Chapter 12: Frozen Frost Fortress
First, the inn that the guards had recommended was called Home of the Fire. I went there first and rented a room along with a stable for Jily and July. The inn itself wasn't that large but it was warm and clean so that's good enough for me.
Since I wasn't really using the room, I just rented it in case I need to use it, the stable was what I really needed for Jily and July. In total, the cost was 4 small silver coins for a week. Since the two Jules's feeds were provided by me, the workers who looked after Jily and July were thankful since they don't have much feed for animals/beasts/monsters.
"Jily, July, don't cause trouble. Understand? These two humans here will be feeding you for the week so don't intimidate them, okay?" I coldly said to the two monsters. Both nervously dipped their heads in understanding. Causing the two workers that were standing near the stable to look surprised and grateful. After all, Jily and July aren't normal monsters. They are Jules beasts. Intimidating was what their core composed of.
I introduce the two humans that were supposed to look after them. I left the feeds for the workers to store into the storage behind the inn. Afterward, I'd drive Jily and July to the Commerce Guild in this fortress to sell the things inside the wagon.
We passed by another inn called "Snow Inn", a large restaurant that was near packed, two large building that should have been the government building- as the city hall, the orphan house, which has around 5 kids only, who were already old enough to work for themselves. This town, fortress, was very small. There was only about 14,000 or so household. And the majority of the households were underground, where the firestones brought by the city lord are were used to build the ground that each house was built on, resulting in a much warmer environment for everyone.
The Commerce guild in this fortress was very small. So, they don't have enough hard cash on them to pay me for all the things that I brought here. But that's fine, I have my commerce guild card so they will just pay it toward my card using the commerce guild's payment system. Which admittedly, was a part of all of the Kingdoms in this continent's economic systems so it has a stable usage.
"Thank you, Shirin-sama. Please come again," The guild master said thankfully with his eyes in tears. His youngest child was one of the children that they were trying to save so my medicines, clothes, fur, and kinds of stuff were like god-sent from heaven above.
The situation here was this: The people in this fortress had lost 15 kids due to coldness and lack of warm clothes. So, with the fur and cold resistance fabrics that I brought? Yeah, it was heavenly sent. Each year, if the number of children that the people here lost were lower than 15, then that would have been the normality... but, right now was not even Autumn yet and they had already lost 15 children. So, people were panicking and trying to save all the children that they could.
... My lucks... Yeah... Let's not go there. As much as the lucks make my life easier, it also brings in a lot of danger to both me and other people.
No, especially to other people. The Lucks will only bring benefits to me, but to other people, it was a crisis. And there was nothing that I could do about it without causing this world to collapse.
If I keep thinking about it then my alter ego will do something to the lucks and turned it into something evil. That, I don't want so I will stop thinking about this.
Afterward, I made my way toward the Adventurer's Guild.
The Adventurer's Guild was more of a tavern. It has 2 workers along with the guild master. The quests board only has so many requests. The majority of the request was food resources, clothing resources, and firewood resources.
5 percent of the requests were for a wood called "Oil Wood Logs". It is from the fruit trees called Olleavea Pearl Fruits. The logs were very small- only about 4 inches in diameter- and straight. But the burn time was very long- a full 6 hours per log. The oil contents inside the logs could also be used for cooking too. It has a light taste to it so everyone in this kingdom knows about it. However, the thing is, Frozen Frost Fortress was too far to the north. As one of Lord Flavius's region, the Northern Mountain have a lack of those Olleavea Pearl Fruits trees because it was mainly grown in the southern-eastern region, where summer was 24/7.
I don't have any such oil wood logs with me. However, I have a lot of Ling Wood. Ling Wood, with the meaning Ling as in the meaning of "fuel" in the language of my fifth worlds. Another name that made more sense for this Ling Wood was called Incendiary Wood. Just a small 1/4 inches by 1/4 inches by 1/2 inches stick was enough to burn for 9 hours. And very strongly, too. Just one stick was enough to heat up a large living room for 9 hours. This was due to the continuously burning effect of the wood itself. It doesn't burn a very high heat but it does burn at the temperature of 120 degrees Fahrenheit for continuos of 9 Hours Straight. It was not weak to friction so fire-hazard wasn't that high. And it just happens that I have a LOT of the Ling Wood inside my Inventory.
In Wooden Plate instead of sticks but that can easily be changed.
However, to make sure that the people of this fortress can safely use those Ling Wood Sticks, I sold a lot of my ceramic oil burners- the long kind that can be used for a bed warmer. This way, it would be safer for each house and reduce the rate of fire hazards in the winter.
I sell a plate of Ling Wood for 5 small silver coins and my long ceramic burner for 2 small silver each.
A plate of Ling Wood might not sound like a lot and very expensive but the truth was that I sold it for very cheap. Far too cheap, in fact. After all, a plate of Ling Wood was not a stick. A plate of Ling Wood was 12 feet long okay? The thickness was only 1/4 inches by 1/4 inches but... if you divided the plate into 1/2 inches by 1/4 inches by 1/4 inches, then how many would you get? Do the math yourself.
Aside from that, the ceramic burners were made specifically for the Ling Wood. So, it would last for a couple of years. Not only that, the ceramic had couples of protection spells engraved on it. So, even if you drop it from 20 feet above the ground, it wouldn't shatter or crack at all. So, truly, 2 small silver was just me being nice.
Although, this will be the only time that I do so. Yet, the Adventurer's Guild master brought more than 2000 of the ceramic burner and more than 15 million of the Ling Wood Plate- using his own money and the money from the guild. If not because they don't have any more funds, the guild would have brought every Ling Wood plate that I have in my Inventory. For now, that's all that the guild master can afford with the fund that they have.
The lack of firewood was solved for now. However, food resources and clothing resources was still a problem.
Since the Adventurer's Guild had already used up their funds for the firewoods and the ceramic burners, I have to go to the Commerce Guild for the next transactions.
With few choices, the guild master brought as many tons of grains as they can; wheat, corns, oats, rice, barley, rye, buckwheat, millets, and soy. Surprisingly, it wasn't wheat that the commerce guild bought more of. It was cassava roots.
As for the clothing resources; the fabrics, the commerce guild brought a lot of cold-resistance fabric. Flannel fabrics, fleece, cotton, linen, and wool textiles like tweed fabrics. However, the one that they brought the most of was still the Jute Fabrics. The Commerce guild bought enough materials and resources for a couple of years' worth. All in all, the commerce guild has to pay 9 Large gold coins and 8 small gold coins for food, and 13 large gold coins for fabrics resources.
All together from both the Adventurer's Guild and the Commerce Guild, I got 4,000 Small Silver Coins from the ceramic burner, 75 million Small Silver Coins from the Ling Wood plates, 9 Large Gold Coins and 8 Small Gold Coins from the Food, and 13 Large Gold Coins from the fabrics... Well- I'm too tired to count so I just gave it to Bel-chan to count them into my account book for this world.
[Master, that would be 7 Platinum Coins, 722 Large Gold Coins, and 12 Small Gold Coins total]
In other words, 700 Million, 722 thousand hundred, and 12 hundred credits in Federal Credit of Earth. Or about 20 years of a High-End successful company's earning. That's enough to buy a Galactic Space Home on Earth. These Galactic Space Homes that I am talking about is a Space habitat for space colony settlement that is intended for permanent settlement. Once you buy a house there, it is yours forever. Even if you died and leave it to your kids, the ownership would still be yours. It cannot be resold for as long as the Galactic Federal Government is still up.
Ah! Don't think that just because it is called a colony settlement that it is tiny or small. Those Galactic Homes are the size of a mansion on Earth's Surface, okay?! And not only that, those houses aren't truly in outer space! They are still within the Earth's sphere. It's just that they are build to be forever floating in the ozone layer of the stratosphere. Hmmm? Lands are still made from Earth's soil, yes. And there are greens too. All in all, the environment was not lacking at all. In fact, it was 10 times better than the environments on the surface.
I remember that just before I slipped away from Earth, mom and grandpa was talking about buying one of those houses for my grandparents to live there since they aren't young anymore. However, I don't know if they brought it or not since I slipped out of that Earth a long time ago, already.
Okay, forget it.
Now that the transactions are done and the funds from both the commerce guild and the Adventurer's Guild are gone, it's time for me to go get what I come here for.
Leaving behind the fortress, I went out through the gates, causing the guards from this morning to salute me... which was... what the hell?
Well, whatever.
Let's see, the maps show that the lake is to the east of here, about 15.7km away. Okay, let's go.
I place my hand into the ground snow and started to draw a symbol, using Mana Symbology Technique. This is a branch of inscriptions but used lesser mana, more knowledge, and the ability to read magic symbols.
A circle with stars and symbols intersects formed on the ground. The next second, as I pour in mana, the symbols shine for a nanosecond, and a large white fox with blue eyes appeared.
"Hello, Little White." I pat the large white fox as it purred against me. Little White rubbed his head against my face as it purred happily.
I got on to the back of Little White as we left toward my destination.
Little White was one of my Summon Contracts that I had since my fifth world. I am quite fond of him. Even though Little White doesn't have that high of intelligence, his wisdom and personality were milder compared to my other Summoning Contracts. Ridding Little White, we went straight to the lake without stopping.
When I get there, Little White stopped right next to the lake. She drops me off as she went off to hunts for herself. It has been a while since I summoned her to the physical world. So, she's very excited to go play by herself.
It's fine. Little White, or her real named Xiria LaWhite, is very strong. What's her level? Do you want to know?
Sure, why not.
_______
Xiria LaWhite [Little White]
[Summoned Contracted Animal]
Owner: Shinichi Tokugawa
Type: Soul Bound, Neutral Gender
Level: 254
Title: Wind of Whisper
Ability and Skills:
Mastery of Innate Illusion
Enhanced Strengths
Enhanced Speed
Enhanced Eyesight
Enhanced Scents Detection
Enhanced Magic
Magic Manipulation
Air Manipulation
Water Manipulation
Air Magic Mastery
Magic Mastery
Instincts of the Beast
King of the Fox
_______
Now you see? Little White is strong. He's not my strongest summon contractor but his obedience and doesn't cause trouble for me, and he's not as dark as the other ones when it comes to personality. Not only that, but he's also more dependent and doesn't want me to give him a lot of my attention. My other contractors were very possessive of me so they would always compete to get my attention. And, I have a lot of summoning contracts animals/beast/monsters/etc.
A lot.
Most of them are sociopaths, kin-murderer, mental-apathy monsters that would love to wash the world in blood but they are mine so I am also very possessive of them too. But that doesn't mean that I would let them out much. And besides, they don't want to come out from my Soul World Space and my Spiritual Dimension anyway.
Little White wasn't known as the Wind of Whispered because he can hear voices from the wind. No, he was called that because his very presence will cause human, animal, beast, or demon, otherwise into seeing illusions. And it wasn't the kind of illusions too.
Those illusions aren't the kind of madness that normal people would think of. Insanity. Deprivation. That kind. No, all of my summoned monsters/contractors were all above what I would call insane and depraved. No, they are simply Sinned and Blank.
Little White, before being contracted to me, was a Half-Wolf Half-Angel. He represents the Blankness and Darkness of the world that he originated from.
He had destroyed four worlds by erasing everything within it with her illusions. Causing those worlds to be Blank. No animals, no plants, no water, no human, and no lives. The planets themselves was intact but that's only because as a half-angel and half-wolf with the air element, she can't do anything to the world's core, which was made of Earth elemental, Water Elemental, and Plant elemental magic. As an Air Magic Master and a Sin Depraved Monster, Little White can't do anything against the world's core.
By the time that I first met him, Little White was already level 99. Of course, contracting me boosts his level-up to 115. And afterward, we traveled together in other worlds along with my other contractors beasts. Scaring the living daylight out of all kinds of gods and goddesses.
He then gains a clearer understanding of himself, his mentality, and his control over his power. Since then, Little White hasn't lost control over his illusion powers again. That was mainly because I had stabilized his mind, soul, and emotions. Not only that, but I had also restricted his illusions by more than 80%. So, while he can still use Illusions to kill, prison, and defense against attacks, it wasn't enough to Blanked a whole world.
Being up here in the North, where it's this cold, was a perfect place for Little White to have some fun. Despite being so powerful, as the only beast among my contractors with the ability to use illusions was a lonesome thing.
So, whenever I can, I will summon her out to play.
Let see, oh? I didn't think that these ice elemental fishes were this huge!
This is a fucking damn whale, isn't it?!
That's not a fucking damn salmon!- Is what I would like to say but I knew better.
The salmons in this lake have a slightly different color compared to the Atlantic salmon or the Pacific salmon that I had in my internal space. Its color was more blue, and slightly more silver.
Its head was totally white with its eyes clearly dark blue, like a gem. The stripes vary from light red to dark blue, to white or silver. Even though, this lake was a freshwater lake, all of the salmon keep changing their color from one to another, from red to dark blue and from white to silver when they came near to the surface.
Well, it looks like a salmon but the size is... humongous.
I had thought that base on the map size, the lake wouldn't be this huge, but... it seems that I still underestimate this world too much. This kind of thinking, I have to erase it. It seems that I was underestimating this world far too much.
Taking a big breath and let go of my prejudice about this world go. I opened my eyes once again with new thinking.
Good, this will convict me to acknowledge this world without prejudiced eyes. Prejudgment is good and all but it would be a mistake on my part to believe in it without experiencing it myself.
This lake, which was labeled "Cold Mist Lake" by Bel-chan, was huge. According to Bel-chan's information chart, Cold Mist Lake was about 53,500 sq. miles across on the surface. Its size, shape, and dimension was like a large bowl that looks like a sphere jar. It was about 10,000 meters deep. It was larger and wider than Lake Michigan and Huron combined, in America.
Lake Michigan-Huron was only about 281 meters deeps while this lake, Cold Mist lake, the smallest lake in the Northern Mountain Range, was already 10,000 meters deep. Well, damn.
Sighing out loud, I started to walk over the surface of the lake.
The water temperature was cold, well below the freezing point. It is about negative 20 degrees Fahrenheit, or about negative 5 degrees Celsius. It is far too cold for normal fish. Not only does this freshwater lake has Ice-Elemental mana infused within the lake floor, but it also has a lot of water elemental gems within the water itself. I can feel the presence of the Spiritual Ice Gems that are within the water sources.
Those gems... Why the fucks are you guys calling for me?! I am not fucking damn taking you guys with me! You are the source of water in this region, there's no way that I'm taking you Gems with me.
Hm?
Oh, a salmon is coming closer to me.
Smirking internally, I used my telekinesis power, or in my case, this power of mine was more of a universal force manipulation, to move the salmon up to the air, without even alerting the salmon that he or she's not in the water anymore.
Ah- our eyes meet...
What the hell? Why is this huge fish so adorable?
Whizz...
The Salmon played in the air without even caring about me...
Yep. This fish was slightly above average when it comes to adorableness.
... This one is a female. And she's pregnant. Oi oi!!! What are you doing?!
You're getting birth to your eggs right now?!!! What the fuck?!
Ah! Careful! The eggs! Damn it!
I opened the door to my Space Dimension Homestead as the eggs drop into one of the many lakes inside. The ones that I specifically opened the door to was for small freshwater fishes, which are looked after by AI robots that are more skeletal than metal.
Huff... This damn salmon scared the shit out of me for suddenly giving birth to her eggs!
Wheez~!
Wheez~ my ass! Don't you wheeing at me!
Hmph! Throwing the salmon back to the lake, I went to the next spot. What? Salmon that just give birth does not taste good!
Oh? The salmon in this world was also a schooling kind? That was a huge school of salmons though. I would only take 30% of them. That's already 36 adult salmon. I don't know if this was a good thing or not but this group of salmon was very small.
Oh, there's the next group. That's a huge school of salmon right there. Taking about half of them should be okay. That's already 500 of them. So, in total, now I have 536 ice salmon. Since the salmon were so passive that they didn't even run away even when half of them are gone, I have to go look for another group. After all, I am not planning on going on a killing spree on them. And I only chose those that are adults but aren't pregnant. I leave all the pregnant ones alone.
Oh? Frosty Bass? There are also schools of them too. Okay, I am going to go around, gathering a couple from each school of fishes. Although... Why is these Frosty Bass so... round? The fins were a lot smaller than I thought. And its tail was a lot longer. The color was richer and the size of these Frosty Bass was literally three times the size of a school bus! The width of these Frosty Bass was already 7.8 meters wide and its length was already longer than 40 meters. What the hell?
Cidetal, are you sure these are Bass and not whales?!
[Your Holiness, these really are Frosty Bass. It was just that 5 million years ago, during the war between the Gods and the Almighty, these Frosty Bass mutated due to drinking the blood of the Almighty and the Gods by accident. So now their size was 30 times larger than 5 million years ago.]
Cidetal's Core World Voice replies back with a nervous sound.
Well... She was always nervous talking to me, so I really don't care.
Haha- okay, fine. I understand. It wasn't like I saw fishes this large before. My own Spiritual Fishes are far larger than this. I'm just surprised that these fishes aren't a Magic Beast or Spiritual Beast and were just normal monster fish with their sizes. Don't mind me, go back to do your job, Cidetal. Don't come out too much or that man will get annoyed at your presence.
[Yes,]
Cidetal's voice faded away with relief.
Yeah- between me and Prince Yui, Cidetal's favor would be I over that man any time of the day.
By the time that I went around all the schools, I had already gathered more than 3000 Ice Salmons and 1350 Frosty Basses.
While I was gathering the fishes, I was also singing.
The songs that I had was from all sort of worlds that I been through, so there are a lot. The majority of them are in English, though. But that doesn't mean there aren't other languages songs. In fact, I have songs from all over the world. From all kinds of world.
For example, as I am feeling cheerful and a bit mischievous now, I took out the music players that I made and play the playlist that was titled "Dance to the Beats".
I moving my butts, shaking my head, my hips, and my whole body to the beats. Ever heard of the song Échame la Culpa by Luis Fonsi and Demi Lovato? Or Zombie by Bad Wolves? The songs that I had were all over the place but one thing they have in common was the fact that there are memorable and meaningful.
Like this song, for example.
I know the feeling
Of finding yourself stuck out on the ledge
And there ain't no healing
From cuttin' yourself with the jagged edge
I'm tellin' you that it's never that bad
And take it from someone who's been where your at
You're laid out on the floor and you're not sure
You can take this anymore
So just give it one more try
With a lullaby
And turn this up on the radio
If you can hear me now
I'm reachin' out to let you know
That you're not alone
And you can't tell, I'm scared as hell
'Cause I can't get you on the telephone
So just close your eyes
Well honey here comes a lullaby
Your very own lullaby
Please let me take you
Out of the darkness and into the light
'Cause I have faith in you
That you're gonna make it through another night
Stop thinkin' about the easy way out
There's no need to go and blow the candle out
Because you're not done, you're far too young
And the best is yet to come
.....
Lullaby By Nickelback.
Or this song,
You must think that I'm stupid
You must think that I'm a fool
You must think that I'm new to this
But I have seen this all before
I'm never gonna let you close to me
Even though you mean the most to me
'Cause every time I open up, it hurts
So I'm never gonna get too close to you
Even when I mean the most to you
In case you go and leave me in the dirt
.....
'Cause every time you hurt me, the less that I cry
And every time you leave me, the quicker these tears dry
And every time you walk out, the less I love you
Baby, we don't stand a chance, it's sad but it's true
I'm way too good at goodbyes
Too Good at Goodbye by Sam Smith- the nightcore version.
I sing English songs, Japanese songs, Chinese Songs, Italian songs, French Songs, Thai Songs, Spanish/Latino songs, German songs- I sing anything that catches my attention. Some songs were in aliens languages that make no sense whatsoever. However, there is one kind of song that I never sing- Magic Songs.
Nope. Singing Magic Songs was asking for trouble so I never sing any even if I know them. With my level, if I sing any magic song, I would've bind whoever heard my voice into a puppet with no will of their own. So, I would never sing any magic song.
As I continue to sings, I also continue to levitates/use telekinesis on the fishes that I want. Since I didn't actually kill them before placing them inside the Storage Backpacks that I bought along with me, I had to knock the fishes unconscious before placing them inside the storage backpacks.
What? Yes, you cannot place living things inside the Storage Backpack. However, since I froze the life-streamlines of the fishes and knocked them unconscious, their life won't emit out any mana, which was what was preventing them from being unable to get inside the storage backpacks from the Adventurer's Guild. I have no problem placing them in the Storage Backpacks once they are fully unconscious.
When I stopped gathering any more fishes from Cold Mist lake, I called Little White and moved on to the next lake, which was called "Frosty Shades Lake". This lake was larger compared to Cold Mist Lake but its depth was the same.
The only differences were that there aren't any ice salmon within this lake. There's only Frosty Bass, freshwater Rainbow Tuna, and Frost Mackerel. There's about 70% Frosty Bass, 10% Rainbow Tuna, and the rest are Frost Mackerel within this lake.
Hmmm... How much Frosty Bass do I need to gather again?
10 for Lady Luciana, out of the 100 Frosty Bass total.
As I already got all the requirements among Frosty Bass, now I wanted to gather some for myself.
Let's see, for me, I want to get at least a thousand of each fish... Including the Blue Seabeam.
Okay, let's go~!
Ah, but before that, I am hungry. Let's eat first.
Since I haven't try to use ice elemental fishes as sushi before, I will try to use them to make some sushi.
I am pretty nervous, this will be a new recipe for me so I need to be careful.
Taking out a cutting board from my Inventory space, a sharp sushi knife that I use Plenty of times before, a clean damp kitchen towels that been soaked in the mana water, and then two large trays. I put the ice salmon on the tray and took out a large marble kitchen table- a portable one- and place them on the ground.
Okay, now the preparation is done.