Takalin is one of the rare veterans among the Snow Swearers, nearly forty years old this year.
In these turbulent times, surviving to this age as a Snow Swearer is already a luxury.
Moreover, he has a thirteen-year-old son, Aik, who is his only living concern.
These are enough to make him feel happy.
These Snow Swearers, now hiding in a village in the northern part of Snow Peak County, long erased from the map.
Since the Empire started purging the Snow Swearers last year, this place has become one of the few remaining strongholds within the Empire's borders.
Day after day, they waited here for the leader's orders, capturing those solitary members of the Imperial Nobility and Knights, and then sacrificing them to the "Ancient God of Cold Abyss."
But the sacrificial rites are not their responsibility.
It is a matter handled by a priest wearing a bone-white mask and a black feather robe.
No one has seen his face, nor heard his voice except for when he mutters curses.
