It didn’t seem long after the saints’ ceremony of blessing the relics ended, but when Elaine came to her senses, Saint Nicholas Day was right around the corner.
It was the season when saints who had to stay at the temple could return home for a ten-day vacation.
“Elaine. Are you sure you want to stay in the temple?”
“Yeah. I feel comfortable here.”
Debbie was worried about Elaine, who would be left alone in the dormitory, but Elaine had no reason or desire to go to Newt’s house.
Fortunately, there was no word from Newt’s family telling her to come.
Thanks to that, Elaine celebrated the end of the year quietly with Rabes in her room.
“It’s snowing a lot this year.”
On St. Nicholas Day, heavy snow fell.
While the shopkeepers were annoyed to have to shovel the snow off their storefronts, it was exciting for the kids.
[Compared to the snow falling on Mount Atalenchi, this is nothing.]
“That’s where the perpetual snow piled up. By the way, it seems like you go to Mount Atalenchi often? I think you mentioned that last time.”
[Yeah,…I went there often.]
Rabes answered, recalling Lancer, who particularly loved the snowy scenery of Mount Atalenchi.
The top of Mount Atalenchi, the highest mountain in the empire, had nothing but snow and cliffs, but the mid-mountain had some pretty spectacular scenery.
On a snow-covered day when the dense coniferous forest looked cozy, the only sounds were the sound of the Lancer stepping on the snow and the sound of exhaling.
Sometimes, snowballs could not bear the weight and slipped from the trees, and bright red berries were clearly visible through the thorn bushes that continued life even in the middle of winter.
While large animals were hiding in the cave, furry birds were picking and eating fruit and chirping cutely, and long, thin icicles were opening on the dry vines, sparkling like jewels.
“It’s really beautiful.”
Even though the tip of his nose and cheeks turned red and he blew out white breath, Lancer stood still for a long time, looking at the scenery.
Rabes, who was blankly recalling that scene, muttered.
[Should I give you that as a gift for St. Naples Day this year?]
“Not St. Naples, but St. Nicholas…But what is ‘that’?”
[Warm clothes.]
“What? All of a sudden?”
[If you didn’t like it, I can warm you with magic power.]
‘But Lancer always chose to wear something like a warm cloak and gloves. Does it suit the scenery better or something?’
Elaine put on her coat without even knowing what Rabes was talking about.
A look of anticipation appeared on Elaine’s face, which had been puzzling until just now.
“Where are we going?”
[Hold on tight.]
Without giving a single explanation, Elaine stretched up and wrapped her arms tightly around Rabes’ neck as he turned his back to her.
Rabes, carrying Elaine, jumped out of the dormitory window, and Elaine, who was startled, closed her eyes tightly without realizing it.
But she didn’t feel like she was falling at all.
She felt cold air brushing against her cheek along with the sound of flapping wings, so she opened her eyes and caught a glimpse of the temple’s dome roof below.
So they were flying over the temple.
“uh…?”
[Don’t be scared, just hold on tight, it’s hard to use magic until we are out of the temple].
“Yes, yes!”
Elaine felt like she was going to scream with giddiness, but she clenched her teeth and hugged Rabes even tighter.
Sensing Elaine’s anxiety, Rabes, who had just left the temple, said.
[I just cast a spell to prevent you from falling off my body, so don’t be too scared. The scenery is nice, how about we go around the capital?]
“Yes!”
Elaine, who had shaken off her fear thanks to a markedly different sense of stability than before, looked down from Rabes’ back.
It was St. Nicholas’ Day in the capital, and the snow was falling hard.
The shopping district was crowded with children who came out to get candy and families who came out to buy belated gifts, and white smoke was billowing out of the chimneys of each house.
Everyone is probably busy making food suitable for St. Nicholas Day.
“Wow! Look at that!”
[They look like ants.]
Rabes seemed unimpressed, but Elaine was amazed by the scenery she had never seen before.
However, what Rabes wanted to show was not just people like ants.
[Now let’s go see some really nice scenery.]
Rabes flapped his wings and changed direction sharply.
Every time he flapped his wings, the wind seemed to get colder on her cheeks.
At first, Elaine was curious about where he was going, but the feeling of flying was so good that she didn’t really care about the destination.
And when Elaine saw the scenery of a big mountain standing in front of them as they flew for a while, she intuitively realized, ‘That’s Mount Atalenchi that Rabes mentioned earlier.’
To that extent, Mount Atalenchi was different from other mountains.
It was so high that it was incomparable to the small mountains that Rabes had so easily crossed, and it was incredibly large and wide.
She had only heard that it was a ‘mountain where the snow never melts’, so Elaine thought it would be completely white, but there was a thick forest halfway down the mountainside.
[We’re almost there]
Rabes half-circled Mount Atalenchi and approached the coniferous forest that Lancer loved so much.
As expected, the forest was lightly covered in snow.
Rabes landed quietly so as not to scatter the snow.
[It’s a gift for St. Nipolas’ Day this year.]
Elaine gave up on correcting Laves, who kept misspelling the name ‘Saint Nicholas’, and carefully she came down from Rabes’ back.
In the meantime, Rabes had reduced his body size, so there was no difficulty in coming down.
“Wow…”
Before Elaine’s eyes, a dense coniferous forest was spread out, completely untouched by human hands.
Unlike before, where she could scream with excitement, Elaine was completely overwhelmed by the majestic scenery of nature and could not even breathe properly.
As she was staring blankly at the quiet forest, Rabes next to her asked worriedly.
[You don’t like it?]
“Is that possible….?”
It was her first time seeing that, but for some reason, her heart was pounding and she felt like crying.
“It’s really beautiful.”
Elaine felt like there was a word somewhere to express this beauty, but nothing came to mind.
She was speechless and her thoughts stopped.
Time itself seemed to have stopped in that white snow field.
Elaine, who had been looking at the forest for a while, carefully took a step forward.
The only sounds that echoed in this white world were the steps and gasps of breath.
“It’s such a strange thing, isn’t it?”
[what?]
“This sight…I think I’ve seen it somewhere before.”
Elaine was dazed, as if she had been possessed by something, but Rabes seemed to stop breathing at those words.
‘Is this a scene that Lancer’ soul remembers?’
Elaine saw Lancer’ appearance overlap.
The figure that seemed to slowly disappear in the white and black coniferous forest.
As he watched Elaine walking into the forest, Rabes rubbed the center of his chest that was painful.
[Don’t go too deep.]
Even if Elaine went deep into the forest, he could have taken her out, but Rabes felt anxious and stopped her.
Fortunately, Elaine did as he said and stopped near the forest entrance and looked inside for a while before turning her head.
“The gifts this year are really cool too! I am probably the only person in the world who has received a gift like this. Thank you, Rabes!”
Elaine’s brightly smiling face was different from Lancer’ face, which seemed as if he had let go of everything and was about to fall to pieces.
Only then was Rabes able to snort cheekily like he always did.
[of course. You are the only human in this world who receives a gift from a dragon.]
Elaine felt as if the whole world was truly hers because of the specialness that Rabes gave her.
So she impulsively raised her arms and shouted as she looked at the sky where snow was starting to fall again.
“I am the king of this world!”
The echo of “King!” echoed through the silent coniferous forest, and Elaine laughed as she lay down in the snow.
Hearing Elaine’s clear laughter, Rabes also laughed along with her and laid down on his back next to her.
[If you want to become a king, I will make it for you.]
Rabes tried to grumble about unnecessary words, but when he thought of Lancer, who didn’t look happy at all even though he became an Grand wizards with his own magic core, he felt like he could get a bit of a sense of what the ‘king’ that Elaine was talking about was like.
A person who has happiness and freedom, not money and power. That would be the position of king that Eaine wants.
‘I couldn’t give it to Lancer, but I might be able to give it to Elaine.’
Looking at Elaine who was making a snow angel with her arms and legs, Rabes quietly made a promise to herself.
* * *
