Roughly half of an hour after Roth fell asleep, there was a soft knock on the door, and Alisa pulled it open to reveal Anpo holding two bowls of stew.

“Can we come in?”

Alisa nodded as she pulled the small door open the rest of the way, and Anpo ducked inside, followed by Jaren. When the first of the two men glanced over and saw Roth fast asleep on the bed, he paused for a moment before nodding to himself.

“Jean has been having people head out onto the deck regularly to check on the sails, everything seems to be going well with them so far. They did mention that it’s starting to look a bit stormy though, we might be in for rough weather.”

Jaren looked over to the desk as he spoke, but the map was now rolled up and stuffed inside of Roth’s backpack.

“It might be possible for us to reach Losten before it hits, were the two of you able to tell if we are on the correct course?”

Alisa shook her head, then walked over to where Roth was sleeping and gently nudged his side. He definitely wouldn’t have been able to recover his energy by taking a half hour nap, but it was enough for him to be at least functional again.

After petting his new puppy a few times, Roth set the small dog on the floor and walked over to the desk. He laid out the map across the desktop, then made sure not to spill any of his stew on it as he ate and examined the depth lines at the same time.

“We’re still headed in the right direction, but I can’t be sure where the island actually is.”

Roth rubbed his chin as he looked over the map. In the center of the canvas, there was still a little triangle denoting his position and current direction of travel, and behind it, there was a line of more detailed space on the map.

I can always at least see where we’re at, and our position relative to Marie Island. Even if we get lost out on the sea I can always at least find out way back there. All of the depth marks I’ve been making on the map where we think Losten is can act as a marker too, we can just sail around there for a while, and we’ll definitely find the island.

A good portion of the danger out on the water was getting lost and not being able to find a path to shore. Roth would never have to worry about that, as long as he had this map. Currently, their position was closing in on the first few marks Roth had made on the map while trying to spot Losten Island.

“I think we should-”

Roth’s words were cut off as the boat suddenly rocked to the side, and the sound of rain started pounding on the wooden roof above their heads. It battered against the ship fiercely, and a powerful wind swept against the sails again, causing the boat to careen to the side.

Shit.

The small triangle on the map spun almost ninety degrees as the wind ripped the ship from its course, catching in the wide-open sails and threatening to tip the boat over. The entire cabin slanted to the side, and if the desk Roth was sitting at hadn’t been bolted to the ground, it surely would’ve been sliding all over.

Anpo rushed over to the wheel and tried to steer the ship back onto course, but there wasn’t anything he could do. The rainfall was getting even heavier, blocking any vision they had out of the wheelhouse’s window.

Bang!

Something slammed into the door, and Roth heard Jean’s voice shouting from the other side of it.

“Quickly, we need to get the sails down before they freeze! Someone grab Roth, someone else get the fire going stronger, and the rest of you follow me out!”

… Before they freeze- oh. This is not good.

Roth hurried to the door and pushed it open, shoving aside a random supply box that’d slid into it. As Alisa and Jeren followed him out to the deck, Roth recalled something that’d happened when he was sailing with Holl and his crew.

It hadn’t even been winter time, but a cold day combined with rain had struck their small ship one time. The moment the rain had hit their sails and rigging, it had frozen and become rock hard.

Back then, the sails had just been a way for the crew to save on gas, and they had gone completely unused much of the time. For the final voyage, they had even taken the mast down and just used a motor.

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Mostly because of the damage caused by the ice. If it wasn’t swiftly dealt with, the frozen sails and rigging could doom everyone on board to a quick enlistment in the Army of Specters. Trying to fix the problem was just as likely to lead to an early grave, though.

The moment Roth dashed out onto the deck, his feet nearly slipped out from under his feet. Just like back in town, the rain was freezing the moment it touched the ground- which now that they were on the ship, was the deck.

What had once been coarse wood was now an ice rink, and the freezing rain was still pouring down. Within seconds, it soaked through Roth’s leather coat and started sapping the warmth from his body.

A few meters away, one of the sails was already laying on the deck, a thin layer of ice already covering its surface. Jean, along with four of the other townsfolk were working on tearing down a second one, while another five men were struggling with the sail at the front of the ship.

“Roth! Help them first!”

Jean shouted over the downpour as he swung what looked like a wooden sledge hammer into a frozen joint on the center mast. Chunks of fresh ice shot off of the rigging, and Jean quickly grabbed the free rope and started pulling it down.

Roth rushed up to the front of the ship, nearly falling to the ground as a large wave crashed into the side of the boat. One of the hunters up ahead- one that Roth didn’t know the name of- completely lost his footing as the deck’s angle shifted.

The man fell heavily to the ground, his head cracking against the deck. His entire body went limp and started sliding toward the side of the ship. Off to the side, another of the hunters was already on the ground but was still conscious.

Roth rushed directly over to the mast, grabbing a handful of the frozen rigging and ripping it out of its hold. Alisa arrived by his side and tried to follow his lead, but without the strength provided by her Regard, she couldn’t even make the frozen rigging budge.

Following what she’d seen Jean doing, she snatched up a hammer dropped by one of the fallen hunters and slammed it into the ice, but even that didn’t seem to do much.

“I can get this, help the people who fell!”

Roth already had half of the rigging free from the mast, and he moved over to the side Alisa and the remaining hunters had been struggling with. The freezing rain was still pouring down in a torrent, and Roth’s jacket was thoroughly soaked through. It felt like he was wrapped in a blanket of wet ice.

So cold. We’re going to freeze, just like this rigging. I can barely stand it-

Roth looked up as he slammed his fist into a frozen knot in the rigging. Jaren was dragging the hunter who’d been knocked out back toward the cabin, his lips blue from the cold. The other hunter who’d fallen down was still sitting in the same place on the deck, not moving at all.

Alisa’s shoulders were shaking violently as she and the remaining standing townsfolk picked up another hunter who’d just fallen down.

“Get inside before you freeze! I’ll take care of the rest out here!”

Alisa was back at Base and didn’t receive hardly any benefits from her Regard, and none of the townsfolk had Regards at all. They were all going to freeze to death in the rain. With temperatures as they were, it could take less than a minute to get frostbite. If the freezing rain was accounted for, that frostbite was more likely to be death.

Alisa seemed to hear Roth’s words, because she started moving toward the cabin with the other hunters. In the center of the ship, the sail Jean was working on fell to the ground, and the similarly frozen townsfolk all rushed for the warmth of the cabin.

Roth ripped at the rigging again and again until it finally pulled free from the mast. He tried to dodge to the side as the frozen ice block of a sail came catapulting down toward him. His feet slipped before he could get completely out of the way, and it slammed into his shoulder.

Roth could feel that something was wrong, but he didn’t feel any pain from the impact. He didn’t feel anything in the upper half of his body, aside from the burning sensation of the cold. Roth’s teeth clattered as he pushed himself up to his feet, the fiercely rocking ship threatening to send him back to the ground.

I’m freezing. I can’t feel anything.

Roth looked up to where the first fallen hunter was still sitting on the deck. Alisa and the others had saved the man who was knocked out when he fell, but they had gone back to the cabin without this fellow.

Roth staggered over to the figure, then reached town and tried to pull them up. A few small chunks of ice snapped off as Roth pulled at them, and Roth’s eyes widened.

The hunter was frozen. Their coat was coated in a solid layer of ice, and it crackled as Roth pushed on it. The hunter’s dead eyes were wide open, and his entire face was glazed with a layer of ice.

Another heavy wave slammed into the side of the ship, and a line of the rigging Roth had just finished pulling free slid along the deck, slamming into the hunter that had become an ice statue. The ice securing him down to the deck snapped free, and the frozen man tumbled to the opposite side of the deck before falling over the edge and into the water below.

Roth couldn’t even react before the man disappeared into the dark waves.

He froze… I’m freezing.

Roth suddenly realized that he couldn’t even feel the burning sensation of the cold anymore. Everything was just… numb.

Realizing the peril he was in, Roth turned and staggered toward the cabin. His feet slipped on the deck, and he was lucky enough to slide toward the entrance of the cabin. The entire world started fading away as he slid into the wooden doorway.

I’m freezing.

The door cracked open just as Roth lost consciousness, and Madam Weiss, who’d stayed inside to light the fire, grabbed his frozen coat and dragged Roth inside.