Like that, I spent the next three hours in the infirmary.
Although I took care of the patients in about 20 minutes, there were still other tasks to attend to.
Like the few young barbarians coming for a check-up or treating a wound, and so on. But they were take care of even quickly.
As for the old man, he was clearly happy that someone had taken his job. It was evident in how he spent the past hours only sleeping. If not for his constant snoring, I would’ve thought he had left us alone.
"I’ll be going then," I nodded briefly at his direction as someone told me that Uru’en was waiting for me at the village entrance.
The old man didn’t react and continued ’sleeping’.
Without another word, I left the infirmary and headed to meet Uru’en.
"Oh, you already are prepared, huh?" Uru’en chuckled as I approached her group. She had a furry coat and scarf on her hands, clearly meant for me.
But I was already wearing my own, along with the one Cassandra gifted me.
"Yes, and are we leaving right away?" I glanced outside.
"Mm, we will hunt first, and I will take you there after lunch," Uru’en replied before leading us out of the village.
Indeed, she wasn’t lying back then.
We hunted till 12:30 a.m. or so.
However, I had to play the ’weak and helpless prey’ role during the process, which I was naturally unhappy with, but since my persona was supposed to be that weak, I had no choice but to go along.
And instead of returning to the village, we had the lunch in a safe, hidden place—a shallow cave shielded from the wind by a curtain of ice-covered pine boughs.
Uru’en had something like a storage ring.
A heavy, dark band of etched metal on her thumb. A relic from her mother, she explained casually.
It had enough space to carry a lot of things, and she proceeded to pull out a mid iron grate, bowls, a pot, several wrapped bundles of meat, and salted provisions.
"We hunters don’t go back for midday meals," she explained, skewering thick cuts of venison. "Wastes daylight."
The lunch was prepared and eaten quickly.
The warmth of the fire and the food was a welcome reprieve from the constant, biting cold.
As we finished, Uru’en wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and turned to the three other barbarians who had hunted with us. "Alright. You three take the main spoils back to the village. Lumin and I will hunt one or two more of those silver-hide hares and head back a bit later."
The three hunters exchanged a look. The oldest of them, a man named Rues, frowned. "The chieftain said to—"
"The spoils are heavy, and the light’s good," Uru’en cut in smoothly, her tone leaving no room for debate. "Besides, didn’t we have a good hunt today?"
"Thanks to a certain bait," she added, shooting me a quick, mischievous glance.
"That..." Rues was unable to retort.
That seemed to settle it.
The mention of the successful hunt—and my unwitting role in it—made the hesitation vanish. Rue finally nodded. "Alright, but don’t be late. Remember: the light fades fast."
"We won’t."
They shouldered the bulk of the meat and pelts, their forms soon disappearing into the grey-white tapestry of the forest.
Uru’en and I waited in silence until the last sound of their passage had been swallowed by the snowy wind.
She turned to me, the playful glint in her amber eyes now sharpened with pure, focused intent.
A grin spread across her face.
"Alright. The chaperones are gone." She jerked her chin toward the deeper, darker part of the woods, where the trees grew thick and the shadows clung like tar. "Let’s go to our destination."
"How long it will take we reach there?" I asked after walking for a while.
"It’s not that far, 20 minutes more or so should be enough," Uru’en answered before turning me with a teasing smile. "If you are tired, I can carry you."
"..."
’This guy...’
If she was truly had been a boy, I would’ve definitely threw a punch right then and there.
"No," I shook my head, keeping my expression bland. "I was asking because you were walking too slow. I thought I was going to fell asleep."
"Oh?!" Her eyebrows shot up. A spark of pure, competitive fire lit in her amber eyes. "Wanna race then?"
"Alright. But I don’t know the direction." I countered.
"Easy," she grinned. "Run straight. Once we’re out of this forest, head due south. You’ll see the ridge."
"I see. Ready then?"
"Ready on three. One... two... three!"
We both launched forward.
Snow exploded behind our heels.
Uru’en’s initial burst was pure, raw power. She shot ahead of me, a blur of fur and muscle, easily opening a ten-meter gap in the first three seconds.
A glance back over her shoulder, a smug flash of a smile.
’Childish~’ I laughed inwardly.
In fact, the path had been sloping downward for the last hundred paces. An idea had already been formed in my mind.
’Let’s see if it works...’
I focused my aura and guided it toward my feet.
Swoosh-!
I jumped in order to finish the channeling, giving myself a half-second in the air. In that brief suspension, I pushed.
A thin, smooth layer of pure ice sheathed the soles and sides of my boots.
Thud-!
The moment my feet touched the snowy ground again, I wasn’t running anymore.
I was sliding.
’Nice!’
I shifted my weight forward and let the momentum take over.
Whoosh-!
I shot down the slope like an arrow, the world blurring into streaks of white and grey and brown. The rush of wind swallowed all other sound. I wove between trees with minute leans, the ice allowing for effortless, fluid turns.
In three heartbeats, I blew past Uru’en. I saw the exact moment her smug grin vanished, replaced by wide-eyed comical shock.
’Gotcha~’
However, survival instinct kicked in immediately.
This was a reckless idea.
One misjudgment, one wrong turn or obstacle, and I’d be decorating a tree trunk.
Swoosh-!
I controlled myself calmly, but it felt really good to slide like this.
’I will try more in the future!’ I chuckled inwardly.
But the thrill was short-lived.
"LUMIN-!"
I glanced over.
"Hahaha!"
To see a beatiful but probably crazy barbarian girl already catching up to me.
Her own boots were sheathed in a crystalline layer of ice, slightly less refined than mine but holding strong. The shock on her face had vanished, replaced by pure, blazing exhilaration.
"Didn’t expect that, did you? Haha!" she shouted, her voice snatched by the wind.
A faint smile touched my lips as I faced forward again.
I’d seen her water affinity this morning. But seeing it wasn’t the same as this—watching her dissect and replicate an ice application technique mid-sprint, under pressure, with enough control to not only match but rapidly close the gap.
She truly deserved the title of her tribe’s prodigy.
"Haha! Catch up if you can!"
She shouted once more before accelereating even more.
"Be careful not to get smashed!"
I shouted back before increasing my own pace.
A few minutes later, the forest started thinning abruptly.
Soon, we shot out of the treeline and onto a vast, open snowfield that stretched toward a distant, jagged ridge.
The slope evened out, and our ice slides lost their advantage, grinding to a halt in a spray of powder.
SWOOOP-!
We both skidded to a stop, breathing plumes of frost into the crisp air.
Uru’en was grinning, her cheeks flushed with adrenaline and excitement. "Not bad for a healer! Where’d you learn to slide like that?"
"Self-taught," I said, brushing snow from my sleeves. "You picked it up fast."
She shrugged, the motion effortless. "It’s just water, but colder. Easy once you see the shape." She nodded toward the ridge in the distance, her expression sobering. "That’s our stop. The watch post is on that crest. From there... you’ll see it."
I nodded, turning my gaze in that direction.
There, it was easily visible now, standing menacingly.
The black dome.