13 Small sidestory

-Folred the Guard-

Walking across the walls back and forth as was his duty, Folred barely managed to hold in the shivers. 'This damn freak weather! It's worse than even winter.'  Glaring at the sky for a moment, he would continue to patrol, and yet eventually his thoughts inevitably went back to the weather and its effects, as they often did these days. 

'This damn weather. We're fine of course, we have enough cultivators to non-stop blow away the snow, but what about the villages?' Behind his wooden helmet, his eyes flashed with worry. 'What will happen to the villages? Many of them don't have cultivators, and even if they do 1 or 2 can't secure that much farmland, especially if they were late to clear it out.' His fist clenched around his spear, before with a deep breath he relaxed himself. 'It's fine. The town is fine, and so the villages will be fine. At most, we'll give out some food, or if necessary ask some of the nearby towns for help. Although... they too are apparently suffering this bizarre snowstorm. The Captain even said that the City was alarmed!' 

Folred's pupils dilated as he mentioned the city in his thoughts. 'If the city is alarmed, and they have those monsters... what could really be happening? It can't be that our entire nation is under snowfall, can it?!?' At that shocking thought, he'd harshly shake his head for a moment. 'Bah! You're having fanciful thoughts again Folred, what would the Captain say?' Snapping out of his inquisitive mood, he'd continue with his patrol, occasionally having to stop and wave off the snow from the walls or the surrounding area. 'Damn snow...'  It was only now, just as the panting person was getting to the gates, that Foldred spotted them. "Help! Help! Bandits in..." 'Again?!?' 

-Rosaniya the Merchant-

Looking around at her caravan, Rosaniya would let out a sigh. It was hard enough in ordinary years doing business outside of the cities, let alone being a merchant on her scale - going from village to village selling merchandise from the towns, and selling merchandise from villages to the towns. Yet, this year would be even worse. 'By the world tree, what is this storm?!? This is peak trading season, and now it's all ruined!' 

Trudging through the snow, the pants of her dogs echoed out as they pulled the sleigh through the snow, Rosaniya grimaced. 'We'll have to stop soon. The pups were getting a bit on the pudgy side considering they weren't expected to have to help out so soon, and back home the horses were getting antsy. Damn it all! The worst of it is that the last village didn't even have that much to offer, let's hope this next one will. Lysl's known for their wide range of produce across the entire village, surely they'll have something? Maybe that drunkard has something unique again as well.'

-Haryk-

A heavy thud echoed out in his house with every step as Haryk slowly walked around gathering materials for his next idea. 'Let's see if I can't turn this wood into some kind of armor, it's durable but thin enough. But damn would it be nice to have some kind of leather.' Gathering his tools, he set out on the long, long process of breaking down the necessary materials into his desired shape, size, width, etc. 'This is gonna take days or even weeks...' Shaking his head, he just continued to work. 'Got nothing else to do after all...' 

Hours passed before, "Haryk! Haryk! There's stew! Axilya and Grandma Ithronel made stew!" 'Eh? How'd they do tha- wait. Stew. Meat! Does that mean we have skin and hide?!?' His eyes widened in excitement. 'Perfect!' Standing up and moving to the door loud thuds could be heard with every step. 'Let's see what this stew is all about then.'