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Chapter 169: Winter Eternal (1)

Stepping through the seemingly shallow snow of the village, Hikari who was at the forefront of the group looked around the premises whilst she gave off the glimmer of light around the area to shine away from the darkness.

"This place is... Quite something," Hikari muttered out as she noted that the houses seemed to have all been broken down into rubble due to a snowstorm, or perhaps an avalanche. "Just what kind of place is this? For a village, well... A broken one to exist out in the snowy fields like this..."

"Maybe it's the old place where the village in the caverns used to live?" Crowelin questioned. "If that's so... Then we're clearly on the right path! See, I told you those slimes were a good idea!"

"Is it? I doubt so..." Hikari moved her eyes over to the small slime who seemed to be frantically looking around the area. "I don't necessarily think that this was the village that had people from the caverns you were talking about. In fact, I don't even think there were any survivors here? The damage around the place seems rather... Big."

"Hmm... Then..." Crowelin tilted her head. "What's this place if not relating to the caverns? From the quest detail... It did say that the people in the caverns were survivors of a tragic event and that we need to help them with something since they requested help through the pope's prayers..."

"Huh. People who were survivors of a tragic event," Hikari thought to herself. "It does ring a bell in terms of a quest I once did in Fal's Kingdom with Kaisus... But I don't remember its detail."

"Sigh... Are our only leads on finding the place through the quest details then?" Crowelin pouted. "We're only following the slimes to see if it's really Shinto, right?"

When the two girls first heard the name 'Shinto' which was uttered out by Reru, they were extremely frantic as they found it surreal for him to be in the snowy plains of all places. Though, upon further questioning the slime, they could only vaguely get answers out of him regarding Shinto's appearance. From looks to build. But, the key question of Shinto's 'class', was never answered by him.

Although they were persistent in finding out whether he was a swordsman or a mage, Reru seemed to be messing with them by using the information as bribery to get them to aid the two slimes with whatever business they were doing.

"Yeah, but... Confirming whether or not he is Shinto through facial recognition might actually take longer than that," Hikari uttered out as she noticed that the small slime had disappeared from her field of view whilst they were discussing. "...where are they?"

"H-Huh?! Did they abandon us?!" Crowelin shouted out as in reply to her shout, an annoyed voice protruded out from behind her.

"Ugh... Did you had to shout like that?" Reru, the slime who had stayed behind the group scoffed. "I don't know if it's because you're blind or that you have a narrow field of vision, but, I was here the entire time."

"Ah, cough," Crowelin coughed. "I didn't notice you there..."

"Tch... If you wanted to discuss some cavern and survivors, couldn't you have kept your volume down to whispers? I just want my temporary peace and quiet whilst Rustly does his business," he clicked his tongue. "And, no. I'm not going to answer any questions that you have."

"Sigh... This is going to be a long night, huh?" Hikari sighed as she averted her eyes away from the slime and soon to the surrounding rubble. Moments after, she took a step forward wanting to observe the area, however, as soon as she did so, a loud howl protruded out into the night. "...?!"

"Are you kidding me?!" Reru frowned. "Why are they coming now of all damn times?! Ugh... You! I blame you for your loud discussion and scream earlier!"

"H-Huh? Me? What?!" Crowelin furrowed her brow. "I'm not the one shouting in a tone much louder than mine!"

"You two... Can we have this conversation later?" Hikari pouted whilst taking out her staff. "Enemies are coming at 11, 10, 12, 1 o'clock respectively and... I don't think their numbers are to be taken lightly off." 

"Are humans always like this? They can't give everyone around them a break?" Reru's expression grew dark. "Hah... I hope your combat abilities are much better than other humans I've seen. I don't want to carry on another burden."

"Hmph, I'll show you what a Paladin can do!" Crowelin took out her hammer and then her shield. "You best be amazed when we're done with this!"

"Your Arceus side is showing again..." Hikari sighed. Never would she have expected a slime to easily piss her off just from his complaining. "Whatever. That's not what matters. I'll help defend your rear, but try your best not to use much stamina alright?"

"Ahem... Yeah, yeah."

...

"Argh! You're saying we're supposed to go out in the dark?" Within the dark caverns, Frey cried out. "Can't we wait till morning?!"

"...Frey, it's already turning to morning," Raina sighed. "We'll have to leave soon."

"Mm... But, I don't want to go out of this cave," Frey frowned. "The outside... is cold, dreadful and... scary! Like, how are we supposed to beat those powerful enemies? No no... How are supposed to even survive?!"

"Jee, would you just shut your yaps and get some rest before you end up complaining about being tired?" Ethaniel clicked his tongue. "When we decided we'd leave first thing when Shinto comes back from whatever he was supposed to be doing, it was on the thought it'd take hours and look, it's already been two hours since he left."

"Still... Isn't there a better tactic like... Wait for Reru and Rustly to come back on their own accord?" Frey questioned. "It's not like they fully abandoned us, right? They just need some time alone! Which... Well, if we go out looking for them... It's basically taking us back to square one."

"Wait around and basically do nothing?" Ethaniel raised his brow. "Even though the enemies are stupidly high levelled, I'd rather try taking them six on one than sitting around having an unmoving experience bar."

"I mean I also want to level but... Would it work going up against high levelled enemies like that?" Frey tilted her head. "We've experienced this with those rats... And it was a nightmare! What if another horde of monsters ends up coming to us? Yikes... I don't want to imagine facing ten monsters again..."

"There's nothing we can do about this situation but to just level as much as we can for the time being," Shinto calmly stated as he finally rendezvoused with the group alongside Yer. "We're going to look for Reru and Rustly, but we're also going to level. Though, at a discrete pace to not attract any unwanted mobs."

"Master! You're back!" Frey uttered out. "Hah... The inevitable is going to come. Will we even be able to level up without issue? With all the stuff we experienced lately... I feel a storm coming..."

"I don't think it's that bad," Shinto stated. "In fact... We've got a few powerhouses on our side to help us in case of emergencies. For example, the one who helped us with the bats earlier."

"Hmm... Right, we have that person who helped us with the bats," Raina nodded her head. "But... Where are they? Last I heard, you went to see them?"

"She'll help when it's due. She doesn't want to reveal herself as of yet..." Shinto reasoned. "But in any case, we have some safety nets for when we're in trouble, so the worry won't be that bad."

"Mmm, if you say so... Then we can do it!" Frey cheered. "But... Can we like... Wait for when the sun fully comes out?"

"No. Let's just go out now," Ethaniel stated. "It's almost turning morning anyways and us waiting for the sun to come out fully would be a waste of time."

"Yeah, the outside isn't as dark as before, so, we can go out now," Raina nodded her head. "The only thing I worry about is whether or not there are some monsters that only appear at night and... Whether they more powerful than the ones that appear at day."

"Raina... Why do you have to make me worry like this?!" Frey cried out. "I'm just a brawler that barely survives almost all attacks thrown at me... Do I really have to face something like that?"

"Yes, so let's go," Ethaniel shrugged as he soon stepped foot outside of the caverns. Following up from behind him, Raina, Erith and Yer exited out of the cave respectively.

"Sigh... Am I the only one worried?" Frey titled her head. "Man..."

"It's fine Frey, it won't go to that bad of a situation," Shinto calmly reassured Frey. "Let's just try our best to level up to get our stats on par with the monsters."

"If you say so..." Frey placed her worries aside as she and Shinto soon followed behind the group.