Episode 13. Legacy of the First Hero (3)
“We are here.”
Wheeying.
Just hearing it, a fierce wind passed by my ears.
With the sound of the wind blowing incessantly, the blowing snowstorm disturbed the vision.
“Thanks to the little girl there, it was easy to get there. Originally, the wagon would not have been able to enter from where the snow started.”
I had asked Maria to clear the snow from every corner of her horse. Thanks to this, I was able to pass through the snow that reached half of the horse’s legs without difficulty.
As expected, wizards were the best in the fantasy world.
“Thanks to you, I can see the glacier. I’ve only heard of adventurers here.”
Listening to his admiring voice, I took out a water bottle and spilled a little on the floor.
Then, within ten seconds, the water freezes. It made me realize just how low the temperature was.
“Ohh…… How amazing.”
“Let’s get off.”
I walked all the way through the wagon tent and stepped on the ground.
Thanks to Maria’s wind magic, her feet didn’t get buried in the snow.
We made our way through a snowstorm into the glacier.
“This is… ….”
Giant ice with a harmonious blue color welcomes us.
The blue crystals, so huge that you had to look up, glistened in the sunlight, like jewels stacked on top of each other.
Walk slowly through the glacier, thinking that each piece is like a work of art.
As they walked, the three warriors couldn’t keep their mouths shut while looking at the panoramic view of the glacier.
That was the same for me.
I couldn’t help but be surprised when I saw this scenery. It was just that I couldn’t tease it by managing my expression.
“Huh? I can’t see…….”
Tina looks behind her. Beyond the edge of the glacier, the snow was still falling hard.
“Master, Master! What phenomenon is this? Is it magic?”
Tina asked, tugging at her sleeve. I was about to answer her question when she realized that the coachman was there and shut her mouth.
The coachman, who listened to Tina’s words beside her, said with an easygoing smile.
“About a year ago, the head of the Magic Guild visited this place to investigate. I heard that this place was created by some kind of magic, but there is no way to know who installed this magic. As a guess, there are rumors that it might have been done by the first hero.”
“Are you the first hero? But the first hero is dead, right? Can this status quo be maintained even after death?”
“Well… …. I don’t know because I’m not a wizard. Does that little girl know?”
“…… Why don’t you keep calling me a kid? I am a grown woman too.”
What makes a thirteen-year-old a grown-up woman?
Even in a fantasy setting, she was considered an adult at least 15 years old.
As Maria threw her tantrum, the coachman scratched her head awkwardly.
“If the first hero actually did this phenomenon, I don’t even realize what a great person she was.”
Iris continued admiring it as if she didn’t care who made it. She was always looking for a dignified figure, but seeing Iris with such an innocent reaction made her feel fresh.
She looked cute for no reason. She stroked her hair and tousled it.
“Su, Master?”
“It looks good.”
“Yes?”
“Don’t look at me like you do now, do whatever you want. Like those kids.”
He pointed to the two warriors behaving wildly beside him and said.
“Ummm… Wouldn’t that be a bit difficult for Master?”
Iris looked at the two warriors, puzzled by her bitter smile.
I saw Tina crushing and tasting the surrounding glacier, and Maria, still pouting.
“…… Right.”
It seemed like it would definitely be difficult if even Iris was in that shape.
“Wow! It tastes awful!”
Why do you eat that…… ?
* * *
I told the coachman that it was all right to go back. It was because she was no longer good at exposing information.
She didn’t forget to pay him.
Originally, it was supposed to be a single gold coin, but when he gave me three coins, his mouth was torn apart, and he bent down.
Looking at the coachman leaving, he turned around. Maria was standing in front of me.
“Did Master notice?”
“…… What do you mean?”
“There is no way that the person who taught me about magic training didn’t know. Magic cannot be maintained once it dies. There is no medium to absorb the mana floating in nature. In other words, it is a living being that maintains this glacier. Besides, this artificial flow of mana…….”
“Yes, it is a barrier.”
“As expected.”
She clenched her fists in a dainty way. She seemed happy that her own guess was correct.
“This glacier was created by the water spirit king.”
This glacial area, formed by 9th tier magic that changes nature itself, was composed of so advanced magic that most wizards could not recognize it as a barrier.
I figured it out after I became the 8th tier magic guild leader.
“The water spirit king?”
“Yes.”
Intentionally left a trace of himself in the human world so that the next hero could find him.
And from the moment we entered the barrier, the ‘test’ began.
“Prepare soon.”
At first glance, it is easy to think that the glacial area is a refuge for the victims, as there is no threat of snowstorms and the temperature is not low, but it was not at all.
Because this place is inhabited by monsters different from monsters.
“Yes? Prepare something—”
Pacan!
Iris was the first to react. I break the ice in the form of icicles flying towards me. I stared blankly at the ice crystals scattering in front of my eyes.
…… No, wait.
Are you targeting me first?
I’m the tallest, but there are others. The other kids are much stronger than me, so why are they targeting me first?!
“As expected, Master. Can you feel the presence in the distance? If I hadn’t told you, I would have been taken by surprise.”
What else are you talking about?
In that sense, I didn’t mean to prepare. I didn’t know that monsters were already there to meet me.
[That’s……. It’s a strange feeling to be called a monster.]
Phasma, who has good eyes, looks at something on the glacier cliff and says. To my eyes, it looked the size of a pea, so it was hard to recognize it properly.
But considering that it is in the glacial area, it is probably a ‘lower spirit’.
To come out to such an outskirts means that you are a guard.
Then the one on top of the cliff must be ‘Frost’, the most numerous low-level ice spirit, or ‘Nympha’, the low-level water spirit.
“I guess so. Because that is a spirit.”
[Is it a spirit?]
“A spirit?”
Phasma and the warriors look at me with a brief admiration. Why are you surprised when you see what it is…….
“More than I imagined…… It’s not cool.”
Let’s not say that in front of the spirits, Tina?
“But I heard that spirits basically have a gentle personality. Why did you suddenly attack?”
“Either spirits or whatever…… The fact that I tried to attack Master has not changed.”
Before she could answer Maria’s question, Iris spoke coldly. The narrowed eyes were full of hostility.
An aura begins to appear on the glories of her past that she is holding. The blue aura gradually formed larger and clearer.
“Master, what should I do? Can I just kill them all?”
The ice on which Iris is stepping cracks open. She is ready to run at any moment.
“No.”
Iris’s body, which was leaning forward at her denial, fell back again.
“… Yes?”
Looks back at me as if I don’t understand. The other warriors also hesitate to prepare for a fight.
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“Eh, why?”
“Those spirits will attack us with the force to kill us, but they won’t really kill us. Don’t worry, just put them in a dying state and suppress them.”
“But the attack earlier could have killed him.”
If you’re in danger of getting hit and dying, we’ll give you treatment.
In fact, if you retire during the test in the game, you will be banished and your blood will be restored at the same time.
“It’s okay.”
No one answers.
Everyone had strange expressions. They tried to kill themselves, so they were faces that knew how to tell them to kill them without hesitation. Phasma floating next to him was no exception.
Let’s not look at it like that? Am I a kind person even though I look like this?
“…… To meet the water spirit king. For now, follow my words.”
The water spirit king sees two qualities in a hero.
The first was strength, and the second was mercy.
It was because of the thought that a warrior must be strong yet gentle.
This was because he was influenced by the first hero who made a contract.
It’s absurd to have to show mercy when the other side is trying to kill you, but I had no choice but to obey.
“Master! Are there too many things over there?”
The moment Tina pointed into the air, a huge number of icicles rushed towards us.
It’s really just a threat…… ?
Isn’t the information I know wrong?
It felt like the reliability of the information was being cut away at a much more threatening force than when I saw it in the game.
It was then.
Maria spread a fire barrier in the air, melting the icicles that rained down.
Tina and Iris, who were holding their posture, straightened their bodies.
“Mercy against them…… Are you saying give?”
Maria turned to me and asked.
“Yes.”
“Really…… You’re asking for something difficult. But I’ve never been wrong with Master’s words, so I’ll believe it this time too.”
Fire shoots from Maria’s hand.
“I honestly don’t know what it is, but my master told me to do it, so I’ll try.”
Tina, who created an aura on her sword like Iris, removes the aura.
Unexpectedly, Iris was the one she was most displeased with. Dumbly, she pulled out her lips and reluctantly removed the aura.
“Okay. Then I will only lose on the non-dead line.”
The eyes opened by tapping the back of the sword had changed to those of a beast before I knew it.
I’m sure I’ll hit the line where I don’t die…… ? Can’t you loosen up your face a bit?