CH 199

“Huff, huff, huff……..”

In the midst of the relentless blizzard, we desperately kept our legs moving, pushing forward. I think we were fairly accustomed to harsh environments, but there’s nothing we can do about the exhaustion of our strength. Especially right after arriving in a new world, the effect of our bodies being reset to a fresh state causes our stamina to drop, which was tough.

“Huff, huff…….”

Even as we walked, I sneaked glances at the [Akashic Compass] I had floating over my hand to check on it. There’s no way we can confirm our path in front of the deep snow, so this was all we could rely on.

In fact, if we didn’t have this, I think we’d honestly be lost. That’s how hard it is to find a direction to go in this world.

“Tia, are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine.”

Every so often, I turned around and called out, and Tia always replied properly. We were holding hands, so I didn’t worry about getting separated, but I wonder if it was my weakness that I still checked. I’ve confirmed countless times that Tia was indeed there, beyond the icy cold sensation.

What surrounded us was just endless snow. There were sparse trees standing, but according to Tia, they were all truly withered… dead trees.

And there’s nothing else. There’s nothing in this world that moves other than us. Of course, there’s this snow. Even if a small animal or something left tiny footprints, they would probably disappear immediately… but the feeling as if everything other than us is buried in the snow quietly eats away at my spirit.

“Huff, huff, huff……..”

But I keep walking. I keep on walking. If we stop, we too will end up buried under this snow. Walking and walking, after four hours of continuous walking, we finally saw a faint shadow of something beyond our snow-whitened vision.

“…Is that a town? Tia, it’s a town!”

“Really!? Good, we can finally rest.”

We quickened our pace with joy, and there indeed was the stone wall and gate enclosing the town.

We finally found signs of human life. There were no lights on and no gatekeepers, but in this blizzard, there’s no way there could be any security. Before our minds could register that we might get scolded for entering without permission, we passed through the gate and step into the town… but then we stopped in our tracks.

“What… is this……..”

Indeed, there’s a town here. But everything… even the street in front of us is buried in snow, with no signs of people passing through.

“Hello, is anyone there!? Hello!”

I called out loudly for people. But no one responded. My voice was drowned out by the sound of the blizzard, buried in white and melting away.

“…Should we try visiting some of the houses around here?”

Waiting here won’t get us anywhere. I stood in front of a nearby house. Ice clinged to the door, telling a tale of it not being opened for a long time.

“Hello! Is anyone there!?”

I banged on the door hard, but there was no answer. So…

“We’re people exploring the outside world! We can share food and firewood, so could you talk to us!?”

I called out loudly enough for not just the house in front of me, but even those across the street to hear. But still, there was no response from anywhere.

“Ed?”

“Given the situation around here. I thought declaring that we have those things would attract someone, for better or worse… Are we truly alone?”

“Maybe. What do we do?”

“Hmm… alright, let’s pry open the door and go in.”

“Is that okay? This world is different from the last one, you know?”

“Hah, I never thought I’d hear you say something like that. Well, it’s fine. If it comes down to it, I’ll let them capture me quietly, so Tia, you hide.”

“Hmm… alright.”

Tia, slightly discontented, agreed with my laughing statement. It’s reasonable since I can escape from any situation by myself, and above all, even if I were to be captured, the benefit of gaining information is much greater in this situation.

“Well then… here we go.”

I swing my sword and cut off the latch, and we break into the house. The room is pitch dark, the air is cold and dusty. The furniture and such are still there, so people must have lived here, but it seems like a long time ago.

“I’ll check the rooms at the back, Tia, please check the kitchen area. Make sure to look inside the shelves.”

“Understood.”

I carrird a lantern at my waist, and Tia floats a light spirit, we split into two and I moved straight through the living room to the back rooms. There were two rooms, both were similar, and indeed, there was no sign of people.

“The bed is covered in dust. No books or records detailing the situation… huh.”

I was hoping to find something like a diary, but unfortunately, there was nothing that seemed to be useful material. There’s no way there could be a contraption in a regular house where pressing a button moves the bed to reveal a basement… so I returned to find Tia, who was investigating deep into the cupboards, also coming over to me.

“How about it, Tia? Did you find anything?”

“No, nothing. All types of food were neatly gone.”

“That means, there’s a high chance the inhabitants of this place have evacuated somewhere else.”

The town was not destroyed, so it didn’t seem like monsters had attacked. Moreover, the fact that no food was left suggested they’d moved carrying it. In other words, they didn’t flee in a hurry, they evacuated somewhere with a proper plan.

“Alright, let’s move towards the center of the town next. Along the way, there’s the adventurers guild… I don’t know if it exists, but let’s check places that might serve as shelters or where information might be gathered.”

“Got it. I hope someone is there…”

“Yeah.”

If they’ve grouped together to take refuge in a big building to escape the fierce blizzard, that would be the most straightforward situation and would allow us to handle things peacefully.

So, we left the house and walked down the street again. The blizzard was a lot better because there were buildings around us, but we continued walking hand in hand without letting our guard down, and soon a large stone building came into view.

“That seems like it.”

“Let’s go check it out.”

As we approached with hope, the building that looked like the adventurers guild was thoroughly barricaded. The entrance and the windows were firmly closed by wooden doors, and it was impossible to see inside from the outside.

“Hey! Is anyone there!?”

Just in case, I banged on the door and called out loudly again. But no matter how many times I did it, there was no response, and I couldn’t sense any signs of people moving.

“Haa, guess we’ll have to break it again.”

“Breaking the door of the adventurers guild, I feel like a really bad person.”

“Don’t say that. It’s an extraordinary measure due to an emergency.”

If we were to attack the guild in normal times, we’d definitely be wanted, but there’s no reaction even when we call out, so there’s no choice. In case of any chance, we break the door in a way that it can be restored as much as possible, and when we enter, dust flies up instead of snow here as well.

Fortunately, the magical lighting fixtures mounted on the walls were still there, so I turned those on first and then took another look around the building.

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“Seems like quite a while since people left here too.”

“We’re going to search here as well, right?”

“Of course. Oh, but, since it’s a guild, there might still be security spells or something active, so be careful.”

“I get it but… shouldn’t Ed check that first?”

“…Right, I should.”

After being pointed out by Tia, I check for those kinds of traps with the [Akashic Compass]. Then, a large desk in what appeared to be an office room, and a safe in the back of it caught my attention, but when I looked, both were left open.

“Hmm, did someone come before us and already loot it? Or did they take everything when they evacuated?”

“At first glance, it doesn’t seem like it’s been ransacked, so maybe they took everything with them?”

“That means it was something very important, or they didn’t intend to come back here… Hmm.”

Completely abandoning a guild that could be a refuge in case of emergencies suggests that nobody is left in this town. That means we have to move through the blizzard again, which is quite depressing.

“Haa, can’t be helped. Let’s search for any relevant information in the library and then consider our next course of action.”

“Right.”

Hoping to at least learn the name of this town, I headed to the library on the second floor with Tia.