Chapter 76 – Hero, please feed me.
Chapter 75
“…Ugh.”
I got hit in the eye out of nowhere. Maybe that’s why, the world still looks white.
f*ck, I got an eye attack all of a sudden. f*ck you. I still feel itching in my eyes.
“Ah… Celine, are you okay? The world still looks white to me…”
“…Hero.”
“Yes?”
Celine’s voice was strange. Not surprised, not just panicked… Her voice sounded like she was facing something that couldn’t happen.
I wondered at her voice and turned her head. Her brown hair, ruby eyes, and light green priestly clothes. It was Celine.
…Um? Wait a minute, it looks right. What happened? Obviously, everything else was white.
Her answer to that question flowed from Celine’s lips.
“The world doesn’t look white… It’s white.”
“…Yes?”
“…Look at this.”
Celine bent her knees and squatted down, sweeping the floor. And she said, what was washed up on her hand was something pure white.
“…Snow?”
“…Yes, it’s snow.”
What kind of snow in the summer… No, wait. At first we were in a cave.
Suddenly, one thing came to my mind. ‘Gate’, the masterpiece of magicians who move people freely. Its greatest feature was that it was free to go, but not free to return.
“Did we… Move to another place?”
“…I guess so.”
…Huh.
So where the hell is this place? After all, it’s summer now. Does it make sense that there is so much white snow everywhere in summer? Gangwon-do won’t do this either.
“Then where the hell is this place? Is there a place where it snows this much in midsummer?”
“…There is one. To be honest, I still can’t believe it, but there is only one place on the Gaia continent where this amount of snow accumulates even in midsummer.”
“Where is it?”
Celine replied in a voice that she couldn’t believe.
“…The Glacier Mountains.”
“Yes? Where is it?”
“It is a mountain range in the northern part of the Apollo kingdom, and it is located at the northernmost point of the Gaia continent.”
“…Yes???”
You were in Bourbon City, within the Kingdom of Vesta. By the way, did you move to the northern part of the Apollo kingdom?
…I’m going crazy.
“Seeing that the land is flat… I think this is a small plateau inside a mountain range.”
“…Huh.”
Wait, but where is Estelle?
“Where is Estelle?”
“I think only we were caught up in it. The saintess had a little distance, right?”
“Umm…”
At least it’s fortunate…? No, I’d rather come with you. If it goes away like this…
“Huh…”
“Celine, why is that?”
“I’m sorry. It’s a bit cold…”
“Ah.”
I thought the weather wasn’t like summer, but it’s very cold. I was on the lesser side because I was wearing her armor at least, but Celine, who was wearing only her priestly clothes, was very cold.
“…Once it’s a mountain range, you can go down. I have to go down.”
“…That can’t be done.”
“Yes?”
Why not?
Celine reached out to me, shaking his hand.
“Once…”
《 Ludria’s Grace 》
I feel like I’ve been hit by a refreshing breeze, and the divine power dwells in my body, and my whole body is energized. I was puzzled by Celine’s sudden blessing.
“Celine?”
“…The Glacia Mountains are a dangerous place teeming with monsters. Basically, even in the Apollo kingdom, everyone is banned from entering.”
“…Yes?”
“So…”
Celine said the words she least wanted to hear in the current situation.
“We landed in a place that was no different from the base of the monsters.”
…Really?
“Advanced monsters such as Drakan, Wyvern, and Drake are the basics… To be honest, there must be an enormous number of dangerous monsters higher than Gorgon level.”
“Yes? No matter how dangerous the mountain range is, how can so many monsters be gathered here?”
“…That’s a sharp question. As you said, it is unusual for such dangerous monsters to gather in one place.”
Celine said, crossing her arms as if it was very cold.
“That is possible because ‘Mother’ is here.”
“…Yes? Is this a nest?”
“The Glacier Mountains…Are home to a mother called the ‘North Queen’ who has made the entire mountain range her nest. All the monsters from that mother stay here.”
…It’s just hell.
“So, hero, we must be careful while going down the mountain… If you make a hasty move and get caught by Mother, it’s the end.”
“…There are blessings.”
“It would have been nice if I had the saintess’ blessing, but I don’t know how far it can go with my blessing… Huh…”
…First of all, Celine looks very cold. Shouldn’t she take her and leave her seat to light her fire?
“Celine, can you move?”
“…Yes, I have to move.”
Celine looked very cold. Blessed by her, I was fine, but she put her hand to the corner of her mouth to see if her hand was frozen and blew on her breath.
“Let’s go, warrior.”
“…Celine, excuse me.”
“Yes?”
From noble mtl dot com.
…It’s not something I do out of selfishness. It can’t be helped.
“Kyaaak!?”
I quickly hugged Celine. Celine was at a loss and panicked, but I rationally explained it to her.
“Hero!?”
“Since I have been blessed, it is fast. This is efficient.”
As if Celine had no objection to my words, she nodded her head slightly.
“…Your words are right. Let’s go.”
Celine’s cheeks were slightly red, as if she couldn’t hide her embarrassment even though she spoke calmly.
…Let’s go.
#
Fortunately, she didn’t run into any monsters while leaving the plateau. To be precise, there were monsters, but I tried my best to avoid them.
…I felt like I was playing real-life Assassin Creed.
I’ve left the plateau, but I can’t see a good place to start a fire. At least it would be nice to come out to a place like a cave.
“Hero.”
“Yes?”
“Hey, let’s go down there…”
Celine pointed at her somewhere with her trembling hand. She moved her gaze along her finger and saw a very unusually carved rock formation.
It was curved like a wave, so there was a large space underneath it.
“Does it seem too open on both sides?”
“Once you go… You will know.”
“…Yes.”
As Celine said, when I headed there, there were no monsters. Why is this?
“…The rocks that make up this zone have an aura that monsters don’t like. It is also used to prevent the invasion of monsters, so it is also called ‘exorcism stone’.”
“Ah…”
How did you find out about that? After all, Celine knows a lot.
“First of all…I’m sorry, could you light a fire for me? It’s too cold…”
“Oh, wait. I’ll get you some firewood right away.”
I carefully walked around the neighborhood to get firewood. Getting dry firewood in a snowy place like this is really picking stars from the sky, so I just picked up anything. It didn’t matter because the fire would be made with magic anyway.
I quickly brought the firewood and left it in front of Celine. Then, as he drew the word “Fire” In the air, the fire bloomed and the surroundings became warm.
“…Thank you, hero.”
“It was very cold.”
“It’s okay… not so much to worry about.”
I wasn’t cold because she had her blessing and she wore more than her, but I can’t imagine how cold Celine must have been.
“But how do I go forward? To be honest, I have no idea how far down I will have to go if the mountain range is high enough for the ice caps to accumulate…”
“Right. As the hero said, the Glacier Mountains are famous for being incredibly tall.”
“Then what? Honestly, wouldn’t it be impossible to go unnoticed while going down?”
It’s not that demons don’t have eyes.
“I should try my best not to be caught, but… When that time comes, I have to break through by force. From then on, it will be a race against time.”
“…Hmm.”
It’s a high mountain with ice caps… I’ve seen the Matterhorn before when I was backpacking in Europe, and it was incredibly high.
If the ice caps are piled up, wouldn’t this mountain where we are at the same level?
…When are you going down?
“…Whoa.”
After basking in the fire for a while, Celine took a long breath and stood up from her seat.
“Celine, get some rest.”
“It’s okay, warrior. My body has melted a lot now. And you can’t stay here forever. You have to go down little by little to find food.”
“Um.”
That’s right. Food is also a problem.
“Still, since it is an untouched mountain, there must be quite a lot of wild animals.”
“That’s a bit fortunate.”
“That’s why we have to go down a little bit from here. If you happen to encounter a monster, you have to deal with it as quietly and quickly as possible.”
“I’ll write it down.”
After turning off the campfire, Celine and I moved downstairs. She’s going with caution, but the thought of not knowing what might pop out makes her super nervous.
…Hand shaking.
“Hero, are you cold?”
“Yes?…No. It’s not cold…”
It’s a bit embarrassing to say that I’m scared.
“…Hero.”
“Yes?”
“Are you nervous?”
…f*ck, I was caught.
“…A little.”
That’s right, I’m a creepy warrior.
But Celine said as if she understood me for beating herself up.
“It deserves it. The hero is a person who has only been on the battlefield for about four months.”
Celine looked straight at me.
“But, hero. He can go back if he stays sane though. The hero too… You have to go back to the saintess.”
“Celine…”
…Yes, I have to go back to Estelle. The girl who always worried about me might still be trembling with anxiety.
“Okay, let’s calm down and go.”
“Okay, let’s go down.”
#
After descending the mountain a little bit, Abel and Celine found a green tree. Coniferous trees that usually grow in cold regions were densely grown, and cold-resistant plants such as moss grew on the floor.
Abel and Celine entered the forest. Monsters might come out, but they also needed a place to hide and rest anyway, and it was an inevitable choice to get food.
Celine, who was walking on the snow on the forest floor, pointed somewhere.
“Hero, over there.”
“Hmm?”
It was a wild boar-like animal covered in white fur.
“It’s a snow pig. We hunt and eat.”
“…Yes?”
Celine, who was about to eat the wild boar with white fur in front of her, said while wiping her saliva.
“Aren’t you hungry? Honestly, it’s been quite a while since we ate.”
“…I am hungry. Is he an animal?”
From what I’ve seen so far, this world is not much different from the real world except for a few fantasy elements. Both flowers and animals. In general, it was similar to the real Earth.
However, as far as Abel knew, there was no wild boar with white fur like that on Earth. And as expected, Celine answered as Abel expected.
“It’s a monster. It is an object that is classified as a low-class monster.”
“How do you eat monsters!? And monsters say to avoid if possible…”
“But snow pigs are famous for their good taste.”
“…Yes?”
“And you can eat monsters too. They are living things too.”
It was not an incorrect logic. Originally, all animals, including humans, live by eating other living things.
Monsters are also living beings, so they live while eating other living things, such as people and animals, so the opposite was possible.
But Abel asked in a somewhat absurd mood.
“How do you know that it is famous for its good taste?”
“It looks like a pig, but I don’t have any objection to it even though I eat it… That’s why it is a monster that is often eaten.”
“…But I haven’t seen people eat monsters yet.”
“That’s right, demons in general don’t have much taste. There’s no need to eat monsters over delicious cows and pigs, right?”
“…Snow pigs are an exception.”
“Yes, that’s right. Therefore….”
Celine gulped down her saliva, her eyes twinkling.
“Let’s catch and eat them. Honestly, I think I’m going to die of hunger.”
“Rather than that, shouldn’t we find a place to hide?”
“Now, when Snow Pig is alone, it is an opportunity.”
“Yes…”
Celine must have been very hungry, she thought, and Abel took out her holy sword. Abel grabbed her holy sword and jumped out in front of her.
Abel’s body, strengthened by her blessings, was capable of surprisingly high speed, and Abel, who fired like a single flash, pierced her snow pig in one blow.
“Quyeek!”
A dead snow boar that sounds like a wild boar indeed. Looking at that, Abel thought.
‘…It looks like a wild boar, only the color of the fur is different.’
Abel, who didn’t know what was different, pulled out the holy sword and pondered what to do with the snow pig.
I thought there was no answer because I thought the blood would get all over my body when I just carried the boar dripping with blood.
I had to deal with it right now and run away. Because the smell of blood vibrated.
Celine gasped and ran to Abel, who was worried about her, and reached out her hand.
《Divine Hill》
Abel tilted her head at Celine’s act of suddenly rushing in and treating the standing snow pig.
“Celine?”
“You have to stop the bleeding. When blood flows, it leaves traces.”
“Ah…”
When the dead snow pig’s wounds healed and the blood stopped flowing, Celine said with a twinkle in her eyes.
“Come on, let’s go get it now!”
“Yes…”
Celine walked with her limp steps and Abel followed her, holding her snow pig lightly in her one hand. Celine, who was walking moderately, pointed to one place and said,
“I think we can go over there and light a fire and rest. Fortunately, there are steady rocky areas with many exorcism stones on this mountain.”
“How do you know?”
“In color. The exorcism stone has a slightly reddish color on such a dark gray base.”
“…I can’t tell them apart.”
“Once you get used to it, you will be able to tell them apart.”
As Celine went, she picked up branches that could be used for firewood. Abel looked at Celine like that and thought.
‘…Celine has as much common sense as Estelle. She seems used to going camping… Are all saints like this?’
Abel didn’t know, but in fact her saints had no choice but to do so. Before Celine and Estelle both became saints, she was active as a nun or priest of the church, so she often went out for relief activities.
Every time she did that, she couldn’t expect a comfortable bed, so she had no choice but to get used to camping, and she often had to deal with monsters, so she had to be quick about monsters.
Abel magically lit a fire on Celine’s firewood.
“hahahaha… I think I will live…”
“You must have been cold after all.”
“I can’t help it because her clothes are thin. She’s in summer clothes.”
“Wouldn’t it be better if I cast the blessing on myself?”
“Then you won’t be able to effectively deal with monsters. Of course, the hero is strong even without a blessing…But that’s something we don’t know.”
Abel did not argue further. There was nothing wrong with Celine’s words.
Then the meat had to be grilled, but there was a big problem.
“…Celine, do you know how to dismantle this?”
“Yes?…No. I never did.”
“…I don’t even know.”
She caught snow pigs at best, but she was two people who didn’t know how to dismantle them.
“Uh… I didn’t think the hero wouldn’t know.”
“Why did you think I knew?”
“… I just thought that if it was just a warrior, he would have known something.”
What did that mean? It was Abel looking at Celine with her eyes and Celine avoiding that gaze.
“In the first place, Celine asked me to catch and eat this. So, of course, I thought Celine would do it.”
“I-I just knew it was delicious…”
Celine mumbled apologetically. Seeing that, Abel sighed.
From noble mtl dot com.
“…I’ll try it first. I don’t know if it’ll turn out well…”
“Sorry for being useless…”
“I didn’t mean it…but Celine, what about the smell of her blood?”
“Ah, I can erase that with Cure. Do not worry.”
Abel nodded her head and raised her holy sword. She is famous for the Holy Sword, but since she uses it like a knife to slaughter pigs, I feel sorry for the Holy Sword.
‘…I’m glad my ego didn’t wake up.’
Abel stabbed her holy sword thinly. Perhaps because her snow pig was also a monster, her skin cut smoothly without resistance.
Celine watched Abel dismantle the pig. Saying that this was her first time, she looked at Abel, who was surprisingly good at it, and Celine tilted her head.
“Hero, didn’t you say it was your first time?”
“…I will. It’s my first time.”
“Why isn’t it going well,” Abel added. Feeling that her body was remembering something, Abel inferred a fact.
‘Does my body know how to do this? Well, since he was a country boy in this era, he must have often hunted wild animals and ate them…’
It was a story with a possibility. If not, how can it be dismantled so cleanly? Abel perfectly dismantled her snow pig with a few knife strokes.
“Wow… You are a hero as expected. There is nothing you don’t know how to do!”
“…Somehow, it worked out.”
“I’ll erase the smell for now.”
《 Divine Cure 》
Celine ran her hand gently over Abel’s arm and her blood on the floor. Then, like the wind, her cool divine power nestled in Abel’s hand, the blood on her holy sword, and the blood that flowed on the floor. And really, the bloody smell disappeared in an instant.
“Oh…that’s interesting.”
“Now let’s bake! Come on!”
“Wait a minute… First you need something like a skewer to stick the meat in…”
Abel saw the holy sword in her hand. The sharp spikes of her saw blades caught her eye.
“…….”
“…….”
Abel and Celine looked at each other once, as if thinking the same thing at the same time, then looked at the holy sword of order.
#
Tadak, tadak. The sound of burning firewood resonated pleasantly in my ears.
And the smell of delicious meat dripping from the top of it hovering around your nose…Is this heaven?
Celine said she looked like she was about to drool at any moment, but on the other hand, she felt embarrassed.
“…We are probably the only people who use the holy sword like this.”
“…It can’t be helped.”
Instead of using a skewer to grill the meat, I stuck chunks of meat into the saw blade of the holy sword and put it on the fire. Yes, the holy sword was being cooked with the meat right now.
Celine is right. Who would use a holy sword like this? If the warriors of the order of the previous generation saw it, they might fall by the back of their necks.
But I’m starving to death. Once you have to eat, you won’t be a hero or anything.
So we are innocent. Even the goddesses will admit it.
…Maybe.
“Looks like it’s done?”
“Celine, blood is still dripping, but everything is cooked. Wait.”
“I am hungry…”
I’m weak against being secretly hungry.
The look of her ruby-like eyes shining while looking at meat was quite cute, like a child who likes to see delicious food.
“The holy sword won’t melt, right?”
“The Holy Sword doesn’t break in the first place. The divine instrument made by the goddesses will break or melt. However, there will be a bit of soot because you have been sitting on the fire for a long time.”
“What is soot…”
You can remove it later.
After a while, the meat finally looked like it was done. I spoke with the holy sword that I worked hard to serve as a skewer.
“I think it is ripe.”
“Oh, come on, please!”
“Yeah, wait a minute. I’ll try to see if it’s done.”
I carefully pulled out the meat and took a bite.
Um…Oh???
“Is it really delicious?”
I didn’t season it, but this much? If you season it properly and eat it properly, you wonder what it will taste like.
“Really? Me too, please hurry up!”
It feels like eating very tender pork. I pulled out a fresh piece of meat and handed it to Celine.
But how do you hold and eat Celine? She was bare I’m blessed, so it’s okay, but…
“I think it will be very hot if you hold it with your bare hands. It was on the fire a while ago.”
“I see…”
Then what should I do?
“…Hero.”
“Yes?”
Celine said, opening her mouth.
“Please feed me.”