Chapter 108
Chapter 108
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 108
Chapter Title: Silver Mountains (3)
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The next day, we packed up our camp and drove the carriage toward the village. Fortunately, we made it there before noon. When we asked the villagers, it seemed Khalid hadn’t arrived yet, so we booked an inn in advance and took a look around the village.
It wasn’t a lie that Ton dra was preparing the meal. As I wandered the village, I bought twelve goats and three mules at a small market, along with various grains and vegetables produced in the village, and loaded them onto the mules’ backs.
I asked the merchants about the Sherpas of the Silver Mountains. Perhaps pleased by the rare trade, the merchant kindly shared stories about the Sherpas.
“The Sherpas live gathered up above the village.”
“How many households?”
“Well… probably fewer than ten now?”
“Aha. I see.”
“Eight? No, seven? Even those are all old folks. The young ones have all gone over to the Empire.”
It was a sigh-laden response. I nodded to the merchant, bought a basket of snacks as a gift for the Sherpas, and left the market.
“They say the Sherpas live gathered up above the village.”
Even calling it above the village was a stretch—just a few houses clustered at a distance that hardly qualified as part of it. In fact, it was closer to the mountain’s entrance, so it wasn’t even visible from the village.
“I’m not sure if there’ll be anyone to act as a Sherpa, but it’s still worth going to hear their stories. Lloyd and El, you two stay here and wait for Khalid.”
“Got it.”
“Yes, Master. Be careful out there!”
I grabbed the snack basket, mounted Storm, and headed up toward where the Sherpas’ houses were clustered above the village. As we drew closer to the Silver Mountains, snowflakes began to swirl and the wind grew biting. Fortunately, Storm didn’t so much as flinch.
*Knock knock knock.*
I knocked on the door of the oldest-looking house, where light shone from within.
*Creak.*
It was quite a while before an old man finally opened the door.
“Hello, elder.”
I handed him the snack basket as I greeted him. I’m Theodor, I said. The old man tilted his head, looking puzzled.
“Theodor?”
“Yes. That’s my name.”
“It sounds familiar somehow…”
It seemed my reputation hadn’t reached this far yet. I gave a polite smile and introduced myself.
“I’m a Druid. I have to climb the Silver Mountains soon, so I came seeking your wisdom.”
“You’re climbing the Silver Mountains?”
“Yes. I absolutely must climb the Silver Mountains.”
The old man looked considerably surprised. From his reaction, I realized that no one truly climbed the Silver Mountains anymore.
For now, he invited me inside the house. He brought out a cup of warm tea, told me to wait a moment, and stepped out. He was probably gathering the village’s Sherpas. As I sat admiring the small fire crackling in the hearth, the door opened again soon after, and the old man entered with several other elders. I stood and greeted them courteously.
Once, the Silver Mountains had been a tourist destination for Angsar nobles. The Sherpas had made their living guiding those Angsar nobles. After Angsar’s fall, they continued by serving the nobles of the Barak Empire. But now?
With the dragons gone and the Silver Mountains’ atmosphere turning ominous, it was no longer a playground for leisurely nobles. Naturally, the Sherpas began to fade away.
Which meant that the only ones who still knew how to climb the Silver Mountains were these old folks. Old, frail, and weary.
‘Asking them to guide us is out of the question.’
I regarded the elders with the politest smile I could muster. They all looked shocked. Climbing the Silver Mountains? Why? At least twenty years ago, maybe, but not now. I could hear their murmurs.
“I can’t say what it’s about, but it’s something I must do.”
At my words, the elders exchanged glances. One of them replied.
“The last time we climbed the mountains was twenty years ago. Even then, we only made it halfway up. None of us can climb the Silver Mountains anymore.”
“That’s fine. I didn’t come asking you to come with me.”
Well, if there had been anyone even a little younger, I might have considered it no matter the cost… but I couldn’t ask these cane-leaning elders.
“As I said, I came for advice. How to climb the Silver Mountains, what to watch out for… No one knows better than you all.”
The elders nodded in agreement. And why not? These were Sherpas who had once climbed the Silver Mountains with ease, without any magic tools.
“I’ll pay any price. I beg your advice.”
Everything about the Silver Mountains. Climbing know-how, danger points, and so on. Even a fraction of the Sherpas’ knowledge would boost our survival odds. I wanted to raise those odds, desperately.
“Any price?”
Then, someone in the corner muttered. I instinctively turned toward the voice. That voice—it wasn’t an old man’s. It was clear and bright…
“Sherpa wisdom isn’t something you can obtain by paying a price.”
It was a young woman’s voice. She stood, removed her hood, and fixed me with challenging eyes.
“Aquila!”
One of the elders grabbed her hand as if to stop her, but she shook off the wrinkled grip and curled her lip in a smirk.
“To think a few words would let you survive the Silver Mountains… Typical Empire folk.”
“First, I’m not a bandit. Second, I’ve never thought a few words would let me survive the Silver Mountains. Third, I don’t know why you assume that, but I’m not from the Empire.”
“…”
“Aquila, you look young. The villagers said there were no young Sherpas left.”
“I’m not a Sherpa.”
“But you seem to know the Silver Mountains as well as any Sherpa.”
She snorted. Twenty? From that youthful face, I could make a few guesses.
She wasn’t a Sherpa.
But she knew the Silver Mountains as well as one.
Then why wasn’t she?
‘She knows everything about the Silver Mountains but has never actually climbed them herself.’
Because no one climbed them anymore! I smiled at her. With her freckled face, curly orange hair, and green eyes, she looked mischievous like a prankster or fierce like a warrior.
‘Maybe this woman could act as our Sherpa.’
Even if she wasn’t one, she knew the Silver Mountains far better than we did. If I could persuade her right, she’d be a huge help.
“You don’t seem to have climbed them yourself either.”
I prodded at her pride. She bared her teeth and growled.
“I know everything about the Silver Mountains. I am the Silver Mountains.”
“You’ve never climbed them once and claim to be their master? You expect me to believe that?”
“That’s…”
“Aquila!”
As she moved to retort, an elder shouted. Both she and I fell silent.
The elder struggled to his feet with his cane. Aquila supported him. Looking closely, the elder and Aquila resembled each other somewhat. I waited quietly for the elder to speak.
“We have a guest who’s come after so long. You can’t act like that.”
“But Grandma!”
“Be quiet, little eagle.”
“…”
“Theodor, was it?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
I answered respectfully. The elder gazed at me with cloudy eyes.
“If you tell us why you’re climbing the Silver Mountains, we’ll help as much as we can.”
“…”
I hesitated for a moment. Should I… tell them? But the elder exuded a firm aura.
“I…”
I could gloss over it. But…
I didn’t want to wrest centuries—thousands of years—of Sherpa knowledge through lies.
I met Aquila’s green eyes, then faced the elder again.
“I’m going to meet the lord of the Silver Mountains.”
“…”
“Tundra.”
“Lady Tundra?”
Gasps rose here and there. The Sherpas clearly knew of Tundra.
“She’s been asleep for so long…”
“I know. But I must meet her.”
“…”
The elder fell silent and looked back and forth between me and Aquila. At Tundra’s name, Aquila’s face flushed even more, her lips trembling.
“Grandma!”
“…”
“If Lady Tundra awakens, we can roam the Silver Mountains again!”
“…”
“Freely!”
Lady Tundra?
Roam the Silver Mountains again?
At her unexpected words, I frowned and looked to the elder. The elder—Aquila’s grandmother—fiddled with her cane, looking troubled. I asked her.
“Is there a connection between the dragons and the Sherpas?”
“…”
“I’ve been honest, so now it’s your turn to be frank.”
“…”
“What’s your relation to Tundra?”
The elder hesitated for a long while, pacing near the hearth, before finally speaking.
“…Lady Tundra left us with final words.”
“What were they?”
“She told us not to climb the Silver Mountains until she awoke.”
“But so many years have passed…”
“Indeed. Unable to bear it, twenty years ago we climbed to find Lady Tundra.”
“…”
“But we couldn’t reach the end, nor meet Lady Tundra.”
“Then…”
“We lost many people that time.”
The elder murmured while gazing dreamily into the distance.