Chapter 25: Hunting with the Ice Demon

“Raki, are you awake?” Lily’s voice came softly through the door.

“I’m awake, Lily,” I answered, setting aside the book I had been poring over.

I crossed the room and pulled the door open.

“Um… do you still have some of that Kelafi meat?” she asked, a hint of hope flickering in her eyes.

“I do,” I replied. With a quiet breath, I raised my hand. “Bag of Kelafi meat.”

In a shimmer of light, a heavy sack materialized in my grip.

“Perfect. This will let us have a proper meal again,” Lily said with relief.

“The nearby creatures have gone into hiding, and the markets are almost barren.

There’s hardly any meat left to buy.”

So that’s why breakfast was so meager this morning, I realized.

“If you need more, I still have another bag stored away,” I offered.

“I’ll remember that. Thank you, Raki.” She gave me a small, grateful smile before heading off down the hall.

The room fell quiet again, but my thoughts were restless.

I knew I should keep reading the books Rion had entrusted me with, but the walls were beginning to feel stifling.

“Janbo,” I whispered, glancing at my companion curled at the foot of the bed.

“How about a walk buddy?”, I asked.

“Bau! Bau!” Janbo’s tail wagged furiously as he bounced to his feet, barking with eagerness.

We padded softly through the silent corridors, careful not to wake or disturb anyone.

Most were either out on errands or resting behind closed doors.

The hush of the place felt almost heavy, as though the air itself was holding its breath.

By the time we stepped out into the open air, I felt a weight lift from my chest.

But before I could take more than a few steps…

“So, where exactly are you going?”

The words cut like a shard of ice.

A familiar cold voice drifted from behind us.

I turned.

“I thought I made it clear,” Rion’s gaze locked onto me, sharp and unyielding.

“You need rest if you intend to be fully prepared for tomorrow.”

His eyes, as frigid as steel, left no room for defiance.

“We’re just taking a stroll around Lahir,” I answered casually.

Rion’s eyes flicked to me, then to Janbo. His voice cut through the quiet like frost.

“If the two of you are so free, perhaps you should join me in a hunt.”

“A hunt?” I asked, as we passed the husk of an empty meat stall, its counters barren and dusted with only scraps.

“There’s a hidden sanctuary in the western side of Lahir,” Rion explained, his words flat and measured. “We’ll find enough creatures there.

Their meat can be given to the people here in Lahir,and to those in Flogas as well.”

Despite his cold delivery, the weight behind his words struck me.

He really is the Master of the Seres Region… even in this detached manner, he still carries genuine concern for his people.

“I thought your only interest was knowledge?” I asked carefully.

Rion did not even glance back.

“What value is there in hoarding knowledge, if it is never put to use?” His pace never faltered as he turned down the road toward the eastern side of Lahir.

I caught a glimpse of Father, Damian, and Zid entering a hall where the wounded were being tended, their silhouettes swallowed by the doorway.

My chest tightened.

“Tell me, Raki.” Rion’s voice came again, quieter this time, but colder still.

“Do you think the Gods made a mistake, when they drew the boundaries?”

“I… don’t know.” My words came hesitant, my thoughts uncertain.

“It’s a burden to those branded as Demons, no doubt. But I can’t believe the Gods acted without reason.”

“That’s right. They acted with reason.” Rion’s tone dropped further, as though he were unraveling a truth best left buried.

“By deliberately separating beings of excessive luck, the Gods forced a balance onto this world. A patchwork solution, crude but effective,”Rion explained.

He stopped for a moment, his eyes narrowing. “They spread luck thin across all regions, minimizing Catastrophes by more than half.”

His voice hardened to iron. “And more importantly… it prevented two demons from ever crossing paths.”

“Awooooo!”

Janbo’s sudden howl split the air.

His body swelled, fur bristling, muscles rippling as his form expanded threefold.

“Woof! Woof!” He barked once, then lowered himself to his knees, a silent command for us to climb on.

Rion arched a brow at the sight, then allowed the faintest curve of approval to touch his lips.

“A thoughtful companion you have here,” Rion stated.

Without hesitation, he swung onto Janbo’s broad back.

“Straight ahead, Janbo,” Rion ordered.

With a thunderous leap, Janbo surged forward, carrying both of us toward the shadowed line of the western forest.

“Janbo, stop here,” Rion ordered after several minutes of silent riding.

I blinked in surprise.

No guide, no map, yet he knew the exact place.

“Ria SilverSky, Reimei’s mother, told me of this sanctuary,” Rion explained as he dismounted.

His tone was detached, almost matter-of-fact.

“She was once known as the Huntress of Estir, a formidable adventurer in her time.”

He pushed through a thicket of brush, and I followed close behind.

Emerging from the dense foliage, the forest opened into a hidden sanctuary teeming with life, wild boars rooting through the undergrowth, horned looking cattle creature grazing, a brown looking bear creature by a stream.

And even Kelafi, the same kind Zid, Janbo, and I had hunted before.

Rion’s gaze swept across the clearing, calm and calculating.

“Seventh Rank Magic: Freezing Rain.”

He spoke the words like a decree, without incantation.

Instantly, the sky above darkened, and crystalline shards poured down like glass rain.

Every creature caught within the circle froze mid-motion, turned to flawless ice before they could even cry out.

The nearby beasts did not realize their kin were already statues of frost.

Rion strode toward the frozen carcasses, unhurried.

He touched one, an enormous boar, and it shimmered before vanishing into nothingness, just like when I stored items in my Divine Gacha.

One after another, he collected them, cattles, bears, Kelafi… his motions precise, methodical.

“That should last for several days,” he murmured coldly as the fiftieth beast disappeared into his spatial storage.

“Dispel,”he commanded,

He flicked his finger, and the frozen clearing dissolved back into damp earth and lifeless silence, as though the massacre had never occurred.

“Janbo, take us back to Lahir,” Rion said, his voice still like ice.

“Bau!” Janbo barked, though I could feel his unease.

Even he seemed unsettled by what he had just witnessed.

“Good,” Rion replied, his lips curling into the faintest, chilling smile as we mounted once more.

Back in Lahir, we made our way to a large building that looked like a food depot, its doors wide open.

“What brings you here, Master Rion?” an old man asked, stepping forward in surprise.

“I’ve brought a portion of the hunt. Distribute it to the people of Lahir and Flogas,” Rion stated, his tone flat but resolute.

The old man bowed his head. “I see… thank you, Master Rion.”

“May I place it here?” Rion asked calmly.

The old man nodded in assent.

Rion stomped his foot once, the sound echoing in the chamber. “Cleanse,” he murmured.

A surge of magic rippled outward. At once, the stench of old meat and damp wood vanished, replaced by crisp, clean air.

Stains and grime that had clung to the floor for years dissolved as if they had never existed.

I blinked. I never imagined that spell could be used to purify an entire room.

Rion flicked his finger.

A vast magic circle bloomed across the floor, its glow cold and merciless.

Slowly, one after another, the frozen beasts he had harvested earlier materialized, fifty in total, their bodies glittering with frost.

The old man’s eyes widened, awe-struck, as the room filled with a bounty of creatures that moments ago had not even existed within this space.

“Dispel,” Rion intoned.

A pale mist rose as the ice retreated, and the creatures thawed, their flesh returning to its natural state.

Then Rion stomped again, his voice colder than before: “Freeze.”

The air dropped instantly.

Frost spread like living veins across the floor, walls, and ceiling until the entire chamber glistened like a frozen vault.

My breath misted before me, and the meat hung preserved in a chill fit for eternity.

“That will keep it from spoiling,” Rion said simply, as though the act had cost him nothing.

He turned toward the old man. “Lester, thank you for lending us your house.”

“It’s nothing,” Lester replied with a respectful bow.

“I’m honored I could accommodate you and your companions,”Lester added.

So this is the leader of Lahir, I thought, watching the humble deference in his voice.

“We’ll take our leave,” Rion said, already turning to go.

“I’ll make sure the meat is distributed freely to the people of Lahir and Flogas,” Lester promised, his voice firm with gratitude.

For a fleeting moment, I caught a glimmer of a smile tugging at Rion’s lips as we stepped outside.

“Raki, Janbo,” he said once we left the storage house, “return to your quarters and rest.”

“Thank you for accompanying me,” he added, his tone still carrying that quiet, distant authority.

“No, the pleasure is mine,” I replied earnestly.

“To walk beside you and witness your power was an honor.”

We parted ways there, Janbo and I heading back to our room, my mind still heavy with the weight of what I had just seen.