"Rest assured, whatever you ask, as long as it's within our power, my husband and I will do our utmost to fulfill it! However, there is one request we are unsure about..."
What is all this?
I was stunned by the sudden string of words that sounded like lyrics, and for a moment I forgot to interrupt them, just standing there dumbfounded.
Shen Xue, however, seemed to notice my dazed expression. She shook her head, turned to the two of them, and bent down to help them up. She adopted a gentle tone that she rarely heard before—though it was gentle, it was only in contrast to her usual aloof and unapproachable demeanor. In reality, to outsiders, she still sounded cold and unapproachable. She whispered comfortingly, "Gentlemen, my friend here is from out of town. He's not one of those arrogant masters from the city. Your treatment is making him uncomfortable. Why don't you get up and talk normally?"
"As for your request, if you are referring to that brother and sister..."
As she spoke, she suddenly glanced at me.
I was naturally grateful and immediately replied, "They've already been rescued and are on another road. We were just eager to confirm your safety."
The couple, who had been helped to their feet, were still looking at them with slight trembling, their faces showing hesitation: "Are they...are they alright?"
“The older one was just more frightened, but the younger one urgently needs treatment,” I said. “After all, he had a fever and suddenly caught a chill; we don’t know if his illness will worsen as a result.”
"Then we..."
“We need to get there and join them as soon as possible.” I calmly interrupted his hesitant words, glancing at their physical condition. “And your injuries also need to be treated properly as soon as possible.”
Without giving them a chance to speak, Miyuki, who was standing behind the two, followed suit and picked them up, carrying them on her left and right sides, and quickly headed back the way they came.
"Let's take the shortcut."
As I spoke, I reached out and tucked the giant bear's carcass into a crevice in my pocket, much to the couple's astonishment, before turning and following behind her.
...
The rest of the journey went smoothly without any problems.
They met up with the brother and sister Alice was caring for, and in the only remaining, slightly repaired oxcart, after less than half an hour's journey, the woodland suddenly opened up before them, revealing a town.
No, using the word "city" might not be enough to capture the astonishment I felt when I first saw it and received confirmation from Miyuki and the others.
It was a towering mountain, its upper part covered in white snow, its peak soaring into the clouds, yet in its very center stood a straight, perfectly straight line, as if cleaved by some unseen force. Its broad base stretched almost to the horizon, merging with the surrounding white expanse. The icy prisms, layered with snow, filled every corner of the field of vision, making one fear that it might suddenly collapse and strike some unfortunate soul on the head.
A massive city, its color matching the surrounding mountains, stood before the road, perfectly filling the empty space near the base where the mountains seemed to cleave the landscape. Soldiers clad in a combination of dark gray armor and brown leather armor patrolled the gates and walls, spears in hand.
"This is the Frozen Snow City, also known as Apocalypse City."
Shenxue explained to me softly.
As for Alice, she was already bored and started chatting with the three people sitting nearby. Before long, they had become very familiar with each other, and she was just short of completely integrating into their family and becoming a well-behaved and filial daughter.
It's not hard to tell from their conversation that the Frozen Snow City is a special city with strict class divisions and still maintains religious beliefs. The reason he treated me with such respect earlier was precisely because of the demands of those wild mages who were used to running rampant and being unruly in the city—they could even openly kidnap people on the street to use as experimental tools without paying any corresponding responsibility, which was a disgrace to their fellow mages.
I remember clearly that the Academy City and the academic community had sent experienced or capable mages to the north more than once to stabilize the conservative and chaotic situation. However, I heard that those mages who set off for this place either slunk back halfway or disappeared without a trace.
It's unclear exactly what happened, but the situation in the north, where wild mages have largely taken over the ecological advantage, has not been effectively improved. It's fair to say the situation is far from ideal.
Thinking about it this way, it seems that I need to be careful after entering the city.
Speaking of which, there was a minor incident during our journey.
The little guy who had asked us for help earlier, because he was nervous and his eyes were blurred with tears, only noticed Miyuki's presence and didn't notice mine. Afterwards, when he met up with his parents, and after Alice intentionally or unintentionally leaked the information, he stared in astonishment, his little face red from the cold, and turned to us, almost kneeling down to repeat his parents' earlier actions.
This made me extremely uncomfortable, and it took several attempts to stop him to barely alleviate the guilt and fear surging in his heart.
"But the fact that they're so scared suggests that mages don't have a very good reputation in this city," I muttered to myself, shaking my head.
Shen Xue said, "It's not that it's bad, but those arrogant bastards do so many things that are outrageous to both gods and men, yet they never get punished. So everyone subconsciously has the impression that 'if you accidentally offend them, you will definitely be the one who suffers.'"
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