Chapter 74
Whooooosh!
A terrifying wind howled in her ears. Behind her, people were shouting to one another as they walked, but with the wind roaring like this, it was doubtful if any of their words were getting through. Their legs sank deep into the piled-up snow—sometimes up to their knees. Every so often, the rope tied around her waist tugged—someone must have stumbled.
‘Forget thirty minutes, you couldn’t last three in this weather.’
Even so, they must have walked quite a distance by now. The problem was—
‘With visibility like this…’
She couldn’t even tell how far they’d come. At that moment, someone behind her reached forward and touched her shoulder. It was Ozka. Rather than straining to hear, Silia focused on reading his lips.
“…something… there.”
“There’s something out there?”
Ozka nodded. Silia had felt the same uneasy sensation for a while but hadn’t mentioned it, not wanting to alarm the others. But of course, a Sword Master like him would notice.
When Silia and Ozka stopped, the young nobles following behind huddled together anxiously, shivering. Half of them were covered so thickly in snow from falling over that they looked like snowmen.
“……What do you think?”
“Indeed. What shall we do?”
Ozka mouthed the words: They’re not fit for real combat yet.
Silia replied, “Still, we’ve got at least one person who’s somewhat useful, right?”
The moment she said it, both she and Ozka turned their gaze toward one person. Feeling their eyes, Fliar blinked in confusion. She was one of the few who looked relatively fine, unlike the others, who were practically snow sculptures. Silia was just about to smile approvingly when—
Peek.
Ingram Philips suddenly appeared beside Fliar, pushing his smug face into the conversation. Somehow, he too was fairly clean despite the storm. He had probably slipped once or twice, but given that this was his family’s land, it would be more surprising if he couldn’t walk through it.
Silia gave him a sidelong glance.
“If you have something to say, say it.”
Ingram fidgeted, then tapped the hilt of his sword twice, as if to say, I’m useful too.
“Not at all,” Silia said flatly.
He seemed ready to snap, but after pulling back his hood and getting his exposed face nearly sliced open by the icy wind, he quickly covered up again. Silia gave him a deadpan look that said what are you doing? He unsheathed his sword, gripping it in both hands as if to prove himself. Silia sighed deeply.
“Anyone else besides him?”
Ozka mouthed again: They’re not bad, but the Philips boy is the only one used to this terrain.
Silia glanced around. Most of the young nobles were clearly overwhelmed by their first experience with this kind of cold. She couldn’t really blame them.
“What about the magic students?” she asked.
Ozka pointed to a few trembling figures among them. Silia approached and asked what kind of spells they could cast. All of them had learned only attack or defense magic.
“At least learn this one.”
Silia quickly taught them a simple warmth spell.
The magic students gave her baffled looks, as if they’d never used such a trivial spell before. Which made sense—they’d probably only ever focused on flashy, high-powered attack and defense spells.
‘Because those get you better grades,’ she thought.
But sometimes, these little spells were the ones that saved your life. Silia knew that well—while others had focused on combat spells, she’d learned practical magic too.
After managing to cast the warming spell on themselves and then on the others, the students’ pale faces flushed slightly. It wasn’t enough to block all the cold, but it made moving bearable again—and that alone lifted their spirits.
Then Ingram started approaching Silia, but Fliar quietly stepped between them. Ingram shook his head.
“…I mean no harm,” he said.
“Do you, now?”
Before Silia could respond, Fliar spoke in a hard, cold voice completely unlike her usual gentle tone.
“Do we have any reason to trust you, Lord Philips?”
“Fliar, it’s fine—”
“The young lord already nearly harmed the lady once. Severely.”
She must have been referring to the trap he’d set back at the academy. Silia hadn’t realized Fliar was still so angry about that.
“I paid for that, didn’t I? You beat me up and I got disciplined.”
“You wouldn’t say that if you knew how dangerous it was.”
Fliar’s voice grew sharper, icier. Silia couldn’t see her face, but judging from how Ingram’s expression stiffened, she must have been furious.
“Fliar, I haven’t forgotten it either,” Silia said. “If he pulls anything again, we’ll leave him here. Or maybe I’ll just have a nice chat with his older brother. How does that sound?”
“…I mean no harm,” Ingram repeated. “I swear it—on my family’s name.”
“Really? In front of all the others and Sir Ozka here?”
Silia dropped her formal tone deliberately. If he lost his temper, she’d stop talking to him entirely.
“…Yes.”
To her surprise, Ingram answered obediently. Silia tilted her head.
“Then go ahead and say what you wanted.”
He straightened his shoulders several times before speaking.
“This is abnormal weather,” he said.
“The north isn’t usually like this?”
“Even in the north, this is the end of summer. Blizzards don’t happen this time of year.”
“Then what do you think it is?”
“Isn’t it obvious?”
Ingram puffed out his chest proudly.
“The barbarians at the northern border! They must be using their witchcraft. That’s why the Marquis family—my family—is so important to the kingdom’s defense—”
“Let’s just keep moving,” Silia cut him off.
She didn’t even consider the theory worth discussing. In her previous life, there had never been any rebellion or disturbance from the borderlands.
Ingram continued boasting until—
Aaaaahhhh!
A scream ripped through the howling wind, loud enough to make their ears ring. Everyone froze.
“One of our group is gone!”
Through the cluster of huddled nobles, they could see the rope end dangling, torn loose. As soon as they noticed it, another scream came from the storm.
The tension spiked. Silia felt a familiar sensation welling up inside her—the same one she felt whenever monsters were nearby.
“Kyaaaaah!”
“…help… me!”
“Kyaaaak!”
“There’s more than one,” Silia realized.
She immediately cast a defensive spell behind her, creating a semi-circular barrier that nothing could pass through.
“This time for sure—!”
Ingram shouted, drawing his sword—only to be struck by something flying out of the storm. His head snapped back, and he dropped unconscious into the snow.
Silia clicked her tongue and scanned the area.
“Sir Ozka, protect the others!”
“Understood!”
“Fliar! I’m counting on you!”
Through the blizzard, she saw Fliar nod. Leaving the others behind, Silia dashed toward the direction of the screams. As she heightened her senses to the limit and thrust her sword, the blade caught the faint light—revealing something massive dragging off one of the nobles. Smaller shapes scurried around it.
“Get lost!”
Her slash of aura barely missed as the creature flung the noble aside and darted away. Silia caught the falling noble in her arms, quickly untied the rope at her waist, wrapped it around them, and launched a burst of red mana into the sky—a signal flare. The rope tightened, pulling the noble back toward the others.
“…Maybe I should’ve just gone alone.”
Thankfully, Ozka and Fliar were holding their ground well. The other nobles were struggling but still standing. At least Fliar was getting some real combat experience out of this.
“But I can’t fight properly with all of them here.”
She fired a flare to signal retreat.
That was when—
“GRAAAAAAAHH!”
Thud!
Something enormous slammed into her with brutal force. Silia didn’t dodge—she met it head-on, driving her sword into its foreleg as it struck. She felt it hit.
“—!”
The ground suddenly gave way beneath her—there must have been a cliff or pit nearby.
The huge creature bounded away as Silia fell. She twisted her body midair, drawing a quick magic circle, and moments before hitting the ground, it slowed her fall.
Landing lightly, Silia looked down at her torn coat.
“This isn’t just some animal.”
The creature’s claw had ripped her thick outer coat—and apparently, it had torn off her compass and pendant as well. She couldn’t see them anywhere.
She wouldn’t freeze to death thanks to her abilities, but being lost out here was another problem entirely.
Skreee.
Kyahhh.
Krrrrrrrk…
All around her, dark shapes emerged through the blizzard—dozens of them.
Her instincts whispered: These aren’t ordinary beasts.
“…No way.”
Just as she began channeling mana into her sword—
BOOM!
A massive harpoon-like weapon shot through the air, skewering the creature that had lunged for her. Silia froze for a heartbeat.
No mistake—she recognized what she was seeing.
“They really are monsters.”
From the darkness came the roar of the enormous beast she’d faced before. Silia raised her sword—
“Over here!”
A voice shouted, and someone yanked her violently out of the way.
