IRM Chapter 106

The Northland Snowfields were located at the northernmost end of the Demon Sword Continent, perpetually covered by ice, snow, and bitter cold. Few people were willing to set foot there.

However, over five hundred years ago, an exiled fox beastman had inadvertently stumbled into this blank world. Cold and hungry, just as he had lost all hope and was about to bury himself in the snow, he discovered a treasure hidden beneath the thick ice and snow——

Beneath the vast snowfields, countless pure ice magic crystals lay quietly awaiting excavation by the fortunate.

Relying on his extraordinary intelligence and the blessing of the goddess of fortune, the fox had actually established a brand new kingdom in this uninhabited land. At first, only fellow exiled beastmen were willing to come to this small nation. But gradually, money and power caused it to rapidly expand, attracting more beastmen.

On the day the fox king passed away, the nation finally had a name on the continent—it was called the Nors Empire, though everyone preferred to call it the Northern Kingdom.

Although the Nors Empire only had a short history of five hundred years, it was extremely wealthy, and it could guard its wealth well, because the beastman warriors on its territory were united and powerful.

So, please bring enough gold coins, and don’t provoke any beastman.

Ji Chi stood by the edge of the teleportation array. Taking advantage of the time before the Northern teleportation array opened, he frowned as he read the Northern travel guide he had spent two silver coins on.

He was absolutely certain this guide must have been written by some beastman—it had no key points whatsoever, but useless history was written in great detail, and it seemed to be pieced together from some historical records.

Two silver coins had just gone down the drain.

Ji Chi helplessly rolled up the guide and stuffed it into the windproof coat he held in his hand.

The windproof coat he held had been given to him by Bard before he left. The coat was a glaring bright red, extremely heavy, with no sense of aesthetic design whatsoever—wearing it would make him look like an oversized firecracker.

Ji Chi had initially refused internally, but Bard had earnestly told him his own tearful history.

“I’m not Fitos, so of course I know it’s ugly as hell!” Bard had been finding ways to disparage Fitos lately. “Coats made with fur are naturally warm and light, but you’re going to the Northlands! Tell me, what’s most abundant in the Northlands?”

Ji Chi: “…Beastmen?”

“Wrong! It’s fur!” Bard recalled past events with anguish. “Although beastmen don’t consider non-sentient animals as their own kind, that doesn’t mean you’ll be fine openly wearing their fur!”

“Especially wolf fur and fox fur coats! Don’t even think about it! You’ll be beaten half to death by supporters of the Beast God and the royal family!” Bard fell silent for a moment, then added, “Don’t ask me how I know.”

Ji Chi: “…” Okay, I won’t ask you, but I can imagine.

Bard: “Also, put away that look of disgust right now! Do you know what red represents?”

Ji Chi: “…A symbol of beastmen being brave and warlike?”

“Wrong! It’s visibility!” Bard was grief-stricken. “On the vast white snowfields, you’re not the only one traveling—there are also many large beastmen with poor eyesight…”

Ji Chi: “…” Okay, no need to say more, I get it, I’ll wear it, won’t I?

While he was reminiscing, the Northern teleportation array finally lit up. Ji Chi walked into the teleportation array and calmly put on the bright red flaming coat.

Because he discovered he wasn’t the most outrageously dressed person—beside him were people in yellow, green, blue, and purple, all colors like Teletubbies, colorfully diverse.

Presumably they had also been traumatized by being stepped on by the thick-nerved, straightforward beastmen.

There was only one teleportation magic array from Saint Trilley to the Northlands, and its destination was the Nors Royal City. As the light before his eyes dispersed, the rough and magnificent architecture of the Northern Kingdom stood imposingly before him.

It was a world of ice and snow, with the entire heaven and earth filled with monotonous black, white, and gray.

Gray brick buildings stood silently in the cold wind, with dots of warm firelight shining through windows. The broad roads were covered with white snow, and snow sleds driven by beastmen rolled over them, leaving dark ruts.

Of course, there was also a group of colorful Teletubbies, mostly composed of humans, dwarves, and elves—three races without fur who weren’t like demons and undead who weren’t afraid of the cold. They had all wrapped themselves into balls, walking slowly along the roadside.

However, what surprised Ji Chi was that there were quite a few angels here.

Of course, as the most prideful race, they disdained wearing any color other than white. Their entire bodies were covered by pure white feathers, with snow-white large wings flapping behind them, carrying them soaring high in the sky where snowflakes drifted.

“Hey! Are you newly arrived angels? Why did you fly up into the sky! Come down quickly!” A rough roar suddenly came from nearby. It was a beastman patrol guard who looked up at those angels, his rough and loud voice shaking the accumulated snow on the rooftops, causing it to rustle down.

The angels high in the air not only ignored his words, but as they flew over the patrol guard’s head, they even cast him a contemptuous glance from lowered eyes.

The patrol guard’s thick eyebrows furrowed, and he continued shouting, “Come down quickly! The cold winds are very frequent this season!”

As soon as the words fell, a fierce cold wind unique to the Northlands howled over, carrying ice shards and snowflakes like blades, cutting exposed skin.

People on the ground quickly raised their arms to shield their heads and faces, finding a corner with experienced movements, hiding from the cold wind behind the shelter of buildings.

Ji Chi was experiencing this for the first time. He felt his face being painfully blown, suddenly hissed and drew in a breath, and couldn’t help touching his cheek with icy fingers. There, the wind had cut a thin slit, and blood hadn’t even flowed out before freezing in the wound.

“Cold causes penetrating damage—I almost forgot about that.” Ji Chi opened his panel to check his stats. His cold resistance attribute was extremely high; ordinary ice and snow couldn’t affect him, but cold wind also had temperature penalties. That gust just now had broken through his cold resistance threshold, deducting 1 point of his health.

Even someone as thick-skinned as Ji Chi had taken damage, not to mention the angels flying in the sky receiving cold wind assault from all directions.

With a series of piercing screams, pure white feathers fell like snowflakes, fluttering down onto the street. Three or four frozen stiff figures fell from mid-air, landing with several splats in the snow.

The patrol guard had transformed into his original form the instant before the cold wind arrived, his body covered with a layer of solid, warm long fur.

He shook off the feathers stuck to his long fur and roared again toward where the angels had fallen. “Everyone watch your feet! Don’t step on—”

“Ahhhh——” Screams rang out again.

“Hm? Did you hear something? Did you step on something?”

“I don’t think so. I was watching where I walked carefully, all on the white snow.”

“That’s good. Recently so many disobedient angels have been flying in the sky, falling down whenever the wind blows. Scared this bear to death—one might accidentally step on them.”

“Ah, how scary. We’d better walk more carefully…”

Two huge brown bears that had transformed into their original forms to resist the cold wind conversed as they passed by Ji Chi.

Ji Chi: “…” Do all of you bears have such big hearts?

Ji Chi speechlessly exhaled a puff of white mist and wrapped his fiery red clothes tighter. Rather than inexplicably getting stepped on, it was better to honestly be a firecracker.

He stood on the street discerning directions and quickly discovered an interesting thing—this nation seemed to dislike using text. They preferred to use simple and crude graphics to convey meaning.

Taverns erected wooden signs painted with wine cups at their doors, inns hung bed-shaped signs from their roofs, weapon shops had swords and shields clashing together, and clothing shops had outlines of clothing.

If nothing else, they were quite conspicuous in the wind and snow.

Ji Chi quickly accepted this setting. After looking around, he lifted his feet and walked toward a messily carved sign. If he wasn’t mistaken, that should be a general store.

Northern architecture had walls and doors much thicker than elsewhere. Ji Chi used a bit of effort to push open the general store’s door, and the heat that surged toward him made him comfortably narrow his eyes.

This general store occupied quite a large area, but the goods displayed on the shelves were several times larger than normal models, making the entire shop seem cramped and crowded.

“What would you like to buy, friend?” A thin, high-pitched voice rang out from behind the cluttered counter.

Ji Chi couldn’t find the source of the voice for a moment and looked around where he stood.

Hearing no answer, a tsk sound came from deep within the counter, and a palm-sized snow-white rabbit wearing a shirt hopped up from a rocking chair and crouched on a stack of tall gift boxes to look at him.

“A human?!” The rabbit cried out in surprise, its red eyes widening in disbelief. “And a scrawny human at that! Good heavens! Your face is so small! Can you win against your brothers when fighting for food?”

Ji Chi: “…I haven’t fought my brothers for food.”

Rabbit: “Oh, right, you humans usually just have one or two or three, not like my family—just my litter alone has eight brothers.”

The rabbit sighed, then tilted its head to look at him. “Then you must be a very special human. I’ve never seen anyone able to pull open my shop door.”

It gestured with its three-part mouth toward behind him.

Ji Chi turned to look back and only then discovered that the back of the shop door also counted as a shelf, covered with heavy armor and shields.

“Speak then, strange human. What are you looking for?” The rabbit tucked in its front paws and squinted at him.

Ji Chi looked at this even stranger rabbit. “I want a map of the Northlands.”

The rabbit calmly flicked its tail. “The Northlands are so vast, no one can draw a map of the entire Northlands. Which specific area do you want?”

Ji Chi: “From here to the fortress.”

The rabbit stiffened, its ears shooting straight up. “The fortress? You’re going to the border fortress!”

Ji Chi blinked and looked at it warily. “…Yes.”

“Take me with you, take me with you!” The snow-white bundle suddenly started hopping wildly on the counter, pleading with Ji Chi repeatedly. “My dream has been to personally go there one day! I’ve been preparing since I was six months old!”

You’re really quite dedicated… Ji Chi admired its perseverance, but he wasn’t going there for sightseeing. Moreover, the fortress had no shortage of danger—a little white rabbit there wouldn’t even be enough to fill a wild beast’s tooth gap.

Ji Chi quickly refused, “Sorry, I can’t take you.”

The rabbit’s ears flopped down with a thud. It was rather unwilling. “Why not? I only take up this much space!” It curled itself into a tiny ball that didn’t look as large as Ji Chi’s fist.

Ji Chi looked at its fluffy fur and felt his hands itch. His fingertips twitched slightly, but he still firmly turned around. “Don’t you have a map? Then I’ll check other general stores.”

“Wait, wait, wait!” The rabbit shrieked. It hopped under the counter, its short front legs scrabbling through a pile of miscellaneous items. Soon it emerged with a rolled map, its snow-white fur still covered with some dust. “Sigh, this is a border map I personally compiled. Consider it a gift from me. If you can’t take me, then please take my dream…”

Ji Chi accepted the map amid its pitiful tone and opened it to take a look. This was indeed an extremely detailed map, with several routes from the royal city to the border drawn on it. Next to each route were annotations about suitable months and weather for travel. Even more valuable was that several circles had been drawn in the border area, seemingly marking rare rest camps.

Ji Chi was very satisfied and his tone toward the rabbit softened considerably. “Thank you for the map. By the way, does the shop have any items suitable for use during travel?”

He had only glanced at it but could feel the care put into the map, so he didn’t want to take the rabbit’s hard work for nothing—he would just buy more goods in the shop. After all, what he least lacked was gold coins.

The rabbit lifted its head, its red eyes turning over the shelves. “Yes, you’d better bring more food and fuel. There won’t be warm inns along the way for you to rest.”

Ji Chi nodded. “I don’t need food—I brought plenty of sandwiches.”

“Sandwiches?!” This rabbit seemed to be very fond of making a fuss. “No, friend! Sandwiches are not a good idea in the Northlands. What you need is these!”

The rabbit used its short little hand to point at the shelf beside them. “This is the food warriors need!”

Ji Chi stared blankly at those dark brown stick-shaped objects. He had always thought they were some kind of club weapon, until he leaned close and sniffed gently, discovering they were all extremely hard jerky.

They didn’t look appetizing at all. Ji Chi wrinkled his nose somewhat disdainfully.

The rabbit saw through his thoughts and shook its head. “This is the most popular food among Northland adventurers! You can use it as a weapon when you pick it up, cook it to eat it as food, throw it out to use it as bait… Believe me! No food is better than this!”

Although Ji Chi didn’t think he would need them, he still bought an entire shelf of jerky under the rabbit’s enthusiastic recommendation.

He placed five gold coins in front of the rabbit and bade farewell to this strange but enthusiastic little white rabbit. “Thanks again for the map. I’ll remember to bring you a souvenir.”

The rabbit wasn’t very happy, just flicked its tail to indicate it had heard.

A cold wind happened to blow past outside the shop. Ji Chi waited by the door for the wind sound to weaken before walking toward the royal city outskirts. Intent on traveling, he didn’t notice that a smaller door had opened at the bottom of the wooden door behind him, and a snow-white small figure jumped out, perfectly blending into the white snow.

Ji Chi held the map and discerned directions. He had seen a recommended mount shed on the map where he could buy magical beasts most suitable for running in the snow, for adventurers to travel across the desolate and vast snowfields.

He followed the map’s guidance and soon arrived in front of a huge shed. Land in the Northlands wasn’t valuable, so all buildings were very bold. This shed built for mounts was no exception, occupying an area even larger than the Magic Academy’s auditorium.

He walked for quite a while before reaching a wooden sign stuck in the snow. The sign depicted two symmetrical antlers and also had a line written in the continental common language: [Marcus’s Mount Shop].

Right next to the wooden sign, an uncle with moose antlers growing from his head glanced at Ji Chi. Seeing those bright clothes, he knew Ji Chi’s purpose for being there and called out, “Where are you headed, little brother?”

“Newt Town.” Ji Chi named a town closest to the fortress.

Uncle Marcus nodded and stood up. His height was a full three meters. Ji Chi looked up admiringly as he moved, his eyes full of envy.

Marcus silently led over a very beautiful magical beast that resembled a reindeer from deep within the shed. Its size was two or three times larger than a reindeer on Earth—Ji Chi couldn’t reach its shoulders even raising his hand.

“This child is called Little Deer. Its speed isn’t fast, but it’s most suitable for long journeys—running continuously for two days is no problem.” After Marcus finished speaking, he closed his mouth and stared at Ji Chi.

It seemed this uncle didn’t like talking much. Ji Chi stepped forward and touched Little Deer’s dense, thick fur, not making the taciturn uncle continue introducing. “It’s very beautiful. May I buy it?”

Marcus sized up Ji Chi for a while, then nodded. “Yes, you smell like a good person.”

He accepted the one hundred gold coins Ji Chi handed over and silently fitted Little Deer with reins and a wide, board-like sled.

After fitting the sled, the uncle thought for a moment, then took out an exquisite wooden box from the shed and placed it in the middle of the sled. “I wish you both smooth travels.”

Ji Chi thanked him for his kindness and somewhat excitedly touched this docile giant beast. With a light flick of the reins, Little Deer shook its head and snorted, striding forward with its long, powerful legs, splashing up snow dust like waves behind the sled.

The sled smoothly left the city, the magical beast running across the boundless snowfield. In the vast heaven and earth, it seemed only Ji Chi remained, silently experiencing freedom and loneliness.

“Wooow——so this is what it’s like outside the royal city! It’s so beautiful!” A shrill voice suddenly came from the wooden box in the center of the sled.

Ji Chi was so startled his heart skipped a beat. He scrambled to the middle of the sled in a fluster and clutched the box, hissing in disbelief. “How are you here?!”

The snow-white rabbit split open its three-part mouth and gave him a cheeky, ingratiating smile.