Chapter 161
『Translator: RainTL』
༺ Estelle Hadassa El Rath (3) ༻
Keeping oneself warm in a cold environment was a crucial element of survival. As such, many animals have evolved into having thick skin, layers of fat, or long fur.
Sheep and their wool were an example; bears with their thick skin, and sea lions with their dense layers of fat.
So what had humanity been doing all that time?
Humans did not evolve themselves.
They did not have thick layers of fat, skin, or fur. However, they did something horrible which only the terrible humans have done in the history of the universe, and that was making clothing.
If we didn’t have it, all we needed to do was take the wool from sheep and skin other animals to create clothing, right?
Removing the skin of other animals and after getting rid of the blood and head, they tanned it to form clothes. That was the wicked and rightful deeds that only humans were allowed to do.
And here we were, wearing the skin of another animal.
“Ugh… So wet.”
“Hold on. It was your idea in the first place.”
“But…”
Both of us were inside the sheepskin that had been ripped out of the dead sheep. Like two people sharing a sleeping bag with holes for the arms and the legs, one of us was carrying the other, who had to stick as close as possible to avoid being a nuisance to the one walking.
-Curse you! I won’t forget you even in the afterlife! I curse you, damn humans!
Looking at the deskinned head of the sheep that was discarded and buried in the snow made me feel like it was crying out a curse.
“Kyaak! T, the head! The head skin fell down! It’s on my head like a hat!”
As if remorseful even after its death, the skin from the head of the sheep fell and pounced on Estelle’s head.
“Stop throwing your arms around! It’ll keep your ears warm so that’s even better!”
“Aren’t you being too harsh just because it’s not you who has to go through this?”
Estelle was leaning on me inside the sheepskin. It was something that had to be done for both of us to escape the cold, but it was undeniable that it wasn’t the most elegant of things.
“Ugh… Are you okay? Junior?”
“Fortunately, you are extremely light, Saintess, so that helps.”
“Exactly. I’m as light as a feather, right?”
“Not that light, no.”
“You should always say yes in a time like that, Junior. Otherwise, you won’t be loved by the ladies.”
“Oh wow, I didn’t know that. Thank you so much for letting me know.”
We shared a few banters without an end. Perhaps it was to keep ourselves sane in this excruciating weather and make sure the other person was still conscious, but it wasn’t difficult because Princess Estelle was, objectively speaking, an easy person to talk to.
It was to the point that one would wonder whether she really was the most noble lady of this continent or not.
“Aren’t you getting hungry? Do you want some melted snow?”
“You can have that, Saintess, and give me some of the leftover blood.”
“Ugh… How do you drink that?”
“It’s to survive. And apparently, blood is not that bad to drink.”
“Who says that?”
“Someone richer than me.”
From time to time, Estelle handed over food from behind. They were mainly squirrel meat and frozen fruits, but with all things considered, they were a decent source of energy.
Like that, we traversed across the Steel Archipelago.
During the day, we dug a hole inside the snow and slept together while using the sheepskin as a blanket, and followed the stars at night to travel further and further north.
Sometimes, we almost got caught by the familiars who were searching for us, but we pretended to be a dead sheep that was half-buried in the snow to fool them.
“…”
“…A bit, too close, aren’t we?”
“Nothing new.”
“R, right?”
It was when we started to get used to touching each other’s skin 24 hours a day.
“Saintess. Look…”
“I saw it.”
Estelle also widened her eyes after finding something down the snowy valley.
“Mages. They… don’t look like they’re looking for us.”
She muttered in a soft voice.
At the bottom of the hill, a few mages were doing something alongside their familiars.
Giant ice golems were carrying around rocks, and manifested spirits were digging the ground. There was even a chimera, but it seemed to be serving as a scout rather than as a part of the digging crew.
“Considering how heavy their bums are, it must be something pretty important for them to be here as a group.”
“Are you going to attack them?”
“…”
I held myself back for a bit.
I knew what they were doing there.
They were the ones trying to excavate the remains of the Titans. Their goal was to combine as many actual bones as possible and cover the rest with artificial flesh and metal, and for that to happen, they needed to acquire as many remains as possible.
The only issue was that I was in the company of the powerless Estelle. It would have been a different story if I was alone, but defeating the excavators with Estelle hanging on my back wouldn't be easy.
“No. Let’s move on. There’s no need to cause a commotion. Right now, keeping you safe is my priority.”
“Hmm…”
Estelle let out a moody grunt. I was carrying her on my back so I couldn’t see her face, but it wasn’t hard to imagine the look on her face just by hearing her voice.
“The sun is starting to rise. We might draw their eyes if we go any further than this. Let's dig a hole around here.”
Digging holes was solely up to me. I wrapped her body with sheepskin and quickly dug a hole.
“Anything I can help you with?”
“Just watch. What if you get frostbites?”
“…”
Estelle, without her sacred powers, was no different from a civilian. In other words, she had zero resistance to the cold unlike me, a knight.
Besides, it wasn’t like I was digging the hole with nothing but my bare hands.
After covering my hands with some of the heat from Claiomh Solais, I continued increasing the size of the hole. Meanwhile, Estelle put the snow that melted during the process into a water bottle.
The resulting snow cave was barely big enough for Estelle and I to lie down in. I could make it bigger, but making it bigger than this would just increase the risk of us being discovered by the pursuers.
“Let’s go in.”
First off, I shoved the sheepskin inside the hole and went in first to create enough space inside. Estelle followed through afterward. She poked her face up through the hole towards my chest with an awkward smile on her face.
These past few days, we were sleeping together in the sheepskin sleeping bag, but it seemed that she still wasn’t fully used to it yet.
Well, no matter what we did when we were awake, we would still probably give each other a tight hug in our sleep while desperately craving warmth. There was no room for embarrassment when we were close to losing our lives from the cold.
“It’s all frozen and tough, but you should still have some of this.”
“Okay. Do you want some too, Junior?”
“Give me a small piece.”
Inside the snow cave where the only source of light was the faint ray of light seeping in from the entrance, we each held onto a piece of frozen meat with less than 10 centimeters between us.
“Ugh… It’s frozen and tough.”
“Give it to me. I can warm it back up.”
I engraved a Rune of the Sun onto the meat that was handed over by Estelle. Kenaz was better when cooking meat, but that would likely create a fire.
-Tchiiii!
The lamb slowly started to grizzle once the rune was carved into it. The ice around the meat melted into water as oil began to drip from it. I blew on it a few times before feeding her.
“It’s hot so don’t touch it. Just open your mouth.”
“Ahh…”
She seemed surprised even though she had already seen it quite a few times.
Estelle appeared slightly embarrassed but before long, she opened her mouth like a baby bird getting fed by its mother.
-Nom.
Nom nom. A faint smile appeared on her lips as she chewed on the warm piece of meat. She was evidently in a slightly better mood after having some protein.
This cold weather must have put a high toll on her stamina, and yet she was doing her best not to show it which was incredible.
“It’s delicious. You should have some too, Junior.”
“Yeah yeah.”
We enjoyed a small yet satisfying meal.
“Tonight, we will go all the way around the mages. Soon, we should be able to see a frozen path connecting to the Dingle Peninsula, and we will be set after crossing it.”
It wasn’t me who had come up with this escape path.
In the game, near the end of the Tower of Mages episode, all that was shared was that the mages ran away after discarding the Tower, but we managed to find the route they used in the last iteration.
The mages of the Tower had gotten on a sled at the northern peak of Steel Archipelago and traveled to Dingle Peninsula down the frozen path.
They were probably making the same preparations again in this iteration.
“…”
Right as I was considering the details of tonight’s plan, I found Estelle looking into my eyes. Even though it was dark all around us, I could still see that her usual smile was no longer on her face and that there was a rather indifferent look on it instead.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I was just thinking how I’m more of a nuisance than I thought.”
“Now is not the time to feel guilty or down.”
“Do you not regret it, Junior? You came all the way here and you’re going through so much trouble just to save me.”
“Nope.”
Of course not. Do you have any idea how important of a person you are?
“Why?”
“Do you need a reason to save people?” I replied.
“Umm… Are you the type of person that feels satisfaction from that?”
“Who wouldn’t?”
Why would I feel bad after doing something good?
“Like, most people wouldn’t put their lives on the line to do something good. If that was the majority, this world would have been a utopia.”
“That’s true too.”
Something I realized recently was that I seemed to be on the fairly good side. Everyone, including Master, was so busy trying to praise me as a hero after all.
“But I have no regrets. Because I made the right decision.”
I slowly continued my sentence.
“I was aware of someone else’s misfortune and had the power to resolve it. That’s why I did it.”
There were probably a lot of reasons not to. It was dangerous and difficult, and I could get hurt. If one thought about it, there were more reasons against doing something good than reasons for it.
“As long as there’s one reason why you have to do something good, isn’t that more than enough already?”
“Wow…”
Her eyes blinked in the darkness, like an ornithologist who found an extinct bird.
“I… can tell if someone is telling the truth.”
“Umm… isn’t it usually the other way around?”
“I’m not sure about lying, but a lot of people usually tell the truth and make authentic expressions in front of me.”
‘It must be because they’re afraid of the gods to tell a lie in front of the Saintess,’ she added with a bitter smile on her face.
“So I can tell when someone is being genuine with their words. Thanks to that, I can also somewhat tell if someone is lying or not.”
“Really? That kind of sounds like, ‘Which comes first; the chicken or the egg’.”
“I was just shocked… that there could be such a genuine person in this world.”
As if she was sincerely impressed, Estelle muttered to herself in a whisper.
“That’s incredible. Seriously.”
“It’s not as great as you are making it out to be.”
“No, it is. It’s my first time seeing someone as incredible as you.”
“You are embarrassing me now.”
“Haa… Every good man usually has a partner already though.”
“Well… There are two candidates.”
“So you do have a goalkeeper, huh?”
“Ehh?”
“But having a goalkeeper doesn’t mean I can’t score, right?”
Estelle said with an adorable smile on her face.
“How can you say something like that as the saintess?”
“Hmm? What did I say?”
“Like, a goalkeeper and whatnot…”
“And what do you think that means?”
“Kuhum…”
She pushed her face even closer and said that with a bewitching smile on her face. As expected of sisters… They were similar.
“Junior Korin. You are quite cute aren’t you~?”
“Please! No more of that coquettish voice! It’s not good for my heart!”
“Don’t wanna~. I don’t wanna~. Your reactions are so cute~.”
She was more like a witch than a saintess at this point! Estelle continued teasing me a bit more before heaving a deep sigh.
“It would have been a lot different if I had recovered my sacred energy at the very least.”
“You’re right.”
Back in the game, although Estelle herself was incredibly powerful, she was not someone who could be invited to the party.
The only assistance you could get from her was through her temporary buff. Having that buff alone would have changed a lot of things already – that was how overpowered she was.
“By the way, you said your sacred energy was sealed, right? It’s already been 4 days since we ran away from the Tower though. Can you still not use it?”
“…Yeah. I can faintly feel it being recovered, but even that is being sucked out.”
That indeed was strange. From what I knew, Estelle’s sacred energy was the energy left behind by the gods, which she could gather and use at will as the one and only half-Danann left behind in this world.
Even though it was a long time ago, she was still a descendant of Balor and Dagda, and the only one who had gone through the rare atavism to have a thicker concentration of the blood of the Titans and the King of Gods.
I had no idea what the principle behind her loss of power was because both in the game and in the last iteration, her role was just that of a damsel in distress.
“They must have done something to me with the Holy Grail.”
“But then, it wouldn’t make sense that you got captured by the Tower Lord, right? They wouldn’t have had the Holy Grail back then.”
“Hnn? I had a proper fight against the Tower Lord. I lost because I ended up using all my sacred energy.”
“Huh?”
“Nn?”
That was strange. Was the Saintess’ power not sealed during the escort?
“Let me ask something. When was it, that you couldn’t use your sacred energy?”
“I was at the Tower when I woke up, and that was when I couldn’t use it.”
“…”
In other words, they must have done something to Estelle after she arrived at the Tower of Mages.
Formation Expert, Kang Ryun. He had forced Hua Ran to eat a piece of wood from a peach tree, which was detrimental to Jiangshis, to weaken her.
Something similar could have been done to Estelle.
But if they put it in her food, it didn’t make sense that Estelle didn’t notice it, and how was it that her powers were still weakened and sealed even though it had already been several days since we left the Tower?
“Oh right, Junior. I don’t know why, but it feels like I’m getting some warm sacred energy back after meeting you. Is this because of your ‘Sun’?”
“…”
The clues she was sharing were extremely hard for me to understand.
How was the Tower of Mages sealing Estelle’s sacred energy? In fact, did the Tower even have the means to seal sacred energy? Wasn’t that something that only the New Faith used when dealing with priests who committed heavy crimes… Ah.
“…What is it?”
“No. It’s nothing.”
I came up with a hypothesis, but there was still the question of ‘How’.
Besides, it was questionable whether saying it now in this situation would be correct or not. This would inevitably lead to a quarrel which could potentially create a crack between the two of us.
In a situation where our life depended on every passing second, there was no time to quarrel with or persuade her.
‘It would be better to tell her once everything is over.’
The fourth morning came to an end as the night slowly started to approach. We woke up from our sleep before it was time due to a sudden commotion outside.
-Wararararaara…!
-S, stop them! Don’t…!
Roars were followed by the sound of clashing metal and screams.
“J, junior? What’s going on?”
“…It’s a fight. Who are they fighting though?”
It was clear who one of them was – they were the mages from the Tower that we witnessed at the bottom of the hill. The question, however, was the ones attacking those mages.
“Ugh…”
Estelle anxiously shrunk her shoulders as the two of us instinctively killed the sound of our breath.
---!!
It was a long, loud, and bloody battle.
Who is it? An ally? No, but how and why would one of our allies make their way here?
There were a series of questions but it was soon time to settle that line of thought. The battle seemed to be over, as something started to approach us from a distance.
-Woof! Woof! Aoouuuh!
A dog… no, it was bigger than that; more like a wolf if anything. Did one of the mages have a wolf or a dog familiar?
-Clomp! Clomp!
Big.
The sound of the footsteps wasn’t that loud due to the snow, but I could tell from the sound of each of their steps that it wasn’t a normal human. Besides…
-Clomp! Clomp!
-Clomp! Clomp!
It wasn’t just one---
-Kung!
‘What was that?! What was that sound?!’
I blocked her mouth but I was also flustered by that bizarre thud. How could such a sound be made in this field of snow? How big were they…? Did they finish reviving the Titans? If not, how could…
With all my senses, I focused on what was going on outside the cave. Every sensor in my body was warning me of the incoming danger.
Did they find us? Otherwise, there would be no reason for them to climb this way after just fighting the mages…
-Woof!
That same bark echoed once again.
“Junior. Look…”
“…”
Without her having to say it, I was already looking at the entrance of the cave where her eyes were facing.
-...
“…”
My eyes met with the beast that was poking its head into the cave.
Clear blue eyes and a tall nose. Its huge and horrifying teeth were revealed with a smirk.
That there was no dog. It was a wolf… a Dire Wolf that resided in the Northern Kingdom at that.
“Fuu…”
“It saw us, didn’t it?”
“…Yeah.”
-Kwaang!
The snow cave's ceiling crumbled as something snatched us from above.