Lord of Winter: Beginning with Daily Intelligence - Chapter 482 - 301: Mary Arrives at Red Tide City
Chapter 482: Chapter 301: Mary Arrives at Red Tide City
The morning chill mist still lingered as the convoy slowly traversed the final hill.
In that instant, the view opened up vividly.
The scenery before her took Mary’s breath away.
A city lay quietly between the morning fog and the snowfield.
The half-completed gray-white city walls stretched out like a giant beast, covered in a thin layer of frost on the yet-to-be-polished stone, reflecting a cold brilliance.
Cold iron beams were embedded one by one into the stone layers, hard and sharp, like steel armor draping the city.
Several towers stood erect, piercing straight through the mist, with braziers hanging from iron frames at their tops, and remnants of firelight still exuding faint wisps of smoke.
What was even more mesmerizing was the sight of the fluttering crimson banners, presenting a stark contrast against the vast snowfield.
Like lighthouses in a snowstorm, they signified direction and hope ahead.
The children were the first to lose patience, leaning halfway out to look, shouting, “It’s so big! So tall! Mom, look!”
“More orderly than Frost Halberd City… at least it looks that way.” A woman clutching her young son spoke with a trembling voice.
“Don’t be fooled by appearances, who knows what’s inside the city gates.” An older man squinted, cautious in tone, but the light in his eyes betrayed his inner astonishment.
Listening to the surrounding voices and watching the city enveloped in fog, Mary’s heart warmed slightly.
The city walls and gates looked no less than those of the old Frost Halberd City, even appearing more brand-new and solid.
Yet she still dared not completely relax.
It’s a mixture of anticipation and concern.
After all, no matter how glorious it is outside the gates, it doesn’t guarantee a good life inside, as long as it’s half as good as Frost Halberd City, it would suffice.
As the convoy slowly descended, the details of the city gate became increasingly clear.
The tall, heavy wooden gate studded with dense cold iron nails shimmered with rings of cold light as the morning light fell upon it.
The green-gray stone bricks laid on both sides of the gate formed a gently extending slope, convenient for transporting carts in and out, and for soldiers to fortify defenses.
Knights stood in neat lines, their armor uniform and without blemish, with each breastplate engraved with the sun emblem of the Red Tide.
“Align left, prepare for entry inspection.”
The leading knight held the reins, his expression calm, yet he instinctively lowered his voice, seemingly unwilling to disturb the order.
The air carried a cool moisture and an indescribable pressure, prompting one to hold their breath.
Mary leaned slightly forward, looking out past the window, and found their convoy being guided to a special passage on the left.
On the far right side was a completely different scene.
A dense group of ragged refugees crowded together.
They huddled against the wind, with weary faces and eyes filled with longing.
Some clutched burlap bags containing the last remnants of their belongings salvaged from the ruins.
Yet contrary to Mary’s expectations of chaos, there was no shouting, nor was there any commotion; order was maintained methodically.
Under several simple wooden shelters, clerks were diligently registering each person’s name, origin, and family situation.
“Next, how many in your household? Those with children, proceed to that side.” An official spoke calmly, yet with authority.
On the other side, soldiers were distributing hot porridge and bread.
Pots of steaming ceramics were brought out, with women and children receiving them first, cradling the bowls carefully, as if holding a long-lost hope.
“Did you see that? They’re giving them bread and porridge, and quite a lot!”
“Who in the Northern Territory does this? How much grain must it cost…”
Someone in the convoy murmured in amazement.
And those refugees who were registered would be taken by soldiers to a temporary settlement area within the city gates.
There, neat rows of wooden houses had been erected, simple but at least able to shelter from the wind and rain.
The face of a refugee, flushed from the hot porridge, showed, for the first time, some relaxation in their previously hunched shoulders.
An indescribable emotion surged in their hearts, as if something hard was slowly being melted away.
Mary cradled the sleeping Yini, her gaze shifting back and forth between the refugee crowd and the shelter area on the other side of the gate.
Those people were ragged and malnourished, evidently evacuees fleeing from even further north in the Northern Territory.
Yet the anticipated chaos was absent; there were no scuffles, no cries, no infighting.
Instead, a nearly unbelievable sense of order prevailed.
Mary stared dazedly at all this, memories flashing of the scenes outside Frost Halberd City when famine was rampant.
There, refugees would fight each other for a half-moldy hard biscuit, and the dead were almost unattended.
Yet here, in the same displacement, people could sit quietly and drink porridge, and children receiving bread would giggle.
A mother, her eyes reddened from the cold, showed a rare moment of relief upon receiving a woolen blanket from the soldiers.
An indescribable shock gripped Mary’s heart.
The accompanying knight noticed their expressions and explained with a smile, “This is the refugee accommodation policy of the Red Tide Territory, set by our Lord. First, register identities, then allocate food and shelter, to prevent chaos and outbreaks.”
“Is it free?” Someone couldn’t help but ask.
“Yes, all free.” The young official’s tone was laced with undisguisable pride, “As long as these people are willing to stay, they will all become a part of Red Tide in the future, as decreed by the Lord.”
The refugee housing system of Red Tide Territory was unprecedented in the Northern Territory, or even the entire world.
Even the most destitute of refugees, the elderly, infirm, and destitute, could receive a bowl of hot porridge, a piece of bread, and a place to temporarily shelter here,
