**Volume 1: Frozen Friendship** **Chapter 2: Into the Icy War**

troops from Hanahara. Despite the opportunity to reclaim Hanahara without much difficulty, the powerful and prosperous Amy Empire did not send a single soldier to capture it. It was this restraint that allowed the second most powerful force on the continent, the Holy Court, to flourish. But what exactly prompted Emperor Amy I, known as the King of the Continent, to make such a seemingly wrong decision?

Perhaps, five hundred years later, we may uncover the true intentions of the king of the continent through a mercenary named Amy. — *Notes from the research journal of the King of the Continent expert Royal Scholar Feile*

"Who's there?" Amy asked instinctively. Realizing that wolves and humans coexist, he hugged his grandfather tightly and almost screamed in fear.

The village of Heike has never seen a Hamia visitor. Even if taxes are levied, the Hamians send other races to do so. Therefore, in this area, if there are wolves, there will be no humans; If there were humans, there would be no wolves. Wolves and humans have never coexisted.

"Is this the Haber family? I'm a friend of Lake Habble," a man's voice shouted calmly from outside.

"Daddy, Daddy! He's a friend of his dad! Amy, hearing his father's name, almost forgot everything and reached out to open the iron door. The old man grabbed Amy's hand.

"Judging by your accent, you're not a Hamian. You must be from Amy's empire, right? The old man asked cautiously.

"Yes, I am. You must be Uncle Haber. Lake and I both served as border guards in Amy's Empire," the man's voice continued steadily.

"How are you with the snow wolf? They will eat anyone but the Hamians. You—" The old man hesitated.

"Oh, nothing. I've sent them away. Hehe, Uncle Haber, due to some special circumstances, I am one of the few people in Amy's empire who will not be eaten by snow wolves. After the man finished speaking, he seemed to say to the snow wolf in the house, "Hey, brothers, it's time to go." Whitey, grab your backpack and get out of the village.

"Howl—"

After a low roar, the sound of the snow wolf quickly disappeared, inside and outside the house.

The old man carefully opened the iron door a crack. After confirming that there was indeed no snow wolf, he opened the door with all his might.

A middle-aged man, dressed in a traditional Amy Empire attire, sits on the edge of the bed. Seeing the old man appear, he immediately stood up and nodded respectfully.

"Hello, Uncle Haber. I'm a friend of Lake Haber, from the military. My name is Han Fengchi, or you can call me Chi Hanfeng, whichever is simpler.

"Uncle, where's my dad?" Amy asked anxiously about the young man who had jumped out of the pit. The same concern appeared on the old man's face.

"Well, to be precise, I don't know, that's why I'm here," the young man replied earnestly.

"This is the situation... "At the urging of the old man, the young man sat on the edge of the bed and began to explain why he had come to Heijia Village.

Like most of the inhabitants of the Warm Water River, the villagers of the Heike family are mainly immigrants from the Amy Empire and the Holy Court. The area is surrounded by snow forests, which are 1,000 kilometers long to the north and 200 kilometers wide. To the east is the Warm River Forest, the only non-coniferous forest on the frozen continent, with an area of about 300 kilometers in length and width. The south and west are bounded by the sea.

The Amy Empire did not have the right to build a port here, and due to the climate, the Hamia Empire would not build a port. As a result, once most of the residents settled here, they rarely left, especially first-generation immigrants like Grandpa Haber.

But Lake Haber is different. He spent his childhood in the Northern Federation of the Empire, and after growing up in the village of Heijia, his ambitious spirit refused to let him stay in one place. He was determined to see the world. Grandpa Haber strongly believes that young people need to take risks, and that the short years of life should be spent on what young people should do.

So, ten years ago, during the recent invasion of the Amy Empire, 20-year-old Lake · Harbour joined the Empire's army as a guide. Without a large army, few people can survive in the Ice Forest or the Warm River Forest.

In the year 187 of the Red Moon Calendar, five years ago, Lake· Haber, who is now the captain of the border guard of the Amy Empire, took advantage of the vacation to return to Pingjia Village with his two-year-old son Amy.

Lake Haber's wife died a year after giving birth to Amy, her frail body unable to withstand the icy cold of the frozen continent. Due to his son's military life, Lake was unable to take care of his son, and he left the responsibility to his father.

These events were already known to Amy, even more detailed than Han Fengchi. What happened next was the main reason why Han Fengchi came to this village.

Also in the year 187 of the Red Moon Calendar, Han Fengchi was ordered to be transferred from the capital to serve in the Empire's Northern Frontier Forces, where he became a cavalry captain. When Haberhu returned to the army, he found that the previous cavalry captain had been reassigned to the Imperial Flower Plains on the border. During an official visit, he met with Han Fengchi.

According to Han Fengchi, in the subsequent cooperation, Lake Haber, the captain ·of the glacier infantry of the border guard at the time, saved his life several times. In the 188 Red Moon Calendar, the new cavalry captain Han Fengchi led his army to hunt down snow beasts that appeared from the ice and snow forest to harass the border. Unfamiliar with the terrain, he was led by the snow beasts into the cold depths of the ice and snow canyon, and went 50 kilometers deep into the ice and snow forest. The cavalry were in a hurry to annihilate the snow beast, but they rushed down the slope, only to find that the snow beast had escaped by taking advantage of the frozen steps on both sides of the canyon. Looking back at the 30-degree slope, the cavalrymen felt abandoned by the sky - after all, it took only half a day to descend from the 20-kilometer slope, but how could they get back? Can anyone come back? The horses did not have the strength to climb up and at the same time had to overcome the slippery ice.

When Haberhu learned of the whereabouts of Han Fengchi's team, he quickly expected the worst. They led his glacier infantry and traveled through the night on a sleigh to reach the ice canyon. Using the blankets on the sleighs, they managed to pave a non-slip road that saved the border cavalry from total annihilation.

Of course, there are other examples, mainly personal favors or life-saving acts, which Han Fengchi briefly mentioned.

191 At the end of the Red Moon Calendar, Haberhu and Han Fengchi, who are now the captains of their respective border guards, received an order from the Governor of the Northern Federation of the Empire at the same time to return to the Governor's Mansion and escort the Archmage of the Empire to the Frozen Tower of Wish in the Northern Kingdom of Hamia for the trial.

One of the units only needs to escort the mage out of the icy forest on the border of the empire, while the other unit is tasked with escorting the mage all the way to the Tower of Wishes.

In the recorded history of the Empire, there have been 342 archmages, 134 of whom have voluntarily chosen to enter the Tower of Wishes for trials. Of those, 35 chose the Frozen Tower of Wishes, but only 3 successfully completed the trial. According to the magical diaries of the three Imperial Mages (mages who passed the trials were awarded the title of Archmage by the Magic Guild), trials within the tower involved being thrown into icy realms, where they honed and enhanced their magical abilities within the illusory borders.

The escort mission is officially carried out in the name of the State, delivering letters to the Kingdom of Hamia and the Kingdom of North Hamia. There are three extremely dangerous areas along the way.

The three major dangers of the Frozen Continent are: the Cave of Trials, the Dragon's Tooth Mountain, and the Ice and Snow Forest.

This journey will pass through three places, of which the Snow Forest is relatively the safest.

The danger of the Ice and Snow Forest lay in the presence of snow wolves and snow beasts, with no human settlements to provide supplies; it was rumored that ice dragons occasionally roamed near Dragon's Tooth Mountain, sometimes attacking travelers on the continental highway; as for the Trial Cave, the last recorded description was from 56 years ago, when the last escort team took a grand mage to the trial. They mentioned having to traverse the 150-kilometer-long cave to reach the Icebound Tower of Wishes. It took at least ten days to walk through the cave, filled with dangerous beasts, many of which could use ice magic. Of the 750-strong escort team, 70% perished during the cave journey.

The planned route was as follows: from Ice Fortress to the Empire's northern border, 500 kilometers along the continental highway, estimated to take 15 days.

Ice and Snow Forest, 250 kilometers along the continental highway, estimated to take 10 days.

Delivering the national letter to the capital of the Hamian Kingdom, 300

kilometers along the continental highway, estimated to take 15 days.

From the Hamian capital to Dragon's Tooth Mountain, 700 kilometers along the continental highway, estimated to take 20 days.

Crossing Dragon's Tooth Mountain to the Northern Hamian Kingdom border, 100 kilometers along the continental highway, estimated to take 7 days.

Delivering the national letter to the Northern Hamian Kingdom capital, 800 kilometers along the continental highway, estimated to take 22 days.

Crossing the capital to the Trial Cave entrance, 1,200 kilometers along the continental highway, estimated to take 32 days.

Crossing the Trial Cave to the Tower of Wishes, 150 kilometers, estimated to take 10 days.

The return journey would follow the same route, estimated to take another 150 days, totaling over 400 days.

However, due to recent tension between the Empire and the two major powers in the south, the topography was somewhat different from previous records.

Therefore, the governor of the Empire's northern federation summoned the two border guard captains for a top-secret military meeting on October 1st of the Red Moon Calendar year 191.

The Amy Empire has had detailed records of each escort mission throughout its history, but most of these records are kept confidential by the Royal Secret Service, with only fragments accessible to the public. However, according to Han Feng Chi, the secret records he and Lake Haber reviewed that day revealed that no escort team had ever returned after escorting a grand mage to the Icebound Tower of Wishes, with the exception of a grand mage returning with a new identity as an archmage.