Chapter 29. A Cold

The camping continued for several days.

During this time, Claude taught Seraphina various things, a sight that would have made the knights of the North spit fire, wondering what he had eaten to act so strangely.

How to set up a tent, how to light a campfire, how to hunt, how to prepare the hunted game, and so on.

Claude wasn’t the type of man to be delicate enough to teach such things in detail. He would usually just threaten them to do it right.

Moreover, a subordinate’s tent collapsed while he was sleeping?

Normally, he would have woken them up immediately, regardless of it being dawn, and made them do push-ups until sunrise.

But Claude didn’t make an issue of that day’s incident. Not only did he not make an issue of it, he didn’t even mention it at all.

As if the tent had never collapsed.

Claude was aware that he was acting differently from usual. It wasn’t because he was alone with a woman after being with those shady guys.

There are women in the North too. He absolutely wasn’t showing kind consideration just because Seraphina was a woman.

Rather…

“Ugh… This is too horrible.”

She learns quickly despite her grumbling.

Claude stood with his arms crossed, waiting as he watched her grimace while preparing the rabbit that would be their dinner.

He had only ever waited this patiently for one person in his entire life.

<Brother! Don’t go!>

<Leah, the castle is safe. You must never go outside.>

<No. I want to stay with you, brother.>

<How did I say to swing the sword? Try it as you learned. You can do it.>

It had been over 15 years, but he could still hear her voice clearly in his ears.

Leah always looked like she was about to cry, but she did well when actually taught. That day too, when he handed her the sword and told her to try, she followed the movements and steps as she had learned.

So he left with peace of mind, but…

Should he not have left for the undead subjugation that day? Should he have stayed in the castle with his sister? Or should he have taken Leah with him…

There was no use regretting it now. It couldn’t be undone.

Anyway, Seraphina was the second. The second person he waited for with such patience.

There was only one reason.

Because he saw his sister Leah, whom he couldn’t protect, overlapping with her.

<I’ve participated in battlefields a few times as a healer mercenary, and I’ve fainted at the sight of ghouls.>

Fainted…

He didn’t show it at the time, but Claude’s heart sank as he was reminded of Leah. Leah fainted then too. Unable to overcome her fear when faced with the undead that had pushed into Hilton Castle, she lost consciousness and died just like that.

Claude, who only heard the news later, slaughtered all the maids who had abandoned the unconscious Leah and fled.

His anger wasn’t quelled, but he didn’t know how else to vent it.

The directionless emotion could only be buried inside.

That’s how he had lived.

Silently, until now.

Perhaps he needed a substitute for his sister who was now beyond his reach. Even though he knew it was a pathetic emotion…

“Ahhh…! I can’t do it! How can I do this to this cute rabbit!”

No, Seraphina could never be a substitute for his sister. She didn’t resemble Leah in the slightest to begin with, and he didn’t know why he was acting like this.

This woman was just… concerning because she was the purifier. Because she was special.

Claude pressed his furrowed brow with his index finger.

“Open your eyes and slit its throat. What are you doing, when you’ve been eating meat just fine until now?”

“I’ve only seen prepared ingredients, I’ve never caught anything myself!”

Watching Seraphina shout, he swallowed a complicated sigh.

“How are you going to exterminate the undead like this?”

“…That’s true.”

“Pull yourself together.”

“Yes.”

She answered reluctantly, then pushed out her lips and started draining the rabbit’s blood. She dry heaved a few times in between. After quietly watching her, Claude reached out and touched her cheek.

“……?”

When Seraphina looked at him with a puzzled expression, Claude spoke in an indifferent tone.

“You’re so horrified by blood, yet you manage to get it all over your face.”

“Huh! Blood?”

As she gasped in surprise and made a fuss, Claude firmly grasped her chin as if telling her to stay still.

“What are you doing? I need to wipe it off… Mmph!”

“I’m wiping it off for you, aren’t I?”

To others, it might have looked like a rough touch, but in Claude’s mind, he was being careful and thorough in wiping it off.

“……”

“What is it? Why did you suddenly stop?”

“It’s smeared.”

“……!”

Seeing her sharp gaze, Claude hesitated for a moment.

This is a big problem.

It’s smeared everywhere except her forehead…

Thinking that he absolutely must not let her see her own face, Claude quickly took out a water bottle from his backpack. Then he made her wash her face completely.

“Just how far did it smear… blub blub!”

He silenced her noisy mouth under the pretext of washing her face.

After washing off all the blood, Seraphina continued to glare at him with a sharp look. She could deduce how far it had smeared from the extensive area he had wiped.

Finally, unable to bear the discomfort, Claude opened his mouth slightly.

“…I’ll roast the rabbit for you.”

Soon after, a savory smell began to spread over the blazing campfire.

* * *

A world covered in white snow.

The cold and barren northern territory, Hilton.

A busy wind blew through Hilton Castle, which is located at the foot of the Grodes Mountains, after a long time.

It wasn’t the kind of busyness that came with departing to exterminate the undead. It was an air filled with a festive atmosphere in anticipation of a joyous occasion.

“Move the ice sculptures more this way!”

“Where should we put the camellias? We don’t have many, so we can’t make it look abundant!”

“We need to tidy up the room too!”

“Cough cough! The dust!”

All members of Hilton Castle were busy moving about.

The butler was busy directing here and there, and the maids thoroughly cleaned everything from bedding to curtains to prepare the room where the esteemed guest would stay.

That’s right.

Today was the day when the purifier, who had appeared after several years, would arrive in the North.

She would be especially welcome here, where undead appeared almost daily. Considering how the lord and one of the three heroes, His Grace Denhague, had a poor relationship with the Emperor and couldn’t receive troop support every time, barely scraping by, this was nothing short of a miracle.

Good heavens!

To receive support in the form of a purifier, not a knight or a mage!

“What kind of method did he use?”

As Kiel, the butler of Hilton Castle, tilted his head in wonder, Austin, Claude’s close mage who was passing by, casually replied.

“I guess he won a match. Pfft.”

“Do you think he really won?”

When Kiel cautiously expressed his doubt, Austin’s expression darkened.

“Well… That might be a bit difficult?”

Austin nodded, saying something that would have made Claude spit fire if he had heard it. Kiel opened his mouth again, looking like he was dying of curiosity.

“If I had known he had such skills, I would have pushed him to go to Elmon earlier.”

“Never mind that. Do you think he’s the type to listen if we said that?”

“True.”

The two nodded in unison.

Then, realizing the busyness around them, they started to go their separate ways again. Kiel to prepare for the welcoming party, and Austin to organize reports to brief on recent events.

Thus, the Hilton Castle was filled with a busy yet excited atmosphere all day long.

Word had come that they would arrive in the afternoon.

So the plan was to welcome them warmly when the two entered the castle, then treat them to delicious food. Although it was too bleak to call it a garden, they planned to maximize the beauty of the North by placing plenty of colorful ice sculptures, Hilton’s specialty, in the snow-covered outdoor garden.

Now all they needed was for the protagonists to grace the occasion.

However…

“Why aren’t they here yet?”

Even late into the night, there was no sign of the castle gates opening.

I hope nothing has happened to them…

Worry gradually began to fill Kiel’s face.

* * *

It was the last night of camping.

Since they came to the far north, the blowing wind was now quite cold.

Claude looked at the sky, dyed navy blue, and thought. They had come such a long way.

It had been a forced march that only knights should have been able to handle, but Seraphina kept up surprisingly well. Despite looking as frail as a dry twig, she seemed to have considerable stamina, contrary to appearances.

Whether it was the effect of her special training at the Imperial Palace or not.

As much as he didn’t want to admit it, the unicorn blood-mixed horse that Johann had given was also a great help.

Sylphid, was it?

If it weren’t for that horse, it would have been impossible to come this far at this speed.

Thinking this, Claude turned his gaze to look at the tent where Seraphina was sleeping.

“Cough! Cough!”

It was then that he heard the coughing sound.

Tsk.

Has she pathetically caught a cold or something?

It was possible given the cold weather, but he, who had never been sick in his life, clicked his tongue.

After throwing a few dry twigs into the campfire to increase the flames, he bent down and entered Seraphina’s tent.

The interior was cramped, but he could just about squeeze himself in.

“Cough cough.”

“Is it a cold?”

“Ugh…”

Seraphina, half-asleep, couldn’t answer properly.

Claude quietly placed his hand on her forehead.

Oh no.

The fever was higher than he thought.

Both her forehead and cheeks were boiling like water over a fire.