"Well done, Admiral. It was cold, wasn't it?
"Oh, it's impotent to travel outside in the winter after all. If it's a short distance, it's still a long way from the Arborest district, Vargas."
"But you can come unexpectedly. It's the Admiral."
"Well, the trip itself has Valkyrie. Valkyrie's fine if it's cold or hot, and I got some new heating equipment."
"The flaming ore that the Admiral told me was a phantom metal is just a heating appliance, too? I knew you'd do something different."
"Really? Anybody's gonna come up with something."
The New Year's greeting came to an end.
But it will still snow for some time, and the knights gathered in the city of Fontana will spend some leisure time in their own halls and other places in the city.
This period will make it impossible to get back to work locally, but it can also be a surprisingly meaningful time.
For knights who are entrusted with territory, there is usually the aspect of being able to meet the knights of distant lands in winter.
Each knight opens something like the social world in his own hall, face-to-face with various knights.
It also fosters friendship, but it also leads to the exchange of information and transactions in each other's territories.
Some things seem like factions that are going to be made of nature, but only this year will it be effective to firmly identify who the newly incorporated knights are in Fontana territory.
That's how, during the winter, the knights were throwing parties and poking each other in the face.
Of course, I threw a party at Carlos' castle.
He used to talk about future Fontana moves in it, inflate the story about Lilina's new clothes to make, or try to tell her to go sightseeing to the play area in the Knights of Barca.
But I left the city of Fontana, cutting up some of those parties that would normally last until the snowmelt started.
The aim was to become part of Fontana territory last year, the former urban capital where Vargas is ruling as the Knight of Bales.
I was on a snowy path to Vargas.
For many, this behavior would have been reflected in the impossible.
It also equals suicide, such as travelling, in extreme cold.
But this is how I got to Vargas.
That was because I let Valkyrie pull a big soli.
Valkyrie can move fine in the midwinter cold.
I've known that for years now.
And it used to travel back and forth between the Knights of Barca and the city of Fontana during the winter months.
In winter, there would be less food to eat, so he was making money by selling out greenhouse-grown hatsukas and the like.
Most importantly, I'm not making that much money right now because it's not a big deal.
but I can also say that what I did this time was just extend the distance traveled that winter.
You can go to most places by letting Valkyrie pull a solid-on vehicle, not a wheel, that can act no matter how much the temperature drops.
But if it's too far away, the cold problem still gets bigger.
The cities of Vulcania and Fontana could have managed to travel if they wore thick fur coats, but they are just too far away to reach the Arborest district.
So I need to warm up my body on the way out.
but traditionally we needed firewood to get warm in the winter.
It's just hard to carry such firewood on a trip in the snow.
But it was the flaming ore that was said to be illusory in Urk that solved it for me.
The flaming ore, which was also the material of the Kyouo sword, will produce flames if you pour magic into it.
It can also be a firepower to fly in the air as a balloon or airship, depending on how you use it.
I mean, there's a strange substance that can keep the fire going as long as there's magic.
We decided to use it for mobility.
Make the soli that Valkyrie pulls like a large box so that you can attach something like a ski board underneath it and slip over the snow.
And build something like a fireplace inside a box of boxes and light a flaming ore.
Even a very small amount of flame ore can warm the temperature inside enough if it keeps burning inside the fireplace.
In this way, I succeeded in making it possible to travel long distances in winter, which was generally said to be difficult.
Some would make use of it this way rather than just using it for a weapon called the Kyouo Sword, as the Urk family once did.
"So, you didn't come all the way here to show off that heated soli, did you? When you contacted me in [Reading] earlier, it seemed like you meant to show me to the wetlands, but are you serious?
"I mean it, Vargas. You too. I have business in the winter wetlands."
"... you know, there are demons in the wetlands, right? And it's cold out there. What are you doing, Admiral?
"That's settled. I heard from Lord Ragna, who was the head of the Arborest family before, that the ingredients of the Thundering Sword can be collected in the wetlands. Then you'll have to go."
Yes, that's why I came all the way to the Arborest district.
Information about the thunderbolt sword material left by Ragna, who died during the King's convoy with Carlos.
That's what I came to pick up.
Thus, I accompanied Vargas to the wetlands further behind the Arborest district.