I Killed an Academy Player - Chapter 161
Estel Hadassa El Ras (3)
In cold environments, winterization is an essential element directly related to survival.
Therefore, each animal has evolved a thick layer of fat and thick fur to withstand extreme cold.
This was the case with sheep fur, bear skin, and seal fat.
So what did humanity do during that period?
Humanity did not evolve on its own.
They have no thick layer of fat, no skin, or abundant fur. However, they committed an atrocity that was only permitted to Jootgan: the existence of winter clothing.
If I don’t have it, can’t I just shear the fur from other animals and skin them to make clothes?
The skin is removed, the unsightly blood and hair are removed, and the skin is softened through tanning before being processed into clothing.
It is a vice and a right that only humans can enjoy. And here… we are wearing animal skins.
“Ugh… it’s wet.”
“Please bear with me. It’s your idea.”
“Still…….”
Two people are inside a whole sheepskin that has been torn off.
Just drill arm holes in the sheep leather and two people can fit into it like a sleeping bag. The person carrying the piggyback clings closely to the person in front and walks as unobtrusively as possible.
-I hate you! I won’t forget it even when I die! I hate you humans!
When I look at the bare scalp of a sheep because its eyes have been gouged out and discarded, I feel like I have been cursed.
“Aaaah! My head! The scalp came in! It was worn like a hat!”
It seems that the sheepskin that did not forget its resentment even after death hit Estelle’s head.
“Don’t struggle! Your ears will be nice and warm too!”
“Aren’t you being too rude and saying it’s someone else’s business?”
Estelle walks as if clinging to me inside the sheepskin. It was an unavoidable measure for both of them to endure the cold, but it cannot be denied that it was extremely out of shape.
“Uh… isn’t it heavy? Junior?”
“The good news is that the saintess is very light.”
“Really? I look a bit like a feather.”
“Not to that extent.”
“In times like this, you have to unconditionally agree with what the woman says, junior. That’s how you’ll be liked by the women.”
“Oh my gosh, I didn’t know that.”
Our tiki taka flowed without a hitch.
In this harsh weather, we had to constantly check on each other in order not to lose our sanity, and Princess Estelle was an easy person to talk to objectively.
It made me wonder if it was true that this person was the most noble person on the continent.
“Aren’t you a little hungry? Should I feed you some melted snow?”
“Please take that, saint, and give me a drink without the blood.”
“Ugh… how can I eat that stuff?”
“You eat to survive. And they say blood is more edible than you think.”
“Who said that?”
“There is. My older sister is rich.”
Estelle was clinging to my back and passing me food every now and then. It was mostly cooled squirrel meat and frozen fruit, but it was okay in terms of energy replenishment.
We traversed the Iron Islands in this way.
When the day came, they dug a hole in the snow and slept together in it, using sheep skins as sleeping bags. At night, they walked north looking at the stars.
There were times when he was almost caught by the pursuing familiars, but he escaped the crisis by burying himself in the snow and disguising himself as a dead sheep.
“……”
“……It’s a bit too close.”
“Once again.”
“Right?”
As we were in close contact with each other for 24 out of 24 hours, we were slowly getting used to it.
“Saint, hey…”
“I checked too.”
Estelle’s pupils also widened as she noticed something far below on the snow hill.
“Wizards. Trackers… I don’t think.”
Estelle mutters in a low voice.
Below the snow hill, several wizards were doing something with their familiars.
A large ice golem moved a pile of stones, and spirits embodied with magical power dug the ground.
The deformed chimera was not used for work, but it appears to have been sufficient as a guard dog.
“Seeing as how many heavy-ass guys came out here, it seems like it’s a pretty important thing.”
“Are you planning on raiding?”
“…….”
I postponed my answer for a moment. I know what that place does.
This is an excavation team that excavates the remains of giants. Assemble as much of the giant as possible with that and cover the rest with cultured flesh and metal.
To do this, we had to obtain as many remains of the giants as possible.
The problem is that I have a defenseless Estelle. If I were alone, I wouldn’t have the strength to attack the giant excavation team with Estelle on my back.
“No, let’s skip it. There’s no need to draw attention. Right now, rescuing the saint is the priority.”
“Hmm…”
Estelle let out a sullen voice. Since he was carrying Estelle, his expression was not visible, but it was not difficult to imagine his expression just from his voice.
“The morning sun is slowly coming up. If we go further from here, it will be visible. Let’s dig a burrow nearby.”
Digging the oysters was entirely my responsibility. They made Estelle wear a sheepskin and quickly dug out the snow.
“Is there anything I can help you with?”
“Just watch. You might get frostbite for no reason.”
“…….”
Estelle, who cannot use her holy power, is no different from an ordinary person. In other words, unlike me, a knight, I have no tolerance for cold.
Above all, I don’t just sell with my bare hands.
Appropriately, they used the heat of Cloud Solas to melt the snow and expand the cave. During this process, Estelle put the snow that had melted into a bucket of water.
The snow cave that was created was big enough for Estelle and I to barely fit into. You can make it bigger, but if it gets bigger than this, it will attract the attention of the chase team.
“Let’s go in.”
Once the sheepskin was pushed inside, I first went into the hole in the sheepskin to expand the space between the leathers.
Estelle follows behind him. Estelle peeks out from under her chest and smiles awkwardly.
I’ve been in a sheepskin sleeping bag for the past few days, but it seems like I’m still not used to it.
No matter what, when it’s time to fall asleep, we desperately cling to each other in search of warmth.
In the face of the cold, where my life is at stake, I feel embarrassed and nothing else.
“Now it’s all frozen hard meat, but I still eat that.”
“Yes. Junior, do you want to eat too?”
“Give me a piece.”
Inside the eye cave, the only light is the subtle reflected light flowing in from outside. We held a piece of frozen meat and kept a distance of less than 10 cm.
“Ugh… It’s frozen and hard.”
“Give it to me. I’ll cook it a little.”
A solar rune was engraved on the meat handed over to Estelle. Kenaz is better suited for cooking meat, but if you do that, a fire will start in this small space.
-Chiii!
Lamb meat sizzling in the heat as the sun rune is engraved on it. He blew on the ice that had formed and the oil dripping from the meat as it cooked, and recommended it to Estelle.
“It’s hot, so don’t touch it. Ah, do it.”
“Ah… junior, are you okay?”
I’ve seen it a few times, but it seems strange. Estelle was embarrassed for a moment, but opened her mouth like a baby bird receiving food from its mother bird.
-Yum.
A faint smile appeared on Estelle’s lips as she chewed the cooked meat. Eating meat seems to make you feel good.
He must have lost a lot of stamina in the harshly cold land, but it’s admirable that he doesn’t show any signs of hardship.
“It’s delicious. Junior, please eat it quickly.”
“yes yes.”
We were able to finish a small but quite satisfying meal.
“Tonight, we’re going to go around the area to avoid the wizards. Soon, you’ll see an icy road leading to the Dingle Peninsula, and you can go through that.”
It wasn’t a big deal that I thought of this escape route.
The episode about subjugating the magic tower ended with the wizards abandoning the magic tower and running away, but in the previous episode, the path the wizards escaped was found out.
The wizards of the Magic Tower traveled from the northern tip of the Steel Islands to the Dingle Peninsula by riding a sledge across the icy road.
They will be making similar preparations this time too.
“…….”
As I was thinking about how to move tonight, I felt Estelle’s gaze on me.
Although it is dark, the usual smiling face has disappeared and the almost expressionless face is noticeable.
“Why are you doing this?”
“No, I thought it was more of an obstacle than I imagined.”
“Isn’t this the time to feel inferior?”
“Do you have any regrets, junior? You suffered in a place like this just to save me.”
“I don’t.”
There’s no way you can do that. How important you are.
“why?”
“What reason do you need to save someone?”
“Uh… Are you the type of person who feels rewarded from doing so?”
“Who doesn’t?”
I did a good thing, but why do I feel bad?
“No, people don’t usually risk their lives to do good deeds. If there were a lot of people like that, this world would be a utopia.”
“It’s like that too.”
I feel like I’m a pretty good-natured person. It’s frustrating that everyone, including Master, can’t praise me as a hero.
“But I don’t regret it. I made the right choice.”
I said calmly.
“I was aware of someone’s misfortune and had the ability to solve it. That’s why I did it.”
There are many reasons not to do it.
The premise is that it is dangerous, difficult, and could lead to injury. Good intentions mean there are more reasons not to do something than there are reasons to do it.
“Even if there is just one reason to do something, isn’t that enough of a reason to do it?”
“Wow…”
Two eyes blinking in the dark. It is like the perspective of an ornithologist who has seen a natural monument.
“I… I’m very good at identifying people who tell the truth.”
“Uh… Isn’t it the other way around?”
“I don’t know who is lying, but other people always make a sincere face and say the truth in front of me.”
Estelle smiles bitterly, saying that she must be afraid of the Lord to lie in front of a saint.
“That’s why you can always tell when someone is telling the truth by their facial expressions. That’s why you can clearly see their facial expressions when they’re lying.”
“Really? It’s like which came first, the chicken or the egg.”
“But there really is such a sincere person… that’s what I thought.”
As if she was genuinely impressed, Estelle gradually lowered her voice as if she was muttering to herself.
“It’s amazing. Really.”
“Not to that extent.”
“No, that’s amazing. I’ve never seen a guy as cool as you.”
“What is it? It’s so strange.”
“Ha… Such nice men usually have owners.”
“Well… there are two candidates.”
“There is a goalkeeper, right?”
“huh?”
“But if there’s a goalkeeper, doesn’t that mean there’s no goal?”
Estelle smiled and made a cute expression.
“What does the saintess mean by that?”
“What? What did I say?”
“No, the goalkeeper or the goal…”
“What do you think it means?”
“Hmm…….”
Estelle snuggles into Dorie’s arms and smiles brightly. In this part… the sisters resemble each other.
“Junior Corin, you look cute when you’re like this.”
“Oh! Let’s refrain from using that harsh voice! It makes my heart tremble!”
“It’s cold~ It’s cold~ Junior Corrin’s reaction is so cute~”
They just lifted the man up and put him down. This is a fairy, a saint.
Estelle, who had been teasing me for a while, sighed deeply.
“If at least my holy power had been restored, things would have been a lot different.”
“Yes, of course.”
Although Estelle herself possessed formidable combat power, she was not someone who could be recruited as a party member.
So, the only thing you can get help from her is a limited-time buff due to prayer. If Estelle’s holy power was still the same, this prayer buff alone would have been of great help.
“So, you said your sacred power was sealed? It’s already been four days since you escaped from the magic tower, is it still like that?”
“…Yeah. It feels like I’m recovering subtly, but even that goes away somewhere right away.”
It’s definitely strange. As far as I know, Estelle’s holy power is freely gathered by Estel, the only mixed-race Danan in this land, from the divine power left behind by the gods.
Her blood may have faded for a long time, but she is a distant descendant of Balor and Dagda.
An atavism between giants and god-kings that appears in very rare cases.
I don’t know the principle behind sealing her power. In the previous episode of the game, she was a captured princess.
“What did you do to me with the Holy Grail?”
“That doesn’t make sense since I was captured by the magic tower lord. There was no Holy Grail at that time.”
“Huh? I had a good fight with the magic tower lord. I lost because I ran out of strength.”
“uh?”
“huh?”
There’s something strange about the timing. Wasn’t the saint sealed when the convict was being transported?
“Let me check one thing. Then, at what point did the saintess stop using her holy power?”
“When I woke up, I found myself in a magic tower. It was from then on that I couldn’t use my holy power.”
“…….”
In other words, Estelle has been doing something since she came to the Magic Tower.
As a simple example, I recalled the time when the power of the Netherlands was weakened.
He weakened Gangryun by feeding Hwaran a peach tree that was fatal to Gangsi.
A similar tactic may have been used with Estelle.
But if he did it by hiding it in food, let alone Estelle not noticing, does that mean his power has been weakened or sealed even now, long after he escaped from the magic tower?
“That’s right, junior. I don’t know why, but ever since I met you, I feel like a strangely warm divine power is flowing into me. Is this because of your ‘sun’?”
“…….”
The information I got from Estelle caused me great confusion.
How and what is the Magic Tower sealing Estelle’s holy power? Is it possible for the Magic Tower to seal the mechanism called holy power in the first place? That means the church will punish priests who have committed serious crimes… Ah.
“……what’s the matter?”
“it’s nothing.”
The possibility occurred to me. But still how? The question remains.
Above all, the question is whether it is right to say this in the current situation. This will cause an argument and has the potential to create a rift between Estelle and me.
In a situation where survival is urgent, there is no time for persuasion or resolving arguments.
‘It would be better to talk after this situation is over.’
After the morning of the fourth day, it was time to prepare for the move. We woke up to an unfamiliar commotion outside of the scheduled time.
-Come on, come on…!
– Stop it! Stop these guys…!”
A strange noise. The sound of metal hitting something and a scream rang out.
“Hoo junior? What is this?”
“……It’s a battle. Who on earth is here?”
Needless to say on one side. The magic tower wizards I saw at the bottom of the hill yesterday. The problem is who attacked the magic tower wizards.
“Ugh….”
Estelle cringed as if she was anxious. We instinctively held our breath.
────!!
The bloody battle and shouting continued. Who is it? Is it reinforcements? No, can reinforcements come here at this time? I kept wondering, but now I can’t even think about that
. The time had come to hold your breath. The battle must have ended because something was approaching this way.
-Kung! Kung! Aoooooooo!
The sound of a dog barking… No, it was a bit loud. I think it was closer to a wolf than a dog.
Was there a dog or a wolf among the magicians’ familiars?
– Jeopuk! Jeopuk!
It was big.
The sound was muffled as I stepped on the snow, but I could tell from the sound of stepping on it that the opponent was no ordinary giant. Moreover…
– Jeopuk! Jeopuk. !
– Jeopuk! Jeopak!
Not just one person──
-Boom!
‘What did you just do?! What did you just do?!’
Even as I covered Estelle’s mouth, I was taken aback by this mysterious roar. A sound like this
coming from a snow field? How big must it be… Could it be that the resurrection of the giant has ended?
The focus is on the outside of the cave. The information coming through the hearing is warning of danger. Have
you been caught? Otherwise, there is no reason to approach this snow cave on a hill above the wizards’ camp.
-Ugh!
It’s similar to the dog or wolf from earlier . A voice.
“Below junior…” ”
…….”
Estelle’s gaze went down. Even without her saying anything, it was already heading in that direction. In other words, at the entrance of the snow cave.
-… ……….
“………….”
The entrance to the snow cave. I made eye contact with the guy with his meticulous face.
Bright blue eyes. Sharp lines. Nose. Large, vicious teeth are revealed along the raised corners of the mouth.
Didn’t you say earlier that it was closer to a wolf than a dog? That’s right, that wasn’t a dog. It was a wolf… and a dire wolf that lives in North Kingdom.
“Huh…. ”
“You got caught?”
“……Yes.”
-Quaang!
The ceiling of the snow cave crashed down and something grabbed us.
162. Return Killed an Academy player