Chatterbox Patterson shuddered violently as he looked at Kasim.
“D-did a d-dragon make all of this?”
“I-I doubt it. H-he probably had dwarves do it.”
Kasim, too, was trembling, his teeth clacking together. It seemed the cold had finally begun to reach him. This was deep in the North, a place so cold that their breath froze and clung to their mustaches. There was no wind, but even so, for a human without proper protective gear, the chance of survival was, quite literally, nonexistent.
Until now, they had felt no cold at all while flying on the dragon’s back. That was because Damon had erected a shield over the white dragon’s back to ward off the wind and the chill. But the dragon had flown away, leaving the party fully exposed to the biting cold of the North. At first it had been bearable, but as time passed, the chill was seeping deep into their bones. Since they had had no time to equip themselves with proper winter gear, the mercenaries were suffering severely from the cold. Sensing the situation, Damon turned to look at them.
“You seem very cold.”
“Y-yes. I-it is truly cold here.”
Indeed, the mercenaries looked dreadful. Every one of them had their frozen breath hanging from their mustaches in clumps of ice. The way their bodies shook like aspen leaves showed just how unbearable the cold had become.
The only ones perfectly fine were Damon and the Death Knights. As undead, they had no reason to feel cold, and Damon had already protected his body with magic. Mitchell, who could operate mana, seemed to be enduring it somewhat. But for the mercenaries who had not yet reached that level, the cold was utterly impossible to withstand. Of course, the same went without saying for Yuliana.
Letting out a long sigh, Damon silently rearranged his mana.
“It can’t be helped.”
Just then, Kasim urgently placed a hand on Damon’s shoulder.
“Please wait a moment.”
“What is it?”
His face was frozen blue, but there was a grave expression on Kasim’s face.
“Were you perhaps about to cast a barrier?”
“That’s right. We have to block out the cold first, don’t we?”
“That may be somewhat problematic. Please look at the ground.”
At Kasim’s words, the party all looked down at once. At first glance it seemed like a solid mass of ice, but on closer inspection, they could see water rippling beyond the ice. The ice was so thick that they would not have noticed unless they looked carefully. The moment he realized it, Damon felt a chill run down his spine.
“This lair was built on top of a lake. That could have been disastrous.”
Originally, he had intended to cast a barrier and rearrange fire-attributed mana within it to warm the air. If he had done that, the warmth would have melted the ice, and the party might have found themselves in serious trouble. They could have plunged straight into water cold enough to freeze even their bones. Kasim nodded with a stiff expression.
“That seems to be the very reason the dragon could not keep the gold chests here.”
“So it would seem. In any case, we need to find some way around this.”
The situation was extremely serious. The mercenaries had all huddled together, trying to warm themselves with one another’s body heat. Even Yuliana was clinging tightly to Mitchell, trembling all over. But it was in vain. Because of the extreme cold, their exposed skin was beginning to turn dark and deadened. In the end, Damon had no choice but to lead them out of the lair.
“It would be better to leave the lair for now. I’ll have to cast the barrier somewhere there isn’t water beneath us…”
But even that was no easy task. The cold was so severe that their feet had frozen stiff, and none of them could move properly. In the end, Damon had no choice but to ask the Death Knights for assistance.
“No helping it. You’ll have to support them.”
“Damn it… As if making us warehouse keepers wasn’t enough, now you’re using us as porters?”
Grumbling, Helbertron approached and hoisted Kasim onto his back. The other Death Knights each slung one of the nearly unconscious companions over their shoulders. In that state, they made their way out of the lair.
“This should do.”
After using detection magic to find a place that was not over water, Damon immediately cast a barrier.
Sssssss.
A curtain of blue light completely sealed off the air around the party from the outside. Confirming it, Damon formed a hand seal.
“Wait just a little.”
The fire-attributed mana within the barrier began to rearrange itself according to Damon’s will. The rearranged mana rapidly warmed the air inside.
Fwoosh.
As the temperature of the air rose, the ice on the ground began to melt. But since they were not above water, it should not pose a major problem. After some time passed, color began to return to the party’s faces. Kasim was the first to regain his senses and express his gratitude.
“Thank you. I feel like I can live now.”
“Seems even a rather capable captain can’t endure the cold.”
Kasim gave an embarrassed smile. He had never imagined in his wildest dreams that the cold of the North would be this brutal. In a place like this, survival took precedence even over battle.
“Now I understand why the North remains a deadly, remote land. Humans can hardly function properly in such a cold place. That’s why so many ice trolls are able to live here.”
“Ice trolls?”
At the mention of ice trolls, Damon’s eyes flashed. Of course, there was no way he would not know of ice trolls. Five hundred years ago, when he had gone with the Hero Party to find the Temple of Verhazel, the monsters they had encountered were ice trolls, and back then the Hero Party had lost many knights to those cunning creatures.
“Have you ever been to the North before?”
Kasim silently nodded.
“A few years ago, I came here once for a mission. It was a commission from the Kingdom of Kato, located at the entrance to the North. At that time, we joined forces with Kato’s regular army to conduct an ice troll subjugation. It was not as cold as this place, but I remember it being quite cold there as well.”
“Did the subjugation succeed?”
With a dark expression, Kasim shook his head.
“Ice trolls are extremely cunning monsters. Their combat ability itself is not to be underestimated, but more than that, they are exceptionally skilled at striking and retreating…”
“Were there many casualties?”
“Yes. One-third of the mercenaries who were deployed did not return alive. After that, it became an ironclad rule for the Thunderbird Mercenary Corps that we would never accept a commission in the North under any circumstances.”
Kasim quietly recounted what had happened then.
“Most of the casualties were not killed by ice trolls, but by the cold. We had far too little information about this place. When I first saw the regular army of the Kingdom of Kato, I was extremely surprised. Not a single one of them wore metal armor, and most of the soldiers had wrapped their bodies completely in fur. Even their shields were made of wood covered with leather.”
“Well, that makes sense. In cold regions, metal armor has no practical value. You’d be lucky if it merely stuck to your skin and didn’t tear it off. On top of that, when chilled, metal armor tends to become brittle. One wrong move and sharp fragments could inflict a fatal wound.”
“Huh? You knew that?”
When Damon pointed it out so accurately, as though he had seen it himself, Kasim was quite surprised. It was only natural, since Damon knew more about it than he did, despite having fought there personally. Damon brushed it off as though it were nothing.
“I’ve lived a long time, so I ought to know that much, shouldn’t I? More importantly, tell me more about ice trolls.”
“Yes.”
Kasim began listing off the common knowledge he had about ice trolls. But among it all, only one thing caught Damon’s interest.
“Ice troll fur has an exceptional insulating effect. But it is extremely difficult to obtain. They are so cunning that they are not easily caught. Because of that, I heard that even in the Kingdom of Kato, it is barely issued to commander-level officers. Ordinary soldiers wore furs from bears or foxes, which are easier to acquire.”
“Is that so? Excellent. Then perhaps I should hunt a few ice trolls while we’re at it. We can’t spend all our time living inside a barrier, so if we skin them and make clothes, that should do. If there are any left over, we can sell them to the Kingdom of Kato…”
At Damon’s words, Kasim’s face brightened.
“That is an excellent idea. If we do that, enduring this place will become much easier.”
Although ice trolls were difficult monsters to catch, Kasim firmly believed that fact would not apply to Damon. Since Damon was a high-level magician, hiding in the snow would be useless against him, and he also had powerful undead warriors. Even if he sent out only Winslet, the Dullahan, rather than a Death Knight, the ice trolls would be no match for him.
No matter how cold it became, the bodies of the undead would not freeze, nor would their movements slow. That was one of the greatest advantages the undead possessed. Damon agreed on that point as well.
“Ice trolls may be fast, but that won’t work against the undead. Isn’t that right?”
“That is true.”
Helbertron, who had been silently listening to the conversation, let his eye-light flare darkly.
“I hope you are not thinking of sending us to hunt ice trolls. My pride will not permit me to play the role of a hunter as well.”
“Hmph. As if you have pride worth mentioning… Don’t worry. Something like an ice troll can be hunted easily enough with Winslet alone.”
As they were conversing in low voices, Katroi finally appeared. Seeing the party huddled together outside the lair within a barrier, Katroi wore a puzzled expression.
—Why are you outside?
An angry expression appeared on Damon’s face. For some reason, whenever he dealt with dragons, irritation welled up inside him for no particular reason.
“You damn bastard. It’s obvious you were planning to drown us, weren’t you? As revenge for being hunted.”
To Katroi, it could only sound utterly absurd.
—What are you talking about?
“If you put us on top of a lake in a place this cold, isn’t it obvious? We’d get cold, cast a barrier, and then nicely sink into the water.”
Only then did Katroi understand the reason, and he gave a bitter smile.
—I failed to consider that humans are weak against the cold. I apologize for that. But I did not do it intentionally. As you can see, in the North, the only places this flat are frozen lakes.
“Don’t lie. You clearly hold a grudge against us.”
—Dragons are a race incapable of lying. And I settled here three thousand years ago. Most likely long before you were born, no matter how long you have lived…
At Katroi’s calm reply, Damon found himself at a loss for words. It took two hands to clap. In the same way, no matter how much Damon snapped at him, Katroi rarely grew angry, so no quarrel arose.
“Forget it. I don’t have time to argue with a spineless dragon…”
—But why do you hate dragons so much?
Damon shot a cold glare at Katroi, who had asked the tactless question. When Katroi flinched and closed his mouth, only then did a satisfied smile appear on Damon’s face.
“Never mind the chatter and unpack the treasure you brought.”
—Understood.
Katroi set down the wooden boxes he had brought. They only looked small because the dragon’s body was so enormous; the boxes themselves were quite large. After gently placing some forty boxes, each about one meter square, on the ground, Katroi silently looked at Damon.
—Each box contains half a ton of gold. There are forty in all, so that makes exactly twenty tons of gold. With this, my ransom has been paid in full. I cast a weight-reduction spell on them, so carrying them away should not be too difficult.
Without even looking at the boxes, Damon replied coldly.
“Fine. More importantly, looking up at you is giving me a headache. Why don’t you take human form like before?”
—Do you still have business with me?
“Of course.”
At Damon’s answer, Katroi shook his head once and rearranged his mana. The white dragon’s enormous body was soon enveloped in dazzling radiance.
Papapapat.
Once the light vanished, the dragon’s form had disappeared without a trace, and in its place stood a handsome silver-haired knight, his eyes gleaming.