Chapter 116

Even though it was connected to the Margrave's castle, they still had to walk quite far to reach the interior of the main castle.

And with the unidentifiable snowman attached to their side as well.

The castle they climbed up to somehow appeared dilapidated.

Perhaps due to the absence of caretakers, there were signs of breakage or damage here and there.

Only the sounds of the snowman walking with a crunching noise at a slight distance and Leandros's footsteps could be heard.

"You use power of lord?"

When the snowman asked, Leandros, not knowing how to answer, paused for a moment before responding.

"I use it."

"Why?"

"Because His Grace wished for it."

"My worshipper gives power to another person. Stupid?"

"Don't dishonor His Grace."

This snowman was ill-mannered.

Perhaps it was because it was a being separated from something called a deity.

But the snowman pointed ahead with its blunt arm.

"Up ahead. Strange thing there. Fake god. Only imitates."

A fake god.

When Leandros cleared away some obstacles at his feet and left the dark corridor, the hall came into view at once.

The hall, which was originally spacious, was so filled with stacked stones that there was no room to step.

Leandros instinctively knew that these were mithril ores.

Atop the hill of mithril ore,

Someone was sitting, hastily stuffing something into their mouth.

Leandros climbed the precariously stacked mountain of ore.

There was a person sitting on the hill, with their back turned.

The bizarre sight of someone picking up and eating rock fragments and mithril ore.

Leandros drew his sword.

At that sound, the person turned their head.

White, gray hair with patches of black hair mixed in.

Murky eyes so clouded that one might doubt if they could even see.

Stone powder falling from the corners of the mouth.

The lips, which had been chewing, slowly split.

As the entire face cracked with a cross-shaped fissure, the Margrave rose.

His body stretched, and stretched again.

The Margrave's head was far above.

From within the dark, semi-transparent body, stagnant liquid flowed and mixed, creating a new form.

From the ceiling, various miscellaneous things screamed strange sounds, warning against intruders.

So this was the so-called 'fake god.'

Then what kind of entity was the 'real god'?

When Leandros gripped his worn sword tightly,

The Winter Butterfly, which had found its original form within the Margrave's body, drew out its snow-white wings.

* * *

He already knew the structure of the castle to some extent.

Fortunately, although he was limping, he could walk well enough on his own.

He searched through everything from the Margrave's bedroom to the study, looking for necessary supplies.

During that time, he heard the Winter Butterfly's howl from afar, and the building began to thump as if it might collapse.

It seemed he couldn't drag this out for too long.

After emptying all kinds of documents from the desk drawer in the office, he carried them down in his arms.

When he approached the hall, he heard a sharp sound loud enough to tear his eardrums, followed by the sound of a massive body collapsing.

Was it over?

Peeking into the hall, the scene was completely chaotic.

Mithril ore scattered in all directions.

Windows not broken but cracked.

White frost was settled on them,

And large ice spikes protruded here and there from the floor.

But what surprised him most was the ice pillar that had impaled the Winter Butterfly.

The fluffy wings of the Winter Butterfly were still trembling and fluttering.

In the center of the hall, Leandros stood on the stone floor, which was half-destroyed with not a single part intact.

The sword he held in his left hand was snapped.

Leandros, who had been quietly looking at his hand, suddenly raised his head.

"Your Grace."

"I came thinking it would end sooner than expected. And it was true. How was it?"

"It feels strange."

Leandros answered honestly as he approached.

Though he said that, the newly gifted power didn't seem bad.

As always, he maintained a stoic and cold expression, but beneath it, the lingering aftermath of battle remained, writhing deeply.

He handed over the heavy bundle of documents and asked.

"Where's the snowman?"

"I definitely saw it nearby during the fight, but..."

Leandros looked down at the floor, which was a mess of ice fragments and broken ore.

Where had it gone?

As he was about to check under the debris, a voice was heard from above.

"I am here."

"Aaaaah!"

The snowman was impaled on an ice stake that jutted from the floor.

Unfortunately, it had been stabbed from the belly, and it seemed unable to escape on its own with its short limbs.

Startled, he pulled the snowman free, and the snowman looked down at the hole pierced through its belly, then turned its head creakily toward Leandros.

"My belly pierced. What are you? Kill you."

"I warned you to keep your distance before the fight. It's your fault for not heeding."

"Worshipper. That human arrogant. Kill him? Not needed. Infidel useless."

"I wonder what you could do with such a small body, but go ahead and try."

"Both of you, stop fighting!"

He was going crazy.

They were bitter enemies.

Both were the same—Leandros looking down with cold eyes, and Aphoom-Zhah's separated entity just one step away from becoming a murderous snowman.

When should he plan a program to nurture their social skills?

Moreover, did he really have to do this too?

He was here to save the world and see the ending, not to rehabilitate antisocial individuals!

"Leandros, try to develop a habit of speaking kindly. And snowman, don't casually talk about killing anyone."

"He started first. Unfair. Judge the quarrel?"

"I said stop it. If you keep this up, I might convert to another god."

"Infidel! Infidel!"

Ignoring the jumping snowman.

"I should really treat him with the respect due to a Margrave, but since things have turned out this way, I have no choice but to treat him as a monster. Leandros, I think it would be good to take part of the monster."

"It's not difficult."

"We also discovered that the mithril mine and the Margrave's castle are connected and can be used as a shortcut. I think this investigation is sufficient. Maybe it's because we weren't hindered by snow or wind."

In the previous iteration, being battered by wind and heavy snow had naturally slowed their pace and rapidly drained their stamina.

Weather certainly had a significant impact on travel.

How many days would it take to travel solely on foot through the tunnel?

Perhaps they could easily save three or four days compared to traveling outside.

While considering various factors, he noticed something odd about Leandros's expression.

"What is it?"

"Have you been here before, Your Grace?"

He couldn't immediately answer the sudden question.

Why would he ask that?

"Of course... not. That's not even a funny joke."

"Since you determined it was a shortcut despite this being your first journey and not knowing how many days it would take to get here, I wondered, hence my question."

He felt cold sweat running down his back.

"No. Even in my childhood, I only stayed inside the castle. But, well, I had been thinking about roughly how many days it might take. So I called it a shortcut based on that. Someone might have misunderstood."

"I see."

"What an odd thing to say. Shall we prepare to leave now?"

"Let's do that."

Despite his incoherent explanation, Leandros simply nodded and approached the monster.

The snowman next to him asked.

"Worshipper, nervous? Why?"

"It's nothing."

"Look like did something bad. Strange."

"I said it's nothing."

He would have to be careful with every word from now on.

Leandros cut off and preserved a part of the Winter Butterfly, and during that time, he used the horn to call Sleigh.

As always, Sleigh walked majestically from behind a pillar, then hesitated upon seeing the snowman.

The snowman looked at Sleigh, then tapped his leg.

"Worshipper, also entangled with king in yellow clothes?"

"King in yellow clothes?"

"■■■."

"Wait, I didn't hear that."

"Said ■■■. Worshipper, have his gift? That is his loyal servant. Not just this time. Always by your side? Received favor from ■■■?"

It was strange.

Though the voice was continuing, he couldn't hear what was being said at all.

It felt as if his brain was refusing to hear, automatically filtering out the noise.

When he blankly looked down at the snowman, the snowman, as if resigned, grabbed his leg, climbed up with effort, and mounted his shoulder.

"Worshipper has much to learn. No worry. I will teach. Great Aphoom-Zhah does not abandon worshippers."

"You're the one who explained it strangely."

"Worshipper knows well. But knowing and understanding are different. I will teach."

Somehow, it seemed like a troublesome matter was arising.

He maintained his composure and waited for Leandros to return.

They left the north, where they had no idea how much time had passed, and returned to the ducal residence.

They alighted at the uninhabited manor in advance, and when they returned to the castle, there was a commotion over the return of people without prior notice.

Some found it odd that they had already returned when they hadn't even been gone for a week to the north.

Honestly, he was surprised too.

What? In the previous iteration, he had gone through hardships like camping and whatnot while rummaging through the north, but this time it hadn't even been a week just from riding a runaway cart?

From now on, he'd definitely travel only through tunnels.

But three events overshadowed all those questions, allowing them to safely bypass suspicious eyes.

The first event was the monster's head brought personally from the north.

Even though it was called a head, since it was in the form of a butterfly, the head wasn't very large in structure,

But when placed next to ordinary humans, it was large enough to make them faint.

After several maids who accidentally saw it collapsed on the spot, the butterfly's head was well-wrapped and moved to his office.

The second event was his injury.

Seeing his broken arm and the bruises and abrasions all over his body, Arndt outright wailed and went to call a physician.

He hadn't fully realized it, but apparently several of his ribs were also cracked.

The physician insisted on complete rest for several months, and he had no choice but to take to his bed.

Amelia and Arndt took turns attending to him.

Lastly, the talking snowman.

If it had been just an ordinary snowman, it might have appeared cute.

But it couldn't be denied that with a hole pierced right through its body, it gave a strangely horrific impression.

Every employee who encountered the snowman would either scream or run away, so the snowman couldn't leave the bedroom with him.

Finally, after Amelia procured ice, crushed it, and filled the hole in its body, the screams subsided.

The snowman, a separated consciousness of Aphoom-Zhah, seemed to appreciate Amelia's handling of matters,

And from then on, it would generally comply with most of Amelia's requests.

Good grief.

Anyway, even during his recovery period, he began to examine the documents he had brought from the north one by one.

It was necessary to filter out the unnecessary and carefully select only what was needed.

Yurik was quite perceptive, but whether that would be poison or benefit to him was still uncertain.

Therefore, he had to prepare as thoroughly as possible.

Several days passed that way.

Then Amelia brought the news he had been waiting for.

"Y-Your Grace, a l-letter has arrived f-from the royal palace. It's a r-response regarding the r-return of your d-ducal territory."