259 – Frozen Paradise
-It reminds me of the old days. Back when I was still human. I was an adventurer back then. It was boring and uninteresting to stay in the same place, so I started moving around because I wanted to have new experiences.
Here, there is a place closest to paradise in the world.
Nowadays, wherever I go, I have to stay up at night because of the sound of the ground squirming, but this place was originally an extremely calm and quiet place. Sometimes you can hear the ear-piercing sound of the wind, but other than that there is really no sound.
-I would have crawled all the way to the North Pole and met the devil. It’s like painting my face, but I can confidently say that my knowledge is wide. There are very few people who have been to more places than me.
There are no threats here except one.
You cannot even look at vicious beasts such as wolves or bears. Other monsters, such as orcs, are races that are rarely seen on the continent anymore, so of course they do not exist here.
Monsters like goblins, which are the most adaptable to the environment and can live in burrows even in places like small mountains, are not found here. This means that you don’t have to worry about someone taking your life or taking your property while you sleep.
No assassin or thief would come to a place like this, and even if they did, they would probably die or run away before they could even meet.
There is no tax or tyranny. Of course, there is no conscription. Serena’s recruiter doesn’t even look at this place. I can’t even dream of being caught up in a war. No matter how turbulent the world is, this is a place that maintains its tranquility until the end.
Arctic.
The North Pole is the peak of coldness.
I don’t even need to talk about why people don’t live in such a nice place.
The only drawback to this frozen paradise is the environment.
There is nothing else to worry about. If you want to live here, you only have to worry about environmental factors. The flaw is that that one worry more than overpowers all other advantages.
-The North Pole is a place I had never even set foot in before. It was obvious that I wouldn’t be able to come back alive. Even the North Pole is a place where you already have to live on the border between life and death every day. I couldn’t even dare to go any further and go all the way to the North Pole, and even if I had the time to do so… I didn’t have that much courage at the time.
“Someone would have thought that I was always brave.”
When the girl who scolded me looked at the meat stew being warmed over the campfire, she made a somewhat strange expression. No matter how much I boiled it, the stew didn’t even show any signs of boiling over, and instead the top part started to freeze.
“Why is this happening? “Is that really you?”
Black smoke rises through the surface of the stew that is turning to ice. For a moment, I thought I was making a great alchemy elixir, but the ingredients included were definitely food ingredients.
-What do you say? Don’t blame everything bad that happens on me. What good do I get from ruining your stew? I’m sure you’ll hear a lot of swearing.
It makes no sense, but this is an extraordinary space. If you start a fire, the stew does not heat up, but rather freezes on top and burns on the bottom.
Of course, I can’t eat that. The closer we got to the North Pole, the more intense the Arctic cold became. Bluebird feathers may protect us, but they do not stew.
“I don’t think I can eat this at all.”
Now this cannot be used as dog food. It is neither a dog nor a wolf, but a wolf beast, but Roca looked at the half-burned and half-frozen stew and made an expression that said it was not like this.
Eating even a single thing is not easy in the Arctic.
“Shall I throw it away?”
“I have to throw it away. Not only is it tasteless, but it can also cause stomach upset if you eat it. No, it certainly will.”
“Eight!”
“But wait a minute, Roca! “If you spray something hot like that here…”
Before I could say anything, the child pushed the pot over with his foot. At that moment, pieces of frozen stew flew around and bounced around, and Roca was startled and froze in place.
In terms of ability, there would have been no problem even if I had hit the target correctly, but in any case, I was somewhat surprised because it was completely unexpected. The child who swept his chest glared at the evil spirit and growled.
“Isn’t this prank too much?”
-So you’re saying I didn’t do it? Why are these people f*cking with me from earlier? Does this body, the first seat of the five great gods of the continent, look so formidable?
“…This is how it is in the Arctic. “It’s a very cold place, so if you spray hot water on it, it freezes quickly and explodes.”
Even more so because this place is close to the North Pole.
In fact, even if it is not the North Pole, similar phenomena may occur in places that are relatively cold. It’s not that common, and I don’t think I’ve seen these kids yet.
When boiling water is sprinkled in an extremely cold place, ice crystals scatter in the air and scatter in all directions, just as ice flowers bloom in full bloom. Water would have been pretty, but since it was stew, it felt like they were playing with something to eat.
The pieces of stew hanging out as if someone had vomited them will remain in the North Pole for a long, long time without rotting or rotting. Maybe even long after we’re gone.
I always think, but a person’s life may be too short compared to geological time. What would humans or someone else think if they discovered these pieces later?
Roca unknowingly left behind evidence that we once existed in the North Pole.
“It’s easy.”
“Then it’s not easy?”
-These are just real…!
I looked at the three of them raising their voices to each other, as if they were full of energy even though they had missed a meal, and when I turned my gaze, I saw Ajahadaka. After being defeated by the Demon King, she became less talkative.
However, she does not seem to be disappointed. I just feel like I have a lot to think about. As he kept his mouth shut, he had the air of a solemn dragon. Although it was already too late.
[I thought about it before, but this cold feeling is not normal. The cold in the Arctic is too cold and deep to be simply caused by environmental reasons.]
As if he noticed my gaze, the dragon turned his gaze towards me and told me what he was thinking.
[I suspected magic at first, but if it was something like that, there’s no way I wouldn’t have noticed. Moreover, even if it were a dragon, the power of one or two people would not be enough to cool the entire North Pole. What if at least dozens of dragons gather together and join forces?]
“I think you have the answer you were thinking of.”
[There is only one being in the world who can do something like this. It is a mystery that only the ancient gods can perform.]
Without realizing it, I glanced at the evil spirit who was having a war of words over there. It seemed like the story she had told me about the North Pole wasn’t really a lie.
[But why did the ancient gods do this? They rarely go against natural law and intervene in the world. You are nature itself, and if you go against the laws of nature, it is the same as denigrating your own name. So they are usually just people who observe.]
“Are you familiar with the ancient gods?”
[Hmm, I think you humans probably know this much too. The Old Gods are nature itself, but they are also not. Since the ego was born from the laws of the universe, it is not completely identical to the laws themselves. Laws are said to be immutable and immortal, but the same is not true for the ego within them.]
The dragons, a race that roamed the sea of stars and space, seemed to know something about the ancient gods, the universe itself, and seemed to know much more than us, who cannot leave this earth.
But she didn’t seem to know everything either, and she used many vague expressions. She says that when it comes to dealing with the High Minister, even great dragons mostly just make assumptions based on their feelings.
[It can be said that it is natural for the laws of the universe to simply exist as laws, and it is unjust for those laws to run wild. It is nothing but an injustice for an ancient god to actively exercise his power. What is paradox? That’s breaking the rules of the universe.]
[It’s about breaking the law. It’s like he’s going against his origins. I know that once the ancient gods intervene in reality and change something, no matter how small or trivial it is, the burden comes back in a way that is beyond imagination. So the ancient gods are invincible, but at the same time they are mortal.]
[But if you think about it, maybe that’s why we can survive. If the Old Gods were free from any restrictions and started to move actively instead of being silent like they are now, would small things like us be able to withstand their movements? I don’t think so.]
She sighed and pointed her finger at the glacier below us, still shaking.
[This thing below us is just a big lump of flesh. You don’t even have proper intelligence, let alone any malice. But even against a guy like this, there is nothing you or I can do.
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[Moreover, the laws of the universe… No matter how small they are, aren’t they at least much bigger than this guy? If these things ran wild, the universe would have been destroyed a long time ago, and we would have already been reduced to a handful of dust and disappeared. Maybe even the stars in the sky won’t stay in place.]
I nodded at the details, which were much more detailed than what I had previously known. I see. That’s why the ancient gods had such big restrictions.
However, the ancient god, who had such great restrictions, intervened in the North Pole and made it cold.
It was originally a cold place, but it was much colder than that. To a level that cannot exist naturally.
It did so, even though it must have come at a great price.
Why? Why? Can we find out if we go to the North Pole?
I don’t know that, but one thing was certain.
You won’t know anything unless you go there in person.