Thawing through the ice (Special Chapter)

(Special Chapter)

An expedition of a fully equipped group of people, organized by Sapin's military to explore abnormalities in previously deserted mountains near the border of Sapin and Darv turned out to be a failure right after getting into icy mist.

The group of twenty five people was reduced to one. All of them were frozen to death, even augmenting their bodies with mana didn't help them as the temperature was abnormally low. The last one left of the expedition was Varay Aurae, a white-haired girl with grey eyes and a proficient mage.

If not for her proficiency in magic and large mana pool, she wouldn't have been able to last this long. Even now she almost lost hope for survival, since the way out of this mist was impossible to find. Small particles of snow were always hitting her beautiful face.

'Damn it…' She cursed in her mind, she hated being helpless.

Walking slowly through the 24-inch snow, barely able to take even a single step, she suppressed her urge to cry, because her tears would probably freeze too. Her eyeballs were still in good condition because of augmentation, but that won't last long.

Taking another step, Varay loses her footing and stumbles. She fell down on the snow face down, but when she tried to get up she couldn't. All her strength left her, all her attempts were futile.

'Is this how I die?' She asked herself before she lost consciousness.

Because of the chilly wind, she couldn't hear someone walking near her…

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"Ugh…" Groaned white-haired girl and opened her eyes.

She couldn't comprehend the situation she was in at the moment, so it took a few seconds until she remembered what she was doing. She was on an expedition in the mountains, but she should be dead right now…

'Where am I?' She looked around to see a room made out of ice.

Walls, ceiling, furniture and everything was made out of ice. Miniature flowers were also made out of ice and lastly, the royal bed she was laying in was also made out of ice, only the blankets and mattress were from fur.

She removed the blanket from herself and the cold assaulted her once again. She had to augment herself with mana again.

"I suggest you do not remove the blankets. Otherwise, you will get frozen here." Someone entered the room through big ice doors.

"W-Who are you?" Squawked white-haired girl.

"Introduce yourself first." Now Varay could clearly see the figure, a black-haired and grey-eyed male with a tall muscular build.

(Heheee, that's what he looks like, IMAGE:)

"V-Varay A-Aurae." she stuttered, surprising herself.

"Varay, if I was a little late you would be dead. So why did you go up those mountains?" he questioned while approaching her.

"I had an expedition." She this time answered without stuttering.

"Military huh…" the person mumbled and handed hot soup to Varay.

"Lay there for a few days, you will get well soon. You may leave later." He stood up and went towards the exit, but got stopped by Varay.

"Excuse me sir, can I know your name?" She asked.

"Ash Bourne." He said casually without any care.

'Ash Bourne…Wait…' Varay now realized who was the person in front of her.

"Are you an S-Class adventurer and member of the Legendary Party?" Varay inquired.

"Former." Ash replied with a shake as he left the room.

'That's him!' exclaimed Varay in her thoughts, she would never expect to see an S-Class adventurer she idolized, here at such a place.

She then looked at the soup, and there was also a letter.

'Use your ice magic to make the soup stay warm.'

Varay was confused about how that was even possible, but when she noticed that hot soup was getting colder by the second, she didn't have much of a choice.

"You shouldn't believe what anyone says so easily, ice magic won't make your soup stay warm. Water magic maybe..." Varay heard Ash's voice next to her, when she turned, Ash poked her cheek.

'What's this…' She felt warm all around her body, and the coldness of the room disappeared.

"What did you do? How did you even get here?" Varay asked dumbfounded.

"I just protected you with a layer of mana, because you didn't know how to do it yourself." answered Ash and sat down next to Varay.

"I saw you leaving through the door..."

"I left, but returned quickly. I got you your clothes…" responded Ash, throwing her clothes on bed.

"Eh?" Varay looked down under the blanket and saw herself only in underwear. Previously she didn't react, but now this is a serious matter.

"Don't get the wrong idea, I just removed clothes so you could get warm in a blanket faster." At Ash's words, Varay blushed and her face got even redder.

"Hm, is something wrong?" Ash tilted his head and Varay just lowered her head in embarrassment.

"N-Nothing… Thank you." Varay finally snapped out from her trance and thanked Ash.

"No need. By the way, Aren't you going to eat this?" Ash pointed at already cold, frozen soup.

'I forgot I had this!' screamed Varay in her mind.

"Well, we might get a new one. Dress up if you are feeling good."

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For the time she was in the ice castle, Varay could only now take notice of how big it actually is. Comparing the ice castle to the Royal Castle in Etistin would only place the Royal one in shame. Everything in the ice castle, even the furniture itself was made out of ice, only the fur of mana-beasts was used in parts of them.

But the only difference between the Royal Castle and this one is the number of people who reside in it.

"Aren't you lonely here, all by yourself?" Varay asked Ash who just sat there next to her and stared at the ceiling.

"I guess, but Jaron visits me here sometimes. Not like I don't leave this place at all, I also need to resupply food you know." Ash moved his eyes from the ice-ceiling and looked at Varay.

"No that's not it… aren't you lonely for real? Your party disbanded and you live distant from civilization." Varay questioned this time more specifically.

"..." Ash in response just stayed quiet.

Seeing the awkwardness of the situation, Varay didn't know what to do so she also kept silent. She didn't know what kind of person Ash was. She couldn't see anything beyond the cover that Ash created to seem as an emotionally neutral person.

"How did you create this big castle?" Varay decided to change the topic and learn more about what person next to her was capable of.

"Mostly by myself." answered Ash nonchalantly.

"Did you use ice-magic?"

"Yes."

'He was able to build this on his own?' Varay was shocked, she always thought that she was the best ice conjurer on Dicathen, of course after the Legendary Party disbanded. From the stories and reports she heard from the military, Ash wasn't this strong before. So this meant that he got stronger after disbanding.

This was also her opportunity to get stronger. Under the tutelage of a former S-Class adventurer no doubts she will at least learn a few things, besides Ash is ice-mage.

"Mr. Ash, can you please help me improve my ice-magic?" formally addressing Ash, she deeply bowed.

"Why should I?" Ash raised brows at her request.

"I want to become strong…" When those words left her mouth, Ash just closed his eyes and stood up.

"No, get some rest and leave." without glancing at the white-haired girl, he declined with a cold voice.

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Varay hasn't pursued Ash anymore, she didn't request again. She just spent most of her time in an icy-cold room which was colder than the previous time she was there. Her augmentation didn't help out much and after being wrapped in blankets for 1 hour, she decided to leave the room in search of Ash.

She stood up, approached the door made out of ice. But when she touched it, she immediately retracted them. Her fingers would stick to ice if she hadn't retracted them soon enough.

'Is this his doing?' thought Varay, but quickly dismissed the idea. Why would Ash kill her after saving?

She pondered about what to do, if she didn't open this door she would obviously freeze to death. So she had only two options, first to wait for Ash and second was to break through the door.

She decided to break through.

She covered her already cold hands with ice and augmented her hand with more mana. She punched right at the center of the door, but unfortunately the door was still fine without any visible damage on it, not even a little crack.

"Cold…" muttered Varay, her body trembling.

'I should try again…' Varay looked at her right hand and before she could create ice on it. Someone stopped her.

"You would only harm yourself like that…" Ash caught her hand and covered Varay with another layer of mana.

"I forgot to create a new layer, you probably got cold again." Ash could feel coldness on Varay's trembling hand.

"You can't really protect yourself from your own ice, how could you improve this way?" Ash suddenly asked Varay.

"Follow me, I will help you improve in ice magic at least." said Ash and opened the ice-door, motioning Varay to go through.

"Didn't you decline before?..."

"I took some interest in you." casually answered Ash, this time Varay kept her blank-face.

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"Gwah!" Varay was sent crashing into an ice wall, spitting her own saliva.

"Concentrate more!" Ash shouted and charged at Varay, who quickly stood up taking a stance.

Ash was holding back when training with Varay, but even then he overwhelmed her with just experience. Tricks and even dirty moves, he used them all to teach Varay that not everyone is fighting fair and square. Besides, Varay couldn't concentrate only on battle, that was her main problem.

She didn't show her emotion externally, but internally she was getting shaken after Ash's actions which she couldn't predict.

"Varay, you have an ice affinity. Use your imagination to create what you want, don't limit yourself with some basic constructs!" Ash tried to slash Varay with a conjured ice sword, but got stopped midway.

Varay took the advice of Ash and created a layer of ice on her hand, with it she caught Ash's sword before it could reach her, but seeing Ash's same emotionless face she got taken aback.

'She has grown…' Ash noted in his mind.

He let go of the sword and kicked Varay on her side, making her fly away from him. Varay balanced herself midair and landed perfectly, freezing herself on the ice floor to not slide.

"You've improved a lot, learning how to properly augment your body and becoming more immune to the cold. I think it's time for you to leave." As those words left Ash's mouth, Varay's face became gloomy all of a sudden, it soon returned to normal, but Ash already took notice of it.

"I enjoyed the time spent with you, but your relatives would be worried about you. So it's time to go." Added Ash.

"Will I meet you again?" Varay questioned looking down, she didn't hear him answer so looked up to meet his face close to hers.

"Of course, so don't make some drama." He flickered her forehead.

"Meanie…" She mumbled touching her forehead.

"You say something?" Ash asked, glancing at her.

"No." Varay answered calmly and turned away from him. Unconsciously, Ash's lips curled upwards at this...

He liked this girl...