Lost

"Is everyone alright?" Angelica was the first to ask.

"Yeah," I replied as I got up.

"I-I'm fine… Ugh, sniff." Jessica answered as she wiped away her tears.

"Ugghh I have snow on my nose!" Eva replied while shaking her entire body.

Seeing that the girls were fine, I sighed in relief.

"Well, luckily it worked..."

"It's the first time your magic hasn't worked properly, Franz," Angelica said with concern.

"Yes, something external is likely affecting the correct use of magic in this place-"

Suddenly, a loud sound interrupted our conversation.

"Achooouu!"

It was Jessica sneezing.

"Sorry, it's very cold here," Jessica said as she shivered from the cold.

At that moment, we were in a place full of snow. A lush forest could be seen in front of us and in the opposite direction a mountain path stretching up into the clouds. On the right, a frozen lake could be seen in the distance, and on the left, all kinds of snow-covered trees and bushes could also be seen.

Due to the low temperatures in the south, we'd packed winter clothes to put on as soon as we reached the town of Veracruz.

We'd decided not to put on their winter clothes right away due to the high temperature in the capital since it was summer.

"The first thing we should do is bundle up, Franz, can you try to get our suitcases out of your dimensional storage?" Angelica suggested.

"Hmm, I'll give it a try. Luckily the interference doesn't seem to cancel the activation of my magic."

I tried to activate the dimensional storage magic.

Due to the magic malfunction, all the things stored in the dimensional storage came out unchecked. Luckily, I'd previously emptied my dimensional storage and refilled it with only the things necessary for the trip.

We quickly bundled up by putting on our winter clothes to protect ourselves from the cold.

"It's a relief that the magic worked. Though it would be better if you don't use magic now, especially attack magic."

"I agree, it would be very dangerous."

If even I had no chance to control what things to take out of his dimensional storage. In the case of casting an offensive spell, likely, I couldn't control either the magnitude or direction of the magic.

So, it's quite dangerous.

"Right now our priority would be to recognize where we are," said Angelica who decided to take the lead in this situation.

"Well, since it's all covered in snow, we can estimate that we are at least in the South, right?" Eva said.

"The problem is that we don't know how far we are from Winterland, nor do we know in which direction to go," Jessica said as she looked in all directions.

"The first thing we should do is explore the surroundings to try to find a town or at least a sign that allows us to orient ourselves," Angelica suggested.

We decided to split up into pairs to check out our surroundings.

I went to investigate with Eva.

While Angelica went with Jessica.

After about half an hour, we met again in the same place to share the information collected.

I was the first to speak.

"To be honest… I have no idea where we are. What about you?"

"We didn't find anything either... just snow," Jessica answered.

Honestly, being lost in a situation like this would cause great fear and anxiety for anyone. Extremely cold weather, with a limited amount of food and no sense of direction... even for me it would be a very unfavorable situation not being able to rely on magic.

However.

None of us seemed desperate.

"If normal means didn't work we'll have to depend on you, Jessica," I said.

"Yes, leave it to me."

Because we had already been through many situations similar to this.

"Did you get what I asked for Franz?" Jessica asked as she extended her hand toward Franz.

"Yep, here it is, takes it."

I showed a hand-sized bird to Jessica.

"...You're sure you didn't kill him right?" Jessica said looking straight into Franz's eyes.

"Don't worry, the little guy is just unconscious... it wouldn't be bad if you trusted me a little more."

Jessica looked at me accusingly and a cold sweat ran down my back.

"T-The other time was just a bad joke, Jessica, I promise it won't happen again."

Ahhh -!

My dark past attacking me again when I least expect it!

Well, okay.

I admit it.

I indeed used to play a lot of pranks in the past... and Jessica always got the funniest ones-

-I mean the worst! 

Cough.

Just to clarify, the last time I made a prank with a dead animal, it was just an animal that I randomly found in that state on the street.

I'm not horrible enough to go around killing innocent animals needlessly just for cheap laughs. I swear!

"Very well Franz, give it to me," Jessica answered, satisfied to see Franz's guilty reaction.

I handed the animal over to Jessica.

Jessica, who received the bird in her arms, placed her right hand on the sleeping animal's head.

The next instant a green light illuminated Jessica's body and penetrated the body of the bird.

Moments later the bird woke up, spread its wings, and went up into the sky.

"What were you able to find out, Jessica?" Angelica asked.

"Hmm... it seems there's a small village in the direction of the forest."

"I'll make the bird guide us in the shortest route and help us to detect any danger."

"Excellent Jessica, let's leave immediately," Angelica said, relieved to know that there was a village not so far away.

Listening to the girls' conversation, I thought:

'As always Jessica can be trusted in these cases.'

Probably someone who saw the formation of Franz's squad would have some doubts at first about the composition of the members.

Why was it necessary for Franz to be accompanied by other officers if he is known as the strongest Hero?

The answer was quite simple.

The girls accompanying Franz had skills and abilities that he did not have and could be of enormous help in completing the mission.

How was this possible?

To understand this it is necessary to know that in the world of Hortana, a certain number of individuals are born not only with the ability to use mana but also with a unique ability.

Depending on the affinity of the ability and the talents of each person, it is common for them to choose between becoming a Magician or a Master in the use of a specific weapon.

However, given the wide variety of unique abilities, it's not uncommon for those unfit to be the fighting type to appear...

Also, there are those who instead of becoming a Court Wizard or a Weapon Master decide to become army officers.

Yes. Like Jessica did.

'Jessica's unique ability has helped us countless times in military operations in the war.'

<Possession >Jessica's unique ability.

To be honest, even I don't know exactly the full range and capabilities of Jessica's ability.

The unique abilities of people are usually kept under strict secrecy as a security measure, even within the military, this is no exception.

But because I'd seen how Jessica used her unique ability many times in the war, I'd got a general understanding of her ability.

To put it bluntly, it allows her to take control of the bodies of animals that are asleep or unconscious, being able to not only move their bodies but also access their memories.

That way, Jessica was able to access the bird's memory and check if it has seen any nearby towns. She then used her ability to control its body and make it lead us to that location safely.

It's important to notice that the unique abilities, although most use mana as a source of energy, do not classify as magic.

It's common for magicians to be born with a unique ability that makes it easier for them to control some type of magic, so they can specialize in a specific type of magic.

For this reason, Jessica has no problem with using Possession.

That way, we followed the path led by the bird.

We walked for about an hour and a half until we-

"STOP!!!!"

A scream coming from Jessica could be heard.

Due to the loud shout, everyone got into a fighting stance to protect themselves from any unknown threat.

"What's wrong Jessica?" Angelica asked without removing her senses from the front.

"..."

Jessica didn't immediately respond.

Which alerted everyone even more that something unpredictable would have happened.

"Jessica tell us what happened!" Angelica hurried.

"...Sorry, I was just trying to figure out what happened," Jessica finally answered.

"To be honest, I don't even know what happened."

"What are you talking about?" Franz asked.

"The bird suddenly started having trouble flying, and a short time later it started to fall and I completely lost connection..."

"The biggest problem is that the connection was severed even before it hit the ground."

"Are you sure it wasn't attacked in any way?"

"I'm sure," Jessica answered firmly.

"..." I pondered for a moment to collect my thoughts before asking a question.

"Jessica, how far was the bird from the village?"

"Eh, it was relatively close, through bird vision I could see the village in the distance."

"Hmm... let's go a little further to check the condition of the bird. I have some guesses as to what might have happened..." I said seriously.

In this way, we continued walking a few tens of meters more.

However.

Soon we had to stop once more.

"Franz... are those?"

"...Yes," I answered with a clouded look.

Because in front of us, at least twenty men lay lifeless on the ground.