Chapter 6
“Damn, when the hell is he coming out?”
It had been about an hour since Heter said he would be back and was swallowed by the Snow Wyrm.
“The air in the cylinder must be almost gone by now….”
According to an experiment I'd conducted long ago, a full cylinder provided enough air to breathe for about an hour.
But that was only when the cylinder had been freshly made.
The cylinder I'd brought had been made several years ago, and hadn't I used it to check whether the air was still good?
Its actual usable time had to be less than an hour.
In the end, now that an hour had passed, Heter must have reached the point where he could no longer breathe.
‘What if he defeats the Snow Wyrm but can't get out?’
That would be… such an absurd, futile way to die.
“He'll be all right, my lady.”
As I anxiously fidgeted, Sir Gold, who had come out into the yard with me, patted me on the shoulder.
“Knights can hold their breath longer than ordinary people, so he should be able to last at least another ten minutes.”
“…Really?”
“Yes. So trust Sir Heter.”
Sir Gold smiled reassuringly and leisurely stroked his beard, but.
‘Sir Gold always strokes his beard whenever he's anxious….’
I could tell that he was just as anxious as I was.
Right, what kind of disgrace was I making of myself in front of a vassal who trusted me?
“Phew.”
Just as I took a deep breath and was about to compose myself,
Rumble, rumble, rumble, rumble.
“!”
At last, the ground began to shake.
“My lady!”
Sir Gold shielded me with his one good arm, and then—
Bang!
“Gwooooooo!”
With a deafening roar, a Snow Wyrm burst from the ground.
‘What's with that thing?’
It looks completely unharmed!
Could it be that Sir Heter hadn't managed to defeat it?
‘If that's the case, we're completely screwed….’
Just as Sir Gold swallowed nervously upon seeing the apparently unharmed creature,
“Krooooo….”
Bang!
“Phew!”
“Sir Heter did it!”
Like the previous Snow Wyrm, this one too let out a death rattle and fell forward.
“Haaah, what a relief.”
“Indeed.”
Sir Gold and I waited for him to emerge from the Snow Wyrm's mouth as before, but.
“Huh?”
Unlike before, he didn't come out even after quite some time had passed.
‘Don't tell me…?’
It might simply have been taking longer because its body was longer than the previous one, but I had a sinister feeling.
“My lady?!”
At that moment, my body moved before I could think.
I ran to the Snow Wyrm's snout and desperately pulled at the teeth jutting densely all around its mouth in an attempt to open it, but they didn't budge.
‘I'll ask Sir Gold to help… No.’
No matter how much of a knight he was, he was an old man. And one of his arms was injured, too.
Even with Sir Gold's help, there was no way we could open this thing's mouth.
“Ugh! Sir Gold! Bring the people from the mansion!”
“Ah… Y-Yes! Understood!”
Sir Gold came to his senses at my command and ran to the mansion.
“Please… open!”
I couldn't just stand around doing nothing, so I continued struggling to open the Snow Wyrm's mouth.
“My lady!”
“My lady? What is….”
“Oh? The Snow Wyrm's down!”
As I felt each second drag like a minute, Sir Gold finally brought the territory's people who had taken shelter in the mansion.
“Good, you're here! Hurry and help me! Sir Heter was swallowed by this thing!”
It was such an emergency that I'd forgotten to change my manner of speech, and hurriedly asked them for help.
“Y-Yes, my lady!”
“Those of you with some muscle, come forward!”
“Yes!”
It must have seemed sudden, but the territory's people gathered around the Snow Wyrm and followed my orders without asking questions.
“We'll pull on three!”
“One, two….”
“Three!”
“Heave!”
When the men grabbed the Snow Wyrm's teeth, the women didn't stand idle either. They grabbed the waist of the person in front of them and leaned back, like they were in a tug-of-war.
Crrrreeak.
As a result, the Snow Wyrm's mouth finally opened wide enough for one person to enter and leave, but.
“Whew, where's Sir Heter?”
“I can't see anything inside.”
“Oh no….”
The place that seemed to be its throat, judging by human anatomy, was pitch-black, and nothing was visible.
“Please move aside.”
“Er… my lady?”
I had already confirmed through the gap that he wasn't in the mouth.
If so, that meant Sir Heter had to be somewhere around the esophagus or stomach.
While everyone held the mouth open, I had already tied a rope around my waist and approached the Snow Wyrm's mouth.
“Pull me out when I tug on the rope.”
“W-Wait a moment, my lady! I'll go!”
Startled, Sir Gold grabbed my arm, but I shook my head.
“Sir Heter will be slippery from the bodily fluids, just like before. Do you think you can hold on tight with only one arm?”
“Ugh….”
“This time, please step aside just once, Sir Gold.”
When he injured his arm and stubbornly insisted on putting off treatment, hadn't I been the one to step aside that time?
This time, it was my turn.
“I understand….”
“Thank you.”
After thanking Sir Gold, who nodded with a grief-stricken expression, I entered the Snow Wyrm's mouth.
‘Ugh… what a smell.’
Once inside the Snow Wyrm, the stench of blood tormented my nose, and the texture was just as horrible as the smell.
The bodily fluids protecting its inner walls and the blood made me slip with every step, and it was hot enough to make it hard to breathe.
‘I wanted warmth, not heat.’
The North was cool even in summer, so this kind of heat was utterly unfamiliar to Alice's body, which wasn't my old one.
The passage grew narrower the farther in I went, and the air grew thinner, making even taking one step incredibly painful.
“Fuck….”
Just as I wondered if this was as far as I could go and whether I should tug on the rope,
Tap.
“Huh?”
Something lightly caught against the tips of my toes.
I hurriedly crouched down and felt around, and my hand touched something smooth and hard.
‘There's something broad with four long sticks attached… no, five?’
A hand! Right, this is a hand!
‘Fuck!’
Thinking I'd finally found Heter, I followed the hand upward and grabbed his outstretched arm.
Huh? How did I know this was Heter's arm, you ask?
Well, who else could have an arm this hard and thick and have been swallowed by the Snow Wyrm so recently?
“Ungh….”
I'd found Heter, and all I had to do now was tie him to the rope… but the knot wouldn't come undone because I'd tied it too tightly.
I could untie it if I took my time, but there was a good chance he had already lost consciousness from lack of oxygen.
In a situation like this, I absolutely couldn't waste time!
I had no choice but to hold on to him tightly, but that brought another problem.
‘He's slippery.’
Heter's body was slippery no matter where I grabbed it because of the blood and bodily fluids.
At this rate, I might lose him while we were being pulled out. No, I definitely would.
I wondered if there was any way to secure him, and one idea did come to me.
“….”
But that method was so embarrassing and shameful that I wanted to avoid it if possible. Still, I soon steeled my resolve.
A person's life was incomparably more important than a little embarrassment on my part.
“Ugh.”
I bit my lip hard and pushed his hand into my cleavage.
The Snow Wyrm's bodily fluids acted as lubricant, allowing Heter's arm to slide effortlessly between my breasts and beneath my clothes.
“Hnnng.”
The Snow Wyrm's fluids against my bare skin made me shudder, but I endured it and kept pushing his arm in.
When his hand reached the rope, I somehow squeezed my hand through the gap and held it firmly in place, then crossed my legs as well to keep his arm from slipping free.
It was an attempt I could never have made if he had been conscious.
Holding tightly to Heter's arm, I tugged on the rope as we'd arranged.
Soon, I felt the rope being pulled from the other end, and we began to be dragged outside.
“Ugh…!”
As we were dragged out, Heter's hand occasionally brushed against sensitive parts of me, but it couldn't be helped, so I let it go.
“The young lady's coming out!”
“Sir Heter too!”
At last, we escaped from inside the Snow Wyrm.
“Wow… huh?”
“I know what you're thinking.”
Seeing the territory's people and Sir Gold looking flustered at the sight of me holding Heter's arm, I quickly defended myself.
“The Snow Wyrm's bodily fluids made him slippery, so this was the only way to hold on tight. More importantly, the rope….”
They must have known how slippery the Snow Wyrm's bodily fluids were after dismantling it themselves.
“Ah, yep!”
Fortunately, they seemed to understand why we'd been in that position after hearing me.
Once the rope around my waist was untied, I hurriedly checked Heter's breathing.
But….
“Damn it….”
“My lady… Sir Heter isn't breathing.”
Could we have been too late? Heter's chest wasn't moving at all.
“Ugh… Sir Heter was trying to protect us….”
“Hngh.”
While everyone was downcast, I staggered to my feet and knelt beside him.
“My lady….”
Sir Gold called to me in a sorrowful voice.
But I didn't have time to answer him.
“The very center of the chest. Place the heel of the hand at the midpoint of the line connecting the nipples, about 120 times per minute….”
“My lady?”
“Hard enough that it's all right if the bones break… Good.”
Recalling the CPR procedure I'd learned in the military, I placed the heel of my hand at the center of Heter's chest and began chest compressions.
“One, two, three, four, five….”
“M-My lady?”
Sir Gold and the territory's people watched me with puzzled expressions, as if wondering what I was suddenly doing.
“Fifty-one, fifty-two, fifty-three….”
I ignored their gazes and focused on counting.
“One hundred eighteen, one hundred nineteen, one hundred twenty….”
Even after sweating profusely and completing all the compressions, Heter remained motionless.
Just as I wondered if there was anything else I could do,
I remembered the next step after chest compressions.
It was a little embarrassing to do it with everyone watching, but I couldn't not do it.
“Fuck.”
Praying that he would live, I drew a deep breath, lifted his chin, and pressed my lips to his.
“!!”
“M-My lady?!”
Everyone watching my bizarre actions cried out in alarm.
Of course they reacted that way; from their perspective, I had kissed a corpse.
But I paid them no attention, gave him artificial respiration, and began chest compressions again.
“Cough!”
“!”
“Haa….”
At last, Sir Heter's chest began moving up and down again.
“He's breathing!”
“Sir Heter's alive!”
“The young lady saved Sir Heter with a kiss!”
“Woooooah!”
The people around me shouted something, but I couldn't hear them.
All I could think was how relieved I was that I had managed to save Heter.
“Haaah… I'm going to die.”
I wiped my face once, then turned my head toward Heter.
Then I remembered what he had said before being swallowed by the Snow Wyrm.
“Welcome back.”
“You worked hard.”