If You Leave Him Like That, He'll Freeze to Death (1)

Four hours.

It had already been four hours since Olivia had disappeared.

'By now...'

Olivia's disciples were fast asleep. In that state, they wouldn't have noticed if someone carried them off.

"I think I can sleep too."

The moment Glacia, who had been cautiously gauging the atmosphere, flopped onto the floor, the magic circle engraved in the ground flared with light.

Glacia shot to her feet.

"You've returned!"

"Yeah."

"...Your clothes have changed?"

"I changed them."

Olivia took off her blue moon hat and draped it over a rock. Then she tossed the Night Crows down beside it, carelessly. Their faces were so swollen it was hard to make out their shapes.

"...Huh?"

To Glacia, the scene was somehow familiar.

'Are those people or corpses?'

Olivia, who had read Glacia's thoughts, snorted.

"They crawled over here on the sly, so I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠caught them and brought them back."

"Ah, then they aren't disciples?"

"Disciples? What kind of lunatic drags disciples around like this?"

"..."

Glacia wore a deeply gratified smile.

You. You are that lunatic.

That lunatic is you, you bastard.

How could a person be so consistent? And in the worst possible way.

Glacia hid her simmering irritation and asked,

"Then what are they? Are you going to kill them?"

"No."

Olivia looked down at the Night Crows with a dissatisfied expression.

"Tch."

I couldn't kill them even if I wanted to, dumbass.

'I gave them a chance and they still tried to stab me in the back.'

In the first place, the only reason I'd played along with that pathetic oath was to learn the location of the message scroll. No matter how much of a veteran player who'd conquered Lactea I was, for items whose storage location changed every time like this, there was no way around it.

Why didn't they die after the oath?

'They're not a witch in the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠first place, so of course they wouldn't die.'

Olivia's attire was unmistakably that of a witch. Seth had no choice but to believe it.

Anyway.

According to what I'd learned through the interrogation, the place where Calliope had kept the scroll was the northern fortress of the City of Beginnings.

Fortunately, it wasn't the capital.

Of course, there was a chance this was also a lie, but that was a problem that would be solved by traveling with Calliope.

However...

'If this one goes berserk, it'll be a headache.'

Calliope wasn't insane enough to harm civilians, but even just shouting or throwing herself into a crowd would draw every eye.

If that happened, well, it was over.

The moment the coordinates were marked, every regressor would come running to slit my throat. If there was a silver lining, it was that the City of Beginnings lacked any truly powerful NPC.

The best they had was the guard captain, whom Aramis could handle.

'That was the game operators' one and only consideration.'

It was enough to make most users think, 'The early game is manageable!'

Monsters topped out at foxes or wolves, with the occasional orc.

If you were really unlucky you might run into a wyvern cast out of its flock, but Seth had probably already killed that one, so there was no need to worry.

Anyway, that was why the infiltration difficulty of the City of Beginnings was ranked Low.

Unless you were an idiot, success was guaranteed.

The time was even ample. There were still six days left until the scroll activated. Of course, Olivia had no intention of putting this off.

"Hey."

Olivia tapped the unconscious Calliope on the head.

"I know you're awake, so get up. Or I'll beat you as much as I've beaten you so far, and then some."

Calliope sprang up.

"Ah, understood."

"..."

Glacia watched her with pity in her eyes. In that brief moment, she seemed to feel a sense of kinship.

Olivia crouched down and met Calliope's eyes.

"Listen. You and I are going to go get that goddamn scroll from now on."

"...Yes."

"But let's say you run away. What do you think will happen then?"

"...What will happen?"

"I'll kill every single one of those kids over there."

"..."

Calliope couldn't bring herself to argue. Because the witch in front of her was someone who really would do that.

"You lure me into a strange place? Then I'll kill them all. You scream? I'll still kill them all. You know what I'm saying, right?"

Calliope's head bobbed rapidly up and down.

"I, I will absolutely not cause any trouble."

Olivia nodded.

"Glacia."

"Yep!"

Olivia pointed at Seth, who was swollen up like a steamed bun.

"Just in case, go toss this one outside."

"...Excuse me? Then won't he freeze to death?"

The blizzard showed no sign of stopping. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠If anything, it had gotten twice as bad as when Olivia had gone out.

To put it bluntly, even a bear would freeze to death in this weather. No matter how resilient Seth was, if he slept outside on a night like this...

Well, I'd just have to bring him in before he died.

"If someone doesn't cooperate and I come back late, he'll freeze to death. Right?"

At those words, Calliope flinched in alarm.

"M-Ma'am. Please calm down for a moment..."

Olivia glanced meaningfully at Glacia.

"What are you doing? Go toss him out now."

"Yep!"

Glacia dragged Seth out toward the entrance by his legs. When she returned, she was of course empty-handed.

"Ah, right. Go back and freeze his arms and legs too. He might try to run away, so..."

"W-We must go right now. I, I will retrieve it immediately!"

Calliope desperately clung to Olivia's leg.

"Th-There is no time for this! We must go, right now!"

"You know he'll freeze to death in one hour, right?"

"Oh dear, I know. What is one hour! I'll retrieve it within thirty minutes!"

Olivia nodded with a satisfied face.

"Guard the house well."

"...Yep."

Somehow she felt like a guard dog, but she couldn't let her irritation show.

...It was better than freezing to death in real time.

****

Bzzzt.

4 a.m. The sound of insects rang out loudly over the deeply sleeping city.

"Ughk!"

The only people still awake at this hour were drunks for whom alcohol was life itself. Not that they were in their right minds either.

Whooooosh.

"I gotta, I gotta peeee..."

"Heehee. Pee launch!"

A strange sight caught the eyes of the men who were adjusting their trousers.

Thud. Thud.

Two figures wrapped in thick robes were striding directly toward them. They were suspicious people approaching in the dead of night, yet the men didn't seem to think much of it.

'Women.'

Their faces were completely hidden, but the men could deduce it from their build and footsteps. And above all.

They could see.

Thanks to the clouds parting and the moonlight shining into the alley, they glimpsed inside the robes for a moment. When the men confirmed the face, their mouths fell open.

'Pretty.'

The distinctive red hair was one thing, but the confident gleam in her eyes, visible even in the darkness, was striking.

The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠one on this side was nothing to scoff at either, but the one beside her was even more so.

'...That's staggering.'

'Damn. I've wasted my life.'

Her appearance was one thing, but the atmosphere she carried was no ordinary thing. It was so cold and chilling that they didn't dare even speak. The aura alone resembled that of a dragon.

How to put it, it was the kind of face that put you in your place.

'This is a bit much. Even I have a conscience.'

'...Squids should stick with other squids.'

The men couldn't bring themselves to harass them and had no choice but to step aside.

Olivia looked at the men who obediently cleared the path with a puzzled expression.

'There's no way thugs like these would just step aside. Did they eat something weird?'

It was a result of the game not reflecting appearance stats, but she had no way of knowing that.

"How much further now?"

"We're almost there."

They were now near the northern fortress of the City of Beginnings. The torchlights that occasionally moved along the watchtowers signaled that the guards were awake.

"No, so when are we getting a raise?"

"Like they'd give us one? Honestly, do we even fight monsters head-on like the front lines, or has a Serial Killer ever shown up here?"

The guards chatted right in front of them.

'...Those guys have to move aside.'

Calliope bit her lip.

Watching her, Olivia spoke as if exasperated.

"Just knock them out."

"...Excuse me?"

"If you don't want to, I'll do it."

"..."

Calliope's face twisted. If that wicked witch even slightly failed to control her power, the City of Beginnings would be reduced to ruins that very day.

Swoosh.

Calliope's form vanished into the shadows.

"Hurk."

The next moment, the two guards collapsed unconscious. Calliope roughly propped them up in chairs and moved forward.

After knocking out about six more like that,

"Just a little further now."

"You know that's the third time you've said that, right?"

"Yes. It's right over there."

Calliope pointed to a watchtower visible beyond the window. It was the largest and tallest of all the watchtowers on the fortress. Naturally, it would have the most guards.

Olivia frowned.

Of all the places to hide it.

"Don't tell me you hid it behind a brick?"

"Yes. I hid it behind a brick on the very top floor."

For someone like Calliope who could conceal herself in shadows, going there and back without any trouble would be no problem at all.

But Olivia wasn't like that.

There was no invisibility magic in Lactea. No invisibility cloak either. Not even anything remotely similar.

Still, nothing changed.

I could just make her bring it and then dispel it before my eyes.

"Seven minutes left. You know how many minutes it took to get here, right?"

At those words, Calliope held her breath and calculated the remaining time.

From the north to here, she'd used teleport a total of five times.

The time it took to activate a teleport once was one minute.

Then the time left was...

'Damn!'

Calliope ran toward the watchtower without looking back.

Watching the torches go out one by one at high speed, Olivia thought,

'As expected, people need to be worked to the bone.'

It was a moment when I once again realized the truth.