The North Sea Martial Warrior - Chapter 03

========== 3. FROZEN PROMISE ==========

Airak’s rough hands held the now coldly chilled body temperature of Karani.

‘Karani…’

Her skin was so cold that frost seemed to form wherever he touched. But in his memories, Karani always held a warmth like snow melting under the midday sun.

The threads of time began to flow backward.

Thirty years ago, Airak was twenty-two.

It was a time before he had the title of ‘Eternal Blizzard’ or the permanent freezing scar on his chest.

On the outskirts of the Northern Sea, in a crack of the ten-thousand-year glacier.

The wind blowing through it was sharper than a blade. Seventeen-year-old Karani was there.

The First Flower of the Huku Tribe.

The woman promised in marriage to the Martial Warrior of the Airak tribe.

She was surrounded by twelve Snowfield Wolves.

“……!”

The dagger in her hand trembled.

The beasts, eyes turned wild with hunger, crouched low with their massive bodies over three feet tall, drooling as they looked for an opening.

Her martial arts were still unripe, and her internal energy was bottoming out.

The leader of the wolf pack didn’t miss the split-second opening and tore through the air.

Just as the giant front paw was about to crush her slender neck,

Hwi-ik…!

A streak of light flew through the blizzard.

Ku-deuk!

With the sound of bones shattering, the leader wolf’s head was crushed into nothingness.

“Move.”

It was a young man wearing a wolf pelt over his shoulders.

Airak. His eyes were not dead like they were now. Instead, a vitality fiercer than the starving beasts glistened in them.

The Asura Curved Blade in Airak’s hand rotated, harvesting the wolves’ necks one by one. A formless martial art, a unique killing technique of the Airak tribe that prioritized only efficiency.

In an instant, the snowy field was dyed red with the beasts’ blood.

Only after the terrified remaining wolves tucked their tails and disappeared did Airak wipe his bloody blade on the snow and look at Karani.

“Are you okay?”

“…….”

Karani couldn’t answer. Her body was frozen stiff.

“Can’t you speak?”

“I, I was scared….”

“They’re all dead. You’re safe now.”

Airak reached out his hand. Karani grabbed it with her trembling hand.

“Th, thank you….”

“Nothing to thank me for.”

Airak said bluntly.

“Don’t come to a place like this alone. Do you want to die?”

“I came out to train and got lost….”

“You’re from the Huku tribe, right?”

“How did you know?”

“Silver Snow Step. It’s a footwork technique used only by Huku tribe women.”

Airak looked at her.

“What’s your name?”

“I’m Karani.”

“Karani?”

Airak’s gaze wavered slightly.

“The First Flower of the Huku tribe?”

“Yes….”

“…….”

Airak was silent for a moment.

The First Flower. The woman promised in marriage to the Airak tribe’s Martial Warrior. In other words, his fiancée.

“Then you are….”

“You’re Airak, right?”

Karani asked cautiously.

“The next Northern Sea Martial Warrior. My fiancé.”

“…That’s right.”

“Nice to meet you.”

Karani bowed her head.

“Please take care of me from now on.”

Karani’s heart pounded.

The Martial Warrior of the Airak tribe, spoken of like a legend. Cold and cruel… but the Airak she saw was a man with warm hands. Strong, and capable of love.

That was their first meeting. Two people bound by a tribal promise. But that meeting soon turned into love.

One year later.

The two were sitting side by side at the edge of the Ice Sea cliff.

It was a secret place where one could fully enjoy the only sunset in the Northern Sea.

“How did you find this place?”

Karani asked.

“I found it when I was young.”

“Alone?”

“Yeah.”

“You must have been lonely.”

“…….”

The men of the Airak tribe were alone from birth. If they showed emotion, they were considered weak, and if they shared affection, they were pointed at for being feeble. The word ‘loneliness’ did not exist for him. Until he met Karani.

“……”

Airak did not answer.

The sunset sinking beyond the horizon was sprinkling golden powder over the frozen sea.

“Airak.”

“Why.”

“Do you like me?”

“…….”

“Not answering?”

“Since it’s a tribal promise, naturally….”

“That’s not it.”

Karani leaned her head on his shoulder.

“Not the promise, but truly. Do you like me?”

“…….”

Airak was silent for a moment.

“…I like you.”

“Really?”

“It’s not because of the promise. I just… like you.”

Karani smiled.

“Since when?”

“What?”

“Since when did you like me?”

“…I don’t know. At some point, I only thought of you.”

“…….”

Karani’s cheeks turned red.

“I didn’t know what that was at first.”

Airak said calmly.

“Because men of the Airak tribe don’t have those kinds of feelings.”

“Those kinds of feelings?”

“Affection between a man and a woman. I was taught that such things look weak.”

“Then how did you know?”

“…When I saw you laughing with another man.”

“Huh?”

“I knew then. What this was.”

“…….”

Karani held Airak’s hand tightly.

“Were you jealous?”

“…I think so.”

“I like you too.”

Karani laughed.

“Not because of the promise, but truly.”

“…….”

The tips of Airak’s ears turned red.

“Airak, when your training is over.”

“…….”

“Let’s go outside the Northern Sea.”

“Outside the Northern Sea?”

“They say in the Central Plains, there are lands where it doesn’t snow, and valleys where flowers bloom all year round.”

“There’s a place like that?”

“They say so. If we go there, couldn’t we live normally?”

“Normally….”

Instead of answering, Airak held her small hand tightly. His palms were calloused from grueling training, but the strength with which he held Karani was more careful than anything else in the world.

“Let’s go.”

“Really?”

“Wherever you want to go.”

But fate approached as if mocking their promise.

The separation came without warning. The previous Ice Palace Master had designated Karani, the First Flower of the Huku tribe, as the next Ice Palace Master.

“You’re to become the Ice Palace Master?”

Airak asked.

“Yes….”

Karani’s voice trembled.

“Why the First Flower of the Huku tribe as the Ice Palace Master?”

“The previous Palace Master said… that I am the future of the Ice Palace….”

“…….”

“I can’t refuse. It’s an order from the entire Northern Sea.”

Becoming the master of the Ice Palace meant a vow of chastity. It was a harsh shackle that forbade marriage for life and required cutting off all affection to maintain a cold Ice Heart.

Not a single person among the past Ice Palace Masters had broken the rules. If the Ice Palace Master broke the rules, the people of the Northern Sea… the entire Northern tribe would turn their backs. This was harsher than even killing them.

“Then our promise is….”

“…broken.”

Karani bowed her head.

On the night of the parting, with a blizzard raging, the two stood face to face for the last time.

“I… have to make a vow of chastity if I become the Ice Palace Master.”

Karani’s voice wavered like a slender lamp.

“I know.”

“I’m sorry, Airak. I’m really sorry.”

“Don’t say sorry.”

“Then what should I say?”

Airak wiped away her tears.

The tears that welled in her eyes flowed down her cheeks and froze before they could even touch the ground.

“Tell me to wait. Then I will wait.”

“…….”

“One word. Wait. Just say that.”

“Someday… when I become truly strong, I will change this old rule of the Ice Palace.”

Karani held Airak’s hand tightly.

“Please wait until then. Okay? Airak.”

Airak looked at her with an expressionless face. A vibration that could turn the heavens and earth was rising in his chest, but on the outside, there was not a single tremor.

“I will wait. Until you want me to.”

He left a short answer and turned his back.

“Where are you going!”

Karani shouted like a scream.

“Airak!”

“…To become strong.”

“Why? You’re already strong enough!”

Airak stopped walking. But he didn’t look back.

“…It’s not enough.”

“What do you mean not enough….”

“I have to become strong enough to change the rules.”

“…….”

“Even if the entire Ice Palace blocks you, I must be able to clear that path with a single strike.”

“Airak….”

“Wait for me. I will definitely return.”

That was the last time.

Airak headed to the deepest part of the Northern Sea, the Extreme Yin Land, where no human foot had stepped.

It was a land considered taboo even in the Northern Sea.

Ten-thousand-year glaciers pierced the sky, and beneath them, an abyss with no known end opened its mouth.

A land of death where even beasts would not set foot.

Airak walked into that darkness without hesitation.

They said those who entered never returned. They said bones would freeze, blood would congeal, and hearts would stop.

Airak didn’t care.

The thirty years spent there were not training, but torture.

The first year, pain that felt like his fingers would fall off assaulted him.

“……!”

He gritted his teeth. He thought of Karani’s face. He endured.

“I said I would wait.”

The fifth year, his skin froze and burst, and blood flowed. Even the blood turned to ice.

“…Still not enough.”

The tenth year, his heart almost stopped. The cold of the Northern Sea Ice Essence Divine Art had penetrated to his heart.

“…I cannot die.”

He gritted his teeth and endured. There was a promise.

The twentieth year, he couldn’t even feel pain. Sometimes hallucinations came. Karani was laughing in the blizzard. She disappeared when he reached out… but it was still good. Her phantom alone became a reason to breathe.

His body was turning into ice. Only his heart was still beating. His heart for Karani was protecting his heart.

The thirtieth year, finally, the Northern Sea Ice Essence Divine Art was mastered.

Space Freezing. Ice Soul Unity.

He had reached a realm that was only passed down as a legend.

Even amidst the pain of bones freezing and his soul wearing away, the only thing that sustained him was that warm promise they had shared at the edge of the cliff.

Back to the present.

Airak recalled the face of the dead Karani.

The result he faced after thirty years of waiting was only the fishy smell of blood and a cold corpse.

“You couldn’t keep the promise.”

Even sadness was castrated from his voice. Only a void deeper than the ten-thousand-year glacier could be felt.

“But I will keep the other promise.”

Airak’s eyes turned colorless. Eyes where emotion had died.

“Those who made you like this.”

The Asura Curved Blade in his hand let out a gloomy cry.

“The traitors of the Ice Palace.”

Those who killed her. Those who trampled on her dreams. Mercy was not what remained for them.

“With this cold energy condensed over thirty years.”

Airak’s gray pupils shone coldly.

“I will freeze them all.”

The wolf pelt covering Airak fluttered in the wind and melted into the blizzard.

The prelude to revenge had now begun.