episode_0005

It snowed in the north yesterday, today, and the day after.

When the pure white snow covered everything, everything seemed static and the same peace as yesterday seemed to continue.

“Cracks found.”

Peace did not last so easily.

“This is the largest ever. Fortunately, there are no signs of monsters coming out yet, but they will probably continue to spit out monsters before long. ”

Silence and stillness follow.

I couldn’t tell if it was mourning for the many who would die in the future or despair at the despair those who would be left behind would feel.

It was obvious that the end would be someone’s responsibility.

So, while everyone was just looking around the quiet conference room, Archduchess Elicia Wintraven came up with a plan.

“I will request support from the central government.”

If the cracks were this big, the moment the North was breached, they would pay the full price, so they would at least provide support in name only.

To be honest, the central government’s situation was not good either, so the probability of sending sufficient support was extremely low.

Fortunately, Damian Karsaril was staying here, so there was a high possibility that he would provide support that would at least keep the youngest son of the Duke from dying.

‘… Or make it so that only your son returns to the family.’

In fact, the latter was more likely.

The reason was unknown, but since Damian Karsaril was showing affection towards him, he would want to remain here.

The Karsaril family was more likely to speak out, even if they didn’t feel like it.

At those words, some people smiled, some still had a sigh-filled expression, and most people didn’t seem to have much on their mind.

At the moment when he was about to end the meeting to his father, Lake Rick Wintraven, it was obvious that continuing the meeting would only lead to meaningless arguments.

The Knight Commander, who always showed a skeptical attitude toward Damien, brought up one story.

“Recently, I have received reports that Damian Karsaril enters the deep forest every evening.”

Immediately after the story about the crack came up, the intention behind bringing up this story became so obvious that I couldn’t help but laugh.

Normally, such words would have been lightly ignored, but because the issue of the crack was so big, everyone began to be sensitive to it and watch out for each other.

“Deep forest? I don’t understand why a gentleman from the south would go into the forest every night, not in the morning or at noon.”

“That’s right. I heard that they take a bundle of stone bread from the kitchen… It might have something to do with it.”

“It’s definitely suspicious. Are you aiming for something? ”

Contrary to the North’s external image as being generous, rough, and as if trivial matters would be overlooked.

In reality, it was often closed and profit-sensitive because limited resources had to be continuously shared.

Because of this, a culture of rejecting outsiders gradually spread.

It was not difficult to infer that the reason the Knight Commander brought up this topic also started in a similar context.

And there must have been a calculation to empower her brother by holding him responsible for his negligence as the fiancee of Damien.

“I heard that you have a personality that makes training harsh, so the training may continue deep in the forest.”

“That may be true, but… I don’t know why they do that training in the deep forest, especially at night when you can’t see well.”

“… … ”

“Your Highness, it is good to trust your fiancé, Lord Demian, but it is not good to trust too much. This is the North, and one wrong judgment can lead to someone’s death. ”

To the question of whether you are unable to make a proper judgment because you are focused on your fiancé.

Elysia spoke calmly to the knight commander who was laughing.

“I think you’re mistaken. I’ve never trusted him, even though he was my fiancé. ”

so,

“Don’t worry too much. No matter what Damian does or how sincere he is, I don’t plan on trusting him forever. ”

After bluntly telling her that although they are engaged, it is only a contractual relationship.

She continued speaking in a firm, unwavering voice.

“Before I was his fiancée, I was Elysia Wintraven. Don’t worry, that will never change. ”

At such a declaration, the expression on the Knight Commander’s face instantly distorted.

The interpretation may vary from person to person, but what I meant was that I had declared that I would become the head of the household, beating out my eldest son, Pelia Wintraven.

Although Pelia didn’t seem particularly interested, some of them seemed to have a different opinion, as their expressions changed.

*****

It’s been a week since I received a promise from Elysia that if I made the North warmer, she would take good care of me.

Perhaps it was because I had been feeding bread to the monsters that had been wandering around the Sun Spirit.

Guys who would never have even looked at me before now come to me first and act cute.

“Kreung.”

In fact, the true identity of these strange creatures is ice spirits.

In reality, they have the form of wolves, but it is said that they have the ability to transform into whatever they think is the most threatening form in order to drive away strangers.

By the way, I’m now very familiar with the spirits, so the monster I saw at first glance looked like a majestic wolf.

I don’t know if they were spirits, but they had shiny, pure white fur, and just touching them made me feel quite good.

I was petting the wolves diligently and sharing the bread I had brought with me.

A wolf twice as big as the other wolves came toward me and spoke to me.

[Do you want the sun spirit?]

Fenrir, the king of ice spirits.

In the original work, he was just described as sitting behind the scenes and staring blankly at the artificial intelligence, but strangely enough, he spoke to me directly.

Although it was an unexpected situation, it wasn’t a situation that could cause problems, so I nodded and Fenrir smiled and told me the story.

[You’re being honest.]

Fortunately, it seemed like being honest was the right answer.

As I was calming myself down and sighing in relief, Fenrir came over to me and spoke to me while staring at me intently.

[By the way, I really like the scent coming from your body. It’s the first time in my life that I’ve smelled such a scent.]

I was a bit taken aback when I heard that my body odor was good because it was something I had never expected.

Fenrir sat down with a short smile and spoke to me.

[You don’t have to worry too much. It’s a fate that spirits will cling to.]

The spirits are attached to you? Was there such a setting from Damian? If anything, it seems like the spirits would have been reluctant.

I don’t know for sure, but since that’s what he said, I’ll take it in stride and say thank you.

Fenrir smiled gently as he shattered the ice surrounding the sun spirit with his hand.

[Then please take good care of this poor child.]

With those words, all the ice spirits, including Fenrir, disappeared like illusions.

The sun spirit trapped in the ice slowly falls down.

A small, circular, glowing spirit reminiscent of the sun.

I carefully received it as if I was holding a snowflake, afraid that I might get hurt if I put too much force into my hand. Then, the sun spirit slowly opened its eyes and looked at me from within the palm of my hand.

“Hello.”

As I carefully handed over the rain, the spirit jumped up and down in my palm, showing its friendliness.

Since it seemed like he had seen me coming here for over a month through the ice, I smiled and told the sun spirit to take good care of me.

“Wow!”

A cute answer is heard.

It seemed like he couldn’t speak properly because he was still a low-level spirit.

I was satisfied enough with just being able to communicate, so I slowly stroked the sun spirit’s head with my finger.

“… Little Master?”

I was so focused on obtaining the Sun Spirit that I completely forgot that I had brought Lorraine with me.

I turned my gaze to look at Lorraine calmly. Lorraine was looking at the sun spirit in my palm and talking.

“Could that be a spirit? And the giant wolf I saw earlier was also a spirit? ”

Rather than feeling like you’re asking something you don’t know, it’s closer to asking something you know but are asking because the situation is too shocking.

I nodded slightly in agreement, and Lorraine looked at me blankly with admiration as she continued to talk to me.

“I’ve been a knight for a very long time, but this is my first time seeing a spirit master.”

Now that I think about it, there was a scene in the original where everyone was really surprised when the main character made a contract with the sun spirit.

Before I knew it, I was tickling the spirit that had climbed up onto my shoulder and we were becoming friends.

I closed my eyes calmly and decided to start solving my goals.

*

Thanks to the contract with the Sun Spirit, it has become possible for me to restore warmth to the North, depending on my efforts.

Of course, the sun spirit is not omnipotent, so various efforts were needed to maintain warmth.

I was simply happy because it wasn’t difficult to make that level of sacrifice for Elysia.

‘Will the North smile when it gets warmer?’

I hope you smile if possible.

As I was on the verge of giving up everything because I couldn’t see even an inch ahead of me, you were the only one who gave me hope.

Because she also wanted to gain hope and move forward like I did.

So, I quickly made the North warm and freed myself from all my worries, so I walked down the dark street and called out to the sun spirit.

The sun spirit that had been circling around me flew towards me and shook its body when I called out to it.

I reached out to the sun spirit and gave it one command.

“Can you make this area warmer?”

The spirit responded to my request with a proud air, as if it were a given, and radiated warmth.