## Chapter 285 – Winter Sonata
In conclusion, after fighting a fierce battle, I started to feel a terrible sense of tar-like darkness settling in my heart because there was no boss battle reward at all.
Of course, the spirit girl, who I thought had been split in half and died, was flapping her flying gob and running away.
“Fucking bitch, seriously.”
I quietly muttered a curse,
“Barbarian! Are you okay!”
“Yeah. I’m okay.”
“That was one hell of a fight!!”
An excited Copson ran over.
Looking around, all the remaining lower-level spirits were retreating.
The spirit girl… she said they were her friends, but in the end, she abandoned them and ran away on her own. She must be a psychopath with no conscience to run away without giving a reward.
She has no basic manners.
She’s as annoying as a mid-boss with a tricky pattern of running away and reappearing. Feeling dizzy, I sheathed my sword, swept back my hair, and grabbed the side of my head.
“Damn… but I survived, damn…”
There was no reward, but I won and survived.
Let’s be satisfied with that.
Today’s battle experience will save me tomorrow.
“I’m so glad. I thought for sure the Barbarian was going to die, and we were going to die too.”
“Hehehe, you crazy bastard. Let’s go give Meria first aid.”
“Okay.”
Meria had collapsed after seeing the battle end. She was holding her arm, and I needed to make a splint and give her first aid before the injury got worse.
“Meria, are you okay?”
“Ugh, uh-huh… I’m fine. It’s just that my arm hurts too much.”
“Wait. I’ll make you a splint.”
“Thanks.”
“Thanks my ass. If it weren’t for your shield, we’d all be dead here.”
If it weren’t for Meria’s shield, we would have all died without a doubt. A tank is an indispensable presence in a party. I need to reinforce my armor too.
“That’s right, Meria.”
“Don’t deepen your voice, Copson.”
“I haven’t heard that in a long time, Barbarian.”
Copson picked up some wood chips nearby, and I took out a short string from my pouch. I used it to splint Meria’s arm and tie it up.
“Ugh…!”
It seems to hurt a lot.
Of course, it’s also incredibly lucky that she only ended up with a fracture after blocking those ice spears. The more I think about it, the more I can’t stand the shitty feeling. How dare she slam such an attack? These days, kids have no manners, and she’s exactly like that.
I think I’m sensitive because I burned all my mana.
“Rest. We’ll take care of the loot.”
“Ugh… thanks. Is this a technique to seduce a man?”
“Hehehe, bullshit. Take care of yourself.”
Meria smiled brightly while talking nonsense.
I moved with Copson.
“Copson. Let’s pick up the spirit cores first.”
“I’m feeling good again.”
“Right?”
But the bad feeling was only temporary.
Thinking about picking up the spirits’ cores, my mood improved rapidly, and my heart began to feel peaceful. When you think about it, the spirit girl was a good kid too. She just didn’t have parents.
Live strong in the mountains, spirit girl.
ㅡSwoosh…
A bead-like core with cold air flowing out of it.
The one lying on the ground looked expensive at first glance.
“Huh, shit?”
As I picked up the ones that had fallen, something strange caught my eye.
“What’s wrong, Barbarian?”
“Hey, shit! These are broken!”
“What!”
Some were emitting cold air perfectly, but more of the cores were cracked and shattered, having lost their light.
After picking up everything around, I couldn’t feel anything from the broken cores!
“T, this is… that! They’re broken, and the magical energy has escaped!”
“We’re screwed!”
“Shit!”
“Damn!”
Becoming desperate, Copson and I ran on all fours, collecting all the fallen cores. My head started to throb, as if I was experiencing stress and mana aftereffects at the same time.
I probably destroyed almost thirty ice spirits during the fierce battle. After searching carefully, the numbers roughly matched.
“Damn it!”
“I can’t believe this! Is there a God! Is there a God!”
“Are there no gods or Buddhas in this world!”
But there were only about ten intact ice spirit cores.
It was barely half.
“Clearly, the cores were damaged because we went too wild!”
Copson collapsed to his knees, lamenting in despair. I also felt like crying. My tired mind and body were about to collapse.
“Damn it, damn it! Our incompetence has caused a disaster!”
Because it was such a fierce battle, I couldn’t even afford to pay attention.
The cores that fell from the sky were damaged when they collided with the ground. Besides that, some were completely ruined inside because we beat the spirits too intensely.
Was this the spirit girl’s revenge?
Anger surged, but I had no energy.
“Ugh… only ten are intact.”
“Damn it, seriously. This is such a waste.”
Anyway, since there were two cores I had already obtained, the result of today’s earnings is twelve ice spirit cores.
If we split it three ways, that’s four each.
I don’t know how much each one will cost, but they should be quite expensive, so I hope it’s enough to cover the losses.
“Damn… Meria. There are only twelve.”
“Ugh, that’s a shame. But isn’t that a lot? I heard spirit cores are expensive.”
“Well, I heard that too, but I don’t know the exact value.”
It’s not like I’ve ever obtained a spirit core before.
In the first place, today was the first time I’ve ever had a life-or-death battle with spirits.
“Let’s divide it into four each.”
We divided the cores into four each and took them. Copson put them in his arms as if they were precious treasures, and Meria tried to put them in the pouch on her waist with one hand.
She seemed to be struggling, so I did it for her.
Anyway, it’s time to go back now.
I’m so tired I could die.
“In the end, we didn’t even get to see an owlbear.”
Copson said, picking up the hand hammer he had thrown earlier in the snowfield.
“If you see one now, you’ll die, you bastard.”
“Hehehe. You’re right. I don’t even want to see one.”
If we were to encounter an owlbear in this situation, it wouldn’t be very pleasant. Suddenly remembering it made me feel uneasy, and I became impatient.
Monsters know when humans are at their weakest.
“Let’s leave quickly. Meria. Can you move?”
“It’s not like my legs hurt.”
And so, we left the scene that felt so ugly.
I didn’t forget to shake off my shoulders in case an evil spirit had possessed me.
“Hmm, Barbarian. I think it would be better to move while hiding. It’s not that late… it’s better to avoid unnecessary risks. Is that okay with you, Meria?”
“Copson deepened his voice again. I’m okay.”
“What are you talking about, Meria? Deepened my voice?”
Copson was still deepening his voice.
“You deepened it again, you idiot.”
“Tsk. Well, let’s get going. I wish I could hear my own voice from someone else’s perspective, if only I could.”
For now, I decided to follow his words since they were quite reasonable.
If we were attacked by monsters or bandits in this state where the party’s strength was weakened, it wouldn’t be good for our mental health.
But when I think about it, compared to Meria, who was injured, and me, who was almost out of mana and dizzy, Copson wasn’t injured much.
He really has a talent for taking care of himself.
“Hmm, let’s go this way.”
Copson started moving along the mountain path.
Meria seemed to be having a hard time because of her injury, but there was no choice for the sake of safety. We moved slowly, matching Meria’s pace.
In these turbulent times, even if you move on the road, there are plenty of guys who will turn into criminals as soon as there are no witnesses.
Well, since it’s winter, there weren’t many encounters with field mobs.
We could only occasionally observe deer-like monsters running around in the distance.
“If we tear off those antlers and sell them, we can get a good price.”
Copson would say something every time he saw something like that, like a tourist guide, so there was no time to be bored. He’s really a local in this world.
After that, there were no more encounters with hostile beings.
As we moved slowly, we began to see the sun setting. It’s getting darker and darker around us. The days are short in winter anyway.
“Will we make it on time? We don’t have anything with us right now, so if we can’t get in, we’ll freeze to death.”
“Don’t worry.”
Increasing our speed slightly and climbing uphill, we could see the fortress walls in the distance. Well, we managed to make it on time somehow. We were able to pass through the fortress gate just as the sun was setting.
“Damn, we finally arrived.”
“I’m chilled to the bone. I desperately need a bowl of hot soup.”
“Ugh… my arm still hurts.”
There was no particular reason to break up right away, so I escorted Meria, who was complaining of pain, to the Relief Monastery. It’s a healing sanctuary that adventurers can’t live without.
If you pay, they’ll heal your fractures to some extent.
“Meria. You’ll be fine if you get treatment here for a day.”
“I guess so. Thanks for escorting me.”
“Well, it’s thanks to your shield.”
As we went inside, a nun approached us.
The nun told us that the treatment fee would be a little higher at night and that it would cost about 1 silver for a fracture.
“Copson.”
I met eyes with Copson.
“I understand. We owe it to Meria for surviving.”
Copson and I each contributed 33 coppers to Meria’s treatment fee. Without question, her injury was for the sake of the party.
So it’s common sense to share the burden.
“Take it. Meria.”
“Take it.”
I handed it over to her.
“Wow! Thank you! You’re really my friends! Take care! See you next time! I hope we can work together like this again next time!”
Meria, with a smile on her face in an instant, waved her uninjured hand vigorously.
“Yeah, let’s do that for sure. Don’t get hurt again and live well.”
“Of course, Meria. See you next time.”
After saying goodbye to Meria, I went outside with Copson.
Among the adventurers who can’t be trusted, Meria’s personality is nothing short of a saint. Nothing is more important than trust.
“How about it? Barbarian? We made some money, so why don’t we go for a drink? Hehehe, your body is cold, so you should melt it with alcohol.”
Copson laughed heartily and put his arm around my shoulder.
“Thanks for the offer, but I think I should go in. See you later, you bastard.”
“That’s a shame. Then I’ll see you at the guild later.”
“Be careful not to get drunk in this weather and sleep anywhere, or you’ll really die.”
This guy is really worried about that.
“I’m not a kid, why are you so worried, Barbarian.”
“Hehehe, I’m saying that because you really look like you’re going to die. Then goodbye.”
Let’s go home.
It’ll be okay to dispose of the cores tomorrow.
I’m worried that the effect might disappear like a phantom tomorrow, but I can ask the mage Winia about that.
ㅡCrunch, crunch.
Stepping on the snow that had piled up on the road again, I headed home. Perhaps because the sun had set early, the streetlights on the commercial buildings lining both sides of the white road were doing their job.
Turning on the streetlights is not a very common sight.
I walked down the road with a winter atmosphere.
“I’m home.”
When I returned home, Winia, wearing a gown, was sitting in a chair reading a book. It looks like a magic book I haven’t seen before, so she probably went to the Magic Tower today.
“Blackie, you’re finally here?”
“Wait a minute. Don’t get angry. I brought something amazing… where’s Cloudie?”
“Sister’s taking a bath.”
Orange light was flowing out from inside the bathroom.
“Did you eat?”
“I went out with my sister and ate earlier. So, Blackie, what did you bring?”
Winia, who had closed her book, showed interest.
I took off my armor and took out the ice spirit cores I had brought from my pouch. When I took them off my gauntlets and held them, I could feel the coldness.
“This is it.”
“Huh? Ice spirit cores? Blackie, where did you get these?”
“I ended up catching a spirit. I brought them because you said they were valuable.”
“Oh! Good job! Blackie, you did something nice for once. Put them on the desk. Oh, wait a minute.”
Winia, who had brought something like a towel, spread it on the table. Seeing her showing so much interest made me feel good. I finished taking off my equipment.
“The condition is good. Is it because you just caught them? Ice spirits are rare.”
Winia, wearing her empty gloves, carefully picked up the cores.
“But how much does one of these cost?”
“It depends on the market price, but probably about 1 to 2 silver? It fluctuates.”
“It’s not that expensive.”
“Because it’s a lower-level spirit. The size is small.”
A lower-level spirit.
Then what was the identity of that spirit girl?
I asked her about it.
