Chapter 34: The Southern Range [1]
Several hours of walking had turned the green grass of the academy grounds into something else entirely.
Snow covered everything.
The mountain path climbed upward through dense cold, wind cutting across it with enough force to make walking a deliberate act rather than a casual one. Their breath came out in white clouds. The sun had been dropping for the last hour and was now making its intentions clear.
Roselle pulled her coat tighter. "Don’t you all think it’s getting too dark?"
Nobody disagreed with that.
Seris scanned the sky, then the mountain ahead. "She’s right. We set up camp here and continue in the morning."
Everyone agreed without argument.
Alden barely heard any of it.
His eyes had fixed on the mountain peaks somewhere ahead.
’Something’s strange about that place.’
He couldn’t name what. Just a feeling sitting under his thoughts.
He filed it and turned back to the group.
______
Leon and Alden went for dry wood.
Nicholas and Roselle set up the camp.
By the time the fire was going, the cold had pressed in from every side and the flames looked like the most important thing in a kilometer radius. Everyone settled around it without being told to.
Roselle sat close to it and was still shivering slightly despite the warmth.
Nicholas noticed.
He took his coat off without saying anything and put it over her shoulders.
"Better?"
She looked up at him. A faint color appeared at her cheeks that had nothing to do with the cold. "Yes." She smiled. "Thank you, Nico."
He sat down next to her, and she rested her weight against him.
Leon leaned toward Alden from his other side and said nothing, but the look on his face said he thought this was very sweet and was keeping his opinions to himself with visible effort.
Alden looked at the fire.
Seris looked around the camp with the measured attention of someone doing a final check. "This will hold until morning."
Nicholas scanned the supplies. "We’ll need food though."
Leon nodded. "We should hunt before it gets dark." He looked between Alden and Nicholas. "You two coming?"
"We?" Both Alden and Nicholas said it at exactly the same moment.
Both turned slowly to look at each other.
Silence.
Alden narrowed his eyes.
Nicholas narrowed his.
Seris pressed two fingers to her chin and smiled faintly. "Actually, I think the three of you boys should go. Roselle and I will wait here."
Alden looked at her sideways.
’What’s going on her head now?’
He looked at Leon, who was already on his feet with the enthusiasm of a man who had decided this was going to be fun.
’At least there’s one reasonable person coming.’
"Fine." He stood up. "Let’s just get this done."
Nicholas’s eyebrow twitched at the unspoken implication.
He followed anyway.
Seris watched the three of them disappear into the snow-covered trees. When they were out of sight, the corner of her lips moved upward.
_______
They found two sheep within twenty minutes and secured them, which Leon was unreasonably excited about.
"There are more over there!" He pointed into the tree line. "We could—"
"We already have two," Nicholas said. "That’s enough, we’re not planning to stay here for a week."
"Oh." Leon looked at the sheep. Then at the ones in the distance. "Right." He scratched the back of his head. "Sorry. I got carried away."
Alden said nothing. He’d been scanning the surroundings since they entered the tree line, not looking for sheep specifically. The feeling from the mountain peak was still sitting somewhere in the back of his head.
Leon tied the ropes and straightened up. "Alright, let’s go back to the camp."
They turned to leave, just then, Nicholas stopped.
"Wait."
Leon’s hand went to his weapon before the word finished landing.
"What?"
"Something’s coming."
The bushes covered in snow ahead of them were moving. Something pushed through them.
They emerged from between the trees in a line. They were large and their breath came out in thick clouds and their eyes had already found the three humans standing in their territory.
Leon exhaled. "...Polar bears?"
__________
Back at camp, the fire still crackled between the logs.
Roselle watched it and after a while spoke to the woman sitting beside her.
"I don’t know why, but I feel like you’re trusting Alden far too much, Senior Seris."
Seris didn’t look up from the fire.
"You should be careful around him too," Roselle continued. "We still don’t know what he’s actually capable of or what he might do next."
A short silence.
"You might be saying that because you don’t know him well enough."
Roselle glanced at her. "Do you?"
Seris smiled faintly. "Not completely."
She let that sit for a moment before continuing.
"But I’ve noticed something about him. He always seems to get himself involved in things." Her gaze drifted upward to the night sky, where stars had started appearing through the cloud cover. "And yet somehow, he’s never quite as involved as everyone thinks he is."
Roselle stared at her.
"...I’m sorry, Senior. I don’t think I understood any of that."
Seris chuckled softly. It was the sound of someone who finds the confusion charming.
"You will." She looked back at the stars. "Eventually."
Roselle looked at the fire again.
The crackling was the only sound for a while.
___________
Alden lowered his hand.
Leon stared at the five fallen bears. Then at Alden.
Nicholas hadn’t moved. He was looking at the claw marks on the nearest bear.
"Leon."
"Hm?"
"What did he just do?" Nicholas didn’t look away from the marks. "He barely moved. Where did those claw marks come from?"
Leon watched Alden crouch beside the first bear and press his palm to its side. Black smoke seeped upward from under the fur, coiled around his hand, and disappeared beneath his skin.
"Honestly?" Leon shrugged. "No idea."
He watched for another moment.
"But I’ve seen him do things like that a few times now." A grin spread across his face. "Doesn’t matter how many times I see it."
His eyes followed Alden as he moved to the next bear without explanation, pressed his palm again, waited for the black smoke to flow.
"...It still looks cool."
Nicholas didn’t respond.
His eyes were still on Alden.
’He dropped five polar bears by just snapping his fingers...?’
Alden moved to the fifth bear. The smoke came again. He watched it finish and stood up.
’Also, whatever that strange magic was, I’ve never encountered anything like it...’
’Alden... Just who exactly are you?’
[DING!]
[Soul Successfully Extracted!]
[Beast: Polar Bear — Rank B]
[Obtained: Polar Bear Soul Fragment ×5]
[Polar Bear Blueprint: 0% → 30%]
[+750 EXP]
[Level Up!]
[Level: 19 → 20]
[EXP: 15,290 / 16,000]
[Combat Power: 70 → 73]
[Rank: D+]