.
He hoped to secure a merit-based admission to study without paying any fees, but that required exceptional skills.
Qualifying for the preparatory school exam was a challenge itself. Already having failed he once, he didn’t enjoy competition. He had no desire to hurt others and he didn’t have the confidence necessary to survive in such a strict school.
His most promising option for admission was accompanying Miss Chinston Family to the school as her fiancé.
But this seemed a bit like being a kept man.
Her family certainly had the means to hire a strong attendant.
He didn’t know whether or not she would call off the wedding and send him home.
Everything was uncertain. He didn’t even know what his fiancée looked like or her temperament. Despite the dangerous and ominous rumors circulating in the North, he ventured the great distance for an opportunity to change his fate.
Theoretically, if he could turn the tide, reinstate his family’s former glory, he would have a place in the Upper House of the Empire. His family’s image could be restored back to those days when they held a prominent and respectable status among the aristocrats of the Protoss Empire.
But...
The railway was broken first. Owing to harsh weather, it was difficult to repair quickly. He originally planned to reach Chinston City safely on the Magic Power Rail Train under the protection of the imperial army.
To keep his appointment, he had no choice but to risk the severe weather and cross the wilderness to head into town.
Then he ran into bandits on the way.
