From a certain standpoint, the Northlands was probably the most unsuitable place for humans to live in in the entire world.
The Northlands only had two seasons in a year: spring and winter. In other places, spring could be treated as winter. One-third of the year, the Northlands was constantly frozen. The land was barren, and everything was dying … But this was still my homeland.
During the day, I could hear the howling of fierce winds. Without any vegetation to obstruct the cold wind, it would be so cold that it would cause people to shiver. And if the cold wind during the day was only ridiculously cold, the wind at night would truly be murderous. If anyone spent the night outside, they wouldn't even need to collect their corpse. They would be directly frozen in ice … But this was still my homeland.
Winter wolves, snowmen, and ferocious bears. If these magical beasts were tossed into the forests of any other region in the continent, they would probably be able to dominate the forest. But in the Northlands, these were the most common wild beasts. It was normal to hear hungry beasts roaring in the middle of the night. The most troublesome thing would be the roars of dragons. That usually meant that a group of hungry white dragons had gotten too close to human residences … It would be impossible for new adventurers to survive in such a homeland.
Avalanches, hailstorms, blizzards, frosts, droughts, extreme coldness, tornadoes, and snow disasters. Apart from extreme heat and floods, the people who lived in this land were already used to all natural disasters. As time passed, the residents of this land discovered the advantages of this land as if they were finding joy in their suffering.
The barren land and icy weather made the greedy nobles unable to endure the harsh conditions here. Compared to the nobles who enjoyed life in the inner regions, the domain lords who chose to live here had the style of the Knight domain lords from their ancestors. They were not only the masters of this territory, but also the protectors of this land's residents.
The lack of resources and the dangerous environment in the outside world made the people here used to huddling together for warmth. Meanwhile, the threat of other races and Magical Beasts made the Northlanders used to using their own hands to protect themselves. This place was full of warriors and outstanding soldiers, and it also produced true warriors who understood teamwork and self-sacrifice. The Northlanders had always been viewed as a barbarian race by the entire human society, but they were also a fighting race that did not have powerful bloodlines.
In this land, noble conduct and the weight of one's promise were not just empty words, but the innate temperament of a Northlander. That was because in this land of ice and snow, being exiled and isolated was equivalent to death. In the face of the cruel test of nature, lies and cowards would not be able to muddle through every single time. Honor and loyalty were necessary for survival. The true Northlander warriors who stood out in the elimination would become the pillar and protector of their family and fellow countrymen. Cowards and boastful boastful people would eventually die of shame.
"… The first snow of the year is really early."
Even though they were lying on the slowly moving battleship, the cold of the Northern Lands still made the frail patients feel uncomfortable. They rubbed their hands together and spat out white mist. However, that familiar coldness made them feel refreshed for some reason.
"Your Highness, this is the fourth snow of the year."
The young attendant's words revealed some new information. I was surprised to hear this, as I was quite familiar with this area. Snow usually represented the arrival of winter. Distributing winter rations, organizing winter hunting teams, and other preparations for winter would all need to be completed before winter arrived. If the schedule was messed up, the heavy snow would greatly hinder the construction of various projects. And I had no reason to misremember the time of the winter snow season. Normally, it would take at least two weeks for the first snow to arrive.
The silly cat jumped onto my shoulder. When the attendants saw her, they all instinctively took half a step back. She had been acting as my bodyguard all this time. Following the deaths of the Level 4 assassins, the names "Summoning Ominous Black Cat", "Yongye's Cat of Death God", and "Ominous Shadow" had all become famous.
Currently, the most popular rumor was that this black cat was a Divine Sin/Demon Lord/Death God level undead disguised as a cat alien. Every day, she would devour over a hundred souls.
"Great snow mountain."
Her words were quite simple, but after a short moment of confusion, I was able to make up for the lack of logic.
I asked the attendant, and as I expected, I learned some facts that confirmed some things. Starting from five or six years ago, the Northlands' winter began arriving earlier and earlier, but ended later and later. The winter also became colder and colder.
"The Ice Elemental Plane …"
The great snow mountain, which was filled with ice and snow magical creatures, was currently transforming into its own Ice Elemental Plane. Although it was located in the uninhabited mountains of the Northlands, the Ice Elemental Plane's connection to the Ice Elemental Plane hadn't been broken yet, so the Ice Elemental Plane kept getting colder and colder in the Northlands.
From a certain standpoint, this made the Northlands even more difficult to live in. However, with the upcoming major battle, this wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
Demons' greatest weapons were their powerful bodies and abundant magic power. Even without considering the fact that ice naturally countered the fire element, heat would rapidly dissipate in such a low temperature. Demons' powerful bodies and magic power that relied on instincts to fight would actually become a huge source of energy consumption.
Mana consumption could be replenished through food. However, if you wanted to hunt in the Northlands' winter, you would first need to find prey. And even if you ate all the wild beasts in the mountains, it probably wouldn't even be enough to fill the gaps between the demons' stomachs.
"Perhaps we can make use of this …"
Seeing this situation, I had some other ideas. Perhaps the Great Snow Mountain Magical Realm's elemental creatures could participate in constructing the entire Northlands' defense line. Or perhaps we could artificially create a natural defense line for the Northlands. However, I would need to consider things a bit more if I wanted to make this a reality.
While I was thinking this, we had already entered the Northlands. Meanwhile, the new Northstar fleet's three mega airships were beginning to disband. The new Northstar continued heading north towards the Mist Alliance's capital, Diffindor, which wasn't even in name. The Mizar went to the industrial base in Sleuweir for repairs, and the Alkaid went to the Xiluo Empire for repairs and personnel replacements.
From a certain standpoint, it could be said that a single airship fleet would be built and maintained in different locations. This was the first time in the world that a single airship fleet had been built and maintained in a single location. However, with the Mist Alliance's foundation, it would be quite difficult for a single shipyard to build a single mega airship in the past few years. Not a single base would be able to support such a large airship if they were all piled together.
That's right, only half of our new Northstar fleet had returned. That was because the elves were still continuing on their journey. Based on the elves' constant walking speed, even if they didn't encounter any obstacles, it would still take at least one year for them to reach the Northlands.
We had originally intended to escort the elves all the way. However, our fleet kept slowing down, and the Mist Alliance countries couldn't afford to wait any longer. This was especially true now that the Demon Abyss was making new movements, and the entire world was entering a sensitive period of the Holy War. That was why we left half of our fleet behind to continue escorting the elves while we brought back three of our airships.
These three mega airships didn't return empty-handed. The heavily injured and the Northlands urgently needed special talents were all on these airships. Half of the Elven Empire's higher-ups had also returned. They needed to hurry up and finish the preliminary work, such as choosing a location, constructing a city, driving away the wild beasts, preparing for war, and so on. Even a year might not be enough for them.
There shouldn't be any major problems with the elves' fleet. All the official diplomatic notes from the various countries along the way had already been completed. According to our new plan, the new Northstar would be stationed in the Mist Alliance. After the Mizar and Avarice finished their personnel changes and repairs, they would bring food and medicine that the elves urgently lacked back to the Northlands. The other four airships would return to the Northlands with the injured and complete their shifts. Afterwards, the elves would have multiple shifts depending on the situation. However, two airships would remain on guard over the elves' fleet.
This journey would be quite difficult. However, it would be incredibly important for the future Northlands elves. However, with the Mist Alliance's support, this difficult journey would be both a test for the elves, as well as an opportunity for the elves to fuse together.
Fusion, or communication and living together, wouldn't only be a fusion within the elven species. It would also be a fusion between the newly born Northlands Elven Empire and the Mist Alliance. It would be a fusion between humans and elves.
From a certain standpoint, this calamity wasn't completely without benefits. At the very least, it had torn apart the elves' outdated customs and beliefs, as well as the arrogance and pride of the previous generation's rulers. This would give the elves a new chance to learn about the world.
This journey would be quite difficult. The elves would have to pass through half of the human countries in Eich, personally witnessing the lifestyles and culture of the humans that the elves viewed as barbarians. They would have to approach several battle zones and witness the cruel Holy Wars and heroic warriors. As the elven royal authority returned and the situation in Eich drastically worsened, countless wild elves would voluntarily join this journey. Every day, new information would cause the entire elven species to explode and clash with their beliefs.
I was really looking forward to what the elves would obtain, understand, obtain, lose, give up, and awaken from this journey.
Of course, I had many things to do, so I didn't have the energy to care about the elves' matters …
"I said, I'm already here, so I won't run away. No matter what, I'm still the former prince of the Mist Kingdom. I should understand my responsibilities and trust me a little."
I felt rather helpless. Ever since I regained the ability to move, I had been followed by at least four Mist Kingdom royalty's attendants, constantly reporting to Renée. It was almost as if they were watching over a fugitive.
"Please allow us to point out the errors in your words. Your Highness, you're still the prince of the Mist Kingdom. Her Majesty Renée has also promised that the Mist Kingdom royalty's doors will always be open for you."
Although my words were quite touching, and my words were quite sincere, and my expression was quite on point, why did you move one meter closer to me and even send someone to block the door? Did you not believe me when I told you that I wouldn't run away?
I could only helplessly shake my head as I looked at the young attendants' nervous expressions. I gave up on arguing with them.
"You've already scared two of them to the emergency room. That guard captain is so mentally weak that he's about to jump off the ship, and you're saying that you're not going to argue?"
"Tsk, that's because they haven't been properly trained. I'm just helping Renée teach them a lesson."
Two days ago, they followed me too closely, which made me rather displeased … I knew that they had good intentions, but it really wasn't my fault. Two muscular men followed me even when I went to the bathroom, and I woke up with several muscular men's faces right in front of me was just too disgusting. After being disgusted a few times, I decided to play a few pranks.
I would suddenly disappear, scream, laugh, and shout that there were assassins … Something worth mentioning was that two assassins really did appear when I shouted that there were assassins. So it was because I discovered them … Cough, fine, I admit that these actions were rather childish and boring, but they were quite effective … The effective result was that Renée directly doubled the number of people watching me. She even had three shifts, and she would always smile whenever she saw me, making me feel like she was trying to coax an old child. Was I really that childish?
"Tsk, I really didn't intend to run away. Why did no one believe me?"
"… Who was the one who left behind such a huge burden in the Mist Alliance for eight years, and still didn't come back even though the bounty on the Mist Alliance was already one of the top few in the world? Who was the one who had the cheek to write a letter every year asking for a salary from the Mist Alliance government, but never did any work? "
"Who was it? Which bastard was the one who was so shameless as to steal a salary? I'm so envious … I mean shameless! "
I tried to change the topic, but for once, I wasn't spouting nonsense. I truly didn't intend to leave, because there were some things that I truly needed to be done in the Northlands.
"In the Northlands of the Magic Sword, only this land of ice and snow can give birth to this sword of calamity …"
Behind me, the room was also completely white. The mist-filled space was even colder than the outside world. The lifelike ice sculptures recorded the desperate situation in the Northlands. My past memories were slowly awakening, but my sword of the Northlands had only just begun.
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