The War Without Smoke(1)

Normally, Ampere Seale will enter its busiest period of the year during March. However, the northern glaciers began to thaw early on in February, allowing the merchants to ferry goods from the south to Covardo and Seifer that just recovered from its long winter. There were leather, amber, and tobacco from the Radner region and nuts and timber from the Grinoires region. But what about Trentheim? Trentheim did not have any specialty products, and to the merchants, who only cared about profits, would not bother to care about the poor like them.

Some even thought there were only bandits there.

But rumor has it that there were ships that delivered food supplies there previous winter. Everyone who heard about it was shocked. Where did this bunch of village losers get the money to pay for those goods?Of course, not many people knew that one of the three silver mines was in Aouine. But even if that was the case, it belonged to the Count, and the masses in Trentheim did not have any share of the money.

However, before the news was authenticated, rumors about the southern rebels and the war came to reach their ears. Besides bandits, they even have a rebel army now! Seem like Trentheim is still the unruly place it is known to be, with only aggressive citizens in there.

Albeit so, the nobles only cared about entertainment, spices, riches that came in from the trade channels. They did not bother its origins and left all the work to the merchants. However, with the raging battle going on right now, and the civil unrest within Aouine, plus the merchants’ fear, it was no doubt that the economy was disrupted and the nobles could not enjoy the luxury this time around.

However, The region from Etolin to Ampere Seale was the heart of economic activity, where the free trade there is enforced by the Holy Cathedral. That itself meant that the exchange of currency and goods were still high in activity at the time.

In Omitos, near the near outpost along the road to Ampere Seale, within the hugs of the mountain ranges and conifer trees that were just thawed off their ice The glaciers from Anlek began to melt, forming streams that flowed between the forest. A team of riders was marching in between the trees, alerting the birds and causing them to fly away, leaving only some of their feathers behind.

Maynild was leading her team to survey the area. The first batch of officially trained officers from the Royal Academy who could finally able to hold their own ground independently now. Behind Maynild was Freya, the mild girl who still had the innocent look was now donning a full armor that may have been part of the reason she started to gain the air of a militant. She still had the scar on her forehead that she got from the previous tournament, though it had mostly faded off.

The Lionheart sword was strapped firmly to her waist. The Princess had ordered her not to pull out her sword unless it was an emergency. Thus she also carried another steel sword. It was a little comical for a female knight to have two heavy, longswords hung around her, but she did not see it as a problem. To a soldier, a sword was like a treasure. And if possible, she would want to have more of them as they provided her a sense of security.

It was the same as a poor person finding every chance he could to save money. But even so, she had the common sense to realize that it was laughable to carry that many swords.

All the recruits in the academy were given a new sword each month. Maybe because the training that they receive was too tiring, there were only a few who bothered to maintain their swords. Most would use