Oh yeah! I accidentally knocked down a big bird ( `?Θ?′)

After the entire caravan gradually began to fall into chaos, Annie slowly floated up from the front rail of the cargo wagon she was riding in.

As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but a vast expanse of white snowfields...

Originally, along the road the caravan was traveling, there had been nothing but thick snowdrifts, icy flakes swirling in the wind, trees clad in silver and carved as if from solid ice, and low, frozen shrubs and dead branches.

But now, the terrifying, tangled trails stretching across the distant snowfield—like those left by giant serpents or earthworms burrowing beneath the ground—were enough to make the experienced merchants and keenly perceptive beasts in the caravan understand what sort of terrifying creatures they were facing, and what they were about to face!

So everyone, including the caravan's leader, began to panic despite themselves.

"Huh? Snowfield worms... Are the bugs around here really that big?"

(⊙o⊙) Wow?

That's right. Annie had never seen a snowfield worm before—not even heard of one!

She only knew that out on the icy plains of Freljord, way to the north, there were supposedly yetis that ate children? Giant monsters? Anyway, when she was little, that awful Amoline woman at home had told her plenty of stories about wicked old wolf grandmothers, as well as tales about ghosts and monsters. She'd used all sorts of lies to scare Annie into staying inside at night and going to bed early.

So, the "wolf grandmother" had been beaten to death and eaten by Annie, while the "evil dragon" who kidnapped princesses had fared even worse and been burned to ashes. The "child-eating yeti," however, was one she hadn't encountered yet, and had luckily survived to this day...

But now that Her Majesty Annie was here in Freljord,