The Spiral of Fate
Deep in the dead of night.
Sigilla had arrived at the Crase family main residence.
Lacitea Crase had planted spies across the city to track its movements. She was one of them, a member of the assassin unit.
Her presence in Anasha Sheril’s refugee convoy had been for exactly that reason. The probability of major incidents was high, so they needed to confirm the journey’s safety.
Even so, they had faced far worse than anyone could imagine.
“I have just returned.”
In the master’s private office.
Sigilla knelt on one knee before the family head. Sorap stood at attention beside Lacitea.
“Welcome back. Do you have a report?”
“Yes, it’s an urgent dispatch.”
“Urgent…”
The city’s situation right now was nothing short of dire.
With incidents and accidents erupting every single day, even the word “urgent” felt out of place. This had to be something truly catastrophic.
Lacitea straightened in her seat.
“Report.”
“Yes. First…”
Sigilla cleared her throat and began to recount the events in chronological order.
She had joined Anasha Sheril’s refugee group at the relay station and boarded the Empire-bound convoy.
Up to this point the journey had gone smoothly. With enough time they would have reached the Empire without incident.
If not for the enemy ambush.
“Some kind of black snake… no, a snake god?”
“I’m certain it was one. Without a snake god, there would be no connection. And that… that was an army. Anything less powerful could never have produced that level of destruction.”
Lacitea let out a low sound of disbelief.
Even without the snake god being terrifying in itself, the new abilities it had shown were enough to chill the blood. No, it was a god, so perhaps it should be called “divine authority” instead.
She could no longer measure how far its strength extended. The will to oppose it was steadily eroding.
She was about to unconsciously raise a hand to her face when a new thought struck her.
“How did you survive that level of crisis?”
She had been there.
When Sigilla described the ordeal, it had felt like a snake hell. She had fully expected the girl to be wiped out. Yet here she stood, alive and unharmed.
Sigilla’s normally calm eyes showed a faint flicker of emotion. This was the real story.
“There was a remarkable person.”
Her voice was soft, almost melodic.
The snake attack, the night of terror, the shocking sight she had witnessed and the “owner” behind it.
She told every detail without omission or exaggeration.
No one in the room made a sound.
When her account reached its climax, both Lacitea and Sorap wore expressions they rarely showed in public.
“Later, the assassin unit quietly slipped out of the city.”
Only those who knew would remember that part.
Once, back on Earth, I had watched a cartoon.
In it the protagonist drifted across an endless sea on an iceberg, just like the Arctic.
I had wondered what it would feel like. The idea came to me then and there.
The vast expanse of the Livah Sea. I sat hugging my knees on the floating ice.
“Wow…”
It was fun…
I smiled inside, staring at the horizon while braiding my hair. The sea breeze blew gently.
My setting made me immune to cold, yet the wind felt crisp and clear.
The first thing I did upon reaching the Livah Sea was weave mana into the ice to form a platform.
Mana was already exhausted from summoning a blizzard, but I could recover it with a quick potion.
My mana control had been sloppy, so I worried. It turned out easier than expected. I simply gathered mana into a mass and let time do the rest.
Of course, if I had needed to cool it separately it would have been harder.
As a snow woman, ice affinity came naturally to me. I didn’t need extra training.
I simply thought, and the platform appeared beneath me. Speed and direction were controlled by mana.
My mana pool was small, so it drained fast.
But there was no hurry.
Sleep and food were unnecessary, so I wasn’t in any danger. I could simply enjoy the journey while resting.
Traveling, leaving home to wander the world. Suddenly the image of Snow Castle rose in my mind.
“I guess it feels like it happened a long time ago.”
I had been gone more than a year, and only recently had I stepped foot on the continent.
The days of pure white had flashed by. I wondered if the mischievous little Prike were doing well.
Even the nasty ones seemed gone. That made me a little uneasy.
Had Yeti returned safely?
If it hadn’t blindly charged into battle, it would never have fallen in the Ice Mountains. That child always listened to me; I was sure it had returned.
Mishu… I didn’t really want to see it again.
Our relationship had improved, but I still couldn’t tell how she felt about me.
Besides, dragons had values different from humans… there might be many points of friction.
“Well, I’m sure she’s fine on her own.”
She was the Dragon King, after all.
In any case, after gathering information in the Empire, stopping by the Snowfield for a short while wouldn’t be bad.
I wasn’t staying on the continent forever, so I should check if my home was still standing. Once I had collected the necessary information, I would head back.
“Then it’s settled.”
I flopped onto the ice with a heavy thud.
My body no longer needed sleep, and this felt unfamiliarly comfortable.
People really do need downtime.
Just last night I had been running from the snake god’s pursuit, but now that was behind me.
Uristia was gone, and there was no longer any reason to stay.
I felt a little sorry for the city’s residents, but the snake god would have to handle itself.
Now that I was no longer involved with them!
“Let’s go, Empire!”
I closed my eyes, smiling.
The plan was finally moving forward. For the time being, I wouldn’t get tangled up in any dangerous incidents.
The Arundel Empire.
Every person on the continent knew its name, even if they compared it unfavorably to a thousand years later. Its power and advanced culture still shone brightest among the lands.
The average citizen lived better than those in neighboring countries, and even lesser nobles held power comparable to kings elsewhere.
That was why, unlike Uristia, the people of Robrok wore smiles on their faces.
The Imperial Palace and the Central Library, which held the most archives, stood in the capital city.
I shielded my eyes with my hand against the glare from the commercial district.
“So bright…”
The sun here was far stronger than in Uristia.
It was probably because the Empire was located in the central continent.
It felt as if it could melt me. Of course, the feeling was in my head. As a snow woman I had specialized heat resistance, yet still suffered from sunlight.
Direct fire would be deadly, but so would it be for any human.
The only thing I had to adjust to was an unfamiliar sense of discomfort that never existed on Earth. I had no choice but to accept it.
“Hmm.”
I lowered my hand and scanned the surroundings.
People in fine clothes passed by, glancing at me curiously.
Anyone would find my presence strange here, so it was only natural.
Beyond them, the library stood, and the Imperial Palace lay a good distance away.
There was Artan in the palace, and the Central Library was where major NPCs in the Sa-gye War often gathered for information.
I hadn’t come to the Livah Sea for nothing.
Riding one of Livah’s rivers would eventually lead to Robrok. This was the fastest way for someone like me to reach a major strategic point.
“First stop is the library…”
The glare was annoying.
Was there anything useful I could buy? I had already searched my bag, but nothing suitable had turned up.
In my frustration I looked around.
A merchant had set up a stall piled with goods.
A common sight in the commercial district. But something caught my eye, so I walked straight over.
“This.”
“…Huh?”
The merchant organizing his stall looked up. The moment he saw me, his mouth fell open.
“Wha…! Who…?”
He snapped his mouth shut and rolled his eyes, clearly trying to gauge my status. Unfazed, I pointed at a hat.
“How much for this?”
The item in my hand was a fedora-like hat, but with a much wider brim.
It looked perfect for blocking sunlight.
The rich, ripe color of a harvest field pleased me.
“Um… ah, you mean this hat? Imperial currency…”
The price was reasonable.
I didn’t know the exact rate a thousand years ago, but it seemed fair enough. Since I had no cash, I offered a map from Uristia instead.
Morris had given me nine of them, so the whole map only took up a single coin slot. Now was the perfect time to trade it.
“This and that.”
As a snow woman, Quillere never haggled. I pushed the Uristia map across the table, pushing the deal forward.
The merchant stared at the map with wide eyes, then nearly jumped.
“A map! A detailed map with everything marked! You’re trading a fedora for this?!”
“Yes.”
Without hesitation I nodded. The corners of his mouth lifted.
“Oh, of course! It’s a deal! Do you need anything else? We have bucket hats too…”
“No need. They’ll just take up space.”
The transaction completed, I tried on the hat. It was a little large but fit perfectly on my head.
Sunlight was blocked. At least it didn’t hit my face, so I felt much better.
“Enjoy your day, Lady.”
As I headed toward the library, the merchant’s voice called out from behind. His status had already changed from “stranger” to “Lady” in his mind.
Well, from a merchant’s perspective, as long as you paid, you were the boss.
I walked through the bright sunlight for a while.
Finally I reached the entrance of the Central Library. This was the exact location where game scenes often showed characters gathering information.
At this point in the timeline, those characters probably hadn’t even been born yet. Still, I guessed it would hold a major role even in Sa-gye War II.
“Welcome!”
I pushed open the door. The librarian inside greeted me. When our eyes met, she widened them in surprise and covered her mouth.
“Oh my! You’re so beautiful. I lost my words for a moment. A guest like you reading books would be a truly magnificent sight! Take your time and look around.”
“…?”
The tension felt too high. I tilted my head.
Even though it was a library, not a shop, she still spoke this way. The Empire truly had a high culture.
I agreed to look around as she wished.
It was the reason I had come to the Central Library in the first place, after all. A place overflowing with every kind of document and book.
I needed to absorb as much knowledge as possible. I scanned the tall shelves and reached for an interesting volume.
Imperial history… interesting title, but almost no useful content. The only harvest was that the current year was Imperial Year 572.
Ruins of the Gods… stories about the Obelisks in the four cardinal directions. Very little verified information, most of it speculation and hearsay.
Especially the Eastern content labeled “Demon’s Path” was hopelessly incomplete. Too many wrong explanations. I wanted to correct them all.
Divine Seals… gods of the four seasons. I knew that story already, so I didn’t bother looking.
Research journals… one appeared to be a special issue on Agnatz’s newest paper. I had heard the name somewhere… who was he again?
I flipped through many documents.
A thousand years of continental history and facts I had never known. It was a useful time, but nothing greatly helped.
I was about to decide to leave when something caught my eye.
“Hm?”
Ruins publication.
A section that handled ordinary ruins, excluding the oversized Obelisks.
A large number of the same sheets were piled up. The subtitle said a new ruin had been discovered, and it too was a special report.
Curious, I picked up one sheet just to peek. By the time I finished reading the last sentence, my interest had already been captured.
The pull was terrifying. The author’s writing wasn’t especially strong, but the information was incredibly interesting to me.
A new ruin had been discovered in the Empire’s territory, not far from Robrok, that had been sleeping for a long time.
The workers had only just begun construction when it was found. Pure chance.
Ruins were incredibly rare structures.
Once they were explored, you could always obtain some kind of relic. So if a new one appeared inside the Empire, it was cause for celebration.
Yet the Imperial upper management had designated it a dangerous zone and sealed it off.
“That makes sense.”
As described, the location felt like it was on the edge of a demon’s path. Violent storms, thunder, blizzards, earthquakes. Anything that could drive people mad.
It wasn’t the time or place to try conquering it.
First I would observe and decide how it worked. I understood the upper management’s decision… but I already knew the ruin’s true nature.
Only one type of ruin produced phenomena like this. Even in the varied ruins of Sa-gye War, the number of types was limited.
Once I confirmed its attribute, identification was simple. And if I identified it correctly, the relic inside would become clearly visible.
“…This is it.”
The conquest method was simple, but the difficulty ranked among the highest of all attribute ruins. The reason was simple: the ruin’s abnormal phenomena were caused by the sleeping relic, and clearing it required passing a test involving that relic.
I could therefore determine the relic’s true identity. It was a difficult one, but for an attribute catalyst it was the most valuable treasure imaginable.
When I was still playing, I would have hesitated between wanting the relic and enduring the path to obtain it…
“…Lucky me?”
I was the exception.
With a snow woman’s abilities I could simply ignore the danger. The only reason this ruin was hard was because the challenger was human.
Humans naturally had low affinity for spirits and unsuitable bodies for holding attributes.
But I was… no, a snow woman was extremely different from the settings given to humans.
I thought for a moment, then made my decision.
I would conquer the ruin.
It was too valuable to leave alone. It would suit me well.
Most importantly, this relic was one of the “necessary relics” I had been looking for to deal with the snake god.
Now there was no connection, but I might still need it. I didn’t want to take the risk that someone would hold a grudge against me just because I slaughtered the black snakes.
“…It’s not a bad idea to get one as insurance.”
I nodded, lost in thought.
With the right relic in hand, the right thing to do was take it.
But… something flickered faintly in my mind. An ancient ruin that had existed in the Empire around this time a thousand years ago.
I felt as if I had heard of it.
That was strange. How could I know about a ruin from such an ancient era?
Had I accidentally learned about it while investigating some past figure? Either way, there was no dangerous feeling attached to it, so I didn’t mind.
“Trade this.”
“Eh? The map? …And the publication?”
“Yes.”
The publication also contained the ruin’s location.
To remember it, I asked the librarian to purchase a copy. Buying something from the library seemed odd, but it was a legitimate item.
Most books were not for sale, but journals and publications were different. They were more like newspapers.
Unlike regular books, they were widespread, and the publications had been distributed far and wide.
The librarian protested that the price was too high and waved her hands, but I insisted. The deal closed, and I left with the publication under my arm, heading for the entrance.
At that moment the door opened and people entered.
“Trouble again, you rascal.”
A young girl and… no, a green-haired man who looked like her older brother.
The man grumbled.
“A day or two, right?”
“…Why are you always so calm? This is a major issue.”
Both were dressed simply, yet no one would mistake them for commoners.
Even their clothing looked modest, but closer inspection revealed hidden luxury. And both carried an unmistakable dignity.
Anasha had dignity, but this was something different, something real.
“They’re the same age. Don’t treat them like children. Well, technically they are children, but still.”
“Oh my, I was simply speaking my mind.”
“So that’s why you sound like an old man. Remember that being mature is different from acting old.”
“…I didn’t tell you to stop treating me like an old man. And I’m not mature…”
The girl gave a cynical expression and stopped speaking. She had noticed my gaze.
Startled, she greeted me in a daze.
“H-hello…”
“Hello.”
I answered.
A heavy silence fell. The man and girl stared blankly at me.
It felt as if I had intruded.
When that happened, I knew I had to slip away quietly.
I left them behind and walked out of the library. Outside, the sun still shone brightly.
With the fedora blocking the light and the publication pointing the way, I felt as though I was bathed in sunrise.
Since the ruin lay in the direction of the Imperial Palace, I would head there first.