The Ice Age Came And I Just Got Married - Chapter 26

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 26
To state the conclusion plainly: I came with Marcus, not Logan.
So Logan seems sullen, but what can I do? The real prior commitment was with Marcus, after all.
Carrying all the Skiing Equipment, we climbed a small hill near the Village. It looked like the most suitable place around here to practice skiing.
“You can really ride this thing?” Marcus asked, his voice thick with doubt.
His concern made sense enough.
People from the South didn’t ordinarily have much chance to handle skiing equipment.
But I’d mentioned it before—my second brother had been involved in the Northern Glacial Environmental Change Research department for quite some time.
So when I was younger, I learned to ski by following my second brother around.
I explained that skiing was a familiar means of hunting and travel for Northern people, much like a sled.
Nathan said he’d never ridden skis on the last expedition either, so in the end I dredged up half-remembered lessons from intensive training under my second brother’s instruction back then.
My brother had taught me that Northerners hunt while riding these skis.
Hunting itself, though, my first brother had taught me.
“It’ll be something you need someday, Eve.”
And suddenly my first brother’s voice echoed in my memory. I’d forgotten, but I’m certain he said something like that.
Why?
I couldn’t fathom the reason, but the things I’d learned and studied following my brothers have proven incredibly useful now.
It wasn’t for nothing that I finished the Hunting and Gathering course at the top of my class—Logan remembered that much, apparently.
‘What on earth has become of my second brother?’
And what of my parents and first brother?
If they saw me surviving alone without first setting out to find them, would they be disappointed?
“…Senior….”
Once I absorb enough Winterstone to protect someone, I’d meant to search for my family with Logan. The problem is that I can’t leave right now.
“Junior….”
For now, my second brother vanished somewhere in the North, and my first brother is in a Neighboring Country, so finding either of them immediately will be difficult.
It seems best to follow the trail my parents left when they went searching for my second brother.
“Eve.”
Marcus’s voice pulled me back to myself.
“Are you alright? You’re lost in thought.”
“Oh. Sorry. I was just thinking about my missing family….”
Marcus nodded at my answer, his face shifting to one of understanding.
“In a situation like this, it’s only natural that your family comes to mind first.”
After Marcus spoke, silence fell between us for a moment.
“What about your family, senior?”
“I don’t have one.”
“Really? Then who was the person who visited you at the Academy?”
“My adoptive father. He’s passed away now.”
Ah. Now I remembered—Marcus’s family history.
Marcus had endured a miserable childhood.
He’d been neglected under his biological father, a drunk prone to abuse, and his biological mother, who never came home and paid no mind to her young son.
From the age of seven, he sold Evening Newspapers on the street, but every penny he earned went straight to his biological father’s drinking.
One day, as he sat on the street nursing a bloated belly from hunger, someone dropped a hard piece of bread in front of him.
When he looked up, a noble boy who appeared to be his age had given him the bread as alms.
The boy, his peer, looked down at Marcus with pity, scanning him from head to toe.
“It’s something I threw away. Eat it. I heard kids like you eat food other people discard, right?”
Even at that tender age, Marcus felt humiliation and contempt. Yet he scrambled to grab the hard bread and shove it into his mouth.
That’s when the question arose in him.
What was the difference between himself and the noble boy who had given him a piece of hard bread?
How much could two children of barely seven differ from each other?
The only difference was status. The only difference was parents. The only difference was where they lived.
From that day on, Marcus resolved to be adopted by a wealthy man of means, and he ran away.
After selling Evening Newspapers and then shining shoes, he eventually caught the eye of a wealthy man and became his adoptive son—
And so he came to bear the name “Rutherland.”
“Was your adoptive father a good man?”
“Yes. At least to me.”
Marcus’s adoptive father was a man who’d even declared he would disown him if he didn’t prove his worth.
Yet Marcus called him a good person. “At least to me,” he’d said.
When Marcus said it, his eyes held not a trace of artifice—nothing but sincerity.
Sometimes I wonder if the sense of justice and conviction I uphold is nothing more than a narrow perspective rooted only in what I’ve experienced.
Marcus’s adoptive father may have given him the very thing he wanted most—something his own father never provided. But what lay beyond that, I cannot know.
So I mustn’t judge things carelessly.
I opened my mouth quietly, looking down the sloped hillside while wearing Skiing Equipment.
“Honestly, I felt a kind of liberation right after the world ended.”
At the same time, I felt ashamed of myself for thinking such a thing.
“You felt something like that?”
Marcus looked at me with surprised eyes.
He seemed to regard me as some sort of noble lady from a distinguished family, someone beyond his reach.
“My family collapsed, didn’t it? We were drowning in debt. Debt you couldn’t even imagine.”
“…I’ll say it again, but I’m sorry.”
“Well. It’s all in the past now, anyway.”
Marcus and I both fell silent. A sharp wind cut through the space between us.
“Senior, do you know why I majored in Northern Glacial Environmental Change Research?”
“Wasn’t it because of Julian’s influence?”
Julian is my second brother’s name.
“There’s that too, but ultimately it was my own choice. I was drawn to the idea of Extreme Environments. I’ve liked things like that since I was a child. Surviving in extreme situations. One day I thought about why I was drawn to such things.”
The wind died down, and the sun emerged from behind the clouds.
“I realized I enjoy talking about human nature that emerges in extreme situations. Like the kind of Humanitarianism you feel there—something romantic.”
Then I pulled the hood of my Cloak down low over my head.
“In the end, won’t only a Hymn to Humanity save this ruined world?”
“…I feel like I’m asking this for the second time. You really don’t plan to divorce him?”
Hearing Marcus’s lighthearted response, I picked up my Ski Poles.
“I don’t. You know how obsessed I was with Logan.”
It wasn’t the same as what Logan felt, but I was certainly obsessed with him. For quite a long time. I lived staring only at his back.
Marcus smiled ruefully.
“I know.”
And, belatedly realizing he was ready to descend, Marcus waved his hand.
“See you at the bottom.”
“Yes. I’ll see you at the bottom.”
I waved back at him, then pushed off with my Ski Poles and glided smoothly forward.
The skis descended cleanly as the design specified—so smoothly it was almost frightening.
But the slope was gentle, like a hillside, and since my skill hadn’t rusted despite the long time away, it eventually became even enjoyable.
Though it was so cold that snowflakes clung thickly to my eyelashes.
Since most of the snow had accumulated solidly up to my thighs, skiing seemed like it would be far more efficient than walking.
‘If I practice properly now, I’ll have plenty of chances to use this later.’
I spent the time practicing, going up and down the slope repeatedly.
Special Contribution∥ Essential Knowledge for Extreme Cold
When going outdoors in extreme cold, you must always cover your face.
Also, if you have Frostbite, it is good to soak the affected area in warm water of approximately 40–42 degrees Celsius.
Applying Aloe thinly to the Frostbite area is also beneficial.
However, you must never rub the affected area.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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