Troubled times and turbulence revealed people's true colors.
There was no way Seveleen wanted to live just like anyone. Actually, her will to live was stronger than others, she gave her all to live till the end enduring the sadness and feeling of helplessness.
Meeting someone from her homeland made her open up her heart to him.
Zick was obviously aware of Seveleen's current state of mind seeing her expression wasn't cold and had no sense of strength in it.
'She is in despair.' Zick thought looking at Seveleen's blue eyes which had lost their lustre.
"I don't think there is any problem with my body," Seveleen answered with a little less wariness.
She got up pushing away the snow wolf, still a little scared of it. She cast cold resistance magic on herself and sat a few metres away from Zick, supporting her back on the ice wall.
Zick could have just killed her when she was unconscious so it was apparent that he had no evil intention against her. Knowing this, Seveleen subconsciously got closer to him.
In the first place, she had a good impression of Zick, who helped her little sister in the academic city.
Seveleen and Zick talked about what they have been doing in the eastern continent till now. Zick made up a story of using a forbidden technique that is considered very dangerous by the Melvix family to fight off some strong monster in one of the forests. So his strength had experienced a fall in rank.
It was so perfect that Seveleen was not able to ask anything about it. After all, Zick clearly said that this forbidden technique belonged to the Melvix family.
Asking anything about it would be disrespectful.
Another hour passed by with them chatting about their past. Though both of them had blank expressions, showing any emotions rarely, Seveleen had grown a lot closer to Zick.
'This is enough for now, I guess. Extending this for any longer does not have benefits for me.' Zick felt that he had gained enough of Seveleen's trust in this one conversation.
Seveleen was clearly in a weak state of mind, letting Zick become a lot closer to her than he initially thought.
She had also said multiple times that she would repay this debt so Zick was satisfied with the result.
"I think we should get going then, we can't stay like this forever...." Zick got up and walked toward one of the strong snow wolves. He deliberately made himself sound reluctant giving the impression of being a normal human being to Seveleen. He just wanted to talk to a person from the same homeland.
Seveleen wasn't surprised and instead nodded her head. She had already anticipated this.
"We should be able to cross two mountains and reach the Gorthect empire with The help of these snow wolves." Seveleen didn't give up, she didn't lose the fire in her heart that she felt from a young age, it was still burning with the same ambition as always.
Zick tilted his head, "Two mountains? There is only one mountain that needs to be crossed and I am not coming, you will have to go alone. I have something to do before that."
It seemed like Seveleen had gotten false information, but Zick didn't care.
Leaving Seveleen alone was not a good idea but Zick could do nothing about it. He made himself sound very serious showing that he wouldn't change his decision.
"You are planning to go deeper into the mountain region? Don't!" Seveleen lost her composure for a second, making her raise her voice.
Biting her like lightly, She continued: " There is a matured snow cyclops deeper in this region. You will definitely die if you come in contact with it." Seveleen's clenched hands shook feeling the terror from before.
"Don't worry, I am only going to the next mountain, I have to pick up something precious from there." Zick didn't change his attitude, showing decisiveness to Seveleen.
Making an impression that he was a man who never gives up on his decision after making up his mind. This would make it easy to move in the future.
'Yes, I have to pick up something very, very precious. I can't just let it rot in there.' Having this hypocritical thought, Zick put a collar on a snow wolf and activated it by sending his mana into it.
"Then...let me also accompany you-" Looking a little restless, Seveleen asked. She didn't want Zick, the first person she met from her homeland, to die here.
"There is no need. In your condition, you will only be baggage on this journey and get in the way. You should just take this snow wolf and wait outside of the Lectic mountain region." Zick barraged Seveleen with reality without any mercy, he didn't have any plan on letting her tag along. This had to be done because he had no plan of becoming a babysitter yet and to not appear like a person who does things half-heartedly.
Hearing Zick's barrage just now made Seveleen both grateful as he was worried about her and as well as to make her aware of her helplessness. Her mind had not recovered yet.
"Okay, I will wait at the border of the mountain region," Seveleen said after thinking about it with a weak voice.
"Okay then, take this snow wolf along with you." Zick passed on the snow wolf with a taming collar on it to Seveleen.
Seveleen had been doubtful as to how Zick controlled this snow wolf for a while but didn't ask. She knew her place well.
Zick knew about this too so he already had multiple excuses prepared. A story like the crimson earring he is wearing can control monsters.
"Take care then, miss Seveleen." Zick moved out with the snow wolf not wasting time. He had already recovered all of his mana.
"You too, Mister Zick, please be careful."
Both of them spoke naturally showing their statuses of being an heir of the duke family, who have been ingrained with aristocratic behaviour from a young age.
Both Zick and Seveleen moved out, going towards their destinations.
Feeling the coldness against his skin, Zick kept thinking of his prior chat with Seveleen. He didn't want any loophole to be left behind which could harm his relationship.
Seveleen had originally teleported to a city near the Leweisert kingdom, in the novel. So This changed the plot of the novel to a large degree.
Though the knowledge held by Zick still had much value, he would not be able to anticipate the future by a large degree now.
Feeling nothing amiss, he thought about another matter which surprised him immensely.
'A matured snow cyclop? How is that pos...or wait, I don't think it's weird for them to live in this region.'
The snow cyclop that appeared in the novel had not matured at that time, having only the strength of a peak-rank knight. So Aeiron was able to escape. If a matured one appeared that would be another matter altogether.
Matured snow cyclops have the strength just one step below the master rank. Their special ability was also attack-oriented which just made them all the more stronger. They already had a high resistance to magic and physical attack, with even offense reaching a high level their strength achieved a qualitative change.
Right at the moment, there were 17 snow wolves in Zick's gang. They moved in a proper formation, not going too far from the group.
While travelling up the second mountain, Zick encounters another group of snow wolves, which promptly got added to his gang.
Whenever he encountered a snow bear or yetis, Zick would order the snow wolf to kill and eat them.
Now with 42 snow wolves in his group, he reached the destination at last.
One and a half days had already gone by since Zick entered the snow mountain region now. The snowstorm had stopped miraculously. Making Zick surprised, he had predicted it to go on for many days after all.
'The weather of this place is unpredictable. If I knew this would happen, I would have just waited for a while and then entered.' Zick sighed.
'Hmm...or I guess it's for the best, I was able to meet Seveleen here. If I came late, she would have already turned into an ice sculpture and died.'
As the saying goes-
Hard work is always met with a reward, just like how justice is always served to the evil.
It was bullshit in Zick's eyes, But this fitted his current situation somewhat.
In a world where one could do anything with strength, justice and stuff were just lip service made to let the citizens live in peace. If a truly evil being with immense strength, like the demon lord, appeared, what justice?
Hehehe, they would all be destroyed to nothingness in an instant!
'Haha, living shackled in such an ideal is really pitiful and unsightly.' Zick's eyes dulled.
Zick didn't have such ideals, to begin with after going through what he did on Earth.
Sitting upon the Snow wolf, Zick could see clearly to a very far distance. Not wasting a second, he started looking for the lake that appeared in the novel. He remembered its description almost perfectly.
The sun didn't rise in this region so it was still dark with black clouds above him.
Leaving the one Zick sat on, he sent every other snow wolf looking for the lake. He waited for their finding patiently.
The lake was near the second mountain, so that was the only place he needed to look into.
Soon all the snow wolves walked back one by one, and none of them showed any behaviour of finding anything in the end.
Thinking while holding his chin, Zick's expression turned blank.
Guhhhh! Guwahh!
After a few minutes, suddenly a thunderous roar travelled to Zick making his hair stand up. His eyes contracted to pin size.
Snow cyclops! And there were dozens of them!
"Run!"
Feeling his instinct screaming, without any hesitation, Zick ordered the snow wolves.
The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel