Chapter 39: My Children

After a few hours of walking deep into the forest, the color of the tree leaves started to change. The green leaves turned brown, and a cold breeze began to brush against our faces. While Alira, Coco, and I used heavy cloaks to cover our bodies, Dawn, Valkira, and Liriel walked as if nothing bothered them.

And just like that, we finally reached the entrance of the Frozen Forest village.

“Here, we’ve reached the Frozen Forest village,” Dawn said, pointing ahead.

“Finally…” Coco’s teeth clicked from the cold. “I hope they have hot chocolate here, or else I’m going to freeze to death.”

“This isn't Earth, so they don’t have any kind of chocolate here,” I replied.

“Chocolate…?” Alira tilted her head in confusion.

“Just a bittersweet thing we had on Earth…”

“I see…”

“Come on! Why are we wasting time here?! We can talk about this later! Let’s go!” Liriel energetically ran toward the entrance.

“Wait! If you enter like that—”

A string broke as she took a step, and the noise of some kind of mechanism started. She immediately ran back toward us.

“What is happening?” I asked, confused, looking with panic at Dawn, who had dropped flat on his stomach.

“What are you—”

A piercing arrow whistled right past my ears. My eyes widened as I looked up and saw another arrow heading straight between my eyes.

“Hiyaaa!!” Valkira stepped forward and sliced the arrow right down the middle, breaking it apart before it could reach me. Just as I was about to thank her, many more arrows were shot by some kind of machine tower in our direction. Thinking fast, I shouted instructions.

“Coco, Liriel!”

“Right!!”

Coco raised her hand toward the machine’s location and chanted, “Inferno!”

At the same time, Liriel chanted, “Ice Wall!”

Mana started gathering around Coco’s palms as fire erupted, burning the arrows before they could reach us. Meanwhile, as Liriel touched the ground with both hands, a massive wall appeared, blocking any remaining arrows.

While all that was happening, Alira took aim and shot an arrow directly at the machine to destroy it.

“Phew… that was close,” I wiped the sweat from my brow.

“What the hell was that, Dawn?!” Alira raised her voice.

“That was—”

“Ahhh!! My children!!”

A voice came from behind as a little girl with green hair ran toward the ruined machine. Our attention shifted to her as she tried to comfort the broken contraption as if it were alive.

“How dare you attack my children?! You evil goons!” she scolded, her voice sharp.

“Children?” I repeated in confusion.

“Emy… please calm down. They didn’t mean any harm to—” Dawn stood up, trying to calm her down.

“They didn’t mean to?! Who the hell destroyed not one, but all of my children if they didn’t mean any harm?”

“Why does it feel like we’re the ones at fault here?” I muttered.

Liriel walked over toward the crying Emy, who looked up at her.

“Here…” Liriel pulled out the frog, Zacklina, and thrust it right into Emy’s face.

“Huh?”

Ribbit.

The frog Zacklina shot out its long tongue and smacked Emy right in the eyes.

“Wha—!! My eyes, my eyes!!!!” Emy cried out in pain, rolling left and right on the ground.

In a panic, I rushed over to Liriel, grabbed both of her shoulders, and scolded her. “What the hell are you trying to do?!”

“I thought she might like Zacklina,” she said innocently.

“You’re the only one who would like an ugly frog like this!!”

Ribbit.

The frog shot out its tongue again and smacked me right in the eyes this time. I fell backward in pain.

“My… eyes!!!!!!” I also started rolling left and right as everyone watched.

Alira let out a sigh while Valkira looked on, completely confused. Coco knelt beside me, and Emy began casting a healing spell.

Alira walked up to Dawn. “So… Dawn, would you mind explaining who this girl is?” she questioned.

“Well… her name is Emy. She’s the daughter of the person who created this security… what do they call it? A system, yeah right, a security system.”

“I see… But her appearance… she doesn’t look like an elf to me,” Valkira pointed out, continuing, “I don’t see any horns, so she’s not a demon either. And I don’t think she’s human.”

“The thing is—” Dawn tried to explain, but Emy interrupted him.

“Because I’m a dwarf!” Emy rubbed her eyes as she stood up and dusted herself off.

“I am the daughter of the legendary mechanist Nexus, who was known for creating things beyond normal people’s imagination!” she declared.

“So… dwarves exist in this world too, huh?” I muttered as I stood back up.

“Dwarves? You mean those mythical people who are great with equipment and create weapons?” Coco asked, surprised.

“Huh? So there is someone who knows how great we dwarves are… Anyway, why did you come here?”

“We’re just passing through the Frozen Forest because we need to head toward Ignis Veil,” Valkira said.

“Ignis Veil? You mean that terrified place surrounded by volcanoes and darkened forests?” Emy repeated.

“Yeah…” Valkira nodded.

“I see…” Emy turned away, cleared her throat, and said, “I will forgive you all if you let me travel with you.”

“Huh?” My jaw dropped in confusion.

“What I’m saying is that I want to travel with you, and I won’t take no for an answer—unless you’re willing to pay the price for my children?”

“Why do you want to travel with us? You just explained how terrifying the place is, so why—” I tried to make an excuse, but her tone suddenly shifted.

“Because… there is a place I want to visit no matter what,” she started, her voice dropping so low it barely reached our ears as she muttered under her breath, “To prove… my father didn’t betray anyone at all.”

“I don’t think I heard you clearly,” I sighed. “Well, we’ll think about it. But first, we need to visit Alira’s aunt. What do you say we meet later?” I offered, hoping to leave the discussion for another time since her mood had suddenly darkened.

“Okay!!” Emy ran off to gather the broken pieces of her shooting machine. Just as she finished, she turned around.

“You… eh…?” She stopped.

“Zacken,” I told her my name.

“Right… we’ll meet tomorrow at the Dwarf Underground Market. Ask Dawn for the location,” she declared before running ahead.

“What an energetic spirit.”

“Well, you’re right,” Alira nodded. “Anyway, let’s go. Auntie might be waiting for Dawn to return.”

“Right.”