To go west from Schafendorf, it was first necessary to head north along the road.
Ignoring the road and forcing one’s way through the snow would only lead to all sorts of difficulties blossoming.
Baron Gottfried might have been in such a hurry that he headed west without a second thought, but it was obvious that his progress would be slowed down as a result.
So, Keldric and his party continued north. North, and further north.
Familiar scenery unfolded before Keldric’s eyes. This area was one Keldric could claim to know.
Although, aside from Belam, Bogenberg, and the area around Spitzenberg, what did he really know…?
‘That way is the forest, that way is the mountain range, and going that way… Carlton Village.’
The wind blowing from beyond the mountain range gradually grew stronger, carrying with it a deep sense of nostalgia.
Carlton Village, in the northern part of the Empire, at the edge of the Permafrost. If they followed this road, they would reach it.
Still, it would take at least four days, and even then, it would be the same boring scenery of snowfields stretching out… but Keldric didn’t dislike the winding dirt road.
The road Keldric had taken when he first ventured out into the world, knowing nothing.
The dirt road across the snowfield was like a painting, and the bright sunlight reflecting off the snow, sparkling like jewels, inspired awe.
The journey back along that road was quite refreshing and welcome. Keldric’s eyes sparkled brightly.
“Damn it. What kind of backwater are we heading to, anyway?”
On the other hand, Lord Henri, who loathed the cold, was disgusted.
He grumbled incessantly as he followed the dirt road, which was little more than a single track.
“Lord Keldric. I’ve traveled extensively in the northern Empire, but this is the first time I’ve seen such a miserable place. Does anyone even use this road?”
“Haha…”
Keldric chuckled awkwardly. He couldn’t exactly say he was wrong.
Besides him, most of the soldiers were from the north and didn’t complain, but they weren’t exactly enjoying it either.
Snow, snow, and more snow. Snow everywhere.
The wind, laden with cold, was gentle but constant, and there was nothing to see around them. There was no suitable place to rest for a while.
But Keldric enjoyed the scenery itself.
People are usually not interested in things they can easily obtain. Since snow was everywhere, the soldiers and Lord Henri paid no attention to it.
Keldric was different. He was happy just to be out and about.
Even if it was just a brief respite enjoyed in the midst of war, the scenery he hadn’t seen in a long time was still welcome.
“This… it’s too boring.”
Lord Henri said, picking at his ear with a twig he had found somewhere. Keldric and Alyssa gave each other a look that said, ‘Here he goes again.’
“Something else?”
“I’m bored, so how about we each tell a fun story?”
A fun story. It was a rather vague request.
“For example?”
“Well… something that happened when we were kids? We could tell those stories for fun.”
Keldric glanced at where the conversation was heading. The dirt road stretched out ahead.
Then he looked up at the sky. The sun was just beginning to rise on the horizon where the mountain range ended. In other words, it was morning.
When Keldric had left Carlton Village, it had taken him a little less than half a day to get from the crossroads to Schafendorf.
Now, there were more people in the party. So, it would take them three or four hours longer.
They couldn’t just remain silent during that time, so telling jokes or stories would be fine.
“Not bad.”
“Then, I’ll start.”
Lord Henri began to tell stories about his hometown, the Barony of Candillon.
How there was a baronial castle in front of a vineyard with beautiful hills, how he used to run around on the hills, filled with the scent of grapes, on nice days…
“Anyway, that’s the kind of place it is. Candillon is a beautiful place.”
No one openly showed that they were eavesdropping, but they each smiled as they imagined the Barony of Candillon that Lord Henri had described.
Keldric was the same. A glint appeared in Keldric’s eyes as he imagined the vineyards of a warm region.
“I’d like to visit it someday.”
“You’re welcome anytime. You and I are the best of friends… no, practically sworn brothers. Hahaha!”
The soldiers and servants alike were infected by his hearty laughter. The cold seemed to lessen a little.
Of course, it was partly thanks to the rising sun, but the warm atmosphere melted their hearts.
“Lord Henri. Speaking of which, your fiancée—”
“Ahem! My story ends here. Now it’s your turn.”
Keldric had been caught up in the atmosphere and tried to ask about his fiancée, but Lord Henri was firm.
He awkwardly changed the subject. Keldric, sensing his discomfort, agreed.
‘I’m curious, but…’
There was no need to stir up trouble unnecessarily.
He’d tell him when the time was right anyway. Keldric thought lightly.
“My story, you say?”
“Yes. I’m sure you’ve had many interesting experiences.”
Interesting experiences. Keldric looked back on his past.
He had spent eighteen years in Carlton Village, then his family was attacked, and he experienced Yakob’s death…
Then he ventured out into the world. He won the Bogenberg Tournament and caught a monster in Spitzenberg.
The only stories he could boast about were his boring life in a rural village or the stories of the tournament or the monster.
Lord Henri already knew about the tournament and the monster.
After a moment of contemplation, Keldric slowly opened his mouth.
“…I don’t really have any stories to tell, but would you like to play a simple game instead?”
Lord Henri’s expression became slightly indifferent.
There were no dice here, nor a table to roll them on, so there didn’t seem to be anything they could play.
“If it’s fun, I’m up for anything.”
Keldric recalled a card game he had thought about in passing.
He couldn’t make cards and use them right away, but there were many games they could easily enjoy.
☩ ☩ ☩ ☩ ☩ ☩ ☩
“Twenty-three!”
“You’re caught again.”
“Damn it!”
Lord Henri burst out in anger. And for good reason, this was already the fourth time.
The game Keldric had simply suggested, the so-called ‘369 Game,’ was quite unfamiliar to Lord Henri and the others.
But the unfamiliarity soon turned into novelty.
The competitive rules and the fun that came from them were real.
With Lord Henri, Alyssa, and a few servants participating, the heated atmosphere was no longer a ‘light game.’
“O-one more time… I’ll do it one more time!”
“Lord Henri. It’s getting late…”
“No! One more time!”
Lord Henri shouted with a fierce look in his eyes. Keldric nodded awkwardly.
“Then… let’s start with Lord Henri.”
“One!”
“Two!”
The sound of clapping echoed continuously. Before they knew it, the soldiers following behind were watching with great interest.
“Twenty-eight!”
“Twenty-nine… Ah!”
“…..”
Keldric involuntarily closed his eyes tightly. Lord Henri’s talent was truly disastrous.
Originally, physical tasks were the specialty of knights, but this required using one’s head, regardless of physical ability.
Quick reflexes were also necessary to some extent, but the knight’s excellent physical abilities couldn’t keep up with his brain.
“Lord Henri. Come here.”
“Ugh…!”
Lord Henri presented his forehead with a humiliated expression.
His forehead, flushed red, emphasized its presence like a target.
Keldric, hoping that Lord Henri would give up soon, pulled his middle finger back with his thumb as hard as he could.
And, fired.
Thwack-!!
“-?!”
Immediately after the clear sound echoed across the white snowfield, Lord Henri grabbed his forehead and struggled. Thanks to that, the warhorse he was riding staggered slightly.
The aftermath of the so-called ‘Finger Catapult,’ which Keldric had renamed appropriately, was intense.
Everyone was horrified the first time Lord Henri was hit by Keldric.
“A-again… again…!”
Keldric, who was naturally strong, and Lord Henri, who now had a look of desperation on his face.
Whatever the case, getting hit by either of them would break your skull.
“One!”
“Two!”
But the game continued.
Lord Henri shouted with a flushed face, and the servant next to him continued to call out the numbers with a tearful expression.
Keldric clicked his tongue as he looked at the eerie Lord Henri.
It wasn’t that he was tired of his stubbornness, but that he was so unbelievably bad at it that it was absurd.
“Thirty!”
And, this time again, the number stopped below thirty.
Keldric stared blankly at Lord Henri, who had lost his will to fight, and blew on his fingers.
“Lord Henri. You have to do what you promised.”
Whether it was a devil’s game or not, there was no more cowardly act than avoiding the agreed-upon penalty.
As the sun slowly set beyond the snow-covered horizon, Lord Henri’s forehead became redder than the crimson sky.
“Let’s stop here for today. We need to find a campsite.”
“If I ever play this damn game again, I’m not human.”
The small joys of the journey faded away, and night came instead.
It was a northern night with a piercing chill.
After finishing dinner with bread and barley porridge, Keldric lay down in the place he had made as a bed.
They hadn’t brought a tent to avoid the wind. Such things were a luxury for a special unit where mobility was important.
It wasn’t a problem for Keldric. There was no need to block the night sky studded with stars.
Since many of the soldiers were from the north, there weren’t any complaints.
“Ugh…”
The problem was Lord Henri and Alyssa, who were vulnerable to the cold.
Lord Henri was at least warm when he slept close to his servants. But Alyssa didn’t have such a thing.
She could sleep next to Arno or Helga if she wanted to, but the icy north wind far exceeded that.
In the end, the place Alyssa headed for, shivering, was next to Keldric.
“I-I’m sorry…”
“It’s alright.”
Keldric was used to the cold of the north, but his large body was quite warm.
Keldric didn’t really know why. Whether it was because of the smooth metabolism of this absurd body, or for some other reason.
What was certain was that Alyssa’s trembling, who had carefully laid down next to him, was gradually subsiding.
A time of silence and cold arrived. Except for the soldiers on watch, no one seemed to be awake.
At their feet, a bonfire crackled, scattering sparks. They had roughly cleared the snow and laid down leather, but a chill crept up from the ground.
Feeling a little chilly, Keldric pulled the wolf cloak he was using as a blanket up a little more.
Soon, the sound of snoring began to echo. It must be Lord Henri’s.
“Lord Keldric.”
Suddenly, Keldric turned his gaze to the voice that was faintly heard next to him.
Blue eyes, mysteriously shining in the darkness, were there.
“…Did you just call me?”
“If you were sleeping…”
“No, I wasn’t.”
Amidst the occasional snoring in the quiet campsite, the two whispered softly.
“Although it’s to achieve my purpose, the journey with Lord Keldric is always meaningful.”
“…The purpose being that magician?”
“Yes. That magician… the magician I’m looking for.”
Keldric didn’t know much about Alyssa.
At most, that she came from the southern peninsula and was from a fallen noble family.
“When you meet the magician you’re looking for and achieve your purpose, what do you plan to do next?”
“…I don’t know.”
“I see.”
Alyssa pursed her lips, searching for words.
Keldric quietly looked up at the night sky. A shooting star with a long tail fell across the mysterious sky.
“Lord Keldric.”
“I’m listening.”
“Thank you, as always.”
“…For what?”
The conversation ended there. Keldric quietly closed his mouth, and Alyssa didn’t say anything more either.
Before long, the sound of her soft, regular breathing faintly reached Keldric’s ears.
‘Thankful… is she?’
Keldric had been traveling with Alyssa ever since they left Carlton Village.
Looking back on their journey, a question always bloomed in Keldric’s heart.
Could he trust her now?
They hadn’t spent that much time together, nor had they traveled to many places.
When he thought about it, they had only been together for a little less than half a year.
Was this enough to form a bond?
Keldric couldn’t readily answer that question yet, but he was certain of one thing after their conversation just now.
Alyssa still couldn’t open up completely to Keldric.
And the same was true for Keldric.
In other words, they couldn’t get closer than a certain distance.
Keldric was reluctant to talk about matters concerning his family, and Alyssa was hesitant to talk about her destroyed family or the mage she was personally searching for.
If people lost a common purpose, there was no reason to mingle with others.
If they chose to maintain the status quo, Alyssa would eventually leave Keldric.
Keldric found that strangely unsettling.
It was a fresh reminder of the passage of time and the changing relationships between people that came with it.
‘…Difficult.’
The wind carrying the cold had subsided slightly.
Using her soft breathing and occasional snores as a lullaby, Keldric slowly closed his eyelids.
Another tiring day seemed to be coming to an end like that.
☩ ☩ ☩ ☩ ☩ ☩ ☩
“God damn it.”
Keldric opened his eyes in the familiar communal space. Then, he spat out a small curse.
Just when he thought he could get some rest, he was invariably summoned here.
It must be the devil’s doing. Keldric’s brow furrowed deeply.
When he wanted to ask for advice, the devil wouldn’t even show his face, but he didn’t like being summoned like this whenever the devil felt like it.
Keldric’s eyes darted around, searching for the devil.
The dark and damp communal space was now like his own living room. The fragments of the stone statue that had been scattered on the floor had been neatly cleaned up, and the communal space was as silent as a graveyard.
And, in the center of the communal space. Where a beam of light streamed in from the hole in the ceiling.
[It’s been a while, Warrior.]
The black mist that surged and appeared in an instant gathered there, soon transforming into the familiar wolf.
Keldric clicked his tongue with a disgruntled expression. Even so, his body knew what to do, and he casually sat on the statue that only had its lower half remaining.
“So, what is it this time?”
He hadn’t suffered any losses so far, so he was willing to hear what the devil had to say.