The Frozen Grave
In the snowy mountains, where the blizzard raged so fiercely that it was difficult to see even a few inches ahead, two heavily clothed men trudged forward with great difficulty.
Crunch.
Suddenly, the man leading the way stopped in his tracks. He turned around to look at the man following him and spoke.
"Hey, rookie. Why of all places did you choose **Polruin**? Do you hold a grudge against the demons like the others?"
The man brushed the clinging snow off his thick beard as he spoke. The younger-looking man following behind him offered a bitter smile.
"Is there anyone in Polruin who doesn't have some history with the demons?"
"Hmph. True enough. Everyone left in this place is just itching to see black blood."
The leader turned back around and began to forge ahead through the deep snow once more.
"...Did your parents die?"
"Yes."
The younger man's reply was dry and devoid of emotion.
"Where did you say you were from?"
"A village called **Palakebus**."
"Palakebus... that's quite close to here. Then you shouldn't have joined the scout patrol. You must be sick of looking at snow."
"I happened to mention I knew the local geography a bit..."
"Hah, idiot... If you'd just played dumb, you could be standing on the fortress walls right now, rubbing your hands together to kill time."
The leader snorted, then looked up at the endless flurry of snow and sighed. The young man watching him from behind asked curiously,
"I heard you fought in the war too, Leader."
"I did."
"Then have you ever seen the **Black Bloods** who are supposed to be coming this time?"
"...I saw them pass by a few times by chance. We weren't close or anything. But man, you young guys sure are interested in the Black Bloods."
"They're strong... and cool, haha."
The leader's mind drifted back to the war that had taken place ten years ago. Back then, he didn't even have his long beard.
"At first, I wondered why they were dragging academy cadets whose heads weren't even dry into a war... but they certainly earned that nickname."
"Were they really covered in black blood from head to toe?"
"Don't even get me started."
The leader shook his head. The image of those three returning from battle—drenched in black blood, their eyes completely vacant after hours of relentless slaughter—was still vividly etched into his memory.
It was during their conversation.
Rumble.
A massive airship passed over the snowy mountains, letting out a low, heavy hum. It was the airship from **Innocence Academy**, carrying the students who were visiting Polruin for their field trip.
"An airship... Speaking of which, it looks like they dumped the chore of handling the academy's visit onto the rookies. You're going to be busy even after we get back to the fortress."
"I was hoping to exchange a few words with the Black Bloods... I'm worried I won't have the time because of that."
"Hmph... From what I hear, those three are close with the Commander, so they're planning to go somewhere else separately. If you want to talk to them, you'd better find them before they leave."
"...Thank you for the useful information, Leader."
The young man smiled at the leader's kindness.
"Let's get back to work."
Leaving those words behind, the leader silently trudged through the thick snow. The young man followed in his footsteps. As they walked, a massive block of ice on the mountainside caught the young man's eye.
"By the way, Leader, what is that huge block of ice over there?"
Perhaps he found it strange that ice would jut out in such a shape despite the heavy snowfall. The young man pointed at the ice and asked. The leader turned his head, followed the young man's gaze, and spoke.
"That's... a grave."
"A grave? Whose grave is it?"
"A **Lich**. Have you heard of a Lich?"
"A Lich..."
"You could call it the final destination for foolish warlocks. That's the grave of one that ran rampant in the North decades ago."
"...Why was it killed in that manner?"
"Who knows. Maybe there was no one around who could wield **Divine Power** back then. Liches are notoriously hard to kill without Divine Power. It's no easy feat to kill something that's already dead, after all."
"But it died in the end."
"...Even without a Paladin, we had **Aisin**. If you get close to that ice, you can see the Lich inside. It feels a bit strange to say this about a Lich, but it looks like it was frozen alive."
The young man nodded, letting out a soft hum of understanding. Aisin was one of the four elemental families of the continent. The Water family, Aisin, could freely manipulate ice magic as well. The ice created when a member of the Aisin family killed the Lich had maintained its form to this day.
The leader clicked his tongue as he watched the silent, nodding young man.
"Tsk, are you scared? Afraid a warlock who died twice decades ago will come back to life?"
"Oh, come on, Leader... There's no way it would come back to life. I was just curious."
"I once hit it with a hammer as a joke, and it didn't even budge. Truly worthy of the Aisin name. The location of that ice is marked on the map, so you'd better memorize it. It'll be useful for finding your way later."
"Yes. I'll keep that in mind."
Answering briefly, the young man pulled out a map from his backpack and scanned it. When the leader turned his gaze forward again, the young man stopped looking at the map and stared back at the block of ice.
'The Commander is leaving...? And with the Black Bloods?'
Having obtained valuable information, a sinister smile played on the young man's lips. He already knew what that block of ice was, and he knew of the Lich's existence. He even knew how to shatter the ice and awaken it. He had simply been waiting for the right moment.
'For the Demon God, **Helgenas**.'
The young man chanted the words in his mind. What his purpose was in coming to Polruin, why he wanted to awaken the Lich, and why he, a human, worshipped the Demon God and the demons... No one in Polruin knew.
The airship arrived safely in the North without any incident. While I was talking to **Eisel**, our conversation was cut short by the blaring horn announcing our arrival.
Our chat had been trivial, just like before, but even such small talk always left me with a warm, cozy feeling.
Soon, I stepped off the airship and onto the snow-covered ground. **Yuri** and Eisel, who followed close behind, approached me. Just as Edward had warned, the North was bitterly cold. Above all, it was snowing heavily—closer to a blizzard, making it hard to see anything at all.
In the distance, the towering walls of the fortress of Polruin were faintly visible. Since there wasn't enough space to land inside the fortress, the airship had touched down on a wide, flat plain nearby.
Next, I saw Lucia jumping around excitedly in the snow among the cadets, only for Amon to grab her by the scruff of her neck.
"This Lady recalls that it snowed every time she visited the North. Does it ever cease, I wonder?"
Since **Sierra** no longer had to cling to me, she floated in the air, looking down at me. The heavily falling snow passed right through her translucent body. Hearing her words, it seemed she had also visited the North during her lifetime.
"Phew..."
Standing beside me, Yuri exhaled a hot breath. Behind her, Eisel maintained her usual indifferent expression, but even a regressionist couldn't escape the cold—her nose was slightly red.
The cadets who disembarked waited near the airship for a moment. Though everyone was bundled up in thick clothes, most of them were shivering. Some were even chattering their teeth.
Fortunately, I had the **Shroud of Night**.
As a coat, the Shroud of Night did an excellent job of blocking out the freezing cold. I hadn't bought it specifically with the northern cold in mind, but its performance as both an item and a piece of clothing was outstanding.
After an agonizingly long roll call, the cadets were finally able to march toward the fortress.
"Zeto, don't you think being hot is much better than this? Like when we were in the sauna."
As we walked in line with the other cadets, Yuri struck up a conversation. Just as I was about to answer, Eisel, who had been walking silently, reacted first.
"Sauna?"
"Yeah, Zeto and I went to the sauna yesterday."
"The two of you went to a sauna... together?"
"No, **Kaen** came along too."
"Kaen?"
"Yeah, the one who sparred with Zeto before..."
As Eisel conversed with Yuri, her suspicion only grew deeper. There was absolutely no room for me to squeeze into their conversation.
"Well... it was a bit embarrassing... but it was a pretty fun experience. It would have been nice if you came too, Eisel. Should I have invited you...?"
"No thanks. I don't really like sweating."
"Oh, I see... I'm not a big fan of it either..."
Ultimately, their conversation was cut short by Eisel's flat refusal. Yuri looked a bit awkward at Eisel's razor-sharp response.
'Let's just forget about the sauna...'
Ever since then, whenever I looked at Yuri, the image of her wrapped in nothing but a single towel kept flashing through my mind. I kept my mouth shut and tried my best to empty my head of idle thoughts as I walked.
But then, sensing a strange, persistent chill from the side, I glanced over...
"..."
...Eisel was staring intently at me.
Her face was completely devoid of emotion. She was simply staring at me with wide, unblinking eyes.
'Is she mad...?'
Did Eisel want to go to the sauna too? I couldn't tell if the shiver running down my spine was from the biting cold of the North or the icy glare she was directing at me.