Ch.5219. A Night for Two (1)

I could sense Minsu’s bewilderment.

But Yuri didn’t let go of him. No, she embraced him even more tightly.

“Guild Master…?”

“Just stay still like this for a moment.”

It had been a sparring match to adjust their gear, but it was training close to actual combat. That’s why Minsu’s body was still hot, and sweat was flowing despite the winter mountain’s cold.

His scent felt intensely close. Of course it would, since she was holding him.

‘Minsu’s scent…’

There was nothing unpleasant or disagreeable about it. It wasn’t as if he had a particularly foul smell.

Rather, being more aware of Minsu’s presence made Yuri’s heart beat violently. But she didn’t show it. If he were to notice her true feelings.

‘How embarrassing…’

So she had to hide it.

Right now, calming his body that was burning with battle heat was the priority. Without using Nivis, she raised her pure mana to envelop Minsu’s entire body.

It made her feel more strongly connected to Minsu. She wanted to create an ice barrier and stay like this with him forever.

To keep Minsu from ever leaving her. To restrain him like this.

‘Wait. What am I thinking right now…’

She was surprised by her own sudden thought. She was the Guild Master of Flame. It wasn’t right to indulge her personal feelings toward a guild member like this.

‘No… this isn’t about indulging my feelings…’

She hurriedly denied her own feelings. But Yuri couldn’t help thinking about that blood she carried. Her maternal lineage.

‘Yuki-onna…’

That very nickname she had often been called. But for Yuri, it wasn’t just a nickname.

Yuri wasn’t of pure Slavic descent, but mixed blood. Of course, she had never seen her Japanese mother. Her mother had passed away giving birth to her.

And Yuri’s mother was from a Japanese village where the legend of the snow woman was passed down. And she was an ice spell user like Yuri.

‘My maternal grandmother… told me the legend of that village.’

But even that grandmother, she had only seen for three days in total. As if to stop that thought, Minsu called out to Yuri.

“Guild Master…? I’m, I’m fine now.”

Those words meant the brief embrace was ending. Come to think of it, even during their time at Eins, she had never embraced Minsu like this.

When she went to his apartment, she had hugged him from behind. But facing him while he was fully conscious, being this close was a first.

Minsu’s warm body temperature was transmitted to Yuri once more. Indeed, she didn’t want to let go.

‘Like this… Minsu is so close.’

But Yuri suppressed her regret and released Minsu.

She had committed a sin against Minsu. So even though Minsu had come back to her, he might not have fully forgiven her yet.

‘Right. It’s definitely not something that can be easily forgiven.’

She would do anything to be forgiven for that sin. And for Minsu’s sake. Trying not to reveal these inner feelings, Yuri said to Minsu:

“Let’s move then. The sun has already set, so we can’t stay here any longer.”

And professionally, trying not to show any personal feelings, she extended her hand.

“Take my hand. It’s already dark, so it’s much more dangerous than when we came up.”

“What…? Alright. I’ll be in your care.”

Though Minsu spoke with slight confusion, fortunately he didn’t reject her hand. Yuri didn’t let go of his hand until it became warm.

That’s how the two of them moved to the shelter on Mount Seorak.

***

The two of them entered the shelter together. I looked around inside.

‘It seems like no one has been here recently.’

It’s currently a period when mountain access is prohibited. Even in spring or summer rather than winter, it’s barely opened only after monsters have been completely cleared out. Effectively, it’s not a place ordinary people can enter.

Compared to Mount Geumgang where I went on a business trip recently, the situation was quite poor.

‘Well, thanks to that, we can train comfortably like this.’

And now, Pyotr of Solaris has his eye on this vast mountain area. Surprisingly, Korean conglomerates have invested more in the former North Korean territories.

That place is geographically closer to the Slavic Kingdom. And Grand Duke Andrei, who chairs the alliance council of both countries, must have had considerable influence.

‘So this area is still a zone where Pyotr’s Solaris and Flame can operate.’

A mountain where gates form periodically. If a single guild can stably control the dungeon of that huge mountain, it’s certainly not a bad thing.

‘It’s like discovering a good mine.’

However, establishing infrastructure for that control requires money. That means support from corporations like Solaris is necessary.

Of course, such a massive economic plan doesn’t come together overnight. The likelihood that I won’t live to see Mount Seorak become as active as Mount Geumgang is higher.

But just the rumor that Solaris and Flame are starting a large-scale project that small guilds cannot do is a good means to expand Flame’s influence.

Because they can show Flame’s potential through that project. Justice, Siwoo’s guild in the original story, also benefited quite a bit from that plan.

‘That means more hunters might come here in the future.’

Anyway, it’s not bad news for Flame, but at the same time, it means that the ancient dungeon that Siwoo discovered in the original story might be found by another hunter.

‘I’d prefer if Yuri noticed the ancient dungeon before that.’

In the original story, the ancient dungeon was discovered by something close to chance. I decided to believe in the modified plausibility of the role of the original protagonist that Yuri is now replacing.

If there was no sign at all, I was planning to step in directly.

While I was lost in thought, Yuri, who had looked around the shelter, said:

“It’s shabby, but it can block the wind sufficiently. Not bad, I think.”

But the moment we entered the shelter, it was already warm inside. As soon as we entered, I saw mana moving from Yuri.

‘Did she put a barrier around the entire shelter?’

That barrier seems to have completely blocked the outside wind. A high mountain in winter. If it were a snowy night, it would be very cold and dangerous, but now it felt comfortable.

Woooong-

Wind Cutter expressed its dissatisfaction. It meant that it could block this level of wind too. Wind Cutter, which had properly unleashed its power today, seemed to want to play more.

‘Wind Cutter. A dagger with a wind spirit, they said.’

Despite its nickname as a gear that kills its owner, I was adapting well to Wind Cutter.

Like a small spark on a tree spreading into a forest fire, the combination of wind and fire creates explosive synergy. Wind Cutter seemed to instinctively feel affinity for me.

‘Hong-ok really dislikes Wind Cutter though.’

But Hong-ok is a high-class, calm lady, a shrine maiden style. She doesn’t openly express her displeasure. Of course, I, who was integrated with her mana heart, could feel all her feelings.

After briefly sensing the will of the two gears, I said to Yuri:

“Shall we unpack and have dinner then?”

“Let’s do that. Minsu must be tired after sparring with me.”

The two of us had brought backpacks suitable for winter mountain climbing. I was dressed in hiking clothes to match, but Yuri was in her usual formal attire.

I put down my backpack and took out the contents. When I anticipated the trip to Mount Seorak, I thought it wouldn’t be a day trip. So I brought appropriate camping supplies.

“It’s warm in here, but should we still light a fire?”

“Y-Yes, let’s do that.”

At my casual words, Yuri was suddenly startled. I hadn’t been conscious of it, but come to think of it, we were just a young man and woman alone in this enclosed space.

And in a mountain shelter where entry is prohibited, where absolutely no one else could come. Yuri might have become more conscious of me.

I unfolded a mini portable stove and set it up in the middle of the shelter. Yuri raised her hand and opened the ventilation window of the shelter.

‘Just with ice magic like that…’

The fact that she could push open the window with just the mana pressure of her ice magic made me realize how dangerous the pretty woman in front of me was.

Yuri was the youngest person in hunter history to reach S-rank. If she hadn’t been the daughter of Grand Duke Andrei, one of the Five Heavenly Saints, she would have been even more talked about.

‘Bloodline, huh.’

Perhaps others don’t know much about Yuri’s mother. Yuri is an only daughter like Soso. But Yuri’s mother passed away giving birth to her. So Grand Duke Andrei had already taken a second wife.

Probably no one at Eins knew about that except me.

‘Because Yuri doesn’t talk about herself much to others.’

Naturally, the two of us sat in front of the stove. Yuri sat with her knees pulled up to her chest, hugging her legs.

I sat in a normal cross-legged position. I put some old tree branches that I had picked up on the way into the stove.

Whoosh-

A strong fire quickly caught in the stove. The blazing fire. Looking at that fire, the two of us fell silent for a moment.

And I couldn’t help thinking about earlier, when Yuri embraced me after our sparring ended.

‘She did it to calm my mana road, but…’

But honestly, that sensation wouldn’t easily leave me. It wasn’t the first time I had physical contact with Yuri. Even during the Eins days, I had held her hand.

But facing her and being embraced tightly like that seemed like a first. A proper hug. And unless I was a fool, I could tell that hug was filled with Yuri’s emotions.

Befitting an ice mage, Yuri’s body was cold, but due to the heat released by my boiling mana road, her body had also warmed up a bit.

The temperature of Yuri’s body at that moment, that sensation, almost made me lose my composure.

‘If it had been during the Eins days, I would have…’

I might have thought myself the happiest man. But not now. If I open my heart to Yuri again with half-hearted feelings, the same thing that happened at Eins might happen again.

So from that moment until now when we arrived at the shelter, I tried to forcibly calm my heart. Especially since Yuri had grabbed my hand tightly again. It wasn’t easy.

Somehow I managed to settle my wavering heart, but the warmth from the stove was making me relax without realizing it.

“It’s small but warm. Maybe it’s because Minsu lit the fire.”

And at that moment, Yuri broke the silence first. In the orange light from the stove, Yuri’s pale face was illuminated.

No, now it was strangely flushed. So she looked different from her usual self, languid but full of vitality.

To be honest, Yuri seemed prettier than usual. I suppressed that feeling again. At that moment, the faces of Arin and Soso also came to mind.

‘Both of them… no, even Yuri, none of them are in any kind of relationship with me.’

Trying to hide those complicated feelings, I made a joke:

“Is it warm? But it definitely has better firepower than a lighter. At this rate, my spell seems to be at least as good as a torch lighter.”

Since I had lit the fire directly with a flame spell, I made a dad-joke like comment.

“A torch lighter? You don’t need to put yourself down like that. During our sparring today, you were more like a flamethrower.”

Seeing Yuri calmly accepting even my dad joke made me more speechless. Then Yuri suddenly took out a sealed container from her backpack.

“Oh, right. I prepared dinner myself today. Would you like to eat together?”

The food Yuri took out was, unexpectedly, pork belly.