[V5C18] Spring Has Yet to Come

Having escaped from Robert and his brothers, Monica returned to the shop and headed towards Throth’s room.

Despite the huge commotion, the customers inside seemed completely oblivious. Everyone indulged in pleasure with eyes devoid of sanity, paying no attention to their surroundings.

Passing through the hall filled with the haze of magic potions, Monica climbed to the second floor, debating whether to continue to the third.

She grew concerned about Cyril, who had been left in a second-floor guest room.

(Maybe he’s already awake…)

As she turned to visit the room where Cyril was resting, Melissa’s voice rang out from behind, “Hey, Little One!” Raul was beside her.

“Oh, um, Onee-san. Um…”

“I’ve collected the potion bottles. Did Throth have any potions on him?”

“N-no… he didn’t, apparently.”

Melissa nodded, saying, “That’s good,” and looked around the second floor. “By the way, where’s Cyril-sama?”

“Eh…”

“I heard from Raul. You guys seem to know each other, yeah?”

Monica widened her eyes at Melissa’s words.

Come to think of it, Melissa was in front of Monica’s house. Could it be that she had some business with Cyril?

It wasn’t unusual for Cyril and Raul to visit Monica’s house, so if Melissa had found her house when looking for them, then the situation made sense.

“Um, Onee-san, do you, er, know Cyril-sama?”

“W-Well, I knew his name, at least.”

Melissa averted her gaze a little, mumbled something, and then cleared her throat. She grabbed Monica by the shoulder and whispered something into her ear.

“That’s why, Moni-Moni, you should introduce me to Cyril-sama later.”

“…Uh, okay.”

As Monica returned a confused nod, Raul, who had been looking around, turned back to Monica and said, “Hey, where did we leave Cyril again?”

“Um, this way.”

Monica was good at memorizing maps and building layouts, so she remembered the room where they had put Cyril to sleep.

Relying on her memory, Monica opened the door.

The lavish bedroom for prostitutes and gigolos looked exactly like Monica remembered.

However, Cyril, who should have been lying on the bed, was nowhere to be found. Also, the neatly arranged sheets were haphazardly thrown on the floor.

Raul tilted his neck in confusion.

“Huh? Did you pick the wrong room?”

“No, there’s no mistake. It was here…”

Monica shook her head at Raul’s words and looked around the room.

There were clear signs that the bed had been used. Cyril had indeed been sleeping here just a while ago.

Melissa crossed her arms, pursing her lips.

“Is it possible that Cyril-sama woke up and is walking around looking for Raul?”

“That might be… possible.”

Monica nodded to Melissa, but Raul, who had been looking at the window, shook his head.

“No, that doesn’t make sense. The candy I gave Cyril had a pretty strong sleep-inducing effect, so he shouldn’t wake up for a few more hours. Besides…”

Approaching the wide-open window, Raul picked up something that had fallen on the window frame.

It was a tiny fish, thinner and smaller than a pinky finger.

Upon closer inspection, several of the fish were scattered under the window as well.

“These are the fish Cyril had in his pocket. If they’re here… someone must have carried the sleeping Cyril and escaped through the window.”

Raul spoke sternly, lifting the small fish as if it were a crucial piece of evidence.

With his overwhelming beauty, Raul had an unusual forcefulness when he made such declarations. But it was literally a tiny fish.

As Monica and Melissa stood dumbfounded, Raul looked down at the small fish in his hand and muttered with a sigh.

“By the way, Cyril said he only had one… It seems he brought quite a few fish though.”

(…I wonder why Cyril-sama had fish in his pocket.)

It was a very intriguing question, but now wasn’t the time to pursue it. Moreover, this was the second floor. Carrying an adult male and escaping through a second-floor window wasn’t something anyone could do.

“Let’s go look for Cyril-sama!” Monica exclaimed, to which Melissa and Raul nodded.

The three of them left the shop and followed the trail of fish.

However, the fish weren’t conveniently spaced out. Walking while ensuring they didn’t overlook these tiny fish smaller than a pinky finger proved to be quite challenging.

“In times like these, we rely on this,” muttered Raul, taking a carrot from his pocket.

Watching with curiosity, Monica wondered what he would do with that carrot. Raul concentrated mana into the carrot and then pointed to the right alley.

“It seems Cyril went this way.”

“How do you know?”

In response to Monica’s question, Raul raised the carrot and winked.

Then, with a dazzlingly bright face, he said, “Carrot Divination!”

“Uh…”

In this tense situation, was it really okay to entrust their fate to a carrot?

Monica was concerned, but Melissa grabbed her by the nape of her neck and walked briskly toward the alley Raul indicated.

The dragged Monica looked up at Melissa in confusion.

“Um, Onee-san, this is…”

“Carrot divination seems silly, right? But well, it strangely works. For some reason.”

“…”

Monica remained doubtful, but they found a fish on the ground once they continued. Carrot divination proved to be terrifyingly accurate.

The three continued walking through the city, relying on the scattered small fish and carrot divination results.

After about an hour, when the sun had fully risen, someone approached Monica.

“Hey, aren’t you that girl from the other day?”

Turning around, Monica saw an elderly man with a braided white beard holding a bottle of alcohol. It was Porok, the embroiderer who had a dispute with Lana the other day.

Porok was looking at Monica with a slightly red face. He had been drinking.

The breathless Monica asked Porok, “Um, um! Did you happen to see a silver-haired man around here?”

“Yeah, I saw him.”

She expected a no, so Monica took a sharp breath. Carrot divination was amazing. Forgetting her usual shyness, Monica leaned forward toward Porok.

“Where did you see him? Which way did he go!?”

“A short-haired blonde girl was carrying the silver-haired guy, who was passed out, and they went off in a carriage. It’s rare for a girl to carry a guy, and I remember the embroidery on the girl’s clothes being unusual.”

“…A short-haired blonde girl?”

Monica frowned, and Porok nodded with crossed arms and closed eyes.

“The clothes she wore under the fur mantle had unique embroidery, from the Hyla Tribe. You rarely see that kinda stuff around here.”

Short blonde hair and a fur mantle——In that case, there was only one person who came to mind.

The ice spirit, Veronica.

(What would a spirit want with Cyril-sama…?)

As Monica contemplated the meaning of this, Melissa, who had been listening to the conversation, interjected impatiently.

“Hey, mister. Did that blonde girl say where she was going?”

“Nah, I didn’t hear anything. I only saw them getting on the carriage.”

From Porok’s testimony, all they knew was that the unconscious Cyril had been taken away by Veronica. His whereabouts were unknown.

Monica bit her lip in frustration. Meanwhile, Porok fiddled with his beard and continued muttering to himself.

“Man, that embroidery was exceptionally well done. Sewing snowflake-like patterns at regular intervals by mixing white and light blue threads. Simple, yet so deep…”

This wasn’t the time to be discussing embroidery, but Monica noticed something in Porok’s words.

Monica had only known Veronica for a short time, and her impression of the fur mantle was stronger than the clothes underneath. She hadn’t examined the embroidery closely. According to Porok, it had the same embroidery as the Hyla Tribe.

(…The Hyla Tribe… A clan who lives at the foot of the snowy mountains in the Vilraya Autonomous District, worshiping a white dragon…)

Dragons were creatures weak to cold, but there was one exception——one species of dragon had resistance to cold and had the power to manipulate ice.

White dragons were legendary creatures on par with black dragons. One was also mentioned in the story of the ice spirit Ashelpikeh.

The clothes worn by Veronica, the ice spirit who had taken Cyril away, belonged to the followers of the White Dragon faith.

…This was no mere coincidence.

“…The Vilraya Autonomous District,” muttered Monica.

“Little One?”

“I’m going to check the Vilraya Autonomous District.”

Melissa and Raul knew about the relationship between the Vilraya Autonomous District and the Hyla Tribe. They quickly understood what Monica wanted to convey.

“The trip will take a whole day by carriage… but if we hurry and switch carriages, we can get there in half a day.”

Melissa stroked her fingers across her chin and nodded, before swiftly ordering Raul.

“Raul, we’re going to save Cyril-sama. Arrange for a carriage right away.”

Raul tilted his head in discontent at Melissa’s order.

“Of course I’m gonna help a friend. But why are you coming, Sis?”

“Shut up! Just get it done!”

Though unsatisfied, Raul ran off to find a carriage with the carrot still in his hands.

Monica looked up hesitantly at Melissa.

She didn’t know why Melissa was cooperating, but her proactive attitude was very reliable.

“Onee-san, um…”

As Monica tried to express her gratitude, Melissa leaned in and whispered to her.

“Little One, once we help Cyril-sama, introduce me to him as ‘an incredibly reliable and wonderful sister figure.’ Got it?”

“Y-Yes!”

While feeling somewhat pressured, Monica nodded obediently.

Even without being told, Monica already saw Melissa as an incredibly reliable and wonderful sister figure with great initiative.

＊　＊　＊

Inside the rattling carriage, Veronica rested the head of the silver-haired young man on her lap. She fitted a silver bracelet onto his arm.

The violet-colored stone embedded in the silver bracelet was the spirit stone necessary for a contract with her.

Veronica touched the violet stone with her fingers. Through the bracelet, she poured her mana into the young man and touched the source of his mana. She then absorbed the young man’s mana into herself.

This was an exchange of magic between a human and spirit——She had performed the ritual of the human-spirit contract.

Had she attempted this on a human with low mana, she could easily drain someone dry, leading to their death. Fortunately, this young man had a large amount of mana, as well as mana hyperabsorption. He was safe from such concerns.

“…Done.”

Through the exchange of mana, an invisible thread was formed between the young man and Veronica. The contract was established——albeit an unilateral contract ignoring the will of the man.

Veronica was a greater ice spirit. She couldn’t stay in regions with low mana concentration. At worst, she might vanish outright. Thus, she had to contract with a human to counteract the low mana environment.

Once she terminated the contract with Throth, Veronica’s remaining time became limited. That’s why she needed to forcibly make a contract with someone as soon as possible.

Unilaterally forcing a contract, ignoring the will of the other party, was a forbidden technique detested by both spirits and humans alike. However, Veronica executed it without hesitation. She didn’t care. After all, this young man would soon be…

“…Ugh.”

The young man, who had been sleeping soundly, groaned softly as he lifted his eyelids.

“…Where am I…?”

Under those long eyelashes, his eyes, revealed for the first time, were a deep blue, like beautiful gemstones.

Veronica gently covered the still unfocused blue eyes with one hand.

“You don’t need to wake up. Just keep sleeping.”

Veronica shifted the hand covering his eyelids downwards, placing it over the young man’s heart. Then, she sent her ice magic into his body. Under Veronica’s hand, the man’s heartbeat gradually weakened, and the warmth left his body.

Humans knowledgeable about magecraft would call this a “forbidden art”. Veronica had induced a state of false death in the young man’s body.

The young man’s eyelids closed again, and his body was now as cold as a corpse.

“You don’t need to wake up, ever again.”

Muttering so, Veronica turned her gaze to the outside of the window.

The scenery, with shades of young grass signaling the arrival of spring, gradually turned into a winter landscape mixed with snow as they headed north.

“…I don’t need a spring without Thule.”

Her face, though as emotionless as an ice sculpture, faintly expressed a hint of sorrow.

“Thule, Thule. Wait for me. I promise to save you.”

＊　＊　＊

Samuel Throth’s room had turned into a bizarre scene with snow piled up on disheveled furniture.

In the midst of the room, something emerged from underneath a sofa.

“Ugh, it still hurts. What a terrible day… Wait, what’s this!?”

Theodore crawled out from under a sofa, his face bloodied from his bleeding nose. He woke up to find the room covered in snow and was utterly flabbergasted.

What on earth had happened while he was unconscious?

“It’s gotta be Veronica’s doing… She seemed to be hiding her identity, but she was obviously a spirit no matter how you sliced it. Ugh, it’s so cold. I hate the cold… Achoo!”

Theodore sniffled with his bloodied nose and looked around the snow-covered interior. His eyes were drawn to the overturned cupboard in the corner of the room.

Leaving footprints on the snowy carpet, Theodore walked toward the cupboard and rummaged through it.

Once his fingertips found the item he was seeking, Theodore’s expression finally relaxed.

“Oh, thank goodness…”

In the back of the cupboard, Theodore had discovered the jewel-adorned box taken by Throth.

Theodore hugged the box to his chest, squinting his eyes softly.

“Huh? …Eh, the Seven Sages? Here? The Sages were, uh, the ones who sealed you, right…? Eh, no?”

After muttering to himself, Theodore blinked his eyes beneath his long bangs, bringing the box closer to his ear.

Then, his face quickly turned pale.

“…Eh, you mean the Silent Witch!? The fearsome lady who slew the Black Dragon of Worgan and the Curse Dragon of Reinberg was here!? Eek… Good thing I was unconscious…”

Theodore gave a sigh of relief, then stored the box in his pocket.

He gently stroked the box over his clothes, as if soothing a young child.

“Yeah, I know. I might have to deal with her eventually… But for now, undoing your seal comes first. I’ve already got my eyes on the guys who sealed you. Don’t worry; it may be scary, but I’ll figure something out.”

Theodore started walking off with light steps. A soft smile appeared on his lips.

“I can’t wait to see you again… ××××××××.”

Right as he left the room, Theodore whispered a certain name in a dreamy tone.

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