Chapter 127: The North (11)

“Dad!”

When I returned to the room, Alice and Lorena hugged me tightly. Both had finished showering and were dressed lightly, and the room was warm from the heating. I hung up the coat I’d worn outside on the hanger and said,

“Yeah, anything happen?”

“I asked the people here, and apparently, someone saw you heading towards a place called Phoebe.”

I let out a hollow laugh at her words. Seeing me laugh, Alice asked,

“Dad? What’s wrong? Do you know what kind of place Phoebe is?”

“No. It’s just, I remembered a funny story I just heard from a friend, and it made me laugh.”

When the topic of No. 5 came up, Lorena’s eyes sparkled as she asked,

“Evan, what kind of person is this No. 5? He looked incredibly strong.”

“He just works under a knight, apparently. Something like a hunter.”

“If someone working under a knight is that strong, just how strong must the knight be?”

Lorena tilted her head as she said that. Hearing her, I said,

“Well, maybe he works under a Knight Commander.”

I didn’t want to know who No. 5 worked for. If he’s someone we might have to fight later, it’d just be a bother. It’s better not to know the background stories of your targets. I threw myself onto the bed and said,

“Alice. So, how do we get to this place called Phoebe?”

“Yeah. I asked the innkeeper. Apparently, we have to leave our carriage here and rent a dog sled. It’s quite a long and rough road, so they don’t have any other transportation options; you can only get there by sled.”

“The rental fee must be expensive.”

“Here’s the bill.”

Alice handed me the bill. The amount charged was several times the usual cost of renting a carriage. I frowned in surprise at the amount, and Alice said nonchalantly,

“If all the dogs return alive, they’ll give us a 40% discount, and another 30% off if we return the carriage intact.”

“So, we won’t get any money back then.”

At my words, Alice said,

“Aw, what could possibly go wrong? Nothing happened on the way here, right?”

Her expression seemed like she was trying hard to shake off a sense of foreboding. Lorena looked at the mountain range with peaks as sharp as beast’s fangs and said,

“Now, crossing the uninhabited snowfields in the north without any transportation… will everything really be fine? If things go wrong, we might have to walk the whole way.”

“Hey!”

When Alice raised her voice, Lorena subtly hid behind me. I hugged Lorena, and reached out my other arm to Alice. Alice, who had been provoked as if to tease Lorena, meekly came into my arms when I reached out.

“Let’s sleep for now. We have to leave tomorrow.”

“It’ll be cold when we go tomorrow…”

Alice shivered as if she could already feel the cold. Lorena nodded too, curling up. The two were already fighting an invisible cold. I chuckled, finding it absurd.

“Hey! That’s mean! Evan. I’m really cold…”

Lorena pouted when she heard me laugh, and I held her tighter, saying,

“If I hold you like this, what are you getting upset about? Huh?”

“Ah, well, yes, but…”

“What about me? Dad, hug me too. Me too.”

As I held Lorena tightly, Alice, with a displeased look, burrowed into my arm. I hugged them both tightly, and soon, sweating profusely from the heating, we fell asleep lying apart from each other.

The winter chill of the north seeped in as if piercing the flesh, even through thick clothing. Alice and Lorena were shivering, clinging tightly to me, while large, thick-furred dogs pulled the sled we were on.

“D-d-dad! R-really! Once we cross this mountain! That person will be there, right?”

“T-t-that’s right, right? Huh? E-e-evan?”

The two, ordinary humans who had never lived in the north, were struggling to adapt to the sudden, deadly cold. I comforted them both, holding them tightly.

“It’ll be.”

I didn’t believe No. 5 would actually tell the tanner’s story. Just as I knew things about No. 5, he knew about me. Despite our casual conversation, we both understood our objectives overlapped. I clicked my tongue at the bitter premonition that No. 5 and I might become enemies the next time we met, yet I saw a village in the distance, its lights twinkling like a giant’s eyes.

The village in the winter mountains was like a lighthouse on the sea. Dozens of lights twinkled, mimicking stars, and warm smoke rose for the travelers coming and going. Lost travelers changed their wagon tracks, and hounds chased the scent of food across the snowfields.

Turning my head, it felt like the surroundings were filled with pure white mist. The light snowfall that began shortly after we departed turned into a fierce blizzard once we started moving away from the village, and now it was literally painting the entire world white.

Tree shadows and rocks were indistinguishable, and even the path was colored white, making it impossible to know if I was going the right way. My ears were muffled by the storm-like wind, and my face was flushed red from the cold wind pelting snowflakes against it.

Alice was huddled in the sled, head bowed from the pain in her face, while Lorena, still gripping her sword with one hand, scanned the surroundings. White frost clung to her face like a beard.

I pointed at her face and said,

“Looks like a beard.”

“Huh?”

But wearing ear protection and with the valley screaming, she couldn’t hear me. I said to her again,

“I said it looks like a beard!”

“You’re going swimming?”

The snowfield is a harsh place where jokes don’t work. I could only feel the merciless indifference of this land firsthand. On this land where even minimal communication is cut off, how cold and dry must people’s lives be?

Just as Lorena was guarding the surroundings and I was struggling to hold onto the unfamiliar sled,

“Kuaaaaaaah!”

A beast’s roar echoed from within the blizzard. Lorena, shivering from the cold, scowled and drew her sword, changing her stance. I gripped the sled’s reins firmly and scanned the surroundings. Alice blinked, looking at me, unable to comprehend the situation.

“D-dad? W-what, what is it?”

“Alice. Something’s coming.”

Lorena half-drew her sword, still trembling. The blade, imbued with the cold, shone a pale blue. I sensed movement circling our sled at terrifying speed. Bipedal beings darted around us from the gaps between tree and rock shadows, drawing closer.

Each time they emerged from the blizzard, a strange crashing sound echoed in the wind. It was the sound of thick bodies colliding with snowflakes, moving against the fierce torrent of snow. Clearly audible even through the wind, something was rushing towards the sled from all directions.

Something that was neither tree nor rock swelled up like a pufferfish and burst from the snow. Giant arms, fierce eyes, sharp teeth protruding from mouths unable to contain them, and elongated snouts,

“Lorena! Left!”

The moment I shouted, Lorena’s sword flashed. Like sparks flying, a silver line flashed across the sled for an instant. The beastman’s body, which had lunged to attack us, split in two and rolled on the ground. Lorena gripped her sword tightly and scanned the surroundings.

“Evan! Keep driving!”

“We can’t stop the sled. No matter how fast I was, I couldn’t escape this snowfield faster than the dog sled, and I had no idea how many beastmen there were. If the sled overturned here, it would be difficult to protect Alice.”

“Kuaaaahak!”

Another beastman was sliced in half and flew through the air. Like a newspaper delivery boy hit by a carriage, the beastmen’s bodies fluttered through the air. The beastmen, who had attempted to ambush us several times, finally began to change their tactics.

“Huh?”

A beastman running at a speed similar to the sled slashed at a sled dog with its claws. The sled dog, its belly ripped open, collapsed sideways, and its legs tripped the other dogs, causing them to fall one after another. The dogs got tangled, the harnesses twisted, and finally, the sled overturned as the cart crushed one of the fallen dogs.

“Fuck!”

I hugged Alice tightly and signaled to Lorena. Lorena and I simultaneously jumped off the overturning sled in different directions, rolling to break our fall. Faintly, I saw Lorena gripping her sword and taking a defensive stance.

And Alice, who had been huddled with her face hurting just moments before, looked around bewildered, unable to grasp the situation.

“W-what? Dad? What’s going on?”

“Beastmen.”

“What?”

“We’re fucked!”

As soon as I answered, large beastmen appeared from all directions. Lorena cut down a beastman charging at her and ran towards me. Alice shrieked in surprise at the sight of the beastmen and clung to me.

“Mom!”

I clenched my fists. The beastmen were looking at me with strange expressions, focusing on my build and face. A strong premonition washed over me that I’d be fucked if they caught me.

“Fuuuuuck…!”

“I should have just stayed home.”