Chapter 56 : Krio Dispatch (3)

Morning came, and the Spirit Masters of the Krio Headquarters began to wake up one by one. They admired the warm sleeping quarters, which were unlike the outside, stretched, and got out of bed.

“Huh?”

Luna was the first to wake up and looked around the room, but Saya and Yuri were nowhere to be seen.

“Carne, where did those two go?”

At her question, Carne, who was still half asleep and had a puffy face, answered.

“Ummm. They probably went to the bathroom. Luna, you worry too much.”

“..Is that so?”

Her anxiety turned into certainty an hour later. Even though it was well past breakfast time, neither of them could be seen anywhere.

After hearing the news from Luna, Cled calmly said to her.

“..Come to the dining room with Carne.”

They gathered in the dining room and sat facing each other at a luxurious breakfast table served by Camilla.

“Did you all sleep well? I’m worried that it might have been too cold for you.”

With a kind expression, Camilla distributed the food, and Cled asked in a static voice.

“I heard a noisy sound last night. Was there anything going on?”

“Oh, you mean the sound in the early morning. Our headquarters, even though it looks like this, the facilities are quite old, Cled. Sometimes there are creaking noises. You don’t have to worry about it.”

“..I see.”

While the meal continued in silence, Camilla brought up the topic first.

“..Oh my. Where did the other two students go? I prepared breakfast, but it’s going to get cold.”

“They disappeared when I woke up in the morning. It’s a little inconvenient to lose students, so I’d like to ask you to check if any of your subordinates saw the two of them going out at night.”

“Of course. Wait a minute, Cled.”

She left her seat with a worried look.

After confirming that she had left, Cled got up from his seat and said.

“Luna, Carne. Search the inside of the headquarters as much as possible and find anything suspicious. Come to me immediately when you find it.”

“The headquarters.?”

When Carne asked, bewildered by his order, he nodded and answered.

“There are too many suspicious things. And no matter where Yuri and Saya are now, they’re not the kind of kids to die easily. Let’s stir things up here as much as we can.”

While having a secret conversation for a moment, Camilla returned to the dining room again.

“Oh no, Cled…! No one said they saw the two… Perhaps, they went out at night and something happened…”

Camilla, who had tears in her eyes and looked like she was about to cry, hugged Cled and made a sad face.

“..I have a favor to ask, Camilla.”

“A favor?”

“Mobilize your subordinates and find those two. I’m going crazy with worry.”

It wasn’t an expression that looked like that at all, but Camilla had no reason to refuse his request.

“Of course. I’ll search the area around the base thoroughly and find them.”

“..Thank you, Camilla. Luna, Carne. You guys should also participate in the search.”

When Cled hugged her, Camilla’s face turned red and she smiled. While hugging Camilla, Cled looked at them and conveyed his intentions with a glance.

‘It’s now. Search the headquarters.’

The two, who understood his intention, quickly left the dining room without participating in the search and began to explore the headquarters. Since most of the subordinates were sent out for the search, they could continue the search without being noticed.

“..Cled. I should go join the search too.”

Cled strongly pulled Camilla’s wrist, who was about to leave the headquarters to follow her subordinates. Camilla, surprised by that, looked at Cled with wide eyes.

“…Cled?”

“I’m not feeling well. I’d like you to comfort me like you used to.”

‘Why is he acting like this all of a sudden?’

It was unlike Cled to show weakness, but that was all the more attractive to Camilla.

“…Then, shall we stay together for a while? Like we used to.”

Camilla knocked Cled down and lay him down, and began to unbutton his shirt one by one.

“It’s unexpected. For someone like you to seduce me.”

“…”

Camilla, who had unbuttoned all the front buttons of his shirt, roughly kissed Cled’s lips. At the same time, she began to remove his equipment one by one.

“..Camilla, if we do it here, we’ll be discovered…”

“It doesn’t matter. If the subordinates come in presumptuously, I’ll just kill them. More than that…. You still have a good body, Cled.”

Her lips slowly descended along Cled’s neck, and soon reached his waist. She began to unbuckle Cled’s belt with skilled hands.

“Ah…. I can’t believe how much I’ve been looking forward to it since I saw you again.”

When her hand was about to enter Cled’s pants, someone’s voice broke the mood.

“Cled, there are bloodstains on the door in the basement!”

“Who is it, without procedure, here…!”

She was furious and looked at the source of the sound with a murderous look, but when she confirmed that the owner of the voice was Cled’s student, she bit her lip and corrected her expression.

“…I mean, why are you still here. You…?”

Cled, who buttoned up his shirt again, pushed Camilla’s head away and got up from his seat.

“Bloodstains on the secret door. That’s very curious.”

“Wait, you searched here without permission. Cled!?”

When she was indignant at the fact that she had been deceived, Cled said with a calm expression.

“It’s natural to search the house first when children disappear from the house. What’s wrong with that?”

“…”

Ignoring her, Cled followed Luna and Carne to the place where the suspicious door was. As Luna said, there were bloodstains on the floor that looked like they had been hastily wiped.

“My students are quite mischievous. They like to hide. I think I should open this. Camilla, can you give me the key?”

At his request, Camilla stood in front of him and said.

“I don’t know what misunderstanding you have, but you’re making a big mistake. Cled.”

“..You’re not going to open it, that’s what you mean.”

Cled took out his greatsword and raised it high towards the padlock below.

“If you touch that, our relationship is over. Cled.”

“No, we ended 7 years ago. Camilla.”

Cled struck down the greatsword strongly and smashed the padlock.

Then, Camilla, enraged, and her subordinates drew their swords and began to charge at him.

“Kill them all! Don’t leave a single one alive!”

We were at a disadvantage in terms of numbers, but since most of her subordinates were out on a search, it was a situation that could be handled somehow. Above all, Cled’s combat power alone could overwhelm most of the opponents.

“Cled, you bastard…!”

She was a Spirit Master who had made a name for herself through a long mercenary life, but there was no way she, who had been living comfortably in the Krio region while doing banditry for a long time, could beat Cled, who had continued to train every day.

Camilla struggled with freezing magic, as befitting an Ice Spirit Master, but she was defeated hopelessly, losing two fingers to Cled’s sword.

Cled pushed away the corpses of the subordinates lying on the floor with his foot, subdued Camilla, and stepped on her.

“Well, let’s see what you were so desperate to hide. Carne, cast a binding spell.”

By her spell, Camilla’s two hands were strongly bound by vines, and she was forced to go down the basement stairs. As the things in the basement were revealed one by one, Cled’s expression visibly deteriorated.

“This is…?”

What made everyone except Camilla cover their noses and be horrified was the bizarre creature that was chewing on scattered human corpses. Cled took out his sword and stabbed it into its head without hesitation.

“Kyaaak! Don’t hurt him…! Our Bredon…!”

When Camilla shouted, Cled looked at her with an expression of looking at garbage.

“Bredon…? Not only did you feed this guy the bodies of the missing people, but you even gave it a name…?”

After confirming that the beast had stopped breathing, Cled made a more contemptuous expression than ever before.

“I’m disgusted with myself for even feeling pity for you for a moment. Camilla.”

He grabbed Camilla’s neck tightly and pushed her against the wall.

“Did you feed my students to that guy too..?”

Cled, who was threatening her, was full of anger, with blood vessels visible on his neck.

“Answer me, or I’ll send you to hell.”

“…Ugh..No.. Absolutely not…I swear….”

Cled threw her down irritably, and Camilla clutched her neck and caught her breath before continuing.

“With my hands and feet tied.. on a cliff in the.. Krio Mountains.. I pushed them off….”

“….Lead the way to that place.”

Cled, who grabbed her hair and handed her over to Luna, took the lead, wiping the blood from his sword.

“If she shows any suspicious movement, stab her without hesitation, Luna.”

“Yes, Instructor.”

With her tightly bound, they headed towards the mountains, hoping that their comrades were still alive.

Camilla pushed us off the cliff, and there was one piece of good news and one piece of bad news.

The good news was that the cliff was higher than expected, so I had enough time to ask for help from Invidia, and the bad news was that Invidia didn’t answer at all.

‘Invidia, we’re about to die…!’

I hugged Yuri in a falling position and desperately called for him.

“Oh, really…!”

In the end, I directly summoned Invidia and physically beat him awake.

[…You’re waking me up in a rather unpleasant way. It was a deep sleep after a long time.]

‘Do you even say that when you see this situation!?’

Realizing that we were falling together, Invidia transformed his hind legs to look like those of a rabbit, and then he stuck to the cliff to slow down the speed. I could feel Invidia’s legs gradually collapsing because they couldn’t withstand the impact. Despite sacrificing his legs, the height was so high that no matter how much he tried to cling to the cliff, the speed hardly decreased.

[The leg tissue will soon collapse. I’ll give it a recoil and jump far. I recommend preparing for the impact.]

He bent his legs as much as he could, and when he was almost touching the ground, he kicked off the cliff and jumped sideways.

“Ugh…!”

As expected, I failed to land, and rolled fiercely on the snowy field like a crashed vehicle before barely stopping. Invidia, who had become covered in snow, shook his eyes fiercely and said.

[It’s an experience I don’t want to have again. Are you safe, human?]

‘..I sprained my arm while rolling. ‘

Because I rolled while protecting the unconscious Yuri, I injured one arm.

[You should untie the ropes tied to your limbs.]

With Invidia’s claws, I untied the ropes tied to Yuri and me.

[Why are you protecting that human? If you had given up on her and reduced the weight, we both could have saved our bodies.]

‘..If I survived alone by doing that, what meaning would it have.’

Invidia’s injuries also seemed considerable. The hind legs that had been transformed were ruptured, and he was standing on four legs in an awkward posture.

“Can you carry her, Invidia?”

[It will be difficult until my legs recover. Well, I can manage up to one person.]

‘Then, I’ll ask you to take care of Yuri.’

I naturally put Yuri on Invidia’s back. He glared at Yuri, who was clinging to his back, with a dissatisfied look.

[..I don’t like this human female. If it weren’t for this woman’s magic, I would have swallowed the world by now.]

I understood to some extent that he had such a grudge. It was Yuri’s magical ability alone that froze Invidia with absurd power and made him unable to move.

‘By the way, when did you fall asleep. Invidia?

Even when he slept, he always maintained a half-awake state, so it was questionable that he was asleep to the point where he couldn’t hear my calls.

[..Probably right after you inhaled the strange gas.]

‘Does the component that entered my body also affect you?’

I know that if a Spirit Master dies, the Osteon also disappears, but I’ve never heard of a familiar spirit falling asleep because the Spirit Master fell asleep.

[You and I are now too far gone to be treated simply as a contractual relationship. It is also uncharted territory that humans and Sarkas coexist in the first place.]

The wind was getting stronger, and the snow was swirling relentlessly.

I tried to keep talking constantly so as not to lose consciousness in the cold that seemed to freeze to the bone, but it was difficult to prevent my consciousness from gradually fading. When I was about to lose my balance and stumble, Invidia’s head propped up my body.

[Stay awake, human. If you die here, we both end.]

‘..I know.’

Since I had fallen into a valley where the location could not be identified, I had to first secure a means to keep my body temperature. I tapped both cheeks and tried to walk again, but that was when it happened.

“Squeak!”

“Ugh!”

A white squirrel-like creature passed by, kicking up snow at my feet.

‘Squirrel…?’

Unlike a normal squirrel, it seemed to be a white squirrel that only inhabits the Krio region. He began to smell the surroundings, and when he found a certain plant, he began to climb the stem.

The squirrel, which picked purple berries from that plant with hook-shaped red leaves, quickly dug into the snow and hid itself.

‘I’ve never seen that plant in Semal.’

I bent down and touched the leaves, and from the sensation of my fingertips warming up, I grasped its identity.

‘This, this is a Thermotita…!’

Also called Thermotita, this plant was a peculiar plant that only grew in the northern regions. As a result of evolving to withstand the cold, it had the characteristic of collecting heat in its leaves and fruits.

‘The fruit is poisonous, but if it’s the leaves…’

I picked the leaves and put them in my mouth, chewing them. As expected, a warm gas spread in my mouth.

[Is it okay to eat, human? It seems quite toxic.]

‘..I know. But it’s the surest way to raise my body temperature.’

I prayed that the toxicity of the leaves was much weaker than that of the fruit, and I picked the leaves from the plant and stuffed them into my pocket. After that, I had to walk carefully so that the leaves wouldn’t be crushed inside. The fact that I couldn’t find a place to shelter my body even after walking for almost two hours was a terrible experience.

[Human, there’s a cave over there.]

When Invidia found a moderately hollowed-out cave, I was relieved. If I had walked for another hour like this, I couldn’t guarantee what would have happened to my body.

I led my cold body into the cave, and only then could I escape the cold blizzard. I laid Yuri down in a comfortable position and recited a fire spell to start a fire.

‘..It won’t light.’

There were no materials to start a fire around, and even if it was inside the cave, most of it was cold stone, so it was difficult to start a fire.

[It feels like someone is hitting my body with freezing spells. It’s an unpleasant feeling.]

Invidia was experiencing what I was feeling quite vividly. Perhaps instinctively trying to raise his body temperature, he curled up his body.

‘..That’s the cold. Invidia. If this state is maintained for a long time, you die.’

[Why is the human body so weak? You really are a weak creature.]

‘..I know.’

The temperature that was biting my flesh was a problem, but the wind blowing from the unblocked cave wall was too much to bear. I tried to hold a handful of Thermotita leaves in my trembling hands and put them in my mouth, but I put them back in and took out only one leaf. I had to leave enough for Yuri, who would wake up soon, so I had to use only the amount I really needed.

‘……Phew.’

It’s less than 10 seconds, but when I chew this, I feel like my body is warming up. I don’t know if it’s real heat, or if it just feels that way.

“Cough, cough…”

It was Yuri’s coughing sound. Yuri, who woke up from sleep, was coughing with a painful groan.

[..I’ll go to sleep for a while, human.]

Invidia dispelled the summon on his own, and I raised Yuri’s upper body and brought the Thermotita to her mouth.

“Put it in your mouth and chew it. It’ll raise your body temperature.”

Following my words, Yuri chewed it and gradually regained her warmth. And, she jumped up and started looking around with a confused expression.

“..Where is this,,? Camilla? The Spirit Master Headquarters?”

“It seems that Camilla noticed that we were suspicious of her from the beginning. She pushed us off a cliff, and this is the result of surviving.”

Hearing my explanation, Yuri shook off the snow and stood up.

“We have to tell Cled. Do you know where this is, Saya?”

“..It’s impossible. I don’t know where this is, or how close it is to the base…”

I tried to get up by grabbing her shoulder, but my mind became hazy.

“…Saya?”

My body, which had been forcibly persevering while chewing on Thermotita leaves, was signaling that it was at its limit.

“…Saya…!”

Yuri’s voice sounded increasingly blurry, but I could only close my eyes.