Chapter 72

Amelia descended from the top with light footsteps.

Thinking she should surprise His Grace, she poked her head out from the staircase landing.

"Your Grace!"

"Ah."

There was someone else besides Arenheit, who turned around in surprise.

The Duke's black horse, and a man dressed all in black.

Why was a person who should be at the castle here?

Could this be.

Amelia's face instantly turned pale blue.

"Aaaaaahhh! A ghost!"

* * *

"No, you don't need to scream like that, you're scarier! I'm the one who should be screaming!"

"Y-Your Grace, but Sir Leandros! He sh-should be at the d-ducal residence right n-now!"

"I'll explain everything, I'll explain, so please calm down!"

Amelia was standing against the wall with trembling legs.

Though he had been prepared, when it actually happened, he felt at a loss.

How should he explain this?

He swept his bangs back, let out a heavy sigh, then slowly opened his mouth.

"I called Sir Leandros. To be precise, I called the horse."

"H-how can a h-horse come here in s-such a short time? S-surely he would have b-been at the camp with S-Sir Russel."

"This horse is a bit special. It's kind of a gift my mother left me."

If she had been the Duchess's maid, Amelia must have noticed something.

Amelia looked at the horse and then turned her gaze to Leandros.

"Th-then, Sir Leandros is."

"Well, about that. I only meant to call the horse to bring Sir Russel. But there was Sir Leandros sitting on the horse."

"W-why?"

"Leandros. Explain yourself."

Leandros, who had been dusting off a black winter cloak that he had prepared somehow, answered emotionlessly.

"Because I decided to spend the vacation Your Grace gave me in the north."

"W-what?"

"There was some cooperation from Russel and Arndt in the process."

"What? How?"

Amelia's blank face looked back and forth between them.

Yes, he had been curious about that too.

He managed to smile at Amelia.

"According to what I just heard, he 'borrowed' my horse 'to spend a vacation in the north.'"

He had been so surprised when he saw Leandros riding on Sleigh when he blew the horn.

Not only would it be difficult to discreetly track them using a regular horse, but there was also a shortage of spare horses at the ducal residence.

During the day, he used Sleigh, and when they started to rest in the evening, Russel took the horse away, saying he was going to feed it, and sent it to Leandros.

And Leandros rode Sleigh all night to near the campsite.

Then in the morning, when he woke up, he would ride Sleigh and continue the journey.

Now he understood why Russel had been flustered as an accomplice when he worried about Sleigh's condition.

In other words, Sleigh had been working 24 hours a day.

No wonder the poor thing's condition had deteriorated so much!

"You, how could you treat Sleigh like that? What if he collapses from overwork and I fall off!"

"Given that it's not an ordinary horse, that wouldn't happen, would it?"

"How would you know!"

"It's a horse that the former Duchess prepared for Your Grace. You would have known if you'd seen it wide awake with bright red eyes day and night."

"Sleigh doesn't sleep?"

"Since you never step into the stable, it's understandable that you don't know. Despite knowing that the horse is unusually intelligent."

"Stop! How can you talk about that in front of Amelia!"

"Weren't you prepared for this the moment you called the horse? Besides, it doesn't look like Lady Amelia is all that innocent either."

"Eek!"

When he turned his head toward Amelia, she flinched and slowly backed away.

Though she hid the dagger she had been tightly holding behind her back, that didn't erase the traces of battle left all over her body.

Amelia, dripping with cold sweat, began to feign ignorance.

"Amelia. You answer properly too. What exactly is your identity?"

"I-I'm wronged! The r-reason the Duchess h-hired me originally w-was because of th-this!"

What?

Looking at Leandros, he stared back at him blankly.

"I thought you would have guessed why I didn't oppose Lady Amelia's recruitment."

"No, I didn't know at all."

"But you didn't ask."

The desire to punch Leandros bubbled up fiercely.

Amelia, sensing the mood, scurried over and hid behind Leandros.

"The D-Duchess said that a-anyone who would be by h-her side needed to h-have skills!"

"And yet you moved to the assistant head butler position just fine!"

"Th-that's because D-Dederik said he p-preferred smart women to s-strong ones!"

He began to understand why Yurik had addicted the others to gambling or made it so no one knew whether they existed, while just drugging Amelia.

Having the skills to kill a Shantak alone, she must have been marked as a troublesome obstacle to Yurik.

To handle Amelia later, he would have had to neutralize these skills first.

Oh goodness.

Hidden settings were pouring out, pouring out.

"Both of you, don't keep secrets from me anymore. Please, I'm begging you."

"Y-yes. But w-what about S-Sir Russel who's l-left alone?"

"We'll have to call him."

"D-do we have to r-reveal all the s-secrets we just shared? To S-Sir Russel too?"

"I think we should."

Given the situation, they needed to prepare him mentally to some extent.

What if Russel jumped up and treated them like they were crazy?

With a gloomy heart, he asked Sleigh to bring Russel.

"W-wow! Your Grace! This horse went whoosh and suddenly the surroundings changed and in the blink of an eye we're here! Your Grace! What exactly is this horse!"

"A gift from my mother. Russel, I'm sorry for bringing you here, but we just couldn't handle the situation ourselves."

"It's amazing! Really! Even after riding all kinds of demonic beasts, I've never seen such an ability! You just go whoosh and arrive immediately? Is it magic?"

"It's not magic. More importantly, Amelia just killed a giant bizarre bird by herself. We're stranded somewhere in the north."

"If it's not magic, how can it go whoosh and whoosh like this? To think it had such an ability! Can I ride it one more time?"

"Hey. We're stranded in the north right now... never mind."

Yes.

Having a character with flowers in his head somehow gave a strangely chilling feeling that was stabilizing.

Leaving Russel, who was enthusiastic about Sleigh, they held a meeting among the three of them.

"If similar buildings were visible on both sides, it was likely a place where foreigners were inspected before entering."

"It was indeed a watchtower. But I couldn't see any further. The question is whether to go back or to move forward."

"I-I know which d-direction the forest is. If w-we go in the opposite d-direction, we can g-go deeper into the north."

He knew the way.

But even if they went back, the situation wouldn't change.

There would still be a shortage of mithril, and there was concern that the supply might be completely cut off in the long term.

But there were too many risk factors to go deep in like this.

"By the way, Amelia. What was that presence you felt in the snow field earlier?"

"Th-that was... Just a v-vague feeling that we sh-shouldn't stay there."

As Amelia mumbled, Leandros, who had been thinking quietly, said.

"Well-trained people have intuition. We can't ignore that. Besides, without information about the isolated north, it would be best to be as careful as possible."

"That doesn't mean we should stay here."

"Yes. I vaguely know where the Margrave of the Northern Border's castle is located. If we can just get to that area, we should be able to find a village without much difficulty."

It seemed that was the only option for now.

When Sleigh had arrived, only Russel was riding him.

That meant somewhere out there in the mountains, all their belongings they had left behind were still there.

Utensils, bags, tents, and food.

Though each of them was carrying emergency rations, they needed to secure shelter and food as soon as possible.

"Then let's move immediately without delay. We can't waste time when visibility is good."

If they stayed here any longer, more creatures like the Shantak might gather.

Leandros and Amelia nodded.

The snow plain was difficult to walk on because of the accumulated and frozen snow.

Everyone moved forward slowly, sticking close to Sleigh to preserve body heat as much as possible.

Neither rabbit fur shoes nor thick gloves could block the cold, and their hands and feet were frozen solid.

Even as their skin prickled and sensation dulled, they had to keep walking.

It felt like they had walked for six hours.

They were sweating but cold, and their legs felt like they would melt.

Unable to exert any more strength in his legs, he occasionally staggered, requiring Russel or Leandros to catch him to prevent him from falling.

In his heart, he wanted to collapse right there.

He wanted to rest even for a moment, even if it meant being buried in the snow.

Leandros, looking back at him panting like a dog on a summer day, shouted.

"Let's take a break."

Finally!

Even for a break, there was no proper place to shelter from the wind, so all they could do was dig a small snow cave on the spot and huddle inside.

But with the cloak spread out and everyone sitting closely together, it was quite comfortable.

He leaned on Amelia's shoulder and closed his eyes for a moment.

He thought it was just a moment.

"Huh."

He must have dozed off without realizing it.

Judging by his sore backside, he seemed to have dozed for quite a while.

Were they all unable to leave because of him?

Rubbing the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand, he raised his head, and Amelia was watching outside with a rare serious expression.

It wasn't just Amelia.

Russel and Leandros were all looking at the same place.

"What's happening?"

"Y-Your Grace. The d-day seems strange. It's n-not getting dark."

"What do you mean?"

It's normal for the day not to get dark.

As he looked puzzled, Russel answered.

"When that horse came to find me in the forest, it was already late afternoon. How long have we been walking now, senior?"

"About three hours."

"Then it should be more than dark enough, but there's no sign of that."

Through the small entrance of the snow cave, a palm-sized sky was visible.

It was the same ashen color as when he first woke up, not different at all.

The clouds were so thick that the position of the sun couldn't be determined.

Leandros muttered.

"Losing one's sense of time is dangerous."

That was correct.

In a stranded situation, nothing was unimportant, but among them, the concept of time was especially crucial.

If one could know the time, one could decide when to rest and be active to conserve energy.

One could also avoid nocturnal or diurnal beasts.

Being able to determine direction by the sun's movement was an added benefit.

What would it mean to lose this sense?

Walking endlessly, resting endlessly, losing direction, and being attacked by beasts.

"Is it because of the heavy snow?"

"That could be, but normally it should get dark."

This was an abnormal phenomenon.

Were people living in this environment?

Why didn't the people of the north leave this region?

They rested a bit more before leaving the snow cave.

Walking across the snow plain that was neither dark nor bright for a long time, they had to rest two more times before finally discovering something.

"There, a light!"

In the direction Amelia pointed, a pair of whitish lights could be seen in the distance.

The lights had a strange coloration, a mix of pale blue and gray.

They kept swaying.

Were they lanterns hanging from the end of sticks?

The flames, which seemed to be dancing, swayed here and there before fleeing in the opposite direction from them.

They headed in the direction the flames had fled, pushing through the snow.

Before long, a village appeared, piercing through the gray-white air filled with snow and ice fragments.

The village, with its entrance and fence made of bare trees, seemed closer to a hamlet in terms of size.

"Ah, finally a village!"

"We need to gather some information inside first."

"I-I want to g-get Your Grace some h-hot water."

They all showed signs of relief as they entered the village.

But the moment they entered, they felt a sense of déjà vu.

Not a single house had its lights on.

Even in this cold, there wasn't even smoke indicating that fires were being lit.

The usual noises of daily life couldn't be heard either,

And no one came out.

Leandros headed directly to the nearest building.

The small tent-like house resembled a ger, often used by Mongolian nomads.

He knocked on the door, the only part made of wood, but there was no answer.

When he slightly pulled the door handle, it opened easily.

After peering inside, Leandros shook his head and closed the door.

The house next to it.

And the neighboring house.

After opening and checking all the nearby houses, Leandros returned and said.

"Your Grace, there are no people in this village."