Miniature icicles drooped from Aaron's nose as he stumbled against Eleanor, who stood closely beside him.
There was not even a trace of warmth exuding from her body anymore; the two only stayed close together so as not to leave the other if one collapsed.
Mana itself seemed disturbed by the polar vortex overhead, the howling winds, endless snow, and sloping terrain, making it nearly impossible to locate anything that resembled shelter.
Egg… Pulse…
His hazy thoughts reflected the state of the object strapped to his back that remained utterly silent regardless of the current situation.
He couldn't tell whether it was simply battered by the frost and in a deep slumber or rather afraid of something that couldn't be explained; however, either way, at the current moment, it was only a hindrance.
Not only was the last remnant of the Naelith acting in unusual manners, but Penelope had declined any nudge from the boy to awaken from her slumber; his connection with the woman within his blade was null and void.
Therefore, with each and every factor stacked against him and his companion, they were forced to shuffle aimlessly through the tundra, hoping for anything to appear on the horizon that they could barely see.
"I-It's… s-so cold…"
Eleanor spoke in a tone so quiet that he could only hear fragments of it even when they were close together, her entire body shivering so intensely that one might've mistaken her for a frightened cat.
The boy could only place his purple-colored hand onto her shoulder, adding any warmth that he could muster to her weak form.
Through sheer luck, or rather the opposite, his lack of limbs prevented more areas for frostbite to rip away at his exposed skin, leaving his only concern as the surviving foot that now felt weaker than the one that didn't exist.
Trekking on ahead all the same, his teeth rattled, and his pulse slowed, the only active parts of his body anymore being his eyes and metallic leg, both of which were at their breaking points.
I—
Eleanor's body suddenly stopped, her clearly frozen finger shooting outward and into the distance.
"M-mount…"
She didn't have to finish the sentence; Aaron's eyes darted upward and met a structure—or more accurately, a mountain—that had been split in two.
The despair that had been fueling his path before suddenly reshaped itself into hope, a surge of adrenaline forcing him forward.
The girl on his right followed at a pace that he didn't think possible for someone in that condition, their bodies desperate for anything that wasn't frozen.
As they moved, they kept their eyes focused on the distance, never allowing the mountain to vanish from their sight.
Such a discovery in a land as vast as the Southern Continent was already beyond the scope of luck, yet for it to come at a moment where they were on the verge of death was something that fate itself couldn't predict.
Regardless of whether the children knew of their fortune, they continued to run far and fast, covering hundreds of meters at a pace that far surpassed even that of a professional.
I-It i-isn't…
Aaron's hopeful gaze began to fade as the distant goal was no closer than when they began their sprint, all the running for naught.
Panic shot through his chest, his eyes fluttering over towards Eleanor, who had seemingly also noticed the discrepancy.
I-Is it just a h-hallucination…?
The adrenaline that kept him running at a sprint left him nearly as fast as it had come, his form collapsing down onto his knees.
Icy, frigid cold seeped through him to his very core, drowning out the sound of Eleanor's weak shouts that persisted even as his skull hammered with pain.
The world itself screamed at him to close his eyes, to give into the freezing blizzard that surrounded him.
And unlike before, as he tried to push himself up from the ground and fight on, there was no reaction from his body.
Even if his mind begged him to stand, to snap out of the despair, something kept him there, something that he couldn't explain.
The hellish sea in the southernmost part of the world, a place where fewer than one thousand lived, and less than that saw adulthood.
It wasn't just another body of water with vague properties such as dreams, life, or luck.
This place was the home of monstrosities akin to demons that existed outside the normal laws of the universe.
Only when he had adventured on Gharr had Aaron felt the feeling of reality itself bending to the will of his surroundings; now, he could feel that pressure conforming him to the highest of degrees.
W-warm…
He fell onto his face; the entire upper half of his body was now completely submerged in snow.
Yet, as his breath grew ragged and the efforts of Eleanor began to slow as she met a similar fate to him, he felt warmth surround him.
He knew what that meant even in his current half-dead state, but there was nothing he could do anymore except wait.
Countless times before, he had been saved on the verge of death, whether it be the will of that deity, the crab who followed him, or a human monster immune to the powers that be.
Therefore, even as he braced for his demise, he wasn't scared or worried for what would come after; rather, only left filled with despair for what could've been.
Trop.
A sharp object dug into his back, likely a piece of hail.
Though he could tell that it wasn't hail, as only a moment later it pulled him upward, holding his frozen body in its hands.
His turquoise eyes were half closed, and his mind was fading to its usual black; the only thing he could see was a single green eye.
There wasn't anything else to note: a green eye, some hair-covered flesh, and long, spider-like arms that clung to his back.
That was all he could see, and would see, as the creature's other limb pressed itself against his forehead, shocking him into slumber before he could watch its strange form any further.
Trop. Trop. Trop.
Its legs moved across the tundra with ease; the young boy and girl appeared as corpses on its back.
…
"Do you know why they call me the Prophet of Luck even when my official title is that of the King of Curses?"
The former Sea King Orion Cosmoti stared daggers into Stein Brevmore's own eyes, their daily conversation beginning anew with the rise of the sun.
"Should I really even care? You know, old man, when I brought you that newspaper, I thought you'd do some reallyyyyy fancy magic and kill me or something. Unfortunately, all you had to do was get all mopey about how your sea is doing and how your crew is still missing."
As he spoke, the silver-haired man moved his hand mockingly as if it were a puppet, imitating the chained man who could do nothing but glare.
Nevertheless, even through the disrespect he endured, the green-haired man never wavered, his reply to his original question that he himself had asked coming out next.
"Smith Trensten, even while being a Sea King, was a devil among the living. That is a fact that is widely known."
Stein nodded while rolling his eyes, clearly not yet impressed by the story that the man was weaving.
"When he became the King of Curses, the title took on a new meaning: that of discrimination, sexism, and vile acts that are unforgivable even in hell itself. Such was the way of that monster of a man. Inheriting that title was to me the moving of those burdens onto myself, and something that I dearly detested."
He continued, only stopping for a short breath.
"Therefore, I used the power of my Ghostship to create luck-related miracles for the people of the Sea of Curses, helping burn away the everyday blights that they would see as those metaphorical curses. These acts paved the way for my recognition and the establishment of the title 'The Luckiest Curse'."
Cosmoti paused as he heard the silver-haired noble slam his fists against the bars of his cell.
"Hurry upppppp! I'm tired and want to sleep in, but you're boring me with your life story or something!"
There was no reply from within the cage, only the final piece of the story that the man had been knitting.
"That title stayed with me for only a year, the epithet of 'Prophet' being widely used after I successfully predicted the day when Cedar Belvedere would die. While I wasn't sure of the circumstances, the moment I heard word of his rightful murder, I understood that this gift I was given wasn't simply to help others, but that it could also be used for—"
This time, Stein exploded in a strange emotional rage.
"ENOUGH! Spit it out if you will. I need not deal with your pathetic teasing that leads nowhere. You told me that you had a plan to save this damned sea terror-infested world, and I'd better get that answer, or you'll end up on the losing end of this card game."
The man yawned in response, commenting on the noble's outburst a full minute later.
"Tell you how to save the world? How noble of you."
He snickered, amused with the sudden philanthropy that the gambling-obsessed maniac who guarded his cage had discovered within himself.
Continuing onward, he did not allow Stein to speak again.
"If you're being sincere, though, I'll happily explain to you what we'll do. We will stay in this hole and wait for freedom. That is all that has been ordained."
The golden-eyed man stared blankly, clearly surprised by the sheer stupidity of what had just been said.
"Wait? Wait!? The Prophet of Luck must've lost his mind! Oh my oh my! How I wish I could've shown the people of Harkmon the state of their ruler! Do you expect these chains to suddenly fall apart? That the walls of this underground prison will fade?"
He laughed again, taunting the Sea King without any regard for his life.
That insolence resulted in something startling him only a moment later.
It was not a premonition of danger nor a change in the luck surrounding the man, but rather, the confidence within him that changed.
"Why is it that you are confident? Perhaps all those—"
A fork made of paper flew past Stein's face and into the wall, where the stone cracked into dust, leaving nothing but pulverised rock behind.
"I could've broken out long ago and without much struggle. I simply trust my luck enough that this temporary curse that surrounds me shall be nothing but a passing memory."
Allowing a small smirk to appear along his face, the green-haired man relaxed into his cell once more, leaving behind the conversation with those words.
Stein, however, stared for a moment, unsure of how to respond, before chuckling coldly.
"Trusting luck, eh? I knew you were a gambler at heart, you dirty dog!"