Chapter 238
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The Iceland Kingdom, the Kingdom nearest to our town, and a small Kingdom where people had been surviving for years, hundreds of years, apparently, but that has barely changed in shape, form, architecture, or even territory. They seem to always have two duchies all this time, and they’re not getting any more either…
They’re a Kingdom of survivors, pretty much. To be able to withstand these cold temperatures and maintain the entire Kingdom for so many years is insane by itself. There are barely any invaders in these frozen lands, so it is understandable that they had not been invaded, but I would guess that magic and other things like those have kept them alive for a long time.
According to Darfu, the only friendly dwarf we have ever met in our lives and a new friend, it appears that the Iceland Kingdom has some sort of friendly relationship with a tribe of Ice Giants… But what are Ice Giants? Looking back at Norse Mythology, they’re one of the children of Ymir, the primordial giant and the father of all giants.
There is a Continent named Jotunheim here, which seems to be the place where all the damn Ice Giants are located. It is an interesting place I would like to visit. Alongside Ice Giants, there might be their “normal” variety named Mountain Giants, and in Muspelheim, there are also the other Giants, often considered evil, the Fire Giants.
All these Giants seem mysterious. We had never interacted with them. Maybe Lucifer because he’s super old, but the rest of us are in the blue. Even Darfu seems to have no idea what they are up to aside from saying that the Ice Giants are very secretive and dislike being too near civilizations because they’re hunted down as monsters.
However, some years ago, the Iceland Kingdom began friendly transactions with the Ice Giants, where they provided all sorts of resources the Ice Giants had begun to lack. At the same time, the Ice Giants share the special Ice Plants they raise, which seem to have their origin in Jotunheim and Niflheim, special edible plants that can grow in cold temperatures!
If we could bring some of those, we could really solve part of the problem, although, to be honest, I would still build a greenhouse. I really want one, and nobody is stopping me from getting one!
However, I wonder how these Ice Plants are working and more… and I wonder if they could be used with the help of Emeraldine’s nature spirit. Maybe she could help both parties by boosting the growth of the plants? And we get some payment in the form of more plants… But getting to do that seems to be a big pain, so maybe it will take time.
“Have you heard about the ice giants, Lucifer?” I asked. “You’re pretty old, so you know a lot.”
“W-Who are you calling, old man? I am actually quite young compared to the most Ancient Dragons. My father was thousands of years old. I am barely one thousand years old. I am in the prime of my youth- Ah, I am dead… I guess it’s all canceled out by that.” Said Lucifer. “Anyways, yeah, I do know them a bit. My family used to interact with Mountain Giants and Ice Giants that lived in the gray mountains… No idea if they’re up there now, but they were mostly a seclusive race. They dislike being with other people and even felt better around us dragons than humans, elves, or even dwarves.”
“Yeah, I told you so. Giants are just very shy people…” sighed Darfu. “Although there might be another reason behind that.”
“What reason?” wondered Partner. “Wait, let me guess… Because humans chase them down or something, right?”
“Bingo. You’re sharp, Vampire girl.” Said Darfu. “Giants have a long history with humans, elves, and dwarves, often referred to as the “three races” who are the most “commonly seen” around the land. They were always chased down by them and treated like monsters such as Ogres or Trolls because of some similarities they share….”
“T-That’s harsh… How can they even call them monsters? Ah, it feels just like Majin, a race of people created by the Gods that are called monsters because they’re simply different physically…” sighed Emeraldine. “People can be really awful….”
“Yep… Although we are not completely innocent either, our races all originate from different areas of the continent. Each race belonged to a different continent at the origin of the world…” said Darfu. “But a lot of races spread everywhere in every direction as the years passed, wars, trades, and more ended up spreading tribes all over the world, and because of the nice temperatures of this continent, Midgard ended up with a wide variety of races from other continents, although it originally belonged to the humans. Well, to be honest, it still does.”
“Indeed, it still does. You know? This is pretty damn awful… Humans can be real jerks sometimes, and I know it well because I used to be one.” I said. “But I guess it all comes down to the many wars of the past, which only made the humans hatred for other races increase… the church discriminating against them and using other races as an outlet for the people to direct their anger instead than the corrupt governments doesn’t help.”
“Yeah, we all demi-humans got it rough, but this place you’re building… Maybe it has potential. If we all work together, we can make of these frozen lands where nobody steps into a paradise for us to live on.” said Darfu. “I kind of want to believe in your resolve, especially because you’re damn strong, and you got a bunch of strong companions too, and strength is everything at the end of the day… So long as you got strength, you’ll be able to protect the town.”
“True… I guess we have to just keep working hard! I just want a place where we can all live peacefully and prosper.” I said. “It is a dumb dream, but it is shared by many….”
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