The journey continued.
The carriage headed north, passing through village after village.
Peace and tranquility permeated the Asura Kingdom.
Farmers bent over their work in the wheat fields.
Children chased one another barefoot by the roadside.
Women washed clothes by the river.
Everyone always wore a smile.
But the monsters they encountered along the way were pitifully few.
The occasional ones that appeared were all lowly creatures like boars and hunting dogs, mostly no higher than D-rank, or C-rank at the very most.
Ghislaine did not even need to act. Luo Ge dispatched them with a casual stroke of his sword.
Clean and efficient, without even stopping the carriage.
After several consecutive days in the carriage, Ghislaine finally called it to a halt, switching to travel on foot.
"Luo Ge."
"We'll be passing through the dangerous Red Dragon Mountains next. The mountain paths are rugged. Not only can the carriage not get through, but it would also draw attention, so we can only go on foot."
"If it's that dangerous, can't we take a safer trade route around them?"
"A detour would waste a lot of time. Anyway... if we bring enough supplies and watch out for red dragons, we should be fine."
She paused. "That's settled, then. No objections, right?"
"When do we leave?"
Luo Ge was getting impatient to go.
However, Ghislaine did not set out immediately, instead asking Luo Ge to wait there for a moment.
Before long, Ghislaine returned.
She carried a pack and a waterskin filled with food and water, all necessities. It was clear that Ghislaine was an experienced adventurer.
"Let's go."
At Ghislaine's command, the two set off on foot.
After they crossed several mountaintops, the temperature plunged.
Where the Asura Kingdom before had offered clear skies and brilliant sunshine, this place was in the grip of a bitter winter.
Snow blanketed everything...
Ice sealed a thousand miles, and snow drifted across ten thousand.
The cold wind cut their faces like a knife.
As far as the eye could see, nothing remained between heaven and earth but a boundless expanse of white. Snowy mountains overlapped at the edge of their vision, stretching without end.
At first, Luo Ge had thought they would reach the Red Dragon Mountains quickly. Only when he actually stood before them did he realize he had been wrong.
The Red Dragon Mountains were not a single mountain, but a range stretching hundreds of miles.
The endless snow stretched beyond sight, immediately evoking an unbidden sense of insignificance and helplessness.
People truly were insignificant compared to the world around them.
By the time they reached the entrance to the Red Dragon Mountains, night had fallen.
Ghislaine found a sheltered spot beneath a rock face and made camp.
"Strange..."
Ghislaine took out a flint and crouched before the damp firewood, striking it repeatedly. Sparks scattered over the ground, but the wood refused to catch.
"Let me."
Luo Ge eagerly stepped forward, extended his hand to release his mana, and chanted softly, "May the great blessing of flame descend upon the place you seek. Let the heat of a valiant flame manifest here-Fireball!"
He could actually cast it without chanting, but he felt that starting a fire called for a little ceremony.
A flame leaped from his palm and landed on the dry wood, which caught with a crackle.
The warm firelight dispelled the surrounding chill. Its orange-red glow lit their faces, filling the cramped space beneath the rock face with warmth.
Ghislaine stared at him in surprise. "You-you can use magic?"
"As a swordsman, knowing a little magic is perfectly reasonable, isn't it?" Luo Ge smiled slightly and sat beside the fire, rubbing his frozen fingers.
"That's impressive... I was worried about you before, but now it seems you don't need anyone worrying on your behalf."
Ghislaine spoke with genuine feeling, a rare note of wonder in her voice. "It's hard to imagine how that fellow Paul could have such an outstanding child."
Luo Ge did not answer, merely smiling.
The fire crackled, and warmth gradually seeped deep into their clothes.
After a moment of silence, Ghislaine suddenly spoke. "Um..."
"Ghislaine, is something wrong?" Luo Ge noticed her hesitation.
"Could you... teach me magic?"
"Of course."
Luo Ge readily agreed. "But to learn magic, you have to learn to read first-Ghislaine, can you read?"
"Hm?"
Ghislaine's expression instantly became deeply troubled. Even her beast ears drooped, and her face all but said, "I'm doomed."
Luo Ge had prepared himself for the worst, but Ghislaine's level of education was even lower than he had imagined.
She was practically illiterate.
Teaching her magic meant starting with the very basics of reading.
But Luo Ge did not refuse because of the trouble. Instead, he patiently taught her to read and write, beginning with the simplest letters and words.
They traveled by day, and at night, he earnestly taught Ghislaine beside the campfire.
And so, with one teaching and the other learning, they crossed the Red Dragon Mountains while building an unexpected outdoor classroom.
"Screee!"
An eagle's cry pierced the clouds and split the stone from high above. A goshawk swooped over the land, its call shrill and ringing.
But in the next instant, an enormous dark shape behind it swallowed it in a single bite.
It was a red dragon, a creature at the top of the Red Dragon Mountains' food chain.
On a steep cliff face, two people struggled upward along a shortcut. Whenever they encountered a red dragon, they hid behind a protruding boulder and held their breath.
The red dragons never discovered them, even as they flew away.
With a couple of casual wingbeats that whipped up a gale, the red dragon flew toward a distant ridge.
The camera shifted away from the red dragon, passing through the bitter wind and swirling snow to return to the steep cliff.
It was Luo Ge and Ghislaine's human-and-beastfolk duo.
Elsewhere, such an odd pairing would have drawn at least a few curious looks.
As she climbed, Ghislaine explained quietly, "Those are red dragons. They live in the Red Dragon Mountains. We might be able to handle one, but they live in groups. Once you provoke one, a whole swarm will soon come to attack you."
"Even the Seven Great Powers probably wouldn't have much luck, so avoid fighting them whenever possible."
Luo Ge nodded, listening with particular care.
He knew Ghislaine was not rambling, but passing on valuable wilderness survival experience.
In such a harsh environment, every piece of experience could save a life.
To save time, Ghislaine led Luo Ge over paths that normally saw no travelers.
It saved them even more time.
But it also meant the danger rose drastically.
Cliffs, snowy slopes, river valleys split by ice-they took almost every route that could be traveled.
All around them, snowy mountains still stretched on without end.
They traveled for several days straight, as though this road would never end.
Even Luo Ge had to admit that without Ghislaine to guide him, crossing the Red Dragon Mountains would be out of the question. Simply losing his way would be enough to leave him trapped to death deep within this boundless expanse of snowy mountains.
Aside from the harsh weather and treacherous terrain, they also had to remain constantly alert for possible attacks from the red dragons circling overhead.
Half a month later, they finally reached the highest section of the Red Dragon Mountains.
The terrain here was treacherous, all steep cliffs, with a bottomless gorge below their feet. The slightest carelessness could send them plummeting to a bone-shattering death.
Fortunately, someone had carved a path here, though it was extremely steep and dangerous...
If a red dragon attacked them now, their chances of survival would be slim indeed.
Speak of the devil.
For some unknown reason, the red dragons in the sky suddenly went berserk en masse. A huge swarm of dark shapes swooped madly toward them.
The sound of dragon wings tearing through the air was like thunder, making their eardrums ache.
"This is bad!"
"Get behind me!"
Ghislaine shielded Luo Ge behind her and drew her longsword, its gleam flaring amid the wind and snow.
Three red dragons had broken away from the scattered group, looking like a family of three.
Ghislaine was at a disadvantage from their very first clash. The three red dragons took turns diving at her, suppressing her so thoroughly that she could barely fend them off.
Just as Luo Ge tightened his grip on his sword and prepared to help.
The red dragons seemed to suffer some even greater fright. They abruptly changed direction and scattered in flight.
Their wings beat wildly, and they soon vanished into the gray-white sky.
"Is the danger over?"
Watching the retreating dragons, Luo Ge murmured to himself, "But those red dragons were really strange. Why would they suddenly attack us for no reason...?"
"Ghislaine? What's wrong?"
Only then did Luo Ge notice that Ghislaine still held her sword drawn, her entire body frozen in place, fine beads of cold sweat seeping from her forehead.
She had not moved at all since earlier, as though someone had cast a paralysis spell on her.
Was Ghislaine nervous? Afraid?
Even when the three red dragons attacked her earlier, she had never shown such a fearful expression.
Ghislaine kept her voice extremely low. "Don't move... someone's coming."
"Someone?"
Following Ghislaine's gaze toward the rugged mountain path opposite them, Luo Ge finally spotted a solitary figure slowly approaching through the oncoming blizzard.
Swish, swish, swish!
Wind and snow filled the sky, and that figure stood out starkly against the boundless white.
The man did not walk quickly, but every step was exceptionally steady, and his entire body radiated an intensely oppressive presence.
A thought flashed through Luo Ge's mind.
Could those rampaging red dragons... have been frightened off by this man's aura?
Such an overwhelming presence-even Ghislaine was bracing herself for a formidable enemy...
Was he an enemy?
Fortunately, the man did not attack immediately, instead drawing closer.
Silver hair.
Golden eyes.
Whites showing on three sides of his irises.
His features were cold and stern, and his entire being exuded an icy aura that warned strangers away.
He merely walked at an unhurried pace, not even glancing their way, yet an invisible pressure had already surged over them, as though the very air had frozen into ice.
In the instant they passed one another.
Ghislaine kept her hand clamped tightly on her sword hilt, cold sweat streaming down her forehead.
Luo Ge narrowed his eyes slightly, his gaze fixed firmly on the figure drawing ever closer to him.
He kept feeling as though something bad was about to happen.