Chapter 79
Serigel had four seasons.
Spring, sumr, and autumn, as well as winter, would co.
But even in winter, the temperature didn’t drop below freezing.
Naturally, it never snowed.
“It’s all covered in snow.”
At the entrance to the northern part of the Empire.
Evangeline said with a fed-up expression as she looked around the pure white snowfield.
It wasn’t a sight she was seeing for the first ti.
But the feeling of unfamiliarity was still the sa.
“Is the cold bearable?”
“Yes, this much is……”
“In the north, you must answer all my questions honestly. They are necessary questions to find the answer.”
“……It is too cold. So much so that I want to run away and hide in a warm place right now.”
Evangeline, who answered so, had her cheeks flushed red.
It was because it was an answer she gave after abandoning her dignity as a knight.
“Elmore will be colder.”
“It’s fine… no, yes. I am concerned.”
Before her awakening, Evangeline was particularly sensitive to the cold.
It was the sa now.
Unlike Reinhardt, who was wearing a moderately warm fur coat, she was wearing two or three layers of much thicker coats.
“Let’s switch to a sleigh. We won’t be able to go any further by carriage.”
The north was a place so cold that it was difficult for horses to run properly.
Especially for long distances between cities, it wouldn’t be strange if they collapsed on the way.
“I would like to rent a sleigh. The destination is Elmore.”
Reinhardt found a sleigh rental shop.
The sleigh was a vehicle used only in the northern part of the Empire.
It was pulled by five or six sleigh dogs, and as such, it was much more inconvenient, cramped, and cold compared to a carriage.
“Elmore. A good place.”
An old woman with a kind impression greeted Reinhardt with a smile.
“Do you not need a guide?”
“It’s fine.”
“So it’s not your first ti, is it? I can tell just by your attire. I can feel that you’ve prepared thoroughly. Where are you from?”
“The gateway city of the eastern Empire, Serigel.”
“Serigel? Serigel… I think I’ve heard of it. Was there soone who ca from there? Anyway, I understand. They are well-trained dogs, so you won’t have to worry about them. You already know that, right?”
“Yes, I know.”
It was a vehicle I had ridden dozens of tis in the ga.
Well-trained sleigh dogs would automatically travel to their destination and rest at a base prepared near the destination.
The custor didn’t even need to pack food for them separately.
In the ga, it was simply a device to provide convenience, but here, ‘thorough training’ was the basis for it.
“These children are the ones pulling the sleigh? Even though they are so small.”
“Ppiiit!”
Soon they faced the sleigh dogs. Huskies. Malamutes. Guys that looked sothing like that were excitedly wagging their thick tails as soon as they saw Reinhardt and Evangeline.
“Ppit, ppiii…… Ppit!”
Evangeline wasn’t the only one who was surprised.
Bitdori, as if greatly intrigued, was circling the sleigh dogs and shouting sothing repeatedly.
It had the atmosphere of a small child seeing a dog for the first ti.
“Do you know how to ride?”
“Yes. But I do not have the scent of Elmore.”
“Of course, that’s for to prepare.”
The old woman smiled as if she had expected it, then took a piece of cloth from her bosom.
She approached the sleigh dogs and let them sll the cloth.
The dogs sniffed with their noses and then excitedly ran around here and there.
“Are they… excited?”
Evangeline asked. She too could not hide her curiosity.
“It’s because they’re the type who really love cold places. They’re excited. Usually, custors don’t go to deep places like Elmore.”
“Is that so……”
Evangeline nodded with a serious look.
“Have a good trip. It’s a cold place, so don’t let your guard down. And don’t ever get off the sleigh before you arrive!”
Reinhardt nodded and got on the sleigh.
Evangeline also glanced around and then took a seat next to him.
Then, whoosh–!
In ti with the old woman’s whistle, the sleigh shot forward at a fierce speed.
“Ugh……!”
“It will be much colder because there is no wall to block the wind. Be sure to cover your face as well. It is best to maintain that state until we arrive in Elmore.”
Reinhardt covered his head with his coat, leaving only his eyes peeking out.
Evangeline also hesitated for a mont, then covered herself with her clothes in the sa way.
“Ppit? Ppiii?”
“Co in. You too, Bitdori.”
Reinhardt muttered in a low voice and slightly opened his coat.
Bitdori squeezed inside.
As if pleased with Reinhardt’s body temperature, a purring sound soon flowed from inside the coat.
‘There should be so kind of reaction soon.’
The further the sleigh ran, the more the temperature gradually dropped.
Reinhardt continuously checked Evangeline’s condition. Her posture was unshaken, and her brow was slightly furrowed as if it was difficult to open her eyes.
Her exact expression wasn’t visible because she was wrapped in her coat.
But if it was Evangeline.
A knight who handled cold air, as befitting her moniker of the Knight of Frost.
“……Ugh.”
At that mont, Evangeline made a strange sound. Reinhardt pretended not to hear and watched her reaction.
“A strange feeling……”
Evangeline was muttering in a very small voice.
I was able to overhear it because I focused all my senses on my hearing.
Her voice continued amidst the fierce sound of the wind.
“This feeling is, as if, strangely familiar……”
She probably thought her voice couldn’t be heard.
It wasn’t a strange thing. The surroundings were noisy.
The blades attached to the bottom of the sleigh scraped against the frozen ground, the sleigh dogs occasionally barked excitedly, and the biting wind scratched at exposed skin.
‘It seems the signal has co.’
The Knight of Frost does not feel the cold.
Because it is a power she can perfectly control herself, there is no reason to feel discomfort.
‘She just needs to get used to the cold. Then the first button will be fastened.’
Currently, Reinhardt’s top priority was simple.
To make Evangeline no longer say the word ‘cold.’
Not to endure it to maintain the dignity of a knight, but to make her adapt to the surrounding cold was the first stage of the training.
***
A city built on frozen land.
Elmore was often called by that na.
Snow-covered mountains.
And a snowfield always covered in pure white snow was the only scenery that could be seen around the city.
Naturally, Elmore was that cold.
To the extent that the expression ‘severe cold’ was not an exaggeration.
‘If you go unprepared, you’re bound to freeze to death.’
It was the sa in the ga.
When operating near Elmore, one had to be fully equipped with cold-weather gear and thoroughly manage to avoid debuffs such as ‘hypothermia’ or ‘frostbite.’
‘And if it’s your first visit, you’re bound to be in this state.’
Reinhardt looked at Evangeline, who was sitting across the table, shivering.
Her lips were deathly pale.
Her complexion was pale, and her whole body was stiff, making her movents awkward.
“Are you alright?”
“I’m fine… no, I am not fine.”
Her teeth chattered continuously. The sight of her sitting wrapped in a blanket was no different from a patient with a severe cold.
“You will be better after so rest.”
The two were in an inn in Elmore.
It was the result of traveling for nearly a whole day without rest.
All they had eaten on the way was a few pieces of jerky at best, and they had to endure the severe cold without sleep.
Even though they wore several layers of fur clothes, the cold of Elmore was not sothing that could be endured with just that.
Especially if it was one’s first visit here, all the more so.
“Are we, resting, today?”
“We will rest. Warm yourself with a hot soup, wash with hot water, and get a good night’s sleep. The real training will begin tomorrow.”
“Ah……”
Evangeline was relieved.
She would rather fight monsters than endure the cold; it was truly not an easy task.
‘It seems like they intentionally set it up this way. That she’s particularly weak to the cold. But it turns out she had a talent for it, which is why it was even more so.’
For Reinhardt, who knew the inside story, it wasn’t a particularly strange setup.
Soon, Evangeline left first.
Her back as she entered her room looked as if she could collapse at any mont.
“Bitdori.”
“Ppit.”
“Can you move around?”
“Ppit? Ppiii-it!”
Bitdori answered energetically to the question asked just in case.
It clearly ant that it wasn’t affected by the cold.
“You know the friend I ntioned earlier? The one I explained about on our way here.”
“Ppit.”
“Find that friend. When you find her, let know. And while you’re at it……”
Reinhardt didn’t forget to add.
“If you see anything that looks a bit strange, you have to let know about that too. You know what I an, right?”
***
Hasker’s Smithy was the largest smithy among the smithies in the city of Elmore.
Although it was a region so cold that even the air could freeze, the inside of the smithy was always hot.
The clothes of the blacksmiths working here were always damp with sweat.
Due to the heat that felt like it would cook their flesh whole, their skin was always reddish and flushed, and because they were constantly hamring iron, their entire bodies were filled with practical muscles.
Among them was the blacksmith Ria.
She had her red hair tied up on both sides, wore a light tank top, and wore wide-legged pants with many pockets.
Most people here were dressed similarly to her.
Because that was the most comfortable way to work.
“It’s hot.”
“I told you to get used to the heat.”
“Easier said than done. I don’t think I can do it. I’m going to be panting from the heat for the rest of my life.”
“You’ll get used to it in the end.”
“I wish I could too. Ugh, it’s really, really hot.”
Ria stuck out her tongue and panted exaggeratedly.
It felt strangely refreshing. She felt like she understood why dogs stuck out their tongues whenever they were hot.
‘She said I have to make a longsword today, right?’
The materials were already prepared.
A hot fla was blazing in the furnace, and every ti she stepped on the bellows, it surged and grew in size.
‘I don’t want to do it.’
Ria thought as she picked up the lump of iron.
After a few processes, this lump of tal would transform into a sword that cuts down enemies.
Ria was confident in her skills. She had no doubt that whoever bought the sword would be satisfied with its quality.
But she herself didn’t feel like it.
For so reason, she had no desire to work today.
-The hottest fla burns in the coldest place.
Where she raised her gaze, there was a phrase written in black letters.
Every ti Ria saw that old-fashioned phrase, she would get irritated.
‘Why do I have to be cooped up in such a remote, cold, hot, and desolate place? And it’s not like they give any interesting work either.’
If her master had heard her, he would have told her to work instead of talking nonsense.
“Ah, my talent is rotting away. My talent is rotting!”
“Stop with the nonsense and focus on your work. Ria.”
At the expected reaction, Ria giggled and laughed.
And just as she was about to focus on her work again.
“No, you can’t. I told you it’s not a material we can handle!”
“We won’t know until we try. It doesn’t matter if we fail. I’ll pay the fee as promised.”
“The amount is not what’s important!”
The entrance of the smithy beca noisy.
Ria, who didn’t feel like working just then, thought it was a good excuse and quickly ran out.
‘It’s those people from back then.’
At the entrance, one of Hasker’s senior blacksmiths and a few humans with an unpleasant impression were confronting each other.
‘They refused the work, right? That’s strange. He’s soone who normally doesn’t refuse any work.’
After watching with interest for a mont.
“Is that so? Understood. We will withdraw. If you change your mind, contact us again.”
The man across from the senior blacksmith retrieved the ‘item.’
It was sothing that glowed an ominously red color. Since it was a commission for a smithy, it was probably an ore, and.
“……I’ll do it! I will!”
Before she could even finish her thought, Ria was already rushing out.
For the first ti in her life, she was seized by the desire to create sothing herself.
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