"Rejoice, puny mortals, for we are here!" Aru loudly exclaimed as I did my best to carefully steer the ship towards the coastline, "The frosty landscape of the Gods! In other words, Polaris!"

"Whoaa~! So this is Polaris?" Eleanor hastily scribbled as much of the sight as she could.

"It's breathtaking!" Othelia sneezed, "Achoo! Though it's also heat-taking, it seems..."

"Well yeah, it IS the Southern Pole, after all." Cecily chuckled as she handed everyone our coats, "Best put on a few layers under these, and make sure to ventilate regularly."

"Ventilate?" Both Aru and Issei had a mutually shared question mark appear above them.

"Well, I suppose it's quite the lesser known fact." I chuckled before explaining, "Well, to preface this, have you ever heard of that survival tip? The one where you're told to dress in layers when you enter a colder climate?"

"Yeah, it's pretty logical, but people tend to forget it because it's so simple." Issei nodded.

"Beats me." Aru's Red cheeks puffed up from the cold.

"Aru, put on the coat." Cecily sternly warned her.

"Gods don't catch colds, so I don't need it." She looked away with her arms crossed.

"Aru." Cecily got more and more scary, "I'm gonna count to three."

"Phah! You think those childish threats would work on me?" Aru laughed audibly, "Don't you know who you're talking to?"

"One..." Cecily started, "Two..."

"Oh no, she's started the count!" Eleanor fueled the fire, "Better listen to her quick, Aru!"

"Awoo..." Cene suddenly toddled over to her all worried, "Mom angy. Wisten."

"Eh? What's that kid?" Aru brushed him off, "She can't harm me, so piss off."

"No!" Cene latched onto her tightly, "Mom! Mom scawy when angy! Awoo, pwease!"

"Ugh, get off me, kid." She seemed uncomfortable, "And that's not my name! I am Aru-err, Allucius!"

"She said Aru." I stifled my laughter.

"She definitely did." Issei joined in.

"Thr-!" Cecily's rage finally peaked, but just then...!

"Ugh, fine!" Aru bashfully put the coat on as everyone else clapped for her, "S-Stop that, you mischievous mortals! I am not a child in need of praise for such a thing!"

"Waaaoh!" Cene's Eyes glistened as he looked up at the pouting Goddess, "You can put youw coat on aww by youwsewf! So coow!"

"Hrm..." Her wry smile started to show as she desperately tried to stifle it, "N-No, everyone knows that, so stop acting like I did something, kid..."

"Weawwy?" Cene wasn't letting up, "Teach me! Teach me, Awoo!"

"Hrng!" She couldn't handle his pure admiration for her and finally caved, "Fine! Rejoice, adorably tiny mortal, you are going to be taught the ways of the coat by yours truly!"

"Yay!" He raised his arms up adorably as they retreated to the sidelines to practice.

Guess not even the Gods can handle Cene's mannerisms. That boy, he's really gentle and caring, despite what his gender would usually dictate. Back when I was a kid, I used to get bullied for that, but I feel times have changed just a little bit. It also helps that he's around adults like us who openly accept that aspect of a person, so I'm sure he's gonna grow up to be a fine young man.

"She got saved by Cene." Cecily sighed, "That boy's too kind for his own good. He'll gladly run in to try and save someone in danger without any regard for his own safety. I'm afraid someone will abuse that aspect of him one day."

"Just line Lune/Grim." Both Issei and I said at the same time, "Ah."

Laughing a bit at such a coincidental exchange, we made our way onto the shore after a while more. Since we didn't know how long the journey was supposed to be, we didn't bother to bring all of our equipment, just enough for us to easily walk around with.

In terms of the land, it could only be described as alluring. The floor below us was snow-laden with ice peeking through every now and then, so we had to tread carefully. Right in front of us proudly stood an amazingly tall mountain that went high up above the clouds. Erecting from what appeared to be a large lake serving as a sort of moat around it, the path ahead seemed dangerous. Checking through my spyglass, it appears the path isn't that tricky to hike through, at least.

"Mommy... Cold..." Cene disliked the feeling of snow in his bootsies, so he put his hands up with a needy energy to them, "Uppies!"

"No Cene, it'll be difficult to carry you and walk around through this terrain at the same time." Cecily denied him, "You'll have to make do with holding my hand for now."

"Uuu..." He looked saddened as he dejectedly grabbed her hand.

"Is that really alright? He's still just a kid." Issei asked.

"And he'll forever remain a kid if I don't toughen him up." Cecily still remained firm on her decision, "Besides, we're already carrying a ton of weight on our backs with the luggage, and I need to conserve my strength for the hike. Carrying him isn't at all logical."

"Taking him here wasn't logical." Othelia muttered a tad angrily.

"Yeah, but no use talking about it now." Eleanor sighed, "It's too late to turn back, so it's best to keep on moving forward, no matter how hard it is for him..."

"Don't look at me." Cecily furrowed her brows back at the worried girls as she retorted, "If you have any complaints, you're free to talk to Ed about it. He's the one that told me to take Cene with us here in the first place."

"Ugh, that was because a certain someone didn't wanna go otherwise." I shot back.

This bickering really did ruin the mood, but everything washed away as we soon made it up the small snowy hill that was blocking the rest of the mountain's view. As we made it over the hill and finally took in the view fully, there really was nothing else to it. This was without a doubt Mount Ivrys, the meeting place of the Gods.

"See? I told you guys it's pretty." Aru got all smug and proud for whatever reason, "We didn't pick this place for nothing, y'know!"

"I must say, it's quite an amazing vista indeed." Othelia remarked.

"Pwetty..." Cene gawked at the sheer scale of the mountain, "Mommy, look!"

"Huh? Is that...?" Cecily squinted a bit before borrowing my spyglass, "Grass...?"

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

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"What? There's no way, give it here." I took the spyglass back, "Holy crap..."

It seems no one's Eyes were tricking them - there really was a grassy area just inside the moat, quite literally separating it from the rest of the frozen over snowy landscape. Now that I had a better view of it all, it really does seem mystical. There weren't any trees inside that area, but just the fact that there was grass growing was more than remarkable in and of itself. The Gods must have noticed the beauty in its natural generation and picked the spot based on that.

"By the way, that was my idea." Aru smiled.

"My ass." I rolled my Eyes, "Stop trying to act cool. Besides, even if you were the Goddess Allucius, I hardly see how controlling water would make that."

"You still don't believe me, mortal?" She sighed, "And just what do you mean by the latter part of your statement? By creating a barrier around the mountain in which no snow could pass through, it is only obvious that the grass would start growing there. The soil underneath can handle such a gigantic mountain, so what's a little grass as well?"

"Right, snow is just frosted water, after all." Cecily thought for a sec, "Well, is it safe to assume that the temperature there is also a bit warmer?"

"Hmm, can't say..." Aru shrugged, "Even if it was, it's not by much. Remember - no snow doesn't mean no cold."

Well, can't argue with that. Though I do wholeheartedly assume that the Sun shining brightly inside the area of that barrier is warming it up, I doubt it's by much. We are in the South Pole, after all.

"Well then, we best start walking if we wanna see for ourselves!" Othelia proudly announced before slipping down the snowy hillside.

"Phahaha, and to think you looked so cool for a second!" Issei lightly mocked her before diving right after her, "Jeronimooo~!"

"H-Hey, that's unsafe!" Cecily was a bit hesitant for a moment, but gathered up her courage, picked up her son and jumped right in, "Ah, to hell with it! Hold on tight, Cene!"

"Bwaaahh! Mommyyy~!" He cried out for his life.

"Well, guess that just leaves us, sis." I grabbed Eleanor's hand, "On the count of three, yeah?"

"Let go! You'll break our arms if you don't!" She went to shake my hand away, when...

"Siblings sure are troublesome." Aru pushed the both of us down the hill forcefully, "Are you forgetting you have the Gods' favor? You'll be fine!"

As we tumbled down the small hill, laughing and screaming all the while trying to figure out why we did this in the first place, I couldn't help but think of how much fun I was having with everyone. Grim too, I'm sure he'd be busting his ass laughing right now... Ack, what the hell am I thinking about? I'll make sure to do all this later when we get him back.

"IF you get him back, hopelessly hopeful mortal." Aru turned to me with a serious expression the moment we stopped tumbling, "Lune Grimheart isn't getting revived, not unless..."

"Guys, look!" Eleanor's Eyes glimmered as she pointed to the grassy area in front of us, "Just across that moat, there's a squirrel!"

"A squirrel?" I squinted, "Yeah, I see it too!"

"So animals do inhabit this secluded sanctuary?" Othelia commented.

"But what is a squirrel doing in a place without any trees?" Issei concluded, "Something smells fishy here. I think it might be a trap or something meant to lure us in in some way."

"You're just overreacting." Cecily walked up to the moat, only to immediately jump back, "S-Shark!"

"What the, shark?" We tilted our heads before jumping back as well the moment we saw a giant shark jump out from the water, "What the, shark!?"

"I'm afraid not." Aru remained calm as she explained from a safe distance, "That there is our guard dog - the Megalomanic."

"Megalomanic? As in, the beast Megalomanic?" Eleanor looked even more excited.

"You know what that thing is?" Issei asked.

"Yeah! It's a beast that was said to roam around the poles a lot, though it's said to have gone extinct thousands of years ago! Just what the hell is going on with this place? It all feels like a dream!"

"Yeah, that is quite remarkable when you think about it." I gently reached behind to put my hand on her shoulder, "Just imagine missing all this because you stayed with mom and dad."

"Maybe that would've been for the better..." Cecily sighed as she rummaged through her backpacks, "Cene soiled himself because of that damned thing..."

"Ah." We all turned our attention to the wet stain on Cene's crotch, "H-Hang in there, bud. Anyone would do that in your position..."

"A-Awoo, youw pet is scawy..." Cene started sobbing as he addressed Aru.

"Eh? That's what you're focusing on?" Aru laughed, "This kid almost got eaten by an archaic shark beast, and the first thing on his mind is to tell its owner his opinion on it? What a weird kid..."

"Uuu..." Cene continued crying as his mother finished changing him.

"Ah come on, you got changed, so what's got you crying still?" Aru approached him all annoyed, still crossing her arms before giving him a reassuring smile, "My disciple on coat-equipping shouldn't be making such a sorry face, you know?"

"Sniffle, yeah..." He immediately wiped the tears in his Eyes as he nodded decidedly, "I'm a man, so no cwying!"

"Attaboy, squirt!" She patted him on the back before taking his hand as if it were a matter of course, "Now come on, let's go around the sharkie and finish this quickly, it's freezing!"

"D-Did she just...?" Issei and the others stood in disbelief.

"Yeah." I couldn't believe it either, "She managed to instill confidence in him just like that. Maybe she has a soft spot for kids, after all..."

"Huh, but wait?" Othelia turned to us, "What does she mean when she said that it's freezing? Didn't she say Gods can't catch colds?"

Stopping in her tracks with the little boy still happily holding onto her hand, the Purple haired little girl angrily fwipped back around to reveal a face bright Red with anger.

"I-I wasn't talking about me!" She shouted, "I was talking about Cene!"

"She really has a soft spot for kids." I laughed, "Oi, wait up, you two!"