On the other hand, a pure white land… rather, a region of ice with a mass of ice covering the ground.
The deck of an icebreaker heading towards the North Pole at the top of the Earth.
There was a magical girl with impressive orange hair, dressed in attire that did not match the Arctic, repeatedly tapping the heels of her shoes against the ground.
With her legs trembling while leaning on one leg, she crossed her arms, unable to hide her discomfort.
“Ha….”
As soon as she let out a deep sigh, her breath transformed into white steam and flowed out.
The sky looked like it was midnight at a glance.
In reality, it was around 1 PM, not unusual for the sun to be high in the sky.
A natural phenomenon referred to as “polar night,” characterized by an all-day dark sky.
It wasn’t pitch black like a rural area at 10 PM with no lights on, but it was certainly uncomfortable enough to see with the naked eye.
Beep, a loud whistle rang out.
In time with the noise, the Arctic sky rose as she took off from the deck.
In the dark daytime, the lonely flight of magical girls from various countries began again today.
The magical girls, who were clustered together, started to disperse freely, weaving through the Arctic sky without a designated area.
“Aah, how far do we have to go today….”
She muttered with subtle dissatisfaction, leaving the nearby monster detection to the mascot.
It had already been the third day since the ice of the Arctic was filling her vision to the point of making her feel lightheaded.
Not even the shadow of the cute Arctic fox could be seen, let alone a monster.
“Should we hit the North Pole and come back?”
The Gomtaengi suddenly mentioned the North Pole, speaking as lightly as if discussing a travel itinerary.
Even if he was a fool, he was the only one she could converse with in the unfamiliar sky filled with nothing but strange ice masses.
Normally, she would brush off such nonsense with a short retort, but now there was at least five hours of monster search and hunting time ahead.
During a time when it wouldn’t be unusual to get mentally ill just looking at the plain white ice, she continued the conversation to indulge him.
“Isn’t that a bit too far?”
“Come on, when else are we going to go if not now?”
“Even so, I don’t think we necessarily have to go… ugh.”
While continuing the nonsensical talk, she failed to dodge a cloud ahead and collided right into it.
As she emerged from the wet clouds, moisture covered her body in an instant.
The frigid Arctic wind made it freeze without giving her a moment to dry off.
“Ugh, damn….”
She muttered irritably and shook off the ice particles stuck to her clothes and skin.
It was still the first hour, and she could still talk actively.
To ask the opinion of the mascot, who was technically a monster, she parted her tightly closed lips.
“Hey, if the monsters were here, why do you think they came?”
“Uh… well, I don’t know. We’ve just been doing what we’re told every time….”
“But strategically, what do you think?”
“Well, if I had to give it meaning… maybe it’s for ecological or environmental research?”
“Hm.”
It sounded plausible, but was it really ecological and environmental research starting from this Arctic?
It wasn’t entirely nonsensical, but her guess was too ambiguous to accept as correct.
As she let out a meaningful hum after hearing the response, the Gomtaengi added to his statement as if to bolster his claim.
“Why? They always get beaten and chased away when there are people around.”
“Is that so….”
While she tried to grasp his additional statement, she still mulled over the thought that “researching the environment or ecology doesn’t quite fit….” forcing herself to pass the time.
Even if she didn’t know what the monsters in the Arctic were up to, they would pay the price for swallowing half of her winter vacation without a care.
With such a determination, she gazed at the white icebergs, flying steadily through the dark sky as if to kill time.
During their three hours in this frustrating Arctic, everything felt like it was the monsters’ fault.
As the sky was dimming rapidly only to brighten up again, her eyes slowly began to close.
Just as her barely opened eyelids were about to shut completely.
“Huh?”
At the unexpected exclamation from the Gomtaengi beside her, she slowed her speed on her steady flight.
His voice was slightly raised, as if he had discovered something interesting.
With her drowsy eyes wide open, she looked down at the ice masses beneath her, trying to see what he was talking about.
“What, did you find a polar bear?”
“No, um… that’s not it.”
He stuttered in response to her question.
The Gomtaengi was fumbling to find words, clearly flustered.
Finding his demeanor oddly frustrating, she placed her palm on her hip and stood in the air, tilting slightly.
“If you have something to say, spit it out quickly.”
“There’s a lump of monster reaction way over there….”
“Hmm?”
Hearing his response, she was left dumbfounded, and she unintentionally let out a surprised question.
Truthfully, she had complied readily while harboring doubts about the monster hunt in the Arctic.
The Minister had said it was definite, but it was probably either a mistaken photo like an old UFO sighting or the radar had picked something up wrongly, like a polar bear. She had brushed it off.
She thought they’d just goof around in the Arctic and then head back, but suddenly a response was detected by the Gomtaengi, who was the radar.
With that, the search for monsters began abruptly in the pristine Arctic filled with white glaciers.
A sudden major piece of news.
Her eyelids, slowly weighing down, and her mind, which was fading into darkness, snapped into focus, taking on an active demeanor as if she were a detective who had just discovered a suspect.
“Where, which direction?”
“Northeast! Northeast!”
For three hours, staring blankly at nothing but glaciers and icebergs.
We were pumped with excitement as if we had found a fun toy, boosting our search efforts.
Following the Gomtaengi’s guidance, we continued flying and landed on a glacier that looked no different from any other, bathed in a greenish hue.
It was an expanse filled with nothing but pristine ice and snow, not even an Arctic fox or polar bear in sight.
“Nothing here?”
“Um… I can feel something lower down?”
When she asked the Gomtaengi with a puzzled expression, he continued to gaze absently at the ground.
Just for a moment, she questioned if she had really heard that correctly. Pointing with her right index finger toward the floor, she repeated part of what he said back to him.
“Lower? Like, in this ice?”
“Uh, yeah, if this feeling is not wrong….”
Due to its location, even the Gomtaengi responding was uncertain, mixing in a vague “maybe.”
It was understandable why they couldn’t be sure.
The fact that monsters were lying in wait in the Arctic was shocking enough, but they were supposedly hiding beneath this massive glacier?
However, the mascot’s monster detection ability couldn’t be wrong, and they just exchanged puzzled glances.
In a moment of wild speculation, she blurted out a ridiculous idea.
“Maybe they’re dead?”
“Come on, you know… the dead ones don’t show up.”
“True, but….”
There was certainty in the Gomtaengi’s next response, and even as she nodded briefly, she let her words trail off into ambiguity.
While she had indeed heard that animals frozen within the ice were well preserved, she hadn’t heard anything about them being alive.
At the very least, with bacteria or viruses, it was highly unlikely that any living creatures could be frozen within this ice.
In that train of thought, she followed the Gomtaengi’s gaze and looked down blankly at the ice below.
Covered under a thick, white layer of snow, the underside of the ice was completely hidden from view.
Scattered across the bright white surface were only small holes that seemed to have been made by Arctic foxes for hunting.
Wait, holes?
“Hey, check all the holes nearby thoroughly.”
“…Ah! Yes.”
There had to be one of those leading tunnels somewhere.
With such certainty, all the holes in the vicinity were searched.
After about ten minutes of trudging through the snow atop the glacier, unsure if it was crisp or soggy.
“I found it!”
She discovered a hole about 400 meters directly above where the monster was detected, one where her hand couldn’t quite reach the bottom.
Putting her weight into it and stomping hard near the hole, the frozen snow broke apart, revealing a surprisingly wide tunnel.
It was a tunnel that didn’t seem like it could have been dug by a beast, cleanly and roundly carved.
The absurd statement about monsters being under the ice suddenly began to feel quite real.
Would a polar bear even fit through here?
As such thoughts crossed her mind, she took careful steps down the echoing tunnel.
At the end of the tunnel came the sounds of murmurs from the other side.
“What’s that, did a fox fall into the pit?”
“Sounds heavy for that, maybe a wolf?”
They were identifying the source of the sounds coming from the tunnel, and the only thing they had to show these monsters was the red-hot cane they were using as a flashlight.
And along with the bright red cane, the only thing visible in the darkness was her own face glowing red.
“It’s showtime.”
“Gyaaaaah!!!”
“Uwaaaaaah!!!”
