The world was wrapped in a white wind. The wind that surged upward became a pure-white curtain and covered the sky, and the snowflakes soaked into it pressed down upon the earth with their own weight.
It was fierce and cold. A dry blizzard was raging over the cold, muddy ground.
“……Cold.”
“It’s okay, Leo…… Just a little farther…….”
The northern mountain range. Ganesha heard the children’s voices faltering behind her.
Since Rohan, Dozmu, and the other members of the adventure party had already left for another mission, this mountain trek was far too dangerous. A blizzard this harsh could kill a person.
“Kids. Let’s stop for now.”
“……Eh?”
“Gather around me. Hurry!”
“…….”
Ganesha called the staggering children to her. She held them in her arms and checked the temperature.
Minus 33 degrees.
The magic of the blizzard itself, added to this insane chill, was indeed worthy of being called the Cold Wraith. It was a literally magical cold that even nullified artifacts.
“Kids. Kids.”
Ganesha patted the three children’s faces. But their faces had already turned purplish pale. Their breathing had grown faint, and their frozen eyelids were shut tight.
“Kids! You can’t sleep! If you sleep, you’ll be in trouble! Wake up!”
She shook their small bodies, but they soon slumped down. Like feathers sinking. Like baby birds falling asleep.
“…….”
Watching their powerless movements, Ganesha suddenly felt a lurch of fear.
The road they had walked together was too long to let them go so emptily. The time they had built up was too much. The memories they shared were too deep.
“K-kids. Wait just a second…….”
It was then.
Ziiiiing──!
With a metallic sound from somewhere, the blizzard in the area cleared for a moment. The resonance of woodsteel. Through it, an unfamiliar cabin came into view.
“!”
A certain warmth was rising like a single ray of light. Ganesha hurriedly ran toward it, the children tucked under her arms.
She tried to open the door first, but a signboard blocked her.
“……A waystation?”
──「Waystation」──
A waystation is a shelter for lost travelers, adventurers, residents, and soldiers.
Built to endure the harsh North, this place allows all to rest regardless of status, but to enter, one must engrave one’s name in the “register” and swear to three pledges.
First, do not commit crimes.
Second, do not engage in quarrels.
Third, do not damage the waystation.
If you respect the three pledges above, the waystation will become a shelter for you who are weary from the cold.
However, should you take the pledges lightly, the magical snare inherent in the waystation will bind you. Furthermore, I shall punish you severely in the name of Yukline.
──────────
“……Yukline.”
Along with the name of that family, the neat and beautiful handwriting engraved on the signboard. Just from that alone, it was obvious who “I” was.
“Professor, you’ve made something remarkable.”
For now, she felt only gratitude.
Ganesha quickly bit her finger. With that blood, she swore upon the pledge on the signboard and recorded her name in the register.
Creeeak—
Then the door opened automatically, as if by a ghost. The warmth wafting from inside was moving in itself.
Ganesha hurriedly put the children in first.
“……Warm.”
The interior was unexpectedly spacious. There was even a sleeping area.
Ganesha first checked on the children she had laid on the floor. Warmth was slowly returning to their pale faces.
“Ah, really…… I thought you were all going to die…….”
Letting out a sigh of relief, she leaned against the wall. Then she looked at the blizzard outside the window.
“……We survived thanks to that man.”
If this waystation or whatever it was had not been here, they would already be buried out there. She herself would have been fine, of course, but it would have been fatal for the children.
“Uugh…….”
Just then, Ria raised her upper body.
“Ria. Are you okay now~?”
Ganesha deliberately stretched out her words in a bright tone. Her hair also fluttered like a propeller.
Ria, who understood what that meant, smiled brightly as well.
“Yees, I’m okay now…….”
“Good. Then rest comfortably.”
“Ah, but um……. By Professor, do you mean Deculein?”
Ria asked. Her face was already steeped in exhaustion, yet it seemed she could not suppress her curiosity.
“Mm. It seems to be a facility that professor made, and thanks to it, we survived.”
“Ah…… But these days. Haven’t there been strange rumors?”
“What rumors?”
“Actually, before coming here, I heard it on the Floating Island. They said Professor Deculein knows who was behind the attempted poisoning of His Majesty the Emperor—”
Tap.
Suddenly, the lamp went out. Ganesha shuddered from a momentary chill, stood up, and hurriedly lit the lamp.
“……Ria?”
The lamp’s light illuminated Ria in red.
“Yes?”
“That is a dangerous remark. Never let it pass your lips again.”
No matter how much the treatment of commoners had improved lately, a commoner was still a commoner.
Ria was a commoner from the Archipelago, so she should not even dare think of unofficial stories concerning the Imperial Family.
“……Yes. I’ll do that. I’ll reflect on it…….”
Ria deliberately knelt on the floor. She raised both arms high.
And as she closed her eyes like that in reflection, slowly…… she drifted into sleep.
“Hehe. She’s such a curious child.”
Ganesha gave a small laugh and leaned against the wall.
Whooooooosh─!
Outside the window. As she watched the blizzard raging violently, she thought of the “Altar” that would soon arrive. She imagined the existence of the “God” they sought to manifest.
“It won’t be easy…… from now on.”
I’ll have to be prepared to die, too.
Ganesha let out a faint sigh and closed her eyes.
For the first time in nearly a month, the fellow known as the “demon of sleep” had come to visit her…….
* * *
Reccordak is currently in the midst of constructing a “temporary knight order.”
Like an actual knight order, it is a complex site being built around the main building, organically connecting various facilities such as a training ground, training rooms, an armory, a tactical discussion room, a dining hall, and lodgings.
─Hey! Move properly, you bastards! Don’t spill it!
The Empire dispatched an architect, and the architect moved the prisoners according to my design.
“Professor. What do you think of this spire? The view is quite nice as well.”
I watched all of it from Reccordak’s spire.
On the northern side of Reccordak’s grounds, an enormous “wall” separates the unexplored land from Reccordak, and this spire is the only place where one can look down on both the land beyond that wall and all of Reccordak at the same time.
“Knight Yulie also often comes up here…….”
The warden, who had been speaking, clamped his own mouth shut. It seemed he had belatedly remembered the relationship between Yulie and me.
The warden bowed at the waist.
“My apologies!”
“Hmph. What’s there to apologize for?”
At that moment, someone spoke from somewhere on the spire. It was Reilly’s voice.
The warden pointed in that direction.
“……Ah. Over there is Adventurer Reilly, the knight’s adjutant.”
“I know.”
I approached her.
“What is it. Why.”
Reilly, muttering curtly, was sitting in front of an easel. With the palette and brush in her hands, she seemed to be painting some landscape.
I asked.
“Is painting your hobby?”
“The scenery here is fairly nice. Hmph, tch!”
Reilly, Yulie’s cousin, resembled Yulie quite a bit. Though her hair was silver rather than white, and unlike Yulie, her personality was not calm but lively.
“Scenery.”
I looked at the place Reilly was gazing at.
“Hmm…….”
I had no hobby of appreciating scenery.
Yet an exclamation naturally slipped out.
Beyond Reccordak’s wall. The world wrapped in snow and wind was, in its entirety, dense like mist and, at the same time, dreamlike as a vision.
“…….”
At some moment while I was staring at the endless horizon of the unexplored land──
The 「Aesthetic Sense」 in my mind activated.
“Move.”
“What? Move wh— Ah, why are you doing this, oh my?! Oh my, my!”
I pushed Reilly away with 「Psychokinesis」. I took the brush and palette from her. I cleaned the chair she had been sitting on with 「Cleanse」.
“Look at this professor! Why are you doing this, good heavens!”
I intended to paint. Reilly, who was shouting beside me, was naturally ignored. All my mind focused on one place.
It was a trance.
In my eyes, there was only that desolate landscape, and my fingers moved as if possessed.
“……Oh my.”
Though I had not painted for long, Reilly’s surprise slipped in.
Behind me, the warden let out a tone of admiration: Hooooh—
“…….”
At some point, I stopped sweeping the brush myself. My gaze, fixed on the canvas and the landscape, returned to reality.
It was because of an unexpected notification.
[Creation: Artwork of the Era]
◆ Shop Currency +1
◆ Mana +50
I looked at my painting. First, 「Great Wealthy Magnate」 reacted. A brilliant golden light was rippling like waves.
The following “item information” was a little more mysterious.
─「Deculein’s Canvas: Untitled」─
◆ Information
：A canvas painted by Deculein von Grahan Yukline.
：A magical illusion dwells within the landscape painting.
◆ Category
：Unique ⊃ Artwork
◆ Special Effects
：Highest-grade Air Purification.
The air within a 500m radius becomes clear. It seems it will greatly help not only mana recovery, but also the increase of vitality.
：High-grade Fascination.
Upon appreciating this painting, mental strength and concentration increase for half a day.
：Muse
Art that will remain unchanged in any era.
────────
Proof that my canvas had become a “unique” item.
Perhaps it was because I was treated not as a player, but as an NPC.
“Remarkable, Professor!”
“…….”
The warden exclaimed with both hands gathered at his face, and Reilly merely twitched her lips in dissatisfaction. Their eyes were fixed only on my painting.
The warden asked.
“Hah…… It is truly beautiful. What is the title?”
I pondered briefly.
“……Let’s call it ‘Winter.’”
Then, the item’s name and effect changed.
──「Eternal Winter」──
……
◆ Special Effects
：Highest-grade Air Purification.
：High-grade Fascination.
：Muse.
：Eternal Winter.
The mana of winter has seeped into the canvas.
────────
* * *
Yulie opened her eyes at dawn.
First, she checked the state of her heart. The tearing pain she had felt whenever she woke was definitely subsiding.
“At this rate.”
I won’t die in a strange place.
As usual, she stepped out into the corridor. However, the air was strangely clear. Also, a painting that had not been there before was hanging in the corridor.
“……Mm.”
The moment Yulie saw that landscape painting, she nodded. It was a natural admiration.
「Winter」
A canvas that dreamily captured the scenery of the unexplored land beyond Reccordak. The simple title of “Winter” suited it too well.
“Did Reilly paint this……?”
The only person in Reccordak who painted was Reilly, so had she grown this much? Even to herself, who knew nothing of art, it was beautiful.
She felt proud for no reason.
Yulie, who had been about to go outside in satisfaction, stopped when she discovered someone in the training ground beyond.
“…….”
Deculein. He was running.
At dawn, before the sun had even risen, beneath a navy-blue sky frozen like a jewel. He was exercising with a diligent and proper posture.
Grind—
Her teeth ground together. Her nails dug into her fist.
Flames surged up inside her, but Yulie suppressed them for a moment. However, without realizing it, she began counting the time and the numbers.
“Thirty seconds, one lap.”
One lap in thirty seconds.
She had already learned this long ago, but Deculein’s physical abilities were extremely superior.
“Two…… three…… four…….”
Yulie counted the numbers as she waited for Deculein’s exercise to end.
“Seventy-seven.”
His record was a total of 77 laps in 30 minutes. Since he had not used any mana or magic whatsoever, it could be considered upper-tier even among knights.
“…….”
When Deculein returned to his mansion, Yulie went outside as if she had been waiting.
“Hoo…….”
She stood still in the middle of the training ground and took in the cold air.
“One two, one two.”
Like that, she did deep breathing and warm-ups, did calisthenics, loosened all her still-stiff joints…….
Then she began to run.
Her goal was Deculein’s 77 laps in 30 minutes.
The curse on her heart damaged her “stamina” more severely than anything else, so it might be a little difficult.
“I won’t lose.”
Yulie recalled the sight of Deculein just now and burned with fighting spirit.
Absolutely, to that villain alone, she would not lose…….
* * *
10 a.m., Reccordak’s conference room. I am sitting at the head of that damnably cramped place.
“…….”
I feel a little displeased. No, it is not at the level of a little.
The present situation—two hundred people, including knights and mages, packed into a space of barely thirty pyeong—was making my head spin.
“137 have volunteered.”
I looked over the roster of knights and mages. Julie and Ihelm, of course, and even Epherene among them—a total of 137 had volunteered for the “culling” process.
“First, this afternoon, we will begin practical training to organize these 137 into teams.”
Grasping the strengths and weaknesses of 137 people was easy enough. I intended to form the most efficient teams possible—in other words, teams that, barring the unexpected, would not suffer even a single death.
“In addition, we will refine the supply route and open a road connecting us to the rear.”
“Hm? Professor. The road is not supposed to connect to the interior.”
At that moment, the warden cut in.
“Because, if this Reccordak barrier collapses and there is even a road, the monsters’ advance speed will increase exponentially—”
“It will not collapse.”
I looked at the warden. Then I indicated the surrounding knights and mages with the tip of my chin.
“The very purpose is to ensure it never collapses in the first place. Yet because you have carried the mindset that it would, Reccordak has remained in this pitiful state until now.”
“……I apologize.”
The warden bowed at the waist. I returned to the main point.
“Furthermore, from now on, achievements will be evaluated clearly, and proper rewards and punishments will be administered. And……”
“Professor! An official document from the Imperial Palace!”
Bang— A messenger flung the door open and shouted.
I was somewhat irritated, but I nodded.
“Bring it here.”
“Here it is!”
I received the official document the messenger held out.
It was an imposing letter stamped with the Emperor’s jade seal. However, its contents were somewhat underwhelming.
I spoke as if sighing.
“……Furthermore, Reccordak will also hold its own Go tournament. This is His Majesty’s command, so you would do well to learn Go whenever you have time. I will add that I will not be participating.”
* * *
“……What is this?”
The Imperial Palace of the capital. Emperor Sophien frowned. On her desk was a stack of petitions submitted by the court mages.
The eunuch Jolang said,
“They are declarations from the Imperial Palace mages requesting assignment to Reccordak.”
“……What did you say?”
The Emperor was dumbfounded. It was a situation difficult to understand even for her.
“I heard mages hate cold places. Those cowards would never volunteer for the north. Are you certain those fellows truly want to be assigned to Reccordak?”
Sophien pushed up the glasses perched on the bridge of her nose with a finger.
The large, round glasses, taking up nearly half her face, were an artifact that aided with Go and study.
“Yes. It is because of the rumors.”
“Rumors?”
“The rumor that Professor Deculein is authoring countless works in Reccordak, and works of extremely high quality at that.”
“That bastard again?”
Sophien was truly at a loss. She chuckled and pushed up her glasses once more. They were so large that they kept slipping down.
“Yes, Your Majesty. I hear each and every one of them possesses enough value to be stored on the Floating Island.”
“……Hmph. So you are saying they are worth braving cold and death for. Very well. However, I cannot send them all, so I shall select only ten and send them.”
“Yes. ……However, Your Majesty.”
At that moment, Jolang bowed his head. He curled his entire body like a pill bug. It was the posture the eunuch assumed when he had resolved himself to say something.
“There is something Your Majesty said while playing a match with the professor before.”
“You mean the poisoning.”
That incident that had recently driven the Imperial Palace mad. However, Sophien answered as if it were no great matter.
Jolang’s body trembled violently.
“Yes, yes, Your Majesty…… if perhaps that—”
“Deculein knows. Who it is.”
“…….”
“But I shall wait. Until that man opens his mouth.”
For an instant, Jolang’s breath caught. He slammed his forehead to the floor.
“Please kill me, Your Majesty.”
“What are you asking me to kill? Did you poison me?”
“N-no, Your Majesty. How could I possibly. Please kill me—!”
The eunuch cried out sonorously in a mosquito-like voice. Looking at him, Sophien smiled mischievously.
“Enough. There is no need to kill you. Leave. I am busy studying Go.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. Your grace is immeasurable…….”
“Get out at once.”
After sending Jolang away like that.
Left alone, Sophien’s expression settled calmly.
“……Strange.”
She rested her chin on her hand and looked at the Go board.
Even when she moved both the black and white stones by herself, she no longer grew bored. It was because she was fiercely pondering how Deculein would play in this situation.
And yet, the reason she felt this hollow, strange sensation was—
“…….”
I wish that man were before me.
That man who had, at the very least, kindled even a tiny spark in this terribly tedious life—I wish he were here now.
Could this irritating feeling possibly be the emotion called “missing someone”?
“Tch. How idiotic.”
Sophien shook her head and once again immersed herself in Go.