In the snow, the two of them sat around a bonfire. The ground was covered with tanned sheepskin, and an iron kettle on a rack was heating wine.
Panda and Levi warmed themselves by the fire, each lost in their own thoughts.
One was reflecting on how he had been too arrogant in the past.
The other was thinking about the information he had tortured out of the Pigman Leader, Tikli.
They exchanged a look, and Panda was the first to speak.
"Lord, I must thank you."
Panda was one of the Panda People. Though he was held in high regard by the Duke in Bailiu City, at the end of the day, he was still a member of an Alien Race—not even considered human. Most traditional nobles were cold toward his kind.
The world, after all, was an unforgiving place. Faced with such a stark disparity in status and Race, it was considered a good thing if most nobles did nothing more than look on with cold indifference.
