IRM Chapter 107

“There are very few mages in the Northland. Teleportation arrays are only established in a few prosperous cities in the south. From the royal capital to the fortress, you have to travel on your own…” The rabbit was being held by its collar by Ji Chi, hanging on the sled, speaking miserably, “I’m such a small rabbit, how could I walk to the border alone? I’d be carried off by wild beasts as soon as I left the royal capital…”

“Oh, my brother was lost that way. He was only eight months old at the time,” the rabbit added.

Ji Chi had a headache as he lifted the rabbit down from the handlebar, and casually smoothed down its disheveled fur that had been blown by the wind—Ah! This was also a fluffy kingdom!

The soft and smooth sensation in his hand diluted the last bit of his helplessness. “Then aren’t you afraid I’ll sell you halfway?”

The rabbit turned its head and looked at him with an expression that said ‘how could you have such an idea’. “Didn’t Uncle Marcus say so? You smell like a good person.”

It stretched out its neck, moved close to Ji Chi’s sleeve and sniffed vigorously, its snow-white head nodding up and down. “Your scent is very clean. I’ve rarely smelled such a scent.”

Ji Chi looked at it suspiciously and also lifted his arm to smell it—apart from the faint oily smell of the windproof material on the surface of his coat, there was no other scent. It seemed that the physiological structure of beastmen was also completely different from humans…

Thinking of this, Ji Chi suddenly realized that the rabbit was also a beastman and would transform into a human.

He poked the rabbit, making a shallow dent in its freshly groomed fur. “Won’t you transform into a human while outside? Wouldn’t the rabbit form be inconvenient?”

The rabbit, “I’d like to, but only adult beastmen can transform.”

Ji Chi was stunned, feeling something was amiss. “Wait, you’re not an adult yet?! How long until you become an adult?”

The rabbit spread its paws and happily counted, “We rabbits are considered adults at six years old. I only have five years left before I can transform~”

Ji Chi’s vision went dark! What a ‘only five years left’!

“You’re only one year old, and your parents agreed to let you wander outside on your own?!” Ji Chi didn’t dare touch this delicate flower of the Northern Kingdom’s future anymore.

The rabbit looked at him strangely. “My parents? They gave birth to thirteen children just this year alone. Of course they can’t manage us. We even chose our own names. By the way, the name I chose for myself is Zephania Francis Abraham. What do you think of this name?”

Ji Chi didn’t catch that string of words that was longer than a magic incantation at all, and quickly praised, “Very good, Francis.”

The rabbit sighed. “Forget it, I don’t expect much from you humans’ memory. I’ll allow you to call me by my nickname, Sila.”

Ji Chi didn’t bother arguing with a one-year-old infant. He sat cross-legged with his back against the sled’s wall. The tall, sturdy cedar boards blocked the biting cold wind. He unfolded the map in his arms and said to Sila, “I chose the route that cuts across the snowfield. Although it’s the most dangerous, it’s also the fastest.”

Sila was extremely familiar with the map and knew which route he was talking about without looking. The little white rabbit shifted uneasily in the box. “Won’t it be too dangerous with just the two of us? When I originally planned this route, I intended to travel with an adventure team.”

Ji Chi looked down at it in surprise. “It’s fine. Actually, I alone would be enough… But it’s very brave of you to include yourself as well.”

Sila was displeased. “Hey! You human really don’t speak nicely!”

The long daylight hours passed in the bickering between the two creatures. Ji Chi had been dissatisfied at first that the rabbit had followed him without permission, but after being baptized by the vast snowfield, he suddenly realized that without Sila, the endless expanse of white and silence every day would be enough to drive a person to collapse.

At night, they spent it in a cave sheltered from the wind. The snowfield wasn’t as flat as Ji Chi had imagined. White birch trees and snow cedars also grew in patches on the snowfield, and occasionally a few clusters of grayish-white shrubs would appear, with small animals passing through them from time to time.

The cave Ji Chi found tonight should have been temporarily carved out by adventurers. The entire massive rock had been cut by sharp blades, forming smooth straight surfaces on the inner walls.

Ji Chi touched those straight edges and sighed. “Indeed, there are no absolute straight lines in nature.”

Sila couldn’t appreciate the romance from geometry. It was busy making a fire on the cold stone floor.

The nights on the snowfield weren’t actually dark. The bright white moon hung in the clear starry sky, and soft moonlight flowed over the snow surface, making the snowy ground sparkle brightly, twinkling like the stars in the sky.

They could travel under this kind of light, but when the sun disappeared into the white birch forest, it also took away the last trace of warmth. The cold wind became more piercing and would drastically drain the magical beast’s stamina, which was very unfavorable for the journey ahead.

Ji Chi naturally wouldn’t demand Little Deer rest less. He casually conjured a fireball that landed on the wood Sila had pulled out from its shirt pocket. The warm flames instantly made the cave feel cozy.

He took out seven or eight grass cakes from the magic pouch at his waist. Each grass cake was as big as a washbasin—feed for Little Deer that he had bought from Uncle Marcus.

The large-bodied Little Deer needed to eat more than ten of these tightly compressed grass cakes a day. Ji Chi watched it chew the grass cakes with crunching sounds, and he felt somewhat hungry himself.

He hesitantly turned to look at Sila and said, “Do you want to eat something? Grass cakes, or the vegetables and bread from the sandwiches?”

Sila was shocked. “You bought all my meat jerky, can you finish all of it by yourself? And why would I compete with a magical beast for grass cakes? Even when I was hungriest, I never ate something so foolish!”

Ji Chi: “? Aren’t you a herbivore?“

Sila looked at him disdainfully. “Who said that? If rabbits don’t eat meat, are they supposed to eat grass?”

Ji Chi: “???” Wasn’t that the case? Well, I understand now. It’s all the worldview’s fault.

Ji Chi sat by the fire, munching on his sandwich while watching Sila eat with great interest.

He discovered that this rabbit was truly a pure carnivore. It showed disdain for the hot, nutritious sandwich and focused on holding a long strip of cold, hard meat jerky, gnawing on it with crunching sounds.

It ate elegantly and quickly, barely dropping any crumbs, looking like it was eating very deliciously.

Ji Chi tried breaking off a little piece of the meat jerky to taste. Chewing it was like eating a piece of tree bark with a salty fishy taste. After trying a small piece, he decisively gave up on this food.

The restaurant’s limited-edition sandwiches were indeed better—

So lamented the little demon who had snatched all the limited-edition sandwiches from the Magic Academy for a whole week.

Sila was full after eating a small half of the meat jerky. It asked Ji Chi to break the remaining meat jerky into finger-sized pieces and was now holding one small section, grinding its teeth out of boredom.

The sky darkened quickly on the snowfield during this season. Soon only the raging cold wind remained outside the cave, howling. Little Deer had also finished eating its grass cakes. It crouched at the narrow cave entrance and curled up its body, blocking more than half of the entrance, squinting its eyes as it felt the heat transmitted from the fire in the cave.

Ji Chi had been sitting in the sled all day and wasn’t sleepy. He took out a fire magic crystal from the pouch, wanting to add it to the fire. The fiery red, warm fire magic crystal could greatly extend the burning time of the wood, saving the pack from being occupied by large amounts of wood.

“Wait! Don’t add it! Quickly put out the fire!” Sila suddenly warned shrilly, like a small animal that had discovered a natural enemy.

Ji Chi extinguished the fire as instructed and looked at it questioningly.

Sila moved to the cave entrance, ears perked up, looking at a white birch forest in the distance.

The white birch forest under the moonlight was dark. The shadowy tree silhouettes merged with the reflections on the snowy ground, drawing a patch of chaotic lines on the snow.

Right in the center of the tree shadows, points of light flickered and moved, like a long comet tail, meandering through the white snow and dark forest.

“Who are they?” Ji Chi recognized that the light was emitted by magic, but the distance was too far, and he couldn’t see clearly whether it was mages glowing or special equipment glowing.

Sila asked in a small voice, “You should know about the Church of Light, right?”

Oh boy, old acquaintances again. Why is it them again? Ji Chi’s lips twitched, and his expression as he looked back at the white birch forest became rather unfriendly.

Sila explained, “It’s best to stay far away from the Church when you see them. They’ve gone crazy recently. When they see beastmen, they want to pull them into joining the Church. Those unwilling to join have to bear the title of heretic… I heard that in remote small towns, heretics are still captured and executed.”

Sila’s small brow furrowed into a knot, though it didn’t show under the fluffy fur.

Ji Chi also frowned. He had come to the Northland alone this time precisely to avoid trouble as much as possible. Before achieving his goal, he didn’t want to get involved with any forces. He felt somewhat troubled. It seemed this time a conflict with the Church would be unavoidable.

Sila quietly watched that stream of flowing light pass through the white birch forest and disappear in the distance, then breathed a sigh of relief and comforted Ji Chi. “But don’t worry. When someone examines you, just recite a few incantations casually. The beastmen in the Church can’t remember those long prayer words anyway.”

Ji Chi: “…” I have to say, you beastmen are really easy to fool.

On the vast snowfield, encountering a team was actually quite difficult. The Church’s team was just an exception. The following time was quiet and peaceful. The snowfield’s first night passed like this amid the sound of wind and firelight.

Early the next morning, Ji Chi crawled out of the small tent set up on the stone floor and took a deep breath of the crisp early morning air.

This small tent was also one of the many tools Bard had prepared for him. The craftsman’s nimble hands had created an equally convenient tent. The small tent could not only be folded into the size of a handbag, but the inside was also a folded space containing a soft bed and some necessary furniture.

Sila had slept nestled by Ji Chi’s pillow last night. It deeply felt it had followed the right person. The originally arduous snowfield trek had become an enjoyable journey—of course, if this human companion could be a bit more knowledgeable, that would be even better.

“What did you say? How could eagles fly in the sky? Aren’t they all raised in courtyards to lay eggs for people to eat?”

“No, no, no! Why would anyone go kill ice dragons? They can predict the coming of snowstorms and are protected by the empire. If you kill one, you’ll definitely be locked up by the army!”

“Of course there are fresh flowers on the snowfield? But they all bloom under the snow. If you want to see them, just dig around… No, how do you know nothing? How did you survive these past ten-plus years?”

Ji Chi was looked down upon by the one-year-old rabbit and silently swallowed his blood and tears, once again comforting himself that this was all caused by worldview differences.

They walked and stopped on the snowfield for five days, and on a sunny afternoon, Ji Chi had the privilege of seeing ice dragons dancing.

Ice dragons fed on ice and snow and were completely transparent. In the game, they were medium-sized monsters in the Northland region, and their ice storm damage would always make players lose health rapidly, ignoring armor.

However, in the real world, they were neutral creatures that loved to dance in the air before snowstorms.

The sun, which had not yet set in the west, gently scattered its afterglow. The ice dragon flapped its bone wings composed of ice crystals, and under the refraction of sunlight, it was dazzlingly brilliant with multicolored hues.

It was a very beautiful sight, but it heralded the most terrifying danger of the Northland.

Both the rabbit and Little Deer became uneasy. The rabbit nervously twitched its nose tip, and Little Deer quickened its pace. They could both smell the breath of the gathering storm in the air.

Sila straightened up and looked worriedly toward the northwest direction. “We must immediately get to the nearest camp… The snowstorm is coming soon.”