222. Winter Palace (4)
222. Winter Palace (4)
"Mmm... Honestly, I still feel like it wasn't quite enough..."
"I would like to take more pictures as well..."
"There are still about five board games left."
"I haven't gotten hoobae to wash my hair yet either."
"Jin Yu-ha! I made a wingsuit! ...Huh?"
"Hmm, I have only been able to enjoy it for a mere day or so..."
The party members each tossed out a comment like that, looking at Jin Yu-ha with regret.
But they couldn't push it any further in the end.
Because Jin Yu-ha was slumped in a chair as if burned completely white.
He even wore a faint smile at the corner of his lips, as if his soul might drift away at any moment.
The day before, when the five of them plus Baek Seol-hee had relentlessly demanded things from him,
he had been completely knocked out.
"...Burned completely white."
Poke. Poke.
Ichika crouched beside him and prodded him with a wooden stick, but he didn't so much as twitch.
Shin Se-hee, who had been staring blankly at that sight, nodded.
"Hmm, it's a shame but... let's stop here."
At that, Jin Yu-ha's head, which had been drooping, slowly lifted.
At long last.
Finally.
At last.
Finally.
At last...
It was over.
Trickle.
A single tear sparkled at the corner of Jin Yu-ha's eye.
'If I had to do this again, I absolutely couldn't... From now on, I have to make sure to carve out time, even just a little, and hang out with the party members...'
Jin Yu-ha deeply regretted his past mistakes, down to the bone.
At that sight, Shin Se-hee let out a chuckle.
"To be honest, we all knew you were struggling, Jin Yu-ha, but we decided to be a little mean this time."
"Huh? Mean? Not me though? I genuinely wanted hoobae to take care of me a bit more— Mmph!"
Im Ga-eul spoke without reading the room, but Ichika's shadow rose up and clamped her mouth shut.
"Mean? Why...? Did I do something wrong?"
Did that mean there was some conspiracy this break that only he was unaware of?
Jin Yu-ha asked Shin Se-hee again.
"I wonder. Why could it be?"
Shin Se-hee and the other party members only wore meaningful smiles.
"Ahem! Anyway! We may have overdone it a bit, but thanks to you, I think we all got a proper rest for the first time in a while. Thank you, Jin Yu-ha."
Lee Yu-ri cleared her throat, changing the mood, and gave Jin Yu-ha her thanks.
Then, as if that wasn't the end of it, she added,
"So, since you've been working hard all this time... it's our turn now. Is there anything you want? Just say the word. Just like you did for us, if you ask for anything, we'll grant it as much as possible."
At that, the group nodded as if sharing the same thought.
These were the party members who, even after tormenting him, gave back like this.
At their consideration for him, Jin Yu-ha felt a quiet wave of emotion.
"Something I want? Hmm... Well, I do have something, but..."
But Jin Yu-ha couldn't easily speak up.
Because he knew that what he wanted couldn't be granted by the party members' abilities.
"Disciple."
At that, Baek Seol-hee spoke in an indifferent tone.
"...Yes? Master?"
"Didn't you say it yesterday? That there are two ways to drive a person mad."
Jin Yu-ha, not expecting to have his own words thrown back at him, wore a look of having been hit squarely.
"So speak. What is it you want?"
"...Fi."
Jin Yu-ha opened his mouth with difficulty.
Because he knew the party members would be disappointed if he said this.
"Fi?"
"Fire Dragon..."
Jin Yu-ha squeezed his eyes shut.
"I want to catch the Fire Dragon..."
Honestly, it felt unfair.
'Seriously, I was going to catch it when it appeared... I got up at dawn every single day while granting all the party members' demands, blinking and dozing off constantly, and worked my ass off!!!'
But the Fire Dragon he had waited so long for never appeared in the end.
That bastard, which had set up flags like it would appear,
then never showed itself to the very end like some MacGuffin, was truly cruel.
Of course, it was a monster that had never appeared even once in the game!
Still, though!
At the words Jin Yu-ha had forced out with difficulty, the party members wore indescribable expressions.
"F-Fire Dragon...?"
"Uh, um, that monster that was supposedly originally here?"
"But didn't the Instructor say back then that Chairwoman Rina had already subjugated it?"
The party members, who had never imagined Jin Yu-ha's demand would be something like that, spoke in disbelief.
Could an already dead monster come back to life or something?
"I know, so... you don't have to worry about it."
At that, Jin Yu-ha grumbled in a deflated voice.
At that moment.
"Hm? Disciple, did you want to catch the Fire Dragon?"
Baek Seol-hee tilted her head and asked.
At that, Jin Yu-ha's eyes whipped toward her.
'D-Don't tell me...!'
"M-Master?"
"Hmm, I deliberately... Until now, I had my sword stuck in the sealing formation to prevent the beast's power from leaking, but..."
At her words, Jin Yu-ha's eyes widened into circles, as large as they could possibly get.
"Hmm, that thing is awake now. Since about three days ago."
"!"
* * *
The place Baek Seol-hee led all the party members to was the underground of the Winter Palace.
Unlike the Winter Palace, which was kept at a perfectly pleasant temperature,
the deeper they went underground, the more the temperature rose exponentially, as if they had entered a sauna.
"Phew, to think there was a space like this down here..."
Shin Se-hee wiped the sweat dripping from her forehead with a handkerchief and looked around with surprised eyes.
A pitch-black space surrounded on all sides by a giant magic circle.
And in the center of that giant magic circle, Baek Seol-hee's sword was embedded.
Looking at the sword, Baek Seol-hee opened her mouth in a blunt tone.
"Hmm, the Fire Dragon. It seems that beast awoke beneath here. Since the seal was about to be released, I temporarily stuck my sword in as a stopgap."
Thump thump—
Hearing Master's words made it feel real.
The Fire Dragon is here.
Below here.
I can catch the Fire Dragon.
The first in the history of Velvet School Life.
This is probably a first achievement.
Because while rumors had circulated about catching Water Dragons or Earth Dragons, I had never heard anything anywhere about anyone catching a Fire Dragon.
'Let's calm down.'
This was 100 percent a first achievement.
If I got excited and lost control, I might miss it.
I opened my Subspace Tattoo and spilled out the secret items I had been preparing for this onto the floor.
Clatter-clatter-clatter—
What spilled onto the floor were various weapons made of ice.
Starting with a spear, bundles of arrows, a glove, a sword, a shield, and even armor that could be worn lightly on the body.
Of course, since I, not a blacksmith, had carved them directly from ice, their finish was quite crude.
"...T-This is."
"Wh-When did you make these...?"
"Hoobae, you were making these while granting all of our requests?"
"...You were serious about wanting to catch the Fire Dragon."
Had they only just now realized my sincerity?
The party members looked back and forth between the weapons and me with bewildered faces.
"This isn't ordinary ice."
I smiled, full of anticipation, and explained.
"It's not ordinary ice?"
"Yeah, this is carved from the walls and the furniture here in the Winter Palace."
"...The walls and furniture?"
"Remember who built this palace?"
"Chairwoman Rina."
At Kang Do-hee's answer, I nodded.
"Right. This Winter Palace is made of ice imbued with Chairwoman Rina's Mana. And the density of Mana is high enough that it hasn't melted for decades, even above this scorching place, maintaining its form."
At that, Master also nodded as if she found it reasonable.
"Hmm, certainly... Since it was cut out by force, it won't hold its shape for long, but it's an optimized method for facing the Fire Dragon."
Saying that, Master picked up one of the ice swords.
"Did you make this modeled after my sword?"
"Yes, that's right. So it would be comfortable for you to use... O-Of course, it's very crude since I lack dexterity!"
"No. For this level, the edge is well-honed, and it's quite excellent."
Baek Seol-hee swung the sword through the air, looking satisfied.
At that, the other party members also immediately rushed forward and each picked up their weapons.
"Wow! This looks exactly like my shield!"
"Hmm, is mine a glove?"
"Whoa, ice arrows! When did you carve each one of the-ese?!"
"U-Umm, ho-hoobae? Is this half-mask mine...?"
"Yes. I made it because I thought it would suit you well, sunbae."
"This is too eighth-grader syndrome-ish..."
Although there was an incident in the middle where Im Ga-eul grumbled,
they divided the weapons and armor among themselves like that.
However, in the cases of Shin Se-hee and Ichika, who had no weapons, I had separate requests.
"First, Ichika."
"Yes. My benefactor."
"You see these flat, square blocks here? Can you use them as footholds?"
"Use these as footholds...?"
"Yeah. The Fire Dragon's flames are likely wide-area attacks, so shadows will be de-summoned right away. So you'll use this ice as footholds instead."
"...I'll try."
At my request, Ichika nodded calmly.
"And, Shin Se-hee."
"...Yes?"
"Your role will be important this time."
"My role?"
"Yeah, since you use fire magic, you have the highest fire resistance among us."
A non-combatant.
The brain of Utopia.
Operator Shin Se-hee.
She was the key to this operation.