Endless Winter
Late in the evening, I tore through the nameless mountain forest in a frantic rush. I had come here on word of a bandit hideout, combing the woods for any sign of them—yet so far I had found nothing.
Frost-stiffened leaves shattered in the night wind. Far off through the black trees, something caught the moonlight and threw back a faint, silvery gleam.
Pru-ruk—
I hauled on the reins and brought us to a halt. Nightmare felt it too; the horse blew a rough breath and stamped the frozen ground with a forehoof.
White vapor spilled from my lips and scattered. Out of the cutting wind stepped dozens of soldiers in gleaming plate, their armor catching every scrap of light.
These were no ordinary bandits. Every gang I had run across so far wore little more than chain or leather, and none of them had carried themselves with this kind of drilled, professional menace.
“What business do you have with me…?”
My careful question was answered at once. The soldiers ringing us drew their weapons and leveled them at my chest.
I was reaching for my own sword at their insolence when a vast, familiar pressure rolled out from behind their ranks, accompanied by a blurred shadow.
I knew that aura. It felt like a single, razor-honed blade walking straight toward me.
“It’s been a while, Fairy Swordsman.”
“You…”
The man who stepped into view was the middle-aged knight who had once come to the guard post wanting to buy Nightmare. He gave a casual wave, then rested a hand on the enormous cart his men had hauled along.
“I never properly introduced myself, did I? Andere Del Kopman. Feel free to call me simply Kopman.”
The name sounded noble enough, but I had no specialist knowledge of titles and ranks, so I had no idea what standing he actually held.
“So what is this about?”
“Isn’t it obvious? I’ve come to make a deal.”
“A deal? With an entire company of soldiers at your back?”
Kopman gestured to his men. The weapons pointed at me were lowered as one.
“My apologies. My subordinates were a touch… impolite.”
“Hah…”
White breath fogged my vision. Before I could speak again, Kopman pressed on.
“Three hundred. Three hundred thousand gold. Every coin in this cart is yours.”
After his first visit he had vanished, and I had almost believed he had given up. Clearly not. He still wanted Nightmare.
“You still haven’t let this go?”
“How could I, when the horse is this magnificent?”
I glanced around at the encircling steel.
“Is this a threat?”
“A threat? Did it look that way?”
“It does to me. You brought soldiers, waited for me, and boxed me in.”
“Hmm. There seems to be a misunderstanding. I came only to root out the bandits said to be hiding in these mountains.”
I said nothing and let my hand drift toward the sword at my back. Kopman’s own hand settled on the hilt at his hip.
“Must you choose that path?”
“Must you?”
There was nothing left to discuss. He would not rest until Nightmare was his, one way or another.
The moment our thoughts aligned, the fight began.
“Break the fairy’s wings.”
Kopman’s voice was the signal. Soldiers charged from every side. Spears and blades flashed, carving pale streaks through the air.
I had thought my name had grown somewhat known by now—but perhaps my youthful looks still worked against me.
Or perhaps Nightmare was simply more famous than I was.
To dodge the attacks raining in from all directions I planted a hand on the saddle, then launched myself skyward with nothing but the snap of my waist and the strength of my arms. They wanted the horse unharmed; every strike was aimed at me.
Hihihing—!
Nightmare reared, furious at the assault, and smashed a forehoof into the nearest soldier’s chest, sending him flying.
Kill them and there would be trouble; spare them and there would be trouble of another kind. I had wanted nothing more than a quiet adventurer’s life, yet here I was forced to weigh their lives on a scale.
Then, from far away, dozens of arrows streaked toward me while I still hung in the air. Their tips glittered as they sliced the wind.
The instant I sensed them my already keen senses sharpened further. Wind gathered around me; every arrow bent and veered harmlessly aside.
Gravity reclaimed me and I dropped lightly to the ground. Nightmare, still seething, stepped protectively in front of me, stamping and snorting.
Dozens of soldiers were no real challenge. The only real concern was when Kopman himself would join the fray.
For now he stood with arms folded, watching, every muscle coiled and ready to draw steel the moment he chose.
I slipped past another flurry of blows and frowned. I disliked the look in his eyes—the absolute certainty that everything was unfolding exactly as he had planned.
Then Nightmare reared high and slammed a crystal-shining forehoof into the earth.
Sharp crystal spikes erupted in a perfect circle with a crackling roar—jjeo-jjeo-jjeok!
“Urgh…!”
“Ghk…!”
The spikes punched clean through armor and flesh. Those who had pressed too close began to bleed from arms, legs, chests, and bellies.
Having both attacked and defended in a single motion, Nightmare snorted roughly and began to chew on one of the blood-slick crystals that had sprouted before it.
Was this how the monsters of Monster Island had felt? Having dozens of soldiers swinging blades at me one after another was more than a little distracting.
And Kopman, still radiating that razor-edged readiness to strike at any second, kept scraping at my nerves.
Then a solution came to me—a way to end the night without killing anyone and to bury the whole affair quietly.
I exhaled low and began to draw up mana.
Kiiing—!
The whirring of my heart, audible only to me, swelled. Blue lightning gathered in my left hand.
Pajijijik—!
The moment the azure bolts appeared, shock flooded every face—soldiers and Kopman alike. He lunged for his sword, but the lightning left my palm first.
Kwarururung—!
Wild arcs slammed into the nearest soldier, then leapt outward in a chain reaction.
Pajijik—!
Men caught in the blue storm toppled one after another.
Fifteen of them hit the ground.
“A… a mage…?”
Kopman muttered, face gone pale. I hid the red scales that had begun to sprout along my left hand behind my back and smiled lightly.
“Kopman. Do you understand what you’re doing right now?”
In this world, mages almost always belonged to a Magic Tower. Free mages simply did not exist; the study of magic was the Towers’ exclusive domain. It was only natural they would assume I was one of them.
Tower mages handled every sort of work—monster subjugation, mercenary contracts in wartime, even calling rain for drought-stricken lands. They were a force that shaped the entire world.
“Can you really afford the consequences of this?”
An attack on a Tower mage would poison relations between the Tower and this kingdom—if I truly were one, of course.
“Y-you… are you truly a mage?”
“Shall I demonstrate again?”
I scattered blue lightning behind me. Crackling bolts fanned out, forcing the remaining soldiers back.
“N-no… that won’t be necessary…”
“Stand down. Now.”
Kopman’s face twisted beautifully. Eyes full of despair, he blinked and ordered his men to withdraw.
“Why would a mage… carry a sword…?”
“Is a mage forbidden to use one?”
“That’s…”
A strange silence settled. The arrogant, self-assured Kopman was gone. In his place stood only a middle-aged man nervously watching the face of a girl smaller than himself.
“What do you think will happen if the Magic Tower hears of this officially?”
Of course it never would. I was no Tower mage. Even if word somehow reached them, relations between kingdom and Tower would hardly suffer.
But Kopman did not know that. And he never would.
“P-please… anything but that…”
He begged me in front of every one of his soldiers. The conviction he had clung to had shattered against the sheer prestige of a mage.
“Today, you never saw me.”
“You mean…?”
“Why do you think I’ve been working as a swordsman? A Tower mage, of all people.”
Color slowly returned to Kopman’s face. He looked at me with a flicker of desperate hope.
“Th-then everything that happened today…?”
Instead of answering I frowned and let blue lightning crackle to life again. Kopman flinched and bowed his head at once.
“You understand, don’t you? Get out of my sight. Immediately.”
Without another word he called his men. Soldiers who had been hidden throughout the forest emerged and began to stream away in a noisy throng.
Just as Kopman turned to leave with them, I stopped him.
“Leave that.”
I pointed at the cart he had brought. Before the fight he had claimed it held three hundred thousand gold.
“Th-this is…”
His face went ashen. His own foolish choice was about to cost him a fortune.
After a long, defeated silence he let his shoulders sag, abandoned the cart, and started down the mountain with his soldiers.
I stood with arms folded and watched until the last of them vanished from sight.
The moment even their faint presence faded, Nightmare leaned over and licked my cheek.