This memory is.
About a promise made long ago.
A story from a time when we were even more insignificant than we were now.
We were both young.
It was a memory from a time when we knew nothing, watching the snow fall without hating it.
[The young lady saw this in a book recently.]
[Oh, yeah?]
No matter how often she spoke to him each day, all she received in return was a response as if he found her bothersome.
Even so, the girl would excitedly strike up conversations with the boy.
[They say the people of the Central Plains are so impressive.]
[Why bring that up all of a sudden?]
At the mention of the Central Plains, the boy finally showed a reaction.
The girl knew.
She knew it was merely a reaction he had let slip because he could no longer endure her pestering.
Even so, it was fine.
Even conversations like this alone were enough for her.
[That’s what it said in the book.]
[What book did you read this time?]
[The Number One Beauty of the Central Plains Meets the First Young Master of the Ice Palace.]
[...]
It was the title of a book the maids secretly enjoyed reading.
It was also the book the girl had been completely absorbed in of late.
When she told him about it, the boy frowned as though he had misheard something.
[Isn’t that a prohibited item?]
The exchange of objects related to the Central Plains was forbidden in the North Sea.
That was why he had asked whether this wasn’t the same sort of thing.
[Ahem!]
The girl shouted at the boy as though angrily protesting.
[This was written here in the North Sea itself. It isn’t an object from the Central Plains!]
[Oh, is that so.]
Just as he seemed ready to brush it off with a vague acceptance, the boy spoke to the girl as though he could no longer bear it.
[…Then why are you talking like that…?]
[Hmm? Is it strange?]
[Extremely.]
[But that’s definitely how they spoke in the book….]
She had tried imitating the way the bloodkin in the book spoke.
Apparently, it was strange after all.
[Who talks like that, anyway?]
[The First Young Master in the book does.]
It was a warm and suggestive story about a cold, handsome young master who changed after meeting a woman from the Central Plains.
That was simply the personality of the male protagonist in the story.
A line suddenly came to mind, and the girl spoke with a solemn expression.
[You are the first woman to treat this young master in such a manner.]
There had been a line written like that.
And after it, there had surely been the words—
[Would you do me the honor of marrying me?]
[...]
After hearing this, the boy hesitated for a moment, then stared at the girl as though utterly dumbfounded.
His lips moved as if he had something to say.
But.
[Ah! It’s snowing.]
The boy ultimately could not utter the words he had wanted to say.
The girl had grown excited once more at the sight of what had begun falling from the sky.
[Look, Cheonga! It’s snow!]
[…Yeah. It is snow.]
The boy could only give a bitter smile at her excited exclamation.
[You don’t even listen for an answer. Then why did you ask?]
[Hm? What did you say?]
[Nothing. It’s nothing.]
He covered it up with a smile.
There was no way someone like him could dare reach for a person like her.
That was all the boy thought, once again.
[The snow is especially pretty today, isn’t it?]
[It is.]
The girl looked at the snow.
[It’s pretty.]
The boy was looking at the girl who resembled the snow.
Yes.
This was a memory from a time when falling snow was not something to hate.
******************
I moved forward through the blizzard.
How long had I been walking?
In terms of time, a little over an hour had passed.
I continued walking over the snow, steadily moving ahead.
Naturally, no footprints were left behind.
Vrrrmm—!
I turned my gaze at the vibration I felt in my heart.
The speed was not particularly fast.
‘It isn’t easy to move while sensing the vibration.’
My heart was impatient, but controlling it was not easy.
It was my first time using it in this way.
Namgung Bia’s Thunder Fang, which was somewhere far ahead.
I had to keep sensing the vibrations coming from it.
Faint, yet distinct.
A contradictory sensation, but that was the only way to describe it.
This was an ability I had discovered while living through the past several years after shedding my shell.
I could sense the energy of ghost artifacts.
More precisely—
‘Only the ghost artifacts I’ve used.’
I could sense any artifact whose effects I had personally experienced, so long as I tried.
As for how I came to learn this—
‘…I found out while trying to locate something I’d lost.’
I had once lost the mask the Dark King had given me. While desperately trying to figure out how to find it, I had discovered this method by chance.
When I asked the Dark King about it, what had he said?
‘That it might be a trait of dragons, I think.’
It was beyond me. What exactly did dragons do, anyway?
They went around carrying even something like this around as a trait.
If I had to think of a reason—
‘It’s because ghost artifacts were originally obtained from dragons.’
All White-Rank monsters had been referred to as dragons.
And the original ghost artifacts had all been objects spat out by them.
Perhaps that was why I could do this.
That was all I could surmise.
Well, I would have to meet another dragon to know for sure.
‘Ah, I have met them.’
The Dark King, who had been turning into a dragon after being cursed.
And the Palace Lord’s form, which I had encountered just before.
If not them—
A figure with red eyes flashed through my mind.
‘The Blood Demon.’
Three encounters with the Blood Demon.
During those meetings, he had said things that led me to suspect he was a dragon.
Moreover, I still remembered the words spoken by the Blood Qi.
‘It said something about the Dragon Emperor.’
What did that mean?
Did it simply mean the leader of the dragons? Or was there something else behind it?
And was it really referring to the Blood Demon?
‘Since the Blood Qi was obtained from the Blood Demon, it must be him.’
Then did that mean the Blood Demon was the leader of the dragons?
‘I need to understand the meaning of that clearly as well.’
Of course, this was no time to be thinking about such things.
Just as I was walking little by little, following the energy—
“Bieogun couldn’t have done that.”
A voice came from behind me. It was the voice that had been muttering for a while now.
Hearing it, I let out a quiet sigh.
“…Bieogun.”
“You’ve said that more than ten times. Shut your mouth. It’s annoying.”
“...”
Only then did she grow somewhat quiet.
I needed to concentrate, but her constant muttering was getting on my nerves.
I sensed her head drooping.
Her melancholy was palpable even from here.
“She whined so much, begging me to take her along, that I finally brought her with me. So why are you acting like this?”
“I—I said I wouldn’t be a burden…! And Young Master told me to get on…!”
“I told you to get on because you couldn’t even perform footwork properly. If you had done it properly, would I have told you to get on my back?”
“...”
Footwork meant delicately controlling one’s internal energy in any situation so that one’s movements would not be hindered.
To step on water or snow required not only precise control but also a considerable amount of internal energy.
As a first-rate martial artist, Yuri was incapable of it.
That was why I was carrying her on my back as I traveled.
‘Normally, I would have just left her at the entrance and gone.’
The conversation I had overheard at the entrance had been the problem.
She had been desperately insisting that Bieogun had not done it, that he could not have, because he had made a promise to her.
I had wanted to hear more, at least once.
She seemed to have some connection with Woohyuk, which piqued my interest, and because of that—
‘Things got a little complicated.’
The situation had become somewhat bothersome.
I spoke to Yuri on my back.
“I’ll say it again. I’m not on my way to find the Bieogun you’re talking about.”
When I had asked Yuri what promise she had made with Bieogun, I had received no answer.
Instead, she had looked at me and said—
[Please, take me with you. I beg you….]
Where did she think I was going that she was pleading so earnestly?
“…I know.”
“Then why did you ask me to take you?”
I asked as I changed direction.
I had not told her I was going to meet Woohyuk.
I had clearly said I was simply leaving.
Yet Yuri had realized that I was heading somewhere once I went outside, and had even grabbed onto the leg of my trousers.
“Then why did Young Master take me with you?”
“Hmm.”
Why had I brought her along?
I thought about the reason for a moment.
I found the answer quickly.
“That’s true.”
I didn’t really know, either.
“Pardon?”
“Come to think of it, there was no reason for me to bring you.”
It was an entirely unnecessary addition to the journey.
Whether I was going undercover or traveling a long distance, Yuri’s very presence could only interfere with what I was doing.
Even knowing that, I had brought her along because she had begged so earnestly.
If I had to come up with a reason—
“It was simply because you looked so desperately earnest you might go mad.”
It was an exceedingly simple reason.
The voice calling for Woohyuk—of all people—had been so desperate.
She had been searching for hope with a gaze that could not accept he was truly gone.
So I had brought her along.
“…For that reason alone?”
“It’s the price I pay for choosing the wrong friends.”
I said it with a short laugh.
Not that I had enough friends to fill one hand—my life was pitiful even in that regard.
This was the trouble I had gotten myself into because of the one person I could barely call a friend.
“So, what promise did you make with him?”
“...”
“Are you not going to tell me that, either?”
I had asked her this about three times, including now.
I wanted to know what promise had made her believe that Woohyuk could not have done such a thing.
But—
“...”
Yuri remained silent again. She meant to give no answer.
Seeing this, I spoke.
“If you don’t answer, I’m going to leave you behind. Still not going to answer?”
“…!”
When I said it threateningly, Yuri’s body flinched.
What would happen if I tossed her aside and left her here? It probably would not end well.
Yuri knew that too.
Clench.
She merely tightened her grip, still refusing to answer.
‘She really won’t say.’
Was she acting like this because she knew I wouldn’t leave her behind?
I was curious whether I should really toss her aside and go, but for now, I let it pass.
“Then at least tell me what your relationship with him is. You can say that much, can’t you?”
What kind of relationship did Woohyuk and Yuri have?
If she was wailing to that extent, surely there had to be something between them.
“Perhaps, betro—”
“He is a friend. A very old one.”
“I see.”
Friends.
Very old friends at that….
‘The young lady and Woohyuk were friends.’
Just how long ago did that mean?
I had heard that Woohyuk was from the North Sea. But I had never imagined that he and the young lady had been childhood friends.
‘Ah, come to think of it.’
One thing Woohyuk had said came to mind.
“Then do you know who his fiancée is?”
“…Pardon?”
Something Woohyuk had said once.
That he had a fiancée.
‘Back then, I wondered what a Daoist was doing with a fiancée.’
Even if he did have one, I had assumed she would be someone from the Central Plains. But if things had turned out this way—
‘Could she be in the North Sea rather than the Central Plains?’
That thought occurred to me.
Of course, regardless of the truth—
‘What use is an engagement now, anyway?’
It was nothing more than curiosity about something I had heard.
But then—
“What…what are you…talking about?”
“Hmm?”
“His fiancée?”
Yuri’s voice sounded strange as she heard my words.