Please Feed Me, Hero
“...Ugh.”
A sudden poke in the eye hit me. That’s why the world still looked blindingly white.
“Damn it… Celine, are you okay? I’m still seeing the whole world in white…”
“…Hero.”
“Huh?”
Celine’s voice sounded off. Not surprised, not confused… more like she was staring down something impossible.
Curious, I turned to look. Brown hair, ruby eyes, and a priestess robe the color of young sage. Celine.
…Wait. I can see perfectly fine now. What the heck?
Celine answered my question before I could finish thinking it.
“The world isn’t white anymore… it’s actually white.”
“…What?”
“…Look at this.”
Celine dropped to her knees and crouched, brushing the snow-covered ground. In her palm was a brand-new, snow-white something.
“…Snow?”
“…Yes, snow.”
Snow in summer… wait. We were inside a cave, right?
One thing clicked instantly. The mages’ masterpiece—**Gate**. Its biggest rule: you could leave freely, but returning wasn’t the same.
“We… just teleported somewhere else?”
“…That seems to be the case.”
…Pff.
Then where the hell are we? It’s summer outside. How can it snow this thick in summer? Even Gangwon-do doesn’t do this.
“So… where exactly is this? A place where snow falls this heavily in the middle of summer?”
“…There’s one. Honestly, I don’t even believe it yet, but on the Gaia continent, the only spot that gets that much snow even in summer is one place.”
“Where?”
Celine answered with obvious disbelief.
“…The Glacier Mountain Range.”
“What? Where is that?”
“A mountain range north of Apollo Kingdom and the northernmost point on the Gaia continent.”
“…No way???”
We were in Bonaparte City inside Vesta Kingdom! We just got teleported all the way to Apollo Kingdom’s north?
…This is insane.
“Given the flat terrain, it looks like a small plateau inside the mountain range.”
“…Really?”
Hold on. Where’s Estelle?
“Where’s Estelle?”
“It seems we got separated. The Saint was a bit farther away.”
“Umm…”
That’s actually good news, right…? Wait, no. It would’ve been better if we were together. If we’re split up like this…
“Hic…”
“Celine, why are you crying?”
“I’m sorry. It’s too cold…”
“Oh.”
I figured the weather should still be summery, but it’s freezing. My armor kept me from suffering too much, but Celine in just a priestess robe was freezing.
“…We can still go down the mountain. We have to hurry.”
“…No, we can’t.”
“Why not?”
Celine shook as she reached out to me.
“First…”
《Ludria’s Grace》
Divine power filled me with the refreshing feeling of a breeze. Suddenly strengthened, I stared at Celine in surprise.
“Celine?”
“…The Glacier Mountain Range is a dangerous place full of monsters. Apollo Kingdom basically bans everyone from entering.”
“…What?”
“So…”
Celine delivered the one thing I never wanted to hear right now.
“We’ve basically landed in a monster nest.”
…No way.
“Dracans, wyverns, drakes… upper-class monsters are the least of it. Honestly, there are way more than Gorgon-rank threats here.”
“What? Even if it’s a dangerous mountain range, how can there be so many monsters gathered?”
“…Very astute question. As you said, monsters gathering like this in one place is abnormal.”
Celine hugged her arms tighter, shivering from the cold.
“That’s possible because there’s a ‘Mother’ here.”
“…What? A nest?”
“The Glacier Mountain Range… is home to the Mother called the North Queen, the one that takes over the entire mountain range as its nest. All the monsters here come from her.”
…Just hell.
“So, Hero, while we’re going down, we have to be careful. If we get spotted by the Mother and caught, it’s over.”
“…But we have a blessing.”
“Having the Saint’s blessing would be great, but with my blessing I don’t know how far it’ll take us… sigh…”
…Celine looks really cold. We should find somewhere safe, maybe light a fire for her.
“Celine, can you still move?”
“…Yes, we have to.”
Celine looked frozen. I was fine thanks to the blessing, but she kept her hands wrapped around her mouth, blowing warm air on them.
“Let’s go, Hero.”
“…Celine, just a second.”
“Huh?”
…Not because I’m selfish. It was unavoidable.
“Kyah?!”
I scooped Celine up into my arms. She panicked, but I explained reasonably.
“Hero!”
“Since I’m blessed, I’m faster. This is efficient.”
Celine had no objection to my logic and nodded slightly.
“…You’re right, Hero. Let’s hurry.”
Even though she spoke calmly, her cheeks were faintly red, unable to hide her embarrassment.
…Let’s go.
Fortunately, we didn’t run into any monsters while crossing the plateau. Well, there were monsters, but I dodged them all like a pro.
…I felt like a reality show assassin.
We’d left the plateau, but there was nowhere suitable to light a fire. A cave or something would’ve been nice.
“Hero.”
“Yes?”
“There, go down there…”
Celine pointed with a trembling finger. Following her gaze, I saw an oddly shaped rock formation that looked like waves crashing against the cliff. Below it was a huge open space.
“It looks pretty open on both sides.”
“Just… go and see for yourself.”
“…Okay.”
Following Celine’s direction, we entered the space and, surprisingly, found no monsters. Why was that?
“…The rocks that make up this area carry an aura that monsters hate. It’s also used to ward off intruders, which is why we call it ‘Quema Stone’.”
“Ah…”
How did she know that? Celine really knows everything.
“First… sorry, but could you make a fire? It’s too cold…”
“Oh, wait. I’ll go gather wood.”
I wandered carefully nearby and found some firewood. Gathering dry wood in this snowy spot was like finding stars in the sky, so I just grabbed whatever looked usable. Since we’d use magic to light the fire, it didn’t matter.
I brought the wood back and set it down in front of Celine. Then I drew the character for fire in the air. Flames flared up, warming the surroundings.
“…Thank you, Hero.”
“You must be really cold.”
“I’m fine… you don’t have to worry that much.”
I had the blessing and was better clothed, so I wasn’t cold, but I couldn’t imagine how frozen she was.
“But how do we get down? Honestly, if it’s a mountain range this high with endless snow, I don’t even know how far we’d have to climb…”
“You’re right. As you said, the Glacier Mountain Range is famous for being insanely tall.”
“So what now? Honestly, sneaking down without being spotted sounds impossible.”
Monsters have eyes.
“We’ll try to stay hidden as much as possible, but if it comes to that, we’ll break through with force. It’ll turn into a time race.”
“…Sigh.”
A high mountain covered in eternal snow… I remembered seeing Matterhorn on a backpacking trip in Europe. It was massive.
With eternal snow piled up, this mountain is probably just as high.
…When will we finally get down?
“…Hoo.”
Celine stood up after basking by the fire for a long time.
“Celine, rest more.”
“I’m fine, Hero. My body is warming up. And we can’t stay here forever. We have to keep moving down little by little so we can find food.”
“Mhm.”
Yeah. Food is also a problem.
“Still, since it’s a mountain untouched by human hands, there should be plenty of wild animals.”
“That’s actually good news.”
“So we have to move down a little more. If we run into monsters, we have to deal with them as quietly and quickly as possible.”
“I’ll remember that.”
I put out the fire and started descending with Celine. We moved carefully, but I was extremely tense, wondering what might pop out from anywhere.
…Hands shaking.
“Hero, are you cold?”
“No? …Wait, no, it’s not cold…”
Admitting I was scared would make me look like a total coward.
“…Hero.”
“Yes?”
“Are you nervous?”
…Damn, I got spotted.
“…A little.”
That’s right. I’m the cowardly Hero.
But Celine said, understanding my self-criticism.
“That makes sense. You’ve only been in the battlefield for about four months.”
Celine looked straight at me.
“But Hero, if you keep your wits about you, you can still go back. You have to return to the Saint’s side.”
“Celine…”
…Yeah, I have to get back to Estelle. She must be worried right now, always worrying about me.
“Yes, let’s keep our heads straight.”
“Good. Let’s hurry down.”
A little farther down the mountain, Abel and Celine found a green area. Dense evergreen trees grew thickly, and hardy plants like moss covered the ground.
Abel and Celine slipped into the forest. Even if monsters appeared, they needed a hiding spot to rest and had to find food. They had no choice.
While walking on the snow-covered forest floor, Celine pointed ahead.
“Hero, there.”
“Mhm?”
It was an animal that looked like a pig covered in snow-white fur.
“It’s a snow-pig. Let’s hunt and eat it.”
“…What?”
Celine wiped her mouth and said she wanted to eat the snow-pig.
“Are you hungry? Honestly, we haven’t eaten in a while.”
“…I am hungry. Is this animal real?”
From what I’d seen, this world was mostly like the real world, except for some fantasy elements. Flowers, animals—mostly like Earth.
But I knew there was no snow-pig like that on Earth. And sure enough, Celine answered as I expected.
“It’s a monster. Classified as lower-class.”
“How do we eat monsters!? And we were supposed to avoid them as much as possible…”
“But snow-pigs are famous for being delicious.”
“…What?”
“And monsters are edible. They’re alive too.”
The logic wasn’t wrong. People and animals eat other living things to survive.
Since monsters are alive, they eat people and animals, so eating them isn’t weird.
But I asked with a bit of disbelief.
“You say they’re delicious. How do you know?”
“They look like pigs, so I don’t mind eating them… that’s why they’re often hunted.”
“…But I’ve never seen people eat monsters before.”
“Most monsters aren’t tasty anyway. Why eat them when we have livestock like pigs?”
“…So snow-pigs are the exception.”
“Yes, that’s right. So…”
Celine’s eyes sparkled as she swallowed hard.
“Let’s eat. I’m starving.”
“Shouldn’t we find a hiding spot first?”
“Now’s the chance. It’s alone.”
“Yes…”
Thinking Celine was really hungry, I pulled out the Holy Sword. I stepped forward and leaped like lightning.
Thanks to the blessing, my body moved at incredible speed. The sword flashed and pierced the snow-pig in one strike.
“Kuek!”
The snow-pig died with a sound almost like a pig squeal. Watching it, I thought.
‘…Just a pig with different fur color.’
Abel, confused, withdrew the sword and debated how to handle the bleeding snow-pig. Carrying it would soak me in blood, and dragging it would leave a trail for other animals or monsters to follow.
We had to finish it quickly and run. The blood scent was already making me nervous.
While Abel hesitated, Celine came running, panting, and reached out.
《Divine Heal》
Abel tilted his head at Celine suddenly treating the snow-pig.
“Celine?”
“We need to stop the bleeding. Blood leaves a trail.”
“Ah…”
Once the wound stopped bleeding, Celine’s eyes sparkled.
“Now, let’s carry it!”
“Yes…”
Celine walked lightly, and Abel picked up the snow-pig with one hand and followed her. She pointed to a spot.
“Let’s go over there to light a fire and rest. Fortunately, there are many Quema Stone areas on this mountain.”
“How did you know?”
“By color. Quema Stone has a deep gray base with a slightly reddish tint.”
“…It’s hard to tell.”
“You’ll get used to it.”
While walking, Celine gathered branches for fuel. Abel watched her quietly.
‘…Celine is as sensible as Estelle. She even looks used to camping… Do all Saints do this?’
Abel didn’t know, but the truth was that Saints had no choice. Both Celine and Estelle had been nuns or priests in the church before becoming Saints, so they were used to wandering and living in camps.
They couldn’t count on comfortable beds every time, so they learned to camp. They also had to deal with monsters often, so they knew them well too.
Abel lit a fire with magic using the branches Celine gathered.
“Hoo… this feels good…”
“As expected, you were cold.”
“My clothes are thin. It’s summer wear.”
“What if you cast the blessing on yourself?”
“Then I wouldn’t be able to fight monsters effectively. Of course, Hero is strong without the blessing, but still…”
Abel didn’t press further. Celine was right.
Now we needed to cook the meat, but there was a huge problem.
“…Celine, do you know how to butcher this?”
“Yes?… No, I’ve never done it.”
“…I don’t know either.”
We’d caught the snow-pig, but neither of us knew how to butcher it.
“Oh… I thought you’d know since you’re the Hero.”
“Why did you think I’d know?”
“…I just assumed a Hero would know something like that.”
Abel gave Celine a confused look, and she looked away.
“Originally you said we should eat it, so I assumed you’d know how to do it.”
“I… I just knew it was delicious…”
Celine muttered, looking apologetic. Abel sighed.
“…I’ll try. I don’t know if it’ll work…”
“I’m sorry for being useless…”
“I didn’t mean it that way… but Celine, what about the blood smell?”
“Oh, I can cure that with Divine Cure. Don’t worry.”
Abel nodded and picked up the Holy Sword. The Holy Sword felt weird using its blade like a butcher’s knife, like apologizing to the sword.
‘…Maybe it’s good that its ego isn’t awake yet.’
Abel stabbed the sword lightly into the snow-pig. Because it was a monster, the skin peeled smoothly without resistance.
Celine watched Abel butcher the pig. Seeing how well he was doing for the first time, she tilted her head.
“Hero, you said this was your first time.”
“…Yeah, I did.”
Abel added, “Why is it going so well?” Something in his body felt familiar, so he guessed.
‘Did my body used to know how to do this? Well, being a country bumpkin in this era, I probably hunted and ate wild animals sometimes…’
It was a plausible theory. If he could butcher it so perfectly without knowing, there had to be a reason. Abel perfectly butchered the snow-pig with a few precise cuts.
“Whoa… You really are the Hero. You know everything!”
“…It just happened to work out.”
“First, let’s deal with the blood smell.”
《Divine Cure》
Celine lightly touched Abel’s arm and floor where blood had splattered. The cool divine power spread, eliminating the blood scent instantly.
“Oh… amazing.”
“Now, let’s grill it! Come on!”
“Wait… we need a skewer to impale the meat…”
Abel looked at the Holy Sword in his hand. The blade had sharp, protruding parts.
“……”
“……”
Abel and Celine had the same thought at the same time. They looked at each other, then at the Holy Sword.
Tap, tap. The sound of burning wood filled the air pleasantly.
And the delicious scent of fat dripping from the meat being grilled… was this heaven?
Celine’s face showed she was about to drool, but she still sounded a bit regretful.
“…No one but us uses the Holy Sword like this.”
“…We have no choice.”
Instead of a regular skewer, I impaled chunks of meat on the Holy Sword’s blade and set them over the fire. Yeah, the Holy Sword was now roasting meat along with it.
Celine was right. Who would use the Holy Sword this way? Previous Order Heroes would probably faint from embarrassment.
But we were starving. We had to eat to survive, Hero or not.
So we were innocent. The goddesses would agree.
…Probably.
“It looks done.”
“Celine, there’s still blood dripping. What do you mean done? Wait.”
“I’m hungry…”
Celine was secretly weak to hunger.
The way her ruby eyes sparkled while staring at the meat was adorable, like a child seeing delicious food.
“Won’t the sword melt?”
“The Holy Sword can’t melt in the first place. It’s a divine artifact made by the goddesses. It won’t break or melt. It’ll just get a little soot from being cooked in the fire for so long.”
“Soot… we can wash it later.”
After a while, the meat finally looked done. I held up the Holy Sword I’d been using as a skewer.
“It looks done.”
“Eh, hurry up!”
“Yes, just a moment. Let me check if it’s done.”
I carefully pulled out a piece and took a bite.
Mmm… oh my God???
“It’s really delicious?”
Not marinated, and it’s already this good? I wanted to know what it would taste like properly seasoned.
“Really? Give it to me faster!”
It felt like eating extremely tender pork. I pulled out another piece and offered it to Celine.
But how did she eat it with her bare hands? She didn’t have any. I was fine thanks to the blessing, but…
“It’ll be really hot if we eat with bare hands. It was over the fire until just now.”
“That’s true…”
Then what?
“…Hero.”
“Yes?”
Celine opened her mouth and said.
“Feed me.”