Nothing, But Joyful
Adelaide finished aligning her views with General Gero, and at last the discussion came to a close.
At the dining table, we sat together and talked.
"The exploration will be split between the hunters and the royal army."
"Which side are we?"
"Hunters take the forest on the left. The royal army takes the snowfields on the right."
I thought it over for a moment, then nodded.
"Fair enough. Right down the middle."
"Exactly."
The coniferous forest we'd visited last time was solid terrain for operations. Timber was plentiful, and there was enough wildlife to keep us fed. Worst case, you could eat bugs — but meat was always better.
Pina, spooning up her soup, spoke up.
"The forest is a relief. There's less snow there, at least."
"Comparatively, yeah."
The canopy acted like an umbrella, so the ground never got buried under heavy drifts. The downside was that even when the sun came out, the snow barely melted — the forest shade kept it shielded from the light. Every advantage came with a drawback.
Adelaide, dumping pepper liberally into her sauce, muttered,
"Snow, huh. It must be starting to fall in Sperita around now."
"It snowed in Antico, too."
At Pina's words, Adelaide nodded, lost in thought.
"Ah. So it did."
I asked the two of them,
"You like snow?"
Pina nodded.
"Antico is always so hot. So when it snows, it's wonderful."
"Fair point."
Winter in Antico brought a stretch of chilly days, but nothing close to this kind of cold.
"Adelaide, what about you?"
Adelaide blinked, then shook her head.
"Me? I'm not particularly fond of it. Snowball fights just left my hands cold and sore."
So she'd had snowball fights, too.
I pictured the royal gardens. They'd be beautiful under snow. The royal family had probably thrown snowballs there, hadn't they?
"We used to have snowball fights as children. Diego and I were always on the same team. We wanted so badly to make Melchior cry, but we were the ones who always lost. It was rather miserable."
Melchior had apparently been a snowball-fight prodigy. Completely useless information about Melchior, acquired.
Just in case, I asked,
"Melchior didn't put rocks in the snowballs, did he?"
"None of us ever fought with such cowardly tactics. Had anything of the sort occurred, it would not have been brushed aside. Someone would have died."
Died? The world of snowball fights was beyond me.
"So did you cry?"
"Ah — I did not…."
Adelaide stammered, flustered.
She got hit with snow and cried….
Imagining Adelaide as she was now, getting pelted with snow and bursting into tears, was a little funny.
"Heh. Right."
"…I was young. Tears came easily at that age."
Adelaide bristled. I smiled quietly, feeling a faint tug of nostalgia. Everyone cried over little pranks like that as kids. I had, too.
Adelaide cleared her throat a couple of times and reined the conversation back in.
"Of course, I am not the sort who cries easily under ordinary circumstances."
Then, almost too casually, she said something lonely.
"Nothing changes, and no one is there to catch the tears."
She said it, then thought for a moment and shook her head.
"No… that isn't quite right, either."
"Why not?"
"When we were little, Melchior used to catch them for me often enough."
Adelaide's eyes sank deep into the past.
"So the spectacular scenery of a white world itself — that, I do like. Because of those memories."
So she did like this weather, in her way. There was affection for her family woven into it, too.
I felt a small loneliness of my own, thinking of family memories that didn't exist in this world. Adelaide saw my expression and lowered her gaze.
"…Forgive me. I may have talked too much about myself."
"Hm? No."
I waved her apology off. Adelaide nodded, then turned the question back on me.
"And you? Do you have any memories of winters like this?"
"Ah—."
It was Pina who reacted first, flustered by Adelaide's question. She stared at Adelaide with wide, startled eyes.
Of course she did. To Pina, I was "the future hunter who'd lost her memories." This winter I was spending in this world was the first winter of my life.
And even without the cover story, it really was my first. It wasn't that the persona had swallowed me whole — the persona and the truth just happened to line up in a lot of places.
I shrugged, unbothered.
"Sorry. I don't have any memories."
"…No memories?"
Adelaide tilted her head, brow faintly furrowed, as if she couldn't quite process it.
Pina called my name under her breath.
"Alice-nim…."
What was the point of hiding it? The truth would come out soon enough anyway.
I glanced at Pina and gave a small nod.
"There's something I want to tell you."
"Very well. I'm listening."
I needed to explain it so Adelaide could follow easily.
"Right now, time is twisted, yeah?"
"It is."
"I don't think the terrain and the monsters are the only things that crossed over."
"……Then."
I stabbed a piece of bread with my fork.
"People."
Adelaide's mouth fell slightly open. But nothing came out of it — only a trembling, half-formed sound.
The aide who'd been listening quietly beside her spoke in her place.
"…Are you saying that you yourself came from another time?"
I nodded at the aide's words.
"I don't have a single memory."
"Then how can you know that you came from the future?"
The aide looked at me with a doubtful expression. The suspicion was fair. I had no proof to show right now.
"…I was in the wasteland."
"You mean the Angolo Outpost?"
"There's a stone statue of me there."
I fixed the aide with a cold stare.
"The prince will know soon enough. Who I am."
"……."
"But I don't really know myself, either. I haven't even been in this world for nine months."
"…Around when the anomalies began."
The aide fell silent. I watched him for a moment, then sighed and looked away.
My eyes met Adelaide's. There was a shadow over them, but they were still clear. I held her gaze. She held mine.
"You must have been so lonely."
After a long look, Adelaide said it.
I shook my head.
"No."
At the beginning, I had been lonely beyond words. Until I met Noah, surviving alone in the flooded ruins had been genuinely hard. Monster cries from every direction. No way to wash properly. Nothing to my name but one dull greatsword.
I'd been wandering the edges of this world bare-handed until Noah pulled me into it. And starting with Noah, I'd made so many connections here.
I had no family. There were times I missed the world I'd lived in before. But even accounting for all of that — I liked this world.
"I have nothing. But I'm happy."
I said it lightly, moving my spoon. The soup had gone a little cold, but it still tasted good.
After the meal, I set about preparing for the Lacrima exploration in earnest.
Most of the supplies had been provided by the Antico branch chief — thermal powder and other winter-survival gear, for the most part. Other hunters were finally free to operate again, and energy was rising among the Lacrima hunters.
I learned that from Peto.
Outside the lodging, by Lacrima's central brazier, we were talking.
"Alice, you really did it!"
Peto thanked me with a face full of genuine joy.
"Even if we're splitting it with the royal army, just knowing we can explore again has everyone fired up. It's all thanks to you."
Given how restless hunters got when they couldn't explore, being stuck behind the royal army just helping manage the outpost must have been rough. Seeing Peto this happy made me feel like we'd done the right thing.
Though — did that mean I was supposed to help manage the outpost, too?
I asked Peto,
"How's the work being divided?"
"Ah, don't worry about that. You guys won't have to do any of it."
"Okay."
I accepted without a shred of protest and shut my mouth. Peto seemed to read my mind, smiling as he went on.
"You're a Master Hunter. And I hear you even took down an Elder Species Sabel Tiger? Incredible…. That's a Master Hunter for you. We can't pull someone like that off for outpost management."
You people make reasonable choices.
I breathed a quiet sigh of relief. Though even if they'd ordered me to, I probably wouldn't have done it. I'd rather kill one more monster than stand watch at the outpost palisade.
"So, are you heading out today?"
Pina nodded at Peto's question.
"Yes, that's the plan."
She said it while giving the pack on her back a little shake. Everything was in there, including my gear. It still wasn't heavy. Sleeping bags had been added on both sides, but Pina could handle it alone without trouble.
Which left me traveling light — dual blades hanging one at each hip for this trip. I'd slotted them with Sabel Tiger essence instead of Luga-lac essence, specially. During the downtime, I'd had a Lacrima craftsman process them for me.
In my memory, the frostblade-type bonus damage from Sabel Tiger essence worked best on dual blades — weapons that could land a flurry of hits in an instant. How did it work in reality? No idea…. Honestly, this was partly just a personal fantasy. My eyes didn't go red like with Berserk, but the blades turned blue. It looked cool, so I used it.
"Well then, hang in there. Don't push yourselves too hard."
"Yeah."
"Take care."
We parted with Peto, and Pina and I left the central brazier and headed toward Adelaide.
Until now, General Gero had handled overall management alone. Going forward, Adelaide would take charge of the hunters. In other words, she was stepping into the role Biopia, the Angolo scribe, had filled — or more precisely, her aide was.
"……."
The aide was scribbling something furiously beside Adelaide. Looking at those permanently hollow eyes, I felt genuinely sorry for him. The overall gloom and shadow made him seem like the princess's own personal shade.
Adelaide, by contrast, looked completely at ease. She stood near the highland entrance with her arms crossed, tall and well-styled against the white snowfields — like looking at a painting. As if she alone absorbed several times more light than everyone else.
Spotting me, Adelaide waved with an openly delighted face.
"Ah, my hunter! Setting out at last, are you!"
"……Yeah."
"I knew you would come straight here!"
With Adelaide addressing me so familiarly, I could feel the surrounding eyes on us. Feeling an inexplicable embarrassment, I stepped up in front of her.
"You know the objective without my saying it, I trust?"
"Yeah."
Enormous footprints. Track the yeti Neveumano. That was the shared goal given to everyone at the Lacrima Outpost.
Adelaide glanced around, checking for eavesdroppers, then leaned in and whispered,
"If you truly came from the future, I believe you will accomplish something great. Just as you did when you brought down Disastro."
A moving speech. I looked at Adelaide with what I believed were moist eyes.
"……Adelaide."
"I've been thinking on it all day. All of these anomalies feel as though they are bound up with you. Even if you have no memories, this cannot be mere coincidence."
Adelaide, having made a rather sharp prediction, winked at me.
"Just like our meeting. Romantic, is it not? Two people who crossed time to find each other."
"……."
She just had to add one more line.
Faced with Adelaide's playful words, I managed only a lopsided, awkward smile. Adelaide saw it and laughed softly.
"Well then, I leave it to you. You received the map last time, yes? Don't stay out too long — come back now and then to report, and rest."
"Yeah."
"And if you find a Cervona, be sure to bring one back."
"Cervona?"
The aide shot Adelaide a distinctly disapproving look. Sensing the gaze, Adelaide cleared her throat.
"Ahem. Not because I want to eat it — provisions are always better in abundance!"
"Got it."
Her Highness clearly wanted to eat her fill of meat. I nodded and looked around.
In the distance, I spotted General Gero watching us.
"……."
He was glaring at me with an openly uncomfortable expression. Looking at a face like that put me in a good mood for no reason. Getting under someone's skin meant I'd done something right.
I stuck my tongue out at him and whipped my head away. Pina tilted her head at me.
"Alice-nim?"
"Ah, yeah. Let's go."
And without a backward glance, we left Lacrima.
We set foot on the highlands once more. Small footprints pressed into the white snowfield.