Extreme Cold Survival Training (4)
Lara Steelhiden awoke about an hour later. She pushed aside the fluffy blanket covering her body. Only after yawning and stretching her arms fully did she sense something strangely off.
"……?"
Propping herself up on her elbows, she scanned her surroundings. The first thing that caught her eye was a small mana lamp emitting a soft glow. The floor, covered in fabric, was littered haphazardly with all sorts of odds and ends, and the ceiling was low and cramped. A window carved from wood, curtains stitched from straw mats.
Lara Steelhiden pieced together the visible interior details and arrived at a conclusion.
"A cabin……?"
It was a rather crudely built something-or-other resembling a cabin. Not even a standard rectangular log structure, but a slanted isosceles triangle shape.
Lara checked her watch. For a moment, she wondered if she'd been reverse-summoned somewhere, but the watch displayed coordinates for the northern Forgotten Islands, Nilbania Mountain. Fortunately, she was still participating in the training.
But no matter how she thought about it, it didn't make sense. The other cadets were sleeping in trees or, if lucky, in caves. Only a rare few dug burrows and hunkered down inside. …That was how most cadets scraped by day to day.
Building a cabin like this in such a short time would be difficult enough, but where had all these magic tools and knickknacks inside come from? If anything, it was more convincing to think she'd been kidnapped and brought to a wild savage's dwelling. She'd even heard rumors about savages living in the wilderness—attacking passersby for money and valuables, committing even more heinous acts without hesitation.
She reached out and summoned her staff. The thousand-year-old wooden staff engraved with tracking runes floated into her hand from midair.
"Wait, why is this……?"
But Lara Steelhiden was even more flustered. She'd assumed it wouldn't work and had braced herself, yet the staff was firmly in her grasp.
That meant whoever brought her here had casually let an outsider into their home and left a potential weapon right beside her. There was no way a savage could be that stupid. It was more natural to assume they had ulterior motives.
'Anyone here?'
Gripping the staff, she tried summoning Elphin. …She definitely intended to, but Elphin didn't respond. The spirit that had always stayed by her side was leaving her for the first time.
That was her second wave of confusion. In that brief moment, countless thoughts flashed through her mind and vanished.
The first was that she needed to leave this cabin. She didn't know if her rescuer was a savior or someone with hidden intentions, or when they might return.
But just up and leaving felt wrong with Elphin nowhere in sight.
'No way they broke the contract and left…….'
No, that couldn't be. It had to not be. She'd spent a fortune preparing the offering for her contract with Elphin. Almost all the money she'd received from the entrance exam had gone to Elphin. …The water spirit Elphin had probably agreed to the contract considering her circumstances.
Screeech—
As she anxiously bit her nails, the cabin door burst open. The savage was back.
Lara Steelhiden gripped her staff but didn't aim it at the intruder, glaring at the open door instead.
Thick boots stepped in first. Snowflakes tumbled off onto the floor. But the one entering wasn't a savage. Though covered in a straw mat dusted with snow, the person underneath wore an Arsen cadet uniform. The man in cadet uniform brushed the snow from his hair, his brow twitching.
"…Hey, if you're awake, say something. Why are you just staring like that?"
"Uh… um."
She was too flustered to speak properly. And for good reason—it was a face she'd seen once before.
"As far as I remember… you're, uh, Sion—"
"Sion Illeionhart."
"Ah."
Right, that was the name. The man who'd visited her in the infirmary sometime back was Sion Illeionhart. Back then, it had felt strange and bewildering. A total stranger cadet showing up out of nowhere—she'd assumed he had some announcement from her advisor to relay.
—Why are you here?
—Just.
……?
Just… wondering if you were still passed out.
But no. It wasn't anything important; he'd just come to check if she was still unconscious. Looking back now, those memories resurfaced. It had been odd and incomprehensible then, and even more so now. Too contrived to be mere coincidence. Unless he'd been tailing her from the start, this chain of events couldn't happen.
"Um……!"
As Lara Steelhiden lifted her head amid her brief confusion, a brilliant blue peacock flew in through the open door.
"Elphin……? Where were you?"
The Elphin who'd left her side appeared with Sion Illeionhart. Elphin perched beside Lara, rubbing its face against her cheek. Sion Illeionhart left them to their reunion and spread out the straw mat he'd dragged in.
Lara flinched at the faint smell of blood.
"…What's that? What is it?"
"The magic beasts chasing you."
"……?"
Before answering further, Sion unfolded the mat. Inside were corpses, including snowfield direwolves and various other magic beasts. The corpses, eyes still glaring blue and lifeless, looked plenty menacing. Especially those fangs as long as a person's index finger. No cadet uniform could withstand them at a glance.
But why bring them inside the cabin?
"I wanted to leave them outside too, but if I did, the smell might attract more beasts and cause more hassle."
Sion pulled a large piece of cloth from the pile of junk and draped it over the corpses.
"Can't help it looking bad, so bear with it. This'll block the smell."
It looked like a ragged old cloth at first, but closer inspection revealed otherwise. Runes for concealment and more were inscribed on it—a proper magic tool. Traveling merchants dealing in artifacts often carried these. Sure enough, the moment he covered the bodies, the smell vanished like magic.
Sion rolled it up, shoved it to one side of the cabin, and fiddled with the lamp. His movements, like a seasoned savage, looked surprisingly natural.
I infused mana into the lamp, and it lit up. The nearly extinguished flame roared back to life.
'Let's see.'
Warming my hands by the lamp's heat, I glanced at Lara Steelhiden, still in bed. She held the coffee I'd given her but hadn't drunk, just staring at it blankly. Her mind clearly wasn't at ease. Maybe she was entertaining wild ideas—like I had some ulterior motive for saving her, or I'd demand points or something in return.
Of course, I'd just saved a fallen cadet. It happened to be one of the original story's main heroines, so I prevented her reverse-summon.
'Wait…….'
…Thinking about it, I did have an ulterior motive. For her to grow strong, clear the main story smoothly, take down the villains, and graduate safely. If anything, that was my wish—and the reason I'd saved Lara.
But I couldn't exactly spill my personal circumstances.
"Thank you for saving me, but Steelhiden doesn't owe debts. I'll definitely repay this later."
It sounded like she was drawing a line. No wonder Lara Steelhiden had no friends. Of course, if someone gives, you should receive. That's proper. Barter existed before currency.
But I was a bit taken aback.
"…If you say so."
"Why are you staring like that?"
Lara Steelhiden was already at two stacks. She probably thought this was her first help from me, but unfortunately not. I'd already given her a lift to Arfen before the entrance exam. By her logic, I was the one owed interest.
Of course, I had no intention of blabbing now that I was the one who'd carried her then. Galion was gone, and now I was Sion Illeionhart greeting Lara Steelhiden. Rewards didn't interest me anyway. If she insisted on repaying, just surviving this training and growing well would suffice. Nothing more.
But Lara seemed to interpret my gaze differently.
"Um, where'd you get this coffee?"
"If you're not drinking it while talking debts, just give it back."
"…Uh, no, I'll think about that later."
As I reached for the cup, Lara twisted away. Of course—survive first. Without my lamp heat, she'd have dropped from hypothermia long ago.
Elphin, stuck to Lara's side, turned to look at me. Having hunted together, it had gauged my intentions and eased its guard somewhat. I filled my empty cup with cold water, set it atop the lamp, and waited for it to warm.
Truth be told, the coffee I'd given Lara was the last of it. No need to mention that, so I kept quiet.
The blizzard still raged outside. Whatever was left could wait until tomorrow daytime.
On the fourth day since dropping onto Nilbania Mountain, I hauled out all the magic beast corpses I'd temporarily stashed in the cabin and butchered them. Edible parts were few, but with just three more days until training ended, it was fine.
"Anything I can help with?"
"Got anything you can do?"
"……."
"Sit here and watch closely. Learn."
One more mouth to feed, but with supplies from Arsen before coming, food was plentiful. Still, more mouths here would be trouble. This camp was built for two.
Lara Steelhiden sat obediently, assisting with the butchering. I had her start with incisions, but when she tore the hide, I took over. Instead, she patrolled nearby with Elphin on guard duty or portioned the meat. …And above all.
"Running low on drinking water."
"Already?"
"More mouths to drink now. Stocked water's just one person's share."
"Then… hmm."
For water procurement, Lara Steelhiden was actually more efficient than me.
Shwaaaa—!
"Good job! Elphin!"
No need to go far. Elphin was a water spirit. One flap of its wings, and a shower poured from thin air. Water gathering became a breeze. I'd have had to trek to the distant river before, but with Lara, unnecessary trips vanished, freeing up time.
"On the way here, I saw a party carrying a deer."
"Another party?"
"Four people. Not sure if the leader was Kyle or Kai, but they were heading north."
"North? Nothing but bad terrain up there."
"Yeah, that's what I thought. Some cadets are nomads, not settling anywhere."
We spent spare time admiring the snowy vistas or chatting idly. At dusk, we took turns on watch. We even broke ice over streams for fishing.
"…What are you two doing here. Sion Illeionhart. Lara Steelhiden."
The instructor in winter gear visited our camp the day before training ended.