I could practically feel the air freezing all around me. Thick gusts of snow prevented me from seeing more than a few metres out, while at the same time blotting out my hearing with their incessant whooshing. The place managed to numb my senses so far that I was close to forgetting about the outside world entirely.

And this was even with a protective magical greatcoat. I did not even want to imagine what it would have been like in my normal clothing.

Judging from my entourage’s expressions, they agreed with the sentiment.

If there was once a kingdom here, it was long dead. Without a doubt, all that was left would be corpses and ruins.

Of course, it had not gotten this bad the moment we stepped into the snow. No, it had been a gradual transition.

The outermost layers, while cold, were habitable. In fact, we had even passed a few villages along the way, still inhabited by humans. For obvious reasons, we had refrained from going inside, but they appeared to be doing just fine.

But we were now practically in the centre of the cold, and I had no spare time to waste thinking about humans.

“Stay close, everyone,” I said, making sure to raise my voice. “If you get separated, you may as well be dead already.”

A chorus of agreement.

Just like me, everyone else was also dressed in magical greatcoats… Except for Alpine.

In fact, Alpine seemed to be more in its element than ever. It ran circles around my feet, barking with joy.

“Alpine.”

“Yes, sir!”

“You seem to be enjoying yourself. Do not go overboard, now—even you will end up ravaged if you split off on your own. And try to pick up some trick or something while you are here.”

“Sir, yes, sir!”

It saluted, then went back to running circles. Well, it was keeping enough distance so as not to trip me, so there was no problem with its actions, I supposed.

“Umm…”

Tugging on the sleeve of my coat and speaking up was Evyna. It appeared I had somehow roused her slumbering curiosity.

“What is it? Speak.”

“She seems to, uh, be doing fine with the, uhm, cold, so, uh, w-what did you mean when you…?”

“Aah… Well, I suppose not many humans would know of this. Saniel, Remiel, you come here, too. This is a warning.”

The other two approached, as well.

“Do not stray. Under any circumstance. Remiel should be fine, but Evyna, Saniel, if the cold does not kill you, the denizens will.”

I got three simultaneous head-tilts as my answer. It was cute, sure, but also strikingly useless.

“Hmm… Ah, well. You will see. In any case, stay close.”

I was having Charlotte keep an eye on the children, just in case, and I trusted Davna, Lilith and Navillus not to stray too far, but I did not possess enough manpower to monitor everyone who could not be trusted. Thus, hearty warnings would have to suffice.

It did not help our cause that this was, in a way, a search. The mermaid nation likely bordered the ice fields somewhere, but we had no surefire way of telling where—the best way to tell was my ability to detect mana, which, though it had grown further, was still far from perfect.

I did not detect the mermaids, owing to the magical blizzard, but I did detect…

“Everyone huddle up. Now.”

Although several members of the party looked a little confused, they properly followed my order. Of course, this would preserve body warmth, but also…

Kakakakakakaka…

An eerie rattling sound rang out, filling my ears and painting over the sound of the raging blizzard. From the corner of my eye, I noticed Evyna freeze up.

“I cannot tell their number from the mana signature… At close range, you should be better at this, Lilith.”

“Alright, alright already, gotcha… Uh… Lookin’ like… They’re all ‘round us. No escapin’. As for number… Between twenty and a hundred.”

“That is a wide range, Lilith.”

“I can’t help it! Their signatures are overlappin’! Not to mention this damn snow is gettin’ in the way…”

I could not help but click my tongue.

“Whadda we do, Master?”

“Mh… Charlotte. Protect us. Davna, I am giving you special permission to wield your amulet. Go wild.”

“Und’rstood!”

“Gotcha!”

Just as Charlotte took a few steps away from the group and activated [Chivalry of the Princess Knight], they got close enough to be visible through the blizzard.

Claiming they were walking would be an overstatement of their abilities—they shambled towards us, malevolent glints in their piercing blue eyes.

Indeed, they were undead.

But if they were normal undead, this would be easily solved. I could, for example, send forth Saniel, with her executor’s sword, to simply behead the things. Indeed, the problem became apparent when Charlotte did just that, chopping one’s head off—

Not. Her sword just went straight through, though she did cause the thing to stumble backwards and fall over.

These were creatures known as Cursed Jacks. Outside of here, they did not exist, so there were not many people who were aware of them, particularly amongst humans. What was more, it was unknown how they even worked to begin with—certainly, they emitted an ice-based mana signature, but they were not driven by mana.

Kakakakakakaka… Pshhhhoooooh…

The annoying, creepy sounds they were emitting as they walked were the least of the problems they were causing—a much bigger threat was that they were essentially intangible unless they were attacking you.

The past residents of Vauxshire, cursed to attack all that invaded their homeland—that was the most prominent theory as to their origin.

“[Fire-Attribute Magic: Shields of the Forge]!”

Lilith’s spell caused a circle of flames to rise all around us, though I could tell even from this distance it was not hot. Instead, it was likely intended to shield us from Davna’s-

“[Fire-Attribute Magic: Infernoooo]!”

With a jolly grin, she unleashed her spell, burying the world outside Lilith’s shield in a sea of flames. Charlotte, though barely, managed to flee inside before she was burnt to a crisp—though something told me she would have been fine, regardless.

“That should buy us some time,” I said, nodding. “Good work, Davna.”

Several people froze up at my use of the words “buy time”.

“Y… You mean they’re not dead…?”

“But Arth- Astaroth, you saw those flames just now, right?!”

“Cursed Jacks will not fall so easily, even with a doubled Inferno spell. Even if you multiplied the effect by a further hundred, they would be like to come back eventually… All of you, with me!”

I unfolded my wings and decided that, in the moment, our best course of action was to flee. Of course, I did not intend to fly off—it was simply that someone like Saniel or Evyna could likely outdo my running speed, so I used flight to make up the difference.

“Tch. They are still coming after us?!”

I was starting to get annoyed at the Jacks’ persistence. Despite the multitudes of fireballs, flame breaths and other fire-attribute spells we had sent their way, they just kept coming, and if anything, it felt like there were more every second.

“Whadda we do, Master?!”

“There is nothing to be done but run, Lilith. Or do you have a better plan?”

“Well, I don’t, but…”

“Your Highness! Lilith! There is no time for your chit-chatt’r! They are right-

[Chivalry o’ the Princess Knight]!

Right b’hind us!”

Charlotte raised a valid point. We scarce had the time to stand around, discussing our plans.

A moment’s thought, and I swooped down and took the children under my arms. Of course, it was not like just being up in the air was protection from Cursed Jacks—they possessed a variety of ranged attacks—but I figured the barriers around me would offer them some protection, in any case.

“Tch… Davna!”

“-Magic: Solar Flaaaaaaare]! What’s up, Master?”

“You are going to run out of mana at this rate. Use that.”

“Eh? That’s okay?!”

“I do not care for these ice fields! Burn them to the ground if you have to, just get rid of those things.”

“Gotcha! But I can’t move while preparing, so…”

“I am aware. Everyone, protect Davna.”

Normally speaking, Tempest would be in charge of barriers, so her loss was a big issue… But fortunately—

“Gotcha, Oberon!”

Nyx flew forth, jumping off my shoulder and landing on Davna’s instead. With a bit of mana I supplied, she was able to form a barrier of solid darkness all around, making her essentially invincible as long as I had mana left.

And I would not be running out of mana any time soon.

Words flowed forth from Davna’s mouth, not in the typical language used for magic—if I had to say, it was more similar to the language Cy used when using her powers. Nay, it was very possible it was exactly that. With a dignity befitting of an empress, she called upon the divine right possessed only by Imperial Dragons.

Her words filled the air with nigh-tangible power, flames spilling forth from beneath her feet. Magical, all-burning flames that would leave nought untouched.

The flames spread.

I dropped onto the ground, put the children down, then got to one knee, taking a bit of ground between two fingers.

“To think it would have this level of destructive power…”

Within a good few kilometres, the only thing left was ash. Ash and fire. Even the residual snow was burning, the flames whiter than I had ever seen.

The only reason we had been spared were the skill’s conditions—put simply, it would not hurt those she considered allies.

Davna stumbled close, then collapsed into me, apparently spent.

“Keep it up for a little longer, Davna,” I said, mussing her hair. “We will be there soon.”

Her flames had, at least in the immediate vicinity, cleared away the magical blizzard of Vauxshire, which meant the obnoxious effect where its mana would interfere with other mana signatures was gone.

It was, of course, closing in again already, but I had, in the small gap where it was absent, managed to detect a strong influx of water-attribute mana from one direction.

“They will come back eventually, and so will the snow… But surely, we have bought enough time to reach our destination.”

As I picked up Davna to carry her, I turned in the direction I had felt the mana from. I took a few steps, then turned around.

“Line up.”

Other than Davna, still being carried under my arm, everyone obeyed.

“I have just successfully located the general direction of the Mermaids’ nation. It is time, everyone. Remember your manners, and allow no ridicule. If they start disliking us due to your actions, you will deal with the aftermath yourself… But at the same time, it would be troubling for them to mistake which nation is to be the dominant party. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes!”

As one would expect, the direction my detection led us eventually brought us to a beachfront. Mostly, however, I was glad to be out of that accursed blizzard.

I set Davna down—she appeared to have regained enough energy to walk, at the very least—and dusted myself off, getting the snow off of my greatcoat and, more than that, getting the ash off.

“Yes, I can sense it… It is just ahead from here. Everyone gather ‘round. ‘Twould be easy enough to cast individual spells, but a collective spell is more convenient.”

As usual, my instructions were heeded.

“[Sirensong].”

A simple, borrowed skill, of which the effect would last a good few weeks as long as I kept it up. Of course, it meant I could not borrow any other skills during our visit, but… Perhaps it would present an opportunity for someone else to shine.

“Not only can you breathe underwater, this should also allow you to simply walk the bottom of the sea.”

To demonstrate, I stepped forth. Far from limiting its effect to what I described, I did not even feel myself get wet, and my clothing appeared free of water, too.

Not to mention it had blocked out the obnoxious salty smell.

Thus, we proceeded into the water, but before we could reach the village, we were approached—

And unlike the time with the elves, this was not a “welcoming committee”, but a single mermaid.

She—at least, from what I could tell, she appeared to be female—approached us at rapid speed and stopped right in front of us, looked at us in bewilderment for a moment, then turned pleading eyes to me.

“You’re surface-dwellers, right? And I can feel the blessing of the dark one on you! Please, you have to help us!”