The nobles of Silvermere were celebrating.
Gao Kan, who wanted to rise from obscurity, was hurrying along.
But Lux, the center of everything, who had come to Silvermere to investigate and provide disaster relief, and who should have been "resting in bed," quietly changed into commoner girl's clothes, mounted a horse, and set out quietly.
Her fair skin had now become a problem—along the way, Lux had realized that ordinary farm girls her age simply didn't have skin as fair as hers.
Fortunately, the all-capable Klein always had clever solutions.
He taught Lux some very interesting disguise techniques.
By using some berries with natural pigments and wheat flour as ingredients, Lux could transform her fair skin into a healthy wheat color.
And unground wheat grains could serve as her "pimples," while unremoved wheat bran dotted her face as cute "freckles."
After this transformation, Lux had completely changed her appearance—plus a large hat that was clearly too big for her head, she had transformed from a noble lady into a commoner girl.
The only slightly incongruous detail was her sword, as ordinary people wouldn't carry swords.
For this, Lux designed herself an identity as a "Hunters' daughter"; although Hunters prefer skinning knives, she was a girl!
Choosing a prettier sword was perfectly acceptable in martial Demacia.
Moreover, even if Lux's demeanor was slightly different from a rural girl's, she could explain it by saying, "She usually studies hunting and doesn't understand farming."
Accompanying her was the best guard in the team; he had changed into a hunting bow and played Lux's uncle—also a Hunter.
His trip was to bring his niece from Erwindale to visit relatives.
Oh, it should be "Skolara's uncle"; to be cautious, Lux had even reversed her name.
Thus, through a disguise, she finally arrived at the outskirts of Silvermere as a commoner.
Unlike Demacia Capital, which is located on the coast, Silvermere is a plateau city.
It is backed by the Dragonspine Mountains to the north, and to the south lies the vast Demacia Great Plain, making it a crucial transportation hub.
When spring arrives, the melting ice and snow on the southern slopes of the Dragonspine Mountains form countless streams in the mountains, and these streams, guided by canals, are eventually channeled into Silvermere's lake.
This half-natural, half-artificial lake provides Silvermere with abundant water resources, which can be used for both agricultural irrigation and shipping—don't be fooled by the long journey from Demacia Capital to Silvermere by carriage; if going the other way, one can travel downstream a thousand miles in a day.
Even better, due to Silvermere's rich underground mineral resources, this large lake rarely freezes year-round, so unless a once-in-a-century cold snap occurs, the city is protected by the lake's waters throughout all four seasons.
Silvermere is generally composed of two parts.
The inner city fortress in the lake is the noble and military district; this inner city was built on a natural hill at the center of the lake, with high terrain and surrounded by water, so even if the barbarians from the North Border were starving and descended en masse, they could not harm this fortress.
Around the lake, other urban areas are scattered sporadically—agricultural areas, commercial areas, handicraft areas, and so on; these areas have low but complete city walls, and in the event of War, they can support each other.
It is precisely because of this integration of military, agriculture, and commerce that Silvermere holds an incredibly important strategic position in the entire Demacia North Border—together with Fosbairo to the west and Erwindale to the east, it is known as Demacia's "North Border Three Towns."
Returning to Silvermere after many years, Lux's eyes were filled with novelty.
The population here was far less than The Capital, but it was still quite prosperous.
The sweet lake water was like a source of life, nourishing the fertile fields nestled among the mountains, which had been reclaimed through the efforts of dozens of generations of Demacia people.
It was early winter, and there were almost no streams flowing from the snowy mountains, but the water resources in Silvermere's great lake were still abundant; the number of farmers working in the fields was not large, but everywhere was full of vitality.
By the time Lux arrived in the outskirts of Silvermere's outer city, it was already nightfall.
As the Moon God began to rise, Lux did not rush into the city but, as planned, began to look for a farmhouse to stay at—after expressing her willingness to pay, she and the guard successfully settled down in a village.
The village chief was an old man with a kind face; he accepted the introduction fee and then helped Lux and her guard find a family with a vacant room, allowing them to settle there.
This was a family that didn't seem very well-off.
According to the owner of the house, this vacant room was originally his daughter's room, but now that his daughter had gone to the inner city to be a maid, it had become empty.
By commoner standards, this room was relatively clean—but in Lux's eyes, this cleanliness was still very messy.
Lux considered herself not to have mysophobia, but actually lying on such a bed, she still couldn't sleep no matter how she tried.
"Is this the life of a commoner?" Lux gripped her sword hilt. "Klein, why don't they wash the quilts cleaner?"
"You mean the duvet covers, right? Because frequent washing makes the covers prone to damage," Klein replied. "Besides, washing duvet covers is troublesome, and most people don't have time to wash them often—summer is fine, but washing duvet covers in winter is not a good idea."
"Oh, that's right..." Lux nodded, simply deciding not to sleep. "Never mind, let's go out and take a look, go to the nearby fields, and you can also teach me about frost damage."
After the homeowner had gone to sleep, Lux and the guard put on their coats, arranged the room to look like two people were sleeping, and quietly left the courtyard.
Not far from the village were the farmlands.
It was currently the overwintering period for winter wheat; the seedlings had stopped growing, and each seedling lay isolated on the ground, like inconspicuous weeds—they would spend the low-temperature winter this way, and then green up and joint when spring arrived next year, growing vigorously until harvest.
Klein had already taught Lux about winter wheat in Demacia.
Here, frost damage to winter wheat generally falls into two types.
In most areas, it is damage caused by sudden low-temperature frost during the greening or jointing stage, meaning frost occurs when winter wheat is not very frost-resistant, and it gets frozen.
And in the North Border, according to the reports from these nobles, because it borders Freljord, if they are unlucky, winter wheat can be directly frozen to death during the overwintering period—even when most frost-resistant, it can't withstand the low temperatures, which is called hard frost.
Lux's purpose for this trip was to determine whether Silvermere had indeed suffered hard frost.
Bending down in the wheat field, Lux reached for a wheat seedling.
According to Klein, she carefully felt the texture on the back of the wheat leaf.
The leaf veins were clear, and pinching the veins with her fingernail, they didn't feel stiff.
She plucked a few leaves, crushed them, and spread them in her palm; there were no ice crystals.
So... this wheat seedling showed no signs of hard frost damage.
Lux let out a slight breath, then walked a few dozen steps forward and selected another wheat seedling—still no problems.
In this way, Lux worked in the fields for nearly an hour, finally confirming that the nearby wheat fields were all safe and had not suffered any frost damage.
Having reached this conclusion, Lux narrowed her eyes slightly and returned to the room with the guard; she took out the map from her package and then marked an 'X' at her current location.
Continue tomorrow!
After secretly toiling in the fields for half a day, Lux finally fell asleep when she returned to her room.
The next morning, when Lux woke up, she saw the male homeowner pulling a cart back.
"Hello!" Lux waved. "You're already back from your work—you woke up so early!"
"Just making some money!" The man chuckled, leaning his cart against the courtyard wall and shaking his padded jacket. "I just went to the city to deliver a cart of firewood—I heard a big shot is coming to Silvermere, and the noble lords in the city are buying firewood at high prices!"
"A big shot?" Lux feigned curiosity, but she already had a rough guess in her mind. "How do you know that?"
"My son is a guard for the master!" The farmer, who Lux estimated to be around fifty, showed a proud expression. "That boy is so clever; after he heard the news, he immediately told his sister to pass the message to me. Other families are still chopping wood, but I've already delivered mine!"
Hearing him say that, Lux felt a bit happy.
"Thanks to the lord's kindness!" Without Lux having to ask, the middle-aged man in front of her began to speak volubly. "He said that as long as we can get armor and a packhorse, my son can also join the Ranger and become a knight... oh, a knight's squire!"
"Join the Ranger?" Lux recalled Demacia's military setup. "Won't that mean fighting the barbarians from the north?"
"Fighting barbarians is good!" To Lux's surprise, her worried remark was interpreted completely differently by the other party. "As long as he fights the barbarians, with my son's skill, he'll definitely become a true knight!"
Why would this be?
Not having to fight, not having to sacrifice, isn't that the right of commoners?
Why did this farmer in front of her seem to hope his son would go to War?
"I heard the barbarians from the north are very strong fighters..." Lux could only probe subtly. "I've only hunted; I imagine War must be more dangerous..."
"Dangerous? What isn't dangerous?" Hearing Lux say this, the other party looked very open-minded. "Isn't your hunting dangerous too? Even farming, three years ago, a frost came down, if it wasn't for my son not needing food... Tsk tsk tsk, it's all about relying on heaven for food. Going to War can make you a knight, a lord; farming can't make you a lord!"
"..."
"Once you become a lord, you'll have your own squires, and then War won't be dangerous. You can move to the inner city to collect rent, and you won't be afraid even if the barbarians from the north come!"
"..."
Lux listened very patiently to his descriptions, his aspirations, even though an invisible wall separated the two of them.
This strong man spoke volubly, endlessly, and his eyes were full of longing.
He sincerely hoped to work more, save more money, to save up for a suit of armor for his son, and ideally, a horse—even if it was just a packhorse.
As long as he achieved military merit on the battlefield, their family could transform from farmers into nobles.
The lowest rank of knight was still a noble.
He clearly didn't know Lux's identity, nor did he know that the firewood he had laboriously obtained through "insider information" was for the person standing right in front of him; he was simply very happy, happy that he had sold firewood at a high price and had also earned extra money from Lux and her guard.
This money wasn't much, perhaps only worth a single scale of armor, or the nails for a horseshoe.
But it was enough to make him happy all day.
The listening ability Lux had learned from Sona kept him talking endlessly—until his wife appeared, handing him a few pieces of dark bread and a bowl of hot soup, and his mouth was finally stopped by the bread soaked in hot soup.
Then, his wife, a stout woman with long, smooth light-gold hair, also handed a bowl of soup to Lux: "Warm yourself up, little girl—don't just chat idly with him, he just loves to ramble..."
Lux took the thick soup, and imitating the farmer, casually leaned against the cart and took a big gulp.
The incredibly salty soup almost made Lux throw up, but at Klein's reminder, she forced herself to swallow it.
"That's really flavorful!" Lux drank the soup in one go. "I feel all my strength coming back!"
"Hehe, right!" The farmer, who had finished his share at some unknown point, said, "One bowl of soup, and you'll have all the strength you need!"
"You talk too much!" The farmwife glared at her husband. "Why don't you go rest, look at how capable you think you are..."
"If I didn't talk so much, could I have sent our child to be a guard for the noble lord?" Seemingly feeling he had lost face in front of outsiders, the farmer loudly proclaimed, "Being articulate and good with words is also a capability outside!"
"You and your capabilities... if you're so capable, go chop wood!"
"I'm a bit tired, I'll just rest for a bit..."
"..."
"..."
Perhaps it was because the soup was too salty.
Perhaps it was for some other reason.
After leaving the lodging fee and bidding farewell to the family, Lux felt a tightness in her chest.
Although she had only stayed for one night and didn't even know their names, Lux felt as if she had seen a lot and learned a lot.
Thinking of this, Lux took a deep breath, exhaling slowly after a long moment.
"Continue!"