Episode 273
The atmosphere changed immediately after setting foot in the snowy field.
Not only Lanfero, who had been leisurely riding his horse, but also Ramon, Verita, and even Mir’s expressions became as sharp as animals, and I could read both caution and slight tension in their attitudes.
Is that even necessary?
A snowy field is an open place.
Since it is not suitable for hiding or covering, the risk of surprise attack is low and the enemy’s approach can be quickly detected.
Even if it was the middle of the night, if the moon was visible, the moonlight would seep into the snowy field, illuminating all directions, creating a dreamlike scene… … .
Personally, I thought it would be much more dangerous in the forest at night with limited visibility.
“Have you ever been to the North?”
“Sinful punishment is carried out regardless of location.”
Verita answered quietly.
That’s right, religious people sometimes twist their words when they say they can do it.
Anyway, the first day passed without incident, despite their caution.
The problem started the next day.
When I woke up in the morning, snow was falling lightly from the sky.
“oh… … .”
It felt a bit cold for some reason.
I leisurely took in the sight for a moment.
Of course, it snowed in the islands and where I lived, but seeing snow in a snowy field definitely felt different.
Until a few days ago, I was halfway into spring, so I felt like my sense of the season would be paralyzed… … .
On the contrary, looking at the snow falling heavily on a spring day, I felt somewhat romantic.
“What do you think, Ramon?”
“If I’m good at this, my career paths will overlap.”
It was a slightly serious voice.
I took a quick look and saw Lanfero and Ramon talking with serious faces.
“Is there a village around here?”
“If you go west for about half a day, you’ll find [Knolltown].”
“But there will be quite a delay.”
“That’s right.”
Lanfero thought slightly and asked again.
“What food is left?”
“There is still room. “If you eat sparingly, you can last up to five days.”
“It’s close, but… … . Let’s go further for now. “If we get to the point where we can’t move forward, let’s just hang in there.”
“All right.”
A point where you can’t move on?
It was around that afternoon that I learned what those words meant.
Whioooooooo!
The fact that snow is romantic is a cancellation.
At some point, the weather started to snow like crazy, so I couldn’t tell what to do.
For your information, the heavy snow takes away the fatigue from the horses, so we get off the carriage and walk to relieve the burden as little as possible.
The first snowstorm I experienced was literally a nightmare.
It felt like there was fog because I couldn’t see all around, and the wind that made it difficult to even open my eyes felt like I was in the middle of a typhoon.
Additionally, the snow that touched my body melted and quickly took away my body heat… … .
Looking at it this way, the blizzard was the worst disaster combining fog, strong winds, and heavy rain.
“This way!”
In the all-white world, we couldn’t hear each other’s voices very well, but Ramon’s surprisingly loud voice reached our ears clearly.
Ramon checked the compass and gave us direction even in the snow.
Thanks to this, we were able to move forward slowly but steadily.
Then, when the wind strength exceeded a certain level, Lanfero opened his mouth without hesitation.
“I need to rest.”
At those words, we immediately got into the carriage as if we had been waiting.
And I sat inside the carriage, around the [smoke-free torch], and warmed my chilled body.
I operated the machine while sitting slightly. I used chloride ball to preserve body temperature, and my skin, which had been pure white, regained its original color in an instant.
As I was driving away, I gently released the aerodynamic force in all directions to create a slightly warmer temperature inside the carriage.
Ramon’s expression, which had been particularly shaking, relaxed.
“Hey… “This magic tool’s performance is amazing.”
“… … .”
Then I made eye contact with Lanferro, and I saw the man smiling.
Mir said, looking out of the carriage.
“Is it okay if I leave it like that? I’m worried that I might freeze to death… … .”
“It’s okay because it’s cold-blooded. They can withstand the cold much better than those of us wearing layers of clothing. “You just need to brush it thoroughly after the snow stops falling.”
“aha.”
I asked, looking at Ramon.
“Sir, when will the snow stop?”
“well… … . “Maybe only Ymir knows.”
“… Why Ymir all of a sudden?”
Mir, who was listening to the story, became excited.
“The greatest Titan, the hero of the North, a legend, a myth!”
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“I know who it is.”
Looking at Ramon, who was pressing Mir’s head while he was talking excitedly, the goblin also smiled slightly and said.
“It’s a northern idiom. The only person who could see the beginning and end of a blizzard at a glance was Ymir, a frost giant with a physique as large as a mountain. That means we have no way of knowing. “You may have to stay still all day today, or even tomorrow if you are unlucky.”
“hmm… … .”
Only then did I admit that I had been thinking about heading north too easily.
I thought there was nothing comparable to the southern desert in terms of its barren environment, but this place is just as good.
If there is a huge sandstorm-tornado in the south that wipes out even buildings, it feels like there is a crazy snowstorm in the north.
‘So, if you’re unlucky, it will take until the 20th day.’
After being convinced, I took the beef jerky out of my pocket and chewed it slowly.
This magic torch protects your body temperature, but it does not have enough fire power to cook food, so you will have to supplement calories by chewing dried food for the time being.
Crackling-.
At that time, a loud sound was heard.
I took a quick look to see Ramon gnawing on something that looked like a stick with his sharp teeth, and the shape looked somewhat familiar.
It was an energy bar that Junian, a teaching teacher, ate in the past. It is a very tasteless preserved food made from solidified grains.
They said that if you become a hero, you’ll eat until you get bitten. I guess that’s true. Verita is also seen chewing something similar.
… Regardless of the taste, it seems to have a great function as food, so maybe one day I will be able to chew that too.
Anyway, how much time passed while slowly replenishing calories like that?
When it felt like about five hours had passed, Ramon, looking outside through the carriage, spoke softly.
“The snow has stopped a bit.”
“Then can I move?”
“Yes, but… … .”
“It’s been a while since I came here and they give me a warm welcome.”
Lanferro said with a chuckle and stood up, grabbing his mace.
After a while, I also realized the presence of enemies surrounding me on all sides.
“What are they?”
“The famous snow troll of the North. “They are almost in charge of the welcome ceremony.”
“It’s a troll… … .”
Did these trolls have enemies with me in a past life?
The Jewel Mountains are the same, strangely enough, when I enter a place like this, it seems to welcome me for the first time.
“Is there any difference from a regular troll?”
“The leather is a bit tougher and resistant to cold. “They can survive without eating anything for several months at most, but they usually hide and sleep under the snow fields and pounce when their prey approaches.”
“How many months can you last?”
“Well, of course, wouldn’t you like to melt the snow under the snowfield and drink it?”
“hmm.”
I looked outside the carriage. A group of snow trolls could be seen peeking over the hill.
The appearance of these guys was strange.
Overall, it looked like a monkey, but it was skinny with almost no muscles, and only the arms were strangely elongated.
Moreover, his stomach was bulging as if he was full of water, and that appearance was probably due to his eating habits.
As I was assessing the snow trolls, Lanfero gave instructions.
“Ramon and Mir keep their word. “I think that every time one animal is injured, the arrival will be delayed by 2-3 days.”
“yes.”
“I get it.”
“And Sister and Luan, get ready.”
Lanfero grinned.
“It’s a battle.”
* * *
The snow has definitely stopped to some extent.
The snowstorm that had been raging like crazy just moments ago was falling from the sky as if it had never seen anything like that before.
Just like the seasoning gently sprinkled by a top chef. Is the analogy a bit strange?
‘anyway… … .’
I saw snow trolls surrounding me everywhere.
There seemed to be about 30 of them, but when I looked at them up close, they were smaller than I thought. I wonder if one or three of them combined would be about the size of a troll from the Jewel Mountains.
Compared to the Gem Mountains, where food is everywhere, this seems like the natural behavior of snow trolls.
Still, because they had a lot of fur, they looked a little bigger than they actually were.
Kwaaaa-!
The moment the guy with the particularly scarred face let out a scream, snow trolls attacked from all directions.
I opened and closed my right hand.
‘Good.’
The damaged vein of the right arm was completely recovered.
It took about a week to get to the snowy field, and it was a natural result since I did nothing during that time and just repeated the exercises and meditation.
For the first time in a while, I unleashed my energy to my fullest and wrapped my arms around Gigi.
I have an ironclad rule of wielding my blade against monsters, but today, for some reason, I feel like I want to hit my body.
First of all, the guy who looks like the leader.
I immediately closed the distance between me and the scarred eye troll. This guy’s eyes opened wide and he swung his arms reflexively.
The fingernails had also grown long enough to be deformed.
Instead of dodging, I cut him down with my sword.
Not just the fingernails, but the entire arm.
Kiaaaaaagh-!
A tearing sound was heard and green blood splattered.
With the thought that even snow trolls’ blood color is no different from trolls, I slapped this guy’s chest.
Paaaang-!
When dealing with trolls, internal injuries are better than external injuries.
Regenerative power is also excellent only for regenerating muscles and bones, but repairing internal organs takes much longer than that.
At least I’ve never seen a troll survive after having its brain smashed or its heart exploded.
Pooh wow!
The snow troll’s eyes rolled over, and it fell down, spurting out blood.
From this point on, I started killing one blow after another.
My sluggish body became energized.
When this heat cools down, it will get cold again, but I didn’t think about that right now.
Kill the snow troll in front of you, find the next one, kill it, find the next one… … . As I mechanically repeated a series of actions, I suddenly realized that there were no more enemies around me.
When I looked around, not only the trolls near me but also the ones on the other side had all been reduced to pieces of meat and scattered across the snowy field.
‘ah. Lanfero clan leader.’
Come to think of it, I couldn’t see Lanferro fighting because I was concentrating on the battle for the first time in a long time.
I wanted to see how vampires fight.
The snow trolls around him looked as if they had been hit by some kind of hammer, and the black parasol in Lanfero’s hand was slightly stained with blood.
Lanfero, who made eye contact, asked.
“Do you have anything to say?”
“Did you hit him with that?”
“yes. why?”
“… “It doesn’t seem like the vampire fighting style I was thinking of.”
“aha. “I guess I thought it would suck blood, turn into a bat, or something like that.”
Lanferro laughed and wiped the blood off his parasol. She pattered, green blood soaking the pure white snow field.
“Not really. “That’s prejudice.”
“okay.”
“Let’s hurry rather than that. The smell of snow troll blood is foul. “Soon hungry beasts will gather.”
Lanfero looked up at the sky and muttered.
“The snow has stopped falling now.”
* * *
Even after that, the journey was not smooth.
This was because from this point onwards, monsters attacked whenever they had the chance.
In my experience, it was as frequent as the Jewel Mountain Range, which was considered one of the four major bans of the empire, but of course the level difference was significant.
No monster as difficult as Gemsu appeared.
Of course, if this group were to come out, they would be able to defeat them without much damage.
So the reason our journey was slow was the environment of this northern snowfield itself.
“The mindset to keep in mind in the North is to let go of impatience. When waiting, you should wait calmly without thinking about anything else. “If you rush and ignore the weather, you are likely to be found as a frozen body.”
“You can’t let down your guard even after a snowstorm has swept through. You must proceed while carefully checking your surroundings. There are many pits in the snowfield that you cannot get out of once you fall into them, but as the snow covers them, it becomes difficult to tell them apart with the naked eye. Could it be a trap created by nature? “Sometimes there may be signs posted, so be sure to check carefully.”
Strange land.
We moved forward slowly, increasing our knowledge about the North one by one.
It wasn’t easy to let go of my impatience, but at times like that, I tried to calm my mind by looking at Mir.
This guy was much more impatient than me because he became extremely cold-hearted from the moment he set foot in the North.
We moved slowly but steadily towards our destination… … .
The problem arose about five days ago.
All food and water were gone.
I’m going to drink it. Even if I could solve the problem by melting the nearby snow, there was no other way to eat it.
When people are hungry, they become sensitive.
Especially for someone like me who has a big appetite, even missing just one meal can have a significant impact.
From then on, I became quieter, and we almost stopped talking to each other. It’s a wise move.
While having a pointless conversation, the tone of one’s tone could become harsh, and it could have turned into an argument. Such disputes will lead to unnecessary waste.
Sometimes, we would walk all day without saying a word.
Purr… … .
I could feel that even the horse, which was born strong, was starting to struggle. It was not an easy journey, so I understood.
Cold and sleepy.
When there wasn’t a blizzard, I went out even in the middle of the night, which messed up my lifestyle, and because of that, I felt tired even after sleeping for quite a long time. It feels like my body is rotting away.
Since I only quenched my thirst with water made from melted snow, my physical condition was ruined. Although my senses have become quite sharp.
The moment when the group reached their limit in many ways… … .
“ah… see.”
Lanferro’s voice cracked.
“That place. “Snowville, the village we manage.”
midnight.
At the end of the dark blue snowy field, the shape of a small village was visible.
I never thought that man-made lights would look this dazzling.
We finally entered the north and reached the first village.
As I got closer to the village, I became more concerned about what to prioritize: my appetite and my need for sleep.
no. Washing comes first.
Clothes that hadn’t been changed in a long time had a bad smell. Although I had an extra pair, winter clothes were so bulky that I couldn’t put much in them, which was a shame.
however… … .
An unexpected thing happened at the entrance to the village.
“Excuse me, but are you Lanfero Nosferatu, the head of Heros’ [Snoville] branch?”
There was a checkpoint in this not-so-big-looking village, and a man standing there who looked like a security guard looked at us and said:
Lanfero said, tilting his head crookedly.
“however?”
“… We are very sorry, but we have decided that from now on our village will no longer allow the Corrupted. Please go back.”
fantasy,
