Heilon’s winter was long. To be more accurate, the winter here never ended. Even the snow melted for only one or two months.

And I hated it. Why the hell did I set up Heilon as a cold region? It had been over five years since I came to Heilon, and this never-ending snow never failed to make me struggle. Especially, when I had to fight in a snowy mountain for hours, every second of it, I complained endlessly.

“So cold!”

The soldier standing next to me had a parched face at my dreadful face. I heard it was his first battle today, but he was still a young boy. Was his name Allen? He looked like he was in his late teens, about the same age as me.

“La..lady Fiona! Please focus on the battle!”

“I’m concentrating enough.” I flicked my fingers lightly, and a second later, the lightning bold fell right next to Allen. “Don’t worry about me, just look around calmly first.”

Allen, who fell down, looked at the place where the lightning fell with a white face. He now realized that there was a monster that had been trying to tear off his neck just until now, but it was dead. Seeing him so surprised that he couldn’t even scream, I smiled brightly.

“By the way, if you look away like that, you would become the monster’s dinner.”

Allen’s legs trembled at my words.

Huh? He was scared more than I thought. Poor him, this amount of braveness would be the joke between the soldiers. As an encouragement, I placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled softly.

“Don’t be afraid. I’m here to protect you from that.”

Allen stared blankly at me. His cheeks were flushed red, probably because of the cold. Seeing him like this made me feel like he was a little younger than me,

“Lady.. Lady Fiona!”

“Hey, don’t space out. Dodge this.”

At the same time I heard a blunt voice, something big was flown towards Allen’s nose. That was a huge head of a beast with fangs the size of my forearm. As it fell right in front of Allen, the blood dripped from the monster’s neck splashed and stained Allen’s clothes and the snow.

“UH..uhh..”

Allen, who was already surprised, was even more terrified by the shocking sight. This obviously was not something that could comfort him.

I sighed and looked at the person responsible for throwing the monster’s head in front of a new soldier. He was walking calmly over the bloody snow and passed through the monster corpses that were all over the place. His white face was delicate yet cold as if it were carved from ice.

“Sigren.”

The pretty boy had shredded the youthful feelings he used to have. His eyes were sharp and cold like a hawk gliding in the blue sky. A well-made sword was held in his large and trained hand. The blood of the monster he had just cut was dripping from the tip of his sword. Rather than a frightening sight, it was more like a strange harmony between Sigren’s unique sharp beauty and brutality of the surrounding landscape. His blue-grey eyes glanced at me as he approached with his long legs. His mouth, as if drawn with a brush, moved slowly.

“What?”

The hell, was he still in puberty? What was with the way he talk? Wasn’t puberty ended when someone was 19 years old? When they reached adulthood? What’s up with him?

“what? What do you mean what? If you startle people, you should apologize.”

“Abel definitely told me to educate the newbies. If they were shocked just because of this, they were in trouble.” Sigren replied with a sour face. He then looked down at Allen and smiled coldly. “This is just the beginning.”

It went without saying that not only Allen, but also the faces of other soldiers around him turned white.

Right now, Sigren’s skill was at the level where low-ranking monsters were afraid of him and run away. It was natural that his aura was so strong that made the people also afraid of him.

I barely let out a sigh.

These days, Sigren has often shown this kind of harsh attitude toward others. However, weirdly, I heard from Abel that he usually had no major problems getting along with other people. So, I didn’t know why he was doing this in front of me, which of course always made me have to deal with this kind of situation.

I slightly pushed Sigren, who repressed the soldiers with his eyes alone, on his chest. Fortunately, he flinched a little and then withdrew his gaze.

I looked at the soldiers and grinned to calk the tense atmosphere.

“Don’t worry. I was just like you at first. But I quickly got used to it. You will able to do well soon.”

At what I said, a soldier raised his hand with a red face as if he was very nervous.

“You have any questions?”

“I..I’ve heard rumors among the soldiers, there would be a selection for Lady Fiona’s escort.”

“That’s right.”

“If I work hard, will I be able to be selected despite I’m still a rookie?”

It was an unexpected question. Well, although most of the soldiers who escorted me were veterans, it was not unreasonable that these soldiers also want to be one of them.

“Is your name Jeremy?”

“Yes, My Lady.” Jeremy smiled broadly when I called his name.

For me, it was a good thing to have a goal in anything. It was even better if they worked hard and became a good soldier.

“Alright. I’ll be waiting.” I smiled lightly to cheer him up.

“Yes, My Lady. I’ll do my best!” Jeremy answered in a loud voice eventhough the tip of his ear was red because of my words.

He was sure a young man as he was very motivated. I looked at him happily for a moment.

“How dare you make obvious tricks…”

For some reason, I heard Sigren’s teeth grinding from behind. Seriously? He had to stop staring at the soldiers. What if they got discouraged again?

Somehow, as the days go by, I felt like Sigren was becoming more like Abel.

I sighed inwardly.