I was caught in a blizzard while mountain climbing.
It was painful, I couldn’t breathe. The strong wind and large snowflakes prevented me from even breathing. Elana was half unconscious. Her low stature meant she was buried in the accumulated heavy snow.
I… can’t advance…! Finally, even standing still became difficult. My legs naturally gave out, and I crouched down. I couldn’t see even half a step ahead, my eyes wouldn’t open. It was cold, so cold. My whole body was trembling uncontrollably. I was going to die, truly. If I stayed here for another five minutes, I would genuinely die.
Was I going to die in a place like this? That thought suddenly crossed my mind. In the cold and pain, I would just fall without a sound. Nobody would come to help. Everyone would keep waiting for us, who never returned. And then spring would arrive, would a villager passing by by chance discover me?
The cold and fear were gnawing at my heart. I wanted to escape, to a safe place. But there was nothing. It was cold, painful, I shouldn’t have come to a place like this. I resented my own conscience. I should have returned the task to its original place, just as Riana had said.
It wasn’t a battle with a Dark Elf, but I didn’t want to end my journey in such a lonely, cold place. Even though I knew it in my head, I couldn’t move the slightest bit more. My legs felt completely numb, as if they had frozen. The heavy snow pressing down made it even more impossible to move.
I wanted to cover my body with both arms, but I couldn’t use them because I was holding Elana. I felt like I had been turned into a statue while still alive.
Nobody said anything. They couldn’t. Even the air in my lungs felt so precious that I didn’t want to let it go. But if it continued like this, it wouldn’t just be me; Philiana, Sharin, and Elana would all die. I had to do something, anything.
Should I set my clothes on fire with a match? At this point, getting burned wouldn’t be a big deal. In fact, I almost wished I could get burned to feel warmth. Ah… no, my head was getting hazy. Perhaps it was because I couldn’t see anything, my eyes were closing on their own. I couldn’t think of anything anymore.
When would this suffering end? When would the blizzard stop? A hellish landscape with no end in sight.
Then, Task, who had been clinging to Philiana’s back, jumped off right in front of me. He started running across the ground on all fours.
This guy, is he going to abandon us and run away alone? Well, that’s probably understandable. We are, after all, recognized as enemies. It was his own decision, I couldn’t complain even if he left us and fled.
All I could do was watch his small figure disappear into the snow.
“Arisugawa, can you hear me?”
Was that Sharin’s voice? I heard it faintly. I moved my stiff neck and nodded.
“We have to follow him. It’s our only option.”
Even if you say that, I’ve already lost sight of him. Moreover, he must have gone somewhere we can’t follow.
Still, if there’s even a sliver of hope, I have to try. I lifted my heavy feet to follow the faint footprints left in the snow. I took a step with a crunch. Although I felt like I was about to collapse, I somehow continued to walk. No, perhaps crawling would be a more accurate description than walking.
Right now, I felt like a sinner clinging to a single spider’s thread.
In my blurry vision, I finally spotted a moving shadow in the snow. I forcefully bent my trembling hand to my forehead, and there was Task, desperately digging into the ground. He seemed to be creating a hole in the snowdrift.
So, he’s trying to make a makeshift shelter here. Being inside the snow is safe for sheltering from the blizzard. Alright, I want to get to it, but my body won’t even twitch anymore. Meanwhile, Task continues to dig his tunnel into the snow like a mole.
“Ari, A, Arisugawa.”
“I… understand…”
My teeth were chattering so hard that I couldn’t even form words. Philiana, though I couldn’t see her face, seemed to be in the same state as us. Then, Elana, whom I was carrying, wriggled and fell to the ground. She then followed after Task, digging into the ground.
Using her front paws like a dog’s, she kicked away the snow and dug.
“Whoa, what are you doing, monster?!”
“G-get out of the way, g-get out of the way! Ahhhhh!”
Elana snuffled with her nose and half-heartedly dug a side tunnel. I also folded my knees and collapsed beside her. If Philiana was going to go in, it had to be bigger. Sharin would dig too. This was the only way to survive. Everyone present understood without needing to speak. Before our body temperature dropped completely and our hearts froze.
Using my stiff hands like shovels, I cleared away the snow. My runny nose froze, and I couldn’t breathe. I opened my mouth to take in the meager amount of air.
Eventually, a makeshift igloo was completed in the blizzard. It wasn’t the beautiful dome shape one might imagine. It was just a hole dug into a pile of snow. We half-forcibly pushed Philiana inside. We spread a sheet on the floor and covered the entrance with it as well.
It was cold and dark, but we were able to escape the blizzard’s wind, at least temporarily.
