“Then release my father,” Warm growled. “You, of all people, should know of Gillan’s misdeeds. Why is a man like him allowed to run free?”
“I suppose a twelve-year-old child cannot wrap his mind around the bigger picture,” Eric replied. “Stelia’s fief is vast and our soldiers are excellent, but we are by no means a wealthy plot of land. Gillan is an evil man, but his skills as a merchant are first-rate. There’s no doubt that he’s the one keeping Stelia’s economy afloat. What do you think would happen if we seek justice against him?”
Warm gritted his teeth, undaunted by Eric’s condescending tone. “And I’m asking why you let him support Stelia’s entire economy! The previous Stelia lord would never have allowed this to happen!”
“Don’t you dare say that in front of father, even if you do believe that. Or it’ll be your funeral. Even I cannot suppress his rage.” Eric shrugged wearily. “Unfortunately for you, I recommend you forget about your father. He dared to go against Gillan, after all—if, for some reason, your father’s freed, he’d never be able to survive for long within this fief.”
Warm glared at Eric. “How can this be allowed?! Gillan is a poison to Stelia! My father tried to do something about it for the sake of this land!”
Eric turned his gaze to the ground and shook his head, Warm’s angry cries falling on deaf ears.
“Your father has served the previous lord, my grandfather, loyally,” Eric said. “I know that well. But one man’s poison can be turned into a medicine based on how it’s used. And this medicine is required in Stelia right now.”
“Screw that!” Warm bellowed.
He leaned forward, trying to snap the chains, but the metal was enhanced with mana and could resist most forces. Even dragons were unable to break free of these mana chains. It made no difference how much Warm moved; he couldn’t even crack his restraints, while Eric only quietly stared at his apprentice.
“It seems your head hasn’t cooled just yet,” Eric muttered. “I suppose you need to spend more time here.”
After Eric left, Warm’s angry roars echoed throughout for a while longer. As the Crimson Sacred Sword left, the yellow lily fell from his hands and onto the cold floor, its dainty petals frozen with a sheet of white from the frigid temperature.
✶✶✶
I flew above the skies of the snowy mountains, the blizzard creating a monotone world amid the darkness of the night. I was thrown into this freezing terrain, all alone without so much as a warning.
“Damn wyvern!” I spat. “I’ll remember this!”
Warm’s wyvern carried me all the way to Stelia, but it was no longer here; thanks to my mana boost, the beast flew at an incredible pace, but once it arrived here, its speed came to a screeching halt before it lifelessly plummeted below. I was still on its back as I was thrown into the air, hurled into a world of snow and strong winds. I was unharmed, my magic barrier protecting me from the elements, but I wasn’t completely impervious to the nip in the air. I was freezing to death as I stood there alone in the cold.
“Damn... Where the hell is it?” I muttered as I activated my perception field in search of the wyvern.
I could barely see within this blizzard, but the wyvern’s mana gave me a clear signal on where to head. Luckily, it wasn’t too far from me.
“You’ve got to be joking...” I grumbled. “How dare it throw me out into this cold.”
I channeled mana into my legs as I kicked the snow behind me and rushed forward. The thick snow sank deeply with every step I took, and I couldn’t move as fast as I liked while my stamina was being sapped away. I wasn’t even running for long, and the relentlessly cruel frigid temperature further added on to my burden.
I might have had mana, but I was still human. Even I couldn’t survive this harsh weather for long, and my shadow spells didn’t provide any warmth. As I raced forward in the cold, I relied on my mana perception field to trek through the snow. I finally reached the wyvern lying under a sheet of white. The beast was unconscious and didn’t budge an inch—I almost thought that it was dead.
“It’s...still alive,” I muttered.
Since I could perceive its mana, I knew it wasn’t dead yet, and thanks to my magic regenerating its wing, it should’ve been able to recover from any wound. Still, this was the first time I had used this spell on a living creature, and I wasn’t sure just how fatal the wound had to be before it died. Would this wyvern also regenerate endlessly, much like the shadow familiars that I used? Without any testing, I couldn’t be certain.
Why did this wyvern just plummet to the ground anyway?
At first, I’d wondered if we were under attack, but there wasn’t a scratch on this beast, and I hadn’t sensed any attacking spells or hostile mana aimed at us either. I had no idea why this wyvern had just fallen in the middle of this mountain, and I didn’t know what was going on with it in the first place. All I knew was that I’d die if I stayed here for much longer.
“Hmph, this isn’t personal,” I said.
I turned my back on the beast lying in the snow and left it behind. Don’t blame me for this, Warm. I just don’t intend on dying with this lizard. As I walked ahead alone, I realized that I didn’t even know where people were, and my vision was completely obscured by the blizzard. I didn’t even know what direction I was moving in, and while I wasn’t completely blacked into a corner, I racked my brain in search of a solution.
Just then, I felt something tug my coat from behind.
With a quick jolt, I leaped backward and summoned a Dark Ball in hand, ready to fight back. Only the fainted wyvern was behind me, much to my concern. I’m certain that someone just tugged on my clothes. I strained my eyes and tried to peer through the blizzard in search of someone nearby.
“What the...” I muttered.
I frowned. I spotted a girl in a white dress and white hair, who appeared to be around ten.
“Are you hurt?” she asked. “I’m sorry. Seems like it fell asleep.”
She looked at me apologetically, her eyes focused on the wyvern on the ground. I kept my guard up, ready to hurl a spell at a moment’s notice.
“Who are you?” I demanded. “Did you do something to that wyvern?”
The girl quietly shook her head. “I didn’t do anything. But when it sleeps, it won’t awaken for a while. The drowsiness comes quickly, and the wyvern can’t resist.”
“It...sleeps?”
“Yeah. Like it’s completely knocked out. And as the days go on, it’s been sleeping longer and longer.”
A sudden wave of drowsiness...and its slumber has increased over the days? I’ve never heard of that. Is it a side effect of Shadow Eater? I’d never used it on a living creature before, so I wasn’t sure if it had any ill effects.
I furrowed my brow at the mysterious girl who clearly seemed to know more than me on this matter.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“I’m Yunaile, the one who called for you.”
“Huh? You did?”