Kagari-san and I walked through the town.
There's no one outside the building.
Everyone was freezing in the house.
"I wonder if there are any places where people live near this town?" (Yuna)
If someone was there, we could get information.
"That's right. In that case, I'll check the surroundings from above." (Kagari)
Kagari-san's body rose up and flew high into the sky.
After all, being able to fly was convenient.
Flying in the sky was a little scary, but if you had bear equipment, you would be fine even if you fell, so I'd like to have some flying magic.
Kagari-san looked around in the sky.
She came down after a while.
"Did you see anything?" (Yuna)
"This could be a huge island." (Kagari)
"An island?" (Yuna)
The way she said it was ambiguous.
"From this position, you can't see the other side of the mountain. Everything except mountain is surrounded by the sea." (Kagari)
In other words, it might be an island, but it seemed like it could also be a peninsula.
"So, was there a place where other people might live?" (Yuna)
Kagari-san shook her head.
"I don't know what's on the other side of the mountain, but it wasn't within sight. I don't think it would be easy to get to the other side of the mountain. There was no way to go around, so it's unlikely." (Kagari)
That meant we couldn't get the information.
"So the only way to come to this town is by boat?" (Yuna)
"As it stands, it won't happen. Unless someone is stupid enough to dig a tunnel in the mountain." (Kagari)
I wondered what. It's like I was being made fun of in a roundabout way.
But Kagari-san must not know that I dug a tunnel in the mountain between Crimonia and Mileela, so I guessed I was paranoid.
"But since there is an ocean, other trades are possible…" (Kagari)
"I'm not saying it doesn't exist. However, I don't know where that trade partner is. Furthermore, even if there was trade, there is a high possibility that it was abandoned after seeing this current situation." (Yuna)
The town and people were frozen, and if we couldn't save them, we had no choice but to leave them alone. There was no way to save this dying city.
If you saw this situation, you would think about the possibility that you would be in the same situation.
It's best not to get involved.
However, pirates and thieves might not care.
However, the house didn't seem to have been damaged, so it didn't seem like the house was broken into by thieves.
Are there no pirates or thieves? Or even pirates and thieves don't want to come near?
I couldn't know this in my current state.
"What are you going to do now? Are you going to find out the cause? Or are you going to look for the reason why that ball glowed?" (Kagari)
What should I do?
Can I find out why the city is frozen?
What does that mean?
No one asked me to do it, and it's a town I didn't know. I didn't know anyone. It might seem cruel, but I felt like it had nothing to do with me.
Of course, I thought it's pathetic.
Another thing to do was to investigate what the "Bear Signpost" pointed to, but it's true that I had no idea what to do in the current situation.
However, when I looked at the frozen city, I couldn't help but think that there were some connections between the frozen city and the bear signpost.
There was no way a "Bear signpost" would point to a frozen city for no reason.
"I'll take a look around some more." (Yuna)
"It can't be helped. In that case, let's have me too." (Kagari)
"Thank you" (Yuna)
"I’m just killing time, so don’t worry about it." (Kagari)
I took those words seriously.
Exploring a frozen city alone was mentally tough.
Kumayuru and Kumakyu were there too, but I needed someone to talk to, so I was grateful that Kagari-san was here to keep me company.
"Then if you're going to gather information, you should go to a place where people gather." (Kagari)
Certainly, if you wanted to gather information, it's a place where there were people.
"Tavern?"
"Are you an idiot? What are you going to do when you go to the tavern? There's no one there. Even if there were, it would only be people who were frozen and pickled. You wouldn't be able to hear anything from someone like that." (Kagari)
When it came to games and manga, gathering information came from taverns. That's why the word came out.
"In this case, it's probably a guild." (Kagari)
"Adventurer's Guild?" (Yuna)
"The Commercial Guild is fine. Well, I don't know if there is a guild in this city, but it's a place that manages the city." (Kagari)
"But even if you go to the guild, it's just as frozen as the tavern." (Yuna)
"I won't deny that. But in a situation like this, there should be documents." (Kagari)
As expected, the merits of age.
If you couldn't ask someone, you should look for physical materials.
Gathering information was not just about hearing from people.
We decided to look for a large building.
The town was quiet, as if time had stopped.
The building was frozen, but not rotten.
It looked like it had been kept refrigerated.
"I wonder how much time has passed?" (Yuna)
"You can't tell just by looking at it. Maybe you can find out if you look into the information." (Kagari)
After all, Kagari-san was reliable.
"That looks like a guild." (Kagari)
There was a large building ahead of Kagari-san's line of sight.
There was certainly a building that looked like the Adventurer's Guild.
Kumayuru and Kumakyu carrying us arrived in front of the building.
Like the other buildings, the doors were closed and frozen, perhaps to protect it from the cold.
Kagari-san dismounted from Kumayuru, approached the door, and used fire magic to melt the ice.
I noticed that the wood was a little burnt, but I kept my mouth shut.
Then, the ice on the frozen door melted and we entered the building. The inside of the building was frozen like any other house. tables, chairs, and pillars.
"Isn’t there anyone?" (Yuna)
"No, it's in the back. It's probably the fireplace. There's someone over there." (Kagari)
Just as Kagari-san said, there was a person wrapped in a blanket in the back. Of course it's icy.
"There's no one at the reception desk." (Yuna)
"I don't think I can do any work in this situation." (Kagari)
That's usually the case.
If there was a big cold wave coming, I wouldn't be able to work. It's normal to stay home.
Japanese people try to go to work no matter if there is an earthquake or if the trains stop.
I used to see images of terrible crowded trains on TV.
At schools, if a disaster occurs, we were notified that schools would be closed, but maybe there were no such companies here.
Or maybe that's what people called corporate slave.
Even though I was not a member of society, I might have been poisoned as well.
As a professional hikikomori, this was no good.
Kagari-san began investigating inside the Adventurer's Guild.
I also split my efforts and investigate to see if there were any clues.
There was something that looked like a request board, so I went to check it out.
However, nothing was posted on the request board.
"There's nothing on the request board." (Yuna)
"I guess that means there are no more requests." (Kagari)
Kagari-san was inside the reception area.
"Did you find anything Kagari-san?" (Yuna)
"I found it, but I can't confirm it." (Kagari)
"...?" (Yuna)
I didn't know what it meant, so I moved to Kagari-san.
Kagari-san was looking at the bookshelf.
There were files lined up on the bookshelf.
If you looked at the materials on the shelf, you might be able to understand the situation a little bit.
But as Kagari-san said, it's unlikely to be confirmed.
The bookshelf was frozen and I couldn't take out the books.
"Can you melt it with magic?" (Yuna)
"You'll need fire magic to melt it. And the paper will burn in the fire." (Kagari)
I understood what Kagari-san was trying to say.
Even if the ice melted, the paper would still burn.
"If you adjust it." (Yuna)
"If you can do it, try it. But if I do it, it's no good." (Kagari)
Kagari-san looked at the frozen paper on the desk.
The paper was stuck to the desk and I couldn't seem to get it off.
Kagari-san placed her hand on the paper stuck to the desk and used fire magic. When I thought the ice melted, the paper also burned.
"I thought about it when I was trying to melt the ice on the door, but a weak fire won't melt the ice. It has to be strong to a certain extent." (Kagari)
I remembered when Kagari-san melted the ice on the door. The door was slightly charred.
"You should try it too." (Kagari)
I placed the bear puppet on a piece of paper that was on another desk.
And used fire magic.
I used weak fire magic as much as possible.
Ice didn't melt.
I put more mana into it.
The ice melted and the paper burned.
The fire was too strong.
But if it's weak, the ice wouldn't melt.
"Kagari-san, what is this ice?" (Yuna)
"It's not ordinary ice. Do you remember what I said about it feeling strange?" (Kagari)
"Yeah" (Yuna)
I believed the strangeness of Kagari-san and moved on, and there I was, this town covered in ice.
"That strange feeling is the same as the one I feel from the ice that covers this city." (Kagari)
"So this ice isn't normal ice?" (Yuna)
"That's right." (Kagari)
In other words, it's not a cold wave caused by abnormal weather like the ones that occur in northern countries.
Did that mean it was caused artificially?
The thought of magic circles crossed my mind.
I knew that I had been woken up by mysterious magic circles many times in the past.
"Can you dissolve it in hot water?" (Yuna)
"Do you think you can read a wet book?" (Kagari)
The paper was sticky and unreadable.
If you failed, you would tear the paper.
"What's more, the ink will bleed and the text will become unreadable." (Kagari)
That's usually the case.
Even if Japanese manga or novels were submerged in water, the text and pictures would not smudge.
However, the ink in this world smudged if it was immersed in water.
"This is going to cause a lot of trouble." (Kagari)
Apparently, there was no easy solution.
Author's Note
...
*Thank you to everyone who reports typos.
Please note that some kanji have been revised to match the book, so some may not have been revised.