Chapter 122: Snow White Azyeth
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 122: Snow White Azyeth
I had awakened Azyeth and completed the slave contract.
As always, I needed to establish a base of operations and advance the story from there.
In Azyeth's case, that base was obviously Doomheim.
It would be best to find lodging somewhere suitable in the city.
There was no point in being humble about it now—I was rich.
I’d earned a hefty profit running the cat café and raked in a sweet amount of points from liberating Rin. I had thousands of gold coins at my immediate disposal.
With blacksmiths everywhere, I could have a house built from scratch, but managing it would be a pain.
‘Besides, it would be good for Azyeth to interact with others regularly.’
So, the place I chose was none other than Thorvar’s house. With Perka, a girl of a similar age, also living there, it was the perfect setup.
“Stop spouting nonsense and get lost.”
Of course, Thorvar wasn't one to agree so easily.
“Are you suggesting I let the princess sleep on the streets?”
“Do you think I don’t know that the other Meisters invited you to their homes? Just pick one and go. Their houses are all the same anyway.”
“I refused them all. I’m quite shy, you see, so I find strangers overwhelming.”
Thorvar shot me a look that screamed, ‘You, shy?’ Despite appearances, I’m the kind of person who scores 98% on the I for an MBTI test.
That’s why I ended up transmigrating after spending all day cooped up in my room playing games.
“And you expect me to let Perka live with a slave trader?”
“Her savior, you mean. And besides, Elder, having us stay here is actually quite a good proposition for you as well.”
“How in the world is that a good proposition?”
“Lady Azyeth is a princess—the highest station a woman can hold. In terms of femininity, she is unparalleled. Don’t you think Perka might be inspired by living with her?”
Thorvar’s eyes widened.
“Whoa… Are you really a princess, unni?”
“A… prin… cess…?”
“Well, look how fair and pretty you are! I ain’t never seen anyone as pretty as you, unni.”
Our gazes turned toward the sound of their girls’ talk. Azyeth was sitting demurely while Perka couldn’t take her eyes off her. As promised, I had already liberated Perka.
Perka’s eyes, fixed on Azyeth, sparkled like those of a young girl gazing at a beauty she admired.
Thorvar had always been troubled by Perka’s tomboyish behavior. If Azyeth’s influence could change her, it would ease his worries.
Thorvar’s pupils trembled, betraying his wavering resolve. Now I just had to close the deal.
“I’ll cover room and board. I can also help out when you take on commissions, if you need it. You know better than anyone how resourceful I am, don’t you?”
“…”
I laid out one condition after another that Thorvar would find hard to refuse. It was only a matter of time before he caved.
“There’s only one spare room in my house.”
“That’s fine. We’ll be sharing a room. Two beds and keeping the room warm will be more than enough.”
Azyeth was a walking piece of dry ice; if I wasn’t careful, I could freeze to death in my sleep.
“She’s your slave, so I won’t interfere with how you treat her, but this is still my house. If I hear any strange noises, I’ll kick you out immediately. Understood?”
“Haha, you don’t have to worry. I’m a good slave trader who never lays a hand on his slaves.”
“Likely story…”
And just like that, I secured our lodging without any further trouble.
*
“Whoa… It’s like a statue of a goddess came to life.”
“Darling? What are you staring at so intently?”
“Huh? Oh, it’s just… it’s rare to see a human in Doomheim, so I was curious…”
“You said it was like a walking goddess statue. If she’s a goddess statue, then what kind of statue am I?”
“Umm…”
“Umm? Ummmm? Why the hesitation?”
The man, after a moment of thought, pulled a chisel and hammer from a pouch at his waist.
“You’re an uncarved block. You have the potential to become more beautiful than anything. Will you allow me to be the one to sculpt you?”
“Wow, this little punk and his lame pickup lines. That’s it. We’re breaking up. Good for you. Now you can stare at your precious goddess statue all you want. Go on, get an eyeful.”
“Oh, you’re right.”
The man turned his head back toward Azyeth.
“Hey! I told you to look, and you’re actually looking?!”
That was the third one.
The number of couples Azyeth had broken up.
A mobile couple-breaker.
That was Azyeth’s new nickname.
I’ve traveled with a witch, an elf, and a gumiho, but this was on a whole other level.
As I walked with Azyeth through the streets of Doomheim, it was no exaggeration to say that every single person was staring at us.
‘Well, her beauty was enough to make a dragon kidnap her.’
Her looks could bewitch even a dragon, the strongest of all species; telling an ordinary man not to look was asking too much.
Of course, if it were me, I’d have restrained myself.
Bring me proof if you don’t believe me.
“What do you think of this place?”
“…?”
“It’s bustling with people, and the heat from the great forges makes it feel warm, don’t you think?”
“Warm…?”
Azyeth tilted her head, looking puzzled.
“What is… warm?”
“Hmm, what is warm, you ask…”
That’s right. Because Azyeth lived constantly surrounded by cold, she couldn’t feel warmth.
“I suppose it’s like the feeling of the morning sun on your skin after the dawn. Or when the hard, frozen winter ground thaws, becoming moist to welcome the spring. That could also be called a kind of warmth.”
“The snow… melts?”
“Ah…”
My mind went blank. It felt like I was swimming through the infinite void of space.
The very foundation was flawed.
‘Talking to her directly, it’s much worse than I thought.’
I already knew about Azyeth’s vacant beauty and the reason she had become this way.
As some of you might know, the motif for Azyeth’s story is Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
Azyeth plays the role of Snow White, the Seven Meisters are the seven dwarfs, and finally, the role of the evil stepmother is played by the Ice Dragon, Skadia.
When Skadia asked her magic mirror, ‘Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?’ the answer was Azyeth.
Azyeth was, officially, the most beautiful woman in the world of TOS.
Azyeth’s beauty was enough to captivate even a dragon. And dragons have a habit of collecting beautiful, shiny things in their lairs.
You could think of Skadia as the dragon version of Roperman, the collector I met in Noctar during Alfia’s storyline.
As the most beautiful woman in the world, Azyeth was a must-have item for any dragon’s collection, which is why the Ice Dragon Skadia kidnapped her and hid her away deep beneath her nest.
Bringing Azyeth to her lair was one thing, but Skadia had a serious problem.
With time, people grow old and withered. This would be especially true for Azyeth, who was an ordinary human, not a long-lived species.
Skadia was of the same breed as those types. Like a certain movie star who only dates women under twenty-five, or the online ghouls who declare a girl ‘spoiled’ after puberty or call any well-developed woman an ‘old hag.’ Skadia simply couldn’t bear to watch Azyeth’s beauty fade.
And so, to make her beauty eternal, Skadia cast a spell on Azyeth and sealed her in crystal.
She sealed her body so it would not age.
She sealed her emotions so she could not feel sorrow or joy.
She sealed her thoughts so she could not think deeply.
She sealed time so her eternity would never end.
With everything sealed away, Azyeth was reduced to nothing more than a beautiful mannequin. It was no wonder she was called a simpleton in all those endless ‘best girl’ debates…
“Tch, you poor thing.”
“?”
To think they’d insult such a pretty, pitiable girl. I felt sorry for her and stroked her head.
Her hair was soft and cool, a rather pleasant sensation.
Normally, touching a woman’s head is a major taboo, especially for a man she’s just met. It should have been uncomfortable, but Azyeth remained still.
Her head simply swayed back and forth with the movement of my hand.
‘This is convenient, I guess.’
She doesn’t know how to judge right from wrong, so she doesn’t resist.
The problem was how to awaken a sense of warmth in this living, breathing piece of dry ice.
‘Should I have her dip her hand in molten iron?’
Probably wouldn’t work. She’d instinctively freeze it before it could even touch her.
Well, there are many ways to feel warmth. I’m sure I’ll figure something out eventually.
Before pulling my hand away, I gave her hair one last, rough ruffle.
“Let’s go. There are still many places I haven’t seen yet, and I want to look around.”
I started to walk ahead, but Azyeth just stood there blankly. She placed her own hand on the crown of her head.
“Warmth…?”
At that, I quietly inhaled, then let out a breath.
A smile escaped me along with a soft chuckle.
“I see. I suppose you could call that a kind of warmth, too.”
*
Night in the underground city of Doomheim is a special time.
With no sunlight, moonlight, or starlight to reach it, the city is illuminated by artificial luminous stones that adorn the ceiling, casting a warm, golden glow that makes it as bright as day.
This is fine during the hours when people are active, but even an underground city needs its darkness.
The color of the luminous stones changes with the time outside. A bright sky-blue deepens into a dark navy, finally settling into a dark indigo that mimics the night sky.
The sluice gates from the Heart of Magmora close, cutting off the veins of magma, and the blacksmiths clean up their forges and return home.
The darkest hour of Doomheim’s twenty-four-hour cycle had arrived.
On the second floor of Thorvar’s house, Azyeth lay alone on the bed in the room Karami had acquired. Karami himself was curled up on the first-floor sofa, asleep.
With Mirabelle or the three-tailed Rin, I could have just cuddled up with them to sleep, but that wasn’t an option with Azyeth. If I slept too close, I’d freeze to death from the cold radiating off her.
It would have to be like this for a while, at least until a new bed was made and the room was properly insulated.
“…”
Azyeth gazed out the window.
Azyeth had no thoughts.
She didn’t know why she was here. Or what had happened in her past.
No feelings of revenge burned within her for Skadia, the cause of it all. The doll sculpted from snow had all her emotions frozen solid.
A flower that knows no spring will remain a seed forever, buried in the winter earth, unable to sprout.
And yet, Azyeth had felt an external sensation.
Karami stroking her head.
It was an unfamiliar feeling.
She had called it warmth, but it wasn’t warmth. Her senses were so frozen that she wouldn’t feel a thing even if she were seared by fire.
What she had felt was not body heat, but the simple touch of his hand itself.
What was it?
What was it…?
What was it…
“…”
How could she describe it?
With so much of her sealed away, Azyeth had no way to express it. The corners of her eyes narrowed for a moment before returning to normal.
It was a fleeting instant, no longer than the tick of a second hand.
‘…?’
What was that just now?
Azyeth did not recognize the sensation as irritation born from frustration.