Home/The Ice Age Came? And I Just Got Married?!/ch 13

Chapter 13.

"He just likes it when I call his name."

"Really?"

Marcus tilted his head and wiggled his finger at the cranky squirrel.

"Come here, Chippy."

Squeak—!

Chippy reacted like a flying squirrel and bit Marcus's finger on the spot.

Marcus pointed at the squirrel dangling from his finger and shot me a bewildered look.

I had no idea why he did that either.

"Chippy."

At my call, the squirrel let go of Marcus's finger and snapped to attention, looking at me.

Again, strange stares poured in.

I felt cold sweat forming. Somehow, I'd become someone who abuses a palm-sized squirrel.

"Ahem. It's not what you think—don't misunderstand."

"It's hard to believe, but I'll respect your training methods, Eve."

It was clear that no explanation would convince anyone. But I didn't know what to say either—I didn't know why he acted that way!

In the end, I decided to change the subject.

"Chippy, it's true that not just anyone can enter this village, right?"

At my question, Chippy spun around in circles. That seemed to mean yes.

Watching silently, Jack Harper spoke up.

"Could this squirrel actually speak and just pretend not to?"

Honestly, that made sense.

"But if not just anyone can enter, how did we get in?"

Marcus raised a valid point.

"I think people who don't have hostile intentions toward the villagers can enter. Right, Chippy?"

The squirrel spun in place again. Marcus and Jack stared at the squirrel with fascination.

I still wasn't used to it myself—so they must have been even more bewildered.

Anyway, the squirrel wasn't the main issue right now.

"Even if we leave the village for about a day, Chippy will guard it well. Right, Chippy?"

The squirrel snapped to attention and looked up at me—as if to say, "Don't worry."

Of course, squirrels don't really have expressions—but I sensed something from him.

At my words, everyone's eyes suddenly went wide as they stared at me.

"W-e?" (We?)

Ignoring Marcus's startled reaction, I looked at Logan.

"Eve, it's too dangerous for you to go out—"

"If you tell me to stay home, I'll leave the house."

Logan couldn't argue.

And so, our reconnaissance mission to Rosebrook was decided.

---

We'd said we'd all go, but we didn't necessarily all have to.

So, on my suggestion, Jack Harper stayed behind to guard the village.

"I am deeply grateful for Your Grace's boundless generosity. I will pray for the safe return of the three of you!"

"I'd rather you stayed."

Logan said with a complicated expression.

"But I'm the only one who can locate the Winterstones—so it can't be helped."

While Winterstone locations were fixed until discovered, if people carried them, their positions changed constantly.

Right now, the ruffian gang's Goldstone seemed to be moving around in the middle of the city.

Why can't I see the exact locations of the other Winterstones?

I could vaguely sense that Winterstones were somewhere—but unlike the one the ruffians had, I couldn't pinpoint their exact positions.

Maybe I need to get closer to detect them precisely?

That seemed the most likely explanation.

We layered on as many clothes as possible. It was better to wear multiple thin layers than a few thick ones, in case we sweated or the snow wet our clothes.

By midday, the outside temperature had risen significantly—probably around minus thirty degrees.

Logan's thermometer confirmed about that.

Remarkably, thanks to absorbing the Redstone, I didn't feel the deadly cold. Dressed warmly, it was bearable—I'd say.

Of course, the blizzard made exposed facial skin feel raw. Even with a mask, the cold wind stung around my eyes.

We moved slowly south along the forest path. The snow beneath our feet reached up to our thighs.

Crunch—

Crunch—

With every step, our legs sank into the snow. Logan led the way, prodding the snow with a long pole to check the ground.

We had no idea what might be hidden beneath the snow—a frozen ditch, or collapsed ground.

"Wait."

Logan raised his hand to stop us.

He tapped the ground a few times, then chose a detour.

Crash—!

The snowfield we'd been about to cross collapsed.

Beneath the white snow, a frozen stream had been concealed.

Marcus muttered with a grim face.

"Even if you survive this weather, the whole place is a minefield."

We walked like that for quite a while.

At the edge of the forest, a massive iron structure came into view.

It was the Rutland Freight Station on the outskirts of Rosebrook.

A place that should have been bustling with steam locomotives and workers.

The tracks were buried in snow, and the freight trains that had been stopped there were transformed into massive blocks of ice.

As if someone had frozen time itself.

Marcus gazed at the station in silence.

As the chairman of the Rosebrook Railway Company, he must have felt something.

But there was no time for sentiment.

A faint sound came from inside the city.

Screech—

A metallic scraping sound. We all turned our heads at once.

Beyond the blizzard, a black shadow flickered between the ruined buildings.

Was it a person? Or a snow monster?

It's still too early for snow monsters to awaken.

Snow monsters were the creatures that began appearing all over the world six months after the ice age began.

They came in various types, and most were sealed in the snow before awakening.

In other words, they could burst out of the piled snow at any moment.

Still, there's no need to worry about them appearing just yet.

For now, we were safe.

Just then, Logan drew his greatsword, and Marcus released the safety on his rifle.

Click.

I loaded my hunting rifle too.

"From now on, be careful."

Logan said, his crimson eyes fixed on the city of Rosebrook.

"The city is more dangerous than the forest."

With those words, we set foot once more into the frozen port city.

"Eve, which direction?"

Logan asked me.

I pointed toward the city center.

"The Central Market District. There's a weapons shop there. They seem to be trying to absorb the Goldstone into their weapons to increase durability."

Even if a Winterstone was absorbed into a weapon, if I held that weapon, the Winterstone would return to me.

Thanks to the twenty or so Redstones buried in Eve House, I'd been able to experiment and gain a better understanding of Winterstones.

【How many Goldstones do we have left?】

【Three.】

【We'll absorb them into this.】

【With this, we'll cut off that bastard Marcus's head.】

【That son of a bitch definitely went into the Devil's Village, right?】

I couldn't see the scene, but their voices were clear in my ears.

I glanced at Marcus.

I hadn't heard the full story of how he'd become entangled with that gang, but I knew the gist.

The novel had briefly touched on Marcus's backstory.

If we get the naval base key, could we enter the Ice Age Research Institute?

My second brother had been researching the ice age when he went missing.

He was presumed to have disappeared during a northern expedition, but I knew he'd worked at the institute before leaving.

Maybe I could find a clue to his whereabouts there.

As for dealing with the ruffian gang—with Logan around, I'm not worried...

But Logan, on his tenth life, possessed combat abilities beyond imagination. In the novel, I recalled the only one who could stand against him was the protagonist, Aiden.

And even Aiden was repeatedly defeated by Logan until later, when he grew stronger and struck back.

Just then, we entered the eastern entrance of the Central Market District.

Squeak— Squeak—

At the weak cry coming from somewhere, I turned my head.

It sounded like a tiny creature—like Chippy.

And sure enough—

Under the debris of a collapsed wooden stall, a baby bird lay trapped.

A tiny, inconspicuous white-feathered bird—a long-tailed tit.

Wait—could this bird be...?

Was this the same bird that had appeared in the novel?

Back   Next