Chapter 84: Interlude – Bingsu Story (5)

At this moment, Sien was absolutely furious.

No one in the world enjoys being forcibly woken up at 2 a.m.

As such, he was already irritable from the moment he woke up.

Then, hearing that Exia had disappeared doubled his annoyance.

Learning that she had left on her own accord, rather than being dragged away by a monster, tripled it.

Finally, realizing that it was up to them to find her pushed his fury to its peak.

Holding back Lier and the others, who were ready to storm out in agitation, Sien took it upon himself to form the search party.

He insisted the others wait in the cave while he searched alone.

The surface-level reason was that the snowstorm outside was so severe that moving as a group would increase their chances of getting stranded.

But the real reason was that he planned to twist Exia’s head 180 degrees if he found her.

It would be harder to do that with others around.

‘If I can’t punish her physically, I’ll open the earth and bury her hundreds of meters underground.’

Sien even entertained such extreme thoughts.

However, there was one major flaw in this plan: he had no reliable way to find Exia.

Her footprints, left in her usual careless wandering, were entirely buried under the sudden snowstorm, making them impossible to identify with the naked eye.

Using magical means was out of the question too. Being imbued with divine power, Exia’s body rendered normal methods ineffective.

Thus, Sien resorted to an unconventional method that only he could employ.

It involved using a search spell, extending its range to a radius of 5 kilometers.

The twist was that instead of targeting “Exia,” the spell targeted “air.”

The idea was a reverse approach: if he couldn’t find Exia herself, he would search for the absence of Exia.

Air exists evenly in empty space, but its density decreases significantly when it enters physical objects.

The reaction would become weaker.

If someone like Exia, whose body was brimming with divine power, was present, the spell would detect a human-shaped void in the air—like a bubble of emptiness in water.

This method, while theoretically sound, was close to wishful thinking in practice.

The biggest problem was the immense mana consumption of the search spell, which was proportional to the volume of the target.

Detecting the abundant air would drain mana at an astonishing rate.

Moreover, processing the feedback was equally challenging.

The mental burden of analyzing the results from a 5-kilometer radius was no joke, with endless signals pouring in all at once.

Finding Exia amidst this chaos was like discerning the sound of a butterfly’s wings in a bustling marketplace.

Only Sien’s vast mana reserves and unparalleled precision made it remotely possible—methods that could only be attempted by a demon king like him.

Using this technique, Sien managed to locate Exia curled up and shivering in a small cave beneath a distant cliff.

With thoughts of punishment filling his mind, Sien opened a dimensional gate and appeared before her.

And now.

“What? You snuck out to replace the Snow White Berries you accidentally ate?”

“Yes…”

Sniffling, Exia replied timidly, sitting in a corner of the cave.

For the record, she was kneeling with her hands raised.

Upon learning the full story, Sien spoke in a tone that was equal parts disbelief and exasperation.

“Didn’t Mana tell you? Those berries aren’t essential ingredients—they’re completely optional. Did you forget that already?”

“No, I didn’t forget… But still, I felt bad about it… I got scolded, and I wanted to make it up somehow…”

Sien sighed, pressing a hand to his forehead.

Originally, he had planned to half-kill her upon finding her.

But given her reasoning, it was hard to stay angry.

She had tried to fix things in her own clumsy way.

Of course, being both foolish and diligent is the worst possible combination of traits.

“Fine. Lower your hands.”

“Huh? Really?”

“…Unless you’d rather keep them up—”

“No! No, I’ll lower them!”

Exia hurriedly dropped her arms, fearing Sien might change his mind.

She fidgeted nervously, stealing glances at him.

Sien let out another sigh and asked,

“So? Did you accomplish anything, or was this just two hours of wasted effort?”

“Uh, well… I did manage to find a little…”

Exia’s face brightened slightly as she responded.

This was her moment.

Even if it wasn’t a huge success, she could show that her efforts weren’t entirely fruitless.

Maybe it would earn her a bit of leniency.

Hoping to make a good impression, she carefully pulled out a pouch of herbs she had collected, like a student presenting homework to a teacher.

But—

“Hm? This isn’t Snow White Berries.”

“What?!?”

Exia’s eyes widened in shock.

“W-What do you mean…?”

“Exactly what I said. These aren’t Snow White Berries. They’re a closely related species called Princess Berries.

While they’re edible and even sweeter than Snow White Berries, they have no medicinal properties whatsoever.

I didn’t even know the difference until Mana pointed it out to me.”

As he spoke, Sien lifted the stem of one of the berries.

“Look. There’s no snow-white patch beneath the leaves at the top. T

hat’s definitive proof that these aren’t Snow White Berries. What you’ve found is an entirely different variety.”

“T-That can’t be…”

Thud. Exia collapsed to the ground, utterly defeated.

Despair and frustration overwhelmed her.

“Then… What was all this for? Everything I’ve done… All my efforts… They were all pointless?

How could this be…? Then what was I even working for…?”

“Hmm…”

Sien looked down at Exia with a hint of pity.

When he first set out, he had been furious enough to despise her.

Now, he just found her pitiful. Anyone could see she was genuinely in shock.

Well, if she realized she spent two hours suffering for nothing, she might lose her mind.

“Ugh, uuuugh…! If I’d known it would turn out like this, I would’ve just stayed put quietly…!

I’m soaking wet, fell off a cliff, got bitten by a wolf, and nothing good has come of it…!

Sniff, uuuuuugh…!!!”

“…….”

Looking down at Exia, who was sobbing in a dejected voice, Sien quietly fell into thought.

After a moment, he let out a small sigh and spoke to her.

“Hey, Exia.”

“Sniff… huh?”

“Hold this for a moment.”

Whoosh.

Sien tossed a pouch filled with strawberries to Exia.

Startled and not fully understanding what was happening, she caught it without thinking.

“Huh? Why? Shouldn’t you be the one carrying it?”

“Never mind. Just stay there and watch quietly.”

With that, Sien formed a hand seal with his right hand and began chanting a spell.

“Major Creation.”

At that moment, the air shimmered with magic, which coalesced and began to take shape under Sien’s guidance.

A hemispherical object, as if a round sphere had been sliced in half.

The interior was hollow like a bowl, and the base was flat and neatly smoothed.

It was an object with a very familiar appearance to us.

Although described in an elaborate way, it was simply a bowl.

A plain, hastily crafted brass bowl.

“??? Isn’t that just a bowl? Why are you making a bowl all of a sudden? Are you planning to eat here?”

“Half right.”

Sien replied as he walked toward the cave entrance, scooped up a heap of snow, and filled the freshly made bowl.

Fluffy snow piled high into the warm bowl.

Then, Sien cast another creation spell to produce additional items: a small spoon sized for Exia, soft and sweet honey, and condensed milk.

“Alright, hand me the strawberries again.”

“Huh? Oh, okay…”

Still puzzled, Exia handed over the strawberries as Sien had requested.

Taking the strawberries, Sien placed them on top of the snow in the bowl and cast one final spell.

“Liquefy.”

Pshhh!

With that word, the strawberries resting on the snow melted smoothly as if turning into liquid.

The red juice seeped through the white snow, saturating it completely.

After examining the finished product at eye level, Sien handed it to Exia along with the spoon.

“Here, eat.”

“????”

Naturally, Exia couldn’t comprehend the situation.

What is this? What did he just make?

“Huh… What is this? Is it food?”

“Yes. It’s a dish called bingsu. In the place where I was born, we often ate it as a snack.

I don’t know if this region has it, but it’s not such an unusual concept that there wouldn’t be a similar idea here.”

Sien leaned against the cave wall near the entrance as he spoke.

“It seemed like a waste to throw away the strawberries you picked just because they weren’t fit for medicine.

So I processed them into something edible.

Since you picked the strawberries, it’s only fair you get to eat them. Now, eat up. Don’t worry, it’s not poisoned.”

“……….”

Holding the bowl, Exia stared blankly at the bingsu without making any move.

It seemed to take her a while to process the situation.

Seeing her dawdling, Sien frowned slightly.

“What? Do you have a problem with the food I made? If so, give it back. I’ll eat it.”

“N-No…!”

Finally snapping out of it, Exia picked up the spoon.

Food made of snow?

What kind of strange idea is this?

Can it even be eaten?

When snow accidentally got in her mouth while rolling on the ground earlier, it had tasted gritty and unpleasant.

Of course, with the addition of strawberry juice and other sweet ingredients, it probably wouldn’t taste bad…

Still filled with doubt, Exia cautiously scooped a small spoonful and brought it to her mouth.

And—