Permafrost

50: Kingdom

⭐️Chapter 50: Kingdom

"Oww, my nose!" Jack exclaimed.

"Oh! S-sorry everyone, that question caught me a little off guard..." Corrin replied nervously.

"Well, answer his question. Are you royalty or not?" Silvia asked calmly and gently.

Corrin could only sigh in defeat. He didn't know it would be this short...

"I am..." he groaned.

Cosmo's hands flew to his head.

"YOU WHA-"

"SHHHHH! Someone might hear!" Fang hissed.

"Oh. Sorry. But seriously, you're royalty?!"

"Yes...I'm the soon to be Prince of the Ice Kingdom..." Corrin replied, putting one hand on his hip and one hand on his head.

The Infernos were silent. This whole time, they thought they were traveling with a regular person, perhaps a mere peasant from the Ice Kingdom. Now they knew they weren't, and that this person was much more important than they'd thought. He had the power to possibly put the group in the dungeon if they weren't careful. 

"Cool! I'm glad we allied with the right person, then!" Ryn said, as if there was nothing wrong with it.

"Woah, woah, wait, you're okay with this?!" Jack exclaimed.

"Yeah, why?" 

"This guy's father was probably the one who sent the Frost army after us! Right?!" Jack asked.

"Yeah, that was him..." Corrin replied, prepared for the anger that probably followed.

"You wanna explain that, buddy?" Fang growled through clenched teeth, though it was hidden behind his bandana.

Corrin sighed. He supposed it was time to tell them everything...that is, until they heard more footsteps.

"I'll explain it all when we get to my room, I promise. Now everyone hurry up and let's go!"

The Infernos shut up from there and followed Corrin as he went up the stairs to the next floor. They were amazed by the sight of it. Everything seemed to be made out of ice, or at least most of it was. There were tall pillars made out of marble that held the ceiling up, and the walls were made out of a kind of brick that resembled ice but wasn't quite it. Corrin looked around nervously before beckoning the group to follow. 

Everyone was trying to run across the hall as fast as they could, without making much noise. The fact that the area was big didn't help, as their footsteps echoed throughout the place.

"Um...where exactly is you room from here?" Silvia asked.

"We have to get across three hallways, including this one," Corrin replied. "Shouldn't be too hard, right? The door's over there."

Sure enough, there was a door only a few feet away from them. Corrin went up to it, and put an ear to it. He waited in silence for a little bit before opening them. The hallway that it revealed had many doors the sides, each labeled appropriately. Everyone walked down the hall at a brisk pace, as running could've made more noise.

As they walked down, they began looking at the labels on the doors. They all said things like supplies, tools, backups, and so on. Guess this was a storage hallway. As they were looking around, Fang skidded to a halt when he noticed something. It was a door labeled "weapons", and he could've sworn he heard movement.

"Fang, what are you doing?" Cosmo asked.

"I just...nevermind," Fang grumbled.

"Come on, we can come back to that later!" Jack said.

"I know..."

Once they got to the end of the hallway, Corrin once again listened to the door before opening it, this time revealing a much larger hall with a staircase at the end. It was magnificent, seemingly made out of perfectly carved crystal. There were large pillars all over, something the group could hide behind if needed.

"That staircase at the end will take us up to the second floor, and from there we can get to my room," Corrin said.

"Got it. Then let's get going!"

The group made their way over as fast as they could. They were about halfway across the room when they heard a door open. Immediately, they all split up to the closest pillar they could find, and hid behind it by shifting into squid form. They heard the sound of boots against the floor, as it echoed throughout the room. Slowly, they peeped around to see who it was.

It was Tempest! She was talking to another Rinkling guard.

"I swear, those brats are on this mountain somewhere! They made me find jewelry for them, then ditched me on the spot! What kind of people do that??" she growled.

"At least they didn't take it and use it for their own purposes, eh?"

"Ugh...I guess..."

The group waited silently for the two to pass. They kept going on about the Infernos, and then they were out of earshot. A door closed soon after, signifying that they had left. The Infernos regrouped and resumed their walk. Or, speed-walk, because they were still walking very fast across the halls.

They soon got to the other side without any further disruptions. Corrin led them to the staircase, and they all went up. He then swiftly led them to his room, and they followed without a word. He halted by a large white and blue door with snowflake and diamon patterns. Corrin then pulled down on the handle and pushed open the door.

"Here it is!" he announced proudly.

The Infernos slowly walked into the massive room. An ice chandelier hung from the ceiling, and there were visible dressers and desks with chairs around. The light felt oddly calm, and lit up the gray-colored room with blue light. Everything was super neat and tidy, and no specks of dirt were visible. One of the things that caught the Infernos' attention however, was the giant wooden doors on the side.

"Oh? What are those doors for?" Silvia asked.

"Ah, that leads to a balcony that looks over the kingdom. I wouldn't recommend going there, since people might see you and-"

"I wanna see the kingdom!" Cosmo exclaimed.

Corrin was jolted by the sudden interruption.

"Uh, I don't know if-"

"Pleeeease?" Ryn asked.

"Alright, alright..."

Corrin walked over to the doors and unlocked them, pulling them open. The Infernos followed suit, and they soon found themselves in another room that had doors that looked like they were made out of thick ice. Corrin pulled those open too, and led the group out to the balcony. As everyone stepped out, they looked out into the horizon.

And there it was.

The Rinkling kingdom.