By Zephyria 
The next day, early in the morning, we hastily ate breakfast and set off for Pukara village. The road was so rough that it seemed better to walk than to stay in the wagon.
Aska and I walked side by side at the very back of the baggage cart.
“Isn’t that the fruit you picked yesterday? It’s winter, but there are still fruits.”
“They also had them in Talim, so I guess they grow a lot everywhere, all year round. Want some?”
“Just a few.”
At my words, Aska suddenly raised his foot and kicked a tree. I could only stare in astonishment as Aska nimbly snatched the small fruits that fell with the impact.
I thought he would just climb up and pick a few, but he did it like this… It was a wonder the tree didn’t break.
The loud noise made a few people walking ahead turn around, but they didn’t say anything.
Perhaps they instinctively realized that Aska and I weren’t ordinary people, because no one spoke to us or approached us.
“Eat.”
“Doesn’t your foot hurt?”
“No, eat this one, it’s a bit softer.”
I put the fruit Aska chose into my mouth and chewed. It was crunchy, had a good texture, and was full of juice.
“How much further do we have to go?”
“At this speed, about half a day? Why? Are you tired? Should I give you a piggyback ride?”
“No. You should only do that when no one’s watching.”
“Why?”
Even though we’re hiding our identities, I still have my dignity… Aska tilted his head, looking at me with a disgusted expression.
“Look at this.”
But only for a moment, as if he had found something, he brought a stone from inside the bushes.
“Why does it look like this?”
Then he showed it to me with a serious expression. It didn’t seem special to me, but it must have to Aska.
“Doesn’t this look a bit like a chicken?”
“……”
How could a stone look like a chicken? I was speechless for a moment, dumbfounded.
“Looking closely, it does look a bit like one.”
“Right?”
I figured he was just doing it because he was bored, so I just went along with it. After that, Aska showed me ordinary stones several times and swung twigs around.
When my legs ached and I got cold, I got back into the wagon to warm up and rest. And when I felt stuffy, I would walk with Aska again. Eventually, we arrived at Pukara village.
It was a remote and underdeveloped place deep in the Rollai Mountains, where people rarely set foot, so it was generally shabby and there weren’t many people around.
Even so, wasn’t it too quiet?
“How did you come here?”
A man who looked to be in his thirties, who was passing by the entrance of the village, discovered us. Abyss, who was at the very front, approached the man and began to explain the situation.
According to Aska, no one seemed to know that Ruins existed in this place. So, for the time being, we decided not to mention this and disguise ourselves as an expedition team to investigate the ecology of the Rollai Mountains.
I stared intently at the man who was talking to Abyss and observed him.
The dark circles under his eyes made him look like he hadn’t eaten or slept properly for days. His clothes were shabby, and his hair was matted with grease and dirt from who knows when. His tattered clothes were patched up, and his thin wrists were barely visible inside the worn-out sleeves…
Even for a poor village, this was too much. This was almost refugee level. On the contrary, most villages in such remote areas are self-sufficient because they don’t receive outside help.
Besides, I heard that there were traveling merchants who came and went through the mountains?
Just then, as if he sensed my gaze, the man, who had been staring blankly at Abyss with half-closed eyes, turned his gaze to me. Since I wouldn’t be seen anyway because of the hood, I didn’t avoid his gaze and continued to stare at the man.
He looked at me silently for a while before turning his head back to Abyss and saying,
“Ecology… We used to get such survey teams occasionally, but recently they’ve stopped coming. You’ve come at a very bad time.”
“Is it because of the unusual weather?”
“That’s part of the problem, but the bigger problem is the Magical creature that eats people.”
“Magical creature? I thought the Rollai Mountains were a safe zone?”
The man chuckled at Abyss’s words.
“It might have been a few years ago. The lord of the lower village sends soldiers to exterminate them periodically, but judging by the continued accidents, there seem to be more than one or two. The merchants who used to visit the village have also stopped coming a long time ago.”
Just then, a strong gust of wind blew. It was a cold and fierce wind that made me frown. Even I, wearing a robe, felt the chill, so I couldn’t even imagine how cold the man in those clothes must be.
“Even if it looks okay now, a blizzard will come soon, so don’t go any deeper unless you want to die. The weather is terrible, the Magical creature are terrible, everything is just terrible right now.”
The man sighed with a tired face and turned to leave. He grabbed the doorknob of a dilapidated house and looked back at Abyss.
“There’s no one in this village who’s well-off enough to help you, so just go back the way you came. If you want to rest, there’s a barn over there, so go there.”
“……”
It might have been insulting, but considering the state of the village, it didn’t seem malicious. Abyss seemed to have the same thought, as he frowned for a moment.
Seeing this, the man slowly closed and opened his eyes and said,
“It might smell a bit, but it’s okay to rest for a while. It’s an empty barn anyway. If you don’t like that, just go down the mountain.”
“Empty, barn?”
“Take a look at the state of the village. They’ve already eaten them all.”
No, even so, they ate them all without leaving a breeding pair? Was it that bad? It meant that the situation was so dire that they couldn’t even think about the future.
Just then, something caught my eye. I looked up and saw an eagle soaring across the sky.
“……”
Aska, like me, looked up at the sky. Then he quietly whispered in my ear.
“I don’t see any Magical creature, but there are a lot of wild animals.”
“Pipi?”
“Yeah.”
Does that mean there aren’t any around here? I hesitated for a moment and asked.
“Is the necklace nearby too?”
“Probably? It’s near the Ruins, so we can find it together.”
“Is it okay if we go alone? We’ll leave the others here.”
“Yeah.”
Just then, the man who had finished speaking went inside the house. He must have heard the noises outside, but not a single person had looked out at us.
I nodded slightly to Abyss, who was glancing at me with a troubled expression. Seeing this, Abyss said to the murmuring people.
“Let’s go inside for now.”
The wind was getting stronger, so everyone went inside the barn. It reeked of a strange smell and was just as cold, but at least it was out of the wind.
After letting everyone inside, I called Abyss outside.
“Aska and I are going to look around, so send a few fast people back down to get food. Contact Sakira if you need more. How much food is left?”
“If we ration it, we can last about ten days. And because it seems difficult to get supplies on our own due to the weather, I already sent a few people yesterday.”
He was doing a better job as a leader than I thought. At this rate, it seemed okay for Aska and I to leave for a while.
“Then, for now…”
I trailed off and turned my head. And I looked around at the houses that were on the verge of collapsing.
Something felt wrong. The state of the village was strange, and so was the lord who kept sending soldiers… I had a bad feeling. But we had a different reason for coming here.
I was curious about the situation and felt sorry for the residents who looked like they hadn’t eaten properly, but since I had brought so many people here, I had no choice but to focus on our purpose.
“The wind is getting stronger, so just set up guards in a suitable place and don’t go any deeper. If a Magical creature or an external intrusion occurs, prioritize repelling them, and if it’s dangerous, retreat immediately.”
“Yes.”
I gave the instructions, but the uneasiness remained. Seeing me frown and stare blankly, Abyss said solemnly.
“You may not remember, but I’m not weak enough to be defeated by a few Magical creature.”
That wasn’t what I was worried about.
I didn’t think anything would happen, but for some reason, I had a bad feeling since earlier, so I wasn’t at ease.
“It’s unlikely, but if we don’t return by sunrise tomorrow, then you make the decision and act. The most important thing is for everyone to return home safely.”
“Understood.”
“I’m going.”
“Be careful.”
I left the people I had come here with in the village and went deeper into the mountains with Aska to find the Ruins. The further we went inside, the stronger the wind and the lower the temperature.
“Aren’t you cold?”
“I can handle it.”
I wanted to say it casually, but my voice was already trembling like crazy. Aska took off his robe, as if he couldn’t stand it anymore.
“I’m not cold, so you wear it.”
“Don’t say such nonsense and put it back on quickly. It doesn’t seem like it’ll get any warmer just by wearing one more thing.”
Despite my words, Aska put the robe he had taken off over my head and wrapped it around tightly so it wouldn’t fall off. Aska was only wearing a black turtleneck and black pants that fit snugly on his body.
“Can’t you feel the cold?”
“I can. It’s just a bit chilly? I’d rather be a little cold than hot.”
That’s ridiculous. This is just a bit chilly? In my experience, this was an absurd cold that would freeze water if you sprayed it into the air.
I was about to ask if he was a snowman Magical creature, but I heard a bird chirping in the distance.
“This won’t do.”
“What? Ugh!”
Aska pulled the robe down over my head, covering my face. Then I felt a pressure as if my body was tightly bound, and my body was lifted up.
“What are you doing!”
“I’m just going to run, so relax your body and stay still.”
I had no idea what position I was in, how I was being held, or how fast we were moving. I was completely wrapped from head to toe, so I couldn’t move my arms or legs.
I was a bit flustered at first, but I thought this might be a better way, so I relaxed my whole body as Aska said.
How long had it been? Aska put me down and mumbled as he untied the cloth around my head.
“It would be much warmer if we just made a fire.”
“Can’t you use magic?”
When I spoke with a mouth that couldn’t pronounce properly because it was frozen, Aska reached out and stroked my face and neck widely.
“I don’t think it’ll work because the air currents are too unstable.”
The hands that I usually felt were cold were now full of warm warmth. I rubbed my cheek against Aska’s palm for a moment and opened my eyes.
I saw a snow-covered white earth, gaunt, dry trees, and a frozen, vast lake under a cloudless sky. In the distance, a bird the size of a house was hovering in place, and each time it flapped its wings, the trees that had lost all their leaves swayed as if they would break.
It was definitely a scene I had seen before.