At the Northern Fort V1C22

At the Northern Fort V1C22: Snow Spirit

As they approached the altar, the blizzard grew even fiercer.

In the forests that spread out at the base of Snowlea Mountain, violent gusts stirred the snow up, dying the field of vision white. The distance between the troops in formation was far shorter than usual, as though if they didn’t walk with their horses nearly touching, they would end up losing sight of each other.

The howling winds stole away their hearing, while the snow clinging to their overcoats steadily stole away their bodily heat.

Even if you wore gloves, or thick socks with boots on top of them, and a fur hat on your head, the tips of your fingers, your toes and your ears – all the extremities of your body – could feel the pain of frostbite.

However, the one saving grace was that the snow cover in the forest wasn’t as bad.The densely growing trees blocked off some degree of the snow falling from the sky, so they were able to advance while remaining on their horses.

However, at times the tree branches became unable to endure the weight of the snow and would break, presenting a hazard. When the heavy snow gained speed from the fall, it produced a similar impact to an iron mass being dropped on you. It was plenty capable of stealing away a human life, and they also had to be careful of avalanches while proceeding as well.

Just how much longer until they reached the altar? During patrols, Grail had gone to the altar countless times, but in this blizzard where you couldn’t see more than a few steps ahead of you, it was difficult to get an accurate grasp on the distance travelled.

After they entered the forest, it felt as though the temperature had fallen even further. When inhaling, it was almost like the air would freeze your lungs.

The word [withdraw] came into Grail’s mind. It might be difficult to advance any further in this situation. They should withdraw while the horses still had the strength left to do so.

Above all else, he felt that the poor visibility was the greatest danger right now. The landscape that should have been familiar to them looked completely different, and the chances that they were confusing which route to take was high.

With Kix lined up next to him, Grail was leading at the head of the group. He tried to call out to Branch Captain Cromwell, who was taking up the rear, and turned around.

However, in that instant, the blizzard that had been thoroughly tormenting them came to an unnatural stop.

Unconsciously, their bodies that had been tensed to withstand the furious winds and protect their bodies against the cold relaxed. All of their subordinates were surprised at the suddenly calm winds, and looked up at the sky.

“What happened all of a sudden?”

“The wind…stopped?”

“No……don’t let your guard down.”

Grail spoke in a stern tone of voice to his subordinates, whose mouths were opening absentmindedly. Somehow, the words [the calm before the storm] came to mind.

Before they realised it, they had exited the dense foliage, arriving at an open area in the middle of the forest. In front of their eyes was the altar.

“Huh? We’ve already arrived, huh.”

Saying that, Kix dismounted from his horse. Grail also alighted to the ground, and stepped on the snow carefully while approaching the altar.

The Snow Spirit Snowlea’s altar was a simple construct of two large white stone pillars lined up together. He did not know whether it was like this to begin with, or whether the long passage of time had caused what was originally a whole building to decay. However, just the size of the pillars made it majestic to look up at, and they did not look like they’d end up buried, no matter how much snow accumulated. 

“As expected, was the blizzard caused by the spirit?”

Having dismounted his horse and approached himself, Cromwell murmured that in rumination. Seeing as the blizzard had calmed as soon as they had approached the altar, it did seem like the spirit was related to the origin of the blizzard.

However, Grail did not have a very good feeling about that. He vaguely felt that it wasn’t that she was welcoming them. The wind had stopped, and the surrounding area had become painfully quiet, but Grail felt an indescribable sense of nervousness from that silence.

“Kix, hurry up and come back. Don’t go off on your own.”

Calling back his subordinate who was approaching the altar while brimming with curiosity, Grail looked around at the surroundings cautiously. Cromwell also ran his sharp gaze around the area.

Only the snow continued to fall heavily onto the ground without a single sound. Someone nervously swallowed their saliva.

“Will the spirit really appear?”

Grail had never met the Snow Spirit, but even amongst the townspeople who regularly came to the altar to offer up their prayers, hardly anyone had actually seen the spirit’s appearance. 

However, everyone believed that the Snow Spirit would drive away anyone who tried to do any evil in this region with the cold and snow. She protected this region with the snow.

It was true that despite the fact that there was a national border here, there had never been any national conflicts in this region. One of the main contributing factors to that was the sheer amount of snow here. An army would have their hands full with thinking about countermeasures to deal with the snow. And with their own army busy protecting themselves from the snow, this country didn’t have the time to make any attacks on the neighbouring enemy country. 

“Have you ever seen the Snow Spirit Snowlea?”

Cromwell kept his focus on the altar directly in front of them while asking Grail that question. Grail answered, “No”, while shaking his head.

“The Snow Spirit is famous for how she thankfully holds some sentiment towards this country. In order to protect this country, she has also, at times, cooperated with the royalty. However, I haven’t actually seen her in person. Though I have heard rumours that she’s an incredibly beautiful woman.”

Cromwell nodded at Grail’s reply and spoke.

“I’ve seen her. Previously when I was working as the Prince’s Guard.”

This time, Grail nodded. He recalled how Cromwell was childhood friends with the First Prince.

“Ehh! Branch Captain, you’ve seen the Snow Spirit before? How nice~, she’s extremely beautiful, right?”

“She certainly was beautiful, but that beauty was……”

It was when Cromwell was responding to Kix’s sudden interruption that——

As though the sound of the snow itself had been sucked up, the surroundings grew even more silent. When they exhaled, their breaths froze into a white cloud the instant it hit the outside air.

In the forest, on the holy altar, a single gust of wind seemed to come out of nowhere. The fallen snow on the ground was stirred up by the wind and danced upwards.

And then, when that whirling snow fell back to the ground, there stood a single beautiful woman on the centre of the altar, where nothing had been before.

“……uu..wah”

Kix and the other subordinates swallowed back their words. Grail’s eyes also widened, and all he could do was stare at that person.

Her unworldly beauty made them feel as though their minds would be sucked away.

The woman was wearing a completely different form of dress from that of the general populace of this country, and from the nobility. Her pure white, slightly lustrous clothes that were fastened together at its front, were held in place by an obi tied underneath her breasts. 

The fabric ran perfectly along her body lines, greatly exposing much of her chest. A normal man’s eyes might be drawn to such a place, but Grail’s attention was drawn by the high quality-looking white fur scarf around her neck. It was probably just as fluffy as Mil, with a slight chill to it, he thought. 

When he raised his gaze slightly, a small and perfectly proportioned face was reflected in his eyes. She was as beautiful as an ice sculpture, without a single flaw.

The women in town often made a fuss about how ‘pretty’ Cromwell next to him was, but compared to the woman in front of him, Grail realised that he held an entirely different kind of beauty. 

Both of them held an icy beauty, but Cromwell was far more human-like. If you looked carefully, there were small scars on his face, and the tip of his nose would become red from the cold……

However, what about the beauty in front of him? Her white skin that was like melted snow was too perfect, as though she were a doll. It did not seem like warm red blood flowed underneath that skin. 

Her hair was a bewitching silver colour, and each and every strand seemed to give off a bit of light. 

And her faintly blue eyes, that resembled the ice of a frozen spring, boasted a shuddering degree of beauty as they glared their way.

However, even her face, dyed with anger, stole away one’s eyes. It was although her beauty itself was a lethal weapon.

One could not think that she was human. She was undoubtedly the Snow Spirit Snowlea.

For a short while, Grail remained motionless as goosebumps rose, but then he suddenly returned to his senses and looked back at his subordinates. All of them had their eyes stolen away at the suddenly appearing beauty, and had even forgotten to breathe.

“Oi, breathe.”

Even though Grail hastily advised them, they all remained as still as statues, not even blinking. It was as though their souls had been stolen away.

“Don’t look directly at the spirit’s face. Look at that white fur pelt instead.”

After receiving Grail’s instructions, the subordinates slowly moved their gazes down to her neck. As soon as they did so, the muscles on everyone’s faces relaxed and they took in a deep breath.

All of them were reminded of the same thing when they saw that scarf. They’d remember the pleasant feeling of petting the white fox cub at the fort, and with that, they regained a bit of composure. 

“You are the Snow Spirit Snowlea……correct?”

Having seen her once before, Cromwell was calmer than the rest of the knights. He held a sense of nervousness while speaking to the angry spirit.

“……my……”

The spirit’s voice that was hushed as a murmur was by no means loud. However, her clear and cold voice was properly delivered into the ears of Grail and co., causing their eardrums to tremble. Even if it were in the middle of a crowd, it would probably be possible to differentiate her voice alone.

Snowlea placed her hand that had been hidden within her long sleeves against her lips, and let out a heartbreaking voice that seemed to be squeezed out from her throat. Her well-shaped eyebrows were raised upwards in anger.

“My beloved child is gone……! You wretched humans, where did you take Milfiria!”

Snowlea’s eyes widened as she flared up. Sharp fangs peeked out from between her captivating lips. 

The moment she shrieked, an unseeable pressure attacked them, causing the knights’ breathing to come to a sudden stop. If they had not braced their legs immediately, they probably would have fallen on their backsides. The frightened horses neighed from behind them.

Grail hastily organised the information obtained. The Snow Spirit was certainly angry. And the cause of that seemed to be her child, but this was the first time he had heard of the Snow Spirit having a child. Cromwell also didn’t seem to know about that, as his brow furrowed next to Grail.

“Why did you people come here? Were you the ones who kidnapped my child!? What is your purpose!?”

A beast-like roar came from the beautiful snow spirit. She gritted her teeth, baring her fangs, appearing as though she would spring at them at any time now. 

Grail reflexively reached his hand towards the blade at his hip, but he pressed down that reflex while explaining.

“Please wait, we only came here to have you stop the blizzard. Oh Snow Spirit, please calm down and listen. We are the knights protecting this region. We would not kidnap your child. To begin with, we did not even know that you had a child.”

“……knights from the fort?”

Realising their identities, Snowlea appeared to regain some degree of composure. Perhaps because she sensed that there were no lies in Grail’s earnest words, as her wrath eased.

“It is only natural that you did not know that I had a child. I feared that something like this would happen, so I did not tell anyone. A child spirit is weak and easy to abduct, and on top of that, as they grow, they will come to possess a great power. I was wary of humans who might try to take advantage of that fact. Just how did they find out that I had a child……”

As she murmured the last few words to herself, Snowlea’s beautiful face once again warped in anger.

If the spirit’s child was truly kidnapped, then that was a huge incident. What was the culprit’s motive? Were they planning on overthrowing the monarchy of this country, or did they have an even more selfish desire? Either way, this was a crisis. One dire enough that warranted the speedy dispatch of a messenger to the Capital. 

However, before that they had to find out more details regarding the situation. As Grail regained his presence of mind, he continued to question the otherworldly beauty before him.

“However, during this season, shouldn’t it be quite difficult for any human to reach your nest at the mountaintop? I’m afraid to say but……there is the possibility that your child left the nest of their own accord……”

As expected, even Grail didn’t want to say something that might throw more fuel on the flame’s of the spirit’s rage. But, if you thought about it normally, he felt that it was only natural to inquire about such a possibility. Trying to climb Snowlea Mountain during the winter was an insane endeavour. 

The Snow Spirit glared back angrily as she spoke.

“It is true that with a human’s stamina, it’d be difficult to reach my mountaintop. However, it is not impossible. During the past several hundred years, there were numerous times when humans holding wicked thoughts climbed my mountain in an attempt to curry favour with me. Half of them gave up on the way, and half of them lost their lives, but in extremely rare cases when they were blessed with good weather, there were people who reached the mountaintop. Though I’d have them devoured by avalanches before they could manage to reach my nest.”

The Snow Spirit paused her words there briefly. While they were wicked people, it appeared that she held no resistance against taking the lives of humans. Hearing her say that as though it were a trifling matter once again reminded him how she was indeed a spirit.

Most spirits held no interest in humans at all, so Snowlea was famous as a spirit with sympathy for humans. However, her fundamental way of thinking was probably different from that of a human. Grail had also cut down humans as a knight, and he did not regret that fact, but it wasn’t like he didn’t feel anything about killing humans like she did.

“In other words, it isn’t impossible for humans to have come to my nest and kidnapped my child. In addition……”

Snowlea bit her lips and made an expression as though she were about to cry as she spoke.

“And my beloved child is still a mere infant……! There’s no way she could go down the mountain with those small and cute legs of hers! Milfiria is a cowardly child, so I find it hard to believe that she’d leave the safety of the nest of her own accord……that’s right, that child is easily frightened. I’m sure that right now, she’s trembling after being taken by some unknown humans……how pitiful, my beloved child is……!”

Tears trailed down the spirit’s white cheeks. They were tears with a beauty that would not lose to any gemstone.

Hearing Snowlea’s sorrowful cry that overflowed with the love of a mother thinking of her child, Grail also felt that he wanted to help her somehow.

“We will cooperate with you. Let’s do everything we can to get your child back. That is why, please. Please, could you stop the blizzard? With this fierce wind and snow, we won’t be able to go out to search.”

While the wind had stopped in the area around the altar, the snow continued to fall. If they went to the town or towards the fort, it was likely that the horrible blizzard was continuing. 

However, when Snowlea looked at Grail, her brow was faintly furrowed as her eyes narrowed.

“……it’s impossible. It is true that I am the one who started this blizzard, and I have no intention of driving the townspeople, who normally give offerings of delicious alcohol to me here, into a dead end. However, for some reason right now I can’t control my powers properly. When I think that the ones who kidnapped Milfiria were humans, boundless anger wells up within me……!”

In that instant, a strong wind burst out in the area of the altar. It was as though it was responding to the spirit’s emotions.

As Grail found himself to once again be in the midst of a blizzard, he felt a sense of crisis as he realised that the situation was far worse than expected.

Just how many days would it take to find the spirit’s child? Would this blizzard not end until then? What would happen if they couldn’t find the child? In the worst case scenario, what if the child had died? If snow continued to fall for the rest of his life, then that alone would probably render this region uninhabitable.

Regardless of the fact that the spirit was causing the blizzard, the fact that she could not stop it of her own accord was troublesome.

Before even more snow accumulated and rendered them unable to move about, they definitely had to send a messenger to the Capital. They could have the Knight Branches throughout the country cooperate in searching for the spirit’s child, and at the same time, ask another spirit to stop Snowlea. Since they didn’t stand much of a chance against her with human powers.

Grail did not know much about spirits, but he knew that there was a fire spirit in the south. He was also relatively helpful to humans, and his powers might be able to melt the snow. 

Cromwell next to him was also probably thinking to a dizzying degree in attempts to come up with a plan to break out of this situation. He was making a stern face like Grail as he fell into thought.

“Vice Captain! What are we going to do!? It looks like we won’t be able to stop this blizzard, and if we keep staying here then we’ll be screwed!”

Amidst the furious blizzard, Kix shouted anxiously from behind him.

Both of Snowlea’s hands were covering her face as she called her child’s name while crying, losing herself to her deep sorrow.

It looked like it’d be better to return to the fort for the time being, and start the search for the spirit’s child. But, before that… -Grail walked towards Snowlea.

However, the wind got stronger as he approached Snowlea, and it seemed like even Grail’s large body would be blown away.

“Grail!”

Cromwell yelled from behind him, but Grail’s legs did not stop. He resisted the headwinds while putting strength into his legs and desperately advancing forward.

Eventually, once he stood in front of Snowlea, he grabbed her shoulders with both his hands, and lightly shook her in an attempt to restore her sanity.

“Snowlea! Please, listen!”

“V-Vice Captain……what are you-”

The only one who could do that to a spirit was probably Grail, Kix and the rest of the knight’s thought to themselves as they were once again made to recognise what an iron man the Vice Captain was.

In the middle of the blizzard, the Iron Man shouted.

“Please, tell us the characteristics of your child! We need to know that if we’re to search for them! Are they a boy or a girl? Do they have the same silver hair as you? What kind of clothes were they wearing? You said that the child is still an infant, but are they big enough to walk on their own already, or are they an actual infant that still needs to suckle——”

Grail’s words stopped there. He was rendered unable to continue speaking.

The reason for that being was that Snowlea, who had been crying while covering her face, suddenly went silent before looking intently at Grail from the gaps between her fingers.

Seeing her ice-like eyes from a point-blank range made Grail feel as though his heart itself had stopped for a brief moment.

“You……”

Snowlea’s pale, pure white hand reached out to him. And the moment her slender fingertip touched Grail’s cheek, it felt like his body was about to freeze from its very core. It was just a momentary, minimal skin-to-skin contact, but that contact rapidly stole away his body heat.

I have to get away from her……! -even though he was thinking that, his body wouldn’t listen to him.

“……why do I smell the scent of my beloved child from you?”

After the beautiful snow spirit murmured that with an expressionless face and voice, her demeanor made a complete about-face. The corners of her eyes rose up, her fangs were bared, and a tempestuous fury dyed her face.

“Where did you take my child…….!”

Grail used his entire body’s strength to move his arm. He gripped his sword, and tried to pull it out. It was because he felt that if he didn’t counter back, he’d be killed. And it was because he was suspected of a crime that he had nothing to do with. 

Perhaps most humans would only be able to wait for death when placed in front of an angry spirit, but Grail was different. His tenacious force of will roused his mind, and he directed his strength into his sword.

However, at that moment——

“……Milfiria?”

Snowlea’s gaze dropped to Grail’s feet as she whispered with eyes widened with astonishment.

---

<–Previous Chapter | Next Chapter–>

---

Translator Comments:

Mama-san is here!!!!! Also, long! This chapter was way too long!