I had thought the Forest of Four Seasons was only called that figuratively. A deadly realm teeming with all sorts of environments, where different seasons lived and breathed.

That description wasn't wrong. All I had to do was look across the river to see the varied terrain. The volcanic zone, in particular, had struck me as utterly hopeless.

But it wasn't just the volcanic zone. This place was just as hopeless.

It snowed haha

Wild Grylls

(Photo of the snowy forest)

(Photo of the ground covered in white snow)

(Photo of snow-covered tools)

It was fucking freezing this morning and I wondered why. Turns out it snowed overnight?

Yesterday it was pouring like monsoon season, and now this. What a headache haha

How am I supposed to clear away all this fucking white garbage?

└Heavenly Demon It is beautiful. But how can the season change overnight?

└Sword Masta Must be because it's the Forest of Four Seasons. Common sense really doesn't apply there.

└Slutty Princess It's pretty, just like Heavenly Demon said. Looks like something out of a fairy taleee.

└Heavenly Demon Hmm. Something sensible from you for once.

└Slutty Princess I'd get banned otherwise, so screw it, I'll behave haha

└That can happen overnight? That's wild.

└That's why it's called the Forest of Four Seasons.

└How do you prepare when the seasons change out of nowhere? Humans really can't live there lmao

└Most people don't last a day;; Grylls would've died to the mad dogs without the forum too.

└Starlight Lady It's strange that it suddenly turned to winter. Were there any warning signs?

└Wild Grylls (Photo of Roundfur, who has grown fat and round) This guy did put on weight really fast.

└Starlight Lady Oh my. So adorable. Roundfur really is the perfect name.

└Hey, pick him up and give him a roll. I wanna see if he rolls along.

└Lmaooo but wouldn't he actually roll really well?

└Roundfur! Roll out!

└Starlight Lady You really are awful people.

└All Hail the Sun Wow. It almost never snows in our country, but I bet it snows there at every opportunity.

└Does Setan even get snow? It's a desert.

└Once in a blue moon. But rain or snow there is basically a natural disaster, so it's bad news when it happens.

└Why? Doesn't the sand soak it all up anyway?

└And when that packed sand collapses, you're fucked;; Plus most houses in Setan are built from mud, so rain really fucks them up.

└Passing Dwarf Aren't you cold, though? Those clothes are thin as far as I know.

└Wild Grylls Yep, it's cooooold as fuck. Can you give me some clothes?

└Passing Dwarf I'll give you whatever spares I have. But I'll have to ask my friend for anything custom-made.

└Wild Grylls Ask them for me. If they're not keen, I'll offer another mature mandrake.

└Passing Dwarf Okay, hang on. Might take a bit to find winter clothes your size.

The sudden arrival of winter was a problem, but the worst part was the plummeting temperature. Roundfur and the speed-sloth seemed to be holding up, perhaps thanks to their fur, but I wasn't.

It was bitter, biting cold. Even wrapping myself in the hide I'd used as a carpet did nothing.

'I miss heating...'

What I wouldn't give to turn on the heat. Shivering, I looked around outside the cave.

Fortunately, nothing stood out aside from the piles of snow. But that alone wasn't enough to put me at ease. I needed to see what the other areas were like.

'Has winter hit the gorillas' place too?'

Probably, but who knew? That place was a tropical rainforest. An ordinary forest was one thing, but I'd never heard of winter coming to a tropical rainforest.

Well, this was the Forest of Four Seasons, so it wasn't entirely out of the question.

I huddled by the campfire, barely managing to warm myself as I waited for the dwarf's message. Meanwhile, I searched the forum for information to take my mind off the cold, even a little.

└Wild Grylls It's freezing. Can an internal energy cultivation method help at all?

└Heavenly Demon Practicing your cultivation method will raise your body temperature somewhat. You will have to keep it going as you go about your business, however.

└Sword Masta Heavenly Demon's right. Think of it as generating heat.

└Wild Grylls Thanks. I'll start right away.

└Allfather Really... That forest is beyond curious. It's positively mysterious. Winter arriving overnight. Were there no signs of autumn?

└Wild Grylls I'm not sure about that. It caught me by surprise too;;

└Allfather I see. Still, the fact that winter exists there means you're fortunate, Grylls.

└Wild Grylls What do you mean by that?

└Allfather Winter is a season when energy consumption rises drastically due to the cold. In places with only winter, animals tend to be large, but where all four seasons exist, they are smaller on average. Insects in particular.

└Oh, I've heard that. Places good for humans to live in are good for animals too.

└Isn't Wid like that? The bugs there are fucking huge lmao

└Wid is a country where fairies actually exist. Scary as hell.

└Suspiciously That's why most of us beastfolk are big too, so... Seeing bumper harvests every year makes me proud lol. You guys can't grow corn, can you?

└Fuck, I'm from the Central Plains and all I can do is sigh. Why is all our land shit?

└Shit land my ass lmao. You guys refuse to develop it because you wanna be eco-friendly. Even the elves develop their land lol

└Didn't elves used to have a nature-loving image?

└Yeah, but they started developing like crazy after the elf queen took the throne. Unlocked all their potential.

└The elf queen is one crazy bitch. One speech and she's got the whole public in her pocket, steering them wherever she wants lol

└For real. She knows what elves want. That's what makes her scarier.

└Even the senate banded together going, that bitch is absolutely insane lmao

Amid the useless chatter about rumors and current affairs, Allfather's information stood out.

Animals in regions with winter were smaller on average. In other words, the place where I lived was home to animals that were smaller "on average."

'What the fck? This is what smaller on average looks like?' *

Roundfur's mom alone was the size of a house. The saber-toothed tiger had literally rivaled a house in size too.

If this counted as smaller on average, just how much bigger were the creatures elsewhere? I couldn't even begin to imagine it, and a sense of futility washed over me. I wished I hadn't heard that.

'But there's an even bigger problem...'

Food. Shivering, I went outside.

There was something I'd been too cold to check: the fish. Worried that something might have happened to them, I peered into the metal tub.

"Oh, shit."

Not just the water in the tub, but the fish themselves were frozen solid. Natural frozen storage. All I could do was groan.

Do I have to throw these out?

Wild Grylls

(Photo of frozen-solid fish)

They froze solid in that tiny span of time. Should I toss them? Or just take out the inner cores?

└Heavenly Demon There is no need to worry. If they possess inner cores, they will not freeze to death.

└Wild Grylls That's possible?

└Heavenly Demon What do you think inner cores are for? You may trust me.

└Sword Masta How can you expect him to believe you if you just tell him to trust you? You need to offer more scientific facts.

└Wild Grylls Can you offer any?

└Sword Masta Nope. I'm a dumbass who's only ever studied martial arts haha

└Wild Grylls ...

└Heavenly Demon As I recall, even your martial arts were nothing impressive.

└Sword Masta You motherf**ker?

└Heavenly Demon What did you say?

└Sword Masta Admin, the moderator's abusing me;;

└Don't Abandon the Hero Swearing is wrong too! But Heavenly Demon, please don't do that again either!

└Allfather As Heavenly Demon said, if they possess inner cores, they will still be alive. Not even hibernating, but perfectly alive and well.

└Wild Grylls You can explain it scientifically, right?

└Allfather Yes. Most fish with inner cores have something called ardorotoxin... (omitted) ...which is what makes it possible.

└Wild Grylls Oh. I see.

└Hmm. Understood perfectly.

└I was actually about to explain that myself.

└What a bumper crop of bullshit lmao

└You fuckers never even got near an academy lol

Even so, I still had to worry about food. For starters, I couldn't gather any myself. I'd have to go see to be sure, but in weather this cold, the river would be frozen solid too.

I did at least have smoked tiger meat, but I had no idea how long winter would last.

'Did the animals come to my cave yesterday to prepare for winter?'

It wasn't completely implausible. Shivering, I added wood to the campfire.

Without winter clothes, doing anything was practically impossible. I was wearing both the uniform Slutty Princess had given me and the one from King Leor, and I was still cold.

Wouldn't I have frozen to death already without them?

'Are there any magic items that warm up an interior?'

The thought struck me, and I posted on the forum. I figured I should warm up the cave first, then decide whether to do anything outside.

Are there magic items that warm up an entire room?

Wild Grylls

(Photo of the campfire)

A campfire alone isn't cutting it. Is there something that can heat up the whole room?

└Heavenly Demon My bedchamber is always warm. I shall ask my attendants.

└Sword Masta There are, but just for where you sleep. I use a fireplace to heat the whole house.

└Wild Grylls Would it be hard to heat the whole room with something like a crystal orb?

└Passing Dwarf You'd probably have to tear up the whole floor for that. But you've got mithril under your floor.

└Slutty Princess Dwarf's riiight. Renovating your home would be more efficient than using a crystal orb.

└Wild Grylls So what's the best option?

└Passing Dwarf Better to just build a fireplace. A hole in the ceiling beats a hole in the floor.

└Wild Grylls But that's haaard...

└Passing Dwarf Or freeze to death lol

└Wild Grylls Sigh.

└Passing Dwarf I'll post some basic instructions. Follow those. It's easy as long as you have bricks.

So I'd have to make a hole somewhere after all. I gave a hollow laugh. With winter's untimely assault, renovations were a must.

'The ceiling's the better option, at least.'

The mithril alone ruled out tearing up the entire floor. I started preparing, making a mental list of the materials I'd need.

Passing Dwarf

Here are the winter clothes.

Can't give you shoes. Got none your size.

Thanks, thanks. Even this is a huge help.

Passing Dwarf

I'll put the post up right after I give you these, so read it.

Before getting started, I received winter clothes from the dwarf—something to wear for now.

The fur and leather looked warm just at a glance. The hat in particular was so big that "voluminous" seemed like a fair description.

They looked like the sort of winter clothes a hunter with a gun would wear.

"Oh, man."

Once I put them on, life became bearable. My feet were still freezing, though. I'd just have to make do with thick socks. As luck would have it, there were some suitable ones on the forum.

Now that I was dressed for winter, all that remained was installing a fireplace in the cave. The dwarf had said he'd post right away, so I just needed to follow his instructions.

Here's the fireplace design. Take a look.

Passing Dwarf

(Photo of a fireplace cross-section drawing)

(Photo of a fireplace)

This should be enough, right? The principle's simple, so you'll have it built in no time.

└Wild Grylls Thanks. But I'll have to block off the cave entrance when I light it, right?

└Passing Dwarf Yeah, obviously. Don't bother building a door. Just cover it with thick cloth or hide. That's better.

└Wild Grylls Okay

The cross-section let me figure out the structure, with the dwarf's explanation as an added bonus.

The structure itself wasn't complicated, but the chimney was the problem. I'd need to seal the gaps between the bricks to keep smoke from leaking out. For both the oven and furnace, I'd always used mud to fill those gaps.

What did that mean?

CLANG! CLANG!

"Argh! This is driving me fucking crazy!"

It meant I was having one hell of a time digging up frozen-solid ground. With rain yesterday and snow today, it was practically ice rather than dirt.

Couldn't I pour hot water on it? The thought occurred to me, but I quickly abandoned it. I'd only be creating more work for myself. Pouring water on the ground in winter was insanity.

'I'll have to use a pickaxe.'

In the end, I had no choice but to "mine" it with a pickaxe. What a fucking ordeal.

Once I'd gathered all the dirt I needed, I bought a ladder from the auction house. I wanted to climb up onto the cave roof and find a suitable spot.

The ladder I'd bought for butchering last time was a short stepladder. This one was tall enough to get me up high.

'Somewhere around here...'

Something landed softly.

I was inspecting the roof, searching for a suitable spot, when a white object settled gently onto the back of my hand. I was wearing gloves, so I couldn't feel it, but that didn't matter.

More drifted down, one after another. It wasn't just the one white object.

I raised my head to the sky. Dark clouds had gathered without my noticing and completely hidden the sun.

'Wow...'

Garbage was falling from the sky. What an utterly shitty place.

Had it read my mind?

WHOOOOOSH!!!

"Aaaaaagh!!!"

In just thirty seconds, the snow evolved into a blizzard.

'What the hell did I do wrong?!'

The sheer injustice was killing me.