Chapter 63: Never Mind
A moment later, two men emerged from the entrance leading down to the underground arcade.
They were bundled in cold-weather gear.
Judging by their eyes, the eyes of men who’d killed more than a few people, both were unmistakably Hunters.
"Where did you two come from?"
"What’s your business here?"
Their tone bristled with wariness.
Walfred calmly studied their gear.
No backpacks, so they weren’t a search team. A guard unit watching the shelter entrance, then?
Having finished his assessment.
Walfred raised both hands and answered.
"Linden Station."
He’d considered saying Bayway Station, but claiming he’d covered over twelve miles in half a day would only invite suspicion, so he hid the truth.
Not that it spared him from suspicion anyway.
"What? You came all the way from Linden?"
"You’re saying you covered more than six miles in a single day? Through this blizzard?"
Both men wore looks of disbelief.
Walfred shrugged and replied.
"We’re frost attribute."
"Frost..."
At that, the Hunters’ guard went up.
Naturally. He’d just revealed they were Hunters.
And in their eyes, he could also sense something like the look people give to something useless.
Frost attribute Hunters tended to get that kind of look, so Walfred brushed it off.
Then.
"...Hold on. ’We’?"
The Hunters’ gazes shifted to Elsa, who was hiding behind Walfred. A moment later, the two muttered with startled expressions.
"Then, don’t tell me that kid is also...?"
"That’s right. She’s a Hunter."
A Hunter who was barely ten years old.
It wasn’t a common sight, so the two stared at Elsa as if she were a curiosity. But only for a moment, and then the Hunters turned back to Walfred with more questions.
"More to the point, what brings you here from Linden?"
"We just stopped by because it was getting dark."
"...Is that really all?"
"Yeah. Our destination is further south."
Walfred pointed toward the tracks.
"We have no intention of raiding or fighting. We’ll just spend the night and leave first thing in the morning."
He kept both hands raised as he spoke, signaling that he had no intention of threatening anyone. Elsa, too, thrust her slender arms high into the air.
At that, the man in front glanced at Elsa, then answered with a sigh.
"Fine. As long as you don’t come down to the underground level, you can stay wherever you like."
"Thanks. We appreciate it."
Walfred grinned.
Meanwhile, the moment the man gave his permission, the young Hunter beside him spoke up cautiously.
"Sir, but the Master clearly said..."
"There’s a child with him. If the Master knew about this, he’d gladly tell them to stay."
At that, the young Hunter shut his mouth.
The man looked at Elsa once more, then gave a slight bow of his head.
"...For the child’s sake, I’d like to let you into the shelter if I could, but we have our own circumstances, so I’m afraid that won’t be possible. I’m sorry."
"No, it’s really fine."
"There’s a station office across from the turnstiles. It’s where the search team rests, but no one’s using it today, so sleep there. It’ll be cozier, at least."
"Thanks. Good to know."
Useful information. He’d been on the fence about where to stay, too. Their business done, the two Hunters turned and headed back toward the underground arcade.
Then the man who’d given Walfred permission to stay suddenly looked back.
"Oh, right. By any chance..."
"What?"
"...No, never mind."
He seemed to have something to say, but he hesitated. Then, as if giving up, he disappeared down the stairs leading underground.
Walfred headed for the station office he’d just been told about, Elsa in tow. A moment later, he opened the door to reveal a well-kept interior.
"Oh, not bad."
A plush mattress and even blankets.
It was cozy enough that spending the night here seemed just right. Just then, Elsa’s excited voice cut into his ears.
"Daddy! There’s so much snow over there!"
Elsa was pointing at the Trenton Station plaza.
It was blanketed in snow. And more was piling up in real time, even at that very moment.
’But that’s...’
Not the pure mana-infused snow they’d eaten in the White Dome, just ordinary snow.
And yet she was that thrilled about it.
Walfred asked, puzzled.
"Is regular snow okay to eat too?"
"Yep! Blue snow tastes way better and it’s way better for you, but white snow still fills you up!"
Filling your belly with snow.
Talk about cost-effective.
"Daddy! Hurry up!"
Elsa, who had run on ahead, urged Walfred along.
Seeing her that excited, he couldn’t very well just head inside. Walfred followed Elsa out to the plaza.
Then he picked out the relatively clean snow piled on benches and structures and put it in his mouth.
[Experience gained.]
[Experience: +6.95%]
A decent amount of experience.
At this rate, he’d hit Level 60 today or tomorrow.
He and Elsa scooped and ate snow several more times.
As he quietly filled his belly with what was basically water, a notification suddenly caught Walfred’s eye.
[Special Ability: Iron Physique activated]
[Base physical abilities slightly increased.]
[Increase: +2.5%]
Beating the 3% odds.
[Frost Feast]’s Special Ability had triggered.
"Wow, that really is a tiny boost."
2.5%? He doubted he’d even notice it.
Still, every little bit adds up.
Repeat this just ten times, and his physical abilities would rise by 25%. Permanently, at that.
Praying for the Special Ability to trigger often, Walfred scraped up every last bit of snow he could eat.
[Level up.]
Before long, he reached Level 59, and by the time his experience hit 30%, Elsa, who’d been nibbling away at the snow, patted her now-round belly.
"Phew, I’m stuffed."
Walfred was just about at his limit too.
One more bite and he felt like he’d throw up all the snow he’d eaten so far. Come to think of it, what would happen if he actually did? Would he lose the experience?
Entertaining that silly thought, Walfred brought Elsa back to the station office. Maybe because her belly was full, Elsa soon began nodding off.
"Mmm, my eyes keep closing..."
"You can sleep if you’re tired."
"...Okay. Night, Daddy."
Elsa fell asleep in no time.
Walfred gently stroked her head, then logged into the Hunter Community.
There wasn’t much else to do at night anyway.
So logging into the community to gather whatever useful information he could had become his routine.
[Friends List]
[StoneFist: (Offline)]
[Ace: (Offline)]
Bauer and Jonah were both offline. The two of them tended to log into the community only late at night, well past midnight.
’And...’
Walfred’s gaze drifted downward.
There, the nickname and status of the person he’d sent a friend request to were displayed.
[Pending Friend Requests]
[Aqua: (Pending)]
The water attribute S-rank Hunter, Elma.
After the friend request feature had been unlocked, Walfred had sent her a request.
If Elma accepted, he’d no longer need to keep checking the comments.
But.
’Seriously, when is she ever going to log in?’
Elma hadn’t logged in at all.
Apparently she only came online very occasionally, when she absolutely needed to. Sighing in frustration, Walfred browsed the Info/Strategy Board.
Next to the Q&A Board, it was the place he checked most often.
After all, it was packed with monster strategy guides compiled by veteran Hunters.
’The more monster intel, the better.’
There were thousands of monster species in the world.
Of those, Walfred knew only a fraction.
So if he studied their weaknesses and patterns in advance, his odds of winning would climb dramatically.
As he was scrolling through the board.
"Huh? This is..."
A post caught his eye.
