Chapter 159: Merry Christmas (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 159: Merry Christmas (2)
Back when we believed Santa Claus was real, there was a question we all must have wondered about at least once.
The world is so vast, so how does he deliver presents to every child on Earth in a single night?
On Earth, it was never an issue since our parents were Santa. But in TOS, Santa was real. He had to do the legwork and deliver the presents himself.
The answer was that the Snowsong family was spread across the entire continent, with each member assigned to a specific region.
This meant that on the other side of the continent, it might not be a chubby old man delivering presents, but a stunningly gorgeous girl in a bikini, riding a surfboard.
But that wasn't what was important.
Karami and Azyeth, entrusted with the role of one-day Santas, also had to deliver their gifts before the magic of Christmas ended.
With a sack full of presents, they arrived at the first city on their magic sleigh.
Parking the sleigh in mid-air, they surveyed the scene below.
Even in the dead of night, the city, adorned with lights and decorations, was brimming with the Christmas spirit.
It was a beautiful sight, but the light was Santa’s enemy. Santa had to maintain his mystique and sneak in unseen, but light was a primal force that revealed all identities.
As much as I wanted to go down a chimney like the Santas in fairy tales…
“Honestly, a chimney is a bit much, don’t you think?”
Only in fairy tales do you go down a chimney. Try that in reality, and you’d be covered head to toe in soot. And if someone had a fire going in the fireplace below, you’d be barbecued alive.
But we couldn’t just walk through the front door, so the window was our best bet.
After checking the map Nicholas had given him to see which house needed which gift, Karami pulled out a gift box and handed it to Azyeth.
“See that green roof over there? A boy named Ron wished for a toy. Go leave this for him, quietly.”
“Alone…?”
“My clumsy self would have a hard time sneaking in, and it wouldn’t be easy to escape if I got caught. What are you waiting for? We don’t have all night. We have many more stops to make.”
Karami pressed his body firmly against the sleigh, passionately demonstrating his unwillingness to go. It definitely wasn’t because he was scared of going down and having to come back up.
Left with no choice, Azyeth had to go alone.
She created an ice slide and zipped down it, landing softly on the roof. She scanned the rooftop, locating the window.
Standing on the second-floor balcony, she peered through the glass. The boy who appeared to be the room’s occupant was sound asleep.
Azyeth tried to open the window.
It was locked.
She carefully channeled her mana, freezing the lock and shattering it. With the lock gone, the window opened with ease. Azyeth slipped into the room.
The boy, who must have been Ron, was lost in dreamland, completely unaware of her presence.
Careful not to wake him, Azyeth tiptoed across the room and placed the box by his head. Then she slipped back out.
Having successfully delivered the gift, Azyeth returned to the sleigh.
Karami gave her a satisfied smile.
“Well done. You have a knack for infiltration. Shall we continue with the rest of the presents?”
*
They soared freely through Santa’s sky.
At each destination, Azyeth would sneak in stealthily, successfully leaving the gift without being detected by anyone.
Her movements were as agile as an airborne trooper’s.
They had already cleared three cities.
And more than ten small towns.
The pair arrived in another city.
Azyeth looked down at the ground from over the side of the sleigh. Despite the late hour, a few people were still wandering the streets. Most were men and women, their hands clasped tightly together.
“Rami. The people… are holding hands.”
“Well, it’s Christmas. If a man and a woman are together, there’s a high chance they’re a couple.”
“Couples… hold hands…?”
“You don’t have to be a couple to hold hands. People do it as long as they’re precious to one another.”
“……”
After hearing Karami’s explanation, Azyeth stared even more intently at the people holding hands.
“Next up is Molly’s house. Get ready.”
Now as proficient as a full-fledged Santa, Azyeth descended to the ground. She landed in a back alley, far from the city center.
While the main city was beautiful with its Christmas decorations, the back alley was as gloomy as ever.
The wall of their destination, a wooden shack, had a square hole in it.
It would have been nice if they had left a window open for Santa to enter easily, but there was no window at all. The cold winter wind blew right in.
Thanks to that, however, Azyeth didn’t have to tamper with anything and could easily climb through the window frame into the house.
The layout was simple.
A single room, barely ten square meters, was all there was.
Liquor bottles were scattered about haphazardly.
A man who appeared to be the father was snoring loudly, clutching every piece of cloth he could find like a blanket. In a corner of the room, two small children were huddled together.
They were dressed in thin clothes, completely unsuited for winter. They hugged each other for warmth, but it was far from enough, and they shivered uncontrollably.
After taking in the scene, Azyeth was about to leave the gift box as she had before, when—
“Eek!”
Molly, the older sister, woke with a start.
Azyeth couldn’t help but flinch. She had suppressed her presence as much as possible. She hadn’t been caught by anyone until now, yet this harmless little girl had noticed her.
Should I subdue her?
Or run?
But Molly moved before Azyeth could act on her thoughts.
“Ah, Dad, I’m sorry. Please don’t hit me. It hurts.”
In the dark shack, where not even moonlight could reach, she couldn’t see a thing and didn’t even try to identify who was there. She just reflexively apologized, shielding her younger sibling.
It was Azyeth who was taken aback. The emotion Molly revealed was sorrow, but the emotion that struck Azyeth was terror.
For Azyeth, it was yet another new sensation. She didn't know what to do and froze on the spot.
She waited, but no fist came flying.
The sound of snoring continued.
Sensing something was off, Molly belatedly lifted her head and registered Azyeth’s presence.
“Santa…?”
The light was too dim to see clearly, but the silhouette was unmistakably a Santa suit.
“Are you the real Santa?”
“……”
Azyeth remained silent.
It was a wordless affirmation.
At this rate, she would tarnish Santa’s mystique and the children’s innocence, just as Nicholas and Karami had warned.
The gift was already delivered. Azyeth was about to turn her back and hurry out when Molly quickly reached out and grabbed her arm.
“W-wait a minute, Santa!”
At the noise, Molly’s father stirred in his sleep.
Molly flinched violently, then lowered her voice to a whisper.
“Can’t you take my little brother with you? Dad hits us here, and Mom left us. I’ll be okay, so please, just take my brother.”
“……”
“Santa doesn’t give presents to crying children, right? That’s why I didn’t cry. I held it all in. Is it because of the present? You don’t have to give me this, so please…”
Molly tried to hand back the gift box Azyeth had brought.
This was a first for Azyeth, and she was terrible at improvising.
What was she supposed to do?
There was only one thing she could do.
*
“We’re almost done.”
Aboard the sleigh parked in the sky, Karami scanned a long parchment that looked like a receipt from a company dinner. It was a long list of cities to visit and children to receive gifts.
They had already taken care of 80% of it. It seemed they would be able to wrap up Christmas without any incidents.
Just as he was checking their next destination, Azyeth climbed back onto the sleigh.
“You’re back? We only have a few more stops… and who are these children?”
Uninvited guests had followed Azyeth.
A little girl, Molly, and her even younger brother, Malley, who was on her back.
“Well, um…”
Azyeth mumbled her explanation, glancing nervously at Karami, who quickly grasped the situation.
The children were dressed in clothes more suited for summer, and Molly’s small body was covered in bruises. He didn’t know who was responsible, but these children were being abused.
Karami sighed, and Azyeth flinched.
“Miss Azyeth. Didn’t I make myself clear? Santa is not supposed to reveal his identity. But not only did you get caught, you brought the children onto the sleigh. What were you thinking?”
“……Sorry.”
“If you’re sorry, then take them back. We still have places to go, and if we delay, the sun will rise. What are you waiting for?”
Molly hid behind Azyeth, avoiding Karami’s gaze.
Azyeth didn’t move.
She stood firm, like a barrier against the biting wind.
“…No.”
“Miss Azyeth. This is kidnapping.”
“She asked… me to take them.”
“And what do you plan to do with them? Do you have a plan?”
“No.”
Of course she hadn’t thought about the consequences.
But Azyeth was defiant.
“Rami will help.”
“And how am I supposed to help?”
“……Somehow.”
Her response, which bordered on shamelessness beyond mere confidence, made Karami let out a hollow laugh.
He’d told her to speak up if she needed something, and now she was demanding things as if it were her right.
Azyeth knew.
She knew that if she asked, Karami would listen.
The once-naive Azyeth had learned to be cunning.
“Hah, anyone would think I’m some wish-granting Santa.”
“……”
Sighing, Karami gave a wry smile as if to say she was hopeless.
“Well, for today, I guess I am Santa. This is a one-time special.”
Karami helped the children onto the sleigh.
Santa had to protect his mystique, and his power would weaken if his identity was revealed, so maintaining absolute secrecy was a rule in the Santa industry.
But I’m quitting after today, so what do I care?
If any problems arose, Nicholas would be the one to take responsibility, not Karami.
Karami sat the children down between himself and Azyeth. He draped his own Santa coat over Molly and placed his hat on her head.
“Huh…? Uh, um…”
“Shh. My policy is no free rides, except for me. If you’re on the sleigh, you have to work. Hold on tight to the rope so you don’t fall. Alright, let’s go deliver the next present.”
*
“Whoa~!”
The sleigh flew through the sky, the clear sound of its bells jingling.
Molly couldn’t take her eyes off the scenery below.
It was a view she could never have seen from her dark alley.
Casting aside all her sadness and worries, her eyes sparkled brightly like any other girl her age.
Azyeth watched Molly with a gentle gaze, and Karami, in turn, watched her.
He never thought Azyeth would defy his orders.
Karami shook his head with a bittersweet smile.
With their new little Santa, the group continued to deliver presents.
Scratch.
Karami drew a line through the list.
The last house was done.
Looking at the list, now completely crossed out, Karami wore a satisfied expression.
“Excellent. We’re all done. The sun is starting to rise, so let’s head back to Mr. Nicholas.”
“Molly… what about her?”
“I have a plan.”
He had considered taking them to Doomheim, but it was better for humans to be with other humans. Growing up with dwarves wouldn’t be good for the children’s education.
Karami steered the sleigh toward Palanis, a city known for its adventurers and mercenaries.
Because it was so common for adventurers to meet a violent end, Palanis had an unusually high number of orphans.
Adventurers would pool their money to support the children of their fallen comrades, donating to the church. As a result, the church in Palanis functioned more like an orphanage than those in other cities.
This was a place where he could leave Molly and her brother without worry.
He landed the sleigh behind the deserted church. Molly, with Malley on her back, climbed out. Karami handed her the gift box.
“Miss Molly, you should take this.”
“B-but the present is…”
“This isn’t a present. You worked, so you should be paid. This is your wage for working as a one-day Santa.”
No free rides.
But no unpaid labor, either.
Molly’s eyes widened.
“Really?”
“Of course. I hope you’ll wish for your brother’s present next year, too. And if you’re naughty, the Slave Reaper will come and get you.”
“……Okay!”
The sleigh soon soared into the sky. Nuns, drawn by the noise, came out and found Molly and her brother. Only after watching them being led back into the church did Karami take the reins.
It was time to report back.
*
“Oh! You’ve delivered all the presents! Thank you so much!”
In the Silver Fringe Forest, now bathed in the light of the rising sun, Nicholas, who had been tending to Rudolph, rushed out to greet us. He grabbed my hand and shook it vigorously up and down.
“How can I ever repay this kindness…?”
“Haha, we had a good experience, too. Well… if you really want to repay me, I won’t refuse.”
“Yes, of course. I can’t send my benefactors away empty-handed. Please, take this.”
Nicholas handed me a gift box.
It was an event reward—a box that gave a random item upon opening.
I remembered it giving out some pretty decent items.
I tucked the box under my arm.
“Thank you. Perhaps we’ll see each other again if the opportunity arises.”
“Hoho, a safe journey to you both. Merry Christmas!”
With Nicholas’s farewell, we left the forest.
The sunlight was warm.
I stretched my arms out wide with a yawn.
“I’m tired from staying up all night. Let’s go back and get some rest.”
“What about… me?”
“Pardon?”
Azyeth was staring at me intently.
“I… don’t get a present…?”
What was this now?
Azyeth was asking for a present?
“Why would Santa get a present? The greatest gift for Santa is the satisfaction of seeing people happy.”
“But Molly… got one…”
Well, that was originally her gift.
I only said that to make it sound plausible because you brought her along without asking.
But Azyeth didn’t seem to care about such facts as she drooped dejectedly.
What on earth could she want so badly to act like this?
Now I was too curious to let it go.
“Alright, fine. I’ll give you one. What kind of present do you want?”
Azyeth held out her hand to me.
“Hand…”
“What, you want me to put the present on it?”
“I want to… try holding hands, too.”
That’s completely out of the blue, was my only thought.
Had she been bothered by the people holding hands earlier?
Ever since she regained her sense of warmth, Azyeth had been touching all sorts of things, like a baby grabbing at anything within reach.
Perhaps this was just an extension of that.
She had probably never felt the warmth of another person’s skin before.
“That’s not a difficult request.”
I placed my hand over Azyeth’s.
Her hand was slender, as if it would break with a little pressure.
Though if anyone applied pressure, my hand would be the one to break.
It was as cold as holding ice.
The cold she emitted had lessened, but she wasn’t free from the curse’s influence.
“So, how do you feel, having received your present?”
“……Hot…”
It wasn’t that I was hot, but that Azyeth was excessively cold. Still, from her perspective, I could see how it might feel hot.
It felt like I’d get frostbite if I kept holding on, so I started to let go.
“…?”
As I tried to pull away, Azyeth’s grip tightened.
She held on fast and wouldn’t let go.
She stared intently at our joined hands, then lifted her gaze to meet my eyes.
“This way…… you’re not lonely…?”
“What?”
“Lonely…?”
No matter how I thought about it, I couldn’t understand what she meant. But I thought I saw a flicker of anxiety in her jewel-like blue eyes as she looked at me.
“I’m not lonely. Thanks to you.”
That’s how I answered.
And in response, Azyeth…
“…Mm.”
As if satisfied with my answer, she gave a faint smile.