Chapter 62: The Legendary Gusteko Lust (Patreon)

"Thank you so much," Pandora said to the man in the driver's seat, who was scratching his head with a sheepish grin, once she'd climbed down from the dragon carriage.

If Betty hadn't taken her along all the back roads, she probably wouldn't have arrived until deep in the night, or even the next morning.

"As long as the young lady doesn't mind..."

"Why would I?"

"I don't know what business you have in Gusteko, but... please be careful on the road."

"Thank you, I'll be careful."

Here, Regulus had something to say again... (Why did she even say 'again'?)

Then, under Pandora's watchful gaze, Betty turned the carriage around and headed back the way he'd come.

According to Coulton, today was actually supposed to be Betty's day off... Call it an unlucky coincidence — or maybe, in its own way, a lucky one.

With that, carrying her newly acquired 'night light,' Pandora looked toward the boundary line.

It really was strange: on her side, the land was lush and green, while the opposite direction was nothing but a blanket of white snow.

[So this is the kind of trouble even a spirit beast couldn't solve...

Wherever the snow reached, not a blade of grass grew. She could even sense that the fading light on this side seemed brighter than on the other.

An ordinary person would want to get as far from a place like this as possible, but... 'Hmm...'

After crossing the dividing line, Pandora poked at the white snow with a finger and nodded, arriving at a conclusion — not bad at all! Plenty of water resources! And good quality, too!

Ahem... getting off track...

According to the plan, once she reached Gusteko she'd first find a place to stay, then head into the snowy mountains to seek out the spirit beast for a 'friendly' negotiation.

Of course, all that was for later. Her task right now was—

—traveling. That's right, just traveling. Across a snowfield with nothing in it but sunlight bright enough, scattering off all that white, to scorch her eyes.

Of course, none of that actually bothered Pandora. (Then why even bring it up!)

Mainly, she'd come to appreciate one of the biggest downsides of this other world — no buses, no subways, no planes... ahem...

Close to a quarter of her time these days was spent simply traveling.

And what made it worse—

'Mm...' Snowflakes drifted down from the sky as she watched the sun sink into the snowfield, and Pandora quietly switched on the 'night light' she carried in her hand.

And on top of it all, she'd be traveling through the night, too!

Not that she believed in ghosts or spirits or anything like that, but the howling wind and the empty white plain stretching out on every side were honestly starting to wear her down.

[If Beatrice were here...] She shook her head, tossing aside the unrealistic fantasy, and pressed on northwest along the route marked on her map — probably, anyway, since she didn't have a compass... come to think of it, did this world even have one?

And so, deep in the night, one more snow-white figure now walked across the vast, snow-white plain. (Absolutely not some inhuman thing!)

'Sigh...' A puff of warm breath escaped her lips. Watching her own feet sink straight into the snow, Pandora let out a sigh.

Over the past few hours, the snow had come down harder the farther north she walked.

What had started as snow barely reaching her heels now piled up to nearly halfway up her calves.

By now, she'd long since lost the excitement she'd felt on first seeing the snow fall.

Though the protection of her Authority meant she never had to worry about her clothes getting soaked or catching a chill, this endless, tedious stretch of white was still... no — wait, there was a small mound of snow up ahead now. And, of course...

—an extinguished lamp, and a... person half-buried in the snow?

No — tied to a wooden post, actually...

At the sight, Pandora froze for a moment.

She'd only just arrived in Gusteko a few hours ago, and already she was seeing one of its 'local specialties'?

With that, she didn't hesitate for a second — she immediately picked up her pace.

Walking through the deep snow was unusually difficult, but she still moved far faster than her earlier leisurely pace.

About two minutes later—

Looking at the girl tied to the post, buried in snow, Pandora brushed the snow off her, then frowned and reached out to check for breath beneath the girl's nose.

No breath at all...

That was hardly surprising — in weather like this, still dressed in a maid's outfit, a dress at that (Pandora being the exception, of course), freezing to death would only take a matter of minutes.

Of course, by now the dress itself had gone stiff and brittle, crackling like ice.

To clarify — that crackling was actually her teeth chattering, not the dress.

Of course, none of that mattered to Pandora, who carried the Authority of Vainglory.

As for what she'd once told Beatrice — about the cause-and-effect complications that made it impossible to revive the 'wholesaler' — well, that part was true. But it was also true that things would end up like this regardless.

Before long, once every trace of snow on the girl's body had vanished—

'Are you all right?' Pandora asked softly, watching the blue-haired girl in front of her slowly open her eyes.

'I... I...' The girl seemed not to have caught up with what was happening, staring at Pandora blankly. 'So heaven in the Holy Kingdom is snowy too...'

As she spoke, she shifted slightly.

'Um... my lady, you must be an angel, right? If so, could you please untie me, and then take me somewhere warm?'

That left Pandora torn between laughing and crying. 'The fact that you can still breathe means you're alive.'

With that, without waiting to see how the girl would react, Pandora gave both hands a single sharp tug.

[Snap] The rope — two or three centimeters thick — broke instantly.

'I... I'm still alive? I'm alive!' Staring at the rope now fallen to the ground, the girl's face filled with disbelief.

'But... but back then... I clearly...' At this, Pandora nodded. 'Yeah, that's right — back then, you really had died.'

Watching Pandora step closer and say something so utterly baffling, the girl's face flushed slightly, and her mind seemed to stop working properly. 'But if I died... then why did you, Lady Angel, just say I'm still alive?'

At that, Pandora just waved a hand. 'Take a look at that, first.'

'That...?' The girl followed the direction Pandora was pointing. 'This...'

In an instant, her face filled with confusion.

That lamp... even though it was made from Gusteko's special material, by all rights it should have gone out completely by now... no, it should have frozen solid. And yet...

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