The mage turned his head, his hood drawn tight against the knife-edged wind. The face revealed between the folds of his cloak was
none other than Shrekheimer’s. Before he knew it, an expression in which countless emotions seemed to mingle
had seeped across his features.
He was thinking about why such a rugged gateway had come into being here.
“According to the old texts, the natural environment here was not once so harsh
as this……”
On the contrary, this place was said to have possessed a blessed natural environment, one never lacking in the grace of God.
This was a place where the footsteps of the many races seeking the Temple of Berhazel had not ceased for even a single day,
and the earth had provided them with ample food to eat and water to drink. It had been, quite literally, a land flowing with milk
and honey. And yet for such a land to have changed into so desolate and barren a place
as this……
As he walked on in silence, Shrekheimer recalled what he had read long ago in an ancient book.
—Deeply disappointed in the two races that had brought about the Race War, Berhazel at last
resolved to seal the temple. He decided to isolate His temple
not only from humans, but from all races. The decision was immediately carried out. Sheer mountain ranges
rose up from the earth and encircled His temple. And a cold chill in which no living creature could survive
wrapped itself around the land. The countless grasses and trees that had filled the earth
fell into eternal sleep within the ice. Thus the temple was cut off from Trubenia
and thereafter forgotten forever, refusing the footsteps of all.
Because of God’s wrath, the temple here had become a world apart from the human realm. Though he was
a high-ranking priest of the Order of Berhazel, Shrekheimer had never once come here.
He had not been confident he could break through such a fearsome natural barrier, and there had been no need
to do so. This was even a place where spatial movement was impossible. Its coordinates were unknown,
and even if they were known, no one would dare attempt spatial movement there.
For this was a place where the flow of mana was extremely unstable.
Magic was a discipline that exerted its power through the rearranged flow of mana. The possibility of manifesting
magic in a place where that flow was unstable could be said to be extremely low.
For that reason, among the countless high-ranking priests of Berhazel throughout the ages, none had dared
think of coming here. And yet now, for him to have come to this place…… Shrekheimer walked on,
feeling somewhat elated. Then a sudden warning reached his ears.
“Enemies.”
No sooner had those words ended than the distinctive cry of monsters rang out.
Grrr……
The piled-up snow burst apart as if exploding, and from within it leapt massive
monsters covered in thick white fur. At a glance, they seemed to be ice trolls,
creatures fond of living in such extreme cold. Their long-grown claws gleaming,
they lunged toward the party. There was no way they would simply pass by prey
so rarely seen.
Chang.
The knights drew their swords in unison and readied themselves to respond.
Though they were a kind of troll all the same, the appearance of ice trolls was utterly different
from ordinary trolls in terms of biological structure. It was likely because they had adapted to the cold environment.
First of all, because of their thick fur hides that could ward off the cold, they looked rather stout, and their size was also far
smaller than that of trolls.
But their agility was nearly comparable to that of ogres. They rushed in at high speed,
trying to snatch up the knights who were separated one by one. To eat them, of course.
“Hah!”
“Not a chance.”
But those in charge of guarding the party’s perimeter were, without exception, formidable Sword Masters.
They were not knights who would be done in by mere ice trolls.
Shuk.
Along with dazzling sword light, blue blood spread in a gruesome spray over the white snow.
“Kereuk.”
There were six trolls that had attacked in all, and every last one of them, without exception, had their torsos sliced apart
in an instant and were strewn across the snow. At that, the remaining trolls swiftly hid themselves beneath the snow.
They had instinctively realized these were not opponents to be ambushed.
“They seem more intelligent than ordinary trolls. They even know to take cover……”
It was Sergei who muttered this while gazing with curious eyes at the scattered corpses of the ice trolls.
After ordering several knights to remain behind and skin the ice trolls, he set
the party marching again. Since the hides of ice trolls that lived in such extreme cold would surely be exceptionally effective
at retaining warmth……
But the ice trolls were not opponents to be taken lightly. Having instinctively realized that they could not prevail
in a frontal attack, the ice trolls used an extremely cunning method to assault the party.
“Uh—!”
The knights whose ankles were suddenly seized by hairy hands that shot up from beneath the snow
let out startled gasps. But before they could swing their swords, the ice trolls swiftly threw themselves away.
Clutching the knights’ ankles, they rolled straight down the rugged ice cliffs. For the knights,
who were barely managing to make their way along the treacherous mountain path, this was, quite literally, a fatal attack.
The skin of the ice trolls, with its thick fur hide and layer of fat, effectively absorbed the impact
of crashing against the jagged ice cliff. But the armored knights could never
expect the same.
Thud. Thud.
Though they were wrapped in cloaks, the impacts were no small thing, and several knights lost consciousness
on the spot. It was clear they would likely end up inside an ice troll’s stomach
while still unconscious. Of course, given their skill, most of the knights fought with all their strength,
killed the ice trolls, and climbed back up the cliff, as if to show that their reputation
as Sword Masters had not been won for nothing.
However, the party was forced to lose five outstanding knights here. Most were knights who had been knocked unconscious
by the impact of the fall. To make matters worse, the four knights left behind did not return either.
They were the knights who had stayed to skin the ice trolls. Judging from the situation,
it seemed accurate to assume that their lives, too, had been cut short.
“What a truly sickening place.”
Sergei gritted his teeth, then ordered the march to resume. He swore that this was the first time
he had ever lost such excellent knights, men who had risen to the ranks of Sword Master, in such a hollow manner.
“Mister. Aren’t you cold?”
At the thin voice that leaked out, Damon’s face brightened at once. Each time the life
of a knight or an ice troll was snuffed out, Daphne had trembled visibly. The nature of a saintess,
exceedingly sensitive to the death of life. Since he had already heard about it from Shrekheimer
and knew it well, Damon could not help but be deeply worried. But there was absolutely nothing
he could do for her. He could only step carefully, doing his best not to shock her.
And yet, thankfully, Daphne had endured all the shock and spoken to him…… Damon quickly
answered.
“I’m not cold. I’ve experienced the cold quite a bit before. This is a little severe, but it isn’t
more than I can bear.”
“I’ve never seen snow before now. It’s cold, but I really like the snow,
so clean and white it almost stings.”
Hearing Daphne’s words, Damon fell into thought for a moment. In truth, he was someone who disliked snow greatly.
That was because, in his childhood, he had experienced clearing snow until he was sick of it.
When he stayed at Shaolin Temple and worked as a menial laborer, the snow falling from the sky had been an existence
he could not help but resent.
Snow that piled up thickly no matter how much he cleared and cleared. Of course, clearing the snow was entirely
Damon’s task, and he had to clear Shaolin Temple’s vast rear garden without rest.
Because of that, Damon could never feel any affection for snow. As he was lost in thought,
a whisper continued to reach his ears.
“Mister, where is your hometown?”
“Me? Mm. It’s very far from here.”
“How many nights would we have to sleep before we could get there?”
At Daphne’s words, Damon gave a bitter smile. Of course, it was a hometown located in a place
he could not return to on foot even if hundreds, thousands of years passed,
and it was not a place that held good memories for him either. The Central Plains, a place he had to return to solely for revenge.
If not for revenge, it was nothing more than a place he had neither reason nor need to go. Damon shook his head,
trying to erase the bad memories, and asked.
“Daphne, don’t you want to go to your hometown?”
“I do.”
The answer burst out at once. Hearing those words, Damon was seized by the thought of simply running away
with Daphne like this. Revenge had already become a lost cause. With his current ability,
he probably could not even catch a single orc. If he instead took Daphne and fled…… And
went to her hometown and the two of them lived quietly together.
But he could not bring himself to say those words aloud. Even if the two of them ran away in a place like this,
they would most likely end up as food for ice trolls. First of all, he had absolutely no ability
to protect Daphne. Also, if Trubenia fell into the hands of the orc race, there was no way
Daphne’s hometown would remain safe. To settle his troubled heart, Damon tossed out a question.
“Have you ever spoken with Berhazel?”
“With Lord Berhazel?”
“Yes. The god who claims to have made Trubenia.”
As if lost in thought, Daphne was silent for a while. A little later, her thin voice came.
“I, I can’t be certain whether that person is Lord Berhazel, but sometimes, very rarely,
I can feel that person’s emotions. He is very sad right now.”
Damon’s eyes widened sharply.
“Y-you can feel His emotions?”
“Yes. Every time a life dies, He grieves. The shock I feel is only incredibly faint
compared to what He feels.”
“Astonishing. To think you can feel the emotions of a god…… Then you must know well
what you have to do when we reach the temple.”
Through his back, he could feel Daphne quietly nod.
“Are you confident?”
“I don’t know. I’m only going to offer a petition to God, just as Mister Shrekheimer asked me to.
He said that if we want to save all the people of Trubenia, that is the only way. B-
but……”
“But?”
“If that happens, many orcs will die instead, won’t they? Because the people
won’t possibly leave them alive?”
Damon, at a loss for words, remained silently quiet. In truth, that was something Damon had never once
thought about. To him, orcs were existences that had no need to be alive,
things to be killed and killed again……
“……”
“Why can’t the two races coexist? That is what God wants……”
After thinking for a long while, Damon barely managed to say one thing.
“That is because of greed. The greed that only one’s own race should survive.”
“Greed……”
With those words, Daphne’s voice was no longer heard. She seemed to have fallen asleep.
Damon walked along the mountain path, stepping carefully so as not to wake her,
while receiving the ironclad protection of four Sword Masters. After the earlier incident,
the ice trolls did not appear for some time.
After all manner of hardship, the heroes were able to cross the peak. Though they had lost
a total of some sixty comrades, they had passed half of the gateway. With the expectation
that they would be able to see the Temple of Berhazel, which they had only heard of in words, the knights all looked down.
They already knew that the Temple of Berhazel was situated in a basin surrounded by mountains.
If they looked down from the mountain peak, the view of the temple would surely be clearly visible.
But the temple they had sought was nowhere to be seen. That was because the interior of the basin
was entirely covered by something like a hazy fog.