Chapter 63. Extreme Cold Survival Training (3)
Nights on the snowfield fall early. The sun starts dipping around afternoon, and by dinnertime, the whole area is swallowed in darkness. Nocturnal beasts stirring from sleep is just the bonus. The daytime is dangerous enough, but night is far worse here. The cold is secondary. The beasts are the real threat.
The monsters here go berserk when the moonlight rises. According to Sato, they react to the mana in the moonlight, like werewolves or something. Most cadets who drop out of this survival training will probably do so on the first night. I silently mourned them.
Anyway, the Watch's functions are so exceptional that reverse summoning happens automatically the moment elimination is declared. In the original story, no casualties occurred during this training either.
"...Feels a bit chilly."
A full moon hung in the night sky. Faint moonlight filtered through the clouds and seeped between the window cracks. I set my coffee mug on the heated lamp. This mana-powered device was one of the magic tools I'd found long ago on Nilbania Mountain.
As for where I got the coffee mug—Nilbania Mountain again. I'd lucked into it right as Camille Esperand and I were leaving a cave.
—Is anyone there...? Please help. Someone's hurt.
...Below the cliffside, a group of merchants we'd run into by chance. They'd miscalculated their route and ended up crossing Nilbania Mountain, then gotten stranded pushing too hard on the climb. One even had a leg injury. A little later, and they'd have been monster bait for sure.
—We should help them out.
—...Are you insane?
Camille Esperand had been skeptical up to that point. Barely able to handle himself, how could he help others? Fair enough.
'Well, he had reason to be.'
He'd been limping from a saber-tooth bite. Still, I'd offered a hand, and the merchants escaped the snow mountains unscathed. They ditched all their gear in the process. As Camille said, surviving themselves came first.
Camille didn't know, but part of it was calculated too. In a way, we were no different from them. With injuries on both sides, teaming up made sense. Numbers are a weapon in themselves—four or more together, and even snowfield saber-tooths hesitate to attack.
...Anyway. Thanks to that, we used their abandoned gear to set up a makeshift camp. It was packed with magic tools, so from that day on, our survival training on the snow mountains took a different turn. While the other Esperand kids ran themselves ragged across the peaks, Camille and I spent most of our time here building this camp.
The genre shifted from survival to snowfield healing life.
Against the dark snowfield backdrop, I leaned back in my chair and tilted the coffee mug. No sugar was a minor regret.
"...Why's it so bitter."
I set the mug on the table and glanced out the window, suddenly struck by a ridiculous thought. Who would've guessed Nilbania Mountain connected to Arsen's gates. If word got to the higher-ups, it would've blown up big time. A miracle the two hadn't clashed yet.
Given how this world's Nilbania Mountain was treated like Earth's Everest or Himalayas, maybe it was just coincidence.
The camp—shaped like a tilted shack—hid among the trees, invisible from outside. With the camouflage tent too, it wouldn't catch anyone's eye. My personal shelter.
Felt like returning to a vacation home after ages. Sure, thinking of other cadets scrambling out there pricked my conscience a bit. But this was survival training too. I found it first; it's mine. If another cadet had spotted it, I'd have handed it over. Can't claim ownership on something I didn't build from scratch.
A faint wind rustled, and I pulled back the half-drawn curtain. As I set down the mug, a thought crossed my mind.
'I wonder how Kyle's group is doing.'
But it passed quickly.
'He'll manage.'
Unlike me, Kyle had smooth relationships and stronger innate willpower. Just from checking the snowfield, he'd already gathered three or more. Confirmed members: Kyle, Elin Beonard, and Essili Silvergaden...
With key players for the main story gathered, they'd handle things fine without me. Better if I stayed out. Spoon-feeding support would stunt their growth.
So for this training, I'd go solo. Let the protagonists carve their own path.
...That mindset didn't last.
On the third day of training, rough mana waves from afar made me grab the Glock from the table.
The footsteps weren't far. I tracked the faint mana flows in my Watcher's Eye. Unsettling mana signature. So dense it made my skin crawl—wandering with that much would stir every nearby beast.
Even the Watch's top-tier functions don't guarantee 100% safety. Face too many monsters at once, and you could get hit before reverse summoning kicks in. Normally, cadets would call it themselves before then.
Click—
Just in case, I gripped the Glock and patrolled nearby. Maybe a hibernating beast had woken.
'Doubt a cadet-level mana would wake one.'
Snowfield saber-tooths and black panthers ruled now, but Nilbania Mountain hid beasts best left sleeping. They lurked deep underground, out of sight. Like the advanced monster, Giant Wrecker.
Yeti-like ape beasts. Harmless looks, but carnivores. Tough hides block even seasoned hunters' strikes—most avoid them.
If one woke, we'd halt training and call the professors. But my Sense dulled as I advanced. No warnings—instead, it faded.
Crunch—
Crunch—
Snow fell. Even with thick-insoles boots, my feet sank deep. I lowered the muzzle and scanned. I'd walked far; Telescopic Vision should spot something.
Not far off. In a snowfield torn like by a blizzard, a small barrier shimmered.
I peered through Watcher's Eye. Water barrier. A water veil.
Artificial, considering the eternal snow highland. I holstered the Glock and approached. No threats nearby.
...Instead.
[…….]
A cry-like sound from some creature reached my ear. Realizing it was a high spirit, I reached for the water veil.
That instant, the thing inside saw me. The veil cloaking the cadet like an egg wasn't natural. The high spirit watching me had woven it from its mana.
A peacock-like spirit in brilliant blue. I'd seen it before.
"...Elphin?"
I called its name, and the peacock spread its wings. Not threatening—more like pleading for help.
Unlike other high spirits, Elphin doesn't speak. It communicates through eyes and actions. But its presence here was odd.
Elphin picks contractors carefully. Especially first-years. Others judge power, affinity, or sacrifice quality. Elphin? Personality.
Community speculation, anyway. Elphin's conditions are bizarre—no precedents. It teases contracts then bails, or drops them unilaterally if displeased. Consensus: it chooses whimsically.
Elphin here meant a cadet it approved was inside. Protected by a barrier? Suspects narrow to single digits.
...Not Essili Silvergaden. She handles spirits but was with Kyle. Leaves one suspect.
I placed my hand on the veil. It rippled violently, refusing entry.
Just before Elphin's feathers sharpened, I crouched and met its gaze.
"What do you want me to do?"
No answer. Then I noticed Elphin's eyes fixed not on me, but my Glock.
I holstered it and looked again. "Want me to call reverse summoning? Or fetch someone else?"
Elphin's eyes welled up. Like guarding a chicklet. Whatever—clear it valued this cadet.
But lingering was risky. If it drew me, stronger ones would come. The veil held now, but amid the blizzard? No guarantees.
First, stop the mana flare. Make it see I'm no threat.
"……."
I lightly crossed myself and drew a holy relic from my pocket. From Priestess Isabel, for emergencies.
I set it gently on the ground. Warmth bloomed there.
"Enough?"
In the snow-buried field, barren of grass, a tiny sprout emerged. A miracle via holy power. Why the Church hesitates exporting them—easy abuse.
As I tried communing again, my senses tingled. Sense picked up approaching monster packs. Close, charging through the snow.
Minutes away. I spoke to Elphin, voice firmer. "They're coming. You gonna keep this up?"
[…….]
No words. Instead of parting the veil, Elphin opened a small gap. I slipped in, hoisted the protected cadet onto my back.
Long trek to camp. But faster than the monsters arriving.