HUMMMMM.
The resonating sound of Winteira, the Royal Consort’s Sword.
Lucie awoke from her thoughts.
The final formula had been completed, and the magic formation she had modified from spatial teleportation glowed faintly.
Now, she only needed to send it.
But Lucie did not send it.
Instead, she began placing enchantments on Winteira.
‘Solacius feels heat so severely......’
It was because of the report she had heard from Haimar during the day.
‘Did he receive some kind of curse while fighting the Necromancer?’
She grew even more worried for no reason.
For that reason, Lucie was adding another enchantment to Winteira, the Royal Consort’s Sword.
With atonement and concern in her heart, she decided to add an ice magic function to Winteira.
‘With this, he will not need that cold-compress witch!’
Keeping the witch named Rina Shalut in check was an added benefit.
‘Spirits of the wind!’
Lucie used Spirit Magic for the first time in a long while.
Cold winds began to whirl around her.
‘Find out how hot that man is.’
Wind Spirits gathered at the call of the Grand Witch of the Snowfield, and they answered the lonely Queen’s whisper.
Normally, they would not even approach or respond out of fear of the curse.
But Lucie was too desperate now, and the spirits could not refuse her.
SHHHHH.
The wind blew, carrying the Queen’s wind far away.
HUMMMMM.
While the Wind Spirits were gone, Lucifurne closed her eyes and began to place the Authority of the Snowfield into Winteira.
The wind sent by the Queen rode upon the Wind Spirits and reached the golden-haired, golden-eyed man to the southeast in an instant.
WHOOOOSH, WHOOOOSH.
The Wind Spirits examined the heat of the man the Queen had asked about.
!!
The spirits were startled by the enormous heat he carried.
Feeling a fear opposite to that inspired by the Curse of the Snowfield, they hurriedly fled back to the Palace of Pure White, where the Queen was.
WHOOOOOSH.
The wind that had traveled far away—the wind carrying the scent of southern forests—returned to the Palace of Pure White.
‘Wind Spirits, use as much of the Snowfield’s cold as the heat you found!’
As soon as the spirits returned, Lucie put them into the enchantment.
She did not personally confirm Solacius’s heat.
She possessed the Authority of the Snowfield.
She had the Blessing of the Snowfield and the Curse of the Snowfield.
No matter how hot he was, Lucie was confident.
And so—
FLAAAAASH!!
“Oh my!”
A massive quantity of cold began to be absorbed into Winteira.
Enough cold was drawn into the sword to make even the Queen cry out in surprise.
So much was absorbed that the space around Lucie became warm for a brief moment.
It was the first time such a thing had happened since she came to bear the Curse of the Snowfield.
“You! This kind of prank is dangerous!”
The warmth passed in an instant.
But Lucifurne had no presence of mind to appreciate it.
“This is a gift for someone very important! It is dangerous to put so much into it!”
She misunderstood the situation, believing the spirits were playing a prank.
WHOOOOSH, WHOOOOSH.
The Wind Spirits cried out in protest at the unfairness.
“I have to take it out quickly......!”
Lucie urgently tried to withdraw the cold she had placed in the sword.
WHIRRRRR!
But she could not.
“Ah! It cannot go now!”
Perhaps because of the massive energy of the Snowfield, the spatial teleportation magic formation began to emit a brilliant light.
Winteira, which lay atop the magic formation, began to be swallowed by the light.
WHOOOOSH, WHOOOOSH.
Behind her, the spirits continued their protests.
WHIRRRRR.
Before her, Winteira began spatial teleportation amid the light.
“Ah......!”
The Queen was in a panic, and while she stood there flustered—
FLASH!
The blue sword Winteira vanished from her bedroom.
More precisely, it became a blue light and shot through the window like an arrow.
It would have headed to the place the spirits had examined.
To the place where Solacius was.
“What do I do?! What should I do?!”
Lucie stomped her feet as she stared out the window through which Winteira had vanished.
***
Early dawn.
Solacius quietly rose.
Sweat streamed down his body, and his expression was tightly twisted.
‘This is seriously bad.’
It was the result of using various skills and his ultimate skill while fighting Necromancer Isabel.
He had not expected the backlash to last so long and hit so hard.
“Older Brother, is it happening again?”
Luna, who had been dozing beside him, awoke at the sound of Solacius moving.
“I can still manage, so get some more rest.”
Fatigue and dark circles were heavy beneath Luna’s eyes when she awoke.
No matter how talented Luna was as a witch, her mana was not infinite.
She had also exhausted herself, nearly to the point of collapse, by using cold magic on Solacius every day.
“I will go cool down by the nearby creek.”
Solacius left the tent after saying that.
“No! I am coming too!”
Anxious that she would lose her older brother after they had only just reunited, Luna hurried after him.
“Are you really okay?”
“Yeah, I am okay.”
Despite his answer, his body was red and hot enough to be felt even standing right beside him.
“You are not okay!”
Luna hurriedly cast Freezing Magic.
Then, they headed to the creek together.
“If you use that power again in the future, will it keep happening like this? Is there no way to solve it?!”
Luna kept asking Solacius questions as he removed his shirt and entered the creek.
Even as she asked, she continued using cold magic.
“Say something!”
He had lost count of how many times she had asked.
But her older brother did not give her a clear answer.
He merely told her that using his power caused this kind of backlash.
“This Freezing Magic was originally a spell used to preserve corpses......”
Luna felt tearful, as though she were tending to a corpse.
Meanwhile, Solacius stepped out of the creek.
The cold water and the cold his sister had spread over him had made him feel much better.
He did not know when it would flare up again, but for now, he was fine.
He looked at his sister, who glared at him with dark circles under her eyes.
Stroke, stroke.
Then, he stroked Luna’s black hair.
“Just hang on until the merchants bring more cold magical devices.”
They had already used up every magical device available nearby.
Most of them, like Ice Boom, were one-use items with short durations.
“There are hardly any cold magical devices in the cold north. It would be faster to make them myself!”
As a witch, Luna had extensive knowledge about magical devices, and she pouted.
Then, she began looking through the items she had brought from the workshop and her master’s belongings.
“When day breaks, ask the merchants to acquire the materials I mentioned.”
As she searched through her Subspace Inventory, Luna wrote down the materials they lacked.
“I will.”
Solacius nodded.
Since they had both already slept, the two sat blankly by the creek and breathed in the dawn air.
As Solacius absentmindedly looked at the scenery by the creek, he happened to see the back of his sister’s neck.
The merged Rosario hung around her neck.
The Shadow Core was sealed inside that Rosario.
‘Since the Shadow Core has been completely contained, it seems like it could be used as a power source......’
In a way, there could be no more perfect magical orb.
But Luna, the owner of the orb, did not seem to have any intention of using the Shadow Core.
Her nature was too gentle to gladly use the thing that had killed her master.
“By the way, Older Brother.”
“Yeah.”
“What does the surname Shalut mean?”
The surname Reverse was infamous, so Luna had needed to change her surname.
There had been surnames like Air Conditioner, but she followed Solacius’s alias.
The alias Lunacirne used now was Rina Shalut.
“Shalut means ‘gust’ in ancient Fairy language.”
Solacius answered his sister’s question kindly.
“Did elves give you that name?”
“Yeah. And Roan means ‘warm’ in Fairy language.”
“Roan Shalut. A warm gust...... I like it.”
Come to think of it, this seemed to be the first time they had talked alone in such a stable state after subjugating the Necromancer.
Until now, both Solacius and Luna had been too distracted by the backlash from the Sun Abilities.
Whenever Solacius’s condition temporarily stabilized, they had to deal with the merchants, priests, and knights from the Subjugation Force who came to find him.
“Did you grow up in the Fairy Forest the entire time, Older Brother?”
“Yeah.”
His sister continued asking questions.
“What about Mother?”
Luna asked about the mother she remembered only vaguely, but clearly.
“She passed away.”
“......”
As though she had expected it, Luna accepted the answer calmly.
“Is she buried in the Fairy Forest?”
“Yeah.”
Solacius and Luna’s mother—the First Empress—had died as soon as she brought Solacius to the Fairy Forest.
She had been unable to endure the countless poisons and curses she suffered while fleeing from Octana’s pursuit.
The shock of losing her daughter had also weakened her further.
“I want to visit her grave someday, too.”
“Yeah. We will definitely go together.”
The siblings made a promise with no set date and turned their eyes toward the sky.
The dawn sky, which was slowly ending, stretched out above them.
‘There are so many stars.’
Perhaps it was part of the charm of this medieval fantasy world.
Two moons and a dizzying number of stars filled the sky.
Perhaps because of the feeling of dawn, he suddenly remembered the original work.
The game Luhan’s Royal Consort that he had played on Earth.
‘Luna was one of the Four Heavenly Kings, the Grand Witch of Death.’
Near the end of the game, the Blessing of the Snowfield weakened, and the Shadow Core was completed.
Rina Reverse, the Grand Witch of Death, breached the Blessing of the Snowfield with the Shadow Core and invaded Wintella, the capital of Luhan.
Queen Lucifurne gave Solacius the fourth trial: to eliminate the Grand Witch of Death.
Once again, Solacius felt the cruelty of fate.
At that time, the character Solacius whom Tae Gwang-hwi had played was still searching hard for traces of his younger sister.
He had overcome countless obstacles and hardships, obtaining several clues.
‘Was that why Solacius was passive in that battle?’
Tae Gwang-hwi did not know, but the game character Solacius seemed to have sensed something unknown from the Grand Witch of Death.
‘In the end, the Grand Witch of Death dies.’
Rina Reverse died.
Not at Solacius’s hands, but at the hands of Saint Simon, a companion who had joined them at the time.
‘Since she died by Simon’s hand rather than Solacius’s, perhaps it was a little less tragic.’
Solacius had merely held back the Legion of Death so that Saint Simon could focus on Rina.
After the fourth trial ended, the light of the Rosario Solacius possessed also vanished.
From that day onward, Solacius no longer searched for his younger sister.
WHOOSH!
As he was lost in thought, heat and burning rose within him again.
Solacius’s thoughts about the original work were interrupted.
“......!”
He hardened his expression and endured it for the moment.
There was a creek in front of him and his sister beside him.
He wanted Luna, who was enjoying a rare moment of leisure, to rest as much as possible.
“It is a shooting star!”
Luna suddenly cried out, pointing at the sky beside him.
There truly was a shooting star in the direction her finger pointed.
‘Do shooting stars move that slowly?’
Solacius watched the shooting star while enduring the backlash, and a question came to mind.
“Does that look like it is coming this way?”
More than anything, the shooting star seemed to be descending toward them.
Though it was moving slowly, it was still too fast to ignore.
As the blue mass that appeared to be a shooting star descended toward the ground, it brightly illuminated the surroundings.
“SCREEEECH!”
When it came within a few dozen meters above their heads, Luna screamed.
‘Damn it!’
It was too late to dodge.
FLASH!
Solacius used a Sun Ability, prepared to endure an even greater backlash.
A shield of light formed before him and Luna.
“Ugh!”
Pain washed over him the instant he used the skill.
It was enough to make him think he might truly die like this.
But he had to stop the immediate danger first.
He expanded Light Shield to its limit and clenched his teeth through the pain.
Soon, the dazzling mass of light reached directly before them.
Solacius and Luna closed their eyes at the same time.
“......?”
“......!”
But even after time passed, they felt neither explosion nor shockwave.
‘?!’
Instead, Solacius opened his eyes in confusion because the heat had weakened somewhat.
He was still hot and burning, but it was no longer enough to make him fear death as it had moments before.
“Eeeek! It is cold!”
On the other hand, Luna, who stood beside Solacius, trembled as though she might freeze to death at any moment.
Looking around, frost covered everything as though a cold wave had struck.
The creek before them had instantly become a sheet of ice.
“Luna.”
Solacius took out a thick cloak from his Subspace Inventory and draped it over Luna.
“Stay here.”
Then, he walked toward something.
About ten meters ahead, something emitting a blue light was embedded in the ground.
That was likely the shooting star’s true form.
“Older Brother!”
Luna called to him while shivering.
Solacius gestured to his sister that he was fine and continued walking.
A space filled with frost and bitter cold.
The golden-haired, golden-eyed man, bare-chested, walked with a comfortable expression instead.
The embedded object gave off a brilliant blue light, then absorbed the light and revealed its true form.
“A sword?”
It was a high-quality blue sword.
Judging by the magic stone embedded in it, it was certainly a magical sword.
“Older Brother! Be careful! That could be a cursed sword!”
Luna cried out from behind him, stamping her feet.
Solacius ignored his sister’s cry and gripped the blue sword’s hilt before pulling it free.
FWOOSH!
The cold wave that had frozen everything around them vanished in an instant.
Luna, who had been trembling and stamping her feet from the cold and worry, looked bewildered by the sudden change in temperature.
But someone else was even more surprised.
“......!!”
Solacius, holding the sword, was too shocked to close his mouth.
The instant he gripped it, every bit of the heat, burning, and suffocation that had tormented him until now vanished at once.