The Snow Woman's Second Life
The Snow Castle.
The first foothold of my second life.
From the very moment I first stepped onto this land until now, everything had unfolded like a panoramic panorama. Every detail of my life here was etched into memory: the joy of relishing the reality of my coords, bustling in and out of the dressing room; the thrill of carefully organizing the warehouse only to discover something useful; the day I first created a spirit, and the way that little guy had panicked and fussed the moment he saw me.
There had been happy days, and days of sorrow or anger, but looking back now, all of them were precious memories.
“...Huh!”
I suddenly snapped back to reality. This was no time to be lost in memories. I needed a revolutionary way to escape this situation.
[······.]
Mishra, the white silver dragon king, froze in place with an expression of pure incomprehension when she heard my words. Even though the weather outside the Snowfield was bright and clear, that silence pressed down on me like I was suffocating. Had the strongest race in existence, one that had endured countless eons, ever truly been treated like this by anyone before?
[How dare you...]
The dragon king’s reaction, sadly, was exactly as I had feared. Her massive, fearsome dragon visage twisted into something truly terrifying, making me feel like I had stepped inside a horror movie.
[How dare you speak such insolence to me!]
The roar of a furious dragon shook the very ground. Massive wings unleashed a gale that whipped up snow, and her tail—harder than steel—slammed the snow into jagged fractures. Honestly, I felt a pang of pain in my hands and feet at the sight. At moments like this, the invisible settings I had created felt cursed.
If I hadn’t been frozen in fear, my hands and feet would have been shaking uncontrollably, my eyelashes fluttering. Instead, I could only stand there silently, swallowing the dread rising inside me.
“One hit is all it takes.”
The Snow Woman was never meant to be a fighter. I had poured my entire heart into creating her, but her purpose was purely for looks, atmosphere, and background—thoroughly crafted for role-play, not actual combat. She was so far from efficient from the start that it was almost laughable.
On the other hand, the White Silver Dragon King, Pankaj Mishra, ranked at the absolute peak of the dragon clan. She wasn’t even a hidden boss; she was the final boss of the final boss. My current self, who couldn’t even control mana properly, challenging her was nothing short of suicide.
From the very beginning, as a battle-incapable Snow Woman with zero effective skills and pitiful defense, I was doomed. One breath from her and I’d be sleeping with the fishes for good. Truly a hopeless situation.
“B-but I’m still fine, right?”
She wasn’t attacking, so maybe she had a kind heart. Since fighting wasn’t an option, this was my only choice. I’d slipped up by forgetting my own settings for a moment, but as long as I didn’t screw this up further, there was still a chance to live.
[This lady is the guardian of the Snowfield and the ruler of the white dragon clan! A mere earthly creature like you has no right to act so rudely!]
The dragon king’s fury carried intense spiritual pressure that was more than enough to make one’s skin crawl. I felt as if I stood before a furnace even though the Snowfield was steeped in eternal cold. The Snow Woman’s day of feeling heat had finally come.
[Reveal your true identity at once and apologize for your rudeness!]
Mishra took a step forward, and the earth trembled. At the same time, my heart thumped hard. Hope still remained, but the thought that my life hung by a thread made me shiver with terror.
But I had to calm myself. If I lost my rationality too, then true hope would vanish. Fine, I didn’t need to fix everything. I just had to make sure she didn’t touch my heart... and if I didn’t touch hers, then...
[Do you not hear me?! Apologize for the rudeness you have committed against this lady at once!]
Why does she keep ordering me to speak? Had the dragon king not noticed my behavior? I was trying so hard not to escalate things with silence, yet she was deliberately provoking me. And the price would be paid by me alone.
Of course, if I had to speak, I could. But...
“I’ll get angry if you speak!”
Even to me, my voice sounded icy. To a complete stranger, it would be even colder. And right now, Mishra was furious from head to toe. Did she want me to deliberately fan the flames?
“No! I can’t!”
This was directly tied to my survival. Therefore, I had the right to remain silent! But the world refused to respect that right.
[Answer me at once! Otherwise...]
The way the dragon king flashed her eyes and trailed off felt ominous. I desperately didn’t want to know what would come next, yet it haunted me. The coastline right before a storm hit felt exactly like my current state of mind.
“Just answer!”
Both options were terrible, but ignoring her any longer would lead straight to a bad ending. Even I, who had no choice in the matter, found it irritating to keep ignoring her right to my face.
Still, I had to do the lesser of two evils. I needed to answer while avoiding provoking her as much as possible. I couldn’t control whether my words would trigger some transcend translation, but I had to try.
Above all, I would speak with relaxed throat and calm demeanor. For the translation, I chose words carefully, simplified as much as possible, and picked an appropriate topic. Let’s see, “I apologize for my rudeness” would sound too cold and mocking... “You are truly a great one”—no, that wouldn’t do either.
“I know exactly who you are, so I apologize for not knowing you better.”
This way, I would praise her widely known status as the dragon king and offer a natural apology. Perfect! This was the only way!
“I don’t care who you are.”
I was secretly thrilled, but the moment the words left my mouth, I turned deathly pale. No, how was I supposed to translate that? The sentence had changed completely! And where had the “I’m sorry” gone?!
[......What?]
As I had expected, Mishra’s voice dropped. I wanted to squeeze my eyes shut, but with someone else present, my settings kept me from doing so. So I had no choice but to meet the dragon king’s terrifying gaze straight on.
[You really have no intention of speaking politely!]
Mishra’s eyes flashed with light for an instant. I realized it was a mana reaction the moment strong pressure crushed my body. Even in this urgent situation, I could tell she possessed a kind heart. She was furious, but she was holding back her power so as not to kill me.
Of course, even that was enough to push me to the brink of death. A mere touch of her mana had weighed on me like an anvil. I felt something inside me being drained away. No, some kind of aura was being sucked out.
“Energy drain?”
Upon realizing her intent, I calmed down. She intended to neutralize me first, then sort things out. When I understood that, my pounding heart finally steadied. It was fortunate that things had turned out this way.
Once she stopped killing me, I could have a genuine conversation with the now-rational Mishra. My settings still irritated me, but I would handle that later. To escape this crisis as quickly as possible, I surrendered my body to the pulling force of the drained power without resistance.
It was then that I felt the strange change. Something vital seemed to be leaving my body, and my inner mana began to churn violently. I tried to control it, but it was already beyond my reach.
“...No way, it’s taking the power of the potions too?”
Only then did I realize the full situation. The two potions I had taken to maintain smooth mana flow were being drained along with the mana! The balance of the mana circuits I had forcibly maintained collapsed instantly, and the effect was immediate.
Saaah—!
After a long time, sharp snowflakes began to fall on the bright Snowfield. The Snow Woman was an existence specialized in eyes, and in a terrain full of snow like the Snowfield, she received strong buffs. Even though her abilities weren’t particularly strong, she could at least create the appearance of power.
So what if the mana of this biased attribute ran rampant without limits? I had seen this exact scene countless times during my year of mana training. A fierce blizzard had struck.
“Ah...”
I stared blankly at the landscape, then lowered my gaze. Through my transparent hand, the snowfield was visible. The imbalance in my body caused by the turbulent mana. It was so absurdly realistic that I couldn’t help laughing. Recalling my future made it impossible to hold back the smile.
“I’m doomed.”
I had already made enough mistakes. Yet the dragon king had offered to suppress me after calming her anger. I had thrown cold water on that. Even though it wasn’t my intention, she would clearly see this blizzard as my counterattack.
However kind-hearted, Mishra’s essence was that of a predator. If a mere prey continued to resist, the chance of her killing me would be low. With a creeping sense of despair, I stole a glance at her.
[······!]
The dragon king’s eyes widened in shock.
*
The Snowfield was one of the continent’s most renowned magic zones. An environment of extreme climate year-round would freeze an ordinary human solid in a single breath, and even the elf clan, which excelled in mana manipulation and drew on vast amounts of mana, was no exception.
Crude cold-resistance magic was utterly useless on this frozen land. To reach the Snowfield, one had to cross the Ice Mountains. The Snowfield and the Ice Mountains that blocked its path like a gateway sat at the far eastern edge of the continent. In truth, the magic zone of the eastern region that people spoke of was not the Snowfield but the Ice Mountains.
Why? Because no human had ever set foot in the Snowfield in recorded history. Adventurers, no matter how famous, had knelt in the freezing hell of cold, and those who barely survived the chill had failed to pierce the monsters of the mountains. That was why the Snowfield had long been seen as a trial bestowed by the Goddess of Winter.
Trials of the gods. A phrase that sent countless lives to death. Many had been buried in snow, yet those who reached their destination still existed. Heroes among heroes, recorded in history books, would soon face the true trials.
“...Thus, a being of pure white blocked our path upon reaching the Snowfield. The Goddess’s most trusted servant spread her enormous wings wide enough to cover the walls and urged us to return. We therefore asked to meet the Goddess, and...”
The trusted servant of the Snowfield had always been the one who sent away uninvited guests. In the end, the heroes never met the Goddess. If they had succeeded in contacting the gods at that time, the current situation would have been quite different.
But that did not mean the current trend of blaming them was justified. After all, the worst disaster on the surface was not their fault...
-Theologian Agnats
*
Thousands of years of peace had bred complacency. The moment Mishra woke from her nap, she rushed out of her lair without a second thought for the shocking changes in the Snowfield. Who the invader was and how they had bypassed her senses was irrelevant.
Only one thing mattered: how much of her master’s territory had been damaged. That alone was important. Even though the memory was faint, it was the only thing that mattered to her.
She flew straight to the point where her senses were most stimulated and found herself facing a castle built of snow. Even in her true form, the height was so great that she had to look up. Logically, one should have been wary of a structure created in such a short time, but the angry Mishra could not think rationally.
Because of that, she directed even greater fury at the perpetrator. The culprit was a woman with snow-white hair. Her aura was unnaturally thin. She had faced the dragon king without expression, and her eyes were cold to the point of freezing.
The way she acted did not sit well with Mishra, but she decided to try talking first. She needed to find out the invader’s purpose, whether they had companions. Since she had barely calmed her anger, the words had come out sharply, but she figured the frightened party would be more cooperative. She had been wrong.
“...How noisy.”
When she heard that cool voice, Mishra stopped thinking for a moment. Had there ever existed a being who had dared to speak to her this way for thousands of years? All earthly creatures had looked at her with eyes of reverence, and that was only natural. How many heavenly beings could be counted on one hand who could say such words?!
[How dare you speak such insolence to me!]
Feeling no more patience, she unleashed her Fear. The dragon king’s roar that shook all living beings. Even continent-spanning heroes could not hide their agitation when facing it head-on, so the effect was certain. But the woman before her remained completely calm.
What in the world?
No creature could remain this composed after receiving a dragon king’s Fear. Even if called a hero, they should have trembled at least a little. Yet the invader showed no change in expression—only coldness. A mix of frustration and anger welled up in Mishra.
She needed to resolve the situation and restore her master’s land, yet things were not going according to plan. She had vented her emotions, but the intruder’s attitude remained constant. Even a single word had the same effect.
“I don’t care who you are.”
An audacious tone no predator could ever display. The last thread of self-control in Mishra snapped. She had no idea what trick had been used, but it would not work again. She immediately launched her suppression.
With the drain magic working smoothly, the invader’s power began to be sucked away. As she had expected, it was nothing special. The previous incident had been nothing but luck. She would suppress the opponent and end the matter right here. Her conviction shattered moments later.
Had the drain magic touched the woman’s nerves? The still woman finally began to move. A section of the bright Snowfield was swallowed by a gray blizzard.
It was extraordinary power. Magic that controlled the climate was classified as high-level magic, consuming enormous mana. Yet she had summoned a blizzard capable of sweeping the entire area in a breath. What continent mages would see would be pure terror. But to the dragon king, it was not difficult. It was nothing special.
But Mishra was truly astonished. For a different reason.
“How is this possible... inside here?”
The dragon king always had a grand barrier surrounding her. A supreme domain that only those who had reached the transcendent level could maintain. It restricted the power of enemies within and, unlike Fear, could not be escaped by any life form, including spirits.
Therefore, unless one was of similar caliber, no one could break through the barrier’s waves. Since she was certain of that, Mishra checked that the barrier was functioning properly. The barrier was flawless, yet confusion clearly shone in her gaze.
“How...?”
Could she use power without any restrictions? Looking at the woman’s appearance, it seemed she thought the barrier didn’t even exist. There was no such possibility, so Mishra grew even more confused. Amid the raging snow and howling wind that obstructed her vision, the dragon king’s eyes fixed precisely on her target.
When the dragon king looked at the woman, she blinked. Her expression remained the same, but something had changed. Her already snow-white skin was beyond pale, yet now it had become completely transparent. The sight of the blizzard shining through her transparent body was strangely mysterious.
It was impossible to call her human. Nature or winter seemed more fitting than a person. As Mishra stared blankly, the thought crossed her mind.
“Now that I think about it, who exactly is this woman?”
In her rage, she had rushed to restore the situation without considering this. Upon calm reflection, the sudden collapse of thousands of years of peace itself was strange. A woman who had casually claimed the Snowfield, which even the continent’s strongest could not approach at will, was mysterious.
At first she had judged her human by appearance. But humans here were not a strong enough race to live peacefully. Even though humans differed most from other species, none of the humans she had seen had ever been free on this frozen land.
So she was not human, but none of the other races fit either. To begin with, the races that could cross the Ice Mountains were few. Among the so-called strongest, the white dragon clan was the only one truly free in the Snowfield.
Could it be the white dragon clan? She had heard that rumor, but it was impossible. If they were kin, the dragon king herself would have recognized them. Then what on earth was she?
Whooooosh—!
The blizzard still raged fiercely. In the place filled only with the sound of nature, Mishra regained her composure. She judged there was no simple way to chase her away with anger alone, so she had to take it seriously.
“No matter who this woman is, I must protect this land.”
The master’s vague order echoed in her ears. With a sense of mission, she stared straight at the woman and thought. The woman with snow-white hair who looked like her.
Even facing the dragon king herself, she remained unfazed and unmoved, even taking a direct Fear attack without trembling. A woman of unknown identity who used power freely even under the influence of the supreme barrier. The moment her aggressive stance turned into caution.
Weird snowflakes floated down. Those circling the perimeter immediately changed into wolves when she showed an ambiguous expression, then surrounded the woman. Then they bared their teeth—not at her, but at the woman. Clearly protecting their master.
It had been a long time since she had seen them, so she hadn’t recognized them at once. But they were definitely in her memory. One of the few snow spirits that had lived in the Snowfield, Pricke, whom she would never see again.
[······!]
Mishra’s eyes widened in shock.