Whoosh!
A white blur streaked across the snow—it was Kira, completely engrossed in skiing.
He carved another diagonal slide down the slope, leaving clear tracks in the snow. His moves weren't exactly graceful or smooth, but they were safe enough.
In his past life, Kira had never seen snow, so he'd always dreamed of a world blanketed in white, with snowflakes swirling and everything wrapped in a silvery glow. In the twenty years since he'd crossed into this world, he'd seen snow a few times, but it never got old.
Snowball fights and snowman-building were staple events at Fairy Tail's annual winter competitions. There used to be an ice-sculpting contest too, but Gray's cheating made everyone give up on beating him, so it was replaced with skiing and ice-skating events.
Since magic was banned in these competitions, Erza, the guild's athletic superstar, almost always took first place, leaving everyone else to scrap for the lower ranks.
Kira's magic was powerful, but his physical prowess and agility were just average, so he never did well in these events.
Still, a guy can lose once, but not forever. Determined to show up the guild, Kira had been secretly practicing on his own, grinding away for his chance at revenge come year-end.
Since he was already in the snowy mountains of Zonia, it was the perfect chance to brush up on his skills.
"Those idiots have no idea I'm out here training," Kira muttered with a smirk. "Just wait 'til the competition this year—I'll make 'em eat snow!"
The blizzard had stopped, and Zonia's crisp, cold breeze felt refreshing. The sweat from his skiing dried quickly in the wind, leaving Kira exhilarated. He'd completely forgotten about the mission he was supposed to be on.
"This place is awesome!" he said, plopping down to rest. "Man, imagine building a villa here. Nah, scratch that—a castle! Way more epic. There's so much space, and nobody's around to care. But where should I put it?"
Lost in his daydreams, Kira took to the skies, soaring higher and higher until he was about a thousand meters up. From there, everything was a sea of white—no landmarks, no clue where in Zonia he even was.
Suddenly, a moving shadow caught his eye. Turning, he was stunned to spot a pack of snow wolves.
"Weird," he said. "A whole pack of wolves in a place like this? What do they even eat?"
It wasn't that Kira was hungry for answers—anyone would wonder how life could survive in such a barren place.
Curiosity piqued, he flew closer, trailing the wolves from above. "Could these be the magical beasts from Natsu's mission? They don't look that tough. A pack like this is worth an S-Class mission? In the middle of nowhere like Zonia? Something's off."
The more he thought about it, the shadier the mission seemed. Driven by his adventurer's instinct, Kira couldn't resist digging deeper. Why was he such a meddler? Well, he was from an adventuring team—having a thirst for answers was just in his nature.
The pack had about thirty wolves, their fur snow-white except for faint gray patches on their claws. As Kira observed closely, he realized something odd: every single wolf was a robust adult. Not a single pup, elder, or weaker member in sight.
For any pack, you'd expect a mix of ages and strengths. Wolves weren't the type to abandon their own, so this was bizarre. These wolves were huge—each one as big as Elfman when he's sprawled out—and they moved in perfect sync, not too fast or slow, like a disciplined unit. Stranger still, there was no alpha leading them. A few wolves walked side by side at the front, almost like soldiers following orders.
"Feels like someone's controlling this pack," Kira mused. "But who?"
Then he noticed something else: a few wolves in the middle had small, fresh wounds. If he hadn't pulled out his telescope, he might've missed them from this distance.
"Who'd they fight?" he wondered. Another mystery.
Soon, the wolves filed into a cave, three by three. The entrance was about two meters wide and three meters tall, partially blocked by piled-up snow.
The cave was tucked under a snowy cliff, hidden by the overhanging rock. In this endless white landscape, it was so well-camouflaged that no one would've found it without the wolves leading the way.
Kira waited a minute after the pack disappeared inside before descending to the cave entrance.
"This doesn't look natural," he said, running his hand over the snow-covered rocks. "These patterns… they're from magic carving."
Inside, the cave confirmed his suspicions. A deep, man-made tunnel stretched ahead, its walls lined with torch holders. The stone blocked out the wind and snow, making the air slightly warmer than outside. Though the holders were empty, there was no snow, just thick dust, suggesting the place hadn't been used in ages.
A theory popped into Kira's head: A group of people built this place to hide or protect something. Then, for some reason, they died or left, and the wolves and their master took over.
Sounded plausible enough.
He followed the tunnel for about ten minutes until it opened into a vast chamber, roughly the size of Fairy Tail's guild hall. The walls here had no torch holders—instead, glowing lacrima crystals were embedded in them.
Sunlight filtered through thousands of tiny holes in the ceiling, refracting off ice crystals and illuminating the lacrimas.
Kira, with his years as a merchant, instantly recognized their purpose. During the day, the ice crystals reflected sunlight to light the cave while storing energy in the lacrimas. At night, or when light was scarce, the lacrimas would glow on their own. Even if the energy ran low, the mirror-like ice ensured the cave stayed lit.
It wasn't a groundbreaking idea, but pulling it off was no small feat. It required precise calculations, skilled craftsmanship, and a lot of money. The lacrimas alone could've bankrupted Fiore's treasury for a year or two.
Kira's eyes sparkled at the dazzling setup. "How much is this worth?! Some filthy rich hermit must've built this!"
"This place was made for me!" he declared. "I'm rich!"
He ran around the chamber, practically giddy, completely forgetting he'd followed the wolves here.
"So, where'd those wolves go?" His gaze landed on three tunnels branching off from the chamber, not counting the one he'd entered through. The wolves must've gone down one, but he couldn't sense which.
"If Natsu were here, his nose would've sniffed them out by now," Kira muttered.
After a moment's thought, he decided to trust his luck and headed for the middle tunnel.