Chapter 308
Chapter 308
Chapter 308
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 308 – The Lost One on the Northern Snowfields
Kingston City, the city-state perched atop high mountains, was a place shrouded in blizzards all year round.
Cold winds swept across the jagged ridges, howling as they danced with flurries of snow.
Across the canvas-like snowfield plateau, pure white snowflakes floated in the air. Each seemed to have its own life, spiraling lightly before finally landing on the boundless, rolling snow.
In this land of snow, there were still faint traces of life.
Occasionally, animal tracks could be seen before the wind and snow covered them again. At the end of one such trail, a reindeer stood quietly on the snow, gazing in one direction. Suddenly, as if it had noticed something, it bolted away like an arrow loosed from a bowstring.
The storm raged on.
Far away, through the patterns and contours of the endless snow, a tiny figure moved slowly against the storm.
At first, it wasn’t clear, but with time it became obvious—its footsteps were stumbling, faltering, almost collapsing into the snow.
With heavy breaths, the boy in the thick coat finally dropped his suitcase, spilling out his only decent set of noble clothes and his southern documents.
His skin was as pale as the snow around him, his eyes wide and frantic, full of panic and fear. His flaxen hair, soft and fine like that of a sheltered young lady from a warm and prosperous southern city, was now disheveled by the blizzard.
Behind him, four or five strong men gave chase.
They wore thick hunter’s garb, beast-fur hats, and cruel, twisted smiles. Each heavy step left a deep imprint in the snow.
It was clear they were hardened men of the northern frontier, and the distance between them and the boy was shrinking rapidly.
The boy’s feet sank into the soft snow, each step threatening to swallow him whole.
His breathing grew ragged, his cheeks were bitten red by the cold wind, but still he pushed forward with desperate determination.
The silence of the snowfield was shattered by the sounds of pursuit, echoing across the endless white.
In the distance lay a frozen forest—the boy’s only lifeline.
He knew that if he could reach the woods, there might be a slim chance of escape.
Slim though it was, it was better than fleeing across the open snow!
“Southern noble lady, come play with us!”
“Don’t worry, we won’t kill you right away!”
The raucous shouts of the brigands rang out, mixed with the occasional arrow that whistled toward the boy’s back. Yet, strangely, none found their mark, as if diverted by an unseen barrier.
“…!”
The boy clenched his teeth, not daring to look back, gauging their distance by sound alone.
But they were closing in much faster than he had imagined.
Long before he could reach the forest, they would catch him!
In the storm, the distance between prey and pursuers shrank rapidly. Tension and danger hung in the air, while the merciless snowfield showed no preference. It watched indifferently, waiting for the outcome of this life-and-death chase.
The law of the snow was simple: the weak are prey, the strong survive.
Even southerners had long heard of the state of the Empire’s northern frontier.
Of course, the south was not exactly stable either these days.
The north was worse only because external threats mixed with new imperial laws and reforms, plunging it into even deeper chaos.
Past Kingston City, after a few more towns, lay the northern frontlines. Even the journey from Rock box Province to Kingston was a thorn-strewn path.
The boy’s mind was a mess. He didn’t know if his legs were going numb from the cold or from fear, but he was nearly at his limit.
His misfortune came in layers.
His name was Shaya, eldest son of the Candis County family in the southern provinces of Protos. Though his ancestors had earned great military merit for the Empire, two generations of wasteful lords had squandered everything. Now the family was drowning in debt, barely surviving.
So, he had been sent north for a marriage alliance.
In a sense, his family had sold him off, but at its core it was a mutually beneficial arrangement.
The Kingston family he was to marry into was not a poor match.
The lord of Kingston City, Viscount Levin Kingston, was a merchant who had become famous in the capital in recent years. With his personal talent, the long-standing scale of his family’s trading guild, and his own formidable martial ability that allowed him to establish himself in the north, he and his house were steadily rising with unstoppable momentum.
But as a merchant family elevated to nobility, they were often mocked as “bought nobles.”
Because of this, Viscount Kingston was often looked down upon by the great nobles of the capital. Perhaps it was disdain, perhaps envy. Even in the north, he faced no shortage of scorn.
Shaya, though incompetent in many ways, had one advantage: his pure, ancient noble bloodline, proven by his ancestors’ battle honors. His family’s name had been etched into the Empire’s history long before the Holy War.
That was what the Kingston family valued.
It was said his fiancée was a proud and talented young woman who had already reached the Third Tier at just seventeen. This summer, she would enter the Protos Royal Academy as a first-year student—a noble with boundless potential.
His own family couldn’t even afford his tuition.
To enter as a special recruit required strength he did not have. He had already failed the preparatory exams once. He lacked the drive to fight, the will to hurt others, and the confidence to survive in such a harsh academy.
The only realistic way for him to enter was to become his fiancée’s attendant, accompanying her to school as her betrothed.
But that felt shameful—like a kept man.
Her family was wealthy enough to hire any strong retainer they wanted.
He didn’t even know if she would break off the engagement and send him home.
Everything was uncertain. He didn’t even know what she looked like or what kind of person she was.
Even though ominous and bizarre rumors circulated about the north, he had still traveled all this way to change his fate.
If, in theory, he could turn things around and restore his family’s glory, their name would once again shine in the Empire, regaining their seat in the Senate and their place in the noble circle.
But—
First the railway broke down, and the storms prevented repair. Originally, he could have safely arrived at Kingston on a Magitec train under imperial military protection.
Now, to keep his appointment, he had no choice but to brave the blizzard and cross the wilderness.
And on the road… he ran into bandits.
(End of Chapter)