Chapter 61
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 61. The Hearth**
While the Black Knight and the Hero were desperately stalling for time.
Freya Grombalt was running.
Chasing the back of her father, Grand Duke Valter.
It was a broad back.
When she was young, she thought that back was the whole world.
If she was behind her father's back, she was not afraid of the cold or the monsters.
*Swaaaek-*
Far away, the 5-meter penguin was sliding. The Black Knight and the Hero were taking turns dodging that penguin.
The Black Knight was sent flying. Even while rolling, he didn't let go of his greatsword.
The Hero slipped. Even while slipping, the light of the Holy Sword did not go out.
Those two are earning time.
So we must succeed too.
"We're here, Dad!"
Finally arrived at the center of the magic circle.
Freya was still cheerful.
Because her father was by her side, and her father was someone who eventually accomplished anything.
"Yeah."
Grand Duke Valter stuck the frost sword into the floor.
*Clang-*
A clear sound rang out.
As the blade penetrated the central pattern of the magic circle, the magic power of the Abyss flowed down the sword.
Black frost went down along the blade and filled the grooves of the magic circle.
The blue patterns paused.
*Kugugugung-*
And began to turn in reverse.
The light that was rotating clockwise turned counterclockwise.
The flow of magic power running towards awakening flipped in reverse towards sealing.
"Dad, it's working! The magic circle is turning!"
"Yeah, it's going well."
Freya clenched her fists tight.
If we execute the seal in reverse here, that fat bird will be shoved back under the frozen earth.
That's the end of it. We win.
"Dad, let's hold a banquet when we get back!"
Her mouth moved first.
"A big one! A grand banquet! Everyone doesn't know Dad is back yet, right? So don't tell anyone and just appear at the banquet hall. Everyone will be surprised to see Dad back, right?"
Valter kneeled on the magic circle and placed both hands on the floor. He continued to push the remaining magic power in his body into the magic circle.
"Two whole roasted Frost Bears is basic. Ah, we have to bring alcohol too. That strong one made from winter barley that Dad likes! I'll steal and eat Eri's pudding too── Ah and I have to tell Sister Lucia to put down some documents. She's been doing nothing but working every day since Dad disappeared. Now Dad will do it again, right?"
It's going well.
Everything will be fine.
"It will end soon, right? Let's go back and eat warm stew when it's over. Ah, not the one the Black Knight made. Weird food comes out with a 30% chance. So I'll tell you if it's okay to eat it──"
The North is originally like that.
No matter how long the winter is, spring comes.
No matter how many monsters flock, the embers do not go out.
No matter how far a father went, he definitely returns.
"The seat Dad will sit in is naturally the seat of honor. You're a hero. Northern Grand Duke."
The words stopped.
Because she saw her father's back.
Grand Duke Valter's broad back.
The chill of the Abyss was rising like fog from that back.
And she looked down.
Her father's legs.
Were already wrapped in light and became transparent up to the knees.
Freya's smile disappeared.
"Dad."
Her voice came out.
"Dad, over there, that──"
If asked what she was checking, probably Freya herself wouldn't be able to answer.
"What do I need to do…?"
When Valter said, 'Freya, follow me. I need your assistance'.
Freya didn't doubt.
But.
To contact the core of the magic circle, an existence adapted to Abyss magic power is needed, her father had said himself.
Freya does not have Abyss magic power.
She has no means to assist the seal, no knowledge to read the magic circle, no circuit to flow magic power.
There is nothing Freya Grombalt can do on this magic circle.
There wasn't from the beginning.
Her father knew that.
He knew and brought her.
"My daughter, you've grown really well. I could marry you off."
Valter turned his head.
He looked at his daughter.
In the middle of the battlefield, amidst the noise of Krampus shaking the altar and the ice sheet cracking.
Only her father's gaze was as peaceful as if sitting in front of a fireplace.
When she was ten, the night she returned empty-handed from her first monster hunt.
Her father said nothing to Freya who bowed her head in front of the hot stew. Instead, he stroked her head once. The eyes at that time were those eyes.
When she was fifteen, when she cried after failing the martial arts tournament preliminaries.
'If you're frustrated, you can do it again next year. Pick up a sword in the time you have to cry.'
Even while saying that, her father's eyes were those eyes. Rough words but soft eyes.
Freya's intuition rang.
Whether it was a Northerner's intuition, a warrior's intuition, or just a daughter's intuition.
It didn't matter what it was called. Whatever it was, the content it informed was the same.
"If the seal is completed… what happens to Dad?"
Freya asked.
There was no answer.
Grand Duke Valter just smiled looking at his daughter.
That was the answer.
"Don't."
Freya's voice cracked.
"There must be a way. We still have time. If magic power is lacking, we can draw more. Since Eris is here, since that pink kid has Abyss magic power, if we go back and bring her──"
"Freya."
"I just have to run! I'm fast, right! You know too, how fast I am! Dad said so, our Freya is faster than the wind──"
"Freya."
Freya is not a quick-witted human.
Doesn't know politics, doesn't know stratagems, doesn't have a head to calculate like Lucia.
But.
This much she knew.
If not now, there is no chance to seal Krampus.
If we miss this chance, the Black Knight and the Hero die.
After that, Frostgard freezes.
Lucia freezes. Eri freezes.
The North and the continent, all of it.
Everything her father tried to protect crumbles.
Freya knew that.
She swallowed a scream. She bit her lip.
"The winter in the North is long and cold."
There are things taught in the North.
How to hold a sword. How to aim for a monster's vitals. The angle of a whirlwind slash. How to find direction in a blizzard. How to parry a Frost Bear's charge to the side. How to rub frostbitten fingers.
Those kinds of things.
But no one ever taught her how to stand still and watch her father disappear right before her eyes.
"Even so, we survived together sharing the embers by the hearth."
Her father's voice was peaceful.
That peacefulness was hatefully peaceful. How can he be so calm even in a moment like this.
Freya is crying, Freya's world is crumbling, why is her father the only one not crumbling.
It's not that he's not crumbling.
He doesn't want to show his daughter that he is crumbling.
Valter's body was submerged in light up to below his waist.
He took his hand off the frost sword. The sword was left standing on the floor.
The freed hand reached out towards Freya.
It was a rough hand.
Sword scars, frostbite scars, monster bite marks.
A hand that stroked Freya's head countless times.
Rough but the warmest hand in the world.
*Pat-*
That hand was placed on Freya's head.
It was heavy, and warm.
"This is your father's last warmth."
Freya grabbed her father's hand with both hands.
"D-Dad…!"
The palm that was stroking Freya's head became transparent.
The outline of the fingers blurred, and the blue light of the altar shone through them.
The weight on her head became lighter.
It shouldn't become lighter. This hand should be heavy.
*Kugugugung!*
The altar shook. Krampus changed direction and was charging towards the magic circle.
The sound of the Black Knight and the Hero doing their utmost to change its trajectory echoed.
"Become strong, Freya."
The light rose up to his shoulders.
Valter laughed.
It was a hearty laugh.
The laugh when arm wrestling with warriors in the banquet hall.
The laugh when lifting the championship cup at the axe festival.
When Freya successfully counterattacked dodging a Frost Bear's claws for the first time at seven, the laugh he made shouting 'That's it!'.
The father's laugh that Freya remembers.
And the laugh she will remember forever from now on.
The light rose up to his neck.
"I love you. My proud daughter."
Light bloomed from the floor.
The blue light of a winter dawn sky.
Clear, clean, and cold but──
Not cruel.
The winter of the North. The light of the snowfield that Valter Grombalt walked his entire life.
The magic circle operated in reverse.
The power of the seal swallowed the entire altar.
The light converged towards Krampus.
*Kueeeeeeek──!!*
Krampus's roar.
There was no terrifyingness befitting the Demon of the Snowfield in it.
The guy's emotion was grievance.
Krampus was sleeping well.
Sleeping peacefully for thousands of years. Sleeping peacefully under the quiet frozen earth without being disturbed by anyone.
But suddenly woken up, only had one meal, and put to sleep again.
From Krampus's perspective, it must have been an extremely absurd day.
The giant penguin's body was wrapped in light and dragged into the crack.
Short wings flapped in the air. Blunt feet scratched the floor.
*Kueeeek──!*
The guy cried once more as if protesting.
The round belly jiggled for the last time.
And disappeared beyond the light.
The 5-meter penguin returned beneath the frozen earth.
*Thump.*
The vibration stopped.
The light was withdrawn.
The patterns of the magic circle turned off one by one starting from the edges.
Like embers dying out, quietly towards the center.
Freya was standing in the center of the magic circle.
Krampus disappeared.
The chill of the Abyss disappeared.
Her father disappeared.
The only things left on the floor were the traces of the cracked magic circle and a single sword.
The frost sword stood stuck in the floor.
A sword that lost its master.
Freya kneeled in front of the frost sword.
──Become strong.
Her father's last words echoed in her head.
Freya is strong. A warrior of the North.
──I love you.
But right at this moment, Freya was not strong.
Because Freya was not a warrior holding a sword, but a child who lost her father.
"Ah, aah……"
A sound came out.
"Uh, heuuk…… Dad, Daaad……!"
The dam broke.
She wiped her tears with her fists. She wiped and wiped, but they kept flowing.
The speed of flowing was faster than the speed of wiping, so she gave up. When she gave up, her vision completely collapsed.
*Whoooosh──*
The chill of the North slowly filled the place where her father's last warmth had left.
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