Cultivation and Companions

Hokkaido, or rather, "Hokkaido Island," was the Island Nation's second-largest island.

Strictly speaking, the Island Nation consisted of four major islands: the largest was Honshu Island, home to the three great metropolitan areas of Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya. However, Nagoya had now relocated to Sea Ninja City, where the Igarashi Family was based, and had been renamed the "Sea Ninja Metropolitan Area."

Shikoku Island, located off the coast of Osaka, included the four prefectures of Tokushima, Kagawa, Ehime, and Kochi. It was precisely where Emperor Sutoku had been exiled back then.

At the southwesternmost end lay Kyushu Island, near Korea and Russia, where Nagasaki, Fukuoka, and Okinawa were located.

Whether in history or in the supernatural era, Hokkaido had always been almost entirely insignificant.

Japan's administrative divisions were "one metropolis, one circuit, two urban prefectures, and forty-three prefectures."

That one circuit referred to Hokkaido.

Though it occupied one-fifth of the Island Nation's territory, it had only five million residents. Ultimately, that was because of its frigid environment.

Wooooo—

The fierce wind howled, snow and ice swirled through the air, and the cold pierced to the bone.

Because of the planet's expansion, Hokkaido had moved farther and farther from the sun's rays. What had once been snowy weather for one-third of each year had become howling frigid winds for more than half the year. It was practically—no, it was already no different from Siberia in Russia.

The same was true of all kinds of supernatural creatures:

"Awooo~~"

"Awoo, awooo!!"

Siberian plain wolves prowled outside the snow-swept city. The long howls of these huskies' ancestors were not merely a threat—they were gathering their forces.

"Damn it, those things are calling other supernatural creatures!"

"It'll form a small-scale Winter Disaster!"

A wall over ten meters tall surrounded Pewter City. A security team member