To the Northern Ice Palace (1): From My First Goodbye... Five Years Have Passed
From my first farewell... a full five years had passed.
“Ririririririririririlala~♪”
He had left, yet my life... no, my penguin life remained unchanged.
“Of course, around three years ago I completed my own teleportation device.”
After he departed, I continuously refined my teleportation device and now
Teleporter Activated
I could teleport by channeling internal energy from the belly section, freezing even the sea itself.
“Of course, the ice only lasts for a brief moment before it melts away.”
I was no longer afraid of those stupid polar bears.
Alongside the evolved teleportation device, I also developed a technique I had created with my own hands:
“Ice Soul Divine Wing!”
Take this!
A powerful technique that wraps the wings in frozen internal energy and delivers a blindingly fast beak strike that can shatter through even the hardest armor.
“Kwooaaaahh!!”
One strike and even a polar bear would flee in tears.
“Tsk, still bragging.”
Of course, I didn’t rely on this ridiculous trick alone.
“Ice Soul Divine Wing!”
Damn it.
I had transformed the Ice Soul Divine Palm into Ice Soul Divine Wing, a martial art that wrapped my wings with qi and unleashed freezing slash attacks.
More accurately, while reading the Ice Soul Divine Palm’s technique manual, I discovered a version that used palm edges instead of flat palms and took inspiration from that.
Of course, it was a martial art that required separate hand and arm movements, so it took some getting used to, but I could now execute slashing attacks that felt almost identical to true slashes.
“Haha, now the only things I can touch out here are those filthy sea monsters!”
That was the reason I started all this.
Two years after he left.
“Riririririririlala~♪ Today we’re eating! Let’s eat!”
At that time, I was not yet as strong as I am now.
I hadn’t completed Ice Soul Divine Wing yet, and I didn’t have the ability to freeze the sea and teleport with internal energy like I do now.
I only relied on my body trained through the Ice Soul Divine Art and my swimming skills honed over a long period.
Of course, compared to an ordinary penguin, it was an unbelievable level of strength.
But the sea held powerful creatures that the land didn’t have, and I had forgotten that.
The first one I met was a sea lion.
That day, just like always, I had gone deep into the sea to hunt and caught a few fish, ready to return.
Suddenly, the surrounding waters began to churn oddly.
“Hmm?”
I instinctively stopped and froze.
Then, the next instant—
-10 HP
A massive body brushed past right beside me.
I desperately twisted my body and created distance.
When I looked back, I saw
“...a sea lion?”
There was a sea lion swimming toward me, clearly intending to eat me.
It felt completely different from the polar bear I had seen on land, and the moment it spotted me, it turned and charged.
“Kyak?! (Wait, this can’t be!)
I immediately flapped my wings and streamlined my body as much as possible to dash forward.
But behind me, the sounds of exploding water continued, and
-10 HP
-10 HP
Distance kept shrinking.
“Damn it, it’s fast!”
I swam with all my might.
Thanks to the Ice Soul Divine Art strengthened body, I could outswim ordinary penguins, but the sea lion was a predator that ate penguins.
I was gradually being caught up.
In the end, instead of fighting, I twisted my body at the last moment and dove between the rocks.
The sea lion tried to follow but slowed because of its huge body, giving me just enough time to slip out.
And I finally managed to swim out to open water.
“Haa... haa...”
On that day, I realized something.
No matter how strong I thought I was, the sea still had things I was lacking.
And not long after that.
I met an even more dangerous creature— a killer whale.
At first, I only saw a dark shadow from afar.
“What’s that?”
I was about to pass by without thinking much.
But the moment the shadow turned and began approaching me.
“...No way.”
I instinctively felt danger.
Whenever I changed direction, it did the same, and whenever I tried to hide, it moved toward me first.
“Is it hunting me?”
My spine went cold.
I ran with everything I had.
My wings flapped as if they were tearing, and I swam with all the remaining strength in my body, but every time I looked back, the killer whale was still there, calmly following.
“Insane...”
At that moment, the killer whale twisted its body, and I reflexively twisted mine too.
-10 HP
Right beside me passed the massive body.
If I had been a split second later, I would have been eaten.
I no longer thought and simply ran for my life.
Finally, the ice region appeared in the distance, and I squeezed out my last strength and headed toward it.
Damn it!
The moment I climbed onto the ice, the killer whale could no longer follow.
I collapsed and gasped for air.
“...I survived.”
I hadn’t fought. I had only run.
I hadn’t won. I had simply survived.
So I trained harder.
To move faster.
To attack more powerfully.
And eventually, the results of that training became the teleportation device and Ice Soul Divine Wing that I have now.
“Haa... no matter how strong I get... I don’t want to meet those guys again.”
I shook my body, then shuffled into the cave.
“Kkak...”
Today, a blizzard would probably blow from the night onward.
So
“I guess I should... block the entrance a little.”
These blizzards had been getting worse lately and now pushed right up to the cave entrance, piling up snow against the wall.
“Frozen Beam!”
I fired a beam and hardened it to some extent.
Of course, I didn’t want to die from carbon dioxide poisoning, so I only blocked it to about my height.
“And... oh, right, the Fire Crystal.”
The Fire Crystal he gave me was surprisingly useful.
I simply injected internal energy into it and used the resulting fire as a camp stove.
“Ah... it’s warm...”
I let the flames dry the moisture in my body and rubbed the oil from my tail over my feathers to create a natural coating.
“Yeah... it’s been five years already.”
When I was human, five years felt like a long time, but
“Living here, five years passed so quickly.”
I slowly turned my head and noticed a wooden sword propped in the corner.
“Did that person... make it safely?”
Five years had passed since I had cleaned up the North Sea Ice Palace and set out to find the old man’s remains.
“As expected, shoe laces can’t be trusted.”
While I was still feeling sorry for myself,
Footstep sounds detected from outside the cave.
“What?”
From somewhere, sounds like hoofbeats echoed.
“What the... am I hallucinating?”
That made sense. Who would ride a horse into the snowy plains?
Surviving the freezing cold alone would already be a miracle.
“Eh... I must have misheard.”
I lay down on the floor, thinking I must have misheard, and
“Tomorrow, what should I do...”
While thinking that, I fell asleep.
***
The next morning.
“Kkak...”
I slowly opened my eyes.
The inside of the cave was still dark, illuminated only by the faint light from the Fire Crystal.
“Ugh... I slept well.”
I stretched my body and let out a big yawn.
Even five years ago, I never imagined this kind of life, but now I was used to it.
Hunting alone, training alone, enduring blizzards alone.
Those two weeks had unexpectedly had a huge impact on my life.
At first I felt lonely, but at some point it became just an ordinary daily routine.
I slowly looked outside the cave.
Last night’s blizzard had been terrible, but thanks to the ice wall I had made, snow hadn’t reached the inside.
“As expected, the things I made are perfect.”
I nodded in satisfaction and was about to step out to loosen my body when
I froze.
“...”
The sound I had heard yesterday flashed through my mind.
Tap... tap...
“No way... it was real?”
But I quickly shook my head.
“No, how could a horse come to the snowy plains.”
Horses are weak to the cold, and in this northern snowy region, they would hardly be able to move.
“I must have misheard the wind sounds.”
While thinking that, I walked toward the cave entrance, and
I stopped dead in my tracks.
“...Kkak? (What now?)
On the snow... there were footprints.
Not just one. There were massive hoof prints and deep grooves as if something large had passed, and even human footprints.
Because these were traces that hadn’t existed even last night, I carefully examined the surroundings.
“Who... came all the way here?”
My heart began to race a little.
In the five years I had been here, not a single human had come looking.
Originally, this place wasn’t even properly marked on any map.
Yet
Someone had come.
I cautiously followed the footprints.
Soon, something appeared in the distance on the snowy plains.
A black dot.
At first, I thought it was a rock.
But as it got closer, its shape became clear.
A horse and a seal, and beside them, a person standing.
I instinctively lowered my body.
“Who is it?”
It could be a guest.
But anyone who could come this far wasn’t likely to be an ordinary person.
I quietly raised my internal energy.
At that moment.
The person slowly raised their head and our eyes met.
There was a brief silence.
While staring at each other in the midst of the blizzard.
The person opened their mouth.
“...I found you.”
The instant I heard that voice... my body froze.
A voice I had never forgotten in five years.
“You were still here.”
I couldn’t say anything.
No.
I couldn’t.
I just
“Kkak...”
Only a small sob escaped.
“...Why.”
“Why did you come now?”
I looked at him.
The person I had waited five years for.
But at the same time,
The person I had given up waiting for five years.
He slowly walked over and knelt in front of me.
“I’m sorry I’m late.”
With just those words,
I couldn’t get angry.
I could only tilt my head while looking at him.