The Approaching North Wind (1)
Once again, a massive monster knelt before the blade of the blue sword.
After the eel swarm we first encountered, all sorts of beasts lunged at us to threaten our lives, but they crumbled helplessly before Lia's sword.
As if determined to make up for that earlier blunder, she swung her blade without hesitation.
Thanks to her, I could hide behind her back and advance safely.
"We press on."
She slashed one, then another, marching endlessly forward like that.
Even the varied and intricate mechanisms blocking our path posed no trouble.
I already vaguely knew the solutions from the original story, so I applied them exactly as remembered and cleared the way.
Shouldn't I just stay quiet and let them handle it? Shouldn't I keep my mouth shut?
With house-sized monsters swarming us in droves, who gives a damn about that?
Getting out of here as fast as possible was the top priority.
"...Another stone gate."
"This should be the last one."
Yet another stone gate loomed before us.
According to my memory, this was the final door.
In a hurry to finish the raid, I strode up and fiddled with the mechanisms.
Suddenly, it rumbled with a jolt, the gate vibrating roughly.
"...It opened."
With a deep kuung, the carvings on the stone gate began to glow golden.
At the same time, the door slowly parted, revealing what lay hidden within.
Insane...
Seeing what was beyond, my jaw dropped involuntarily.
The space brimmed with treasures of every kind—so dazzling it was impossible to believe it was part of the same dungeon.
Sell just half of the gold here—no, half of that—and you'd have enough to live lavishly forever.
No wonder adventurers risk their lives for dungeons...
Snag even a fraction, and you'd be set for life.
Countless fools must have rushed in thinking they could pull it off, only for their corpses to pave the way for someone to finally fling this door wide.
"Take as much treasure as you can carry, then check for relics first. A dungeon this size is bound to have some."
Even faced with such riches, Lia remained composed, issuing orders to her knights.
The knights scattered to search, rummaging through the treasures and gathering the dungeon's spoils one by one.
Nothing for me to do.
While they packed, I had no role to play.
So I leaned against a corner without any loot and sat down to rest until it was time to go.
Honestly, my legs ached from all the walking even in the dungeon.
Ha, how the hell do we get back?
Now that it was all over, that worry suddenly crept in.
The way back scared me.
Retrace our steps from the dungeon, then walk even farther.
I might collapse at this rate.
Eh, whatever. They'll carry me somehow.
Worrying only painted a bleak future, so I decided to look away this time too.
Mountains of gold the knights were scooping up, yet they barely diminished.
The more I looked, the more I marveled.
To live here from now on, how many should I snag?
At least I'd make it to a safe village.
Even Lia wouldn't let me starve, right? Money aside.
I wonder if this world has basic welfare. Probably not.
Seriously, pick up a few gold coins...
"Resting well?"
Lost in untimely life pondering, someone cut in from the side.
I flinched and turned to see Lia, back from her rounds, looking down at me.
"Yes, thanks to all of you."
"Thanks to us? That's fortunate indeed."
I bowed in gratitude, and she smiled as she replied.
Then she leaned against the spot next to where I sat and abruptly brought up something random.
"Do you know about relics?"
"Yes. The mysteries left by the ancients, right?"
Relics—or artifacts, enigmas, as they're called.
Even the claim they were left by ancients was mere speculation; no one truly knew who made them or how.
They took all sorts of forms.
Weapons, jewelry, or even utterly mundane objects.
But one thing was certain.
They possess powers beyond mortal ken.
Infinitely amplifying mana, slicing through anything—objects brimming with such forces.
Naturally, they were rare, and those with useful abilities were all the more valuable.
"We found four."
"That many?"
"Indeed. Quite a haul."
One relic from a dungeon was already a windfall.
Given the dungeon's nastiness, it made sense, but four was an impressive yield.
As I nodded in awe, she smiled and continued.
"Pick one."
"......?"
Her words made no sense.
I tilted my head, and she gauged my reaction before fetching the relics.
She laid them out before me like a display and repeated herself.
"What are you waiting for? Pick one."
"......?"
Pick one from these priceless relics? Was she giving it to me?
It sounded that way, but I couldn't wrap my head around it.
To me? Why?
No matter how I replayed her words, that's what they meant, but the reason eluded me.
So I pointed at the relics and slowly asked back.
"This?"
"Yes. Right before your eyes."
"Me?"
"Who else is here besides you?"
She stated it as casually as if saying the sun rises in the east.
Speechless at her demeanor, I fell silent, and she merely shrugged.
"Your wisdom proved most helpful. Thanks to it, we cleared this far quicker than expected."
"As recompense, I'd like to give you one of these."
This woman meant it.
The reward's nice, but...
Getting something was welcome.
But I didn't need a relic. What would I even do with it?
I waved it off, expressing my refusal.
"No need. Being saved is thanks enough."
"That was merely my duty as lord. These are entirely separate."
We went back and forth, but her resolve was as firm as her blade.
Before her unyielding stance, I finally relented and accepted.
As I nodded weakly, Lia seemed satisfied and pushed the relics toward me.
"Choose wisely. No one knows exactly what any of them do yet."
There were four in total.
A platinum necklace, a gargoyle statue, a red ring, and an ashen sword.
I examined them slowly, pondered deeply, and finally decided.
"......I'll take this sword."
I carefully lifted one sword from the relics.
A plain-looking ashen blade.
At a glance, it seemed worthless, but I knew what it was.
Excalibur.
The hero's sword.
More precisely, the sword that makes heroes.
Tricky to wield at full potential, but the same went for the others.
Relics aren't for me anyway.
They weren't much help for a normal life. Better if they didn't backfire.
If I wasn't using relic powers, Excalibur—disguised as an ordinary sword—was perfect.
Plus, as a sword, it could double as self-defense.
...No scabbard, though?
A bit awkward to carry like this, but since it was a gift, they'd make a sheath, right?
Lost in such trivial thoughts as I inspected Excalibur, Lia—watching me approvingly—suddenly asked.
"Oh, right. I still don't know your name."
"My name?"
"Yes. We haven't properly introduced ourselves."
Come to think of it, I hadn't told her my name.
I knew all about Lia, so I'd forgotten the obvious: she didn't know me.
As I panicked, realizing my slip, she grinned amusedly and extended her hand again.
"I'm Lia Agehis. And you?"
Korean names would be hard for this world's people to pronounce.
I'd need a name going forward, and repeating an unintelligible one every time would suck.
I needed another name. One for this world.
After a brief think, I took her hand with my new name.
"....Ian. No family name."
A name I'd heard somewhere.
Plain enough, and it could pass as Korean-ish, so I was content.
"Very well, Ian. You did well."
"You too, Lady Lia."
In this world, I would live as Ian.
Thus it was decided.
......
The north's winter was harsh by nature.
The relentless snowfall and biting winds made everything tremble in the cold.
No place in the north was spared.
Beyond the barrier, at the continent's northernmost edge.
Even those the empire called barbarians couldn't escape the chill.
"....This year's cold is fiercer than ever."
They were born and bred in such freezes.
Blizzards and avalanches were their world, their strength.
But this winter was exceptionally brutal.
As if malice itself had been poured upon them.
"Damn it all."
In this utter calamity, Skadi, ruler of the tribe, could only groan.
She was a great warrior who could tear apart thousands of monsters single-handedly.
Yet she couldn't fend off the raging snowstorm or encroaching death.
"....How many days has the snow raged?"
"Fifteen as of today."
"....Too long. Far too long."
From the high watchtower, she gazed down upon the tribal lands.
Sounds filled the air.
Cries of children shivering in the cold, wails of parents bereft of their young, chattering teeth and trembling limbs.
All those sounds stabbed her heart sharper than any blade.
"....Many dead?"
"The adults are holding on, but...."
The warrior at her side trailed off, evading the full answer.
But Skadi understood well enough.
A cold even grown adults struggled against—how could mere infants, barely weaned, endure?
"....Let's go down."
She stared at the sky long, then descended wearily.
Descending to the village revealed utter devastation.
The starving crying out in hunger, others sitting still awaiting their end.
She faced people writhing in agony for myriad reasons.
Among them, she approached a woman shielding her child with her own body.
"Cover the child with this."
"Skadi, that is...."
"I'm fine. My body is sturdy. Warm your child with it."
Skadi handed over her own pelt.
As the chieftain's symbol, she shouldn't, but such things mattered little now.
The mother accepted it, wrapping her child to thaw its frozen form.
Clutching her babe, she grabbed at departing Skadi, pleading.
"Skadi, this winter is.... too cruel."
"It will be alright, Harpoon. As chieftain, I will care for you all."
That was all she could say.
And both knew those words held no power.
With child to breast, the woman choked back sobs, spilling lost despair and resentment.
"So many have already died."
"......"
She knew. Better than anyone.
She had consoled the lost souls abandoning this land, buried them in the frozen earth—her, who could withstand any cold.
The shovel shattering to powder, clawing frozen soil bare-handed, bidding farewell to those she'd faced just yesterday: the misery, the helplessness.
It scarred her heart's depths.
"The winds rage, we can't even light fires. Water freezes, food runs short. The snow won't stop, and the cold only worsens by the day."
"Skadi, can we survive?"
She had to say yes. She must.
Yet harsh reality sealed her lips.
Forcing her frozen jaw open, she pulled the woman down and nodded heavily.
"Yes. It will be so. Even if I stake everything."
She rose slowly and walked off.
To Ullagr's dwelling, her trusted aide, summoning him to a secluded spot and whispering gravely.
"....Ullagr. The time for decision has come."
"Decision.... you mean?"
....No more delays.
Any longer, and only death would remain in these snowfields.
A decision was imperative.
One hinging the fate of all on this land, the choice of a lifetime.
Only two paths.
Endure the cold here? Or flee to lands without it?
The dilemma every chieftain faced each winter.
And none ever answered easily.
She too had agonized long, and still did.
But she remembered.
The woman dying in her arms, the child's whimpers turning silent, the thick scent of death filling the tribe.
The cold they all bore.
Thus, she finally decided.
"....Drive the monsters south. To the southern lands."
"The southern lands...."
She gave no reply to Ullagr's question.
Instead, she issued another command.
"Prepare gear and arm the warriors."
"You don't mean....!"
To escape the cold, south they must go.
And south of the snowfields lay the barrier guarded by that damned Agehis.
They had to breach it.
That meant war.
"Spread word to all chieftains at once."
"The Frost-Rending Skadi summons you."
The great warrior, khan commanding the glacial wastes.
She who rends the frost: Skadi.
In a low voice, she conveyed her will to her warriors.
"We march south."
Countless warriors would heed their great khan's call.
White wolves' howls would echo across the snowfields, piercing the fierce north wind.
A wave of countless monsters would devour the north, and when they bled and fell.
The khan's horde would trample the weakened foe and advance unhindered.
"Go, rip out Agehis's throat, and end this accursed winter."