The Frost Market the blizzard blazes on in the quiet streets of the remote fishing town, the night g
The Frost Marketthe blizzard blazes on in the quiet streets of the remote fishing town, the night grows old but none of that matters as it has been perpetual darkness for the town in the past three months, with three more months ahead of it before spring starts. strangely, the market at the town center is as busy as ever, children running around the alleys, lights set up all over the street as if a festival had begun.what could any merchant from the greater empire possibly want in a remote outpost near the northern border, not to mention dead in the middle of winter?the town normally relies on its commodity of sturdy woods from the surrounding evergreens, but surely it is not worth travelling to in winter. fresh water fishes are also a staple in its economy, but mostly being traded among other towns people, ice blocks are usually loaded to wagons to be delivered to the warmer parts of the country. the town has a pretty generous amount of coal, but most of it belongs to the empire to supply their ever expanding fleets of steam warships and vehicles, and the town miners are barely paid in minimum wage for their hard work.in the dead of winter there isn’t anything useful enough for anyone to go through the trouble of travelling to this town. except for one small particular animal.every three years, the frozen lakes nearby the outskirts of the town glow white, underneath it’s frozen top layer thousands of spirit fishes swarm in their tri-annual mating season. a quite rare occurence that only happens in this townit is said the taste of a spirit fish flesh not only contains healing properties, but is none to be rivaled by any other delicacy in the whole empire. there is a saying that one must experience this exquisite morsel at least once in their lifetime before they die, anyone who does has probably made it big in their life. and that isn’t too far fetched as a single plate of this dish can cost someone a whole mansion in the finest eatery throughout the empire. truly this is a dish only the highest of the aristocracy and noblemen can afford. merchants all over the globe travel all the way to this miniscule town in the worst possible season of the year just for a few kilos of these fishes, even high ranking military generals and people of royalty outside of the empire join the flock. the townspeople of course welcome this great blessing and celebrate the festivity while they can. as the swarm of spirit fishes lasts less than a week, and after that, three more years of silence while the sun won’t rise again for the town in three more excruciating months. -- source link
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