Chapter 38: Waiting for Spring(2)

‘There’s nothing that can be done as you wish in this world.’

Merchant Elif smiled bitterly after reading the report.

The request was a failure.

Although it was a relatively new mercenary group, Red Moon had achieved some success and had great influence.

I thought it was too much investment to catch a rookie wizard, but the result was disastrous.

Red Moon disbanded.

Although there were no deaths or serious injuries, all of the mercenaries retired from their mercenary work, complaining of mental trauma.

All of Red Moon’s mercenaries kept repeating the word ‘Snowman’,

but there was no way such a monster could exist in the East, let alone in the snowy mountains.

‘Of course it wasn’t what Lucy did.’

Elif’s intuition as a merchant was sharp.

After the last successful large-scale auction, the merchant association was considering Lucy as the future president.

In Elif’s eyes, Lucy was just one of those wizards.

So there must be someone behind her back.

A powerful backer that a sly person like Lucy probably doesn’t even realize.

‘… It seems greedy to delve any further.’

Elif decided to stop interfering any further.

He thought that if he could find the source of the magic stone and monopolize it, it would be a chance to strike in one go, but it seems that not everything goes as planned.

‘Without any loss.’

It was a good thing that he had paid a premium and made a ‘contract’ with the mercenaries.

They would not reveal that the client for this work was Elif until they died.

Lucy might have another chance to obtain magic stones, but she would definitely trade through Elif since she did not know the whole story.

In fact, it did not end with no loss.

Elif actually gained.

The Red Moon did not simply fail the request.

All of the members gave up the request voluntarily, even though they looked fine on the outside.

So it was natural that a penalty fee would be incurred.

Most of the public funds that the Red Moon had were returned to Elif as the penalty fee.

“Excuse me. Are you there?”

“Welcome, Elif Trading Company.”

Elif greeted the visitor with a bright smile in his newly renovated office.

She didn’t doubt that her future was going smoothly- but as Elif had said earlier, not everything in this world goes as planned.

***

“… What did you just say, Avalli?”

Lucy growled, forgetting her honorifics and returning to her frivolous tone from a few weeks ago.

“That’s the name of the client who requested the assassination of the Master.”

“Elif. Are you sure?”

“Yes. That mercenary guy named Contra said so.”

“That’s right…?”

Lucy ground her teeth.

It was the most likely, but Lucy had hoped that her prediction would be wrong.

Diligently in a shabby office.

That’s why she had gone to Elif instead of visiting other large companies when she obtained the magic stone…

“… But why didn’t you sign a contract when you requested the assassination? When I asked her in the first place, she said she couldn’t tell anyone about the person behind it, and she had no answer…”

The question that suddenly occurred to her mind was quickly swept away by the rising anger.

As her anger rose to the top of her head, Lucy’s head calmed down a little.

There was no need to get angry in front of Avalli.

She should be grateful to her disciple who told her the truth.

Revenge was now Lucy’s personal matter.

“Um. Thank you, Avalli. It was helpful.”

“Are you okay, Master?”

“It’s okay. It’s just… I learned a lesson from today. Avalli, remember this clearly.”

Lucy held her breath for a moment and continued in a serious voice.

“Never trust someone based on their appearance. Okay? It’s ‘absolutely!”

“… Isn’t that so obvious, Master?”

“Hmm… Ahem… Anyway. What were we talking about all this time?”

“Uh, I remember well…”

[It’s about my whereabouts, Great Master.]

A deep voice interrupted the conversation between the two witches.

The voice was so magnificent that it seemed to shake the heavens and the earth, but in reality, it was only heard faintly by Lucy and Avalli.

Snowman was conveying his will to the two through magic without even moving his lips.

“Ah, that’s right.”

“…I think we should get rid of this dangerous monster right now.”

Lucy said that, nervously inside.

No matter how much that snowman absolutely obeyed Avali’s orders, a monster was still a monster.

Lucy used the maximum amount of fire magic she could use to eliminate danger the moment they met, but the damage was only a slight melting of the snow on the surface.

When she brought Avalli from the village to defeat Snowman even with the help of her power, her disciple trailed off, saying, “That, Master, that…”

“If it’s a monster that can talk, it wouldn’t be strange for the palace to send a punitive force. If Avalli gets involved, he could be captured.”

“But Snowman has never attacked a person before? Then shouldn’t it be okay?”

“… That, the Red Moon Mercenaries.”

“It seems that they were there to protect me and the Master.”

[To be exact, it was to eliminate enemies who would harm the great master.]

“What do you think of me if you say that!”

Avalli puffed out her cheeks and shouted.

[She was rude.]

“Really, I’m trying so hard to defend myself.”

In fact, Avalli had only recently learned about the Snowman,

or rather, the entity that Camellia had named ‘Snowman’.

Camellia had taken her hand and dragged her to the empty lot where she had made a snowman,

saying she had something to show him,

but the snowman they had made together spoke to Avalli.

Avalli recalled Camellia complaining, ‘No one else trusts me!’

After all, Snowman speaks directly to people’s minds through magic,

so others would simply regard Camellia’s words as the innocence of a child.

“So, Avalli is going to leave this monster alone?”

“… There’s nothing we can do. It has an ego and doesn’t have the will to attack.”

The Creator has all rights over his creations.

But even when a creation gains an independent self, does that right belong to the creator?

Avalli’s answer was NO.

To be exact, he didn’t want to get involved in something bothersome.

In some ways, you could say he was neglecting it, but didn’t Avalli have any intention of giving life to the snowman in the first place?

“That’s all up to Mr. Noonun to decide.”

So this was the most consideration Avalli could give to Noonun.

To live in this world by his own will.

[I will only follow the words of the great master.]

“That’s why the master said, ‘Do as you please!’

Oh, but if you attack people recklessly or something, I will treat you like a monster, just like the master said.”

[That won’t happen. I will not disobey the orders of the great master.]

“No, you are disobeying me right now!”

Avalli started to grumble with Noonun.

Lucy, who had been watching their conversation with tense eyes, slowly opened her mouth.

“… That aside. What do you plan on doing when spring comes?”

Lucy’s words to Nun Nun were without honorifics.

No matter how much her feelings had changed, Lucy didn’t want to be polite to monsters.

[Even if it’s spring, I won’t melt.]

“That’s a bigger problem! If you stand there blankly when spring comes and the snow has all melted, people will all notice that you’re a monster.”

“… Really?”

“Hey, Avalli. You should think about that in advance—”

[It’s okay.]

Snowy cut off Lucy’s words as she was about to lecture her master.

[When that time comes, I’ll leave this place.]

“…… Well, in that case.”

“You shouldn’t attack people there either.

Oh no, you should learn self-defense against those who attack you first…

Um, should I start by explaining the Three Laws of Robotics?”

“Avalli sometimes says a lot of strange things.”

“Huh? Me? No way. Ahaha…”

The moment Avalli trailed off, a lively voice was heard from the entrance to the empty lot.

“Sister Lucy! Sister Avalli!”

“Come back soon, Avalli!”

It was Camellia and Hans.

It seemed like they had come out of the village to call the two who hadn’t returned even as the sun was setting.

“Can you hear what Mr. Snowy is saying, Lucy?”

“… Of course you can. There’s no way you wouldn’t hear when he’s talking directly to your ear, right?”

“Right? Right?”

“I can hear it, but the village kids told me to stop playing around!”

Camellia clung to Lucy with a pouty expression.

Hans opened his mouth as he pushed Camellia away.

“What can I do if I can’t hear you? Mr. Noonun said it in the first place.

I don’t intend to reveal my identity unless you have the ‘right to hear?'”

“But Mr. Noonun is bored outside. If Camellia doesn’t come over, he’ll be alone all day.”

[I’m fine.]

Hans and Camellia continued their conversation with Noonun calmly.

Avalli, who saw them, was startled and joined in the conversation.

“Hans, can you hear me too?”

“… You were going to talk first?”

“Why? Why are you doing that, Mr. Noonun?”

[Because you have the right.]

“‘Qualification?’ What kind of qualification are you talking about?”

“Let’s go eat quickly. I’m hungry.”

“Mr. Noonun, I’ll come over tomorrow!”

“… Haa, let’s go back first. I don’t know anything about this either.”

A question like that crossed Avalli’s mind, but she was pushed out of her seat by the three holy fires.

‘Qualification.’

Camellia could understand.

She had created Noonun with Avalli, so it wouldn’t be strange for Noonun to be interested in Camellia.

But what about Hans?

What qualifications does Hans have?