Guarding the ember is boring.

The village chief always warns me as if a fire rat might snatch the ember away the moment I take my eyes off it.

But honestly, I’ve never even seen a fire rat in my entire life.

At this point, I’d rather just see one. That so-called fire rat.

What kind of creature could it possibly be to carry such a scorching ember around?

Does it have some sort of special skin inside its mouth? Or maybe scales?

What if its teeth are packed so tightly together that they shield the heat?

These random thoughts about the fire rat don’t last long, though.

Because, well… guarding the ember really is that boring.

Once I leave this village, I swear I’ll never do this again.

“Haaaahhhhhh…”

I tilted my head back and let out a deep yawn, quickly wiping away the tears that leaked out before they froze on my face.

Frost blurred my already tired vision.

Something seemed to be moving within the cluster of misty clouds—or maybe not.

The heavens, which once held the sun, now sit empty.

Somewhere up there, it’s said, resides the Ice Dragon.

A dragon so fearsome, they say, that even meeting its gaze will freeze you in place.

Just thinking about it sent a shiver down my spine. I instinctively huddled closer to the brazier, rubbing my hands together as I inched toward the ember’s warmth.

Guarding the ember was still dull, but for a fleeting moment, I felt a renewed sense of its importance.

If this ember ever burns out completely, our village will be buried in ice forever.

“Sol!”

Someone briskly pushed aside the curtain and came in.

I didn’t even need to turn around.

There’s only one person in the entire village who stomps around like this Semna.

She plopped down beside me, flipping her fiery red hair behind her ears like she was showing off a pair of earrings she got for her birthday.

“Dozing off again, aren’t you? You’re gonna get scolded by Dad if you keep this up.”

Typical. The village chief’s daughter through and through, poking at my side like she’s here to supervise me.

It was clear she wanted to check if I was keeping watch properly.

“I wasn’t sleeping. I’ve been watching, I swear.”

“Oh, really? Not lost in thought again?”

“What would I even be thinking about?”

“Oh, you know,” she teased. “That stuff you said before about becoming a traveling knight or gathering more embers or whatever…”

Semna shot me a sidelong glance as she spoke.

I pressed my lips shut.

It’s not that I want to lie to her, but telling her the truth would only make her angry.

“Come on,” she said, as if peering straight into my thoughts. “I’m not gonna get mad. Just tell me.”

She sounded confident, like she already knew what was on my mind. And honestly, she probably did.

We’ve been stuck together since birth, after all.

Just like how I could read her, Semna could read me too.

Normally, I wouldn’t want to say anything. But there was something about the flickering embers, dancing like they had a life of their own, that made it hard to look away. The words spilled out before I could stop them.

“I don’t really care about becoming a traveling knight. Or about gathering more embers, for that matter.”

“Then what?”

“I want to see what’s beyond the snowfields.”

Beyond the fence.

The frozen earth. The snowy expanse.

At those words, Semna’s expression hardened.

“That’s forbidden. No one goes beyond the snowfields.”

“But the traveling knights do. So do the merchants.”

“They do it at the risk of their lives!”

Semna yelled, her voice sharp and loud, before clearing her throat and continuing in a soothing tone.

“Do you even know how dangerous it is out there? Without embers, the cold is unbearable, and there are monsters like the Yeti, and even ghosts. Don’t you remember the trouble we got into when we were kids?”

I smirked.

“This isn’t something to laugh about.”

Semna pinched my lips, frowning.

Still, that incident had become a precious memory for me.

It happened… when Semna turned nine, I think.

She had begged the village chief—her father—for an expensive doll as a birthday gift but got scolded harshly instead. Furious, she declared she wouldn’t live in this village anymore and secretly climbed over the fence.

Naturally, as her childhood friend, I got dragged along, my hand gripped tightly in hers.

What lay beyond the fence was a land of extreme cold.

The wasteland was covered in layers upon layers of snow and ice, making every step a struggle.

It wasn’t terrain meant for two children to traverse.

Even though it was bright that night, thanks to the full moon, we quickly lost our way.

We had tried following the tracks left by the merchants, but somehow, we ended up wandering aimlessly.

And the despair… when I looked back and could no longer see the village.

As we wandered in confusion, disoriented, the cold began to take its toll. My ears felt so numb that I kept touching them, terrified they’d fallen off.

“A ghost!”

Semna screamed at the top of her lungs, claiming she had seen a ghost in the distance, before fainting in terror.

Oddly enough, I wasn’t scared.

What I felt was frustration—that Semna had seen the ghost and I hadn’t.

I wanted to see a ghost too.

But I didn’t want to become one just to see one, so I hoisted Semna onto my back and walked with every ounce of strength I had left.

By some miracle, we made it back to the outskirts of the village before freezing to death.

Of course, as soon as we returned, Semna was whipped mercilessly by the village chief until her calves were on fire.

From that day, the snowfields became Semna’s nightmare.

It wasn’t exactly a happy memory for me either, but it wasn’t entirely bad.

I saw things I never could have within the confines of the village.

The faintly flickering stars.

The swirling snowflakes.

And in the far distance, an ice wall collapsing slowly, rippling like waves over the wasteland.

Everything was new.

The journey through the biting cold, with Semna on my back, left a vivid trail in my memory.

And I couldn’t help but wonder: what lies beyond the vast snowfields, where I’ve yet to leave my footprints?

That curiosity—it burned within me, an ache I couldn’t shake.

For a while, I was feverish, consumed by it.

Whether I was digging potatoes, shearing wool, or carving stone, the thought gnawed at me.

The fever didn’t break for ages.

I remember the day Semna clung to me, sobbing until she was exhausted, begging me not to die.

“You’ve got wanderlust,” someone said.

The village chief muttered as he looked at the sheep-bone dice I had rolled.

“You’ve got wanderlust.”

“What’s wanderlust?”

“It’s when a wandering spirit attaches itself to you. Eat some hot soup, and don’t step outside for three days.”

With two of the village elders practically guarding me, I really couldn’t leave my bed for three whole days.

Maybe it was thanks to the chief’s “prescription,” but the fever eventually subsided.

Still, I doubt it was wanderlust.

If I were to describe it using a word I learned later, it was curiosity.

I wanted to see the frozen earth and the world beyond the snowfields.

I wanted to see, feel, and experience so much more.

I couldn’t shake off that curiosity.

The thought of spending my entire life in this tiny village—tending sheep, guarding embers, and growing old—left me feeling suffocated.

I made up my mind:

I’d leave.

Even if it meant freezing to death or getting mauled by monsters, I wanted to see the world I’d never known.

That decision was made last year.

Since then, I’ve been preparing in secret, step by step.

My birthday is coming up soon.

It’s the day I’ll finally catch up to Semna in age—she likes to pretend she’s my older sister just because her birthday is a few days before mine.

It’s also the age when people will stop treating me like a kid.

My backpack is almost packed.

I haven’t told Semna about it.

“I know you’ve packed your bag.”

I’ve been caught.

Semna patted my back like she was calming a child.

“Sol , it’s not your fault. Boys your age often have silly thoughts like this.”

“Who says?”

“My dad.”

Well, if the village chief said it, there’s nothing I can say in response.

I kept my mouth shut, and Semna, emboldened, started talking more.

“It’s fine to think the sheep-tending life is boring. Sure, you might dream of other things. But there’s no place better than here. You know what they say—leaving home is the start of all hardship. The outside world is hell. The adults aren’t wrong about that.”

“That’s not what I mean...”

“If you’re that curious about the outside, let’s visit Cherinville someday. Before the paths freeze over, our village used to trade with them often. If we tag along with the Zeroth Merchant Group , I’m sure my dad would let us go.”

This girl always says whatever she wants.

I got a bit annoyed and snapped.

“So you want to stay in this village for your entire life, never taking a single step outside? Just live like that forever?”

“I told you, we can go to Cherinville. And what’s so wrong with this village? What’s with the attitude?”

It’s not that I hate our village. It’s a good place.

Every time the Zeroth merchants visit, they say there’s no pioneer village quite like ours.

There’s no conflict, plenty of food, and sturdy fences.

But if that’s all there is to life, how am I any different from the sheep I tend?

Living inside the fence, unable to take a single step beyond it, following the same routine every single day.

“So what? I’m telling you, there’s no place better than here!”

“Maybe, maybe not. But who knows? Maybe, somewhere beyond the snowfields, there’s a place where you don’t need embers to fall asleep without fear of freezing. A place where you can roam freely, wearing nothing but a poncho, doing whatever you want. That place could exist.”

Semna snorted in disbelief.

“There’s no such place.”

“And how do you know that?”

“Hey! Then how do you know there is one?”

“I don’t. That’s why I want to go out and find it.”

“Do you really have to taste something to know if it’s a potato or a turnip?”

Semna smacked the back of my head, catching me off guard. She probably thought I wouldn’t retaliate.

Just as I was gathering all my strength to shove her, someone else pulled back the curtain and entered.

It was Gaya, the next person scheduled to guard the ember after me.

“Solaire, it’s your shift change… Are you two arguing again? Keep it up, and you might actually start liking each other.”

Without missing a beat, we both yelled at the same time.

“Gaya-unnie, he’s spouting nonsense about leaving the village again!”

“Gaya-noona, she hit me and tried to push me!”

“I didn’t push you!”

Gaya shook her head, clearly unimpressed.

“Enough. I don’t want to hear every petty thing you two fight about. But don’t you think there’s something better to do right now?”

“Like what?”

“The merchants are here. Don’t you want to go see?”

Instantly, we forgot our fight and grabbed each other’s hands like best friends.

If the merchants were here, the first thing to do was go check them out.

Fighting could wait until tomorrow.

Gaya waved us off with a smile, but as we were leaving, she tilted her head as if remembering something odd.

“Oh, by the way, their flag wasn’t the usual one.”

“What do you mean? What kind of flag?”

“A yellow one with a black circle on it.”

That was strange. The Zeroth Merchant Group always used a red flag.

“Does that mean it’s not the Zeroth merchants?”

“I don’t know. I just heard the news and came straight here to cover your shift.”

Semna, unable to hold back her curiosity, started poking my side.

“Come on, let’s go already. We’ll figure out who it is when we see them.”

“Yeah, but who could it be?”

If it wasn’t the Zeroth Merchant Group, then it had to be some other caravan—a group that had never visited our village before. And they arrived right before I was planning to leave the village.

What in the world could be going on?

My steps quickened as we headed to the village hall.

Semna complained that we should take it slower, but I couldn’t help it. My feet moved faster and faster on their own.

The farther we got from the ember’s warmth, the stronger the scent of adventure seemed to grow.