Sharon Pierce's Mother
Sharon Pierce's Mother
Bodies poured down like a waterfall.
"Incredible."
Yergina let out a murmur of admiration. For all her battle-hardened experience—enough to rival any seasoned veteran—she had never witnessed or even heard of a sight like this. The massive snowball, a churning mass of earth and corpses, rolled relentlessly to the very edge of the bridge-like terrain. It pulverized the last of the dead in its path, then—
— KA-BOOOOOM!
Slammed into something and split clean in half, the pieces tumbling away into the abyss.
The sheer scale of it silenced even Yergina for a moment. She found herself assessing Ian without conscious thought.
What a remarkable young man.
Yergina had watched the Grand Martial Tournament in secret. That experience had already left her with a considerably high opinion of Ian's magical talent. The sheer quantity of his mana was merely average, but its clarity and purity were overwhelming. It spoke of fundamentals honed to an absolute extreme. His spellcasting, therefore, was seamless—no lag, no resistance. That was precisely why the boy could perform so far above his apparent rank. Having witnessed countless soldiers die in war—all of them undone by fundamentals they'd never properly mastered—she couldn't help but hold Ian in high esteem.
And on top of that, he possesses judgment and adaptability?
This very moment proved it. The enemies they faced moved with a mastery over dark power that made them uniquely troublesome. Their numbers had reached into the thousands. The ability to identify an enemy's weakness, assess the surrounding environment, and devise a method to maximize one's own strengths—in real combat, that was a talent far more critical than raw fighting power. Yergina herself, for all her standing as a 5-Star, would have needed a full seven days and nights to carve through such numbers.
He managed it in mere minutes.
Yergina glanced back at Ian. Despite having just accomplished something so extraordinary, his expression remained remarkably composed. In war, a good strategist was just as essential as a fierce commander. A new glint of avarice entered Yergina's eyes as she regarded him.
"A clean sweep."
"That was only possible thanks to your efforts on the front line, Lady Yergina."
"Excessive modesty is unseemly."
Ian, who had fallen silent at her jest, finally spoke up.
"You're right. I did everything, actually. Perhaps you could start earning that star rank of yours?"
"Gahahahaha!"
With a booming laugh, Yergina launched herself forward. The iron mace she swung in great whooshing arcs reduced the heads of the remaining corpses to powder that rained down across the snow.
"......"
Ian let out a small sigh. That look in Yergina's eyes just now—it was the same look professors got when they were recruiting research students.
Thought she was going to eat me alive.
A small shudder ran through Ian's body.
◆
Not all the corpses could be dealt with by the snowball alone. That didn't mean Yergina's efforts were lacking, of course. Every swing of her massive ice mace sent bodies hurtling over the cliff, and every downward blow crushed them to splinters. The problem was the ones that managed to evade her weapon. Unlike Yergina, who had extensive experience fighting on snow, Ian's group found the footing unbearably slick. The cliffs on both sides doubled the tension, and their fatigue mounted twice as fast. Still, they somehow reached the cave entrance.
"Huff... haaaah."
"Haah."
Danya and Rina gasped for breath, clearly exhausted. Ian didn't let it show, but his own muscles ached all over with a dull, persistent throb.
At the end of the bridge-like terrain, in front of the cave mouth, Yergina spoke up.
"There's something here. A transparent barrier of some kind."
Every time she extended her hand toward a certain point, a translucent ripple spread outward, like a stone disturbing the surface of a calm pond.
"Never seen anything like this before."
"Same here, mew."
After a brief pause for thought, Yergina casually stepped forward—and before anyone could stop her—
!
She vanished inside.
"Seems safe enough."
Ian was startled by her complete lack of hesitation. Just what kind of life had this woman led?
She's the sort you'd want as a commander.
Yergina smirked at the aghast look on Ian's face.
"Don't worry, come on in. It must be a barrier to keep those corpses out. It felt like it was checking for something along the lines of life force."
"In that case."
Ian entered the barrier first, with Danya and Rina following right behind.
The cave, even right at the entrance, was warmer than outside. His breath still misted in the air, but the mere fact that there was no snow on the ground already earned it high marks in his book.
"Ahh. Finally, something walkable."
"For real, mew."
A few minutes' walk from the entrance brought them into a vast cavern. Soft light filtered down through layered openings in the ceiling high above. Yergina swept her gaze around the space before stopping.
"Many of us are worn out. Best to set up a forward base here. Let's rest for a while."
Danya began pulling items out of her magi-mechanical backpack. No, "pulling out" didn't quite cover it—there was so much. An auto-tent compressed to the size of a coin that unfurled in an instant. A campfire. Sleeping bags...
"It had all that in there?"
"I only found out after getting the backpack myself, mew."
- With this one thing, you can survive any crisis for at least a week.
The Third Princess's words when she'd handed over the backpack apparently hadn't been empty talk.
— Crackle. Crackle.
The campfire burned away with a pleasant sound. Its faint crimson warmth gently pervaded a world that had, until moments ago, been nothing but white.
Rina and Danya ate some emergency rations and then immediately slumped into sleep, still sitting upright. Wandering through the snow for so long would exhaust anyone. Ian sat quietly lost in thought, until Yergina addressed him.
"I can't get a read on where exactly this place is. You, however—you seem to have some idea."
"I do know the objective."
"Objective?"
"This is a kind of barrier, created by a member of the Blood Rock Sect. It's designed to slowly absorb everyone trapped inside."
"This entire snowfield?"
"Yes."
Yergina closed her mouth without a word.
Crack. Crackle.
The sound of the fire filled the silence for a moment. Then she spoke again.
"Then those corpses from just now..."
"Most likely people whose life force has already been mostly drained."
"And the reason they reacted to magical power..."
"The loss of life force stripped them of their five senses, but their reaction to mana must have remained."
Yergina bit her lip.
"... It all fits together disturbingly well."
Ian quietly waited for her next question.
"So then, what exactly is the identity of this Blood Rock Sect member? To pull off something of this magnitude, they would have to be a monstrously powerful figure."
Ian hesitated briefly. Was it safe to tell a 5-Star powerhouse with overwhelmingly destructive capabilities, "Your father is that utterly heinous Blood Rock cultist"? It was effectively a patricide joke at best.
But he didn't deliberate for long. For all her seemingly smash-first-ask-later disposition, Yergina was ultimately a scion of the Pierce bloodline. That same cold, ruthless rationality ran through her veins. Ian chose to trust that bloodline.
"Richard Pierce. The Grand Duke of the North."
"My father... is with the Blood Rock Sect?"
"Yes."
At his firm answer, Yergina's brow immediately furrowed.
"... If what you say is true. Then my father intended to swallow up not just me, but that bastard Hermann as well."
"Yes."
"Hah!"
Yergina pressed her long fingers to her forehead and muttered to herself.
"... It does make sense. There aren't many people who could erect a barrier of this scale and absorb humans. But... he's already the Grand Duke of the North, isn't he? What in the world is he aiming for..."
Between her fingers, Yergina's crimson eyes gleamed ominously.
"You. You said you were the Third Princess's plaything, correct?"
"I wouldn't say plaything, but something similar. And it's only a temporary cooperation with her."
"Don't tell me... the Blood Rock Sect is after the imperial throne?"
"I can't confirm that with certainty."
"Meaning it's a possibility."
"Yes."
"Huh!"
Yergina stared into the dying campfire. In her eyes, it no longer seemed like a simple fire—it felt like the flames of hell, already consuming the entire empire.
"So that's why you told me to set my sights on the ducal seat. To bring down the Grand Duke of the North."
There was no point in hiding anything now. Ian nodded.
"That's correct."
In an instant, the intensity surging from Yergina's eyes pressed down on Ian with crushing weight. It was the same look she'd worn when charging into thousands of corpses. Ian weathered that pressure through sheer force of will alone.
"......"
Then, just as abruptly—Yergina withdrew her gaze.
"You... it's difficult to even guess at what you're truly looking toward."
"For now, I'm only focused on solving the problem directly in front of us."
"The problem of the Grand Duke of the North being a member of the Blood Rock Sect, you mean. Just how were you planning to prove it?"
"At this moment... the goal is simply to get out of here. That takes precedence."
"A goal we share."
"Indeed."
Yergina let out a long sigh.
"Even if what you say has a logical basis, I can't simply believe something so shocking out of the blue. I'll need time to judge this for myself."
"Of course."
"Nevertheless, as for getting out of here—that common objective—let us pursue it with everything we have."
"Naturally."
Ian nodded, a touch of regret in the gesture. There was, after all, no concrete evidence to prove that Richard Pierce belonged to the Blood Rock Sect. But the fact that Yergina hadn't dismissed his claim outright—that alone was enough.
Then, suddenly—Yergina's eyes narrowed.
"Wait. In that case..."
"?"
"Don't tell me... that confession you made to me back then. Was that a lie?"
"......"
Ian swallowed hard. Several seconds passed, feeling like an eternity.
That exact moment—
— Stomp!
Footsteps.
Yergina and Ian both turned their heads toward the sound simultaneously. Down a narrow passage that sloped further below, the tips of dark blue hair vanished out of sight.
"Did you see that?"
"Wake the others."
"Already awake, mew."
They'd only been together a short while, but their coordination was already seamless.
◆
Grabbing only the barest essentials, they immediately set off down the passage where they'd sensed the presence. The dark tunnel led steadily downward.
"Ifrit."
Guided by the faint flame Rina summoned, they walked deeper for a short while. Then Danya pointed at the wall.
"There are scratches here. Along the wall."
"Sword marks. Hold a moment."
As Yergina examined the marks, her eyes slowly widened.
"This... this is no ordinary practitioner. This is a top-tier master—one of the few supreme experts on the entire continent."
"A supreme expert?"
"Yes. The kind of ultimate master whose name alone is known to every warrior. In this case... the sword path almost resembles snowflakes."
"Why would marks like this be here?"
"I'm no swordsman, so I can't say for certain. But I've heard some swordsmen can grasp an entire sword art just by reading the traces carved into a wall like this."
Finishing her words, Yergina drew the mace from her thigh.
"Which means, if this person has become one of those moving corpses, we absolutely cannot take them lightly. Everyone, prepare. Rather than be ambushed—we strike first."
— Stomp. Stomp.
They walked on.
At some point, their surroundings brightened. A rich warmth filled the air—hot enough that their cold-weather gear began to feel stifling. But there was no time to question the sudden shift in environment.
A cozy space, roughly the size of a single classroom. A woman stood there.
Deep blue hair, long and neatly tied into a single, demure ponytail. Skin so pale it seemed almost sickly, covered by a black martial arts uniform. As she turned smoothly to face them, her soft white breath curled warmly through the air before dissipating.
There was something strangely, almost ephemerally frail about her appearance.
"Oh my. It's been quite a while since I've had visitors."
A mature, dignified woman. She radiated warmth, like someone's mother—yet seemed too young to be one.
Ian felt a sudden sense of déjà vu. The woman before him resembled someone.
"... Sharon Pierce?"
At Rina's murmur, a faint smile touched the woman's pale features. It was a graceful, benign smile—so utterly harmless it could disarm any kind of wariness directed at her.
"You know Sharon?"
"Ah... yes."
Rina answered after a quick, cautious glance at Ian. Did she mistake that for hesitation?
"Oh dear, where are my manners? I haven't even introduced myself. I often get told I'm a bit scatterbrained."
The woman offered the words like a gentle excuse.
"My name is Sasha Asilia. I'm a little embarrassed to say it myself, but I'm also known as the Snow Flower Sword Sovereign. And..."
She placed a hand delicately over her heart and offered a modest bow of her upper body.
"Sharon Pierce. I am that child's mother."
The person who was most certainly supposed to be dead stood there before them.