Argo's Frozen Heart

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Chapter 1

A cold, biting wind howls through the spaces between houses.
The town sits at the foot of a mythical and sacred mountain, its peaks standing against gray skies.
Among the adventurers preparing to climb the mountain is a woman.
In stark contrast to the heroic builds of the others, she is hardly blessed with a robust physique.
Yet her eyes burn with an unshakable will and resolution every bit as bright as theirs.
Despite her youth, she has considerable adventuring experience under her belt.
She breathes deep to whet her spirit.
She reflects on her memories to prepare for the fight to come.
Prior to coming here, she heard all sorts of rumors about the sacred mountain.
Whispers of a wild and vicious yeti...
Tales of an all-healing herb near the peak...
Rumors of disembodied voices of the dead luring climbers into darkness.
Some rumors are eerie and meant to evoke fear, while others are fantastical and strange.
The mythical mountain is majestic, profound, primeval.
Its ever-present looming and the people's devout dread are the sources of all manner of conjecture.
As she ponders the mountain, she steels her resolve anew.
She's finally done readying herself and her things.
The residents of the town, especially other women, speak to her with worry.
The mountain is much too dangerous for you.
A woman climbing the mountain? That's downright rash.
Think of the family you're leaving behind!
There's no mischief or malice in their voices—their concern is genuine.
They sympathize with the woman while also admonishing her.
They've seen countless men off and have witnessed almost as many failures.
And their own family members surely made up some of that number.
More than a few wives and daughters have watched their families fall apart.
Their feelings for the mountain are odd and complex.
But their distress is readily apparent to the adventurer woman.
Even more so because she, too, has experienced the same.
Her father was an adventurer who left her mother and unborn child behind to climb this mountain,
only to abruptly lose his life here.
Said unborn child was her little brother.
Even in the womb, her little brother was in poor health.
It wasn't certain if he'd be born without complications if he lived at all—the doctor's diagnosis was dire.
But miraculously, he was born healthy and grew well.
This was shortly after her father left her mother behind and prioritized climbing the mountain,
never to return.
When the woman was still but a girl,
she couldn't understand what it was he gave up and what he was trying to conquer.
She couldn't understand why he wasn't there when her mother was in pain.
Why he sought the mountain.
Her father harbored a deep desire to master the art of adventure.
The woman would understand what that meant only many years later.
That's just who your father is.
It was her mother's common refrain whenever the woman's resentment
and resistance caused her to question him.
But something in particular eventually led her to read his journal.
Ever since then, her perspective of him changed drastically.
Her father was an awkward man.
But he was someone she was meant to surpass.
She chose the same path as him, one of adventure.
In her eyes, this mountain is a place of destiny, an object of revenge.
She remembers it like it was only yesterday.
Before she read the journal, her father once murmured something in her presence.
Y'know, if you were a boy, I'd take ya on an adventure with me.
Thinking on it now, she wonders if perhaps he simply didn't want to put his daughter in danger.
Perhaps witnessing his wife distance herself from adventuring after giving birth influenced him.
But when the woman heard him speak those words,
she began to cry for reasons she didn't understand.
An emotion she could not name, neither loneliness nor sorrow, welled up inside of her.
Her repulsion toward her father exploded.
She could no longer bear the vexation.
Why had she been born a girl?
Why couldn't she live up to her father's expectations?
Even now, long after her complicated feelings for her father have melted away,
she still cannot forget that frustration.
And that is why she must balance the scales.
She must climb the legendary mountain her father failed to conquer
and claim those peaks for herself.
If you were a boy...
But I'm a girl...
She brushed away those flawed convictions and became a true adventurer in her own right.
She would prove her skill as his daughter.
She cannot deny the fear and unease, of course, but it's too late to turn back now.
She can already hear her mother laugh dryly, but this, too, flows in her blood.
I won't lose to you, Dad.
Wearing the mittens she once wove but never had the chance to give to her father,
the adventuring woman sets off for the mountain.

Chapter 2

The wind is far colder than it was in the town.
The adventuring woman begins climbing the mountain that her father failed to conquer.
The path is steep, but she's determined to surpass her father.
Fatigue is nowhere to be found on her face.
Rather, her expression is one of ferocity and joy, as though bravery wells up within her.
It's a face her father never saw.
My little girl, once so adorable and small...
An astonished man looks at the woman.
Astonished indeed.
The man is none other than her father, the very man who attempted to conquer this mountain and failed.
The souls of adventurers who failed the climb remain on the mountain.
His existence is hollow and cannot be seen, but his spirit burns.
Though she has grown and matured, the man knows his daughter when he sees her.
The mountain is steep, and loneliness wears her down,
but the smile beaming across the woman's face is one of excitement and delight.
She has clearly inherited the man's adventuring blood.
But what ebbs and flows in his chest is not sentimentality for the life she's led thus far.
Rather, what concerns him the most is her mountaineering technique.
She's chosen to traverse the same peaks as him,
which requires appropriate strength, refined skills, and, above all else, spirit to match.
On this mountain especially, even the smallest of reservations will quickly pull the rug out
from underneath any climber.
The man keeps a close eye on his daughter's every move.
The man knows all too well the challenges this mountain has to offer.
Chasms in the ground run deeper than the darkest abyss.
Boisterous squalls blow from sudden blizzards.
Every obstacle the man overcame with spirit and grit alone relentlessly assail the woman.
But she faces these trials in ways completely unlike his approach.
There's a particular crevice he once braved with strength alone.
Instead, she places a foldable ladder over it and deftly crosses.
That little ladder will not save you! the man bellows.
But his voice is little more than the faint whisper of the dead.
The woman cannot hear him.
Disregarding his panicked yell, she continues along and misses her step.
He was right.
The man covers his eyes and wails, but he never hears the woman scream.
The lifeline she attached to herself beforehand comes in handy.
She calmly climbs back onto the ladder and then carefully continues to the other side of the gap.
She has a meticulousness that the man never had.
He's amazed by her skill.
But upon reaching the other side, a sudden and ferocious blizzard batters the woman,
just as he expected.
Her vision is blanketed by white in the span of a second.
She can't see an inch in front of her.
The wind's piercing howl robs her of her hearing all the while.
The man once fell into the same predicament.
He relied on his own wild instincts to find the path again.
He prays his daughter inherited the same instincts.
He is practically beside himself with unease.
But in stark contrast to his emotions, the woman shows no sign of panic.
He notices her rummaging around in her supplies, and she produces a compass.
She turns until the needle points precisely north.
With careful steps, she follows the path.
What kind of gadget is that!?
Compasses are hardly a new invention, but the man reacts as though he's never seen one.
He always adventured on raw vigor, after all.
The blizzard finally calms, and her vision returns to her.
Watching his daughter's progress, the man finds himself deeply impressed by their differences.
Though their approaches were hardly the same, his daughter is, without a doubt,
risking her life on this journey.
She is a true adventurer in her own right.
To think she's grown so much...
The man does not dwell on his own biases.
Rather, he rejoices in the birth of a stalwart and capable adventurer.
Unaware of his satisfied gaze, the woman presses forward through the mountain.
Having made it this far, it's possible that she might reach the peak.
In fact, he's certain she can.
Both father and daughter are ablaze with conviction in that moment.
But then, her ears pick up on the starved breath of a wild animal.
She holds her breath and strains her eyes.
There, she spots a wolf.
And it's not alone.
There are countless ferocious wolves in the pack, and they stare unwaveringly at their valuable prey.
Both father and daughter brace themselves.
The man has no way to help.
He clenches his hand into a firm fist.
The woman takes a deep breath and prepares to face off against the wolves...

Chapter 3

As the woman proceeds through the harsh and unforgiving mountain,
watched over by the spirit of her father,
she finds herself surrounded by a pack of wolves.
Their ravenous hunger is palpable against the mountain's crisp air.
Or perhaps it's a thirst for life; a desire no human could ever taste.
The wolf pack and the adventurer anticipate the other's first move.
If one misjudges the other's strength, they will lose.
Both the adventurer and wolves know this well.
All the while, the lingering ghost of the father is beside himself with impatience.
He is the first to thrash about, desperately trying to drive away the wolves.
But his ludicrous dance is invisible to both parties.
His daughter is one lunge away from death.
He grinds his teeth.
Crunch.
The gentle noise of snow underfoot echoes through the quiet mountain.
The wolf pack leader makes the first move with a furious leap.
Sharp, ferocious fangs fly straight for the woman.
The father screams.
But suddenly, the wolf falls to the ground.
Panic ripples through the pack.
The woman does not let this chance go.
She throws her fist against one wolf and then another.
And then, she lets out a ferocious bellow.
Their will to fight completely stolen from them, the wolves, quite literally,
run away with their tails between their legs.
It is with great effort and wit that she has so skillfully overcome these difficulties.
And now, the woman has earned an overwhelming victory through pure and tenacious strength.
She then sets off silently.
I was worried for a sec there, but that's my girl! It'll take more than some mangy mutts to do her in.
Forgetting his panic, the man smiles proudly.
The sole source of his unease now is that he can no longer hear the echoes through the mountain,
sounds which rang constantly when he was alive and always lifted his spirits.
Unaware of her father's booming laughter, the woman presses onward.
The man follows her frantically, nearly losing sight of her.
At last, she reaches the shrine that sits atop this legendary peak.
A place of myth, one her adventuring father hoped to reach but never saw.
Taking in the majestic sight, she finally realizes that she has surpassed her father.
Still think girls can't be adventurers, Dad?
Her head spins from excitement and elation.
She takes a deep breath and looks to the ground.
There, she notices something.
A notebook.
A plain notebook one would use as a journal.
She picks it up and flips through it.
She recognizes the writing inside.
It's her father's writing.
Reading her father's journal was one of her very first memories.
The journal that held all the emotions he couldn't contain when his daughter was born.
All at once, her memories of her father come back to her vividly.
She stews in the memories, savoring them.
Something in the air changes.
Suddenly, a huge man appears before her.
Could this be the abominable yeti she had heard so much about?
She's hardly prepared to face such a foe.
Just as she's about to scream in horror—
You can see me?
The figure's deep voice stirs her memory.
Despite her bewilderment, she grasps what he truly is.
Is this a result of the shrine's mysterious power?
Is this a miracle brought on by the journal?
Whatever the case, she can now see what remains of her father's spirit.
Ordinarily, parent and child would embrace in tears, rejoicing in their unexpected reunion.
But their relationship is complicated and far from ordinary.
Both father and daughter have so much to say to one another.
But their words do not come.
An awkward silence settles between the two on the quiet, majestic peak.

Chapter 4

The deep mountains are silent, apart from the distant wail of the frigid wind.
Here, on the highest cliff that few climbers could ever reach,
stands an adventurer father and adventurer daughter, both struggling to find words.
The woman cannot speak, but it is not because the spirit of her dead father has manifested before her.
Nor is it because she's desperately trying to keep her tears at bay—he looks exactly
the same as she remembered him.
And nor is it due to a surge of spiteful remarks she's suppressing that form a lump in her throat.
Or so she thinks.
It's her father who finally breaks the long stretch of silence.
He explains why he didn't come home from the mountain and all that transpired.
It wasn't because of any mysterious or unexpected phenomena, he says.
His hand simply slipped, and he lost his hold on the cliff face.
But he still managed to move.
He dragged his legs behind him as they lost all feeling.
He crawled his way to the peak, but it was there that he died.
And that's more or less the whole of it. Look at me now.
He wears a self-deprecating smile, one she never saw during his life.
It's quite the contrast to his old, prideful self.
It gives her a peculiarly fresh impression of him.
Perhaps now he'll be willing to talk about the family he left behind.
But before she can speak, the man quickly changes the subject.
So! What sort of adventures have you been on?
He beams with glee.
It's not his wife or son he asks about first, but his daughter's own adventures.
What was supposed to be a touching reunion has been desecrated in the worst way she can imagine.
Not a single word of apology for abandoning his family?
Surely he has something more important to talk about.
The woman opens her mouth, prepared to unleash a lashing of emotional objection.
But hasn't her father always been like this?
Yelling at him now will change nothing.
And even if the dead could have a change of heart, she'd gain nothing from it.
Once her father, always her father.
In spite of her annoyance, she smiles and begins to talk about her adventures.
She's crossed many mountains up to this point,
though none of them anywhere near as treacherous as this one.
She's traversed vast savannahs on foot, home to prides of brutal lions.
She's set out onto endless seas in search of pirate treasure and even battled
the great creatures of the deep.
I always wondered what you would do, Dad.
As he listens to the daring and detailed descriptions of her experiences,
he gives several satisfied nods.
Taking joy in his daughter's growth, another feeling fills the gap in his heart—
A bottomless well of desire for adventure.
Hm. If it were me...
He trails off and looks to the sky.
What would he have done?
Even in death, his daughter's adventures set his heart aflutter.
But what about him?
What would I do next?
The same as you, that's what.
We really are the same, aren't we?
The man gives a thoughtful response, then continues with even more vigor.
No adventurer stays in one place for long, you know!
Just as the woman finds satisfaction with this response and opens her mouth to respond,
the man is already gone.
All that's left in his place are heavenly, glimmering ice crystals.
As she stares at them blankly, the woman finally understands.
The spirit of the man trapped on the mountain has finally been freed and laid to rest.
All thanks to that incurable desire for adventure, one that even had the power to erase his regrets.
One man, obsessed with adventure...
Now, finally off to a new land. The next life.
Dozens of hours later...
The woman descends from the mountain with only the most minor of injuries.
She returns straight home, greeted by her mother and younger brother,
and she thinks back on the journal she retrieved.
Like the child she was when she first stealthily read her father's journal,
she once again opens the notebook.
Inside, she finds his feelings for her little brother, who was still in her mother's womb.
His deep love for his family.
His reason for setting off for the sacred mountain.
He had gone to find the herb said to be all-healing—
its very existence still debated—all for his unborn son.
Neither the adventurer woman nor her mother had any idea.
They had thought he set off for the mountain for adventure alone.
They assumed. From that assumption, complicated feelings were born.
All he had to do was tell them his true intentions.
If only.
Saying so would have been so easy.
But he simply wasn't that kind of person.
Those words would have been far too direct for him.
That very same nature has a home in the woman as well.
Now, knowing her father's true intentions,
she has completely forgotten her curse of being born a girl. She closes the journal.
And then...
She rests the mittens she ultimately did not give him atop it.
You really were an awkward man, she murmurs.
The woman smiles warmly.

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