598 Airdrop

The northern border of the Empire, Cold Bay Fortress—the city where Tanaka and Kiro had first met.

The walls here were built from Grey Iron Rock unique to the north, worn year-round by the cold wind. Their surfaces were rough and hard, stained with a layer of frosty white.

The waterways that wound through parts of the city had long since frozen over, reflecting a cold gleam beneath the sunlight.

A young Demon Race soldier wrapped his not particularly thick standard-issue cloak tighter around himself, then tentatively extended one Scale Armor-covered foot and tapped the ice at the edge of the waterway.

Crack—

A faint but clear sound of splitting rang out. The ice sank slightly, but did not shatter.

He drew his foot back and breathed out a long plume of white air from beneath the bone armor covering his face.

"It's finally a bit warmer. I really thought I was going to freeze to death in this damned place. That wind before—when it blew into the gaps between my scales, it was like knives slicing flesh."

Another slightly older soldier, with curved horns growing from his forehead, leaned against the stone wall opposite him. Hearing this, he merely tugged at the corner of his mouth.

His gaze swept across the terrifyingly silent streets. Most of the houses on both sides had their doors and windows tightly shut; some were even damaged or collapsed, half-buried under snow.

"So what if it's warming up? Look around. In all of Cold Bay Fortress, aside from unlucky bastards like us who are tied down by military orders and couldn't leave even if we wanted to, how many breathing people are left?"

"Anyone with working legs and the slightest way out already fucking ran! South, inland—anywhere's better than staying here and living off