Chapter 269 - Warm Welcome

Cold can be consuming, especially for Chan who faced the close to trauma experience of almost losing his toes. We all remember the experience he had there, what he accomplished and what he encountered. Reaching the cold parts of Ignis gave him small flashes of memory, most of which were bad.

The only bit of sanity he managed to maintain when thinking about such a journey, the aid of the unliving he recieved there makes him feel better. Father or just a teasing ghost, a desperate tribe or a sympathetic being. For Chan, help is help. Although in most cases he is quite dumb and a die hard alcoholic, he knows how to appreciate and remembers each good deed people did towards him no matter how small the deed.

Once they reached Snow, their final task to such a travel would be to locate Frozen Toe Kingdom where the locals afterwards will direct him towards the Giant ill.u.s.tratio, but that shortly became a problem! Why would it even become a problem you might me curious enough to ask?

Well, there is no road and the map just shows a simple dot symbolizing Frozen Toe Kingdom. Although this is the smallest country in Ignis with barely any green land mass, it still stretches 600 kilometers long and 400 kilometers wide. If they don't have a proper guidance of how to find this place, its like looking for a needle in a haystack!

They can get lost here, and just staying too long in the open leaves them vulnerable to dangerous creatures. Such as white bears or Blue Eagles, a Clan of Ratbugs, even Shire Horses are proven violent in the wild up here. With vegetation barely available, what do you think they eat? The ones up here in the snow that is, the ones down at the small land mass of vegetation surely eat grass.

War or no war, Frozen Toe Kingdom remained the only domain in Orientis Ignis. There aren't even any villages in this huge place, no just one Kingdom. There are camps occasionally but they don't last long.

Furthermore, there aren't any known Snow Ignites or Ignites for that matter here ever since the hundred year war that started after the second era met an end. Even before that, the Snow Ignites never mentioned any domain in this tremendous tundra, yet again they are known to be secretive so what are the odds of another domain being hidden to escape the Continent's affairs? The Snow Ignites where Eric now takes residence likely did it for such a case and the Calidum Lutum were advanced enough to do it thousands of years ago.

So without a proper way to find the Kingdom, how did they arrive here in the first place? Well there is a simple way to explain it all, luck! For them it is perfectly timed to become lucky, because if they extended their travel time, BearClaw would have to hunt Blue Eagles if they wished to survive.

To make their travel easier, Bear Claw had to melt their way out. It was nothing but a continuously blasting Fire and became boring to watch after a while, as for how the Horses handled this bit of help?

Well at first they were spooked but later on they became very appreciative towards Bear Claw. The Wagons kept getting stuck on the snow and sometimes ice made it hard to manuver the Wagon behind them, so to have all those worries literally melt it away? It proved as huge help and to show appreciation the Horses kept leaning towards her or kept bending their head down to stroke it against her shoulder.

Dilli didn't quite know how to handle such a thank you coming from an animal, but thankfully she didn't react badly to it at all. She just became strongly confused, especially when they tried to lick her here and there.

Although animals, they felt thankful! Anything would if a snowy road of 120km was made easier for them! Thankfully the trip through the snow only lasted two weeks, there isn't even a road to follow they could have easily gotten lost.

"So do we head towards the Giant ill.u.s.tratio directly sir Chan?" Asked the head Guard, he obviously wasn't dumb enough to yell it out here in public. He whispered on Chan's ear. "I can ask some locals to tell us where to find him."

"Although I want to get out of this place as soon as possible, we need to sleep the night here. Dusk is close!" Here at least he showed reasoning, the cold is a considerable trauma for him yet he is willing to put it behind for the rest to have a warm bed to sleep on for tonight. Either that or he just wants to sleep in a warm bed tonight, sleeping in a tent is terribly cold, not to mention the Ale an Inn can offer.

"I'll ask that man over there for an Inn, I'll be right back Sir." Answered the Head Guard and walked towards the civilian.

Returning a few seconds later he stated, "The Inn seems to have closed down long ago, but that man is welcoming us all to his house for the day. Free of Charge actually."

Afterwards they saw that man waving from the background. They all are ill.u.s.tratios here after all, the man is confused on why there is an Ignite in this group but it still didn't stop him from helping.

"Sounds suspicious." Bear Claw was the first to point out, feeling a bit paranoid and giving the man a firm look after. His smile still remained firm, but "I don't trust that guy." Dilli re expressed.

"Nonsense, let's go in there before we loose any toes." Chan replied with a sigh of relief and started walking towards the man and shook his hand after, repeating. "Thank you thank you, you will be well paid!"

"There is no need for a payment, I can't leave you out here in the cold now can I?" Spoke out the kind man, afterwards giving a small introduction. "I'm Rowan, pleased to meet you all." Afterwards he gestured towards the house behind him and added. "Please come in."

Settling in, they moved the Wagons near his house and asked. "Is there any stable close by? We didn't see one at the entrance." That's at least where most Kingdoms have a stable at.

"Um no not a stable technically but I have a barn behind my house, I think they can all fit for the night." The amount of help help he is offering tends to be suspicious for an ill.u.s.tratio, but at least he is trying to help.

"Perfect, we wouldn't want them to freeze to death now do we?" Chan tried to be as nice as a person can with cold numb hands and ordered the Guards. "Please lead the Horses to the barn."

After settling in, the men and the lady circled around the Fireplace to get that cold out. Luckily there was a Fire going when they entered, last thing they needed was to wait for a Fire to start. Or maybe they wouldn't have to wait with a Fire controller in between the 13 people.

"Do you live alone Rowan?" Asked Chan as he settled in with some warm ale on his hand, he already spiraled down on everything he had from the Tavern, and even drained each and every bottle he got from the nearby Kingdom before they entered this unforgiving tundra. But luckily there were a few bottles of ale here, some were empty which is why Chan asked that question to begin with.

"Yes for now, I had two sons but they were recruited by the Alliance, so they can put those rebels in to rest back in the other country." It appears he didn't handle it quite well, he is wearing the necklace symbolizing the illas religion too and maybe it is because of his faith that he didn't do anything too stupid yet.

"The Alliance asked for Guards all the way here?" Chan asked as he felt a bit surprised, to come all the way to the edge of the Continent for a handful of Guards?

"Yes, this place used to have 400 people!" Grabbing an Ale from the floor, likely left there to stay cool. He too sat down near the Fire and continued to explain. "Now there are 150 people here."

"Oh they really didn't discriminate?" Asked Chan, feeling even more surprised that the Grand King of Meridionali Ignis would make such a desperate move. King Xakro did send word that the Snow Ignites must meet an end no matter what, who would know that his own word would be his worst enemy. Self afflicted is the best way to describe it. "How come they didn't take you? You look young enough!"

"Son, I'm 65!" Stated Rowan as he took a mouthful of Ale, "If I was a decade younger maybe I would have a chance. All we have here now are elderlis."