Chapter 241: Rest (2)
y2sBorder City.mkt6f5
MxRLLocated at the center of the ongoing winter, its walls facing the north couldn’t stop the blistering cold nor the snow pouring down from above. The only saving grace was that the snow wasn’t at the level of a blizzard.XZpYj7O
VE8eThanks to the rapid increase in population, the snow was quickly being removed from the main roads but the same couldn’t be said to the streets and alleyways on the side.z74
gwRNDxA little deeper in from the main roads, there were still massive piles of snow that could make a leaping dog vanish from sight.Xi8k
GttIO“Aiya~. We might even be able to make an igloo with this much snow.”RBOc
HUYAlthough it wasn’t frozen solid, it was still a wondrous sight to behold.n3iFU
c1109“What are you doing?”QZ1
3nex“Holy heavens!”OgLgT
L7wa6hSurprised from the sudden voice from behind, I turned around and found Hua Ran in her usual nun clothes looking up with curiosity in her eyes.2JjeO5D
YY2“I was thinking about making a snowman.”kRtEH
Jxq“A snowman?”fT8
tEEPHua tilted her head curious as to what a snowman was. The fact that Hua didn’t know about it… implied Ran didn’t know it either.5t6
azE7“Do neither of you know what a snowman is?”Nvk
wegE“…Un.”e0yOfqO
nP2hUqAfter some delay, Hua nodded and relayed what Ran said.oE6fB
fLyf0“She says she didn’t get to play much when she was young. Because she was sick.”TIfjxH
EVdl“Ah…”fxhtkUK
f6eFspRan had spent her childhood days on the bed, waiting for time to pass by, and what happened after Hua’s birth didn’t even need to be mentioned.kU3ct1m
ij8zzGAs a result, it was only recently that she had begun living a proper, normal life.GrpBw2p
SMJEDA“It’s okay. We can slowly do them one by one.”1tU
BVvnrfhWe can build a snowman… make friends, and slowly build up one at a time. For that to happen, I had to win this war – not just for Hua Ran’s sake, but for everyone’s future as well.PDxRbLi
NkGi“Let’s start with the snowman first.”1K9
SXBx“Un.”DaZkO
05AKI handed her my gloves. They were a bit too big for her tiny hands, but I gave them to her regardless.jWip
y9uhV7“We are going to roll up a ball of snow. So that it becomes bigger and bigger.”y1S
TvZa“…What about you?”Ig910xR
LYdRPHer eyes seemed to be asking, ‘What about your gloves?’BRSVuT
Gerwhgy“It’s fine for guys like this oppa.”XRO
6r3S91l“…Here.”ZfWham
VonclCZShe handed one of the gloves back, suggesting we use one each. It was a cute act of kindness that I didn’t feel like turning down.5axZE
suLPm“Now now! Let us begin construction!”sbX1
tHSXD“Speak normally.”AKM
SKxI started rolling a ball of snow across the ground. Hua appeared very lost and watched me for a while before starting to roll her own.dJIp
DmMN– Roll rollwSSvK8
QdVThe ball of snow that used to be the size of our fists slowly but surely gained size by absorbing the snow beneath.e890ji
6jQrfzT“It’s gotten bigger…”j2gD8
fIwDNHua stopped and widened her eyes in surprise.TuQ6
MR0QIt was heartwarming to see how this girl, who could dissipate the snow in front of us with a single punch, was surprised by a snowball becoming bigger.TQQxR
U11CThis again showed how she was just a young teenage girl.WYImWMs
YgwJ‘I feel bad.’q5s7g7
aKnnhIAs such, I found her case to be such a shame and felt sorry for her, because it made me feel like a bad adult dragging young kids into a battlefield.r6H
ZTnmnIf I told her this, she would scold me and say, ‘You’re the same age as me,’ but… technically I was a lot older than her.aO3TAL
TSTbB7T“Don’t put too much force and take your time. That’s it. Just like that.”zhZO
yUBcpThe ball of snow was now as tall as her waist.tkDJy
UyTS6HE“Now, on top of this…”QqCJF
3plI made a smaller ball of snow and put it on top, added a few twigs, a carrot and a few buttons to make a decent snowman.xmI
WWehpw4“Ah. It’s like a man. A snowman…”wuZsw
KR6The girl, who didn’t know what a snowman was, was blinking at the sight of a completed snowman. I was also feeling slightly proud of my work, and how my skills hadn’t disappeared despite being so long.Tqhq1
LXmwi“It feels like I’m back to being young.”y2iCqBD
brdd“…We’re still young.”TRZ9Sb1
8NqEQ“Forget it.”eFmo1
9vVpjGIn any case, now that we warmed ourselves up, it was time to go all in.d26Je
PtNp“Anything you guys want to make?” I asked.RHUO
srRDE“Anything?” Hua asked back.YRob9Uq
hb5Jmh“Yeah. We can make a house or a bigger snowman.”UNyPN4t
U8CpWe had more than enough snow, after all.Oh8tf
ItffThis reminded me of one of the positive memories I had from the military. One day, the Major General opened a snow sculpture contest to alleviate his boredom.rdrI
pVbIt was a pretty big contest that involved everyone in the division, with the winner being promised a 5 day vacation…!ADBYDA0
sHByifEveryone was fully invested in it like there was no tomorrow, and some of them even made a K9 Thunder. It was crazy… They built a freaking tank out of snow for a vacation.JyCK1
Ac5iGLooking back, it was the military where I had met the most diverse range of people.yEAilt
0OdDn“House.”07NVI3
RBFG“A house?”Xw0
axhn“Ran… wants to build a house.”altWtMh
okpBnX“Too easy.”dz8RwP
sUABVWe began working immediately. Building things with snow brought back some long-forgotten memories.J3PFk
bWJ………EeXqAl
I98e6fn……yTSBEk
1wdYL…ZzY
J05wWdThere was so much snow that we could make literally anything but what I decided to go with was a big hole in the snow.VwVLdA6
ZMlActually, I was trying to build an igloo but failed, but in any case, this reminded me of the time when I went camping with an exchange student from Japan – back when we dug a hole in the snow and had some instant noodles inside.c72VS
Ni2W3An“Not bad right?”v3Rhq
ax6zAnyway, I finished making the… pseudo-igloo. I tried my best to imitate the bricks by scratching lines with a twig but… Hmm, hmm. Surely this wasn’t too bad.mXJ
QbrU“Let’s go in!”0VHl
C5YIt was a shame that I didn’t have any food we could have inside, but we could deal with that later. First of all, we crawled into the pseudo-igloo.V1k
yHXThe ceiling was a little low and we had to crouch right next to each other, but it felt like we were out here camping, and didn’t feel so bad.X18C
iUpW“Fufu. How do you like it?”38fD0
B0XAxr“…It’s very small.”9GYuDf
VBHTWZ“But still, it’s good enough for a one night sleep.”v9j3c
TjSEYThe hole I slept in with Estelle was even smaller than this. This was nothing compared to that atypical and… interesting experience.KzKN
OHWKV“…No,” Hua blurted out.yXRY
DGcg5B“What?”lcg
1qVkMx“We can’t… sleep here.”OQErOH3
h1j2WpqOf course we are not going to sleep here. That wasn’t my actual intention. Why would we sleep here and not on our beds?M9c
a6B“Storks can’t come in…”JyvMW
W1uNq“Storks?”Wu0y
REnufOWhat was this about storks? I was about to ask but was stopped by someone who shoved their face into the entrance.Phr
oaQTX“Korin! What are you doing here?”h9Q
c94“Marie-sunbae.”bbJB
WoGI crawled back out with Hua Ran.61nH
Yf97“Sunbae. Perfect timing.”DLv
qeLRg6“Huh?”Y9N
yJT“Can I borrow your magic? Let’s build some snowmans and a mansion.”wuS
d4WgOt“Snowmans? Hmm~. So that’s what you were doing.”uKev5J0
NLDmraMarie said after looking around and finding the snowman.ByUS
GARYcz“Sure. Doggo. Come out as well.”0NC2
wLH– Woof!wGAr4vT
FQmfcH3Doggo popped out of her shadow with a bark.kgAnCGR
fxQI wanted to bury my cold hands into his fluffy fur to warm them back down, but he flicked my hands away before I could.Yaf3f
5OW2h“What? How could you!”sZV
nMi– Woof! (Don’t touch me)8CMmq
V2rbPx“What an unfilial child! No allowance for you next month!”ULPN
HwL0– Woof woof woof! Woof woof! (Sure~ I’m getting 2,000 gold coins next week)Xn5GRv
Z3z1oThis damn dog! Wearing branded shirts all day, which I’m not even doing myself, he forgot how to treasure money!WlsuIs
9dj10I immediately turned towards Marie.VzeNg9
u6wwHE“Marie-sunbae! Don’t give him any money!”Qej
yO7vPAz“Uh, umm… But what is he going to do if I don’t give him money?”7qCllkP
US4s“Let him take care of himself!”lUnYj4
jps1“No, but… he needs money to buy snacks, right?”8qwi
LMMAw“Snacks? Snackkkks? With that money he can buy a whole store!”wPdtg
bZeEl6Z“But… he’s saving the little bit of money he gets so don’t be mean to him.”0vRC
9r9“Little… bit of money?”pNFV5w
tz3brTM2,000 gold coins… 2 million dollars is little?7zzXS0V
kQ6We couldn’t come to a common ground. Our mindset when raising kids was way too different!0Re7AA
oMm4“Anyway, I want to try making a snowman too. Something bigger and cooler!”g6JebC7
59GhxA“…”B2XPS
O6wGxuI wanted to say something else, but couldn’t stop Marie, who was excitedly hopping around the snow.rVsq
6Dv“Freeze~”vlffW6
jjv50E8Although Marie was also physically strong, she wasn’t the type of person who liked doing things manually. And it was okay for her, because she had a never-exhausting excavator called Doggo and magic.UTw
tjHKl1“Let’s freeze that, compress that and… Go build some bricks, Doggo.”SEU4
qbSLHere we were rolling balls of snow with our hands to build snowmans, and yet Marie froze the snow into ice bricks, and rolled the snow with her magic. Without even… touching the snow with her hands, she created a snowman and a building.LWK
bc9TnHer finished snowman was an icy sculpture reaching 6 feet in height.2en
O3AlXWas this even a snowman anymore?kiiA
Io3Wa“Fuu~ Let’s lower the temperature a little bit more, add water to decorate and…”qzVe8Q
Cy21Ah… so this is why you needed to study hard to be a mage.nKtcM9
Od2Mere knights like us were dummies who could do nothing but swing around swords and spears, and we couldn’t imitate even a fraction of that.VdLPP
ORmodG8You were right, Park Sihu! I should have learned magic too!6KFa
wmqaETr“Done! Look, look, Korin! It looks good right!?”P5KTxA
3GLW2There was even a set of stairs around the sculpture, which she walked over to scrutinize the construction. After completing it, Marie showed it off with a wide smile on her face.y5aSQYO
D9y9s3H“Looks great.”UJYS
ep7kBg“…”zZ8v8N6
zTUl6i5I turned towards Hua Ran, about to encourage her to give some compliments too, and realized her eyes were colored blue.sOtV
fZW“Are you Ran?”BVCmf
8zoSwg“Oppa. My hands are freezing.”UmD8jn
IPMyIt was out of nowhere but it made sense, because we had been building a snowman while only wearing one glove each.CDoRQ
594w“Give me your hand.”gpWm
wNn9bGFI rubbed my hands into her cold red hands, and blew on it to warm them down as much as possible. Although it might be nothing compared to the cold, I still did it because even a hand fan was helpful in mid-summer.MOp
TUeP“Hehe. It’s ticklish.”ePNJ
dlZJ“It’s better though, right?”0cS
j6z48W7“Yes~”UoTg
yyqRBRan replied before throwing a glance to the side. Then, she wrapped my hands with her own.7ie3Ssb
x7KR37“Let me do it this time, oppa.”45zbaV
AQK“You don’t have to.”4no
5ls“I want to do it.”beN
8oYoShe started blowing out warm air onto my hands. The warmth helped ease the coldness in my hands, and was definitely helpful.1PulE
odH“K, Korin…!”TXK
aEeRan and I were taking turns blowing warm air onto each other’s hands when Marie rushed down the stairs towards us.exuQk1j
VxTunai“M, my hands are freezing too! Can you warm them down?”y8VI2
mCM“Sunbae… You’re a mage specializing in ice. Don’t you have cold-protection?”Hql49O
q1e9Wasn’t Marie immune to cold, just like how I was immune to heat?UzCyyY7
D3rlj“Y, yeah…”Pmrbop
eDfw“Don’t worry about her, oppa,” said Ran. “She made everything with magic and didn’t even touch the snow.”456
MvQsQng“Eeek…!”PhrVV
egE0Ran had a smirk on her face while Marie was shivering and looking for words to say. I was about to intervene and say something but…3nu
EQnSL“Woof!”wtSLIq
lzNfod– Bam!BT6LLfD
jDBKf1LA ball of snow flew from a distance and smacked me on my face.evf
8hqv“K, Korin?”ZUni
GYEad“Oppa? Are you okay?”nfg
Sn4gAfter falling straight down onto the thick layer of snow, I turned around to see what hit me because it didn’t feel like just snow.I9Oujo
Hguuv“W, what the heck… There’s something inside?”mmZQNW
tkoHe put a stone inside! This damn… I turned and glared at the unfilial dog who was grinning after throwing a stone-filled snowball.hqBAnoz
fMZ– Woof woof!ELfH2U
9bTz“T, this damned bastard…!”i7u
vTM– Woof woof woof!Ll2mVoc
QuUm1e“You’re dead! I’m gonna have to boil some water!”ovlfHgZ
8BS1xzM– Kuraaaaaaa!! (Don’t cross the line, you name-only father!)SdtRcmJ
up4“How dare you speak like that! H, huh? You bastard! Lower that finger right now!”WgNKj
xROwuI picked up a pile of snow and started throwing it at him. This time, Doggo picked up a bigger piece of stone to bury inside the snowball.5FAK
QuBc“Oi! Someone’s gonna get hurt if you miss that! Let go!”0IM
vHj– …Woof.6D8V
mUVOgDoggo pouted after hearing that someone could get hurt but still dropped the stone. In the meantime, one of the snowballs I threw landed right on his face and scattered into the air.mRo
qPh3N“Hehehe…”XOp
1cxvvJ– Grrrrh…ZCj
Pb1I was simply enacting my right to discipline him as the father. Today was the day where I reclaimed my dignity as a father!9OBBxB
0c4A65i– Kwagak!p36
ejM1VN– Pababak!eO19
YaGhrDdSnowballs were being shot left and right. At the level of Doggo and me, snowball fights were more like snow-cannonball fights. Slowly, it became more and more violent as more people started to join.IiwB
rQV“Huh? Korin-ssi. What are you… Puhak!?”Hpdfbb
PJRaCpR“What? Korin-dongsaeng is losing? Wait! I will be there in no time!”mlKP
VkEbjUL“D, don’t harass Doggo!”Vk17m1r
CAWKsm2“…What? You want to help the other side? Hmm… to match the balance? If you say so, Hua.”Q6XjvY
s8XbL“They’re relying on numbers to push us down! Bring anyone that can be our ally!”6PTh
AhksfI– Kwak!Dv3E
wi0gpA– Uhk?TeB2m
JdvVM– W, what was that?!35z
MHSBLSuddenly, enormous snowballs were starting to fly towards our side. Telekinesis…?QyMJ
IpdplNq“Dorron?”XETlF25
0XciOn one of the rooftops of a building was Dorron, controlling the snow with his telekinesis.KDg
zcAaJ“Sorry, Boss. Marie-sunbae gave us a lot of money.”KLa
lOJU“You traitor…!”GOkXPO
rPxWhat is that pouch of gold coins hanging on your waist?!0wTXC
avwE“But we have the super two-legged golem! KRANEL! YUELLLL…!”lHTU
yF2nE– Aahk! Have you lost your mind?3OS
CbYzIi9– Put it back! Put that back in!bIDj
6WAZDiy“Wahh~. Look. There are knights over there playing with snowballs!”S2PXj5
e2zNtsc“Let’s join them!”iLxeylt
aghUThe kids of the city and the northerners seemed to have found it intriguing, and joined us in this great battle as fantastic warriors.Gk4z
CtiZThe battle of snowballs enlivened up the border city and heated up the winter.qMR2
Qt5TPk****w19
yTFaR“Haa~. Seriously, my dear disciple really does love action.”y9neGv
5MKZA8Erin said while watching over them from above. Josephine, however, seemed worried that it might cause an accident.q9V0
qwXaWoL“They are supposed to be adults already, so I hope they become a little bit more mature,” Josephine commented.cPAk
RKkA57“It’s okay. They’re still children.”rvAa6
GQrRJ“…”btXmAm
0AX0Erin had always been dismayed by the fact that those young kids were here for a war, and that they had to be involved in killing others.QYpzs4
XwuNThe war that would decide the fate of this world was incoming. Some would die and some would be injured.bKO2s
cY1Gkd7It was an inescapable fact that they needed the assistance of these kids in that war, which came as a sorrowful reality for Erin.Mym2N
Z40Fs“If only I… had killed Tates 80 years ago…”gnFd
UWbT7VmThen things like this wouldn’t have happened. Erin always felt sorry and guilty that she hadn’t.iqhqG
11E4D“I’m sure he is thinking the same thing.”XUux
NBUCAq“…You mean Korin?”rE4uzip
NR6P“Yes. He probably… considers himself an adult. Rightfully so, as well.”gytRKdK
jJ8SSErin and Josephine knew that Korin had come from the future. They knew how he had become an adult through countless fights and hardships, as well as how he was sacrificing himself out of goodwill and hopes of happiness to protect others.Yy0z2aB
zeV7cTHe was the same kind of person as Erin – an adult willing to sacrifice themself for the young children to smile brightly in the future.Ug3UCo
Ub2U1“But everyone, whether they are an adult or a child, have to participate in the war against that man. Anyone who is a part of this world has the responsibility to partake in it.”wX7k3
6KDQ1However, everyone had to fight together. It was the responsibility of everyone, regardless of their age and position, to defend their place.FMyL0T
EfPAq0“But personally… as a professor… I am willing to throw my life away for the children – especially Student Hua Ran.”lAxv
shlpWR“It’s surprising to see you favoring someone over another.”ciL
DfeJS9s“There is no other choice.”Cnma1
npDgHfsErin became curious about Josephine’s clearcut attitude, because she was a true professor who looked after all students, and it was rare to see her showing favoritism.07DcLh
OFaCt“Erin… I suppose I have to tell you at the very least,” said Josephine.NtIoBYq
OCYY“Clara?”DvTPJ
S2gF01“Student Hua Ran… is pregnant with Student Korin’s baby.”0pMpW
4MAfj“………………Huh?l4h
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