Chapter 133: Grave of Ice
He activated [Rapid Freeze] as weakly as he could and froze the wound over. But perhaps because so much blood had already been lost, the man’s face grew paler and paler.
"Why on earth...!"
Walfred shouted, his face contorting.
But Colton’s gaze wasn’t on him. It was on the child cradled in his arms.
"It’s, it’s okay."
In a voice growing ever fainter,
in halting words,
Colton whispered with a gentle smile, as if soothing the child.
"Daddy will, stay, with you..."
Those were his last words.
Colton drew his final breath with his daughter in his arms and a peaceful look on his face. And before him, Walfred watched on in silence, his face rigid.
Clench!
His tightened fists trembled.
Truthfully, it wasn’t that he couldn’t understand at all.
To Colton, his daughter must have been his entire world. With her gone, it was as good as having no reason left to live.
Walfred quietly gazed at the little girl held in Colton’s arms.
’If Jenna had ended up like this...’
what choice would I have made?
He couldn’t come up with an answer right now. No, he didn’t even want to entertain the thought.
After a deep sigh at the suffocating feeling in his chest,
Walfred bent his knees slightly.
Squish!
He crushed the shriveled corpse of the Memory Eater under his foot. Then he laid his hands on the bodies of Colton and his daughter, Dawn.
And.
Crackle-crack!
He froze the two of them with [Rapid Freeze].
Having mourned them in his own way, Walfred bowed his head in a moment of silence toward the two completely frozen figures.
Then he turned right around.
To go tell the survivors what had happened here.
---
A little while later.
Walfred returned to the shelter with Elsa.
The shelter had a somewhat unsettled air about it, and before long the reason became clear. There were unfamiliar visitors he hadn’t seen before.
’Who are they?’
A group of about twenty men and women.
All of them appeared to be Hunters.
Just then.
"Ah! Hunter, sir, you’re back!"
Donovan, the first to spot Walfred, came running over in a fluster. Walfred glanced at his delighted face, then pointed at the group.
"Who are those people?"
"Ah, well..."
Just as he was about to explain,
a young man at the center of the group abruptly walked over.
A sturdy build and sharp eyes.
Looking to be in his late twenties, he gave Walfred a quick once-over, then turned to Donovan.
"Is this the Hunter you mentioned? The one who went off alone to exterminate the Soul Eater?"
"Th-that’s right!"
Donovan nodded.
At that, the young man looked at Walfred with intrigued eyes, then extended his hand as if offering a handshake.
"Wesley, of Macon."
"...?"
And? Who the hell is Wesley of Macon?
When Walfred stared back at him as if asking exactly that, the man gave an awkward cough and corrected his introduction.
"Ahem! Wesley, A-rank Hunter of the light attribute, in charge of managing the Macon shelter."
"Ah."
The last page of the shelter’s management log.
So this was the A-rank Hunter from Macon that Helen had mentioned.
Just as he was finally piecing the situation together,
the Macon Hunters standing near Wesley traded remarks among themselves while watching Walfred.
"Hey, is that seriously Walfred?"
"Come on, no way."
"But considering the formidable foe extermination notice popped up right around when they said he went off to exterminate the Soul Eater..."
"Given the circumstances, it has to be him."
The Hunters gulped nervously as they speculated about Walfred’s identity.
Then Wesley spoke to him.
"And your name?"
"Walfred."
Walfred answered evenly.
No sooner had that one word left his mouth than,
"...!?"
"See! I told you so."
"No, but it’s way too fast for him to have already exterminated the Soul Eater..."
The whole crowd stirred at once.
Donovan and the other shelter residents, on the other hand, looked bewildered. As if they couldn’t understand why everyone was so shocked to hear the name Walfred.
Wesley looked stunned as well.
"You’re, you’re really THE Walfred...?"
"So why are you here?"
"Huh? Ah! W-well, the thing is..."
In a tone far more courteous than before,
Wesley explained the whole story.
"Not long ago, the pharmacist came to Macon. And she informed us of the Skinwalker crisis."
The pharmacist, Helen, had gone to Macon.
At those words, Walfred’s eyes gleamed.
’So she managed to accomplish her goal after all.’
The woman who had worried about the shelter until the very end had made it all the way to Macon and reported the situation.
Then she’d vanished, leaving behind a warning that the mind corruption would soon relapse and that they shouldn’t come looking for her.
"After the pharmacist’s visit, we recognized how serious the situation was and immediately put together a team."
A team of twenty Hunters.
The team led by Wesley had set out for Savannah to assess the Skinwalker crisis for themselves.
"And just as we arrived at the Savannah shelter, we saw the formidable foe extermination notice for the Soul Eater."
"I see."
Walfred nodded.
As if to say he now understood exactly why these people were here. Then Wesley spoke up again, his tone cautious.
"Um, there’s one thing I’d like to ask."
"What is it?"
"Would you be willing to tell us what happened at the industrial complex...?"
He’d been about to explain anyway.
It was something these people needed to know too.
Walfred calmly began to speak.
The true nature of the Soul Eater.
The fact that the Skinwalkers had been the Soul Eater’s spawn.
The fact that every Skinwalker had perished after the Soul Eater’s extermination. And finally, everything he had witnessed himself, down to the last moments of Colton and Dawn.
"C-Colton, no..."
"Even little Dawn... Hff!"
Donovan and several others wiped away tears.
They were probably people who had known Colton and Dawn well. The mood sank in an instant at the unexpected tragic news, and a heavy silence settled over them.
Then, one by one,
people began bowing their heads to Walfred.
"Hnng! Thank you, Hunter, sir."
"You risked your life, for our sake..."
"...Truly, truly, thank you."
Receiving their heartfelt thanks,
Walfred merely nodded along evenly. It wasn’t as if he’d done it for these people.
’I just...’
got rid of the Soul Eater because it seemed like it would only grow bigger if left alone. And partly because he’d been furious about it rifling through his memories without permission.
After receiving their thanks for a while,
Walfred slipped out of the shelter with Elsa while the commotion provided cover.
Just then.
"W-wait a moment!"
Right as they reached the entrance,
heavy footsteps followed, and someone came chasing after Walfred. It was Wesley of Macon.
"Hunter Walfred, sir."
"...?"
"Um, if it’s not too much trouble, could you possibly tell me your Community nickname?"
The moment the question ended,
Walfred tilted his head.
"Why would I?"
"Huh? N-no, I mean, something might come up later where I’d need to contact you, so..."
"It won’t."
He cut the request down in a single stroke.
He had no intention of giving his Community nickname to someone he’d only just met.
Besides, if he went around handing it out to just anyone and his name spread through the Community, it would only be a headache.
Meanwhile, Wesley, his request rejected, wore a dazed expression for a moment before speaking up again.
"Th-then...! At least tell me where you’re planning to go next!"
"Next, huh..."
That much, he could answer.
Trailing off for a moment, Walfred turned his head and gazed at the southern sky as it slowly grew brighter.
Then he spoke aloud the name of the region he had been aiming for all along.
"Key West."