Chapter 24. I give you snowflakes that bloom coldly. (6)
Representatives from each subjugation group gathered around the circular table.
Mikel, standing in the center, nodded towards the back. A knight who was standing with a tired face stepped forward.
“One of the scouts who went out to the northern mountains.”
The driver saluted Mikel’s introduction.
“It’s called Nielsen.”
“I urgently convened the meeting because the matter seems serious, so please understand.”
Mikel nodded toward Nielsen.
“Please explain in detail.”
“Yes, my lord.”
Nilsson took out a small box he had kept in his pocket.
“Please look at this.”
People’s eyes focused on the box. The box itself was ordinary with nothing unusual.
Sweet.
The moment the lid was opened, people’s faces froze in confusion.
“What is this?”
“statue……?”
Inside the box was an ice sculpture in the shape of a rabbit. It makes good use of the dynamic appearance of running using all four legs.
“This is not a statue.”
Nielsen said in a heavy voice.
“It was a living… creature.”
People stared at his mouth in surprise.
“What do you mean?”
“Tell me more about it.”
As Nielsen’s attention focused on me, he began to speak with a more nervous expression.
“A few days ago, under Lady Leia’s orders, we organized a scouting party.”
“…….”
“Our mission was to avoid fighting monsters as much as possible and proceed north.”
Mikel’s eyes landed on Leah. Leah just nodded at him without saying a word.
“And what we discovered while conducting reconnaissance was that the monsters were moving south as if they were running away from something.”
“Avoiding something…?”
“The further we advanced, the more severe the snowstorm became. It got to the point where we couldn’t see anything right in front of us. So that was when we were debating whether to turn back.”
Nielsen pointed to the rabbit statue.
“I found this rabbit running quickly as if it was being chased by something. A blizzard was following closely behind it.”
There was something a little strange about Nielsen’s expression.
“A blizzard… chasing a rabbit?”
“Are you a poet and not a knight?”
Nielsen didn’t care about people’s absurd reactions.
“No, that was the right thing to do.”
“…….”
“In the end, the rabbit was caught in a blizzard and froze like this.”
There was no wavering in his voice.
“All we could do was pluck the rabbit frozen in place and return.”
A strange silence enveloped the people. Some people looked suspiciously, wondering if Nielsen had seen something wrong.
Suddenly, Mikel stretched out his hand toward the rabbit statue.
“My lord, be careful!”
Nielsen realized what he was trying to do and was shocked.
“It’s okay.”
Mikel spoke calmly and flipped the rabbit statue over. Then the rabbit’s front paw, half cut off, was exposed.
“Oh, my God….”
“One-sided!”
It was a moment when I understood what Nielsen said about ‘pulling’ the rabbit.
It looked as if it had been broken with force, but the cut surface was clean without a single drop of blood.
“It was completely stuck to the ground, so I couldn’t bring it out like this.”
Nielsen muttered with a distressed look on his face.
“Holding it doesn’t freeze my hands.”
Mikel said, taking his hand away from the rabbit statue.
“But the moment I hold it, I feel a chill that pierces my bones. This is no ordinary ice.”
“There is one more strange thing.”
Leah, who had been closely observing the table earlier, joined in.
“Even though my father was holding it, the ice didn’t melt at all.”
That was a sharp point.
“And now that I think about it, it really is.”
“Not a single ounce of water was dissolved.”
Mikel even brought a torch and pointed it at the statue. But the result was the same.
The ice sculpture shined flawlessly and beautifully, as if it had frozen the rabbit’s last moments.
However, within that beauty, I felt an unknown chill and an eerie power.
‘That is Arya’s power.’
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I hid my admiration beneath my tongue.
In the original work, it was depicted how Leah stopped Abel.
The power to trap living things in eternal time. The scariest thing is that the ice not only freezes the outside, but also the inside.
The aria, similar to the cadenza, causes irreversible change. In other words, the area cut by Aria’s blade never regenerates.
‘Abel in the original was stabbed in the stomach by Aria.’
Cain stabbed him from behind as his legs were frozen and he could not move.
Throbbing.
When I imagined that situation, I felt a pain in my stomach for no reason.
“If we break the ice like this….”
“It will probably just fall into pieces.”
“What on earth is this ice? Is it really that blizzard?”
People looked at each rabbit statue and exchanged opinions. However, no one could come up with a clear number or conclusion.
“I think,”
Mikel’s calm voice calmed the noisy atmosphere.
“It appears that the monsters were moving south to avoid this strange snowstorm.”
“…….”
“Maybe this blizzard will descend further and eventually hit the Node territory.”
People’s faces have become more serious.
“You mean something so scary… could happen?”
“Is that really going to happen?”
As I was listening, I stuck out my tongue.
‘Wow, you got this right.’
His guess was almost close to the truth. Indeed, it is the Noikjang of the North. The insight of reasoning based on only a few evidences and situations was remarkable.
The sword of the four seasons constantly calls for someone to hold it. That voice only reaches intelligent beings, that is, humans or higher monsters.
Meanwhile, they do not give themselves permission easily. I judge who will hold me based on very strict standards.
‘Among them, Aria… … .’
I like clean purity that is transparent and bright as ice.
A focus that is not distorted by idle thoughts or greed, sharpened and forged, and aimed at only one place. Or self-righteousness.
That was the requirement to hold Aria.
‘Actually, that doesn’t mean it’s the only thing.’
The monsters that had already approached Aria would have frozen to death. The rest of the monsters who saw this would probably be running away to avoid an unbearable disaster.
If someone doesn’t show up to hold her, Aria’s grumpiness will continue. In this way, a deadly blizzard will spread all the way to the node territory.
“…….”
The girl who had become, and was planning to become, Aria’s owner was staring intently at the rabbit statue.
Beneath the serious face, a white, straight neck was visible. She did not like to wear any jewelry on her body.
‘When and how should I give it?’
I remembered the items I brought back from the capital earlier. Only then will Leah succeed in capturing Aria.
“……Hmm.”
Suddenly, Cain let out a low groan. While everyone was lost in their own thoughts and quiet, his voice sounded unusually loud.
“Prince Cain?”
Mikel, who was also lost in thought, looked at him.
“Oh, sorry.”
Cain blushed slightly and lowered his head.
“No. Did you have any thoughts?”
“It’s a bit hard to tell, but….”
Cain’s voice slowed down a little.
“…I feel a little strange looking at this statue.”
“Actually, isn’t everything a strange situation right now? Don’t hesitate and tell me in detail.”
“Looking at this ice, I feel like….”
Cain, who was trailing off his words, raised his hand.
‘Tsk.’
I looked at the back of his hand and clicked my tongue. The cadenza pattern still remaining on it was very annoying.
‘Not yet.’
I was wondering if Cadenza would read Cain’s fear and something would change. He wants to change owners, for example.
Unfortunately, Cadenza seemed to have decided to trust Cain a little more.
‘Well, it’s hard to find an owner like him.’
A sword with the most powerful destructive power among the swords of the four seasons. So, unless you have a body the size of Cain, it will be difficult to fully satisfy Cadenza’s desires.
‘I think it would be a good idea to break it one more time.’
While thinking about that, Cain placed his hand on the ice sculpture.
Pot!
At that moment, an intense blue light sparkled from the statue.
“What?!”
“what?”
People took a step back in surprise.
And I saw. The moment Cain’s hand touches it, the pattern on the back of his hand becomes clearer.
‘As expected.’
Among the swords of the four seasons, it was a phenomenon that only occurred between sibling swords, a sign of resonance.
“I’m sorry, but for some reason… I felt drawn to this ice.”
Cain stuttered with a clouded face.
“I miss something, and it also seems familiar.”
After finishing speaking, he thought for a moment and then said.
“Excuse me, but everyone, please step back a little.”
The people who realized what he was trying to do backed away little by little.
Sreung!
Eventually, Cain pulled out the cadenza from his hand. The eyes that looked at the red blade wavered for a moment, but said, “Whew.”
Cain caught his breath and held the cadenza tightly.
A moment of anxiety flashed through people’s eyes. But because she was in front of Cain, she skillfully hid her feelings.
Tuk.
The moment Cain carefully placed the tip of his sword on the ice sculpture,
Ugh-
There was a faint vibration. I felt a wave of power so clear that it touched my skin.
This was in contrast to earlier, when someone tried to cut the statue with a sword, nothing happened.
“no way?”
Mikel muttered in a suspicious voice. Cain tightened his eyes and concentrated, and boom!
A small spark appeared at the end of the cadenza.
“Get back!”
“Everyone be careful!”
Some of the people who tried to pretend to be calm eventually couldn’t hold back and started shouting.
Their reaction was different from when they first saw the cadenza and were purely amazed. He is afraid that he will end up like Director Hector.
“Whoa, whoo.”
Cain was extremely focused, even sweating. Thanks to this, the cadenza’s flames only wrapped around the tips of the rabbit’s ears.
and.
“Oooh, melted!”
“There’s an effect!”
There was a change in the ice sculpture that had not been affected by any means. The area touched by the cadenza’s flame visibly melted.
Drop, drop.
Transparent water droplets flowed down, and the rabbit’s ears trapped in the ice were revealed.
“As expected, this is….”
Cain leaned against the cadenza and muttered. She looked a little tired, perhaps because she had been concentrating so hard for a while.
“……No way, is that it?”
Mikel seemed to have already guessed what Cain was going to say. No, in fact, he had been glancing at Cain even before he came forward.
“Yes, I think that’s right.”
People looked at Cain with their mouths open. Cain made eye contact with each of them and exhaled powerfully.
“It seems like another sword of the four seasons has appeared.”
What he said caused complete silence. And after a while,
“Another sword of the four seasons?!”
“Oh my god, this is already the second time this year!”
The reaction exploded like firecrackers. Everyone was talking wildly, their faces flushed with excitement.
“Then what kind of sword appeared?”
“Having the power to freeze is…”
People’s eyes suddenly focused on Cain. Among them, he was the one who knew the most about the sword of the four seasons.
‘It’s not. ‘I know it well.’
Hiding my sulking expression, I also looked at Cain.
“I’m not sure either…”
Cain held his chin and thought for a moment.
“The power to summon a blizzard and even freeze living things. The identity of this sword is probably….”
Gulp, the sound of someone swallowing saliva was mixed in between the sounds.
“……I think it’s Aria, the sword of winter.”
The moment Cain finished speaking, I noticed something in his eyes.
‘That… … avarice?’
A deep longing for Aria was sparkling in his red eyes.
fantasy,
