Chapter 101
The Third Sparring Grounds had been destroyed beyond use.
Kyla lay sprawled on the floor of the sparring grounds, all her weapons shattered, wearing a satisfied smile.
"I lost."
She had been so thoroughly ravaged by Abel from head to toe that she could manage no more than those simple words.
'No, that wording is a little strange.'
Apparently, the battle had sent all the blood to her head, so normal words would not come to mind.
'So it was true...'
He really was as strong as her father had said.
The gap between them was so vast that her own strength could not possibly break through Abel's defenses, while every one of Abel's attacks felt like a fatal blow aimed at her.
If there was any consolation at all, it was that she had at least succeeded in making Abel move in that situation.
If she had failed even at that, she might have thrown herself into training, determined to reach the realm of a Sword Master out of sheer self-loathing.
Swoosh.
"So, are you satisfied?"
As Kyla was reviewing her spar with Abel in her mind, his voice came from above her head.
When she looked up, Abel was already gazing down at her with a composed expression, as though he had finished speaking with her father.
Phew...
The warming magic circle had broken midway through the spar, and Abel's appearance as he looked at her while exhaling white breath was quite seductive to Kyla.
Come to think of it, he fought me with the smoke from that breath, didn't he?
The condition for that smoke ability seemed to be controlling the smoke that emerged when he held it in his mouth and then exhaled it.
'That was a mistake...'
She had been so caught up in the excitement that she had not even realized she had broken the warming magic circle Abel had installed in the sparring grounds.
As she stared blankly at Abel, he smiled faintly and opened his mouth.
"That was quite an enjoyable spar."
Swish.
He said this while extending a hand.
"..."
Kyla looked at Abel with an unhappy expression.
What was this? Why did she feel so unpleasant?
Ah...
"Honorifics."
"Pardon...?"
During the spar, Abel had used informal speech almost the entire time.
Since she herself had abandoned her usual masked manner of speaking and used informal speech, she had no intention of criticizing Abel's way of speaking.
But.
Something about Abel's way of speaking bothered Kyla.
So, as she took the hand Abel offered and rose, she voiced her thoughts.
"How about we stop speaking formally to each other?"
As far as she knew, they were the same age.
Previously, they had spoken as the heir to House Nebla and the young lady of House Stellaraim, so it had been natural for them to maintain proper courtesy.
"What do you think?"
But Abel was the powerful man who had ravaged her...
No, the more she said "ravaged," the stranger it sounded.
In any case, being spoken to formally by the powerful man who had overwhelmed her was unpleasant enough to make her skin crawl.
"...Well, sure."
Abel looked slightly flustered by Kyla's sudden words, but he readily nodded in agreement. At his positive answer, Kyla smiled and nodded in satisfaction.
'Hmm, just as I thought...'
Should I start by abandoning the name of House Stellaraim?
I believe that's what it takes for me to make Abel my husband.
Lick.
While entertaining such rather frightening thoughts, Kyla unconsciously stuck out her crimson tongue and licked her lips, gazing at Abel seductively.
***
The Frozen Mountain Range.
It was a sort of forbidden zone, boasting cold close to absolute zero—so severe that even the people of the North were reluctant to enter it.
If someone entered the range without protecting themselves with mana, they would freeze to death in less than three minutes, such was the overwhelming cold and the blizzards that raged there all year round.
Moreover, strange mana rippled throughout the area, twisting human perception, and the exact cause of it had yet to be discovered.
The figure of someone walking through the Frozen Mountain Range.
"Hmm?"
Mist, investigating the Frozen Mountain Range as always while wearing her maid uniform, tilted her head at a strange sensation.
What was this?
She felt a sense of danger, as though something were targeting something she held dear.
It was merely intuition.
But for those who had reached a level like Mist's, intuition was so keen that it was almost akin to foreknowledge.
'...'
Crunch.
Something was unpleasant.
Crunch.
If there was a problem, it was the cause of this unpleasantness.
Or rather, the fact that she did not know exactly what that cause was.
Thinking this, Mist pushed through the snow and entered the cave she had designated as her base camp while investigating the area, then exhaled the breath she had been holding.
Perhaps it was because the temperatures were below freezing to an extent beyond imagination, severe enough to defy the laws of nature.
Whenever she exhaled, the moisture mixed into her breath froze almost instantly, and when she tried to breathe again, her airway froze. She had no choice but to move while holding her breath.
"Phew."
About a week.
The time she had been apart from Lord Abel.
Since this was a forbidden zone on the outskirts of the enormous Stellaraim Duchy, it had taken about three days to reach this place.
Three days since she had finally arrived.
After spending three days investigating while holding her breath and gasping for air at the base camp, Mist finally reached a conclusion.
If she continued investigating this foolishly, it would take too long for her to return.
She had only managed to investigate about half of the Frozen Mountain Range.
Then she would be late.
She did not know exactly what would be late, but at that moment, Mist decided to follow her instincts and do something somewhat impulsive.
'Two possibilities.'
One: despite investigating [Rainas] this thoroughly, she had failed to catch its trail, so her first hypothesis was that the headquarters of [Rainas] was not here.
The second possibility was that the stealth techniques of [Rainas] were so exceptional that even Mist could neither see nor detect them.
"Hmm..."
As she considered these two possibilities, Mist cast a simple fire spell over a pile of wood she had taken out of her subspace.
Whoosh.
After creating a simple campfire, Mist made a small hole in the cave wall and guided the frigid air outside into the cave.
Feeling the icy air flowing into the cave, Mist quietly began erasing her presence.
Whether the first hypothesis was correct, or the second one was valid.
Honestly, no matter how long she pondered here, she would not reach a conclusion.
Then.
'I suppose I'll have to lure them out.'
And the best way to lure them out was to fake her own death.
Thump.
House Nebla's [Dark Shadow].
Each of them had mastered at least one specialty—perhaps "specialization" would be the better word.
In any case, they were people who had mastered one or more fields of expertise of their own.
Charon specialized in self-destruct attacks using his ability.
Nella possessed a city-scale detection range thanks to her uniquely vast sensing ability.
Then what about Mist?
What specialty could she possess that was comparable to those two?
Assassination.
Stealth and infiltration, knowledge of human anatomy and its weak points. If necessary, she could manufacture poisons, and she had even mastered pharmacology to build up tremendous resistance. Acting and disguise were part of the package as well.
Naturally, every member of [Dark Shadow] had mastered basic assassination techniques at an above-average level—indeed, at the level of a master.
But Mist's skills were the finest among them.
Moreover, when combined with the talent she had possessed from birth—the ability to completely control her own presence—
her assassination skills were said to be on an entirely different level from those of the other members of [Dark Shadow].
Thump.
Mist's heartbeat began to slow.
Feeling herself enter a kind of suspended animation by forcibly stopping the muscles of her heart with mana, Mist moved swiftly.
A ring engraved with subspace magic, supplied by House Nebla as part of her provisions.
Mist took a dummy modeled after herself from inside the subspace, laid it near the campfire, and hid herself in the mound of snow piled up at the back of the cave while consciously lowering her body temperature.
Thump---.
Mist's heartbeat slowly dwindled until it eventually stopped completely, leaving only the dummy that looked like her corpse lying coldly on the floor of the cave.
About six hours later.
Crunch.
"She's definitely dead, right?"
"Of course. This much time has passed, and her body temperature can't be detected either."
Two strangers entered the cave.
To walk through the Frozen Mountain Range, they were wearing down suits fitted with numerous warming magic circles.
"Hah, incredible. She entered this Frozen Mountain Range wearing a maid uniform like that?"
"She must have been a powerful individual who could completely regulate her body with mana."
However.
One of the two looked at a fine crack in the cave wall.
"It looks like she froze to death while resting because she failed to notice this crack."
"...Still, impressive is impressive. To investigate this far in only four days amid the blizzards of the Frozen Mountain Range..."
The blizzards that raged through the Frozen Mountain Range were by no means ordinary blizzards.
They were the remnants of an ultra-ancient civilization that had existed in the distant past.
Those remnants should have remained asleep underground, but they had awakened, twisting nature itself in the process.
Where else in the world could there be a blizzard that froze one's mouth and airway merely by opening one's mouth, disrupted the nerves, and even blocked mana?
"If she weren't an enemy, I would have paid my respects. Damn, this must have been the result of effort, not an ability."
"...Well, I agree. But let's move for now. We've confirmed it, so let's head back."
The two glanced briefly at the woman's corpse lying cold and lifeless, then left the cave and headed toward their hideout.
...
Without realizing that someone had been watching everything.
. . .
At last, they reached the depths of the Frozen Mountain Range.
A massive structure carved out of the interior of an entire mountain.
The two people arrived at a facility built by an alliance of numerous subordinate organizations created through the direct intervention of the boss of [Organization]...
No, three people entered after receiving a guard's greeting.
"Good work."
"Yeah."
Click-clack.
The faint click of a woman's heels blended into the footsteps of the other two.
But neither of them noticed anything amiss.
"Honestly, what a pain. Even checking this place is a hassle."
The two took off their down suits, which covered their entire bodies.
Strangely enough, the pair consisted of a male beastman and a human woman.
"Good work."
"You too."
That was the exchange of pleasantries between the two.
Slice.
It was the last conversation either of them ever had.
Click-clack.
Mist's figure slipped between the two of them.
At the sound of the two people collapsing, Mist gazed toward what appeared to be the deep abyss of the mountain range, disposed of the fallen bodies so they would not be found, and immediately left the area.