Home/The Ice Age Came? And I Just Got Married?!/ch 34

Chapter 34.

"I don't know much about him either—he was always with Captain Russell."

He kept glancing at Logan, clearly very nervous.

Captain Russell gets mentioned here too.

Maybe my conversation with the soldiers in the quarantine zone wasn't a dream or hallucination after all.

"I remember people quietly mocking Director Julian for researching the ice age back then. 'What ice age?' they'd say. We also wondered why they'd bother doing that kind of research in our base..."

That was understandable. Even I didn't understand Julian back then.

I knew he was obsessed with the field of "Northern Snow and Ice Environmental Change Studies," but I never imagined he'd lock himself away in a lab, away from family.

And then he went missing without us even seeing him again.

"But then we found out—'that thing' was actually in our base."

"What thing?"

At my question, Arnold lowered his voice.

"The Heart of Frost. Ah—you probably don't know, since you're a civilian. It's an unidentified mineral discovered at Rosebrook Harbor."

I recalled the unidentified mineral report I'd seen in the records archive.

Could it be related to why the most Winterstones were buried in Rosebrook?

Probably related.

Since the original source—the Heart of Frost—had been discovered here.

"Did my brother steal it and run away?"

"How did you know? I remember it caused a big stir about five years ago. Captain Russell was disciplined for it, but it was just a formality—nothing really happened. I remember everyone in the base found it very strange."

"Do you know where my brother fled?"

"I only know he went north and went missing. Captain Russell said the Director left word that he'd come back someday."

Someday he'd come back?

Excited, I rose from my seat without thinking and stumbled. Logan caught my arm to steady me.

Julian was alive.

My vague hope grew a little clearer.

I didn't know what had become of him now that the ice age had struck—but that didn't matter. Just having this sliver of hope was enough.

Just then, Arnold asked me hesitantly,

"But what do you mean you spoke with the soldiers in the quarantine zone?"

"You betrayed them and killed them, didn't you?"

He couldn't answer and lowered his head.

Charlotte warned Arnold,

"If that's true, you'll have to pay the price—though I'm not one to talk."

The heavy guilt from her time with the ruffian gang still seemed to weigh on her.

But Charlotte had never killed anyone. It wasn't comparable.

Arnold was silent.

Then he began to cry—not that it seemed at all pitiable.

"This place is so deep underground, without sunlight, that all kinds of rumors circulate. Naturally, there are many rumors about the quarantine zone—many duty soldiers died there."

Wiping his tears, he continued,

"For example—they say those who die in the quarantine zone can never leave, even in death. Especially those who died unjustly."

"And yet you trapped your comrades there and killed them."

At my words, Arnold got off his chair and prostrated himself on the floor.

"I... I'll follow them too."

"You're not just saying that because you're running out of food, are you?"

At my question, Arnold fell silent.

Those soldiers in the quarantine zone were just too pitiful.

"Please lock me in the quarantine zone."

With those words, silence fell again.

"...I'll take him."

Logan said to me, and I nodded.

Just as Logan grabbed Arnold's arm, the man suddenly crumbled.

He hadn't actually expected us to take him.

"W-Wait—this isn't...!"

The man who'd calmly spoken of accepting death was gone.

Faced with the reality, he couldn't accept death after all.

Soon, he clung to Logan's feet.

"...P-Please save me. I don't want to die... Sob."

Logan pressed him down with his boot, and Arnold couldn't scream anymore.

Realizing tears wouldn't work, he quickly sought another way.

"Snow monsters! Yes! I can give you information about the snow monsters!"

Marcus, who'd had his gun aimed at the soldier the whole time, tilted his head.

"Snow monsters? What are those?"

"M-Monsters that awaken during disasters like the ice age!"

Arnold answered quickly.

I wasn't surprised, since I already knew what they were.

It was strange. In the novel, snow monsters weren't supposed to appear yet.

Given it was in front of the research institute, I'd assumed they were test subjects—but were they actually snow monsters?

"Junior—you're talking about those things dead in the corridor, right?"

"Right—Eve, you did that, didn't you?"

Marcus and Charlotte both looked at me.

When I nodded, Marcus gave me an uneasy look.

"Our junior is becoming more and more incredible. I can feel the distance."

It wasn't enough—there were still plenty of Winterstones I hadn't absorbed.

"I already know plenty about snow monsters. I hope your information is useful."

At Logan's remark, the man trembled with fear, but faithfully gave his information.

"Th-Those damned monsters—they're not human-made experiments!"

"Then what are they?"

"They're secret weapons created by ancient mages!"

Oh—that was new information.

"That's not useful information. How does knowing that help us survive?"

As Logan said, it might be important to someone, but it wasn't exactly survival-critical.

Logan coldly cut Arnold off and grabbed him by the scruff.

Arnold screamed and struggled, but couldn't break free from Logan's grip—and was dragged away.

No one tried to help him.

I didn't expect to hear about ancient mages here.

I'd thought ancient mages were just folklore.

As I'd said before, anthropologists had hypothesized that "mana" existed in the previous, now-destroyed world—and that mages who wielded it existed.

After recalling the novel, I'd begun to think it might not be a far-fetched claim.

As time passes, more evidence keeps emerging that it's actually true.

We arrived at the quarantine zone. Logan threw Arnold inside. I glanced around—it was about time to retrieve the Bluestone.

"Any last words?"

Arnold, now completely resigned, bowed his head.

Then, as if something had occurred to him, he looked at me.

"Ah—r-right. Director Julian was also researching the 'snow monsters.'"

He was trying until the very end, but the story was interesting, so I played along.

"You said they're monsters that awaken when an ice age occurs. If that logic holds, there wouldn't have been any snow monsters five years ago—so how could he have researched them?"

"The Heart of Frost emits a special energy source. I understand they experimented to see if that energy source could create snow monsters."

"You seem to know a lot that other soldiers don't."

"I was close with Captain Russell."

"Do you know where Captain Russell is now?"

"I believe he left to find His Royal Highness the Crown Prince when the ice age struck."

Had Captain Russell appeared in the novel?

No matter how much I tried to remember, I couldn't recall him—so he must have failed in his goal.

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