Chapter #56: Hunt Beneath the Eternal Snow
Olivier Mira Armstrong walked with a steady stride across the hardened ice surrounding the walls of Briggs. The northern wind cut like invisible blades, tearing vapor from every breath, yet she did not slow. Her eyes, as sharp as her sword, scanned every shadow, every irregularity in the terrain.
Something was wrong.
Not just with the attack. Not just with the Drachman runes or the conveniently placed corpses. There was something deeply twisted in the way General Falken had acted from the very beginning. Too fast. Too certain.
"That bastard is hiding something," she muttered.
She turned on her heel and headed toward the provisional infirmary, where she knew she would find Buccaneer adjusting his new automail arm. The metallic click of the mechanism was unmistakable.
"Major," she said as she entered. "We're going hunting."
Buccaneer looked up, one eyebrow raised.
"Hah. And what exactly are we hunting, Colonel?"
Olivier didn't hesitate.
"A snake… and an Archaeostepis."
Buccaneer fell silent for a second, then burst into loud laughter that echoed through the room.
"A snake in Briggs?!" He clutched his chest. "HAHAHAHA! I don't know how much biology you've studied, Colonel, but snakes are cold-blooded. They hate the North. They hate the cold."
Olivier looked at him with glacial patience.
"I know," she replied. "This snake is different."
Buccaneer stopped laughing.
"…I really don't like the sound of that."
Hours later, the two of them were stationed outside the walls, equipped with thermal cloaks and weapons at the ready. The sky was blanketed by gray clouds heavy with the promise of a storm.
From atop the wall, Falken watched them.
"Be back before nightfall," he ordered. "Or I will issue the order and you'll be tried for desertion."
Olivier didn't even turn around.
"I'll be delighted, General."
They disappeared into the vast white expanse. They searched caves, crevices, the remains of old abandoned watch posts—any place where spies might shelter from Briggs's brutal cold.
The first day, they found nothing.
The second day, nothing again.
On the third day, the storm arrived.
Snow fell with savage force, erasing tracks, burying landmarks, turning the world into a white sea with no horizon. The wind howled like a wounded beast.
"This is getting ugly," Buccaneer growled, driving the axe of his automail arm into the ground to steady himself.
"We can't turn back now," Olivier replied. "Not yet."
But night fell faster than expected.
Trapped by the storm, they improvised a shelter among the rocks and lit a small fire—just enough to keep from freezing to death. Olivier pulled out a flare and fired it into the sky.
"If anyone sees it," she said, "they'll come for us at dawn."
The fire crackled. The silence grew heavy.
Buccaneer watched Olivier for a long moment before speaking.
"Tell me the truth, Colonel," he said at last. "Did you kill those soldiers?"
Olivier didn't move.
"Tell me now," he continued. "If you did, I'll help you escape. Wouldn't be the first time I've done something like that."
She met his gaze head-on.
"I would never kill a soldier of my country without just cause," she said firmly. "And if those three had died by my hand, it would have been by my sword, not by gunfire. I would have given them an honorable death."
The fire reflected the iron resolve in her eyes.
"Not the way Snake did."
Buccaneer frowned.
"Snake?"
"That was the spy's name," she answered. "And the other one… his name was something with Arc… Armdem… Armd."
Buccaneer's face went pale.
"Armd…?" he whispered. "Are you sure?"
"Yes. Do you know him?"
Buccaneer stayed silent for a few seconds, then spoke in a low voice.
"Armd was a soldier who died four years ago."
Olivier felt a knot tighten in her stomach.
"He was General Falken's brother," Buccaneer continued. "His former second-in-command."
The wind roared louder.
"Armd's death shattered him," Buccaneer went on. "Drachma noticed. They exploited the weakness. Attacked without mercy."
Olivier listened in silence.
"We defended Briggs as best we could," he said. "But we lost ground. They managed to slip an entire platoon into the base."
Buccaneer clenched his metal fist.
"Then Falken came out of his quarters."
Olivier looked up.
"Alone," Buccaneer continued. "Unarmed. He slaughtered them with his bare hands. I've never seen anything like it."
The fire hissed.
"After that, he ordered the use of an experimental missile," Buccaneer added. "It destroyed much of Drachma's armory. They retreated."
He swallowed.
"I never saw him the same again. Never so serious… or so lost."
Silence claimed the shelter.
Olivier closed her eyes for a moment.
"Then I wasn't wrong," she said. "Falken isn't just hiding something. He's willing to burn Briggs to the ground to settle a debt with the dead."
Buccaneer nodded slowly.
"And if Armd is alive…"
"Then the enemy isn't outside," Olivier finished. "He's inside."
The storm continued to rage, as if the North itself were listening.
And in the eternal snow of Briggs, the hunt had just changed direction.
End of chapter