Chapter 84
Karug Mountain in the Vilraya Autonomous Region is said to be where the White Dragon lives, and it is a kind of sacred ground for the 〈Haila people〉.
Naturally, anyone who snuck in without permission would be punished. At worst, they might even be lynched on the spot.
That was why Monica and the others decided to bypass the settlements of the Vilraya Autonomous Region and enter Karug Mountain from a secluded location.
"To put it bluntly, entering the mountain now would be reckless."
Melissa declared this before they entered the mountain.
Melissa and the others had left Yauschka just after noon. By the time they reached the foot of Karug Mountain, it was already evening. Entering the mountain when night was about to fall could practically be called suicide.
The correct choice would have been to spend the night in Yauschka and challenge the mountain first thing in the morning.
But when Monica thought of Cyril, who had been abducted by an ice spirit, there was no time to lose. If Veronica had entered the mountain without considering Cyril's condition, his life was in danger.
After discussing it, the three of them decided to aim for a shrine at a relatively low elevation on Karug Mountain.
There was a small shrine dedicated to the White Dragon on Karug Mountain. Veronica might not have been heading for that shrine, but a shrine devoted to White Dragon worship might still offer some clue.
If they found no clues at the shrine, they could spend the night there.
"There has to be something at that shrine. My carrot says so."
Raul declared this forcefully while holding up his last carrot.
It was already dark around them, and the only thing they could rely on was the light of their lantern. Fortunately, it was not snowing yet, but their footing was still treacherous.
It had been the right decision to take a nap in the wagon. Otherwise, Monica, who had little stamina, would have run out of strength before reaching this place.
To be honest, her legs were still heavy, and fatigue weighed down her entire body. Even so, Monica kept moving forward in silence.
(Cyril-sama, please, please be safe...)
Suddenly, a howling gust swept through, sending the snow around them swirling into the air.
With her chin buried in her scarf, Monica widened her eyes when she spotted something faintly glowing at the edge of her vision.
The snowflakes swirling around them were glowing faintly. The pale blue-white light, tinged slightly with sky blue, was the radiance of mana.
Melissa let out a curious "Huh."
"〈Ice Spirits' Snow Lanterns〉."
"...〈Ice Spirits' Snow Lanterns〉?"
When Monica tilted her head, Melissa concentrated mana in her fingertip and gave a nearby clump of snow a tiny poke. The clump of snow immediately began to shine brightly.
"This only happens when there's a swarm of lower spirits nearby. The lower spirits gather around snow imbued with mana, and it starts glowing like this."
When Melissa touched the nearby snow with her mana-infused fingertip, it began to glow blue-white. The ice spirits were gathering around the mana Melissa had given the snow.
Spirits were broadly divided into upper, middle, and lower spirits. Upper spirits took forms resembling humans or animals and possessed clear self-awareness, while lower spirits were said to be clumps of mana containing only the faintest trace of will.
Lower spirits were extremely weak beings.
Like a candle flame that vanished when blown upon, or snow that melted in the sunlight, they could disappear with heartbreaking ease at even the slightest fluctuation in mana.
The sight of these spirits causing the mana within themselves to glow as they gathered on the snow was both fleeting and fantastical.
Monica let out a soft breath and looked around, while Raul gave a single clap.
"The lower spirits gathering means there's a powerful mana reaction around here, right? Hey, could Veronica be nearby?"
"Or maybe they just gathered around your mana. You've got a ridiculously huge amount of mana, at least."
Spirits could not live without mana. As a result, they were naturally drawn to it.
Everyone here was one of the Seven Sages, the nation's foremost mages. On top of that, Raul ranked first in the country in mana capacity. It was hardly strange for the spirits to gather around them.
Monica followed the glowing lights with her eyes. Whenever she saw something like this, she could not help trying to figure out its patterns and underlying principles.
Indeed, there were more of the gathering lights around Raul, who possessed a large amount of mana.
In particular, the carrot in his hand had been imbued with Raul's mana, so the snow touching it glowed especially brightly.
(...Huh? But there's a cluster of lights a little farther away, too...)
Lights were gathering on the ground some distance from the path. When Monica squinted, the snow on the ground seemed to be bulging up slightly.
The moment Monica saw something that looked like silver hair faintly visible through the snow, her spine went cold.
"Cyril-sama!"
"Ah—hey, squirt!"
Ignoring Melissa's warning, Monica rushed toward the place where the lights were gathering and began digging through the snow on the ground.
Fortunately, the accumulated snow was powdery, so it was easy to dig through.
Beneath the snow she had cleared away, long silver hair and pallid skin came into view.
"Did you find Cyril?!"
"What? Oh no, Cyril-sama?!"
Raul and Melissa also noticed that someone was buried beneath the snow, and hurried over to help dig the person out.
Once all three of them cleared away the snow, the figure buried beneath it was revealed.
The person had pale skin and long silver hair. Their face was hidden by their wildly tangled hair.
But Monica immediately realized that this was not Cyril—the proportions of the arms and legs were different, as was the shape of the ears.
"...Ugh."
The silver-haired person groaned and opened his eyes.
The eyes shining beneath his silver eyelashes were a rich, honey-gold color like mead.
Looking more closely, Monica could tell that he was still a young man.
He was a slender young man with delicate features. His appearance was handsome, but he possessed such a fragility that he looked as though he might melt away like snow beneath the sunlight.
He wore a white embroidered outfit, perhaps the traditional clothing of the 〈Haila people〉. He had no fur or woolen outerwear, and was dressed so lightly that it seemed unnatural for him to be in these snowy mountains.
Melissa lightly jabbed Monica in the side and whispered in her ear.
"Squirt, you can use a detection spell, right? Go on, check him out."
"Y-yes!"
Monica used detection magic without chanting.
The young man's entire body was a mass of mana—in other words, he was not human, but something in the shape of a human.
(An upper spirit in human form? But even so, he's far too...)
His mana was far too weak for him to be an upper spirit. As a result, Monica could not detect him accurately.
As Monica stood there in confusion, the young man slowly raised his face and looked toward Raul—or, more precisely, at the carrot in Raul's hand.
Raul noticed his gaze, scratched his cheek, and held out the carrot.
"Um, do you want to eat it?"
Instead of answering, the young man leaned forward and began devouring the carrot.
Melissa was the one who panicked at this.
"Hey, you idiot! What about the divination?!"
"Oh, shoot, right."
"You reckless moron!"
By the time Melissa smacked him on the back of the head, the young man had already finished eating the carrot.
Vegetables imbued with mana were harmful when eaten by people with little mana.
Raul had a large mana capacity and was resistant to mana, so he ate them without concern. But if an ordinary person ate one, they could suffer mana poisoning.
Yet the young man remained completely unfazed after eating the mana-infused carrot. If anything, he even seemed to have regained a little vitality.
If he had regained his vitality by absorbing the carrot's mana, then he really was not human.
After finishing the carrot, the young man looked at them with vacant eyes.
Representing the group, Raul cheerfully spoke to the young man.
"Hi, I'm Raul! This is my big sis, and that's my friend Monica. What's your name?"
"...I don't know."
"What were you doing in all this snow? Did you get stranded?"
"...I don't know."
"Was the carrot tasty?"
"..."
The young man nodded only at the last question.
Raul wore a triumphant smile like a farmer who had finished a day's work.
"I did it!"
"Not 'I did it,' you idiot little brother. This isn't the time to celebrate someone complimenting your carrot!"
While watching Melissa lightly rap Raul on the head out of the corner of her eye, Monica timidly stepped forward and spoke to the young man.
"Um, are you a spirit?"
"...I don't know."
As expected, the young man answered in a vague voice.
Melissa stamped her foot and tore at her hair.
"Oh, for goodness' sake, what's with this dazed thing?! He's driving me crazy! Hey, you! Besides 'carrots are tasty,' is there anything else you know?! Huh?!"
"...I don't know."
Melissa's cheek twitched as she took a piece of candy from her pocket.
It was a Roseberg family specialty candy containing rose syrup.
"Fine, I've got it. I'm going to imbue this with every last bit of stimulant magic I have and force it down your throat. This forbidden candy will wake even the soundest sleeper, leave your head buzzing, and make consecutive all-nighters a breeze. Prepare yourself to go three days without sleep."
Apparently, Melissa had forgotten that the young man in front of her was not human.
As Melissa pinched the candy between her fingers and began chanting, the young man lifted his sleepy eyelids and stared at the candy.
Then, with the same force he had shown when attacking the carrot, he enclosed the candy and Melissa's hand between both of his hands.
A faint hint of joy appeared on his previously vacant, blue-white face.
"...Candy. I know this."
"Of course you do—any child knows what candy is."
"...Beautiful. Beautiful ice that doesn't melt."
The young man took the candy from Melissa's hand, cradled it carefully in both hands, and stood up.
"I'll show this to that child. They'll be happy."
Muttering this, the young man began to walk. His steps were weak and unsteady, yet he moved surprisingly quickly.
Melissa, who had been staring blankly, suddenly raised her brows.
"Hey! Wait, you candy thief! Squirt, Raul, after him!"
Melissa dashed off, and Monica and Raul hurried after her.
Before long, the 〈Ice Spirits' Snow Lanterns〉 that had been lighting their surroundings began gathering around the silver-haired man.
It was as though they were lighting the way to his destination.
As she followed the back illuminated by the 〈Ice Spirits' Snow Lanterns〉, Monica secretly wondered,
(Could that person possibly be...?)