WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Mordor
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Surviving the Frozen Dark Fantasy as a Genius Mage ◈
Chapter 62: The Rediscovered Second Homeland
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There was no doubt about it.
Even if every village in the snowfield looked similar, there was no way I would fail to recognize that place.
‘That broken section of palisade and that building layout. It’s definitely the same place.’
“That’s...”
“South Sunshine Village.”
“The village those beggars came from?!”
Elena looked startled.
There was a strange hint of anticipation in her eyes too.
But Daisy did not share Elena’s anticipation.
“...!”
Elena and I had been part of the orphan gang, but Daisy had a family.
She had been sold for a few coins, but family was bound to be special to a girl her age.
“W-What should we do...?”
Her expression was conflicted.
“What’s going on?”
Kulkin asked, unaware of the situation. I explained our connection to South Sunshine Village.
“Hmm, I see. If it makes you uncomfortable, should we just pass it by?”
“No, we should ask for directions and stock up on food.”
Kulkin was being considerate, but I shook my head.
I was curious to see what my second hometown looked like after all this time.
‘Those bastards abandoned us. I wonder how they’re all living now.’
“Hyah!”
We led the sleds toward the village.
Whoooosh!
“Haaalt!”
A shout rang out through the raging blizzard. A small window opened between the palisades, and someone peered at us with only their eyes visible.
“Who are you? What business do you have here?”
Kulkin stepped forward as our representative.
“We are travelers headed to the Lord of Shirinwind’s territory at his request. We will pay, so we would like to rest here for a while.”
“...Wait a moment.”
That “moment” lasted quite a while.
“These bastards haven’t changed.”
Elena snickered. Just as Kulkin’s patience was reaching its limit, the palisade opened.
“Come in.”
Crunch.
Snowflakes fell inside the village just as they did outside.
Kulkin’s two guards, a man and a woman who also served as porters, quietly rested their hands on their sword hilts.
“Sir Kulkin. Please stay behind us.”
Dozens of people had surrounded us.
The more isolated a village was, the more it rejected and guarded against outsiders.
That was how they had lived, and how they survived.
“They’re outsiders.”
“They have swords.”
The village’s only fighters, around a dozen hunters, local bigshots, and even mages had all come out.
“Everyone, stop.”
Then the goat-bearded village chief appeared at last, pushing through the crowd.
It was a method I had often seen him use when outsiders came to the village, creating an atmosphere to crush their spirit and raise his own standing.
‘That sly old bastard hasn’t changed.’
“Are they the ones?”
“Yes, Chief.”
Wearing the most extravagant clothes he owned, the chief clasped his hands behind his back and pointed at us with his chin.
They still looked shabby to us, though.
“You’re mages from the Labyrinth? Then you are not under the lord’s command.”
With our hoods pulled low, he did not recognize the three of us.
“...”
I took off my fur hat and lowered my hood before stepping forward.
“It’s been a long time, Chief.”
You bastards. Did you live well after sending us away like that?
Of course, I kept those thoughts to myself.
“Hm?”
The chief tilted his head. Then his eyes widened when he saw my silver-white hair.
“Ian? Is that Ian? And you’re Elena? Daisy?”
“Hello, Chief...”
Daisy removed her fur hat and bowed politely.
“It’s been a while, old man.”
Elena crossed her arms, gave a crooked smile, and looked around.
“Ian, Elena, and Daisy?!”
“I thought they died... No, didn’t they leave to become Expedition Party members?!”
Under the noble cause of lifting the curse, the village had really sent us away to dispose of useless mouths and collect money from the kingdom.
The villagers murmured as the people they had sent to their deaths returned alive.
“They seem different somehow...”
They were shocked to see that street beggars had become impressive mages and warriors.
“Ian?”
A robed man holding a staff approached me.
It was Mais, the chief’s eldest son and this village’s Fire Mage.
“It’s been a long time, Mais.”
“You survived? Wow, what’s with that staff? It looks expensive. I guess Labyrinth City really is nice~”
Mais stared at my fine equipment, especially compared with the shabby wooden staff and dirty robe he wore.
“How many spells did you learn? You were Lightning, Light, Water, and Frost, right?”
He looked down on me as though those laughable affinities could never match a Fire Mage like him.
Hah. These bastards really were exactly the same.
‘Should I teach him a lesson?’
Crackle!
Just as I raised my mana...
“...I was going to let it go for my junior’s sake, but I can’t let this slide.”
Kulkin suddenly spoke.
At the same time, destructive elemental power gathered in his hand, and a crimson flame took the form of a sphere.
Whoosh!
A Fireball.
‘What?’
As I stood there in surprise, Kulkin tossed the Fireball into the sky.
Boom!
A deafening blast erupted like a bomb. Everyone nearby was bathed in red light as searing heat burst outward.
Steam hissed through the air, and the vibrations rattled our skin.
Mais gaped at that destructive power.
“...!”
“Eek!”
The villagers fell onto their backsides in shock.
“You insects, who do you think you are trying to act as equals with?”
Kulkin’s eyes gleamed as he spoke in a cold voice.
He pointed at the stunned Mais.
“You, wanderer.”
“...”
“Answer.”
“Y-Yes!”
“Ian here is an official mage of the same Magic Tower as I am. He is not someone a half-baked mage, no, not even a piece of trash like you, let alone these country bumpkins, can afford to treat carelessly.”
Mais, who had ruled this village like a king, trembled and clenched his teeth at the vicious insult.
But he could not say a word under Kulkin’s pressure.
Village Fire Mages could do little more than light fires or cast Flame Arrows.
This was probably their first time seeing such a destructive spell.
“Mind your manners before I burn everything down.”
“...”
“F-Forgive us! We failed to recognize such distinguished guests and acted rudely!”
The quick-witted chief immediately forced Mais’s head down and bowed.
He had realized that his decades of seasoned experience ruling the village, along with all the people beneath him, was useless at this moment.
‘Kulkin could easily burn down a village like this.’
‘And so could I.’
“Sir Kulkin, Sir Ian, this way! Though it may be lacking, we will do our best to serve you.”
“Hmph. Let’s go, Junior.”
Kulkin snorted and walked away.
‘Damn!’
I marveled inwardly.
His methods were a little harsh and arrogant, but honestly, it was incredibly satisfying.
Yeah, did these bastards think we were still powerless orphans?
How dare these uncivilized non-mages try to challenge us?
‘He stepped in for me, so I got to save face too.’
‘Who knew there was such a good-natured senior mage?’
I decided to acknowledge Kulkin as my senior.
* * *
The chief slaughtered a piglet and two chickens.
Such a lavish reception was rare in a poor village like this.
“Urp, that was good.”
Elena put her feet on the table and picked her teeth.
The situation had completely reversed from when she had to tread carefully around the chief after being chosen as an Expedition Party member.
Now, the chief was the one treading carefully around us.
“Water.”
“Y-Yes!”
“It’s too cold. Heat it up and bring it back, old man.”
“Yes! Lady Elena!”
‘Hehe. That cute little elf.’
‘So this is how she’s taking out all the frustration the chief put her through!’
“Ah, it’s too hot. Let it cool down and bring it back.”
“...”
“Did you not understand what I said?”
“Y-Yes! I’ll bring it again!”
Elena worked the chief like a slave.
As I giggled, Kulkin handed over a map and asked about the territory we were headed for.
“Do you know where this place is?”
“Yes, tax collectors come by from time to time, so I know it well. I will draw you a map.”
The chief knew the location of Shirinwind Territory, our destination.
South Sunshine Village belonged to that territory.
“I see. Here is payment for your trouble. Take it and leave.”
Kulkin tossed money onto the table, then said he was tired and headed to the lodging.
I watched the chief glance at us cautiously before speaking.
“You’re curious about Mauk, aren’t you?”
“I-Is he alive?! I mean, is he alive, sir?!”
“You don’t have to be so formal, Chief.”
I was a genius mage from the courteous nation of the East, after all.
‘And the magic staff this man gave me was useful in the beginning.’
After easing the chief’s tension, I continued.
“Mauk arrived safely in the city. He has a difficult job, but he’s adapted to city life well.”
“...”
Elena looked at me as if asking why I was lying.
What? What’s wrong?
How could I tell him that his son had been beaten up by gangsters, lost a few teeth, lived as a beggar in the back alleys, and might permanently advance into being a beggar again?
“Ah! Thank you... Thank you so much! Ian, Elena... Sob! I... I treated you so terribly, yet Mauk...”
See? He was happy.
“Liar.”
“It’s called a white lie, you stupid elf.”
Elena and I left the chief’s house and walked around the village.
Nothing had changed in this miserable settlement.
It was still poor, still cold, and still seemed to have no dreams or hope.
“Those hunters. They seemed impressive when I saw them before, but now they’re nothing special.”
Elena was likely thinking of the village hunters who had been terrified by a single Fireball.
“They’re like rats hiding in holes. Back then, I wanted to become a hunter so badly... Hah.”
Coincidentally, I felt the same.
After living in the wider world of Labyrinth City, returning here made us realize once again how narrow our world had been.
“Leaving the village back then was the right choice.”
“Right. You know it was all thanks to me, right?”
“There you go showing off again. I can’t say anything around you.”
We headed for the chicken coop.
The orphan lodging where Elena and I had once stayed.
“Ian! That’s amazing! I heard you became an incredible mage!”
“Big brother! You came back!”
The orphan gang kids, a little older now, came out to greet us.
A few were missing, so I asked.
“What happened to Doram and Cheni?”
“Cheni froze to death.”
“And Elizabeth II ate Doram!”
Hoo.
I see.
I gave the children food and spare clothes with a bitter smile.
“Thank you, Ian!”
“Ian is the best!”
Yeah, survive somehow.
Come to the city and repay me later.
It would be even better if you turned out to be useful subordinates.
Hehehe.
“Ian is scary...”
“He looks like the Chief when he fed Doram to Elizabeth II...”
As we left the orphan quarter and were about to head back, I saw something.
“Daisy! You know, right? We weren’t trying to abandon you! We were trying to give you an opportunity!”
A filthy middle-aged couple in stained clothes desperately clutched Daisy by the wrist.
“Look! Thanks to us, you’ve become successful like this! So... c-couldn’t you help us just a little more?”
Their eyes gleamed with greed.
It seemed Daisy had visited her family and, feeling sorry for them, given them some of the money she had saved...
‘It wasn’t enough that they sold their daughter for money. Now they want to leech off her again?’
‘They’re utterly disgusting.’
I marched toward Daisy in anger.
“Ian...”
Daisy’s voice trembled as she looked at me.
Was it because the wrist they gripped hurt, or because she was shocked to see that her parents still only viewed her as a source of money?
“Let’s go, Daisy.”
As I tried to lead Daisy away, her parents blocked us.
“This is a family matter, so get lost!”
Hah. Had they not heard what happened in the village?
Or were they just completely drunk?
I looked at the red-faced man who could not even fulfill the role of a father, then lightly sparked some electricity.
Crackle!
“Eek!”
That alone made the country bumpkin who had failed as a father fall backward in fear.
I looked down at him in disgust, then took Daisy’s hand and held it tightly as she looked at her family with conflicted eyes.
“Let’s go, Daisy. This isn’t a place for you.”
“...Okay.”
There was little resistance in Daisy’s hand as she followed me.
We returned to the chief’s house and went to sleep.
‘There was a time when I wanted to come back here at least once...’
Lying in bed, I watched the window shake in the blizzard.
‘But now that I’m back, it feels suffocating.’
More than the brief ego boost I got from seeing those people tremble like bugs, I hated the very air of this backward place.
Oink! Oink!
Outside the window, the pigs raised by the chief squealed.
The next morning, we hurried on our way again.
Not long after, we arrived at the Castle of the local lord who had sent the request to the Magic Tower.
Castle.
It was commonly known as the Blue-Blood Fortress.
* * *
Whoooosh!
Beyond the falling snow, the walls of Shirinwind Territory emerged.
They had been built from sturdy stone, but the Winter’s Curse that had lasted over a hundred years had covered the entire wall in thick ice.
It looked as if the wall wore armor made of ice.
Icicles hanging from its peak pointed downward like sharp teeth waiting for intruders.
It was not as grand and enormous as the walls of Labyrinth City, but it looked far sturdier than the weak palisade of South Sunshine Village.
The problem was...
“T-Those are Draugr, aren’t they?!”
It was what the wall was made of.
Between gaps in the wall and sections of clear ice, smashed corpses were trapped, their teeth clacking together.
“Why are they in there...?”
‘Just as I thought. That’s what the wall is made of.’
Leaving the confused others behind, I revealed one of Castle’s secrets.
“The Labyrinth has plenty of Alchemists and craftsmen, and Mana Stones are abundant, so they can make bricks. This place can’t.”
Daisy stared in horror.
“You’re saying they built the walls with corpses?”
That was right.
In some places, they even melted corpses down into sticky glue and built walls with it.
‘When you melt them, they don’t become Draugr, and you get resources too.’
Wasn’t that killing two birds with one stone from a lord’s perspective?
“Crazy. They’re even worse than the chief.”
Elena shook her head.
“It’s a cursed act... Meia will be angry.”
Now a Priest, Daisy looked at those unable to find rest even after death with pity and made the sign of the cross.
“...”
Kulkin seemed calm, as if he had seen this sort of thing many times.
A guard shouted from the wall.
“Halt! This is the land of Amodei Kvalder, Lord of Shirinwind! You may not set foot here without his permission, so state your business!”
“We are mages of the Magic Tower, the great treasury of knowledge and intellect! We have come to solve the lord’s troubles, so open the gate!”
The guards standing on the wall in thick fur armor and armed with crossbows saw the Magic Tower emblem Kulkin presented and nodded.
“Forgive our rudeness! Open the gate!”
With the sound of pulleys turning, the firmly sealed gate slowly opened.
Chunks of ice scattered, and freezing air swept over us.
“Welcome, mages. We will guide you to the lord at once, so please follow us.”
The guard was friendly, but we entered the territory with an uneasy feeling.
Footnotes:
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