Chapter 227
『Translator: RainTL』
༺ Northern Walls (3) ༻
It had been 4 days since our arrival at the border city of Bifrost, and the maintenance was well under way.
Thanks to the Sun hovering in the sky, some of the people were even working without a shirt on, which created an interesting sight of people wearing and taking off their jackets on repeat depending on their location.
“A bit small.”
“A, apologies, but this is the biggest building we have in this city.”
We were inside the training hall used by the Bifrost guards for a conference. Everyone was so close that we could all feel each other’s warmth.
“I’m sure it’s uncomfortable for everyone, but there’s nothing we can do about it.”
It was unavoidable, because there were hundreds of us inside this small building.
“We are going to start investigating what’s beyond the walls. Any volunteers?”
Everyone looked away slightly in response. It was just as I had expected. Even I would have preferred to stay over in the city instead of spending the night in the snowy mountains.
“Daesik.”
“Ah, yes! Master…!”
“Create a group of around 100 battle mages. The weather’s like this so make sure to include the Red Cult folks. They have to make the fire for us.”
“Y, yes sir!”
Despite being former elites of the Tower of Mages, none of them voiced a complaint even after hearing me treat them like lighters. It seemed Marie was a great teacher.
“Master. How are the runes coming along?”
“I am still in the process of engraving them on all the major parts of the wall.”
“Master and Professor Josephine, please continue with the runes and… Kranel and Yuel? Make sure the Wicker Warrior Upgrade version is ready to depart at any moment.”
Yuel the Druid grumbled in response.
“Is it collaboration work with this person again?”
“…Why?”
“Like. You’re… always so oddly enthusiastic whenever it’s about creating golems.”
Ignoring the two’s banter, I continued on with forming the investigation team.
“Marie-sunbae and Alicia will come with me; Hua Ran will stay behind in the city just in case. As for Dorron and Germain… Germain. Are you there?”
“Sorry? Yes! I am here, sunbae!”
A hand shot up from the room of 200 people.
“You group up with Ren and Ron, and you will just be in charge of stand-by.”
“U, understood.”
I chose roughly 500 that would be going with me on the investigation, with all of them being top-tier knights and mages.
“Uhh… Sir Korin?”
That was when Sir Beyon Solberg raised his hand. He was technically a normal soldier now, but that was just an official punishment, and he was still here in the conference for reference.
“What is it, Sir Beyon?”
“To my knowledge… I heard the objective was to investigate the change in climate. But this…”
“It’s like we’re going for a war, right?”
“No no no. What I mean is…”
800 might not be a lot, but what if all 800 were knights and mages.
Even a conservative estimate of a guardian’s combat prowess was equal to 100 normal soldiers. They were superhumans that normal civilians could never hope to defeat alone.
Immobilizing 800 of such superhumans for a ‘climate investigation’ was a joke that no-one would believe.
“My guild members are aware of it already, but let me explain it so that the guards of the city can brace themselves as well.”
I declared while looking at the small group of officers and Sir Beyon.
“The climate investigation is just a pretext. Our objective is to protect the northern wall and clean up the surroundings, holding on until the arrival of our allied forces under the lead of Her Holiness the Saintess.”
<Heroic Legends of Arhan>, the first battle of the last episode.
[Frost Giant – NASTROND Field War]
The reasons behind that devastating war were the fall of the northern walls, as well as the chaos within the kingdom due to the invading Valkyries and barbarians.
If the winter were to continue like this and the northern walls were to be breached, we would have to see the reincarnation of the Frost Giant.
‘But there is a very big difference in this iteration.’
The prophecy about the ‘era of the wolf’ and ‘beasts of darkness’, which the prophets of the Old Faith had been rambling about, referred to none other than the Ren and Ron siblings… and Miruam’s Snake of Infinity.
The three key characters of the prophecy were all on my side and the titan resurrection plan had also failed with the fall of the Tower of Mages.
Now, the Frost Giant was the only hand that Valtazar had remaining. If we could stop the reincarnation of that mythological demon king before the fact, then…
‘We will be able to go all out without reserve in the battle against Tates Valtazar.’
“There will be a huge monster wave coming. It will be much bigger than what any of you can imagine.”
“A monster wave?”
“Where’s the proof…?”
Naturally, everyone apart from those that belonged in our guild, found it difficult to believe such a bold claim.
There was a great excuse I could rely on in times like this
“This is a prophecy from Her Holiness Saintess Estelle. I am sure you’ve all heard the recent prophecies.”
“Ah…”
“A p, prophecy from the Saintess…”
“Wait, then the Savior of the Sun is…!”
The name value of the Saintess worked wonders as expected. In any case, I was done convincing them so now it was my time to give out some orders to my group.
“From now on, the Investigation Team’s job is to get rid of all the demonic beasts and spirits in our vicinity. You’ve been leaving them alone just because they were quiet, right? They will all ride along in the monster wave, so we have to deal with the strong ones ahead of time.”
“Understood.”
“After that…”
The key to fending off the monster wave would be the Valkyries and the Northern Kingdom tribes that were forced to come down after refusing to follow Tates Valtazar.
We had to stop them, who broke down the walls even before the arrival of Valtazar’s hordes of monsters.
‘Well… I guess that’s for me to worry about.’
It’s not like I failed in the last iteration either. Those ladies can be persuaded after all.
****
After finishing her work, Hua quickly looked for one of the admin officials.
“Are there storks here, you ask?”
“Yes.”
The old official had been living here all his life, and was able to return the response that Hua had been wanting to hear.
“Yes. There is a habitat of storks nearby. They always come over during Spring, and it’s a fabulous sight.”
“…”
“But may I ask why you are asking such a question?”
“It’s nothing.”
She left the office and turned towards the Sun shining down on the city.
[Hua. This is our chance.]
“…Un. I know.”
However, right now wasn’t the time. Both Hua and Ran were adults – they had been in the social setting for a long time and knew how much it meant to have a baby. In a place as cold as this, they knew they needed to be even more prepared.
Therefore…
- Clank!
“W, w, www what did you… say?”
In the middle of a meal, Josephine dropped her cutleries in doubt, refusing to believe what her ears had just picked up. However, Hua asked the same question with a clear voice.
“How do you prepare for raising babies?”
“W, w, why do you want to know that?”
“Because I need to.”
“Huup!”
Josephine thought her breath was about to come to a stop.
“Y, you mean…”
Josephine clenched on the fork again and rolled her eyes to glance around. Fortunately, everyone was busy with their city maintenance work and were having different lunch breaks and it was just the two of them.
“S, Student Hua Ran… Did you… spend the night, with Student Korin?”
Hua Ran took that question literally.
“Yeah. Lots.”
It wasn’t just once or twice that she had slept on the same bed as Korin, so she replied like it wasn’t a big deal.
“Holy…”
Josephine saw the sky falling in her eyes.
She did hear how kids these days had such experiences at an earlier age, but was it really true? What has the world come to?!
And Student Korin of all people! Korin Lork! The trust Josephine had for him in spite of all the negative rumors had been betrayed!
“Ahh. What of Erin then…”
My poor mother… Josephine found it hard to contain her sorrow, but there was nothing that could be done.
“Hua Ran… Is Ran there as well?”
“…Yeah.”
“Are you two… ready to raise a baby?”
They were both young girls in the prime of their youth. There was no way that they could be ready to have kids already…
“Yes.”
However, Hua returned a resolute response, which conveyed that Ran must have the same resolve as well.
“Fuu…” Josephine sighed. “It feels like just yesterday that you were just a young baby who didn’t know anything about the world…”
The girl they had brought over from the east had grown up so much in such a short period of time… Josephine lifted her glasses up and gave Hua Ran a tight hug.
“It will be hard. Having a baby is nothing easy.”
“I know.”
“But… there is still plenty of time, so you can take it slow.”
Josephine said after glancing at her belly which was still just as flat, thinking that it was probably only 2~3 weeks in. However, Hua tilted her head and remarked.
“I need to know now.”
“…”
Was she anxious now that she was pregnant? Josephine realized how much of a change bearing a child brings to a person, because it certainly wasn’t usual for this nonchalant girl to be in this much of a hurry.
“Alright. Then let us practice for it ahead of time…”
Josephine took her out to the city.
****
Mages were fundamentally a very high-class laborer.
Actually, the expression, ‘laborer’ wasn’t commonly used to refer to these ‘classy’ people who would feel offended to be called one.
The path of magic was an academic study seeking truth and looking to revolutionize the world. As such, the only path for them was forward, as they sought to reach the stars in the sky.
At least that was the misconception many mages had, but as someone praised as an upcoming great mage of the future, Marie Dunareff knew how convenient of a tool magic was.
They could start a fire at a place devoid of embers and combine the molecules in the air to pour out water when the farmlands needed a refresher.
Even black magic, which people often thought of as evil, could be a great device when used properly, by for example making chimeras that could serve as domestic animals in the farmland.
But it was rare to see development in the so-called ‘life-magic’ area, because mages were way too expensive for their services.
“Chunsik. Go light that on fire and Daesik; come here and grow these plants.”
However, now that the mages of the Tower of Mages had fallen from grace into slaves and their lofty mindsets reduced to a joke…
“This water stinks. Is this too hard for you guys?”
Mages were nothing but useful tools.
“A, apologies, Master!”
“Daesik! Put some herbs in the water!”
“I’m doing it already, Chunsik!”
The mages that used to each represent a cult in the once-sublime Tower of Mages, had fallen so much from grace that they had even lost their names.
“Looks good. Well done making the hot spring. Go to the city and help the people out now.”
“U, understood!”
“Oh right. Chunsik, go bake some potatoes.”
“On it…!”
After ordering around the super-high-class elite mages with just words, Marie looked at the completed hot spring with a smile.
“Fuu~. There are some medical herbs good for relaxation as well so~ it should be helpful for Korin, right?”
Considering how his routine was having a good bath after sweating buckets at the training room, he was bound to love it.
“Hehe… Should I ask if he wants to go in together? Auh…! T, that’s a bit too much, right! Ahaha… How embarrassing…”
Marie shook those happy but delusional thoughts away, because she knew Korin would refuse doing things that were too immoral.
However, she still felt the need to advance their relationship a little bit more. She still couldn’t forget the sense of urgency and fear she felt a few months ago during the war to take Korin as the son-in-law.
Biting into the potatoes that were baked by Chunsik, Marie tried to think of what the bottom line would be that Korin wouldn’t be repulsed by.
“Hmm…! Right! This is it!”
First off would be the hot spring. He would of course turn down the mixed bath, so she didn’t even plan to ask about it.
But what about straight after the bath?
The skin would be warm and moist, serving as a great blanket and a pillow.
‘I’ll ask if I can drink some blood… cuddle close and when it’s over, I will suggest we ‘rest’ together.’
It was a method suggested by Isabelle, proven to work on several occasions.
She could let him rest on her body. Korin had the tendency to fall asleep straight away when resting on her soft chest so…
- Gulp!
“Hehehe…”
Unable to contain the corners of her lips, Marie giggled to herself.
All she had to do now was invite Korin. In order to make the first move before others were even aware of the hot spring, Marie headed to the city to find him.
She knew where Korin was – he was always at the same place keeping the Sun up in the sky, and must be quite tired by now.
“Un un! He must be! He must be super tired!”
All she was doing was try alleviating some of his stress. It was for his benefit. Telling herself that, she was walking to where Korin was, and came across some unexpected people.
“This?”
“Yes. The carpenters here are more skilled than I was expecting.”
Oblivious to her presence, the two of them were talking to themselves.
“Hua Ran and… Professor Josephine?”
It was rare to see the two of them strolling around the city together. Were they here to buy something?
Marie was about to call their names when she heard a completely unexpected set of words.
“I heard babies are fond of toys like this.”
“Really?”
‘Babies?’
Why were they talking about babies? Were they trying to give that wooden toy as a gift to some of the babies in the city?
“Well. You can buy this ahead of time. Student Hua Ran… Or perhaps I shouldn’t refer to you like that anymore. Because you are a proud mother of a child already…”
‘Ehk? Ehk?’
Wait. Wait.
“By the way, does Korin know already? That he will have a baby soon?”
“He doesn’t know yet.”
“Fuu… You should quickly tell him. He lost his self-control and laid his hands on you… so you never know who else he is going to target with his demonic hands…”
“He will find out soon.”
Marie dropped the potato she was eating.
- Crush!
The potato crumbled the moment it fell on the ground and so did her heart.