"They told me you died, and that it was awful."
Yuumi's eyes were full of tears, then the cold wind blew into her face, forcing her to hurriedly wipe it.
"They also said you were a hero... and that you looked really, really cool..."
Yuumi looked like she was about to burst into loud sobs. Book was wobbling unsteadily too, looking as if he could not handle Yuumi's restless movements anymore.
"Uh..."
Caleb had not expected Yuumi to be this sad. He could not help growing a little curious about what exactly had been said about him. Had it really been that tragic? Enough to make a yordle cat cry for him?
Caleb looked at Olaf's broad back ahead, and only then remembered that he had even left something like a dying message with him.
Caleb hurriedly started looking for Kai'Sa.
Fortunately, Kai'Sa was easy to find. Among all the women, her clothes were the most unusual.
However, Caleb seemed to have overlooked something. If Yuumi saw him, the first person she would go looking for was Kai'Sa.
"Waaah, Kai'Sa, look! Caleb's still alive, and all his limbs are still attached!"
Yuumi's shout drew the attention of almost every Iceborn nearby.
"You've got to be kidding me..."
Apparently, Caleb's path of public embarrassment was not limited to the twin cities, or even to the Freljord.
"Did you have to yell that loudly...?"
Caleb had only just finished complaining when he saw Kai'Sa's reddened eyes.
Then, completely bewildered, he was hugged.
Yuumi, too, clung to his face and rubbed against him fiercely.
Caleb was growing more and more curious about how exactly he had supposedly died.
"Hey, brother! So what you said wasn't your final words?"
Zev threw an arm around him. Caleb's great death story had just spread through the camp, and now he had reappeared a whole day later.
"Let me guess. Olaf told these great stories?"
Caleb could not help narrowing his eyes and making another dry complaint.
"Yeah. He told it in a really moving way. Said you stayed behind to cover us and kept fighting like mad against a giant bear as tall as a mountain."
"Why not say I broke his pinky while you're at it?"
Seeing Olaf arrive after hearing the commotion, Caleb could not help pressing a hand to his forehead.
"Hey, doesn't that make you sound heroic? In the Freljord, we usually turn death into a great story..."
"Getting slapped to death in one hit and getting slapped to death after circling around for ages aren't basically the same thing?"
Caleb really could not understand this bunch's slightly short-circuited brains.
A husky only became a proper Siberian sled dog once its CPU got cooled down. Had these people's thought processes also been frozen until they stopped working normally?
Caleb could not understand it very well, but right now, one person was in his arms and one cat was on his head.
Even if he wanted to kick Olaf onto his backside, he did not have a foot free to do it.
"All right, all right... I'm not missing anything..."
Seeing Kai'Sa still sniffling, Caleb spoke helplessly.
Kai'Sa was practically hanging off him, so to avoid blocking the group behind them, Caleb had to keep stepping forward with both feet.
Yeah... Caleb felt like his skin was getting thicker and thicker.
"He came back?"
When Sejuani heard her subordinate report it, she could not help frowning.
This truly had exceeded everyone's expectations.
In the Freljord, the only person who had faced the demigod Valhir directly and returned in human form was the witch seated upon the throne at the deepest frozen lake in the region guarded by the Frostguard.
Lissandra.
The current Freljord could truly be described as split into three powers.
The Frostguard led by Lissandra.
The Avarosans united by Ashe.
And the Winter's Claw, where Caleb currently was.
As for demigods and leaders, they rarely faced mortals directly.
To mortals, receiving their protection was already an enormous blessing.
Seeing their true face was something far beyond ordinary reach.
Even a tribe like the Hearthblood, who persisted in forging better tools and weapons, could not meet Ornn in person.
Only Volibear could be considered an exception.
After all, even when his followers called down thunder, a massive phantom of him would appear behind them.
"How effective is the great cauldron?"
It was dusk again, and the Winter's Claw was still rushing westward, away from Volibear.
"Not ideal."
Sejuani shook her head and looked toward the setting sun in the distance.
"That's impossible!"
Caleb could not accept that result very well. That was something he had only obtained after bluffing that giant bear.
It could practically be called something he had won by gambling with his life.
"There's soup in the cauldron, but it doesn't have that miraculous an effect."
Sejuani spoke in a low voice.
"Maybe the ladle for scooping the soup is also an artifact?"
As soon as Caleb thought of that, he could not help feeling a little regretful too.
He had calculated everything, yet he had missed that detail.
If the cauldron was an artifact, and the soup was that miraculous, then why couldn't the soup ladle be an artifact too?
That would be a ladle made by Ornn!
"Fine. At least everyone in the tribe gets soup to drink."
"We calculated it. It still isn't enough."
The Second Claw had already quietly shifted to the flank of the First Claw. There, Vrynna would help the First Claw discover danger as early as possible.
At the same time, with two directions of attack, the Winter's Claw's raiding range had also expanded by quite a lot.
"How much are we short?"
Caleb fell into thought. This time, even he did not know what the best solution would be.
If they relied on Yuumi's portal, they could certainly transport enough food over, but it would take time.
However, simply giving people fish was no different from drinking poison to quench thirst.
When winter came next year, hearthbound of the Winter's Claw would still freeze to death and starve to death.
Precious Iceborn would still be swallowed by wild beasts during battles, or die of untreated injuries.
Calculated this way, the Freljord's internal losses were even more severe than those of the twin cities, which were about to go to war.
If this kind of sacrifice had to continue forever, then even if the Freljord were unified, it would only remain a savage land.
Caleb could not accept people dying, especially when they could clearly choose another way to survive.
Freljordians were a little like Zaunites. They had no choice, so they could only risk their lives.
However, Zaun at least had a decent geographical position, and it could rely on the upper city for scraps.
The Freljord truly had nothing to rely on. They could only depend on courage and faith in demigods.
Caleb now understood why the system wanted him to unify this place.
Noxus, Demacia, and even Ionia farther east already had deeply rooted beliefs.
But the Freljord was only like this because this was the only way its people could survive.
After all, there were only so many places on the ships each year, and of course, not everyone could accept leaving their homeland behind.
If Caleb told them, "You can live this abundantly too," then surely people would be very happy.
"I have an idea."
Caleb looked at Sejuani's face after she removed her helmet, then at the sun that was almost sinking behind the mountains.
"Let's hear it."
Things had already reached this point. If they could only solve part of the tribe's food and warmth problem, Sejuani definitely would not stop.
She understood the principle that people feared unfairness more than scarcity.
So even if they had to keep gambling on luck every day, they still had to hunt.
As for the method Caleb mentioned, Sejuani was naturally willing to listen.
"Although we don't have herds to get us through this winter, there is one tribe that does. Not only do they have them, they have a lot!"
Caleb's words immediately drew Sejuani's attention.
"Does it match the direction we're traveling?"
There was a faint chill in Sejuani's voice. Of course, she had also thought of that answer.
"The Ice Children!"
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