“Reina! Look over there!”
Reina ran up to me in quick steps, grabbing my arm and pointing somewhere.
I turned my gaze in the direction she was pointing.
There stood a snowman.
A very large snowman.
The snowman was truly enormous.
Even from a distance, it looked far taller than me.
Its size was so overwhelming that it made me wonder how it had been made.
“It’s Mr. Snowman! And he’s soooo big!”
Reina beamed.
She spread her arms wide, drawing circles as if to help me grasp the snowman’s scale.
Her actions naturally brought a smile to my face.
“Yes, it’s a really… big snowman. Did you make it, Reina?”
Turning from the snowman, I looked at Reina and asked.
She nodded her head enthusiastically.
“Yes! I made it with Uncle Arto!”
So Artorius must have done most of the work.
I wasn’t surprised, having seen him place the snowman’s head earlier.
“Great job.”
I smiled and patted her head.
Praise should never be withheld in moments like these.
Whether or not this was something worthy of praise was another matter… but still, I praised her.
“Hehe.”
She seemed to love being complimented.
“Reina, are you having fun?”
“Yes!”
Reina looked genuinely thrilled.
Even before we came to the North, she had been singing about making a snowman, and now that she had actually built one, it seemed she couldn’t be happier.
‘Wasn’t this her first time seeing snow?’
I remembered my own reaction when I first saw snow, so it wasn’t hard to imagine how she was feeling now.
Still, I wasn’t sure if it was right for her to be playing so cheerfully in this situation.
After all, we had a task to complete, and it wasn’t going well.
I worried about whether someone might view her actions unfavorably.
“What a magnificent figure! Rertorius! Truly befitting of a snowman I built!”
Well, with someone else so delighted, I supposed it didn’t matter.
“We’re back~”
As I watched Reina and Artorius chatting in front of the snowman, Bliss’s voice rang out in the distance.
Looking toward the sound, I saw her waving and approaching.
Behind her were Agnes, the hero, and the rest of the scouting party.
They had set out about thirty minutes ago to search for prey and were now returning.
I greeted them with a bright smile.
“Great work. How did it go? Did you find anything?”
“No, nothing at all. Not even the faintest trace.”
Bliss sighed and shook her head at my question. It seemed their efforts had been fruitless.
“Hmm… That’s not a good sign.”
I made a troubled expression and agreed with her words, though inwardly I didn’t mind.
To be honest, I didn’t care about the hunting festival. Whether we succeeded or failed at hunting didn’t matter to me.
Winning the festival wasn’t my goal.
My sole objective was to meet the Redros Orc army rumored to be somewhere in this perpetual snowfield.
I believed they had likely wandered here after losing their way. In the vast snowfield, it was difficult to determine direction, and territories weren’t clearly divided.
I planned to find them, guide them toward Redros’s domain, and inform Redros of my presence.
If this mission succeeded, Redros would know I was here, and he would undoubtedly take action.
At the very least, he would establish a line of communication with me.
He would have no choice. Because…
“Reina! Over here!”
Because the future Demon King is here.
But there was one issue.
To achieve this grand plan, I needed to act without the hero’s party noticing, but the opportunity had yet to arise.
‘I’ll have to create an opening soon.’
I needed to meet the orcs as quickly as possible.
The festival’s purpose included hunting them, after all. If they were exterminated before I could meet them, it would be a disaster.
‘Maybe I should wait until everyone’s asleep…’
I glanced at the hero’s party as they talked, considering my next move.
“Reina! Look at this!”
Reina’s voice brought me back, and I turned to see her rolling a small snowball with both hands.
‘Is she planning to make another snowman?’
Well, whatever the reason, her action of rolling the snowball was adorable.
Reina’s simple movements always seemed to bring an inexplicable warmth.
“Reina… What are you doing?”
As I watched her with a fond expression, Olivia approached me and asked.
“She says she’s making another snowman.”
“Another snowman, huh.”
At my reply, Olivia muttered to herself and seemed lost in thought for a moment.
Then, she walked over to Reina.
Bending slightly, she asked gently, “Would you like some help?”
Reina tilted her head, studying Olivia briefly. She seemed puzzled by the sudden offer.
But soon, she responded brightly.
“Yes!”
“Alright. Just a moment.”
Olivia smiled softly and lightly gestured toward the snowball Reina had made.
Then, she began chanting a spell.
The chant was short. Once it ended, the snowball Reina had been rolling started to change.
Pieces of snow detached and reformed as if the snowball had come to life, shaping itself into a figure.
The transformation of the snowball took several minutes to complete, and when it did, I couldn’t help but be astonished.
Where Reina’s snowball had been, there was now something entirely different.
The shape it had taken was astounding.
The snowball had turned into a figure that resembled Reina almost perfectly.
It looked like a sculptor had crafted a statue of Reina from snow.
Its appearance was nothing short of amazing.
It was a snowman in the truest sense of the word—a person made entirely of snow.
“How is it?” Olivia asked Reina with a confident expression. She seemed well aware of how impressive her creation was.
However, Reina didn’t seem to share her sentiment.
Reina stared intently at the snowman that looked just like her.
With a sullen expression, she muttered one word.
“Boring.”
Reina’s judgment cracked Olivia’s confident demeanor. In a flustered tone, she asked, “Why…?”
Olivia stood there in a daze, her expression blank with shock at the unexpected response. She seemed utterly taken aback.
After a brief moment, Olivia shook her head, as though regaining her composure.
She then spoke to Reina again.
“This magic! Isn’t it amazing? It’s a snowman that looks just like a real person!”
Pointing at the snowman, she made a desperate attempt to emphasize its unique qualities and elicit a different reaction from Reina.
“Boring.”
Reina’s evaluation didn’t change.
Without another word, Reina crouched down and started rolling snow into a ball again.
“But…”
Seeing this, Olivia’s face once again filled with dismay.
For a moment, Olivia seemed like she was about to say something. However, her mouth closed without uttering a sound.
Reina wasn’t even sparing her a glance anymore.
Though Olivia’s lips twitched as if she wanted to speak, no words came out. She seemed completely at a loss.
“Why… Why don’t you appreciate such beautiful magic…”
She muttered, her expression drooping.
Her voice carried both a sense of disappointment and disbelief.
She seemed deeply shaken.
Well, regardless, Reina was happily rolling snow again.
‘Should I try to console her?’
As I pondered whether I should comfort the disheartened Olivia, a loud voice interrupted my thoughts.
“Everyone, stop what you’re doing for a moment!” Agnes shouted.
The moment I heard her voice, I immediately stopped Reina’s actions. Then, I turned to Agnes to see what was going on.
Agnes stood still with her eyes closed.
Other than occasionally tilting her head slightly, she showed no movement.
I couldn’t tell exactly what she was doing, but one thing was certain—she was focused on something.
Sensing that something unusual was happening, we all remained silent to avoid disturbing her. We waited with bated breath for her to speak again.
How much time passed? Just when the tense silence was becoming unbearable, she finally spoke.
“I hear footsteps on the snow. One, two? No… many more than that.”
Still with her eyes closed, Agnes muttered before opening them and addressing the hero.
“Dane.”
“Yes?”
“Get ready. Something is coming.”
Agnes spoke to the hero while staring in the direction of a cluster of trees.
Her sudden words left us confused.
This was supposed to be an empty area.
What could possibly be approaching?
However, unlike us, the hero acted immediately.
Without questioning her words, he grabbed his sword.
Almost as if on cue, the sound of beasts howling began to echo.
A strange chill ran down my spine.
My body instinctively tensed and trembled. It seemed I wasn’t the only one; everyone around me had frozen in place.
It was as if we had all turned to ice.
While we stood paralyzed, the howling grew louder, closer.
I could also hear the crunch of heavy footsteps on the snow.
The sounds were coming from multiple directions, drawing nearer and nearer.
Instinctively, I felt it.
Something was approaching us.
‘So this is what Agnes heard earlier.’
Now I understood why she had been so focused earlier.
It seemed she had detected these noises when they were still far away.
Thankfully, because of her, we were able to prepare.
Without her warning, we might have been caught off guard and thrust into a sudden battle.
I positioned Reina behind me and began scanning our surroundings carefully.
The sounds came from all directions.
As I kept a vigilant watch, I finally noticed black shapes emerging from the dense trees.
-Sring!
The moment those figures came into view, both the hero and Agnes drew their swords simultaneously.
Artorius aimed his spear at them, while Olivia began murmuring incantations to prepare a spell.
Bliss, gripping a small baton at her waist, swung it downward forcefully.
With a rattling sound, the baton extended into a long morning star.
Her expression hardened as she raised it, ready for the fight.
One by one, everyone readied themselves for battle in impressive fashion.
Not wanting to be left behind, I reached for the spot where my sword should have been.
But…
My hand grasped at empty air.
‘Damn it.’
Only then did I remember that my sword had been broken.
I swallowed the curse that nearly escaped my lips and had no choice but to raise my fists instead.
As we all took up our combat stances and waited, they finally began to appear.
Emerging slowly from behind the dense trees were…
“Wolves?”
Massive wolves.
More accurately, a pack of wolves.
Unlike my shocked murmur, Agnes spoke with a tone of realization as she observed them.
“So that’s what it was. Now I understand why there haven’t been any monsters around. It wasn’t that we couldn’t see them—they weren’t here at all.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“It seems this is their territory. That’s why we couldn’t find any monsters. Any that remained here would have been eaten by them.”
“Wait, so if these wolves are showing themselves to us now…”
To my question, Agnes replied firmly.
“It means they’ve identified us as prey.”
Unbelievable.
While I stood there, stunned by her alarming answer, Olivia, who seemed to have finished her spell formation, spoke up as she observed the wolves.
“Snowflower wolves.”
“Do you know them?”
“Yes, magicians sometimes use the remains of monsters as magical materials. But this is my first time seeing them alive. I’ve only ever seen their dead bodies.”
As we conversed, the wolves continued to close the distance.
They growled and moved as though herding us, like predators cornering their prey.
During their approach, a small incident occurred.
One of the advancing wolves seemed to mistake the snowman for a person and attacked it.
The snowman’s head was split in half by the wolf’s savage strike, and its body was ruthlessly torn apart by its claws.
“Ahhh! Mr. Snowman is dead!” Reina’s adorable scream echoed as she saw the snowman’s mangled form.
Under normal circumstances, I would have comforted her.
But there was no time for that—the wolves were steadily getting closer.
They were now near enough to pounce on us at any moment.
At that moment, the hero shouted.
“The enemies are closing in from all sides! Divide your roles and hold them off! From now on, we’ll cover three directions to defend all sides!”
Everyone nodded in agreement to his command.
Raising his sword, the hero shouted again.
“Artorius, Agnes, and I will take the front lines! Olivia, Bliss, and Rein, hold the rear!”
There was no need to change formation. Artorius and Agnes were already watching different areas alongside the hero.
Instead, they gripped their weapons tightly, ready to strike, and took a few steps forward.
As soon as we completed our preparations, as if on cue, the leading wolf lunged toward us.
“Here we go!”
And so, the first battle of the hunting festival began.