Chapter 109: Beginning First Growth
How much time had passed?
Walfred stirred awake from a sound sleep.
’...Thirsty.’
Waking to an intense thirst, he immediately accessed the Hunter shop. He bought a bottle of water, twisted off the cap, and chugged it down in one go.
Glug, glug!
Cool water slid down his throat.
His thirst vanished in an instant.
"Whew, that’s better."
As Walfred finished off the bottle, the sound of snoring drifted to his ears from every direction. The night had apparently grown quite late.
He lay back down intending to go back to sleep, but sleep wouldn’t come.
’Great, I woke up at the worst possible time.’
Elsa was still fast asleep too.
Now what? Should he log back into the Community and pore over the Info/Strategy Board?
While he was mulling it over.
Thud!
Footsteps sounded from beyond the passageway.
A lantern giving off a soft glow, and a long shadow stretching across the floor. As he quietly watched, his eyes met those of the footsteps’ owner.
"...Oh."
A woman with a startled expression.
It was none other than Margaret. She hurried over to Walfred with quick steps and spoke.
"You’re still awake?"
"I woke up thirsty."
"Ah..."
An empty water bottle rolling around on the floor.
Spotting it, Margaret nodded as if the situation finally made sense. Meanwhile, Walfred looked straight at her and asked.
"How are you feeling?"
"They said it’s third-degree frostbite, but the tissue hasn’t started dying, so it’s not bad enough to require amputation. Same for the other two."
"That’s a relief, at least."
Walfred was genuinely relieved.
Then he suddenly noticed that Margaret was dressed differently than usual.
Instead of her usual thin military uniform, she was bundled up in a thick winter coat, a fur hat, a scarf, and gloves.
As he studied her outfit.
"Oh, this?"
Had she noticed his gaze?
Margaret wore a rueful expression.
"The truth is, I pushed myself a little too hard fighting the Spirit King earlier. My mana ended up frozen, so I have to get by like this for a while."
"Frozen mana? What’s that?"
"What? Don’t tell me you don’t know?"
Margaret asked back with a look of surprise.
When Walfred nodded, she gave him a look that said, how could you possibly not know that?
Then the explanation began.
"A mana freeze is a kind of penalty that triggers when your mana hits 0%."
"A penalty?"
"Yes. For 24 hours, all your skills and blessings are deactivated, and your mana recovery is blocked too."
"...What?"
This time it was Walfred’s turn to be surprised.
Having your skills and blessings deactivated was practically the same as losing every advantage you had as a Hunter.
"There’s also a penalty that kicks in when your remaining mana drops below 30%. Dizziness is the most common one."
That was also the first he’d heard of it.
Walfred was more than a little taken aback.
’I had no idea penalties like that existed.’
But how had he never noticed until now?
The question flared up for a moment, but the answer came to him soon enough.
The skills Walfred used most often didn’t consume all that much mana in the first place.
On top of that, [Blessing of the Snowfield] came with a mana recovery effect, so his mana practically never dropped below 50% at all.
’Still, I should be careful from now on.’
If he burned through mana without thinking and got hit with the mana freeze penalty, he’d be in real trouble.
Just as Walfred made that resolution.
Margaret spoke up out of the blue.
"Walfred."
"Yes?"
"What are you going to do from here?"
She asked about his future plans with a serious face.
After briefly gauging his reaction, Margaret carefully ventured a proposal.
"If you don’t have anywhere in particular you need to go, then joining us would be..."
"I’m sorry."
The moment he grasped her intent.
Walfred shook his head.
"I’m on my way to Key West."
"Key West? Why would you go..."
"My niece is there."
His one and only niece, Jenna.
In a calm voice, Walfred told her he was going to find Jenna.
Once he’d finished explaining the whole story.
"Hmm, so that’s how it is."
Margaret nodded.
As if she understood.
"That’s a shame, but it can’t be helped."
She could hardly cling to someone who was going to find his family. Making no effort to hide her disappointment, Margaret let out a short sigh.
Afterward, Walfred talked with her about all sorts of topics. From his upcoming plans to the trial required for promotion to A-rank Hunter.
’The problem is...’
He didn’t get any meaningful information.
Just like what he’d seen on the international channel before, Margaret said she had no memory of the trial either.
As he swallowed his disappointment.
"Oh, look how late it’s gotten."
Belatedly checking the time, Margaret rose from her seat with a slightly startled expression.
"I should get going, then. You said you’re leaving tomorrow, so get plenty of rest."
"I will. Thank you."
With that brief farewell.
Margaret took her lantern and disappeared into the depths of the shelter. Walfred watched her go for a moment, then lay back down.
Sleep still wouldn’t come, but he figured he’d try to get at least a little shut-eye.
And so the night deepened.
---
The next morning.
Walfred got up the moment day broke. After finishing his preparations to leave, he gently shook Elsa, who was still off in dreamland.
"Elsa. We’re heading out now."
"Mmm..."
"Time to get up, don’t you think?"
"...No. Sleepy. Five more minutes."
Unlike usual, Elsa showed no sign of getting up. She’d probably overexerted herself yesterday and the fatigue had caught up with her.
After a moment’s thought, Walfred decided to leave the shelter with Elsa on his back. Just as he reached the entrance leading to Philadelphia Station.
An unexpected person had come to see him off.
"Oh, h-hello..."
"...Erica?"
It was Lauren’s elder sister, Erica.
Unlike when he’d first seen her yesterday, she seemed to have regained a fair bit of her vitality. One look at her eyes was enough; there was life in them now.
"What are you doing out..."
"Well, I, I heard you were leaving today. So I came to see you off."
After her hesitant answer, she bowed deeply and respectfully toward Walfred.
"Thank you so much for passing along news about Lauren! I will never forget this kindness."
"It’s fine. Lauren helped me out in plenty of ways too."
The prime example being the time he’d managed to avoid a pack of Ice Golems thanks to her. Walfred patted the shoulder of Erica, whose eyes were welling up with tears.
Just as they finished their goodbyes.
This time it was Margaret who spoke.
"You don’t need to worry about Erica. I’ll take responsibility for protecting her."
"Thank you."
"That’s my line. I’m only alive because of you, Walfred."
Margaret smiled brightly.
Then, as if suddenly remembering something she’d forgotten, her eyes went round and she said.
"Oh, before you go, could I get your Community nickname? I’d like to send you updates on how Erica is doing from time to time."
"Of course. My nickname is..."
There were too many ears around, so Walfred leaned in and whispered it softly. A moment later, she nodded with a faint smile.
"Easy to remember. Got it."
"And yours?"
"What?"
"You have to tell me your nickname too, Margaret."
At that, Margaret’s eyes widened.
"M-Me too...?"
"Naturally. How am I supposed to accept your friend request if I don’t know who you are?"
Walfred had no intention of accepting every random person as a friend. It was a precaution for the off chance his nickname ever spread through the Community.
But for some reason, Margaret seemed reluctant to reveal her nickname.
"You’ll know it the moment you see it anyway..."
"Just tell me now."
He hated leaving things vague.
At his repeated insistence, Margaret hesitated for a moment, then slumped her shoulders in resignation.
She brought her lips close to Walfred’s ear and whispered in the tiniest of voices.
"...t."
"Sorry? What was that?"
He couldn’t make out a single word.
When Walfred furrowed his brow and asked again, she squeezed her eyes shut and said.
"P-PwincessMargaret...! That’s what it is!"
"Pwincess...?"
"Ahem! I, I came up with it when I was little, so..."
"..."
"Every nickname I actually wanted was already taken, and one thing led to another, and it just ended up like this."
"I see."
Walfred nodded.
"Got it. PwincessMargaret."
"D-Don’t tease me!"
Margaret’s ears turned bright red.
After trading a few lighthearted jokes and final goodbyes, Walfred promptly left the shelter. He then followed the Northeast Corridor rail line south once more.
---
Some time later.
Walfred left downtown Philadelphia completely behind.
As always, he made use of [Snow Walker] and his Instant Burst ability to race ahead at full speed.
After no small amount of time had passed.
The sun was nearly at its peak, but Elsa still showed no sign of waking up.
’Even so, isn’t she sleeping way too long?’
What if something was wrong?
A flash of foreboding made Walfred stop in his tracks. He carefully lifted Elsa into his arms and looked her over, inch by inch.
But nothing seemed off.
Her breathing was even, her pulse was steady, and her status window showed nothing out of the ordinary.
’Then why...’
Why was she sleeping this long?
Was it really just accumulated fatigue? Or could there be some other reason?
Walfred’s face clouded with confusion.
And that was when it happened.
Ding!
-----
[Notice]
[Growth conditions met for Resonator (Elsa)]
[Beginning First Growth.]
-----
A notification message appeared out of nowhere.
An ominous announcement that her First Growth was beginning.
And then.
Fwaaash!
In a swirl of blue light.
Elsa’s entire body began to glow.