“Here...!”

A ripple of confusion passed through the sentries outside the Ice Palace, like wind skimming frost, because at this hour the Ice Emperor should have been at rest.

What happened today?

They rushed in like snowmelt racing a gully, and only then understood.

Ah... His Majesty the Ice Emperor was angry, a blizzard in human shape.

Huh? And Lord Thousandwise was standing far from His Majesty, like a lone pine cut from the grove.

Ah... did they quarrel again?

The soldiers of the Ice Palace were used to the daily “discipline” between master and servant, like tides knocking the same cliff.

Which meant, maybe I could take Lord Thousandwise’s punishment instead, a chance like a spark in dry tinder.

“You. Come.” The ruler of Northland, the Ice Emperor, crooked a finger like a hook in the cold sea.

“Y-yes...!” The Northland woman-soldier jogged over, breath fogging like steam, cheeks flushed like winter berries.

Pfft!

The instant she came within reach, the Ice Emperor’s held-back storm broke, and his knee slammed her belly like a hammer into an anvil.

“Haa~ Your Majesty... you’re the best!” Her praise floated out like warm vapor in moonlight.

The dull thud bloomed into pain, and that pain ran like lightning through snowpack, filling her limbs with tingling heat.

Her eyes blurred like frost on glass, and she exhaled stream after stream of thick white mist.

“Guuuu...” So jealous, like a wolf left out in the dark.

That kick should’ve landed on me, like the mark of a seal in wax—guuu!

Ten paces away, Thousandwise bit her sleeve like a fox chewing a trap, envy and frustration humming in her throat.

Maybe the reaction wasn’t what he wanted, because the Ice Emperor didn’t continue for long, the storm cutting off like a snapped icicle.

“No good. Even if you’re all pets, the feel of a kick is different, like snow of different grain. Enough. Thousandwise, come to me.”

“Hee-ji! As... as you command, Your Majesty—ah~” Joy flashed across Thousandwise’s face like sun on hoarfrost, then pain surged in and scattered it like pebbles in a pond.

“Ah~~ ah~...”

“Ah... His Majesty forgave Lord Thousandwise again, like thaw returning to a frozen brook.”

“That means Lord Thousandwise will have His Majesty’s favor again, like embers coaxed back to flame...”

“Wait, no—Your Majesty, what about the two generals in Chronos City coming to scout Northland?” The woman-soldier steadied herself, duty rising like a flag in wind.

“Ignore them,” he said, voice crisp as breaking ice. “Those blossoms pampered under the sun can’t bear our Northland cold; they’ll retreat, or freeze where they stand, like brittle reeds. Hahaha!”

Kneestrike followed kneestrike, his laughter ringing like sleet against stone. “Thousandwise, keep your spirit up. Folding at this level isn’t like you.”

“Hee... hee-ji—!”

...

Two weeks later.

At Northland’s edge.

“Hoo... what a cursed cold, like needles sewing into bone. Even with Yan-chan’s cold-warding gear, I can feel the temperature drifting lower like a sinking moon.”

“General Shi, we’re close to Northland proper,” the System chirped, trotting up like a small shadow on snow. “What’s our next move?”

“According to the march map, Estis City’s territory—one of the six Northland states—lies just ahead,” the System said, voice quick as a sparrow. “If we advance blind, we might run into their patrols.”

“...”

Nana Shi didn’t answer at once, caution pooling in her chest like black water. Northland was a never-ending sheet of snowland on the continent’s crown, a white ocean with no shore.

Its cliffs and canyons were steep as axe-bites, and the cold was a knife that never dulled, so most spies returned with only frostbite and rumors.

Their intel was thin as paper; they didn’t even know patrol routes, like hunters stalking without tracks.

If they blundered, one slip could bury them, and their Northland infiltration would end like a candle in wind.

Cliffs loomed white on white, and the sun hung pale as a coin; its light on the snow gave no warmth, only a clean chill like linen.

Nana stepped onto soft, sinking snow, each footprint a shallow bowl, her face tightening like a drawn bow.

This wasn’t like the snowfields outside Chronos City; it looked calm, but under the white skin crouched teeth, the kind that kill in a breath.

“We’ll slip into the city first, carefully,” she said, the sense of being watched brushing her nape like cold feathers.

The System felt it too; unease pricked like sleet, and it scanned the void, then darted after its host with quick, foxlike steps.

Northland’s entries in the books spoke only of peril, like margins filled with warnings, yet the path toward Estis City glittered with medicinal ores, a treasure-lode like stars spilled on snow.

Just as she suspected.

After another long-range scan, the System peered at several clear crystal veins, then let its onboard computer hum like a hive.

The readout matched the hunch: though it sits on the rim of the world, Northland’s Spirit Energy is several times richer than the continent’s heart, like broth boiled down thick.

Rare high-tier herbs and scarce ores, uncommon elsewhere, sprouted here like hardy moss on stone.

Pick a single stalk and walk it out... a commoner in Chronos City could live easy for years, like winter with a full granary.

But finding isn’t taking; the hand that reaches is the one that bleeds.

Those crystal nodes the System scanned looked no different from any other drift, but a step too close and the hibernating beast beneath would rise like a sprung trap and bite a skull clean through.

Good thing her host didn’t even glance, resisting temptation like a monk ignoring bells.

Had she always been this cautious, a habit forged like iron in cold water?

With the analysis done, the System—Ningyi—lifted its gaze to Nana Shi’s back, a slim line against white, thoughts coiling like smoke.

...

“One, two, three! Open!”

“One, two, three! Open!”

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

Inside Estis City, several guards swung axes and hammers like thunder beating drums, smashing at a four-meter-tall, four-meter-wide block of ice.

Shards flew like glass rain, and then—crack!—a thin fissure split the block’s heart like a sudden smile.

Something inside seemed to break, and the ice snapped and popped, a string of firecrackers in winter air, the crack racing downward fast enough to see.

Finally—

“It’s... open!” The soldiers sagged like tents after wind, relief warming them like a hearth.

“Lord... Thousandwise!” Medics hurried up, hands steady as tongs, lifting Thousandwise from the sundered ice, her consciousness foggy, her face glazed with bliss like a cat in sun.

“Hee-ji—... so good. Ah—no. You’re in a rush; what’s the report, like arrows in a quiver?”

“Y-yes, Lord Thousandwise,” a guard said, voice taut as wire. “Dormant monsters outside the walls sent back disturbance signs. Two unknown figures appeared on the south mountain beyond the gate. Shall we erase them?”

“Hm? Two unknowns on the southern slope outside the gate...?” Thousandwise’s brows knit like stitches, the flush on her cheeks still blooming like plum blossoms.

“Probably the two generals from Chronos City... emmm, tougher than His Majesty expected, like knots in old wood.”

“Should we report to His Majesty the Ice Emperor?” another soldier asked, careful as stepping on crusted snow. “He just left Estis City; if we chase now, we can still catch up, like hawks on a scent.”

“Chase His Majesty now?” Sitting amid ice grit like a queen on shattered glass, Thousandwise’s eyes gleamed with a crooked joy, thoughts running to pain like a river to the sea.

Guhehe~

But...

“It’s not time to report to the Ice Emperor yet,” she said, voice sweet as frostwine and sharp as sleet.

“Eh?” The soldiers traded looks like tossed pebbles. “But Lord Thousandwise, what if they are really the two generals from Chronos City?”

“The generals from Chronos are said to be very strong, like iron in the spine.”

“We may not win, like sparrows against hawks...”

“And if His Majesty learns we hid military intel, he’ll rage like a whiteout. It won’t be a simple scolding...”

They chattered around Thousandwise like starlings, then remembered the Ice Emperor’s punishments, and their bodies shivered with a secret thrill, like strings plucked in the cold.

“Right. Because we won’t tell His Majesty, we’ll be scolded hard later,” Thousandwise said, smile tilting like a blade. “And won’t that be super sweet? Guhehe~...”

“Ooh—! L-Lord Thousandwise, when you put it like that, it really does sound right, like fire under ice...”

Guhehe~

“And think—if we really face those two generals from Chronos City, we might taste brand-new punishment, like a path into an unknown forest,” she added, eyes bright as black ice. “We’re enemies; they won’t hold back.”

“Ohoho—Lord Thousandwise, you’re a genius, like a spark that sets tinder alight!”

“The great Deity of Deep Winter will surely favor you, like snow blessing the fields!”

Soaked in Thousandwise’s honeyed words, the surrounding soldiers gazed at her with rare fervor, their eyes burning like coals in snow.

Ah... punishment beyond the Ice Emperor’s known hand... ahhh! Just imagining it choked their breath like cold silk wrapped tight.