Before they knew it, the sun was rising high on the mountainside and sunlight was seeping through the fog. The heavy snowstorm gradually subsided.
Elaine and Ash had been embracing each other for a while. What brought them back to reality was the sound of a small cough coming from Ash. Elaine suddenly came to her senses at the sound and raised her head. At the same time, their eyes met, their faces so close they were almost touching. Instantly, their gazes turned to embarrassment.
But neither of them pulled away immediately. They stared at each other, holding their breath.
The scent of her body passed by Ash’s nose. It was comforting to see the light-green eyes he so desperately wanted to open before, reflecting his image, and he welcomed the faint warmth that radiated from their touch.
He wanted to feel more of that warmth. So much so that he wanted to stay like this, even as the bitter cold chilled him to the bones.
‘…You’re out of your mind.’
He managed to relax the strength from his arms that held her. Then, when Elaine jerked away from him, he had to fight his desire to hold on to her again, missing the warmth that was escaping. He curled up his empty hands and forced back his urges.
When his senses returned, he finally remembered that he’d been the one to hug her first. He belatedly spoke, trying to make up an excuse.
“You woke up, and I didn’t realize…”
He wiped his face and added that he was glad she was okay. Elaine barely managed a creaky nod. Rather than the fact that she was hugged by him, she was more embarrassed at herself for thinking that she wanted to stay in his arms forever.
She raised her gaze in confusion. Then, she saw him wearing only a thin shirt. Elaine stared blankly for a moment, she thought she’d seen incorrectly, but no matter how many times she blinked, the image remained the same. Soon her eyes widened.
“What, your clothes…!”
In an instant, all other thoughts flew away. she even forgot how embarrassed she’d felt.
“Ah, this.”
“Why are you dressed like that! Your coat…!”
The cold weather here was known for being the most brutal on the continent. Where had the coat he was wearing just a moment ago gone and why was he only wearing a shirt? Then she suddenly noticed an added weight on her shoulders and lowered her gaze.
There was an extra layer of clothes on her, a coat wide enough to wrap around her shoulders. The scent coming from the clothes was familiar. Elaine looked at him in astonishment.
Ash’s expression became slightly troubled. He belatedly averted his gaze as he spoke.
“Your body temperature was lowering…”
“That doesn’t mean you have to take your coat off for me!”
She cried, hastily taking off the coat and handing it back to him.
“It’s freezing out. What would we do if you caught a cold?!”
A cold was just the best-case scenario. If he stayed in this weather, dressed like that, he could get frostbite. His shirt was frozen to the ground from the heavy snow. His lips and cheeks were pale from the cold.
As she spoke, her face clearly showed her worry and nervousness. His purple eyes gazed straight at her, reflecting the she was feeling. Before she knew it, her troubled expression disappeared and he spoke calmly.
“I had no choice.”
“…”
“Because I thought you… wouldn’t wake up.”
His eyes were slightly distorted as he said those words.
For a moment, Elaine couldn’t respond. She’d said she was fine. Anyway, no matter how cold it was… Her heart beat a little faster as his eyes reflected her clearly.
“How are you feeling? Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?”
“Oh, I’m fine, but…….”
She broke eye contact and looked around at the snow-covered clearing.
“What happened to the monsters? I thought there were quite a few…”
She didn’t see the exact number, but judging from the presence she’d felt at the time, it was clearly a significant number.
However, not even a single monster was seen in the vacant mountain clearing. When she asked Ash if he’d taken them all down, he told her about what happened. Elaine’s eyes widened after hearing the story.
“There were so many Specters…”
She thought there would be a lot, but didn’t know it would be that many. He didn’t elaborate, but she could tell from the sound of it that there were a lot of them.
In fact, humans who have reached the level of a master are somewhat immune to mental attacks. Especially Elaine, who’d reached the highest level. However, with such a large number of Specters it wouldn’t have been impossible for her to be caught in their hallucinations.
Of course, even if that were the case, she shouldn’t have been so easily defeated, or she should’ve snapped out of it quickly……. This meant that her mind was weakened. She could easily crumble at the slightest nudge, and even though she looked fine on the outside, she was broken on the inside.
She was barely holding on due to Ash’s presence, but she was constantly on the verge of breaking. Moreover, her memories of that day were something she would probably never get over.
Ash had saved Elaine from her memories. If it weren’t for him, how long would she have to wander through that hell? What was he thinking as he defeated so many Specters alone?
Even if her mind had been completely consumed, she wouldn’t have died. No matter how much vitality they stole, her life never dried up. Even if she wanders through her memories, suffering for a long, long time, she would wake up someday.
The same went for her lowered body temperature. It was only for a short time due to constant exposure to the cold, it would soon return to normal.
But Ash didn’t know that. From his point of view, her life must have seemed like it was in danger. She understood how worried he must have been about her. Along with those thoughts’ other feelings, such as, worry and regret surfaced.
“Thank you.”
And when she added that she was sorry for not being able to protect him properly, he shook his head.
“You’re safe. I know you can’t handle everything, but…”
He opened and closed his lips several times as if choosing his words carefully. Soon he spoke in a soft voice.
“If something is bothering you, it’s okay to talk about it. I may be able to help by listening.”
With that, Ash turned to face her. Elaine’s eyes widened slightly. She stared at him for a moment, wavering, then smiled faintly.
“Yes, I’ll do that.”
Of course, she’d never be able to tell him about that day.
Even though she felt a little sad, her heart warmed just by knowing he was thinking of her. Then suddenly a thought occurred to her. It could be that he spoke simply because he was worried about her, but she wondered if she’d made a slip of the tongue while she was hallucinating, about that day and Bella.
Anxiety flashed across Elaine’s face.
“Sir, could it be… Did I say anything strange?”
“Strange?”
“When I was hallucinating… I was wondering if I’d made a mistake.”
“…”
He stared at her quietly for a moment. As she waited nervously for his answer, he slowly shook her head.
“There was nothing like that, in particular.”
Only then did the tension ease a little. Elaine sighed inwardly.
Surely…… it was okay? Otherwise, Ash wouldn’t be acting the same way he usually was.
The anxiety drained from her face. Then she remembered something important she’d forgotten.
“Well, we originally came because we had something to look into. Now that the Specters are gone, wouldn’t it be good to look around now?”
The purpose of their coming to the cabin was to find clues regarding Walter’s disappearance. Before they knew it, the snow had stopped falling. Ash agreed with her.
They entered the cabin again. A cold wind still blew inside. The sunlight coming through the collapsed roof became stronger, making the surroundings clearer than before. The blackened walls had cracks and broken pieces of stone littered the floor.
She wasn’t able to look around properly before because of the specters, but this time she inspected everything thoroughly. But even after looking over everything closely, she still didn’t see anything special.
Was there nothing here, as Jody said? Moreover, it seemed like all traces of the past 10 years had disappeared. She wasn’t expecting much, but still had hoped there would at least be a small clue…
Then, when she looked out the window with a dark face., something sparkled on the snow-covered ground.
“Your Grace! There’s something over there.”
Elaine pointed outside. They left the cabin together. As they approached the shining object, they saw a deep hole in the ground that looked like it was from a scratch. It was the aftermath of Ash’s sword energy that swept away the Specters.
Beneath the bare earth, something half-buried in snow was visible.
“Crystal ball?”
It was a dark green, palm-sized bead, shining in the sunlight. It was originally buried in the ground, but had become exposed once the ground was dug up.
Ash’s eyes widened slightly as he picked up the ball. He narrowed his eyes and asked.
“This… Is it mana?”
At first glance, it looked like an ordinary bead, but he could feel a faint magical presence.
“It looks like it’s a crystal ball containing mana.”
The green light of the crystal ball was not the original color. If you looked closely, the light was slightly fluctuating. It was mana that someone had infused.
Natural mana, which can often be obtained from magic stones, has a blue color. Therefore, it was not mana extracted from magic stones. It was mana that came from the body of a master or wizard.
“Why is this…”
She muttered absentmindedly and remembered something.
She didn’t know what color Walter’s mana was as she’d only seen Walter once. However, Talos Asgar was also a wizard who could manipulate mana. And the crystal ball was found near his cabin.
‘Is this… Is it the wizard’s belonging?’
She couldn’t be certain, but the possibility was high. If this was an item containing the wizard’s mana…
Elaine looked at Ash. He didn’t know that Talos Asgar was a wizard. However, he seemed aware that this bead would be an important clue to Walter’s disappearance.
He said, holding the marble.
“Let’s go back now.”
Elaine looked at the sky with him. The fog was clearing.
Ty For the update 🫶🏻🫶🏻