The air was chillingly oppressive.

When night falls, everything returns to peace. People suddenly realized their loneliness.

Normally, the night in the southern town of the empire is insulated from words like "loneliness" and "tranquility". Crickets chirp in the corners, rats make noise running around the rooftop attic, and insect-hunting bats flapping their wings and gliding in the night sky of the street outside the window. Farther away, beyond the walled wilderness forest, nocturnal birds of prey make noises to their competitors.

Jackals scurry between the woods and bushes, and cold-blooded predators like dragon lizards have fallen asleep at night when the temperature drops, so it's the turn of the smaller mammal hunters to come out and hunt.

Somewhere, a large timber wolf craned its neck and began to howl at the moon, claiming to be the master of the place.

This in turn made the small predators tremble and scurry around.

The word tranquility does not belong to this land that is always full of life regardless of the changing seasons of day and night.

At least it used to be.

Animals are more intuitive than humans, and when the cold wave approaches, all the animals that can escape flee flee.

There are hardly any animals left in the town of Scoti other than humans, their parasites, and their livestock.

Usually disgusted bugs, irritable rats, and occasionally sneak in and steal domestic animals, causing a flurry of chickens and dogs. When all of these animals were gone, humans finally got the peace they wanted.

Everyone found out again that they couldn't sleep.

Because the silence is terrifyingly oppressive.

It was as if everything was dead, as if it were in the frozen earth, as if it were in the hollow and dark underworld.

As far as the eye can see, the whole world is left alone, and there is no sign of life beyond that.

The restlessness made their hearts beat uneasy, but thankfully they didn't have to worry about sleep, because tonight was bound to be a busy night to strengthen the city's defenses.

Bundles of arrows were cradled to the walls, and the Padrosi-style bow differed from the West Coast Avennella straight-drawn longbow in many ways, but the full draw distance was similar. This made it easier for Minna's thirty or so archers, who were able to replenish their already depleted arsenal with arrows of similar length.

And that's not all.

Our Miss Margaret, who wrote to Parnira for help, had already seen the ghoul's powerful cortex resistant to bladed weapons along the way, and it just so happened that she was an adventurous reader herself.

Even if many of these things have been simplified and more of the author's imagination has been added, there is still something reliable in it that has taught the noble lady the basic elements of measuring the power of the bow and arrow.

Tension is one thing, the structure of the bow will affect the speed, and the weight of the arrow shot out of this is also very important. However, in addition to the above, the arrow is also an extremely important component in the pursuit of penetration.

The ghoul's epidermis is similar to the effect of cowhide that humans have hardened for armor, and due to its thickness and toughness, although a sharper and harder steel sword can split through its outer layer, it will get stuck in it and cannot cut through it to deal enough damage.

It is not possible to cut unless you are very skillful, extremely strong, and the weapon has a certain size and mass.

But ghouls aren't dragons after all, and the limitations of the material combined with the rapid evolution of the material make them scary things to humans, and those defenses are actually just that.

The defensive cutting and slashing is okay, but it is not enough in front of the piercing weapon.

Margaret's letters for help detailed the enemies she would encounter and her request for suitable weapons, and in the third batch of supplies, there were a large number of armor-piercing arrows and crossbows that had been hardened to a very high hardness and had a long conical shape that could penetrate even plate armor.

They can deal less damage and damage than triangular bladed arrows, but they are more than enough to make up for the damage caused by a single hit, and they are much better than arrows that can't penetrate the skin at all.

Boxes and boxes of arrows and crossbows were piled up, and many of the ones that had been there for several days had accumulated a thick layer of snow. And in addition to this, there are many special spears for defending the city, as well.

Twelve heavy crossbows designed to deal with Earth Dragons.

The crystallization of the Lamanites' engineering know-how is now transparent, and the heavy crossbow machine, which is wound by a winch, has gears on the base to adjust the angle, and every detail of it is meticulously carved with the sighting device.

The power, accuracy, rate of fire, and controllability of the Ramanites were all at a level of power, accuracy, and controllability, and only in this way could the Lamanites lay down the more principled ballista weapon that had existed for thousands of years.

This is the strength of the empire.

The war hadn't really begun yet, but it was enough to silence our Roan maiden and blonde lady from the West Coast for a long time.

It is no wonder that it has been said that in order to defeat Padrossi, all their ports must first be destroyed from the sea. And to defeat all their ports from the sea, you'll need a fleet stronger than the Padrosi Royal Black Flagships.

A fleet of the world's first.

That's why they're unbeaten. The Lamanite Empire was originally founded as a state by water, and the rapid transportation of troops and supplies through the extensive waterways and ports dotted with inland seas made them fearless even if the cities on land were under-manned or even had fallen.

Because as long as the harbor is not breached, the Empire's vast quantities of goods and personnel will continue to pour in from the large cities that are second to none.

However, in a short period of time, from the majestic harbor of Parnila, all kinds of supplies gathered in the northern area of the Bao Forest were delivered one by one by merchant ships and ferries, and the population of the town, which was originally only a thousand people, instantly increased dozens of times. Craftsmen clanged and cracked on things, while porters led donkeys and horses and pushed wheelbarrows to bring weapons, armor and construction supplies one after another.

Spears, shields, cuirasses, helmets, arrows, crossbows, ballistas, bed crossbows.

All the ordnance was piled up there as if it didn't need money, and the ordnance that could almost make a duke or even a king on the west coast go crazy with jealousy, but it was only the first part of the supply.

This is the productive force that a unified empire can have.

Even if it's just about money, it's out of reach on the West Coast.

In terms of manpower, material resources, and transportation capacity, Padrossi far surpasses Yavenella.

The number of mercenaries and various armies has reached more than 10,000 in the early stage, plus various logistical supply units and engineer units. After entering the cold wave, Scotty, who could not even provide for the additional 100 poor people, naturally could not rely on the functions of the town itself to support these populations.

Fortunately, the higher-ups on Parnira's side also thought of this, so they not only transported a large number of supplies, but also strictly limited everyone to bring their own food and water for a week in the participation requirements before they were allowed to enter the team.

They had made a lot of preparations, calculated the supplies, and just as the men and horses were dispatching to the second batch, the fourth convoy had already arrived in the southern port city of Pavenzio. It's just that the transfer of goods on this scale to the territory of the Padrosi Empire has not happened for many years, so although the large commercial fleet has played its part, they have missed another point.

Scotti itself is not a port, and transport must first reach the port of Pavenzio and then transfer to overland.

And that's where the vulnerability comes in.

"There was a shortage of manpower for land transportation, and the supplies were stuck in the port of Pavenzio. In the report letter that came with the horse team, a simple sentence made everyone's hearts extremely heavy.

The young men from the central regions of the empire who want to get ahead, as well as the various mercenaries, plus the garrisons in the south, have their own legs and feet to walk. They are still joining the town with five hundred to a thousand people a day - but not with supplies.

No matter how abundant the supplies of Parnira are, how strong is the transportation capacity of the merchant ships. Once they arrived at the port of Pavenzio, there was no manpower to move them to the small town of Scotti, so they could only pile up in the port's cargo deposits, piled up in small hills, waiting for the arrival of thieves and snakes, insects, rats and ants.

Thankfully, food is not perishable due to the cold weather—but as if it weren't bad enough, the group at command received an urgent letter from the port of Parniera in the middle of the night.

Inform them that there had been a rebellion, and that the ships on Pavenzio's side would stay here to prevent them from being burned down by the mob, and not to return.

"The merchants took the opportunity to raise prices, causing the prices of firewood, rice, oil, and salt to skyrocket, and in this case, the merchant ships were still transporting supplies from Parnila's side to this side......" Margaret, who had not been seen for many days, stood next to Mira and whispered.

The aristocratic lady had been running around and worried that her relatives and friends were looking a little haggard, and after finally merging smoothly and saving the situation, she fainted to the ground the moment she saw everyone.

This frightened our Loan girl, but luckily it turned out that she was just overworked and a little difficult to resist the cold, so she regained her spirits after a little rest and a little hot soup. As a young member of the group with important identity and knowledge, join the discussion of everyone.

The adventures along the way and the companionship with the white-haired girl can be seen that this once innocent and ignorant young lady has been influenced by Mira. Through a short report and what she knows about the current situation, she can see the events behind it, not only from her own identity, but also know how to empathize and think about what this thing looks like in the eyes of ordinary civilians.

There was no sense of urgency at the front, although the nobles repeatedly emphasized that it was a war reserve in the face of a terrible threat. But when your wife and children are hungry and frozen, and you see boxes of supplies being transported to the ship, and there are fewer and fewer things to buy in the market, and the prices are getting more and more expensive, most people will still subconsciously want to find someone to blame.

The overly hard-handed approach of the anxious Parnila officials further fueled the resistance in the hearts of the people, and even those who had been hungry and planned to endure it were instigated to join the mob.

smashing and robbing, holding all kinds of slogans, in the final analysis, it is just to satisfy one's own food and clothing.

The situation deteriorated, and eventually the lord declared a curfew and sent troops to arrest anyone who gathered for a rally. The atmosphere was tense, and when they first arrived, the harmonious, friendly, sunny Parnira was gone.

The world's top civilization that the Padrossi Empire is proud of.

In the end, that's all there is to it.

But let's get back to the point, despite the dire and urgent situation, the work of defending the city still needs to be done.

The witch summoned back the army of the undead, and the inability to see these things made most of the sappers and ordinary craftsmen feel much more at ease, but it was even more stressful for the general class and the officer class.

Enemies in the shadows are always more dangerous than those in the light, because it is not known which direction they will come from, so the garrison becomes extremely difficult.

Just by placing the troops back in the city and starting to deal with the wounded and remove the necrotoxin infection, the night passed in a busy and exhausting state, including the magician.

And when they fall asleep in the early morning.

The sky was still so dark that it looked like it could wring out water.

"The power of the witch. ”

"Even the sun's brilliance is obscured. ”

"......," said Camilo, a sweaty and pale-complexioned wizard.

It's been a stressful day.

It's over.