Winter snow is flying.

The first snow in the south came a little later, but it was mighty, and the snowflakes fell from the sky one after another, smearing a vast expanse between the lead-gray sky, and this hazy sky seemed to reflect the future of the two countries—chaos and chaos, making it difficult to see the direction.

The pools in the college area were covered with a thick layer of ice, and a foot of snow was piled up on the ice and in the nearby nursery, and a cold wind blew from the direction of the Great Bell Tower, blowing the snow off the roofs of nearby buildings, and casting a large curtain between the corridors and the open-air courtyard, in which it was almost impossible to see any students or teachers walking outside.

The Imperial Academy's winter break has arrived, and the vast majority of the students at the academy have already left, except for the students of the Non-Commissioned Officer Academy, who have to wait a few days before they can leave the school.

A petite and thin figure in a black college uniform with long pale gray hair draped behind her back hurried through the hallway on the first floor of the dormitory building, the wind howling outside the corridor echoed through the windows from time to time in the building, she occasionally looked up to look outside, but through the crystal glass window, all she could see was the non-stop snow and the increasingly cold college scenery in the snow.

This winter...... It's cold.

The petite figure barely stopped in the hallway, and she quickly passed through a door and into the depths of the dormitory, where at last there was a faint smell of people in the deserted building—faint human voices came from a few rooms in the distance, and occasionally a short bagpipe or accordion sounded in between, which made her face relax a little, and she walked forward, and the nearest door happened to be pushed open, and a young woman with neat short hair poked her head out.

"Dana?" The young woman with short hair looked at the petite figure walking in the hallway, and her tone was a little surprised, "Why didn't I see you...... Where did you leave the dorm? ”

"I went to the library......," said the short girl named Dana, in a slightly low voice, showing what she was holding, which were a few books that had just been borrowed, "Mr. Myers lent me a few books. ”

"Library...... It's really you," said the short-haired woman, with her waist thrust at her waist, "look at the water on your shoulder, you just walked all the way through the snow?" Have you forgotten that you are still a mage? ”

"There's a section of snow outside that isn't very heavy, and I removed my shield to touch the snowflakes, but then I forgot about it," Dana said a little embarrassed, "It's okay, it's not too wet......

"Come in and warm up," the short-haired woman sighed helplessly, "and if you really catch a cold, you might be in trouble—especially in this situation." ”

Dana snorted and followed her roommate into the room - as a dormitory, there was plenty of space in it, there were even two rooms, inside and outside, and everything was neatly cleaned as far as the eye could see, and the magic-powered heating system worked silently, keeping the temperature in the room in a comfortable range.

Dana put a few books she had borrowed on the desk next to her, then looked around a few times and asked with some curiosity, "Isn't Mariano there?" ”

"She went upstairs and said she was going to inspect the 'patrol point...... She and the second son of the Webber family always looked nervous, as if the Cecil was going to attack the dormitory at any moment," the short-haired woman said and sighed, "I'm worried about that, but to be honest, if any Cecil does come...... Can we Typhon students convert a few dormitories into fortresses? ”

"I don't think so," Dana whispered, "didn't the teacher say that the emperor has personally ordered the safety of international students in times of war...... We will not be drawn into this war. ”

"That's just that, but who hasn't actually been involved?" The short-haired woman snorted, "Mariano counts how many soldiers patrol the courtyard walls around the Magic Guiding Technical Academy and near the gate on the rooftop of the building every day, maybe those soldiers are indeed protecting us...... But they're not just here to protect us. ”

Dana opened her mouth, as if she had something to say, but what she wanted to say ended up swallowing back into her stomach.

She knew that Carrie was right, and she knew that when this sudden war broke out, no one could really be left alone without being drawn into it—even a group of seemingly non-threatening "students."

Cecil's winter break at Imperial College has arrived, but all plans for this holiday have been shattered.

In this separate dormitory, there are students from Typhon: they are trapped in this building by the war. When the faculty and students of the academy left, the small dormitory became an island in the middle of the ocean, where Dana and her fellow villagers were stranded, and no one knew where the future would go—even though each of them was chosen by their respective families, Typhon's outstanding youth, and even trusted by the Augustans, but in the end...... Most of them are just a bunch of young people who haven't experienced too many ups and downs.

Heirs who can really carry the burden will not be sent here to study - those heirs will also have to take care of the family business at home and prepare to deal with greater responsibilities.

Another cold gust of wind passed through the buildings, and the sound of the wind passed through the double-glazed windows, and into the ears of Dana and Kari, the sound sounded like the low roar of some kind of beast in the distance, and Dana subconsciously glanced at the window not far away, and saw large snowflakes flying against the background of the hazy skylight.

In this exotic winter, even the snow seems to have become a physical wall and a cage, and it takes courage to cross the abyss to get through this wind and snow to the outside world.

In fact, the administrators of the academy did not prohibit the free movement of the students who were stranded here - in principle, except for the strict restrictions on cross-border behavior with Typhon, the international students who came here through normal procedures and did not make any mistakes are not subject to any restrictions and difficulties, the emperor has signed an order to treat students well, the government department has publicly publicized the policy of "not involving legitimate students in the war", and it is theoretically possible for Dana to even complete the vacation plan she considered earlier, For example, visit the city of Tanzania, where the historic mill hills and inner city marinas are located......

But all this was a theoretical thing, and the fact was that none of the Typhon students had left the place, whether out of careful safety or out of the resistance to Cecil at the moment, Dana and her fellow villagers chose to stay in the academy, in the dormitory - this huge institution, with its corridors, courtyard walls, courtyards, and buildings, became a shelter for these foreign stranders this winter, and even their entire world.

"Fortunately, the supply of materials has been sufficient, there is no water and magic net, the canteen in the central area will be open normally during the holidays, and the shops in the main campus are not closed," Carrie's voice woke Dana from her thoughts, and the daughter of the viscount from Enchhawkshire said with a hint of optimism, "On the bright side, our life in this winter will be an unforgettable memory of a lifetime, and we didn't have much chance to experience this in our original life - trapped in the academy of the enemy country during the war, and the wind and snow that never seemed to stop, Discussion about the future, students who set up barricades in the corridor...... Ah, and these books you borrowed from the library......"

Dana thought about it and couldn't help but smile a little: "Anyway, it's still too powerful to set up barricades in the corridor...... The second son of Mariano and Webb is worthy of being from a knightly family, and they would think of such a thing......"

"Maybe next spring they'll have to pay the headmaster for the wood and the iron plates, and maybe they'll have to face Mr. Magnum's angry rant," Carrie shrugged, "I guess the head of the house and the teachers are probably aware of what we're doing in the dorm building by now - Ruslan mentioned yesterday that he saw Mr. Magnum's spirit floating through the hallway at night, as if he were inspecting our last dorm building. ”

Perhaps thinking of the horrific scene of Mr. Magnum's angry roar, Dana subconsciously shrunk her neck, but soon she laughed again, and the scene described by Carrie finally made her feel a little more relaxed in a long time on this cold and tense winter day. She laughed, and then burst into laughter, and then suddenly the sound of bagpipes came through the hallway outside, causing both her and Khali to stop.

The staccato and not-so-standard melody finally became clear and coherent, interspersed with the voices of several people singing, and Dana subconsciously concentrated herself on listening carefully to the melody that came from a few rooms away, while Carrie on the side suddenly whispered after a few seconds, "It's the melody of Enchhawkshire...... Is the second son of the Yuraia family playing......"

"Yuraia......" Dana listened to the sound of bagpipes coming from the hallway, as if remembering something, "I heard that his brother died in the Paramel Heights......"

Carrie didn't answer, just nodded slightly, she leaned against the desk, her fingers slowly beating on the table, her lips moving silently, as if she was humming softly with the faint sound of bagpipes in the air, Dana slowly raised her head, her eyes looked through the crystal glass window of the dormitory, the wind and snow outside the window still showed no signs of stopping, and the scattered snowflakes formed a hazy curtain in the wind, and the whole world seemed to disappear into the depths of the curtain little by little.

……

The wind and snow howling outside the window are obviously not suitable for any outdoor activities, but for those who don't like to run outside, it may be even better.

As a child-like woman sat behind her desk, she looked up at the snowfall outside the window, her pointed ears twitched, and then she lowered her head again, the pen in her hand dancing rapidly on the letterhead—there was already a thick stack of written paper on the table next to her, but it was clear that she had a lot more to write.

“…… Mother, I actually miss the mossy forest a little bit...... Although the winter in the mossy forest is also cold, at least there is not such a strong wind, and there is not such a large snow. Of course, the snow is still beautiful, and some friends invited me to go outside when the snow stopped a bit, but I was worried that I would accidentally fall into a deep puddle of snow...... You can't imagine how big this snow is......

“…… Cecil and Typhon are at war, so surely you're following the news, right? You don't have to worry about that, it's safe here, as if the war on the border didn't affect the mainland at all...... Of course, there are some impacts, and there are daily news about the war in the newspapers and on the radio, and there are many people talking about it......

"The price of food in the city went up a little bit in the last two days, but it soon went back down, and according to my friend, the price of cloth went up a little bit, but the Supreme Government called a meeting of the merchants, and after that all prices were stable. You don't have to worry about my life here, and in fact I don't want to rely on the convenience of being the daughter of the patriarch...... My friend is the daughter of a naval marshal, and she's going to work on vacation......

"Ah, of course, I don't have just one friend, I have several ......"

The tip of the pen that danced rapidly in Merry's hand suddenly stopped, and she frowned, her childlike delicate features wrinkled together, and after a few seconds, the gray elf still raised her finger and brushed it lightly on the letterhead, so that the last sentence that seemed to expose itself was quietly erased.

She put down the pen in her hand for a while, stretched hard, and her eyes swept casually to the side, a newspaper that had just been delivered today was lying quietly on the table, and the large letters on the front page of the newspaper could be seen clearly and sharply-

"Reinforcement again - the valiant Imperial warriors have established themselves in Winterwolf."

"Firm faith, ready to face higher levels of war and wider conflicts!"

In this large report on the war, you can also see clear pictures of the front line, and the magic web terminal faithfully records the scene on the battlefield - war machines, soldiers in formation, positions behind artillery ploughing, loot and body bags......

Although it is some "marginal information" that has no level of secrecy and can be disclosed to the public, the content presented on it is still a scene that ordinary people in the rear are difficult to access and imagine on a daily basis, and for Merry, the act of disseminating and reporting the real scenes of the war in such a rapid and widespread way is an incredible thing in itself.

What is the name of the person who sends back these images? Field...... War correspondents?

All in all, he seems to be a great person.

Merry shook her head, she knew that these newspapers were not just for the Cecil, but as the veins of commerce pulsated, the information carried in these newspapers would spread farther and farther, to the mossy forests, to the kingdoms of the dwarves, and even to the southern part of the continent...... The war between Typhon and Cecil will have an incredible impact.

Is this what Gawain Cecil the Great is deliberately promoting? Does he intend to "show" this war to the entire civilized world?

Merry couldn't help but be curious.