Nightmare

"Boring. They're just a few mere mortals. If I wanted to, crushing a few of the Emperor's Royal Guard to death with my bare hands would be as simple as squashing a couple of bugs, wouldn't it?"

Yet while the woman was spouting such arrogant nonsense, at the military's request, the Emperor's Royal Guard were also present!

After all, this operation was a military-organized investigation, and the Emperor's Royal Guard, being one of the military's trump cards, naturally had to be brought along.

"What did you say!?"

The chilling voice of one of the guards rang out from beneath a mask.

Few people ever got to see the Emperor's Royal Guard angry.

That was because such people generally didn't live to see the next second.

"I said, why are these stray dogs still here? Since they're the military's dogs, they should crawl back to their master to beg for bones instead of staying here and being an eyesore."

We don't welcome weaklings like you here.

That sentiment was practically written all over her face. Unlike someone as easy to talk to as Koschei, Yaga Glazunov simply didn't give the military any face. But that was normal; this land spoke through strength. Since Yaga Glazunov could say such a thing, she could naturally back it up as well. Otherwise, the Emperor's Royal Guard wouldn't have just questioned her—they would have made their move directly.

"You lot are only capable of this much. I have to admit, managing to muddle through to this level already shows you have some skill. Things that seem inconceivably strong in your eyes are really nothing special in mine. I honestly don't get how four people fighting one person managed to turn out like this. I can only say that a bunch of bugs that have learned to bite still amount to just this much."

Yaga Glazunov's tone was thoroughly contemptuous, not even intending to leave any room for maneuvering. Of course, she didn't need any room either; humans didn't negotiate with bugs, and gods didn't need to negotiate or compromise with humans.

"You!"

"Will it kill you to say a little less? Enough! This isn't the place for you to bicker—shut your mouths, all of you!"

The person among the three who had remained silent finally spoke up.

The speaker was an Ursus man dressed in formal black attire, with a scar running across his right eye.

The man's voice was deep, instantly forcing the two arguing parties to quiet down.

"Indeed. We all came here because of the Snow Demon matter in the first place, so there's no need to quarrel like this. We're all serving Ursus, after all."

Yet the crafty old fox Koschei continued to fan the flames.

"Please don't lump me in with bugs, Duke Koschei. In my eyes, this so-called Snow Demon is of the exact same ilk as them. A beast that ran out from who knows where doesn't deserve such a huge fuss. The military really is getting more and more incompetent."

"Precisely because of that, I need the two of you to help. I am quite terrified, you see, for such a thing to happen within my territory."

Koschei's false smile was met only with a roll of the woman's eyes.

"Your smile truly disgusts me, Koschei. Whatever, you were already that kind of thing to begin with. I called the Snow Demon ordinary only because I have the strength to eradicate it. As long as she dares to appear before me, I can crush her to death—whenever I want."

Yaga Glazunov spoke next, brimming with arrogance and completely devoid of any pressure. In her eyes, everything was merely an ant.

"If it were Nian from the East or something from the deep sea, it might put a bit of pressure on me. As for some Snow Demon, I have no time to waste on this. Once you reach a conclusion, just tell me directly, and I'll go snuff him out to end this farce."

With that, the woman left.

"A boring farce."

"She truly is as arrogant as ever."

Koschei kept his ambiguous smile as he spoke to the remaining person.

"It certainly is a farce, but it's not as worthless as she makes it sound. I happen to be quite interested in the Snow Demon."

The scarred man stroked his chin with his finger.

"Come to think of it..."

"I recall that it isn't just the military getting a headache over this. Some new upstarts seem unable to sit still, either."

"Just a bunch of newly arrived little kids, so heavy curiosity is only natural, but..."

Changing the subject smoothly, Koschei continued.

"I've recently come up with some new thoughts of my own."

"Let's hear them."

"I've got some new ideas regarding Lungmen..."

The blizzard would take some time yet to pass through here. Although Chlorine Sodium herself didn't mind—plain natural disasters were no obstacle to a Herrscher—the energy consumed in Traveler state was simply too high.

Coupled with the fact that she now had to walk step by step in the guise of an ordinary person, trying to leave the blizzard's range on foot was completely unrealistic.

Besides, the two of them had decent luck. After waiting by the roadside for a little while, they flagged down a middle-aged man driving a cart out of the city.

"Where are you two headed? It's far from safe outside the city right now."

"To Chernobog."

"Chernobog? That's a terribly long way off."

The middle-aged man smiled, flicking his whip to urge the Tuo Beast pulling the cart.

Of course, the main reason they were able to hitch a ride was that the two of them looked completely harmless.

Traveling alone was indeed quite boring for the middle-aged man, and having a companion on the road to chat with could certainly pass a lot of time.

"Times like these, the outside is a complete mess. A little girl like you needs to be careful out there, especially recently with that whole Snow Demon business kicking up a fuss. It's got everyone feeling jumpy every time they have to make a long trip."

Under Yelena's curious, wide-eyed gaze, the middle-aged man was quite happy to chat with such a cute little girl.

"Snow Demon?"

"Oh, right, the little girl isn't a local, so you probably don't know yet. This whole thing sounds awfully spooky."

The middle-aged man sighed and said.

"You have no idea. Life just gets worse by the day down here, and now a thing like that pops up. The young men in our village have all been conscripted, and other villages too. The lord said they're building something or other, and plenty of foreigners have come, too. Word has it, this whole mess is tied to the Snow Demon.

As for what the Snow Demon actually is... I don't really know either. It's just a legend I heard from the barracks recently, passed down from those common foot soldiers."

Gossip truly knew no country and no plane of existence.

"They say it's the real deal, too. Those foot soldiers and noble lords are all spreading it. See, the young rascal back home even gave me this thing, saying it's all written on it. Too bad I'm old, my eyes ain't clear, and I can't read."

With that, he pulled a rolled-up item from his coat.

It was a newspaper. Such things were common enough in cities, but exceedingly rare in remote places like this. Coupled with the fact that hardly any of these peasants were literate, giving them a newspaper meant they couldn't read it anyway.

Emmmm.

I can't read it either.

Glancing at the contents of the newspaper, little Yelena looked equally baffled. How could a child raised in a mining camp ever get the chance to learn how to read? Aside from those ghostly scrawls, the only things she could actually understand were the black-and-white illustrations printed above.

Fortunately, though, the middle-aged driver had managed to catch some of the rumors.

"The boy at home said that the foot soldiers under the Emperor's command ran into the Snow Demon. Those grunts had never seen anything like it, and word is they started fighting the thing right then and there..."

Abruptly, the old hunter lowered his voice, glanced around, and spoke with a mysterious air.

"They say plenty of people died, you know."

"The Snow Demon—does it eat people?"

"Who knows? Maybe the gods showed their wrath, for all we know. But they say the newspaper doesn't say a single word about any of that, only mentioning the Snow Demon business. Ah, it's a shame an old bag of bones like me can't read and can't make head or tail of it."

The middle-aged man kindly patted Yelena on the head.

"What a sin this all is. I'm awfully worried about my boy, too—he went off to work for the lord. Though the bounty money is nice and all, I still worry."

Snow Demon?

Paying no mind to the pair's chatter, Chlorine Sodium took the newspaper from Yelena's hand and looked over the contents.

She didn't recall ever hearing any legends about a Snow Demon.

This place was somewhat similar to the Russia of a parallel world, corresponding to it in many customs at the very least, and their geographical environments were remarkably alike.

Even the legends mirrored each other one-to-one, such as the immortal Koschei.

It was just that the monsters and demons of this plane seemed to have become actual, tangible entities; otherwise, that duke's identity was impossible to explain.

So, just who on earth was this Snow Demon?

"15th Army Group subordinate Garrison Legion suffers Snow Demon attack?"

The report's contents were extremely vague. Relative to a news piece, it read more like an official notice. As for how it turned out, how it happened, casualty figures, and battle results—not a single word was mentioned. Even the article itself was brushed off with a brief mention in the corner of the page.

Interesting.

Naturally, the content of newspapers controlled by the Ursus authorities had been heavily filtered. If it weren't a victory, it certainly wouldn't be heavily publicized.

That meant they lost, huh.

Continuing down, there was also an accompanying picture.

It looked like a photograph taken from a great distance. The image was terribly blurry, and compounded with black-and-white printing, the clarity was exceptionally low.

Yet one could still tell that it was a photo aimed up at the sky. Faintly visible, the true form of the so-called Snow Demon... seemed to be a... woman?

Wait a minute??!!

When Chlorine Sodium caught sight of those signature single-sided golden wings of light, it finally clicked.

Isn't this just me?!?!

ps: Ah, I feel so sleepy these days. Why don't humans hibernate? I really want to sleep through the whole winter, all wrapped up in a blanket.

Chapter 24: Nightmare

What the heck—Snow Demon???

What kind of ridiculous name is that?

Chlorine Sodium stared at the piecemeal report in the newspaper.

This feeling of looking at oneself from someone else's perspective was truly wondrous.

Still, wasn't this name a bit too mortifying?

However, this also proved that her actions had produced immediate results.

The Emperor had already issued a new decree, and His armies would pacify the troublemakers.

That was what they said, but in reality, the people up top were probably panicked out of their minds.

Then... the answer to just whose protagonist this plane belonged to should be coming to light soon, too.

A malicious speculation bloomed, and in an unnoticed corner, the young girl's lips split into a vicious smile.

Yet right beside the girl, Yelena also abruptly fell silent, staring blankly at the passing snowy scenery without a word.

The middle-aged man's words had merely been a piece of hearsay.

Yet that photograph—the one blurred on the newspaper due to the limitations of printing technology—became gradually clear under the outlining of memory.

It was just like text that was clearly illegible, yet became clear simply because one recognized it.

The dark mine, the pillar of light connecting heaven and earth, the scorching heat that instantly incinerated everything...

And that blurry figure...

Everything, all of it, clung like a nightmare to the sole survivor of the incident officially designated by authorities as an "accident."

A fellow who had survived purely on good luck, but good luck wouldn't last forever.

That pillar of light and the blurry figure behind it seemed to be interpreting the crude, unreasonable, and incomparably cruel essence of this world.

Everything in sight was sheer devastation, people instantly vaporized...

People disintegrating mid-air...

People burning into fireballs and then turning to ash...

It was like hell.

Behind that light—what on earth was there?

Was it a god?

Was it a miracle?

Or something else entirely.