Why Did This Happen?

I stared at the enormous figure before me, my heart pounding with tension. The being loomed above me with its vast, ornate wings folded tight against its back, radiating an overwhelming aura of presence from its massive body that made me feel tiny.

Why... why did I end up like this?

"......"

I had been in this world for a while now, yet I could not recall causing any harm to anyone. I had simply gone about my daily routine as usual. Was this... the first crisis I had ever faced since being possessed?

*

Time had passed. A year, roughly speaking—no clock or calendar to mark it precisely, but that was how it felt. From the perspective of a modern person, it might have seemed like a long stretch, but it had not dragged on unbearably.

During all that time, my activities had been nothing extraordinary. I sorted through the cluttered warehouse, checked usable items, and repeated training to properly control my mana. Every session relied on the assistance of various items.

With the help of those same items, I decorated the otherwise sparse interior of the Snow Castle. When I grew tired, I retired to the dressing room and enjoyed my own special time of rest. The crucial point was that throughout it all, I had to keep accumulating mana.

And that mana would be spent in the next phase. In fact, it was the most important aspect and the one that had consumed the bulk of my year: the creation of spirits.

"Ugh..."

I restrained the mana surging from my high-level control, forcing it to gather in one spot. The clustered mass contained the nascent forms of spirits. Though I had repeated this countless times, it remained no easy task.

I finally understood why no one in the game augmented the dwindling numbers of spirits. Spirits were composed entirely of pure mana, and any being carrying even the slightest impurity could never be created. Yet even I, who possessed purer mana than anyone else, had to expend an entire day's worth just to produce a single lower-grade spirit.

Spirits were highly sensitive, so during creation, not a single tremor could be allowed. I had no room for distraction. Even someone like me, with such pure mana, would be impossible for humans loaded with impurities.

"If that's the case, then possessing the Snow Woman might have been a blessing after all... No, if I hadn't been possessed by a Snow Woman in the first place, I wouldn't have had to worry about any of this."

I focused on the work, letting my consciousness flow, and then glanced aside. On one side of the room, small, finger-sized dolls were squealing. Snowflakes drifted lazily above them.

-Stop! It's cold!

-Cold? What does cold even mean?

-It's that you're curled up in annoyance! Quillere used to do that sometimes!

The spirits' voices echoed inside my head rather than my ears. They had no organs to produce sound and instead used telepathy for expression. Not all spirits did this—some simply never conversed at all, even when they could.

Even so, why were they so noisy? Were they gathered in one spot, or were the Prike particularly lively? Well, it was better than silence, but I still needed to concentrate. I had to give them a warning.

"It's noisy."

My tone was blunt and laced with coldness, the same voice that sometimes made me jolt even to myself. There was no issue when speaking to myself, but the character setting of a cold demeanor turned every word spoken to others into frost falling in the middle of summer.

The chill must have reached them. The spirits startled and flailed wildly.

-Quillere's cold!

-You're curled up from annoyance!

-No! That's just because I'm angry!

"Hah..."

This was ridiculous. I wasn't a kindergarten teacher. Conversation itself was possible, but when asked if it actually allowed communication, the answer was no. Since they were barely born, their mental age was on par with toddlers.

"...What does cold even mean."

They couldn't even feel cold. Well, that was my problem too. Sometimes, without intending to, modern human instincts slipped through and popped out unbidden. "Cold" was one such phrase I couldn't explain, so they had interpreted it in their own way.

Anyway, these were the lower-grade snow spirits I had created here in the Snow Castle: the Prike. Creating one consumed a full day, which was why they were still stuck at the lowest tier and had yet to challenge higher ranks.

Even if each took a day's mana, the work was labor-intensive enough that I couldn't mass-produce them like a factory. Creation days therefore came irregularly, but after about a year, I had somehow gathered quite a large family.

"They're all Prike, though."

By the Snow Woman's name value, Quillere's attributes were all tilted toward snow and winter. In fact, beyond that, I had no other attributes at all. Without talent or whatever, the game system had simply closed those slots.

Because of that, the only spirits I could make were snow spirits. I had tried others before, but they had been useless. This was a matter of mana purity, not something else.

"It doesn't really matter."

After all, other spirits wouldn't be able to survive here anyway. I had been thinking nonsense when I felt a reaction and lowered my gaze. The clustered snowflakes were violently shaking, like eggs about to hatch.

It's complete. Sensing it, I pulled my hand back and quietly watched the birth. From here, there was nothing I could do. I simply had to wait for the spirits to form their own identities and emerge from the world.

This moment was very important because not every spirit would safely form its existence. In that sense, it was no different from a bird hatching. If the hatching failed, the spirit would die as well.

Of course, I had no such worries. None of the spirits I had created had ever failed to hatch. I didn't know the exact reason, but I suspected the environment played a big role. A snow spirit being born inside the Snow Castle built of snow in the heart of the continent's only Snowfield made sense that problems would arise.

Moreover, the one who created them was the Snow Woman herself, who only leaned toward snow attributes. No environment could be more blessed than this. As expected, the new Prike hatched without any issues. Long limbs poked out from the trembling snowflakes, and round snow bodies formed.

"Hello."

I greeted them softly. The birth of life was always a wondrous moment, and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠as the one who had called them into this world, I had the duty to welcome them first. My tone remained cold, but compared to the others, it was quite kind.

-......

Yet the little one stared at me blankly without a word. Gradually, its eyes widened, and as the snow fibers on its body began to tremble like someone touched by hot water, I sensed the next words.

-Winter!

The spirit opened its eyes to the maximum and raised its arms, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠shouting.

-Winter speaks!

Instead of pressing my forehead, I swallowed my bitter smile. I had no idea what to say. Every single one of the dozens of Prike I had made up until now had shown the same reaction.

Spirits were classified as pure mana-based spiritual bodies. They had no skin, organs, or aging, so calling them living creatures felt awkward. It was only natural that their perception differed from ours.

Even if it didn't make complete sense, I accepted it. Probably due to the extreme settings of the Snow Woman, the spirits saw me as snow itself or winter itself. I had unintentionally turned my wish to express "a phenomenon that is neither living body nor spirit" into reality.

"That's actually a good thing... but I wanted to see it through the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠screen."

I let out an uncountable sigh while watching the new Prike. The little one was surrounded by the other Prike welcoming a new family member.

-Hello!

-Welcome!

-Ooo...

The tiny newborn snowflake was encircled by tiny hands. Soon, it melted and took on the same child-like form. Spirits, whose forms were not fixed, could change into various shapes, and human form was one of them.

They took this shape when they felt happy or safe. This Snow Castle must have felt like home to them. Conversely, when they sensed danger or entered combat mode, they became wolves. The little one explored here and there before stopping in front of the table.

-What's this?

-Ah, this is cake. It's not sweet.

-What's sweet?

-The opposite of cold. The feeling of vitality filling the body when in a good mood.

-Feeling? Vitality?

"Hah..."

I gave up out of sheer despair. They kept twisting my words to suit themselves and spreading nonsense. How were they supposed to understand "sweet" when they couldn't even eat food?

Now I didn't bother correcting them. Staring blankly at the empty space, they thought about their next task. Today had been unusually short, so there was nothing special to do.

"Should I make one more?"

Normally, after creating one I would only want to rest, but today my condition was good. And on days like this, I needed to push harder for later ease. In the end, all of them would help me someday.

"...They'll help, right?"

I believed that for now. From the items stacked beside me for work assistance, I picked up two: Mana Circulation Potion and Mana Control Potion. These were the combination I had always relied on most heavily when creating spirits.

The Circulation Potion raised the success rate to gather mana faster, while the Control Potion influenced control and operation, eventually leading to better control. Both items ranked near the top of the warehouse's stock and had supported me for a long time.

Compared to a year ago, they had improved dramatically, yet my magical skill still wasn't that great. I still made mistakes with control, and each time fog would generate or blizzards would follow. One might say only so much had improved, but I knew that was already amazing.

"The NPCs are impressive."

Thinking of the heroes of the Sa-gye War who had treated mana like limbs, I felt a new surge of respect. Well, that was just their quirk. Among the people of this world who were born with mana, only a few could handle it properly.

Mana was a difficult field. At least because I possessed pure mana, my efficiency was high. I didn't even want to imagine what it would be like without it. From now on, I resolved to be grateful for the given circumstances and swallowed the potions.

"Umm..."

A subtle, ambiguous taste rose. It was the exact moment I had considered eating a piece of cake before starting the real work. A loud sound came from far away, like flesh trembling.

Goooooh—!

"......"

The noise of the spirits that had been wandering in my head stopped abruptly. I snapped out of it and shot up, looking toward the source of the sound. Through the window, something enormous was approaching at incredible speed.

It was both huge and fast. With every blink, its body doubled in size. It was clearly flying straight toward the castle. I realized in the same instant that it would arrive in less than thirty seconds and that I knew what it was.

I had to act quickly.

"Stay right here."

I gave the order to the Prike and immediately headed outside. Using the shortest route I had memorized, I reached the entrance in an instant. The weather outside was unusually clear.

The wind had calmed, and the usual fierce snow wasn't falling. The Snowfield glittered under a dazzling sun, and there was no blizzard on the way. Seeing the scenery, I understood why my condition had been so good today.

"Why today..."

She really came. If I had left her alone for a year, hadn't she implicitly allowed it? Grumbling to myself, I headed in the direction it was flying. On the front of the castle, low on a hill, the being had landed.

"...!"

Even though I had braced for it, seeing it with my own eyes left me speechless. Despite the distance, the overwhelming presence was something I had to look up to endlessly, paired with an aura of overwhelming charisma that alone made every existence feel small.

When picking the strongest race, dragons were always mentioned. The dragon stood before me upright, and its expression was twisted in rage.

'Big trouble.'

What? Why? I had no talent for reading a dragon's expression, but this was clearly anger. I had done nothing to provoke it. Besides, it was our first meeting—what could I possibly have done?

'She said her personality is kind, though.'

The Lord of the White Dragon Clan. Otherwise known as the White Silver Dragon King, Pankaj Mishra. She was the guardian and maintainer of this Snowfield, having lived here for thousands of years. For some reason, she harbored resentment toward surface beings yet never left the Snowfield to cause harm, possessing a temperament like that.

She had the power to do so. She was a devotee of protecting the Snowfield at all costs in service to her master, not mere revenge. Though that wouldn't last forever, it was still valid up to the thousand years before the original timeline. It had to be, surely.

'Why are you angry?'

She wouldn't vent it at me, right in front? As if answering, Mishra opened her mouth.

Her voice, laced with dragon mana, carried a pressure akin to that of spirits. Every word hit me with force, yet the only thing I felt was psychological pressure. No physical penalty.

This was probably because of the settings, but it was no time to think calmly. More important was Mishra herself. I had to quickly gauge her current emotions.

With wings flapping, the Dragon King roared, and I could see fierce anger mixed with comparable anxiety. At that moment, I understood why she was angry.

'She's worried I made some kind of rampage.'

Information needed for the conversation had already entered my mind. She was guarding the Snowfield in obedience to her master. Since almost no one came to the Snowfield in the first place, she had probably slept soundly. As a being transcending perception, sleeping for a year wasn't strange.

More than that, I had not approached this land normally. So it was only natural that she hadn't detected me through whatever device she had prepared. At this point, I saw hope.

'All I have to do is clear up the misunderstanding.'

It turned out to be far simpler than I thought.

Despite my intentions, one castle had been built, but apart from that, I had done nothing to upset her. After conveying that fact, I would formally ask permission to live here, and the matter would be over.

Was there any simpler way?

Relieved inside, I tried to open my mouth to calm her first. But the moment, a certain fact struck my mind, and it was already too late. Like releasing an arrow, the words shot out.

"It's noisy."