At the base of the mighty mountain range, whose jagged peaks rose like the teeth of an ancient creature from the gray clouds, was a small village that nestled quietly and almost humbly against the slope.
A faint but persistent ray of sunlight had managed to break through the thick cloud cover and now poured like liquid gold over the snow-covered roofs, the frozen ground, and the narrow paths that crisscrossed the village, causing the white of the snow to briefly glow with a warm shimmer before the cold swallowed it up again.
The snow weighed heavily on everything that was not freed by movement or warmth, settling on shutters, wooden fences, and the roofs of low huts, muffling every sound so that even footsteps sounded quiet and restrained.
Thin wisps of smoke rose from the chimneys and drifted lazily into the sky, while the smell of burning wood filled the air.
The villagers carried out their daily tasks with such routine that it seemed they had performed these movements countless times in exactly this order, and yet hidden in every movement was the silent realization that every day in this environment could also be their last.
The men gathered near the southern gate of the village, where the narrow path led into the forest, checked their axes, strung their bows, and talked in deep, rough voices about today's division of labor and the current weather, as well as how the hunting was going this year. "If this frost keeps up, our hands will soon freeze to the handles," grumbled an older man with a gray beard as he adjusted his gloves and glanced toward the forest.
"You say that every year, and every year you still come back with the most prey," replied a younger hunter with a laugh as he twirled an arrow between his fingers.
A few steps away was Strain's father, Gerlo, whose posture was upright and calm. As his eyes scanned the group attentively, he said, "Don't forget to check the tracks near the stream. I found fresh footprints there a few days ago."
The women of the village were just as busy, even if their work seemed less visible as they moved between huts, wells, and fire pits, fetching water, beating frozen laundry, and stirring pots filled with steaming aromas.
Their conversations were quieter but no less meaningful, as they talked about supplies, children, and the inexorable passage of time.
"Have you heard, Mathilde's grandson has his birthday tomorrow," said a woman with reddened hands as she folded a sheet.
"Then tomorrow will be his big day. But today he should enjoy the rest of his time as a child," replied another woman with a quiet sigh.
Above it all was the bright, carefree laughing of the children who filled the village square with life, forming snowballs, chasing each other, and forgetting the cold, as if winter were nothing more than a big game to them.
Their clothes were thick, often too big and visibly patched, but they wore them with the ease of those who had not yet understood how hard life could be.
"Hey, Strain!" called a clear, slightly cheeky voice from afar.
Strain, who was engrossed in a heated conversation with three other boys, turned around and spotted Melina standing a few feet away, her black hair tied in uneven braids, her dark eyes fixed on him attentively and expectantly as she clutched the hem of her coat tightly.
"What's the matter, Melina?" asked Strain, trying to make his voice sound indifferent, even though he had noticed her long ago.
"Would you guys like to play with us?" she asked, and although her words were calm, her body language showed how much she hoped for an answer.
Strain twisted his mouth into a crooked grin. "Play with you girls?" he said, glancing at his friends.
One of the boys, whose face was covered in freckles, shrugged. "I don't mind," he said. "Me neither," said another, who had already started forming a snowball.
"What about you, Valentin?" Strain eventually asked, turning to the boy who was standing a little apart, his eyes downcast.
Valentin seemed to be lost in thought, his black hair falling over his face, his dark brown eyes wearing an expression that seemed unusually serious for his age.
After a moment's hesitation, he raised his head and replied quietly, "I... I have no objections."
"Great."
"We're in," Strain told Melina.
Melina's face lit up visibly and she turned, giggling, to her friends, who were also delighted. Shortly thereafter, the groups mingled, running across the square like it was a battlefield. But it was just a snowball fight. From time to time, they started arguing about the rules and forgot how quickly time was passing as the sun slowly approached the horizon and the light softened.
An elderly villager passing by shook his head with a smile and muttered something about them enjoying these days while they still could.
When the men returned in the evening, tired but successful, the children said goodbye one by one until only Strain and Valentin remained, who looked at each other wordlessly before Strain suggested, "Hey, Valentin. Let's go to our place."
"Hm? O-Okay."
Not far from the village was a cave, hidden between the rocks, which was more than just a shelter for the two of them, it was a place where they could talk undisturbed, far away from expectations and obligations.
Inside, it was cool but quiet, and traces of past meetings were immortalized in small marks on the walls.
Strain sat down on one of the larger rocks and looked closely at his friend before asking, "Come on, what's wrong with you? You've been acting strange lately."
Valentin avoided his gaze. "It... It's nothing," he claimed, but Strain didn't let up. "Stop lying. I can see that something is bothering you. As your best friend, I can tell right away. ...And as your best friend, I'll hear you out. His cheeks flushed slightly.
Valentin was visibly surprised and wondered whether he should really talk to him about his thoughts or not. But in the end, he answered Strain, because Valentin knew he could share his worries with his friend.
"S-Starting tomorrow, I won't be able to play with you guys anymore," he mumbled.
"What do you mean? Did your grandmother freak out again because you were outside with us? How can anyone be so weird?"
Valentin shook his head. "No, it's not like that! ...Well, you're partly right about her freaking out, since that happens pretty much every day. But this time there's another reason." He lowered his head and stared at the gray-black stone floor. "Tomorrow I'll be eleven. And as you know, when you're eleven you have to work with the adults," he explained to Strain.
"What?! It's your birthday tomorrow??? Oh man, how could I have forgotten that?" Strain suddenly squeaked.
Valentin recoiled in surprise.
"But seriously, you're worried about that...?" Strain saw Valentin's gloom, "That's awesome! You finally get to go hunting and chop wood! You'll learn how to survive outside the village!" he added encouragingly. "And when I turn eleven too, you'll have learned a lot of things and can teach them to me... So... don't be sad. Even if we won't see each other all day like we did in previous years, we can still meet here at our special place just before it gets dark and talk, like we are doing right now."
Strain's words left Valentin speechless, bringing their conversation to an end for the time being, and they decided to return to the village as it was now quite dark.
They said goodbye for the rest of the day.
Later, when Valentin came home, his grandmother greeted him with her usual stern expression and said strictly, "Wash your hands and come eat. You'll go to bed early today. Tomorrow is your first day of work."
"... Yes..."
At sunrise, the men got ready to go into the forest together again, hoping to achieve more today than they had the day before. Some of them wore wood carriers to transport the chopped wood. Others carried hunting weapons such as bows and arrows. And not to forget their thick winter clothes, meant to keep them all warm while they worked.
Valentin himself has a smaller version of a wood carrier on his back, which means that he will be working as a woodcutter today. He couldn't stop thinking that from today onwards, he would be leaving the village every day to go to work. A slight excitement runs through his senses and he hopes that he won't be a burden to the other workers, as he naturally wants to take home his own earnings.
At least he will try...
It takes about half an hour to get from the village to the nearby forest. Barely arrived, some began collecting large branches while others swung their axes.
The hunting party, on the other hand, marched deeper into the forest, where the wild animals hide most.
Valentin stood in one spot and looked around, his eyes wide open, as it had been a long time since he last set foot in a forest. About eight years ago, when his parents were still alive, his father would occasionally take him to the forest to show him the nature outside the village.
But Valentin hardly remembered that time, as he was still very young. He vaguely remembered the smell of wet leaves, shortly before the onset of winter. But neither the picturesque silhouette of the trees nor the contours of his father's face remained in his memory.
Suddenly, one of the adults approached him and said, "Valentin. Today is your first day, so don't push yourself too hard. If you need a break, that's okay." It was Strain's father, Gerlo.
"Y-Yes. Thank you very much."
"Come with me, I'll show you how to use an axe properly." Gerlo walked ahead, Valentin followed him. It only took a few minutes before they were standing in front of a tree that was significantly thinner than the other broad and strong-looking trees.
"This beech tree is perfect for a beginner like you. All right, Valentin. Here's your axe. It used to be mine when I was a beginner, but until you're ready to swing a bigger axe, you can use mine."
"Thank you very much." Valentin was very pleased. He would like to tell Strain about it, but he had a bad feeling about telling Strain that he had gotten his father's former axe, even if it was only temporarily.
"All right then, hold the axe with both hands and smash it into the tree," said Gerlo, without offering any further explanation.
Valenting naturally did as he was told, without thinking further or knowing what he might be doing wrong or right.
He placed his hands on the handle of the axe as he thought was right and noticed that the axe was actually heavier than he expected.
He quickly raised the axe to medium height and bent his body backward. Valentin tried to keep it in perfect balance in his starting position. Then he gritted his teeth and swung the axe as hard as he could.
A sharp sound rang out from the axe blade, and Valentin fell backwards from the sudden recoil of the impact. He dropped the axe, whose blade dug into the ground, and held his numb and bright red hands tightly.
"Ow... Ow... Owww..."
Strain's father unexpectedly burst out laughing at Valentin's first attempt.
"Please don't laugh at me," Valentin begged, his head red with embarrassment.
"Hah hah. Sorry. I didn't intend to be mean. Your mistake was in putting too much force into your arms. When you hold the axe, try to relax your whole body. The necessary force comes from your swing, when you move your body with it. If you only put force into your arms, you'll get the same result next time," explained Gerlo as he demonstrated his swings. "So get up now and try again. If you repeat it often enough, you'll have mastered it in a few days."
Valentin got up again and repeated his swings, following Gerlo's instructions, until the sun began to turn the sky red on the horizon and he and the other adults returned to the village after what felt like a long day of work.
Exhausted, Valentin took the chopped wood to the woodpile and then went home, where his grandmother was already waiting for him.
"Look at you. You're covered in dirt. Go wash yourself right now!"
"B-But I'm going to meet Strain," Valentin said hesitantly.
"You're not going anywhere! You have to work again tomorrow! You should forget your friends and think about your future!"
"But..."
"No backtalk! You do as I say! Stay away from your friends!"
All the years he had spent with his grandmother since his parents' death, he had grown accustomed to her strict ways, as he knew her no other way. He already knew that she would yell at him today when she found out that he wanted to meet up with Strain.
However, he hadn't expected that as soon as he started working, she would treat him even more strictly and forbid him from meeting with Strain or his other friends.
Valentin thought he could hold back as usual. But at that moment, he couldn't keep his anger from bursting out. His hands clenched and his teeth gritted quietly.
"Why? ... Why are you saying this to me? Every single day, you're so strict with me. And now you're telling me I can't see Strain anymore? Don't mess with me!"
"Valentin..." His grandmother, Mathilde, was very surprised.
"I've had enough! I hate you!!!" Valentin stormed recklessly out of the hut into the cold without looking back. Driven by a feeling that even he didn't fully understand.
"Stop right there, Valentin!" His grandmother watched him run away, trying to grab him, but he was too fast. Even though she was his grandmother, she didn't know her grandson could be so upset.
She suddenly stopped and decided not to follow him. Instead, she sat down heavily on the chair next to her, clasped her hands together like she was praying to God, and quietly murmured the names of her late son and his wife, asking for forgiveness. "Richard, Patricia, please forgive me…"
Valentin heard nothing but silence. All the noises, from the people around him or the crackling of the burning wood, had now fallen silent. Without stopping, Valentin ran heavily, hundreds of meters toward the base of the mountains, where the cave was located. Valentin and Strain had last seen each other there the night before and had agreed to meet again today, but...
...Strain was nowhere to be seen.
"Strain? Where... are you?" Valentin looked around desperately, but Strain was nowhere in sight.
"Strain... Where are you? I need you... You said you would hear me out. Strain..." Valentin sobbed and crouched down. His cheeks, already flushed from the sprint he had just run, were now glistening with moisture. But these were not beads of sweat, they were his tears, dripping incessantly onto the ground.
He had been waiting for a quarter of an hour and could no longer sit still. Strain still hadn't shown up, and Valentin was left alone in the ice-cold cave.
"Strain... You liar... You're a liar!" Angrily, he grabbed a stone lying on the ground and threw it into the depths of the cave.
The cold had crept into Valentin's clothes unnoticed while he stood motionless in the cave, staring at the spot where the stone had disappeared, which he had just hurled into the darkness with all his pent-up anger, hoping that this would somehow make everything that was constricting his chest and making it difficult for him to breathe disappear.
When the echo had faded, nothing kept Valentin from staying in the cave any longer. He turned around and ran out again, intending to stay somewhere else. Due to his emotional swings, he didn't care where he was at the moment; as long as the others couldn't find him, everything was fine, so he thought.
He didn't even notice that after his previous angry throw, whose echo had already faded away, another echo sounded, followed by a dull rumbling, as if the earth were about to start shaking at any moment.
Another hour had passed, and although Valentin had initially believed that his heart would jump out of his chest at any moment, the wild panic had now turned into a dull exhaustion that almost numbed him inside.
He spent the present time in an abandoned hunting shed that Valentin had seen on his way to the forest that morning.
The woodshed was already mossy and smelled of damp wood, the broken windows were boarded up with wooden planks, and inside, there was nothing but old blankets scattered on the floor. Valentin used these blankets to protect his body from the icy cold. Despite having a roof over his head, it was still cold in the shed.
As soon as Valentin re-warmed himself, he decided to go to Strain on his own, since Strain wasn't coming to him. So Valentin left the shed and made his way back to the village. But just before he arrived, he noticed something strange.
From a distance, the night sky was not illuminated by stars, but by red, blazing flames.
Valentin hurried, and when he reached the entrance to the village, the wood of the houses crackled in front of his dark brown eyes. Or rather, what was left of the houses.
Several houses had been destroyed, and on the ground, on the already melted snow, the earth was stained with the blood of the villagers.
"W-What...?" Valentin asked himself, his voice trembling. Cold sweat and heavy breathing ran through his body as he saw the many lifeless bodies scattered before his eyes. If you could even call them 'bodies' anymore. They were more like flattened, twisted foreign objects that were supposed to represent human beings.
Valentin wondered what had happened, his throat went dry before he could form a word, looking at the horror before him, he remembered something that overshadowed all other thoughts.
"Grandmother!" He hurriedly ran to the hut where his grandmother was surely waiting for him. His boots slipped on the bloody puddle, while his heart beat so loudly that he thought it must be audible even through the crackling of the flames.
Or... was his grandmother even waiting for him? After everything he said to her. After the harsh words he spoke in anger. Did he even have the right to return home?
The question cut deeper than he expected, but he didn't dare think it through.
"There it is! Grandmother!" However, when he reached his hut, his hope was immediately stifled by an ominous silence, even though the building was still standing, it seemed deserted.
"Grandmother?" No one answered.
He opened the door, his gaze darting across the small room, settling on the overturned chair.
"Grandmo-..."
Suddenly, the earth around him began to quake. At first, it seemed like a distant rumbling, but it quickly turned into a tremor that crept through his legs and into his entire body.
Valentin slowly turned to the side. What he saw drained all the warmth from his body.
A huge monster rose up between smoke and flames... A stone golem whose massive body consisted of stacked rock slabs that moved with grinding noises, while a bright blue light pulsed in deep indentations that seemed to hold the golem together.
The golem approached the boy with frightening determination.
Valentin was frozen. His legs refused to move as the monster came to a halt right in front of his home and raised its enormous left arm, its shadow falling over Valentin.
But before the blow landed, Valentin was suddenly pushed aside, landing hard in the unmelted snow, the impact knocking the wind out of him.
In the next moment, the hut shattered into a thousand pieces. Dazed, he lifted his head and realized that for some reason he was still alive. But when he looked at his destroyed home, he saw a person trapped under the rubble.
"...Grandmother... Grandmother!" Valentin shouted and wanted to approach her, but her voice held him back.
"Don't come closer!
He stopped abruptly.
Blood ran down her face, her body was trapped under heavy beams and she could hardly move. "Run away! And never come back!"
"..." His lips trembled, then he ran away without hesitation, leaving his grandmother behind, who could only watch helplessly as her grandson distanced himself from her once again.
I'm sorry, Valentin. I was a terrible grandmother. Since the death of your parents, I wanted to raise you so that you wouldn't die as young as they did, but my fear turned into strictness, and strictness turned into distance, until you grew to hate me. I'm sorry. My precious grandson... With these last thoughts, she closed her eyes, while her lifeless body continued to bleed beneath the debris and ashes.
Without looking back, Valentin continued to run through the scattered corpses of the villagers until, glancing to the side, he recognized two figures that were more familiar to him than many other faces in this village.
He stopped and stared at the people in front of him. A girl and a boy, both with jet-black hair, were lying in the red-stained snow surrounded by fallen wooden beams, not moving a millimeter.
"S-Strain... M-Melina..."
The pale moon hung low in the night sky as the sweating boy saw the lifeless body of his best friend lying in front of him. A gloomy silence filled Valentin's head, interrupted only by the distant crackling of burning houses.
His eyes, filled with pain, fixed on the motionless forms that had once been full of life, while a heavy breath filled his lungs and yet was not enough to dispel the emptiness in his chest.
Suddenly, a wave of nausea washed over him and he lurched, his hands and knees crashing into the soft snow. A choking scream escaped his throat as the painful reality overwhelmed him.
Tears mingled with the sweat on his face and his body shook under the weight of loss.
Gathering his last bit of strength, he pushed himself up and felt his legs stumble forward into the nearest safe forest. Shortly after, his legs gave in, causing him to sink into the soft snow, the wetness and cold seeping through his clothes.
A suffocating cry of pain tore through the tranquility of the wintry-looking forest as he threw his despair out into the crystal-clear air.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!"
The screams mingled with the soft crunch of snow beneath his trembling hands. The cold of the ground seemed to intensify his pain, as if the forest itself witnessed his shattered inner self.
The trees, cloaked in their white coats, stared silently, absorbing the boy's suffering and echoing it in their snow-covered branches.
An echo reverberated through the snow-covered trees and seemed to freeze in the clear night air. His cry became a mournful song carried by invisible winds, while the snow absorbed his tears and the earth around him listened silently.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At the foot of a snow-capped mountain range, whose sky was covered by dark clouds, a young traveler, whose face was hidden by the hood of his dark brown winter cloak, wandered through the ruins of an old destroyed village.
None of the original houses remained intact, except for a few scattered wooden beams that were already moldy and mildewed. But the wanderer was not very interested in this village and kept walking instead. After leaving the village, he marched towards the mountains and climbed them via a barely visible snow path, which was the only and fastest way to get to the other side of the long mountain range.
Meanwhile, light gusts of wind swept across his half-hidden face, prompting him to look up at the cloudy sky.
"Looks like a snowstorm is coming. I should hurry," he muttered monotonously and continued onwards.
After about two hours, the predicted cold snowstorm appeared, its gusts of wind whipping the entire area. The wanderer's visibility got worse and worse the further he went, but he didn't let the bad weather get him down. He must get to the other side no matter what, he would even die in order to reach his goal, he swore to himself.
The snowstorm was just another obstacle he needed to overcome to get closer to his goal. Stumbling heavily through the snow, which was almost knee-high, he suddenly tripped over a large, hard foreign object, rolled over it, and fell face down into the snow.
˝Ow, ow, ow... What was that?" he asked himself and got up.
He approached the foreign object he just stumbled over and brushed away the snow, revealing a large, notched stone.
"A stone?" He looked around and saw more stones of various sizes covered in snow, some even larger than himself. The stones were scattered and broken, almost in one area.
"... No. More like a stone golem. More than one, in fact. But they're already dead. What on earth happened here? Who did this? ...?! Oh no! Did he perhaps find me to eliminate me???" He startled and looked around frantically, but there was no one there.
He took a closer look at the wounds of the destroyed monsters and was surprised. "The stone golems were cut cleanly. The weapon therefore must be a blade, or more than that, to make such smooth cuts, the wielder of the weapon must be a master swordsman. But that also means it couldn't have been him. If he had fought, not a single dust particle would remain.
Despite the blizzard, the wanderer decided to explore the small battlefield within a radius of fifteen meters until he encountered something else, which this time was not a stone golem.
"Huh?"
An unconscious human body was buried in the snow. The body belonged to a young boy with silvery-white hair and wolf ears, wearing a black coat.
"A... human? What is he doing out here?," he wondered, looking very surprised.
Without question, no one would expect to encounter a person on a snowy mountain. The wanderer was wondering what to do with the boy. After a few seconds, two options came to his mind.
First, he could just leave the boy there to freeze to death and walk away as if nothing had happened. Or second, he could take the boy with him and seek shelter from the storm in a cave the traveller had passed twenty minutes earlier, so that the boy would not freeze to death after all.
The decision seemed quite difficult to the wanderer, after all, he still wanted to get to the other side today, and if he had to take care of the half-wolf now, his entire schedule for today would be ruined.
However, the thought of letting a person die here and now, even though he could have helped him, would not let him go. He didn't want to bring the events of his past into the present, so he chose the second option and carried the boy on his back to the cave.
When they arrived at the cave, both were now protected from the snowstorm, and the wanderer could at least take a break.
Nevertheless, it was still very cold in the cave and the half-wolf ran the risk of frostbite, so a fire was needed.
However, there was no wood for a campfire anywhere nearby, especially not on a snowy mountain where the chance of finding a tree was less than ten percent, and there was still a blizzard outside.
Since the traveler had nothing flammable in his small bag, he had no choice but to light his cloak.
He rolled up the cloak on the floor and held his left hand above it. Suddenly, there was a crackling sound, and stray sparks appeared as the wanderer's palm glowed red-orange, creating a red-glowing magic circle above the rolled-up cloak. A few seconds later, the cloak started to burn slightly until the flames grew larger on their own.
When the fire reached the desired size, another magic circle appeared directly under the cloak, glowing golden. This allowed the user to keep the fire burning for a longer duration. To deal with the smoke from the fire, the wanderer had created another magic circle, which glowed green above it and absorbed the smoke so that it didn't gather in the cave.
The created pleasant warmth prevented the boys from getting chilled, and the light from the flame illuminated the stone cave with a warm reddish glow.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A faint light penetrated my eyelids and tried to wake me up. Unintentionally, I opened my eyes, which felt strangely heavy. My whole body felt weak, as if I had run a ten-kilometer marathon.
Perhaps it was because of my previous fight, where I was on my own. Despite this, I felt a pleasant warmth next to me, instead of the icy cold of the wind and snow that covered the ground.
With a quick glance to my right, I noticed a fire burning nearby, but I didn't hear any crackling, at least not from burning wood, so it wasn't one.
I looked ahead again, my eyes fixed onto the ceiling, which revealed the rocky walls of a cave.
How did I get into this cave? I wondered.
"How long did I sleep?"
"About four hours."
The question I asked myself, without expecting an answer, was answered by someone whose voice I didn't recognize.
Surprised, I quickly sat up halfway, my eyes turning to the person who had spoken to me. It was a young man, perhaps a teenager or in his early twenties. Jet-black hair with violet-colored tips fell over his forehead, his eyes sparkling golden in the light of the fire, like gold coins.
A dark blue shirt with black patterns, its right sleeve rolled up revealing a white, slightly dirty bandage on his right arm, was half hidden under what he wore over it.
Just like my coat, black as the void, and yet not quite the same. He wore a strange kind of coat that I had never seen before, or at least I couldn't remember seeing anything like it on my path so far.
His black coat appeared to be cut in half. It had only one sleeve for the left arm, a raised collar held together by a purple ribbon and embellished with two golden bells.
Part of the right half of the garment was folded over to the left and sewn on, a strange design, in my opinion, just like the dark purple pattern that partially adorned the lower left part, down to his lower leg, with black and purple squares, like a chessboard.
Who is this guy? Did he pull me out of the storm and drag me into this cave? I wondered.
"Who... are you?"
"... My name is... Valentin," he replied after a pause.
"Valentin...?" I repeated quietly.
I repeated his name a few times in my head, which instantly made me feel like he was trustworthy, even though I encountered him for the first time in my life.
I couldn't explain it to myself. Naturally. Why would you trust someone you just met a few minutes ago?
Even so... Yet I sensed that he wasn't a bad person. This feeling seems a little familiar to me, although many years have passed since that day. The day when I was still a child and made the acquaintance of my two best friends, Koji and Yorohiko.
Could this moment possibly have the same, or at least a similar, significance?
"I found you half-buried in the snow and brought you to this cave," he explained.
"I see. So you saved me. Tha—"
"I don't need a 'thank you,'" the mysterious boy interrupted me unexpectedly. Yet I merely wanted to express my gratitude to him; what is wrong with that?
Somehow, I started to dislike him. Maybe my thoughts were just fooling me, and this feeling meant nothing. I have no idea if that will change or not.
Anyway, I should have a proper conversation with him first. Maybe I'll get some important information that will help me reunite with the others.
"Um... I'm Kaito. Nice to meet you. What brings you to this snowy area, if I may ask?" I sat cross-legged closer to the fire to warm myself up a little more.
"That's none of your business."
... All right, that's it. I can't stand this jerk.
"Now I have a question for you," he suddenly confronted me.
"Go ahead," I said calmly.
"Those golems... Did you deal with them?"
Huh? Golems? ... He must mean those things from earlier, just before I lost consciousness.
"No, wait, that was a stupid question. It's not like a mere human could defeat several stone golems all by himse—"
"Yeah, it was me."
"Huh...?"
"Like I said. I fought the stone golems you just mentioned and defeated every single one of them," I replied casually. I mean, the answer is obvious. Who else but me could have defeated the golems when I was the only one around...
"What...?"
What's wrong with this guy? Has he never seen anyone defeat one or more monsters before? Okay, I have to admit, the fight wasn't easy. Even with my weapon skills, I could only inflict a few cuts on them until I found and destroyed their energy source. So it was nothing special.
"Hm?" I happened to glance in the direction of the cave entrance and froze in shock.
"T-The entrance is blocked by snow???"
"Oh, right. I forgot to mention that. It seems the snowstorm was so strong that it triggered an avalanche and blocked the cave entrance with a very thick layer of snow and rocks. So we can't use that route anymore."
... I don't think I can handle this situation anymore. Even if I use one of my skills to clear the way, it could trigger another avalanche, or in the worst case, even cause the cave to collapse and crush us. If we can't use this way anymore, we have to find another way.
I looked around briefly, hoping to find something like a secret passage or something similar so we could get out quickly.
It looks bad. There is no other way here than the one that goes into the depths of the cave, which this Valentin guy is already entering...!?
When I looked at him, he had already taken a few steps toward the once-dark path, accompanied by a white-yellowish light above him on the left, which lit up part of the cave like a flashlight.
"Hey, hey, hey. What are you doing?" I asked him.
"What does it look like? I'm exploring the cave," he replied. "Maybe it's here," he added, muttering.
Oh, come on. He can't be serious... Again, unfortunately, I have no choice but to follow him. Let's get through this quickly... I sighed.
Together, keeping a greater distance between us, we walked through the cold and damp passage. This passage gradually became larger, currently about three and a half to four meters in height and approximately four and a half meters in width, but who knows how long this cave is. Not to mention whether there is even an exit.
We may have walked almost two, if not three kilometers, but apart from the size of the passage, nothing has changed between Valentin and me.
We continued walking in silence until Valentin suddenly stopped. I approached him to see what the problem was, and there I saw it...
Right in front of us, the passage suddenly ended and a huge area, perhaps as big as a soccer stadium, came into view. Are we really inside a mountain? I wondered. Everywhere, on the walls, on the ceiling, and scattered on the floor, were crystals of different colors and sizes.
My eyes widened and sparkled, as it seemed to me that we had discovered a treasure.
I wanted to take a step closer, when suddenly an arm appeared in front of me to hold me back.
Small stones fell down the edge, and I quickly realized why he did it. If Valentin hadn't stopped me, I would have fallen down there and surely died.
"Tha-..." Before I could say another word, this guy ignored me and did something selfish again.
He calmly jumped off the edge. With the help of gusts of wind he created with wind magic, he landed on the ground without any complications. Without hesitation, he continued walking.
What kind of skill was that? Or was it wind magic? I think I've seen Anna use something similar before, but she was floating on a glowing green magic circle instead of using wind gusts like him. I still have a lot to learn, that's for sure. Wait, doesn't that mean he's a mage? First that light and now wind magic. No, even the fire from earlier, if I'm not mistaken, I saw two small magic circles... Valentin, who the hell are you?
Since I didn't know any wind magic or have any suitable skill to cushion my landing, I had to improvise. My animal instincts, those of a wolf, came in handy, and I jumped onto the small protruding stones on the wall.
Stone by stone, I jumped down until I too landed on the ground.
When I looked ahead, my gaze was immediately enchanted by the colorful crystals. I stared at a glittering green crystal on the wall to my left that was twice my size.
This sparkling green color reminded me strongly of Monika's eyes, which I had fallen in love with. We had only been apart for half a day, but... I really want to see her again.
Since this crystal reminded me of her, I put my hand on the green crystal and thought of her.
Suddenly, the whole room began to shake and rumble as if the cave itself were collapsing. I quickly took several steps back, as did Valentin, who looked around in confusion.
It was probably my fault that the beautiful crystals suddenly turned into bloodthirsty monsters.
"What have you done???" Valentin looked displeased. Fair enough.
"I'd like to know that too!" I shouted, running towards him. "What now?" I added.
"What would you expect? We have no alternative but to fight!"
"Right. To face them, we should work together. If I'm not mistaken, you can use magic, right? So you could be my supporter.
"Supporter? Who's supposed to be a supporter here??? I fight on the front lines! Do you even have a weapon, if you're talking so big!?"
"…Not just one… I have two!" I grinned and summoned them. My hands lit up with fire, transforming itself into two special long swords, each adorned with a large gemstone. Demon Tears and Little Rose.
Valentin stared speechlessly at the swords, whose handles I clasped in my hands, and muttered quietly. "Two swords... Is he..."
What about you? Do you have a weapon other than your magic?" I asked him. At first he didn't answer me, but then he began to smile slightly as he turned his eyes back to the front. He raised his right arm to his left side, whereupon a strange field appeared, which he grabbed with his right hand into. The field seemed to be a dimensional item box, similar to my bag.
I wondered what he was up to, opening his item box just now. At first, I thought it was a magic staff, just like Anna's, since he was a mage. But what he pulled out of this 'other dimension' was something completely different, something I didn't expect at all.
At first, he only pulled out a long staff, but when the entire weapon revealed itself, it turned out to be a scythe with a large blade.
He held this scythe firmly with both hands, and judging by his eyes, he was ready to attack at any moment.