The snow never stops, in this country called Oden. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Just as I have never seen a bright-eyed mother, I have never seen the day when the war stopped. My mother's blindness was a testament to the war years, and I never asked my mother the reason for her blindness, just as I never asked about my father—I couldn't bear to let her go through that cruel past again.

My name is Coryalys Love, and I haven't seen my father for as long as I can remember, and my mother has always been blind in my mind, so I assume that my father is no longer alive, and my mother must have been injured in the eye during the war, so I hated war since I was a child.

I never thought about how I would survive, how I would live with my mother, and I had fantasized about being able to live with my mother in a simple way, but this illusion was shattered by the cruel reality. When he was 8 years old, he went to a neighboring village with his mother to buy cheaper necessities, but he was looted by robbers. I watched my aunt die tragically under the butcher's knife, watched her blood flow in the snow, watched the robber's blade approach step by step, but I couldn't do anything, I couldn't change anything...... I'm so weak!

I don't remember much how I survived under the butcher's knife of the robbers, but I dimly remember that a figure appeared in front of me, and I judged that it should be a woman based on the long blue hair like me, but I had no memory of what happened next, and my mother could not see anything, let alone know what was happening. From then on, I made up my mind to become stronger, to be able to protect my mother, to keep us alive. I started to practice drawing my bow and archery every day, and the big tree in front of my house became my target. I don't know why I chose to practice bows and arrows, probably because I think bows and arrows are better used to protect others than to slaughter. Whenever I pulled the bowstring again and again, my mother would sit in front of the house and look in the direction she judged me to be, her face wrinkled and worried.

After about two years, I was already proficient at hitting fast-moving targets, and the trunk of the large tree in front of my house was full of dents. By chance, my archery caught the attention of a passing uncle, who had a full beard, was wearing battle armor, his bare skin was full of scars, and he was carrying a huge black sword on his back, and he looked like a battle-hardened warrior, only to learn later that this uncle was actually the captain of the royal guard of Oden, the strongest man in the kingdom. When the uncle saw me piercing the mark on the trunk of a tree in the distance, and the arrow was inserted into the trunk of a tree behind him, he looked surprised, as if he did not believe that a little girl could reach such an extent.

"Hey, little girl, you're amazing!" said the uncle, looking at me with a smile on his face.

I was frightened by the sudden accosting of the stranger in front of me, and I didn't know how to answer him for a while, but I looked at this kind uncle with a puzzled but embarrassed expression. Thankfully, he continued to speak and broke the silence.

"Little girl, what are you practicing archery for? You should know that the army doesn't want girls. The uncle's face was a little more serious.

"I didn't think about joining the army, I just simply wanted to protect everyone, I just wanted to make myself stronger and prove that I was no worse than boys!"

"Oh, that's great! What a backbone girl, are you interested in being my subordinate?" the uncle said with firmness, not like a joke.

"Are you very powerful, uncle?" I asked childishly.

"Haha, I still think I'm pretty powerful!How about it?Do you want to meet all kinds of powerful people?Do you want to make yourself more powerful?"

I admit that I want to, but I can't reassure my mother and don't answer for a long time.

"I ...... I can't be away from home for too long, because I have to take care of my mother......" I looked at the old face at the door of the house.

Uncle he followed my gaze, he let out an "oh", nodded thoughtfully, and said to me: "Well, how about I take you out once every two days, and send you back in no more than 1 day each time?"

"Uncle, who the hell are you, and you're not a bad person, are you?" I started to get a little scared.

"Hahahaha! I won't hurt you, let me tell you, I work for the king, you go and ask your village chief to know who I am, and your mother will rest assured that she will hand you over to me!"

Seeing that this uncle was so persistent for me, I couldn't refuse his kindness anymore, so I had to nod.

I have had a father-like presence in my life ever since. He was the captain of the Royal Guard of Crewe-Oden.

This lasted for three years, during which Crewe showed me the various military camps and weapons of the kingdom, and taught me all kinds of fighting methods, tactics and command. My fighting strength has surpassed that of most adult men in the kingdom, and this is all due to Krewe. I finally began to feel that I could protect those who needed protection, and I finally stopped feeling inferior to my weakness.

During my time with Crewe, he taught me a lot, made me appreciate the cruelty of war, made me realize the weakness of life, and gave me more motivation to train myself. But it didn't last long.

Soon after, Crewe received a special assignment from the kingdom, a battle known as the Oden Mutation, a battle in which I was able to join the Royal Guard, and a battle in which I was the only one to survive.

That day, Crewe, who had just come from the castle, seemed to have heard something important, and his face was serious, and this time he did not take me on a tour as usual, but sighed at me with a serious expression. He had opened his mouth several times, but nothing had come out.

"Crewe, what's wrong?" I asked him first, trying to break his silence.

"Hmm...... Do you know where we are on the other side of the sea to the east of Oden?"

"It's Miller, right? It is said that the kingdom has always had a conflict of interest with Miller, but Miller is already an ally of our ally Vasilian, right?"

"Yes, I know a lot! this time it's about Miller!" Kru looked at me and paused, then said, "Miller's alliance with Vasilian broke down not long ago!"

"What?!......

"This means that our period of reconciliation with Miller is also over! The Kingdom thinks that Miller is likely to make a move in the near future, and maybe they will send a large army to attack Oden!" Crewe's expression became more serious, showing how urgent the situation was.

"That'...... What are the plans in the kingdom?" I asked, a little trembling in my voice, unable to calm my heart from the sudden thought of the possibility of another war, and the fear and hatred of war.

"Damn the gosters! There are too many forces in the kingdom, and I hope you won't get involved in their power struggles. He seemed to be complaining about something, but I didn't understand what he meant, and I realized that he didn't intend for me to understand, but just vented on his own. He shook his head and said, "This time I have been appointed by the kingdom with a special mission, which is to go to the east coast to keep an eye on the movements of Miller, at this time they may have already sent vanguard troops or scouts, we must make sure that they cannot land on this continent!"

"Are you about to leave for the East, then?" I asked eagerly.

"Well, we are about to lead the troops on the march, and this time even His Royal Highness the Prince will accompany us, of course, His Royal Highness the Great Prince!" Crewe seemed to see the strange expression on my face when I heard the words "His Royal Highness" - everyone had heard of the evil deeds of the Third Prince.

"But...... I ...... "I've been used to spending the past three years with Crewe, and I'm really reluctant to part with him, and I'm more eager to go out with him and really see the army fighting, but I don't dare to open my mouth to him."

In fact, there is no need to open up at all.

Crewe seems to have had such intentions since he came, and he has been trying to say this sentence before: "Actually, I want to take you with me this time." ”

"Really...... Really!?" I could scarcely believe that the wish that had only been born in my head could come true so quickly, and looking at Crewe's serious face, I finally believed that it was not a joke, but I began to wonder if I would be dragging everyone down, after all, this was a crucial battle that would determine the fate of Oden in the future, and would it be a burden or a reproach for a little girl to be involved?

Crewe seemed to see my concern, he patted me on the shoulder, and said, "Don't care what people think of you, just be yourself, don't you usually do a good job with me? This time our mission is mainly reconnaissance, there is a good chance that there will be no fighting, even if there is a real fight, I will not let you have an accident, when the time comes, you just stay at the back of the team, your ability is enough to protect yourself!"

I don't know if Crewe's idea was too bold and willful this time, but when I saw the kingdom's war camp, the thousands of campfires, the stretches of horses, and the majestic banners made me forget all my previous worries, and I was deeply impressed by what I saw. The scale of this time was far greater than what Crewe had seen when he led me to tour the barracks. Thousands of campfires filled the air with a pale mist, the striking of iron resonated, and the horses roared from time to time. Are these tens of thousands of soldiers really just conducting "reconnaissance missions"?

Of course, I didn't know that the kingdom had been eyeing Miller for a long time, and that the benefits of war were never good or evil. Oden had already prepared to attack Miller, and this reconnaissance was just a pretext for attacking. The reconnaissance unit in the vanguard will report back to the headquarters after receiving the information, and the combat headquarters will send an army of 10,000 people to attack Miller in time to occupy his territory. I didn't understand this until later.

I could not have imagined that this would become a nightmare that would stay with me for the rest of my life, as deeply imprinted in my heart as an eternal imprint.

I used to naively think that I had become stronger, that I had grown, that I could finally protect the people I wanted to protect, but in the end I was still the one who needed to be protected, and I needed to sacrifice my lives in exchange for my own survival. It was only when I faced Creo's cold body that I realized that I was still so weak, still powerless - I couldn't change anything.

Krewe: He committed suicide in front of me.

The battle, known as the "Oden Anomaly", failed to reach Miller as intended, because when the vanguard marched to the east of Oden, the warriors all began to kill each other as if they were crazy. I looked at Crewe's familiar face, but it was a completely different person, like a dancing flame, brutally slaughtering his comrades and subordinates.

Because of Krew's strength, there was no one to stop him when he became an enemy, and as I watched one warrior after another fall under his broadsword, I could only sit on the ground and watch the red-eyed butcher whom I had once regarded as my father approach, unable to do anything, not even the courage to change the status quo.

Then the eldest prince Lancer Arryn fell before me, plunging his sword into Crewe's chest before he fell, but he still couldn't stop his progress. They were all crazy, but I was not affected, why should I be left alone to watch people die one by one, to watch that familiar face turn into a demon, to watch death approach me step by step...... Why don't you let me go crazy too, maybe I can be stronger, I can fight and take up arms to resist, I can lose consciousness and not endure this ordeal......

I was naïve again, thinking that if I went mad like them, I would lose consciousness and become a demon of slaughter, until Crewe forcibly stopped in front of me, and begged me to kill him with tears in his eyes, that I realized how painful they were, and that he had been watching himself kill his best friend, his men, and his Highness the Prince, but he could not control his actions. Crewe is suffering so much, but I can only sit on the ground and do nothing, and I still want to become like them, what have I grown over the years?

"Kyales...... Kill me...... I can't control myself......" Crewe pleaded with me again, but I could only tremble and shake my head back.

"No...... I don't want to ......" There were tears in my eyes, and I had to be willful and angry at such a juncture, and I said that I wanted to be strong, but I could only cry in front of him.

"But there must be a greater conspiracy in this, and you must live...... Live to uncover the truth of it all...... So, kill me, I'm sure you can do it......"

I picked up my sword numbly, my hands gripping the hilt tightly but still trembling, they were dead except me and Krewe, and I was going to swing my sword at the man who had taught me everything, I couldn't, my heart wouldn't allow me to do that, and though I knew there was no other way, I was too cowardly to take a step.

"Forgive me...... For Oden!!" Crewe roared, using all his strength, and crashed into the sword in my hand, the blade piercing his throat and finally halting his progress and ending his slaughter. As if relieved, he fell backwards with a relieved expression. I still wonder why he died with a smile on his face, but the answer is already in my mind.

Seeing Crewe die in front of me, I collapsed, lost all my strength, and began to lose consciousness gradually. Although I later thought it was a hallucination caused by the overdraft, I was still haunted by the glowing circles and mysterious patterns that suddenly appeared on the ground, as well as the torn sky I saw last before I lay on the ground and closed my eyes......

When I woke up again, I put Crewe's body into the river, and I watched Crewe's figure disappear with the flowing water, disappearing from my field of vision, disappearing into my life, and I picked up his greatsword and picked up his mission. As the only survivor, I reported everything I could know about this incident to the King, and at this point the King officially enrolled me in the Royal Guard, in the army that Crewe once commanded, and in the place for which he had fought all his life.

Since everyone in the vanguard died in fratricidal slaughter except for me, there was no excuse for attacking Miller, and the double blow of losing the eldest prince and the captain of the royal guard at the same time, so that Oden had no intention of starting a war for the time being, and the king was very sad about the loss of his beloved son, and also strengthened his monitoring of me, maybe I became a member of the royal guard to better monitor me, a "special element", right?

Time passed, people gradually came out of the grief of that incident, and my comrades in the Royal Guard gradually changed their discrimination against me at the beginning, and I finally proved myself. Looking at the bright night sky, I drew my bow into the air and shot arrows full of my thoughts and hopes, and I remembered the conversation I had with Crewe a few years ago when I looked at the magnificent scenery and snow in the distance.

"But Yalais, have you ever wondered why the snow never stops?" said Crewe, looking into the distance with an awe-struck expression.

"I've asked myself, but I don't have an answer, what do you think?

"Snow is always cold and arrogant, and it is pure and immaculate, and sometimes I feel like it. Isn't my devotion to the kingdom, the loneliness of my life like this snowflake?" was written on Crewe's face.

I didn't understand the sadness in his words, and I didn't know how to answer them.

"You know that in other countries snow always melts and sublimates, and it seems to me that the sublimation of snow is the dedication of its mission to the soul of the rain and the moistening of the earth. The snow here never stops, never sublimated, maybe it's telling me that I haven't fulfilled my mission? I will always fight for the kingdom in this life, whether I live or die, and as a warrior of Oden, our lives will never stop. Maybe that's what Snow wants to tell us, right?" Crewe's tone was very heavy, he looked into the distance in silence for a while, and then suddenly laughed: "Haha, it's too early to say this to you little girl, sooner or later, you will understand! Let's go, let's go and see somewhere else!" He patted me on the shoulder.

I reached out and let the snowflakes fall on my palms, watching as it slowly turned into water and then froze again. "Crewe, you must be watching me at the moment, aren't you? You're a warrior turned into snow, and you'll always be with me......"

The snow never stops, and as a warrior of Oden, my mission will not end, and my battle will not stop.