[V2C16] Snow Boar
Translated by Jodas 2: Daily Lives of a New Teacher and the Apprentice MagesShortly after Hütter left to go water flowers, one of the Investigation Office mages who had been surveying a spot a little ways away came running back in a hurry.
“Excuse me, everyone……There’s some concerning footprints here.”
Tia briefly jumped and looked at her own feet.
They weren’t bird feet. They were normal human feet covered in boots.
“They look like boar tracks, but…..They’re unnaturally large.”
Otto of the Protection Office made a serious face to the mage’s words.
“A boar Monster……I’ve seen them many times. But that was far north from here, near the Crystal Territory.”
Otto’s words came as a surprise to Tia.
Otto was a member of the Protection Office and a gatekeeper.
The Protection Office was charged with the protection of the Wedge Tower. She’d heard they never got close to the Crystal Territory.
“You’ve seen Monsters before, Mr. Otto?”
“…..Long ago, I used to be in the Extermination Office.”
Otto made a somewhat painful expression to Tia’s question. It looked like that was a topic he didn’t want to talk about much.
The oldest of the Investigation Office mages made a suggestion to Otto.
“The three of us will continue investigating the tracks here. Once Instructor Hütter returns, Otto, you should take the apprentices and return to the Wedge Tower.”
The mages of the Investigation Office were likely prioritizing Sevil’s safety.
However, they did not say that they would return to the Wedge Tower as well. They intended to finish their jobs.
(…….Huh?)
Out of nowhere, Tia felt a cold wind.
There was nothing unusual about the flow of the wind itself. However, she could feel that there was ice mana flowing through it.
(……There’s a creature with strong mana somewhere upwind?)
Faster than Tia could warn them, they heard the sound of a ferocious beast.
BWUOOOH Its voice shook the air. It really did sound like a boar’s call.
Appearing from between the trees was an unusually massive boar.
It looked to be even bigger than a large bull. The black Werewolf they’d encountered during the exam had been big as well, but this one had the weighty presence of a boar on top of that.
Worth noting were its white fur and sharp tusks.
The tusks started from its chin, then grew in a long, gentle curve, that made it almost look as if it had horns if you only saw its silhouette.
(A Snow Boar!)
Tia had seen that unnatural beast in the mountains around the Crystal Territory before. It was a kind of Monster that generally preferred cold places—in the human system of categorizing, it would be a lesser Monster.
That massive Monster’s repeated charges and sharp fangs were deadly, and on top of that, it could also manipulate ice.
Bwuoh, Bwuoh, Every time the white boar exhaled, a white mist would pour out. Even though it was still the beginning of Autumn, and not nearly cold enough for one’s breath to fog up like that.
The unnatural boar charged forth with white breaths. In the white fog that poured from its mouth, sparkling specks of ice glittered. That was this Monster’s power.
It was an unnatural boar that would freeze its prey with its icy breath, then shatter them to pieces with its massive body.
“Deploy defensive barriers!”
Two of the Investigation Office mages chanted, and deployed two transparent barriers in front of them.
They were far from inexperienced, and their barriers were reasonably strong.
However, when the strange boar exhaled, the defensive barrier clouded up with white……It was being frozen. Then, it hit that with its fangs, and made a dry crack noise. One of the defensive barriers had been shattered. It was only a matter of time before the second one gave in.
“You guys, this way!”
There were three Investigation Office mages. Of them, two were busy with the defensive barriers, while the third guided Tia and the others to let them escape.
Sevil had her hand on the hilt of her curved sword, but she seemed to grasp that it would be useless to attack this thing head-on. She went along with his guidance.
However, Tia and the others couldn’t get far in their escape plan.
From behind, yet another strange boar approached.
(Huh? Just now, was something……shining from the Snow Boar’s stomach?)
Tia tried to get a closer look, but it was hidden within the fur, so she couldn’t see it well. Maybe it was just a flake of ice that was shining?
“I’ll handle this, you guys……”
Otto of the Protection Office drew the sword on his hip and began to chant. Doing so covered his blade in a scarlet light—he was imbuing mana into his sword. This was a technique known as a magic sword. Tia remembered learning about it in a group lesson.
Otto brought his red, shining sword to bear, and calmly barked out orders.
“I can keep one of them at bay by myself…… You take this opening and run away with the little ones, Princess Adelheid!”
The little ones—That meant Tia and Wren.
He had anticipated that if he told her to run away by herself, Sevil would probably shake her head, so Otto told her to bring Tia and Wren with her. He was a strategist.
“You—!” Otto hissed as he swung his magic sword towards the strange boar. The sword covered in heat collided with its tusk, covered in cold, sending sparks flying.
“Tia, Wren, let’s go.”
Sevil led Tia and Wren away with her hand still on the curved sword.
The three of them passed by the unnatural boar and Otto, then ran in the direction of the Wedge Tower.
Walking leisurely, the Wedge Tower was an hour or two away. They wouldn’t be able to make it back quickly even if they ran.
Wren screamed with ragged breaths.
“Dammit! Is there no way to notify the Wedge Tower of an emergency!?”
“If there was, the Investigation Office would have it! I do not!”
Sevil responded to Wren’s angry shout, then ordered them to “Stop.”
Between the trees ahead of them, someone was running in their direction. This was no mage of the Wedge Tower. It was a small, silver-haired boy.
“Help! There’s a huge boar over there!”
Tears welled in the boy’s eyes, and his face contorted in fear.
Sevil lowered the tip of her curved sword, and spoke to the boy in a gentle voice.
“Do you live around here?”
“Y- yes, I do. Help me…….”
The boy latched on to Wren, who was nearest, in an embrace.
“Whoa,” Wren tried to wiggle out of it, but the boy held him firmly.
He must have been terrified. The young boy’s shoulders shivered as he cried. While patting the boy on the back, Wren mumbled quizzically.
“…….I thought there weren’t any villages around this area? No, there are a couple, but a kid shouldn’t be able to come all this way on their own. Hey kid, did you come out here with an adult?”
“Nope, just me.”
Wobbling his head from side to side, a teardrop fell from the boy’s eyes—when Tia saw the tear turn into a drop of ice, she shouted.
“Wren, get away!!”
“Eh?” Wren sounded, but his body soon was covered in shining, glittering flakes of ice.
With a crunching sound, a thin layer of ice covered the surface of Wren’s body.
“Gyah, cold……”
Realizing what was going on, Sevil yanked the silver-haired boy away from Wren’s body. Sevil’s hand also became covered in ice.
“What nonsense is this!?”
“Hehehe……So warm.”
The boy slipped under Sevil’s arms and spread his arms wide to embrace her—Before he could, Tia tackled Sevil out of the way.
“Hmph!”
Sevil’s body fell to the underbrush, and Tia collapsed onto the ground.
The silver-haired boy, unaffected by that, lightly stepped away from Sevil and Tia.
“Hehe, ahaha……”
A crackling noise could be heard from the boy’s feet. The ground was being covered by white frost. The frost expanded farther and farther, eventually staining the autumn forest in the colors of winter.
Hanging from his sleeves spread wide as if to beg for another hug, something transparent—icicles.
“I knew it, human warmth is lovely…….I love warm kids.”
From his icicle-covered sleeves, a pale, pale finger extended, and the Monster in the form of a boy smiled.
“Hey, won’t you give me a hug?”