Inte Snowfields.

It was a murderous place, where the embers of life were being extinguished by the second in the frigid weather and the high winds that blew day and night.

“Ahaha, Cadel, I can’t feel my face. Check whether my eyes, nose, and mouth are still there.”

“It’s cold out there. Get in.”

Cadel nudged Lydon, who poked his head out of his arms and opened his collar.

Despite his thick fur coat, made of black bear pelts, and his full body armor, the cold was unbearable.

He felt frozen, not just to the bone, but to his brain and organs. His movements became sluggish, and his thinking slowed. Even the fireballs around him didn’t provide any heat, and Cadel had given up on getting any warmer.

“Commander, would you mind putting on my coat, I can take it off if you need it…….”

His face was red and frozen, and his jaw was shaking, which only added to his frustration. Cadel held out his hand as if to say thank you, and Van nodded slowly without further prompting.

The rest of the group was no different. Lumen had long since been rendered speechless by the unbearable cold, and Garuel let out a steady chuckle as he straightened his crooked eye patch.

Between them, only Lydon, who had taken full advantage of his small size, was barely staying warm. Instead of being pampered in Cadel’s arms, he had been given the individual task of searching for the seal circle.

“The mana’s getting thicker, shouldn’t we be there in a bit?”

As Lydon raised his head above the coat again and relayed the information, groaning sounds were heard here and there.

The blizzard was intense and visibility was difficult. Relying solely on Lydon’s guidance as they trudged through the snow, everyone was hoping that this ordeal would end as soon as possible.

‘It would be faster to freeze at this rate.’

Even though he was confident that he was prepared, Cadel could only raise the white flag in the cold of the Inte Snowfields. He thought he’d only have to worry about the main quest, but he was in for a shock.

‘Surely we won’t run into demons upon arrival.’

There was no way in hell he was going to fight a battle when his entire body was frozen. At least he’d have time to warm up. Cadel forced his jaw to clench as he fought off his worst imaginings. He felt like the wind was going to rip his face off.

Twenty minutes passed, like twenty days.

“We’re here!”

With a cheerful shout from Lydon, the Knight Order arrived at the seal circle, unable to see it due to the snow, but able to clearly sense the pulsing magic energy. Cadel didn’t go straight to check on the seal circle, but instead huddled with the group and built a campfire by infusing it with mana.

‘Whether we see the seal now or later, the demons are bound to appear anyway. Let’s live first.’

He didn’t know how this demon was going to appear in the story, but since the seal had been broken, it must have escaped from the inside. They needed to recover their health before it appeared.

“Every, everyone, warm, warm your body up quickly.”

He froze, unable to form words. Cadel fed the campfire with more mana, crouching down to get a little closer to the warmth that was spreading.

The sight of grown men huddled around a single small fire was rather pathetic, but none of them cared about appearances anyway.

“I wish demonic energy would take away the cold.”

Muttering, Garuel pulled a flask out of his bosom. Cadel’s eyes widened as he stared at it.

“Is that liquor……?”

“Yes. I made it strong on purpose. Would you like some?”

Cadel’s throat moved slightly. He didn’t crave alcohol at all, but a strong drink would make him feel warm inside.

‘But we don’t know when we’re going to go into battle……. Garuel says his demonic energy detoxifies him, but I can’t do that, and it’s not like I can get drunk.’

But the pain of the bitter cold continued to cloud his judgment. After a moment’s hesitation, Lumen put an end to Cadel’s troubles, grabbing him by the shoulders and pulling him close to his side, speaking in a low voice.

“Hang in there. It’s hard enough to keep your wits about you, and it’s even harder when you’re drunk.”

In the end, Cadel decided to wait for the warmth of the campfire to warm his body. It was a bonus to get a good look at Garuel as he drank himself into a stupor.

In the meantime, Lydon slipped out of Cadel’s arms and wandered around the surroundings, his tongue hanging out in the murderous cold, but more curious about the new area than anything else. As a descendant of the Great Spirit of Ice Finhai, he was relatively resistant to the cold.

“Hmm…….”

Lydon’s wings flapped stubbornly in the intense snowfall, and his brow furrowed slightly.

“I can’t quite distinguish the smells.”

The low temperatures and high winds had numbed his sense of smell. He could detect the unpleasant scent that had been wafting through the air since he’d escaped from Cadel’s arms, but he couldn’t tell if it was Garuel’s or the demon’s.

“So offensive.”

Still, there wasn’t much to see. Rubbing his nose irritably, he turned back to Cadel.

But at that very moment.

“……Huh?”

Into his field of vision, a small shadow streaked across the snow.

* * *

Lydon returned just as the group was about to activate the sealing circle, thinking, ‘I think I’ll finally be able to survive’.

“Cadel!”

Lydon called out to Cadel and transformed into his humanoid form upon landing. As he turned to face Cadel, an unmistakable look of worry appeared on his face.

“What……? What happened?”

When Cadel asked anxiously at an expression that was not at all like Lydon’s, he received an odd answer.

“Someone ambiguous is approaching.”

“What do you mean, someone ambiguous?”

“Well, he’s kind of offensive, and if I can’t figure out his identity for sure, he’s hard to mess with.”

“What? What the hell are you talking about?”

Lydon called out to the scattered members, leaving Cadel unable to understand what he was saying. And he pointed in the direction from which he had flown.

“I’ll be out in a minute, so keep an eye out.”

As Lydon said that, his eyes were full of caution. What on earth did Lydon discover that made him behave like this? Cadel felt a strange sense of foreboding and looked in the direction Lydon had indicated.

Soon enough, a small figure emerged from the frosty snow.

“Is that…….”

“Looks like a child, Knight Commander.”

Judging by the size, it was definitely a child. Seeing the tiny silhouette staggering toward them, Garuel hurried out. Van and Lumen followed him, but not Cadel. He looked back at Lydon, who stood at his side.

“Is that the ‘ambiguous one’ you were talking about?”

“Yeah. I think he’s got a nasty smell, but my sense of smell has been dulled since I’ve been here. I don’t make a habit of messing with kids, so I came to get a confirmation from Cadel.”

Cadel patted Lydon on the back as he squared his shoulders in praise, then strode toward the group.

“Good job.”

As he approached, the child’s form came into focus. A boy of about ten, surrounded by Van, Lumen, and Garuel.

He had dull blue hair and skin as white as the snow. With dark golden eyes and a seemingly innocent face, the boy stared at the group, his eyes filled with fear.

“Does he have company nearby, or is he lost?”

“He said there was a village on the outskirts of the snowfields. Did he walk here from there?”

Garuel and Lumen looked the boy over, asking if there were any other members of the party nearby. Van, too, searched the boy’s body for wounds but quickly turned his attention to Cadel as he approached.

“Commander, he must have gotten lost nearby. His clothes are thin and he has no shoes, but he’s not frostbitten yet, so I’m guessing he has a guardian around.”

Van was right, the boy was wearing nothing but a thin tunic and a dark blue robe that didn’t look like it was meant for winter. Normally, his body would have frozen in an instant and his flesh would have rotted away, but the boy’s skin was still white.

Van seemed to assume it was because the child had only recently been separated from his group. But not Cadel.

He pushed past the worried members and squatted down in front of the boy. The boy’s large eyes followed Cadel’s movements. His timid gaze tightened with tension.

Cadel grasped the boy’s small hand with an impassive expression. He stroked the back of the soft hand firmly and looked into the boy’s round eyes.

“I’ll spare you if you get out of here.”

A statement that no one expected. It was something they never imagined would come out of Cadel’s mouth.

The members looked at Cadel in surprise, and the boy’s eyes widened in shock. Lydon was the only one who didn’t panic, and he shook his head, looking somewhat amused.

“Well, no ordinary kid would wander into a place like this. Ahaha! He almost fooled you!”

Lydon’s booming laughter shattered the silence. At the same time, the wandering eyes of the members turned back to the boy, and the atmosphere of worry and concern quickly subsided.

In the midst of it, the boy, still looking frightened, carefully twisted and pulled his hand out.

“You, you will spare me if I get out of here……?”

The boy’s eyes were moist as if he was genuinely afraid. His expression was one of terror, but his gaze remained fixed on Cadel.

The boy spoke, his voice trembling as if he were about to burst into tears.

“Who, who will spare who……? Impudent…….”