A Hunter in the Snow
"There's nothing out here."
The soldier walked across the white plateau, scanning his surroundings. His eyes held nothing but a world of pure white.
This was truly barren land.
No trees. Nothing at all.
No matter which way he turned his head, all he could see was snow, snow, and more snow. A land so hideously choked with pure white snow that it bordered on the grotesque.
And that was precisely why the doubt crept in.
The decurion standing at their head—the knight Minor—surveyed the area with a skeptical eye.
On the way here, Minor's squad had encountered any number of monsters. Living ones, and dead ones too.
Even a place that looked like dead land buried under snow had its own ecosystem of sorts.
But the ground they stood on now was the exception.
This place was like a pure white tomb. No stirring of life, no corpses left behind by death—nothing. Not even plants grew here. All that existed in this place was snow.
"…Was this place always like this, I wonder?"
Given how desolate the land was, it made sense that monsters wouldn't roam here.
Without Thermal Powder, simply moving through a place like this would have been agony.
Breathing the frozen air alone was torment enough—enduring the cold with your whole body while trying to walk would be no different from torture.
In his years as a knight, Minor had taken every kind of wound and trained in the most extreme environments. Even for him, this land was a hard place.
Haa—
Minor exhaled. His breath spilled out past the visor of his knight's helm and scattered messily on the wind.
"Another bust, huh."
They'd been following the tracks of those enormous feet, checking place after place, but still no word of anything.
If they didn't find the monster soon, they'd be stuck spending days on end in land like this. Even for a knight, a long deployment was thoroughly tiresome. All he wanted was to get back to the warm capital as soon as possible.
Minor brushed the snow from his shoulders and called out languidly to the soldiers nearby.
"Everyone stop searching and gather up."
"Understood! I'll call the rest of the men."
Following Minor's order, the soldiers halted their search of the area and assembled one by one.
A decurion commanded ten soldiers under him, so the total count—including Minor himself—was eleven.
Two, three, four…
Minor carefully tallied the numbers, then tilted his head when the count stopped at ten, himself included.
"Someone's missing, aren't they?"
Minor asked.
Belatedly, the nine soldiers lifted their visors and looked at one another, checking who wasn't present.
"…Ah—Povero's not here!"
"Maybe he didn't hear me."
The wind was fierce enough, and with the snow coming down on top of it, it was easy enough to lose your bearings.
Minor leisurely scanned the surroundings.
The weather had cut the visibility short. He furrowed his brow and made a low sound of discomfort.
With no telling when a monster might appear, raising his voice wasn't an option either.
"Let's grab Povero and head back. We need to get some rest, and soon."
At the news of a return, everyone went wild-eyed and scoured the area.
But Povero never showed.
At first Minor wondered if the man had simply gotten lost in the blizzard—but the longer it went with no word at all, the more that clean, total disappearance sat wrong with him.
Minor turned his head and asked the soldiers,
"Who was paired with Povero?"
"…That would be me, sir."
One of the soldiers raised his hand and answered.
"You should've kept a better eye on him."
"I—I'm sorry. He was definitely following us until just a moment ago…"
The soldier couldn't bring himself to lift his head and kept it bowed low.
Minor let out a short sigh.
"Any idea where he disappeared?"
"Honestly, I don't really know either, sir. I was too distracted. He was definitely with us when we got the order to come back. It's just—there's so much snow…"
"Hmm. Think he shot up into the sky? Or maybe he sank into the ground."
Minor rubbed at the corner of his mouth.
The wind blew harder still. As it strengthened, snow pelted against Minor's helm in a thick, drumming shower.
Getting lost in weather like this was dangerous. The moment the Thermal Powder's effect wore off, a man would collapse under the sudden cold without being able to do a thing about it.
Minor spoke to the soldier who'd been paired with Povero.
"Let's find him, and quick. You're coming with me."
"Y-yes, sir."
They split into pairs and searched, but Povero was nowhere to be found.
Instead, the situation only grew worse.
"…Aaaagh!"
A scream rang out from far away.
At that single cry cutting through the blizzard, Minor's senses snapped taut.
Shing—
He drew his sword at once and ran toward the sound—but there was no one there.
Only red blood dripping onto the white snowfield, drop by drop.
Minor stood rooted before it, looking almost hollow.
The soldier who'd followed him called out, voice thick with fear.
"K-Knight…"
From that moment, Minor knew something was very wrong.
"……This is bad."
In the snow, there was a hunter.
Minor followed the trail of blood. There, a single enormous footprint lay pressed into the snow. It was already losing its shape in the blizzard, but something about it snagged in Minor's eye as it passed.
"…Found it."
The track was similar to those "enormous feet" they'd only seen with their eyes until now.
Minor tightened his grip on his sword.
"Do not fall behind."
"Y-yes, sir."
Minor had no intention of turning back.
The Thermal Powder's effect still held, so finding the remaining soldiers before it ran out was the priority.
This was no longer about finding the missing Povero.
They had to find everyone left and get out of this place as fast as possible.
But as if it were already too late, a sound reached them now and then.
Thud—. Thud—.
The footsteps were slow.
Whether each stride was simply that wide, or whether the thing was lazy—he couldn't tell.
Minor exhaled calmly and steadied his mind.
A sword against monsters, a sword against men—
Once you reached a certain level, distinguishing between the two stopped meaning much.
Minor had confidence in his blade. He'd mostly faced humans until now, true—but fighting monsters throughout Lacrima had set his skill alight.
No matter how big those feet were, Minor was sure of himself.
The soldier's hand trembled on his sword hilt. Minor's blade was utterly still, without so much as a quiver.
Then, through the blizzard, a single foot thrust into view.
The claws were yellowed and cracked. White fur blanketed the top of the foot in a thick mat. Minor lifted his gaze along that foot. The monster, its entire body covered in white fur, stood on two legs like a man.
Its eyes flashed open through the blizzard.
———….
It didn't even roar.
Huff— huff—.
It simply breathed roughly and looked down at Minor and the soldier.
"Hiiiek!"
The soldier behind him lost the strength in his legs and crumpled to the ground.
The moment Minor's eyes met the creature's, he too felt an overwhelming terror.
"Haa… haa…"
A presence that couldn't be compared to any monster he'd faced until now.
Just locking eyes was enough to leave him short of breath, his heart hammering wildly.
Fighting spirit?
No. If it had been fighting spirit, he would have already moved with his sword raised.
Minor was afraid.
A terrified human's judgment clouds. But a knight's will did not break so easily.
The hand on his sword trembled slowly—but his legs still stood firm.
Minor took stock of the situation.
The enormous feet were here.
He had to get word out.
He had to—but to do that, either he or the soldier watching this unfold had to run.
Both of them couldn't escape.
That predator already had its sights on them.
Minor spoke in a low murmur.
"…Can you move?"
"Y-yes, yes…!"
"Go. Now. Tell the general."
"K-Knight, what about you…?"
"You go first. I'll find the rest of the men and follow."
"…Y-yes, sir!"
The soldier forced strength into his shaking legs, kicked off the ground, and fled into the blizzard.
———AAaa….
A low growl rolled from the monster's mouth.
Then it raised both arms.
Whoooom—.
Minor more or less knew what those two arms, rising through the blizzard, were about to do.
He gripped his sword in both hands and steadied his breathing.
I can do this. I can do this.
Coaching himself, he looked up at the monster.
And then the great clenched fist came down, scattering the blizzard before it.
KRAAANG—!
"This is fun."
"You're already having fun? We only left like five minutes ago."
I was savoring the long-missed weight at my back.
That particular inconvenience unique to a greatsword—something you never felt carrying twin blades or a longsword—was only making me more satisfied.
This was already our second expedition.
Our feet had left Lacrima and were heading beyond the plateau.
"I want to kill it already."
"Anyone who overheard that would think you were a scary person. Ah—wait, you are a scary person."
Pina corrected herself on a strange point.
I wasn't that scary.
I might be terrifying to monsters, but to my fellow humans I was endlessly merciful. Poachers were the exception. Poaching was… illegal, after all.
Someone who couldn't stand by in the face of injustice. That was me.
"Where do you think the little cutie is?"
"Beats me."
I'd meant to use it as a Neveumano tracking device, but now that we were actually trying to find it, the whole thing felt hopeless again.
Then again, putting a collar on it and tying it to a tree would feel like a serious violation of monster rights.
Monsters and humans alike had the right to live free.
I'd been mulling over how to find it when, out of nowhere—
"Wouldn't it remember our voices?"
"You want me to yell? I have some bad memories about that…"
"Ah, you're talking about that time?"
There had been an incident where Pina had suffered quite a bit trying to skewer a Skiagua.
I rubbed the corner of my mouth, then shook my head.
"It's fine. This time it's safe. Probably."
"Oh…"
Pina turned her back on me then and quickened her pace.
"I'm going back."
"No you're not."
I caught her by the head and stopped her from leaving.
Having come this far, there was no backing out now.
We were in this together till the end…