Chapter 324
Chapter 324
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 324
Chapter Title: A Second Outing (2)
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Shirone arrived at Amy's room and caught his breath in front of the door.
He listened for any sound from within, but couldn't hear anything.
Only after he knocked on the door with his fist did he hear the rustling of blankets.
Shirone cleared his throat and called out.
“It's me, Shirone. I'm coming in.”
The sound of the blankets moving vanished as if it had never been there.
After waiting for a while with no response, Shirone spoke again.
“If you don't open up, I'm letting myself in.”
A clatter sounded as something fell off the bed, followed by heavy, angry footsteps.
The door flew open, and Amy peeked out, her face flushed red.
“W-What is it! Why are you suddenly here making a fuss!”
“I heard you were sick, so I was worried. But you're not sick?”
Amy sighed.
She had figured out long ago that flimsy lies didn't work on Shirone.
Amy stepped back as if to let him in, then turned toward her bed.
“There seems to be a misunderstanding. I'm not avoiding people, I just wanted to rest. To sort out my thoughts.”
“Yeah, I know.”
Shirone let out a small laugh and closed the door.
Hearing the door to Amy's room close, the corners of Shakora's mouth lifted as he read his newspaper.
“He's passed the first gate.”
Isis, also looking surprised, shrugged and headed upstairs with a tea tray.
Normally, she would have settled in Amy's room to chat with Shirone, but this time, she just set down the refreshments and left.
It was a sign that, under the circumstances, she was entrusting everything to Shirone.
Sitting across from Amy at the table, Shirone burst out laughing the moment he saw the teacup.
He remembered the time six months ago when Amy had sprayed tea all over his face.
Amy was thinking the same thing.
But for her, it was a dark memory, so she pushed it out of her mind and picked up her teacup.
“So, what's up today? Don't tell me you're planning to drag me to some weird place again like last time. I want to rest this break.”
“Yeah, that's why I'm here. To let you rest.”
Amy asked back, her face full of confusion.
“Let me rest? How?”
“Let's go on a date.”
“Pfffft!”
The tea in Amy's mouth sprayed out like a mist, drenching Shirone's face.
One might have expected it to stop, but the shower of tea didn't cease until her mouth was empty.
Shirone slowly opened his eyes and said in a low voice.
“This... feels like the second time.”
Her face bright red, Amy wiped her lips and stood up.
“W-What are you saying! You idiot!”
She wiped her mouth with a tissue from the cabinet, then pulled out a few more and threw them at Shirone.
Shirone wiped his face and said.
“They have a festival in the Les Mountains every winter, right? I've always wanted to go, so I was wondering if you'd like to go with me.”
It was certainly an unexpected suggestion. Shirone, the world-renowned model student, asking her to go out for fun.
“You mean the old castle ruins? The Ice Queen's ruins. I know that place. I've never been, though, too busy.”
“Yeah. Let's go for two nights and three days to refresh ourselves. To be honest, I've been feeling unmotivated lately and need to recharge. There won't be any danger this time, so let's just go have fun.”
Amy rested her chin on her hand, lost in thought. The most worrying part was the two-night, three-day trip.
“Just you and me, without our friends? Where are we going to sleep?”
“We can get a room at an inn. We can have discussions at night, too.”
“Aha...”
Amy was at a loss for words.
In short, he was suggesting they share a room, but he said it so matter-of-factly that it was hard to even feel suspicious.
“Are you, by any chance...”
Amy started to say something, then shook her head.
She felt that trying to clarify things would only stir up unnecessary trouble.
“Why? Is something bothering you? In my opinion...”
“No, it's fine. Wait outside. I'll get ready and come out. If you tell my dad where we're going, he'll have a carriage prepared.”
“Okay, I'll be waiting downstairs.”
When Shirone came down sooner than expected, Shakora and Isis looked at him with questioning expressions.
But after hearing what Shirone had to say, they immediately understood.
“Hoh, the Ice Queen's ruins...”
Shakora recalled memories from his youth.
Back when he was dating Isis, he too had chosen the Ice Queen's ruins as a date spot.
“It's a beautiful place. Romantic.”
“Yes, so I've heard. But they say it takes a while to see everything.”
Shakora chuckled heartily.
“That's part of its charm. The fact that you can't return in a single day. Alright, go on. I'll have a carriage ready for you. If you leave now, you should arrive by tomorrow morning.”
Shirone breathed a silent sigh of relief.
From a parent's perspective, it's natural to worry about sending their daughter off with only a boy. But Shakora went a step further and even offered advice.
“When you get to the old castle ruins, look for an inn called the Snow Crystal. My wife and I stayed there. You'll be able to make some good memories.”
Isis turned to her husband with a bewildered expression.
Her lips moved as if she were about to say something, but she missed her chance as Amy came out of her room.
“Shirone, let's go. Dad, I'm going to the winter festival.”
Amy said as she came down the stairs, wearing a red winter coat trimmed with rabbit fur.
She must have curled her hair in a hurry; steam was still rising from her wavy locks.
Knowing her daughter wasn't the type to usually dress up, Isis looked quite surprised by her transformation.
Shirone, too, found himself momentarily captivated, staring at Amy, who looked much more mature than she did at school.
Then he snapped out of it and bowed to her parents.
“We'll be on our way, then.”
“Alright, travel safely.”
The journey to the Les Mountains took over ten hours, so they had to set off right away to arrive by morning.
As Shirone and Amy left the mansion, Isis narrowed her eyes and confronted her husband.
“The Snow Crystal?”
“Why? What's wrong with it?”
“Are you serious right now? Have you forgotten how we ended up getting married? It was because you seduced me there that...!”
“Haha! Was that how it was? In any case, you enjoyed it too.”
Isis placed her hands on her hips and huffed. It seemed Shakora didn't grasp the gravity of the situation.
“What on earth are you thinking?”
“If we're going to use shock therapy, we might as well do it properly. When the blood rushes to your head and then drains away, it clears your mind.”
“And what if? What if it doesn't drain away?”
“That's for Amy to decide anyway. At eighteen, she's an adult. It's her own body, so it's up to her to manage it.”
Isis shook her head.
The Red Eyes, a trait of the Carmis family, manifests the greatest talent in any chosen field. For this reason, the family has for generations cultivated a tradition that shuns restraint and rules, prioritizing human free will.
The belief is that if talent is left to flow freely, one will become a master of whatever path they choose.
This vast spectrum, with family members engaged in almost every profession, was the Carmis family's greatest strength.
The moment rules and suppression are introduced, talent is stifled.
Shakora, who knew this better than anyone, had let Amy run free since she was a child, which was why she had gone astray at one point.
But if this was the history of the Red Eyes, Isis had no choice but to accept it.
“You're confident you can handle the consequences, right? If you change your tune later or say anything to Amy, I'll be furious.”
“Consequences? Why would I handle them?”
Shakora snapped his newspaper open and positioned himself to read. He had already erased all thoughts of his daughter from his mind.
“Shirone will have to.”
* * *
Heaven's Northern Hemisphere.
The permafrost tundra.
In Heaven, it is called Opturus.
An electromagnetic network pattern that had drifted on the cold northern winds for eons.
The near-infinite pattern of information exchange meant that, in a sense, it was a divine existence.
But Opturus could not become a god.
To Opturus, born in the tundra, the environment of Heaven was a dull and boring space devoid of stimuli.
Without stimuli, there is no learning.
It was the same principle as a child abandoned in the mountains becoming feral if they never left.
Thus, for ages, Opturus had lived by merely repeating meaningless and simple information exchanges.
Then one day, a crack appeared in Miro's space-time.
A change so small that living beings couldn't even perceive it.
But to Opturus, it was a stimulus as thrilling and immense as birth and extinction.
The immense magnetic field emitted by Opturus created an aurora in the skies above the tundra.
A three-second rift in Miro's space-time.
Opturus broke through the gap and escaped into a new world.
His first destination was the Les Mountains.
The electromagnetic network that comprised him rapidly absorbed and learned from the unfamiliar environment, like the brain of a newborn child.
The place where Opturus could obtain the most information was the castle ruins located midway up the Les Mountains.
Countless humans were wandering about, all of them broadcasting information as if in an explosion.
At a level even he couldn't perceive, Opturus instinctively absorbed all the information.
The electromagnetic network flickered with infinite patterns, pioneering new territory.
* * *
Arriving at the Les Mountains around dawn, Shirone and Amy grabbed a bite at a food stall and joined the crowd, making their way to the old castle ruins' ticket booth.
The entrance to the ticket booth was also teeming with tourists.
After waiting in line, buying tickets, and entering, Shirone's eyes widened at the magnificent sight before him.
“Whoa...”
The old castle ruins had been perfectly restored not with stone or earth, but with ice.
The sunlight caused diffuse reflections, making every scene glitter like diamonds.
Even the ever-energetic Amy blushed slightly at the scenery before her.
Shirone was pleased.
When he had taken her to the Galliante Ruins, things had gone wrong from the very start, and he had felt ashamed. Not only had they fought a life-or-death battle with the Parrot Mercenary Corps, but they had also followed them to Heaven and faced near-death experiences.
To make up for the hardships back then, he was determined to make this trip an enjoyable one.
“Let's go. This looks fun.”
Shirone and Amy walked along the snowy path.
The rainbow bridge connecting the towers, the railings along the battlements, and the stairs inside the castle were all made of ice.
‘So this is why they call it the winter festival.’
The structures would collapse if the temperature rose, so the ruins had to be closed by early spring.
Then, when summer finally arrived, the ice would melt away, leaving only the desolate remnants of the castle.
Like a winter memory that was but a midsummer night's dream.
“Shirone, let's try that.”
Amy pointed to a small stall. It was selling ice snacks, a specialty of the winter festival.
Shirone popped a cold ice snack into his mouth and chewed. It was made of shaved ice mixed with strawberry syrup and frozen, and the crunchy texture combined with the sweet strawberry scent was delicious.
“Alright, we've got snacks. Where should we look around first?”
“Obviously, we have to go see the Ice Queen first.”
Amy led Shirone toward the main castle.
The main castle was the least damaged part of the ruins. It featured a vast hall with a grand staircase that split into two wings. The left staircase had collapsed long ago and had been restored with sculpted ice.
Would it be strange to call it a warmth that wouldn't melt ice? With so many people gathered, it was definitely warmer than outside.
Shirone and Amy entered the mezzanine hallway that connected the two wings of the staircase. The Ice Queen was situated where the central railing jutted out toward the hall.
Shirone approached the Ice Queen. Inside a massive block of ice, a beautiful woman stood with her eyes closed.