Barlin was naturally delighted. If they went with Kohei's plan, he at least wouldn't be hunted down or killed… Even if it meant losing the Griffin Winter Manor.

He would then find somewhere to lie low and think of a way to leave the South Pole once this nonsense blew over.

And if he couldn't leave before winter ended, he could just find someplace quiet, dig a hole deeper than what they had managed before.

Barlin initially considered infiltrating an unoccupied research station to take temporar