Rescue

After leaving the village, the captain of the guard seemed to realize something was wrong about two minutes later.

"Wait, you... I don't think I've seen you before. Are you from our village? Or did you come from the neighboring island?" he asked instinctively as he ran after them.

What they failed to notice, however, was that the temperature around them had begun to drop without a sound...

At the same time, the battered boy who could no longer move and the despairing girl seemed to have suddenly noticed something as well. A flicker of astonishment passed through their eyes.

Th-this was...

The guard who had come to deliver the message abruptly stopped. The uniformed figure leading the way ahead of them suddenly looked utterly unfamiliar in the guards' eyes. An eerie feeling welled up in their hearts, but by the time they realized something was wrong, it was already too late.

Whoosh... In a daze, it seemed as though a cold wind had swept past.

Then, before anyone could see what had happened, several lifelike ice sculptures stood among the trees. Other than the two siblings, no one present had escaped.

The girl burst into tears on the spot.

"M-Mage Benjamin... You finally came!"

Benjamin, disguised as a guard, turned around as well. He removed the straw raincoat he wore and revealed a comforting smile. "Sorry, I was late."

After discovering that the two siblings had been captured, he had followed the guards for quite some time before this rescue plan emerged in his mind.

—Along the way, he had not seen a single priest, much less anyone of elder rank, so Benjamin believed it would be difficult for anyone to see through his disguise. At the same time, however, he still did not understand the situation across the