Chapter 1976: Chapter 1976

"You've seen them, haven't you?"

At Jenkins's question, the young girl's face first registered surprise, then broke into a wide smile, her eyes curving into crescents and revealing a pair of charming dimples.

"Grandfather went out to gather herbs a long time ago. Mother grew worried, so she packed some food and went out to find him. I was worried about both of them, so I ran out after them. I didn't expect to get caught in a blizzard. Snow fell from a cliff and buried me... I almost suffocated. Half-elf, you've seen them, haven't you? Please, where are they now?"

"That way," he gestured. "I ran into the middle-aged woman about ten minutes ago, and the old man roughly twenty-five minutes ago."

He turned to point the way, then shot a suspicious glance at the girl. She met his gaze with a look of confusion.

"Is something wrong?" For origınal chapters go to novｅlfire.net

"I was starting to wonder if you're all... never mind. What I mean is, are you going to give me something too?"

"Hm? Oh, yes. So, what would you like?"

She sounded as though Jenkins, her savior, was suddenly demanding payment. A little shyly, she pulled a green apple from her sleeve.

With that, she pressed it into his hand. Jenkins stared down at the green apple.

"Whatever you are, if you're alright, you should get going. Be careful on your way down. If you follow my footprints, you'll find your family quickly."

He stepped aside. The girl gave him one last smile before hunching against the wind, lowering her head, and disappearing into the swirling snow.

"What was that all about?"

The white cat poked its head out again. Its little ears twitched, and its eyes, bright with curiosity, were fixed on the green apple.

He casually formed the snow into a sharp sliver of ice and used it to carve out a small piece of the apple for his cat. The cat happily gobbled down the tiny morsel, but its expression froze. It immediately spat out the chewed pulp, let out a wretched cry, and retreated miserably back inside Jenkins's coat.

"It's a green apple, what did you expect? Now you know not to eat just anything, don't you?"

Jenkins patted his cat reassuringly through the thick fabric of his coat. But as he stared at the apple in his hand, curiosity got the better of him. He took a bite.

Like the grass and beans that had kept people from freezing to death in this weather, the apple had a similar property, providing Jenkins with a surge of spirit. But it was also, without a doubt, a genuinely unripe, incredibly sour green apple. Jenkins now understood perfectly why Chocolate had reacted the way he did.

Certain the girl wasn't coming back, Jenkins pressed on. He moved quickly, and after another ten minutes of walking, he noticed the footprints in the snow were becoming much clearer. He was closing in on his target.

The remaining three hadn't split up. When Jenkins spotted their distant figures, they were leaning on one another, stumbling forward through the snow. And the man in the middle was none other than King Sarsi II.

"Heh, good job, Chocolate. You've got a sharp nose."

He couldn't help but praise his cat, resolving to treat him to a lavish breakfast when they returned.

After confirming he was still disguised as a stranger, he called out and started toward them. To his surprise, the trio in front heard his voice and quickened their pace, as if he were a ravenous wolf hunting them in the snow.

But no matter how fast they tried to flee, they were no match for Jenkins. He caught up in a few strides and grabbed them by the shoulders. When he felt them struggle, he simply shoved them down into the snow.

He asked, panting. Puffs of white vapor plumed from his mouth with every word, a telltale sign of the bitter cold—the same way his cat's breath had misted the air when it poked its head out earlier.

The three men, however, including King Sarsi II, did not. They were gasping for air, but no steam came from their mouths. This unsettling detail, Jenkins guessed, had to be the effect of the so-called "ritual implements of a bygone era."

"Why were you running?"

He watched as they helped each other struggle to their feet in the deep snow.

"I'm from the Church. I was sent to rescue you. Do I look that frightening?"

"Who are you? I've never seen you before."

The man on the right, clad in a black windbreaker and so gaunt he looked severely malnourished, demanded.

"I'm a demigod with the Legacy Sage Church. I was just transferred to Nolan. My last post was in the outer archipelagos, guarding certain numbered items that I can't discuss. Now, what exactly happened here? And why did the others split off? I followed your tracks; I saw that you separated multiple times."

The three men remained skeptical of Jenkins's identity, but when the cat poked its head out from his coat, they felt an inexplicable sense of trust toward him. King Sarsi II was too weak to speak, so the other two men took it upon themselves to explain their situation.

One of them, the gaunt man, was a Benefactor from the Church of Travelers. The other was a member of the northern kingdom's royal guard.

Just as the Church had surmised, their journey from Nolan to Ruen had been uneventful. But after entering the wall of fog near Ruen, they had somehow found themselves here.

The extreme cold had paralyzed the ordinary folk in a matter of breaths. Even the Benefactors among them could only hold out for a little longer, and there had been no opportunity to even send for help.

There was a demigod in their party, one from the Church of Nature. By some stroke of incredible luck, he specialized in ice abilities. At the critical moment, he had summoned a "blue, lotus-shaped barrier" to shield everyone. The barrier lasted less than five minutes, but in that brief window, they managed to find an abandoned temple in the snowy wasteland.

"Hm? I flew over this wasteland for quite a while. If there was a temple, how could I have missed it?"

The two men couldn't answer his question and simply continued their account.

They had entered the temple seeking shelter from the wind, hoping to build a fire for warmth. But inside the dilapidated structure, they made an unexpected discovery: a set of ritual implements.

Touching such objects in an unknown temple was an act of absolute folly; any Benefactor would have considered it suicide. But strangely, no one voiced any objection. And so, the party came into possession of an iron statuette, a bronze bell, a silver candelabrum, and a golden dagger.

Once they had the four artifacts, the biting cold vanished for everyone in the group. But at the same moment they acquired the items, strange things began to happen.