## Chapter 278 – Winter Sonata
The pure white snow was already covered with footprints and wagon wheel tracks, but even those would soon be erased by the falling snow.
Of course, people were still on the move.
Even now, besides us, other adventurer parties were heading out. There were even wagons trying to depart before the heavy snowfall got worse.
“콥슨, find us a good path. Any good spots around?”
“Leave it to me.”
We followed 콥슨 into the snowy mountains.
His confident demeanor was quite reassuring. 콥슨 was a trustworthy friend, after all. We moved while chatting about various things.
“Hoo, it’s cold. What have you all been up to?”
메리아 asked, adjusting her fur hat.
“What do you mean, what have I been up to? I’ve been living damn hard. Just earning money, exercising, and learning some swordsmanship. Thinking about it, it’s been pretty fulfilling, you know?”
“I’ve been indulging in alcohol and gambling.”
“Conflicting answers.”
We were walking up a snow-covered mountain path, but I didn’t feel particularly tired. My stamina had definitely improved. I was keenly aware that muscle and mana were what made me strong.
“메리아, how’s your shield technique coming along?”
“Lately, I’m finding it easier to hit with my shield than with my sword.”
“That’s terrifying.”
It’s not common knowledge, but a shield is an excellent weapon.
If you get hit in the face with one of those things, even a strongman would be buying a one-way ticket to the River Styx. Thinking back, I remembered 메리아 smashing a cultist kid with her shield when we were dealing with them.
As we chatted, climbing the mountain, I started to feel warm.
I took off the hood of my cloak.
“Hey, damn it. Come to think of it, we still have that holy water we got last time, right?”
“Holy water? I still cherish it. Hehehe, it’s a good luck charm. I feel like the holy power is protecting me.”
I thought I heard that stuff had an expiration date.
“We got it from the church, right? I drank mine last time.”
“You drank it?”
I asked, surprised.
“Yeah. I was tired and had no energy, but after drinking it, I felt like I was bursting with strength. I’ve been full of energy ever since, and my work has been going well.”
“Oh… is that so.”
“Hmm. Is it that effective? Maybe I should drink mine too.”
메리아 seemed to be completely caught up in the placebo effect.
According to 엘리제, holy water didn’t have any healing effects.
I didn’t think it was necessary to tell her the truth, so I embellished the story, saying that I used the holy water to defeat a cursed monster and barely survived.
Unlike the two of them, who hadn’t used it properly, I used it to smash the Kobold Queen and claim victory.
“바바리안, that happened? Then I should keep it stored away.”
“No, I think it had an expiration date. Isn’t the holy power all gone by now?”
“Th-that can’t be! Why would you say such harsh things, 바바리안!”
콥슨 hurriedly took out the holy water from his chest, but not even a trace of divine energy could be felt from the fancy glass bottle.
Of course, that was probably because I wasn’t religious.
“메리아, do you feel anything?”
“Not at all?”
“That can’t be! Can’t you feel this holy energy!”
He was freaking out.
“Hey, hey. It seems like you’re the only one who feels it. You might as well become a priest.”
“That can’t be!”
“You should have just drunk it like me. What a waste.”
콥슨, clearly disappointed, put the holy water—no, the plain water—back into his chest. I could see the lesson that some guys just can’t catch a break no matter what they do.
If he had drunk it like 메리아, he would have at least felt good from the placebo effect. In the end, the holy water only brought him sadness.
“I didn’t want to know this truth.”
“The truth is always bitter.”
메리아 chuckled and teased him.
“Hehehe. There’s nothing in the world that isn’t bitter.”
I chuckled as well and patted him on the shoulder.
Anyway, we kept moving.
The bustling sounds of people faded the deeper we went into the mountains, until we finally reached a pristine area without a single footprint.
It was originally a dense forest, and the heavy snowfall had narrowed our field of vision. We couldn’t find any signs of people. And monsters tend to nest in places like this.
“Hoo. Walking for so long is starting to make me warm.”
메리아 said, taking off her fur hat.
We had been walking for about three hours, so it was time for a break.
“Isn’t the shield heavy?”
“I’m used to it, so it’s okay.”
We found a spot that was somewhat sheltered from the snow and sat down. Using tree bark, kindling, the oil we had brought, and a fire starter, we started a fire.
We warmed up some jerky and hardtack that we had brought and ate while resting.
“콥슨, can you find anything nearby? I can’t see anything.”
“It hasn’t snowed that much yet, so we should be able to find something if we look. Leave it to me.”
“This guy’s reliable.”
“Yeah.”
We felt like our body temperature had risen because we were climbing the mountain, but the moment the sweat cooled, our body temperature would drop rapidly. We swallowed the warmed food and warmed our bodies by the fire.
“Let’s get going soon.”
“Alright.”
“Good. Let’s get moving in earnest now.”
콥슨, drawing his sword, strode forward, poking around here and there. There were more monsters in the mountains than I thought. That meant there were also many places where they nested.
Had we been moving for about an hour?
“Look over there, 바바리안.”
Looking where 콥슨 was pointing, I saw a subtly exposed cave.
It looked small because it was covered in snow, but if we cleared away the snow, it looked like it would be big enough to enter while crouching.
“What kind of cave is it? A goblin cave?”
“It seems so… Let’s check it out. There might be something useful.”
With that, 콥슨 took out a lantern from his pack and tried to light it.
“Hey, it’s been a while since I’ve seen that.”
“It’s been very useful.”
“Is that the one we got when we went to the dungeon?”
“That’s right, 메리아.”
ㅡTap, tap.
He was trying to light the flint, but it wasn’t working well.
메리아 and I surrounded him to block the wind. After a while, the fire lit. Now we could go in.
“I’ll go in first.”
메리아, holding her shield forward, grinned.
“This is reassuring.”
“As expected of a tank.”
Crouching down, we followed 메리아 slowly into the cave.
The inside was quite high compared to the narrow entrance, so we could move comfortably. 콥슨 held up the lantern, and we could clearly see the inside.
ㅡSlither, slither.
Holding our breath, we slowly surveyed the cave as we moved forward.
It wasn’t a complicated structure, and it wasn’t long.
Before long, we were able to find our targets.
“…Goblins.”
메리아 said in a whisper.
This was a goblin cave. There were piles of dry reeds and bushes here and there, and goblins were hibernating inside.
These bastards…
Some people are working their asses off in the snowy mountains, and these guys are comfortably traveling to dreamland?
Suddenly, I felt inhuman, and my murderous intent and anger soared.
This was the curse of winter.
Winter takes away the余裕 from people’s hearts and makes them cruel. Humans are creatures designed that way from the beginning. That’s why winter is a cruel season. A barren season where you can’t survive unless you take from others…!
콥슨 and 메리아 seemed to feel the same way.
The goblins’ happy sanctuary was instantly filled with the irrational anger of the three of us. The overflowing murderous intent made me momentarily mistake this place for a regular meeting place for serial killers.
ㅡKee…
A goblin stirred.
Perhaps it felt warmth from the orange light of the lantern.
ㅡThud.
콥슨 placed the lantern on the floor as a signal.
ㅡSreung.
Each of us drew our swords, and without a word, we mercilessly decapitated the goblins who were sleeping comfortably in their cozy space, like opening a can of spam.
It was an extremely idyllic and swift operation.
ㅡPoook.
The goblin, still drunk on sleep, seemed to resist as its neck was half-severed, but it couldn’t do anything because its neck was already cut.
It was the moment when hibernation turned into eternal sleep.
It wouldn’t be too late to search the cave after killing all the goblins.
The goblins who noticed the commotion tried to get up one by one, but we were able to carry out the massacre without any major problems by responding immediately.
Before long, a sea of blood was created.
About twenty goblins were slaughtered.
“They’re pitiful, should we spare the babies?”
메리아, who had just stabbed the last adult goblin in the solar plexus, said, looking at the baby goblins with a pitiful look.
“It’s better to just kill them. They should go together. If only they survive when their families are all dead, they’ll be very sad.”
After all, if we spare them, they’ll just spend the winter eating their mothers’ corpses here, so there’s no need to do that.
A bastard who eats his mother’s corpse is unlikely to grow up to be a good adult.
“바바리안, think carefully. Aren’t those bastards our future source of income? Adventurers will have work to do if they grow up and cause trouble.”
“Look at this evil bastard?”
Thinking about it that way, it felt righteous to spare the babies.
After all, even if we took them, they would freeze to death along the way, so we couldn’t take them to the arena.
Then let’s show mercy.
“Yeah, well. Let’s spare the babies.”
“Aww, poor things.”
Seeing 메리아 talk like that, even though she was excited to massacre the goblin family, showed that she was a thorough isekai-jin.
Well, it’s true that the babies look pitiful, so it can’t be helped.
Seeing the plump babies instead of the grotesque goblins made me feel a little bit of compassion.
We pushed the whimpering babies into a corner and explored the goblins’ cave.
“메리아, is there anything?”
“Just a moment. I’m looking.”
Looking around, I saw a lot of nuts wrapped in hard shells, as if they had been collected as winter food. It was like a squirrel’s habit.
We took all the edible ones.
We could sell these at the general store for money.
“Oh. There’s a dagger here.”
“What’s the condition?”
“Looks good. I’d estimate about 30 coppers.”
“Tsk.”
In the end, we couldn’t find anything that could be sold for money.
What could we expect to find after catching goblins at our level? We threw away the useless-looking clubs and took only what we needed before heading outside.
Seeing us about to be openly disappointed, 콥슨 said.
“Hehehe, we did a good deed, so I think something good will happen.”
If slaughtering sleeping goblins was a good deed, then it was a good deed, but if that was really judged as a good deed and something good happened as a reward from God, I strongly felt that the world was definitely wrong.
“Well, then let’s look for the next place. It would be great if we could find an owlbear.”
“An owlbear? 메리아, does that even make sense?”
“If we ambush it while it’s sleeping, it might be okay?”
“What the hell.”
These crazy guys.
Anyway, I led the two fools who were thinking foolish thoughts and poked around the snowy mountains. As we did, the snowflakes gradually weakened and finally stopped.
콥슨 rejoiced, saying that this was a sign of a good future.
As if to prove his words, we were able to find more monster caves before long. We quickly turned into slaughterers, soaking our swords in blood and taking everything useful.
“Hmm, but if we keep up this pace, it’ll be hard to expect a big profit.”
The work was definitely going smoothly, but it felt like we weren’t making much money. That’s probably why the kids were aiming for owlbears.
It’s not easy to make money by just working hard.
“Why? I think it’s pretty good, though?”
메리아 seemed satisfied.
“It’s not good. At this rate, even if we work until night, we’ll only get 50 coppers each.”
“That’s enough.”
Is it enough?
“Let’s increase our moving speed. If we kill all the monsters in the area, we can expect a certain amount of income.”
“Let’s do that.”
As he said, killing monsters was an adventurer’s daily life, so what else could we do?
Following 콥슨, we went down the mountain, looking for places where there might be nests.
It was then that we encountered a group of unfamiliar adventurers.
