Ch.9999. Green Monsters in the Blizzard (5)

“…She really looks like a crazy bitch.”

A moment of silence followed Aria’s words.

Even for the second daughter of a Marquisate, calling someone a crazy bitch in front of the eldest daughter of a County was by no means proper conduct…

But Siabel, far from showing displeasure at her friend’s words, twitched the corner of her mouth.

It wasn’t a reaction born of negative emotions like displeasure.

Rather, true to their close relationship, she was genuinely amused by Aria’s crude language.

Siabel raised the corner of her lips slightly and extended her hand to Aria.

“It’s been a while, Aria.”

However, Aria merely looked down at her hand without taking it.

“Put that away.”

“Did going up north freeze our friendship along with the biting winds?”

“Not funny. Siabel, would you want to take a hand covered in blood like that?”

As Aria snorted dismissively, Siabel withdrew her hand.

After their exchange, Aria surveyed the orcs who had lost their lives to her magic and the exhausted County soldiers who had collapsed on the ground.

During this, her eyes fell on Sione and me, who had been staring blankly at Siabel from behind.

“Not just Siabel, but other familiar faces as well.”

She showed a faint smile and tilted her head forward slightly.

In response to her small greeting toward us, both my master and I returned the gesture.

As Aria raised her head, her gaze fixed on Sione before shifting to me.

She nodded while looking at the sword at my waist, then tilted her head curiously upon noticing the bow hanging on my shoulder.

Well, she had only seen me wielding a sword to protect Adelheid. She’d never seen me shoot a bow.

It would be puzzling to see someone who had sliced through two Demonkin with a sword also carrying a bow.

‘I’m sure Siabel told me before.’

That Aria wanted to talk with me.

Judging by her expression, if I get a chance to speak with her privately, she’ll probably ask not only about what happened at the palace but also about the bow.

It seems Aria, like those who were involved with me at the royal palace, will end up having a conversation with me.

After examining me for a moment, Aria spoke.

“…Let’s end the greetings here. We should quickly sort out the situation.”

“Can you help? Our soldiers are quite exhausted.”

“Of course.”

With that answer, Aria turned to face the knights and mages of the Marquisate who were waiting behind her.

“Clear the road so the carriages can pass, and move the fallen soldiers to carriages with empty spaces.”

“Yes!”

At Aria’s command, numerous personnel moved in unison to carry out her orders.

Damn it all, only now that everything was over did the raging snowstorm begin to gradually subside.

* * *

The Marquisate of Allenar is famous for its spears and magic.

The first head of the Marquisate was a magic spearman who pierced through demon hearts alongside the founder of the Royal House of Aicilia.

Although her descendants lost their magic, they still possessed a natural talent for spearmanship.

The spear techniques passed down in the Allenar Marquisate maintained their lineage and strengthened the Marquisate’s traditions.

The Marquisate never stopped cultivating mages to more effectively overcome the harsh cold of the north and the monsters that frequently invaded.

The mages of the Allenar Marquisate demonstrated a high level of magical understanding and mana control, and upon their excellent talents, they established their distinctive characteristic.

Overwhelming firepower.

Pillars of fire so intense they wouldn’t waver in the cold northern wind. Lightning capable of instantly reducing to ashes even the sturdy souls of monsters that had grown tough in the merciless northern lands.

The firepower of northern mages was beyond reproach even when compared to that of royal mages.

One such mage was now looking at the path swept by northern magic.

“…When are we going to clean all this up?”

A mage close enough to Aria Allenar to share a carriage with her.

Lavi Cournel grumbled while looking at the orcs rolling on the ground.

Orcs thoroughly roasted by the pouring flames and those who had lost their lives before the Marquisate’s intervention blocked the road in various places.

‘There might be some still alive and hiding.’

Lavi Cournel began carefully walking around the area, inhaling the scent of burnt flesh and the cold, biting wind.

It was to check whether each orc was still breathing or not.

As she slowly walked along the road.

She discovered an orc corpse that caught her eye.

“Hmm?”

Lavi stopped in her tracks after casually glancing at an orc.

Mages tended to excel at insight into objects and phenomena.

And Lavi was no different from other mages in this regard.

The more closely she examined the fallen orc, the narrower her eyes became.

“This is…?”

At first glance, it appeared to be nothing more than an orc that had died from excessive bleeding due to an arrow lodged in its stomach.

But beneath the cold, hardened bloodstains, Lavi could find an unusual wound.

Centered around the arrow stuck in its stomach were several slash wounds.

They weren’t wounds made by a sword.

As a mage who had seen such wounds countless times, she could state with certainty.

“Magic?”

These were the kind of wounds typically left by mages who manipulated wind.

Wind sharper and fiercer than any blade.

Magic that left irregular but deep, fatal wounds following the pattern of swirling winds.

To her eyes, these wounds could only have been caused by magic.

‘But this specimen.’

It’s not an orc we caught.

Moreover, we didn’t use wind to eliminate them; we incinerated the orcs with explosive fire, not wind…

Lavi pulled out the arrow embedded in the orc’s abdomen.

Then she could see with her own eyes.

As if magic had burst from the arrowhead, the orc’s insides were splayed open around where the arrow had been lodged.

Despite the grotesque sight, Lavi showed no sign of disgust as she examined the arrow.

‘…Magic contained in an arrow?’

Lavi was astonished.

The Allenar Marquisate was famous for its high caliber of mages.

Although it was the 2nd Division, she was accomplished enough in magic to proudly serve as the commander of the Marquisate’s mage unit.

Yet no matter how she looked at it, it seemed someone had contained magic in this arrow to kill the orc.

‘Who on earth?’

Containing such powerful magic in an arrow should be impossible unless one was an elf blessed by spirits.

Who could possibly perform such a feat?

Lavi once again surveyed her surroundings.

‘It’s definitely not someone from the Marquisate.’

It was our mages who swept through the orcs, not archers.

Moreover, our mages didn’t use wind.

That means someone from the County of Sianella, not the Allenar Marquisate, did this to the orc…

“Three in total.”

Among the people from the County, there were three who carried bows.

The Sianella lady with platinum hair, the man she was supporting, and an extremely ordinary-looking woman who had collapsed from exhaustion.

Lavi habitually took out a notebook and pen from her inner pocket.

“First, exclude one.”

Even if a man awakened mana, he could at most achieve slight physical enhancement through its use.

It was established theory that men were overwhelmingly deficient in mana or incapable of precise control, making magic impossible for them.

So excluding that man with the bow.

Among the two remaining women, the one who could possibly do this—

‘…Lady Sianella.’

Not that ordinary woman, but the second daughter of the County whose armor was stained red like her sister’s from fierce battle.

Aria had definitely told me her name—

Ah, Sione Sianella.

Rustle.

She opened her notebook to the page where she had organized information about the Sianella County people mentioned by Aria.

The listed individuals were Siabel Sianella and Ray.

One was Aria’s close friend, and the other was the name of someone who had piqued Aria’s interest at the princess’s coming-of-age ceremony.

“Ray / Sianella’s exclusive attendant

1. Killed two Demonkin.

2. Skilled with a sword.

3. According to Lady Aria, seems able to use mana unlike most men.

4. Hiding something.”

…If it’s Ray. I think the Sianella lady called that man Ray earlier.

‘Seems able to use mana unlike most men.’

…Could it be?

Lavi shook her head to dismiss the fleeting suspicion.

No matter what, physical enhancement and magic were completely different fields.

Even if he could use mana internally, creating miracles through will—magic—would be impossible.

Lavi frowned and moved her pen.

Instead of impossible suspicions, she’d focus on certain facts first—

Scribble scribble.

“5. Haven’t seen him properly yet, but he looks handsome even at a glance.”

Without stopping, Lavi wrote the name of a new person on the next page.

“Sione Sianella / Second daughter of the County of Sianella”

The pen tip moved without pause, drawing concise cursive letters on the blank page.

“1. Seems able to contain magic in arrows. Might have exceptional talent in archery and magic like elves…”

After secretly observing Ray and Sione standing close together from behind for a moment, Lavi continued writing.

“★ Ray / Sianella’s exclusive attendant”

“★ Sione Sianella / Second daughter of the County of Sianella”

“Hmm…”

Nodding at the stars marked before the names, Lavi closed her notebook and put it back in her inner pocket, then examined the orc’s wound again.

The lady and her attendant were sufficient to stimulate a mage’s overflowing curiosity.