Astrid's house was somewhat detached from the rest of the village. We spent a good 10 minutes walking across the nearby forest until we reached her cabin. In all fairness, she could have made better time without me. I was not used to the area or to walking through the snow, at least not as much as I was seeing here. We used to have a thin layer of frost over things during winter, but that was about it. Here, some areas had snow up to my knees.

Once we arrived, Astrid pointed to a room, turning on a couple of lamps and said, "You can sleep there. I'll be here." She gestured to a different room right beside it.

Her house was very cozy. Everything was made out of wood, and there were a few beautifully made carvings on the pillars, each representing a different animal, with one between the two doors to the bedrooms depicting a tall mountain with a valley below.

"Those are incredible. Did you make them?" I asked, looking back at my host.

She pointed to a few carvings: an eagle, a bear, and a large moose. "Mine." She then turned and pointed to a carp swimming across a river, a rooster singing to the sunrise, and a flower bed with some butterflies flying above it. "My dad." Lastly, she gestured to the one between the rooms—the mountain with a valley. "Us both."

"You are both very talented. Those are amazing." It seemed that there was one more: the face of a horse and the meadow below. But it was incomplete. Only a few details were in place, and there was the loose outline of the animal.

Astrid seemed to notice my stare and said, "He did not finish."

"He was working on this when the ice devil got him?"

The woman just nodded, her eyes fixed on the carving.

"For what it is worth, I believe you. And your dad. I have seen enough strange things to accept that something like an ice devil is very much possible."

Astrid did not say anything, just walked inside her room and closed the door. It was really hard to read her, but if I was going to stay here for a bit, I would need to learn. After all, I was not going to leave before I found the dungeon.

'Sys, can you answer me one thing real quick? The dungeon should have stronger monsters, correct?'

[System is unable to confirm that information without a natural survey of the area. However, due to the properties of dungeons, it is likely that the creatures living inside of it are stronger than those living outside.]

'Right I was just double checking. That is where we are going next. I just need to find it.'

I stepped towards my room, but before I even crossed the door, Astrid opened hers. Instead of the heavy fur clothes, she was wearing some shorts that were glued to her thighs and some wrappings around her chest. This only revealed even more how covered in scars the woman was. They were everywhere and came from every angle. In a way, it looked like she was a seasoned gladiator. And I had to admit, her chest made me a bit jealous. It was considerably bigger than mine. Then again, Astrid was bigger than me in every way. Her arms were about the size of my leg, and her legs could fit two of me. Not to mention, she was tall. I never considered myself short, being around 172 cm [5'6"], but Astrid was over a full head taller than me.

"Do you want a shower?" Astrid asked.

I paused, glancing outside through the window. "In this weather?"

"It is hot."

I blinked. "Okay, you are going to have to help me here. Do you mean hot as in sexy, or hot as in actually warm?"

Astrid frowned, staring at me for a long moment before replying, "Warm."

"Oh. Ok. That sounds like a good idea."

Despite me saying that, Astrid did not move. She just stood there looking at me. After another long pause, she pointed at herself and then at my clothes.

"Take it off."

"In here?" I asked.

"No place to leave it outside."

"What if I just left it on the ground?" The idea of walking out into the snow in my underwear was not really appealing.

"It can freeze."

"Wait, my clothes can freeze?"

Astrid just pointed outside. Right by the window, there was a towel standing still on the ground, but it was not laid horizontally. It was standing up.

"Holy crap. I had no idea this could happen."

Astrid walked towards the door, placing two towels that were not frozen by the door. "You can take one when we come back."

"We are not even taking the towels?"

"No," Astrid pointed outside again.

As much as I hated the idea, I understood it. If we were going to take a shower and then dry ourselves with the towel, they could end up freezing on the way back.

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"Fine." I quickly took off my clothes, staying only in my underwear. Unfortunately, I was not wearing shorts like Astrid, but my bra covered a bit more than hers. She was also kind enough not to stare at the massive scar covering my stomach. The place where the Eater impaled me. Even with the constant use of {Body Regeneration}, I was never able to make it all go away. Maybe in the future, but for now it was a reminder of what happened.

"Good. Follow. I am running." The woman opened the door, a gust of cold wind washing over me just as she started to sprint to the side of the house.

I quickly ran after her. The last thing I wanted was to get lost in the middle of the forest while not wearing any pants. Thankfully, we were not going far. Just to the left of the house, there was a shed where Astrid was already setting something up. She was turning on a couple of lamps from the outside. It seemed like there were small gaps on top of the shed where someone had placed glass domes to allow for some light to reach those inside.

"D-do you n-need help?" I did my best not to stutter, but it was too freaking cold. I was positive I was not built for this weather.

"No. Go inside. It is warm." It was a bit too dark, but I could swear I saw Astrid smiling at me when she said that.

But honestly, I did not care. I just rushed into the shed, leaving the door open since she was going to follow soon. Oddly enough, even with the gust of wind from the outside, it was very warm in here. It was still cold, obviously, but it was not unbearable anymore. The structure of this small building did not look to be super insulated. In fact, I could even see some gaps between the pieces of wood that led outside. Yet, the warmth seemed to be trapped between these walls, almost like it was a greenhouse. And if that was not strange enough, the layout was odd. The door opened to a tiny corridor with a bench to the right, and to the left, in the middle of the way, there was a tall wooden pillar. But it only reached about waist high.

'Sys, do you think the lack of cold in here is because of SP?'

[According to the data System has available, that is a possibility. Unfortunately, System is unable to confirm said theory without user consuming parts of the wood that make up the shed.]

'Yeah, I am not going to eat the wood. I might be crazy, but I am not that much of a psychopath.'

Astrid finished setting up the second lamp and walked inside. She saw me sitting in the far corner of the shed and walked over to the half-pillar in the middle, closing the door behind her. She opened a small door and removed a bucket of water, then opened a lid on top of the pillar. Inside was a large metal plate that she also removed, revealing a tiny fire pit made out of stone resting inside the wooden pillar. Showing her mastery, Astrid used a little bit of sap she had already prepared and ignited the coal. She then placed the metal plate on top of it and stepped back.

"Have to wait."

"Sorry, but how are we going to take a shower here?" I was half expecting her to have a contraption that would toss water from above, but that did not seem to be the case.

"Steam shower."

"Oh? Never had one before."

"It is nice," Astrid leaned back, closing her eyes.

"I assume we need to wait until the plate is hot enough and then pour some water on it?" I asked.

Astrid just nodded.

"But shouldn't we be naked? From what I know, that is what people do in a sauna."

"You can. I won't," Astrid replied.

"Why not?" I turned to the woman.

"My ass gets stuck in the wood. Don't like it."

I looked down before nodding. "That makes a lot of sense. I am probably going to feel on my skin how uncomfortable that is."

Astrid let out a snort. We stayed in silence for a couple of minutes until the heat became strong enough so that it was time to pour water over the plate. There was a certain art to doing this. If Astrid put too much water, it would not turn into steam right away and would boil instead. But if she put too little, the Leidenfrost effect would happen, and the droplets would just move around without actually changing states.

Taking a shower like this was an interesting experience, but I would not say I was getting clean. Not really. Sure, the vapor would help clean off the grime and dirt that was on my skin, but I needed some soap, which would not actually work in this scenario.

Putting those thoughts aside, I turned to Astrid, noticing her relaxed expression with her eyes closed.

"Do you mind if I ask a couple of questions? I am still trying to understand some things about this place."

Without opening her eyes, Astrid said, "No."

"Oh, okay. Sorry." I was not about to start pushing if she did not want to talk.

The woman turned towards me. "No. I don't mind."

"Right. My bad. I was expecting a different answer. But great. Do the people that live here really not know about the Eaters?"

Astrid sighed and shook her head. "They know, but do not believe."

"How? The world almost ended because of those fucking things. How can people think they are just fairy tales?"

"They do not come here. Never did."

"But still, they should know about the stories. Their parents might have told them," I said, trying to figure out an explanation. There had to be a reason for people to be this dumb.

"They were all born in the village and never left."

I paused, really thinking about what Astrid just said. It was clear that she was not the kind to speak a lot, so I needed to understand what she was saying in just a handful of words. It took me a moment, but realization eventually dawned on me. "Are you telling me that because they never left and never saw one of them, they think it is just a story to scare children?"

"Yes."

"But you know about them?"

"I do."

"How? Why?"

Astrid looked down at the ground, her hands clasped together as her muscles tensed. "My dad took me hunting. East. We saw a city… and them."

"Right. And I am sorry to change the subject, but there is one thing I am kind of worried about. Are you okay? You are covered in scars. That is not a problem by itself. I mean, look at me. I am just worried that people were hurting you."

The woman looked at me, her piercing blue eyes seemingly staring into my soul. "Thank you. But not people, monsters." She paused and pulled up her left arm, pointing at a specific scar just above the elbow. "Cooking. Knife broke."

I let out a chuckle. "And is that the only one accidentally self-inflicted?"

Astrid squinted. "Maybe."

"Well then, I will not tell you how I got this scar between my big toe. It is absolutely not a funny story about me dropping a knife while I was learning to cook."

She chuckled, but then pointed at my stomach. "That one?"

"An Eater. Part of the group that destroyed my village. I got lucky that lightning killed it before it could kill me."

Astrid nodded. "Luck is also a skill."

'Is it?' I asked the System but got no response.

"Either way, I am going to try to find the nest of the Ice Devil tomorrow. You mentioned some mines. Could you point me in that direction?"

The woman paused and then shook her head. "No. I am coming with."

"That would help a lot. Thank you." Having someone who was familiar with the area would make my progress much faster. And despite her dry humor and short responses, it was nice to have her around. Maybe when this is all said and done, I can leave a special tool for this village's protector. But that would come at a later date. I was not entirely sure I trusted her with something like that—not just yet.