219. Winter Palace (1)
219. Winter Palace (1)
'Mm, is Master having a good talk with her mother?'
I was standing watch outside Seolhwa Garden to give them time alone.
Honestly, it wasn't that I wasn't curious what kind of expression my master wore and what stories she was sharing after meeting her mother for the first time in five years.
But to protect their privacy, I deliberately shut off my Detection in that direction.
'Hmm, nobody's actually going to show up, right?'
There were those guys I chased off earlier, but I'd already beaten them so badly they wouldn't even think about coming back and threw in some threats for good measure, so it should be fine.
That was when I was staring blankly into the air.
— Over here!
A woman's voice reached my ears, amplified by my Detection.
A strangely familiar way of speaking.
And a strangely familiar tone of voice.
I felt a sense of déjà vu.
'Where have I heard that voice before?'
Tap-tap-tap-tap—
But before I could figure out what that familiar feeling was, I heard multiple sets of footsteps approaching fast.
My expression hardened.
'Fast......! They're all highly skilled people! Could they be Demonized Humans coming after Master?'
If so, I absolutely can't let them past me.
Grip—
I tightened my focus and grabbed my sword hilt.
I turned my body toward where the sound was coming from, ready to cut them down the instant they showed themselves.
And then, they finally appeared.
"Huh?"
When I saw them, I couldn't help but let out a deflated, hollow sound.
Because the people who showed up were people I knew very well.
"......You guys?"
The ones standing in front of me were every single member of the Utopia Party.
What was even more bewildering was that every one of them had shown up dressed dazzlingly, nothing like their usual appearance.
There was only one person who looked the same as always.
Only Ichika.
'What in the world is going on?'
I stared at them with flabbergasted eyes.
*
"S-So....... You guys came to take a break too?"
"Yeah!"
"Y-Yeah, basically!"
"Yep."
The party members nodded at my question like puppies.
Apparently when they found out I'd taken an individual request to come here and rest,
the party members got secretly jealous and decided to follow.
"I also tried to stop them, but there was no helping it."
Shin Se-hee said with a shrug.
'Says the one who's dressed to the nines to have fun too.'
The thought crossed my mind for a second,
but to put it another way, it meant that even Shin Se-hee needed a break.
'Ah, have I just been working them too hard......?'
Come to think of it, every single day: gates, training, classes, and missions lately too.
We've been running nonstop ever since we entered the academy.
Even during summer break, the days we actually relaxed were so few I couldn't make any excuses.
'In the game too, if you don't give them proper rest, the characters get the burnout status ailment, and I totally forgot about that.'
Because I was weak, I'd been running a brutally packed schedule driven by the obsession that I had to become stronger,
and without realizing it, I'd been demanding the same schedule of my party members.
This was clearly my mistake.
Even though I knew how important rest was in Velvetsra, I had completely neglected it all this time.
If anything, it was a stroke of incredible luck that they'd come to find me like this.
You know, in the game, if you just keep running characters without caring for them, they burn out, get depression, get sulky, and it's a total shitshow.
Undoing all that burns through a mountain of resources too.
But at the same time, I couldn't help but scratch the back of my head with an awkward look on my face.
Because the image of my master, back in Seolhwa Garden behind me reuniting with her parents, came to mind.
'......What do I do about Master?'
I couldn't bring the party members to my master.
I shouldn't interrupt a mother and daughter meeting for the first time in five years.
And no matter how much I trusted my Utopia Party members, telling them about Master's affairs was a different matter.
The secret that Master had confided only to me had to stay with me alone.
'Later on, I was planning to get Shin Se-hee to promise not to dig into it and then propose the Seolhwa Garden protection contract.......'
It seemed like the right move was to contact Master, explain that my party members had come, and let her know I'd be stepping away first.
That was when I was about to call Master.
"You lot....... What kind of sorry sight is this."
And then, speak of the tiger, Master appeared from behind me.
'Ah, this makes things easier now that Master's here.'
Before the party members could speak up, I intercepted and explained the situation to her.
"Ah, I'll explain. What happened is......."
"You're telling me....... you came all the way here because you wanted to rest?"
After hearing my explanation, Master's mouth fell open as if she were dumbfounded.
'She looks displeased.......'
Hmm, she must be worried about the secret getting out to the party members.
But did she think I'd let that happen?
I whispered to her in a low voice.
"Um, the matter with your parents, Master, we can keep it top secret. I've got a good idea."
"......A good idea?"
"Yes, I'm planning to lead the party members into a gate."
I said we'd go to a gate, but not for raiding or hunting.
A dungeon purely for comfortable rest!
You ask if such a place exists?
It does!
Of course, it's not widely known, but there is a dungeon where snow falls 365 days a year in a winter landscape with steaming hot springs!
In the game, if you found it, a mini-event would even trigger, so I remembered it perfectly.
"If we go right into the dungeon, there'll be no chance of the secret getting out."
At that, Master answered with a cool expression.
"......I'll go too. The commissioned assignment isn't over yet."
"Oh? Are you sure that's okay? Um, what about your parents......."
"Thanks to you, I've already had a sufficient conversation."
'Didn't she not get to meet her father yet?'
The thought flickered for a moment, but oh well. It's not my place to meddle in Master's affairs.
And so, our whole Utopia group plus Master headed for the gate.
* * *
Hwoooooosh—
Chatter. Chatter. Chatter. Chatter. Chatter.
Sniff!
"Hrrrrrrgggh....... It's, it's c-cold......! H-Hoobae, why did you p-pick a place l-like this!"
Im Ga-eul's teeth chattered as she shivered in the biting cold.
Everywhere she looked, pure white snow.
There was nothing but snow.
The bitter cold, as if she'd arrived in Antarctica, chilled her to the bone.
'They said this dungeon is a dead dungeon that doesn't even need to be cleared, so why did we come here!!'
When the party had first requested permission from the Jeju Branch's Dungeon Management Bureau to clear this place,
hadn't the staff there answered with baffled expressions?
They said there were no monsters or anything here, only the flesh-cutting cold.
They said other hunters had already stopped by and confirmed it several times.
Certainly, not even monsters could live in cold like this.
The Utopia Party members had hurriedly thrown on insulated coats they had stored in their Subspace Tattoos, but they were woefully inadequate against the cold here.
Why on earth had she come to a place like this?
She'd come because she missed her hoobae, planning to enjoy her time seeing his face,
was that really such a terrible mistake?
Sniff!
Im Ga-eul sniffled, tears welling up in her eyes from the misery.
The others except for her were the same.
It was as if they were doing midwinter cold-weather training, a sight that rendered their fancy getups meaningless.
"We're almost there! Just hang on a little longer!"
Jin Yu-ha shouted from the front.
How many times had she already heard that?
No matter how many times she asked where this place was and what they were going to do here, Jin Yu-ha just kept telling her to look forward to it.
He never gave a straight answer.
'W-What am I supposed to look forward to!'
Im Ga-eul grew unreasonably resentful and glared at Jin Yu-ha.
Just then, Jin Yu-ha suddenly started doing something strange.
Shing.
He stopped, stared into the empty air,
and then suddenly drew his sword.
And then he slashed at the empty air.
Slice-slice-slice—
He swung his sword at nothing, but the sound of something being cut rang out.
And then, a gap opened in the air.
"Come in before it closes! Hurry!"
Jin Yu-ha went in first, then reached his hand back out and urged them.
Dash!
The party members kicked off the ground and immediately followed him in.
"W-Wait for meeee!!"
Im Ga-eul, the last one left, used Acceleration and threw herself toward the gap.
Tumble, tumble—
Thud!
Im Ga-eul, who had jumped in so frantically that she rolled across the floor in an unsightly heap, smacked her head against the ground.
"Owowowowow......."
She rubbed her head and lifted it.
And then, the sight that entered her eyes.
"Huh? This is......."
It was a building made of pure white ice.
"A castle?"
Im Ga-eul's eyes grew wide as saucers.
A landscape like a palace made by the Winter Queen.
A magnificent castle stood there, glittering with a dazzling light as if touching the sky.
The ramparts and the towering spires.
Even the sharp protruding edges.
All of it was formed from cold ice crystals.
The snowstorm that had been raging fiercely had now slowed its pace, drifting down gently as if sparkling dust were falling.
It was a fantastical landscape.
"Pretty, isn't it?"
Jin Yu-ha turned back to look at Im Ga-eul and the party members and smiled.
"Welcome to the Winter Palace."