episode_0054

When I came to my senses, it was already snowing lightly from the sky.

“Oh… .”

He leaned halfway out the window, stretched out his hand, and put his eyes into it.

The snow that touched my hand gave me a pleasant coolness and then melted away into my body temperature as if it had no regrets.

Looking at him, I felt regret and licked my lips. This time, I stretched out my arms outside the window and waited for snow to pile up in my hands.

However, that didn’t go so well in a fast-moving carriage, and I suddenly found myself getting punched in the face in the eye.

He stuck out his lips and put his body into the window.

When he saw him, Moo-myeong let out a small sigh, took out a handkerchief, wiped the snow and moisture from my face, and opened his mouth.

“Master, the wind is blowing.”

“Do I care about that?”

“You don’t do that at all, so I shouldn’t be concerned.”

“…”

This guy clearly knows that I am not affected by the weather and he says things like that.

I could guess the reason too.

As the weather started to get colder, he started getting upset in an unusual way because I didn’t grant him a favor.

The ball was inflated.

“Didn’t you say you would figure that out yourself?”

“Isn’t that why I’m doing this?”

… look at this guy?

It is unusual for someone to dare to talk back to a teacher as great as heaven.

But, getting angry here is a sewer.

I tried to calmly open my mouth, trying to control my emotions as much as possible, but-

“Profit! You’re trying to take care of me too much in the first place!”

Finally, unable to bear it any longer, he shouted with a bright red face and slapped the nameless man on the forehead.

“Oh no! Master, it hurts!”

“Oh my! Put your hands down!”

Nameless tried to avoid my fingers by turning his head here and there, and the more he did that, the closer I got to him and wrapped my body around him so he couldn’t run away.

After that, the previously quiet carriage became somewhat noisy due to me and the unknown person.

“… What on earth are you two doing here?”

Elia, who had clearly been sleeping until just a moment ago, blushed and opened her mouth in a somewhat low voice.

“Please, do that in a place where there are only the two of you… .”

“… Yes.”

“… I’m sorry.”

Anonymous and I sat awkwardly, staring out the window.

An awkward silence filled the carriage.

…

Whether quiet or noisy, the carriage ran nonstop toward its destination.

As the snow-covered ground turned red, the carriage stopped.

…

He jumped out of the carriage as if throwing himself out of it and stretched his aching back.

“Ugh!”

It took over a month of running to get to Ellen.

A lot of things happened in between… .

As memories of the past came flooding back, a wistful expression naturally formed on my face.

When I encountered a small animal like a squirrel, I got curious and tried to touch it, but Myeong stopped me, saying that the animal was poisonous.

As the weather grew colder, I was worried about Moo-myeong, so I took off my coat and gave it to him. Then, with a bright red face, I wrapped it tightly around my body and hurriedly took out new clothes from my bag.

… he offered it to me too, but I declined because it was so uncomfortable.

I’ve been wearing these clothes my whole life, but now I don’t like wearing thick clothes.

After hearing my words, Myeong-un tried to convince me that people in Ellen might look at people like me in thin clothes strangely, but my will was firm.

Again, as always.

While watching the nameless training, laughter broke out over the pointless conversation.

Once a week, we would sweat together every night to expand the anonymous blood vessels.

For some reason, Elia didn’t see us the next day… .

Also, last week I was so tired of making excuses to Lily, whom I regularly met in my dreams.

Why, aren’t the saint and the warrior acting with us now?

I don’t know how on earth Lily knew that….

I thought I would die from embarrassment when they suspected me of breaking my promise and behaving in a way that was against them, and I made excuses with my bad acting.

Luckily, I got over it, either because I had a talent for acting or because Lily was just naive.

Of course, I didn’t just tell Lily lies.

In fact, wasn’t it to figure out what kind of people the warrior and the saint were, and for my ultimate goal, that I decided to go on this journey?

From the beginning, I had no intention of taking the side of the warrior.

Just being near it makes my stomach turn because of that peculiar, nauseating aura, so how can I be with it?

That doesn’t mean I’m going to side with the Demon King.

I just need to live alone with Anonymous, quietly, and safely.

If my appearance had never been revealed to Lily, to the saint, I would have been traveling around various villages with the nameless one, tasting various kinds of strawberries… .

His brow furrowed.

That’s because when you say strawberries, a memory comes to mind.

The strawberries that I had clearly bought in abundance disappeared in just three days, and I wondered if some thief had stolen them.

Because of that, I almost lost my jaw from chewing the tasteless jerky.

If we really find the culprit, we won’t just let it go.

The more I recalled the memory, the more my brow furrowed.

“…”

Well, I guess they aren’t all that good memories.

As I was looking at the distant mountains with my lips pouting, Mumyeong came up to me and took the baggage I was holding in my right hand.

“Master, they say the carriage can’t move from here.”

“Yeah.”

He nodded and reached out his hand to the anonymous person.

Anonymous stared at it blankly, then took a step forward after facing it.

…

A cold wind brushes my cheek, making my skin tingle.

I smiled refreshingly as I watched my legs sink in with each step I took.

I have never seen snow piled this high in my life.

Suddenly, I shook the hand I was holding, wondering about the anonymous person’s reaction.

“Nameless, isn’t it really amazing?”

“What do you mean?”

“The temperature and weather are different depending on the region.”

The nameless man looked down at his own feet covered in snow and smiled back.

“Yes, it’s amazing.”

“Hmm.”

When I see that innocent smile of an anonymous person, my heart somehow flutters.

Is it because it’s cold…?

If not that… .

As I was trying to think deeply about the reason, I heard Elia’s voice behind me and turned my head.

“Oops… I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

Lucius lifted Elia, who had half fallen, into his arms and carefully helped her up.

Tch, that’s stupid.

How much do you have to neglect your daily practice to fall down in such a soft, fluffy snow field?

He clicked his tongue slightly and shook his nameless hand.

By the way.

I need to separate from them when the timing is right… .

Since I have made plans to spar with them, I can’t afford to be separated from them.

The reason why I and Moo-myeong came to this place, the North, was not to Ellen, where we are now going, but to the end of the world.

Isn’t it in the devil’s realm?

I came there to find the nameless sword and its matching scabbard… .

If things continue this way, we will end up staying at the Duke’s castle in Ellen, following them.

A small sigh escaped.

The anonymous man, who found him strange, tilted his head and shook my arm.

“Why are you like that?”

“… My head is already spinning just thinking about meeting someone new.”

The nameless one let out a small ‘ah’ and nodded as if he understood.

“Certainly, I get nervous when I think about the people I’m going to meet this time.”

It’s as if you know to some extent the person you’re about to meet in the future…

I squinted my eyes.

He opened his mouth in a bright voice, deliberately, so that no one would notice the strangeness.

“Huh? Do you know who it is?”

“Yes, isn’t it iron-blooded?”

Even though I heard the anonymous answer, I tilted my head because no one came to mind at all.

…who is that?

In the first place, I have been living in a hut, so I don’t even know the name of the current emperor, and how would I know the name of a person in such a remote place?

But, if Myeong-mu also lived in the village for a short time during his childhood, how famous must he be to have heard of him?

Seeing my expression full of doubt, Moo-myeong smiled slightly and continued to open his mouth.

“He is currently called the strongest man in the empire.”

“Hoo… ?”

“It is said that he killed a wyvern living in the north at the young age of thirteen.”

A small yearning was engraved in the nameless eyes.

“It is said that at the age of fifteen, he went into battle and achieved numerous feats.”

Myeong-i continued to open his mouth as he looked at the castle built on a dizzying cliff in the distance.

Without even looking at me.

“Yes, even now, she is said to be the shield of the empire, holding back the monsters coming from the northernmost part, without even getting married.”

“…”

A sticky, slimy feeling welled up in a corner of my chest.

“… You know the details?”

The nameless man trembled as he walked, then froze in place like a stone.

“Why are you like that? Keep talking.”

I smiled faintly and looked at the nameless person.

Suddenly, I noticed the cold sweat running down the back of the nameless man’s neck.