"Wow! Sirkkada!"
Just then, lively voices were heard from all over the place.
"Sirka!"
"Sirka is back!"
When Sirka, who had suddenly disappeared, returned safely, ice elves came out from all over the village to greet her.
But that's only for a moment.
The moment they found the stranger standing next to Sirka, they became ferocious and immediately prepared for battle.
"intruder!"
"It's an intruder!"
"There is an intruder in town!"
Chwwwwwwwww!
Bows and arrows and sharpened daggers were aimed at Suho in an instant.
Shirka jumped between them and hurriedly waved her hands.
"Everybody stop! don't fight! He's not an intruder! Look Carefully! Cha-cha's son!"
"what?"
"Cha-cha?"
"Are you Chacha's son?"
Everyone looked at Suho's face with puzzled expressions.
"What?"
Then, one by one, they realized something and their eyes began to widen.
"Huh?"
"Uh huh? Really?"
The ice elves, who were wary of Suho, hurriedly turned their heads and opened their mouths while comparing the faces of the 'ice statues' standing in front of the village with those of Suho.
"wow! You really look like Cha Cha, right?"
"Come to think of it, our eyes are a bit similar!"
"Kodo!"
"Smell too!"
"What's your son's name? gender?"
"You fool! Chacha's son's name is Seongsuho!"
"What is Shirka! Are you really Chacha's son? Where did you find it?"
The immediate, bloody atmosphere suddenly loosened up and turned into a riotous one.
Even before entering the Glacier Dungeon, the atmosphere was so friendly that it was disheartening to have fully prepared to face the Ice Elves.
Shirka boasted in front of them, saying that she had found Suho.
Standing in the middle of that atmosphere, Suho was calmly examining the ice elves one by one.
'…Everyone is young.'
The lifespan of an Ice Elf may not be the same as that of a human, but once you look at their appearance, all of the Ice Elves who are talking in front of you now appear to be in their early to late teens.
He hardly looked like he was in his 20s or older.
'There are no adults.'
Besides, there was another strange thing.
'It's weaker than I thought.'
At that, Berdo made a strange expression and whispered to Suho.
[Most of the Ice Elf warriors I know are A-class, no matter how weak they are, they are at least B-class monsters. But the guys here…]
"Up to B-class to D-class. There is no A-class at all."
[You're too weak.]
Silka, who heard the conversation from the side, nodded.
"It has to be. All the capable warriors of our tribe were called out and killed during the war. The only ones in this village now are the tribe members who were too young or weak at the time."
In the war between rulers and lords that had been going on since the beginning of time, the
'King of the Yetis, the Lord of the Cold', used to capture all the new Ice Elves and lead them to the battlefield when they were born and became useful.
Of course, for the Ice Elves, being a soldier of their lord was an honor, and even being able to die heroically on the battlefield was a source of pride as a warrior.
However, it did not mean that those left in the village were not given a role.
They also had an important mission that was as important as the role given to the warriors.
That is to nurture my next generation by nurturing newly born children.
It was to raise those children into excellent warriors who could send them to the next battle.
To continue the war with the rulers that has been going on since the beginning.
"…That's us. Children born during the war."
The babies had grown up to this extent, and they were carrying bows and arrows and holding daggers in their hands.
In order to emulate the parents' generation and become a full-fledged warrior.
Suho found a contradiction in Sirka's words.
"But if all the weak were left behind, not all adults were strong, so why are only the children visible?"
"…It wasn't like this from the start. On the day the spirits of the Echo Forest ran rampant, most of the adults in the tribe died, and only one adult is still alive."
Echo Forest.
At those words, Suho's gaze naturally turned to the ice sculpture of his mother.
There ….
There was a carving of a dynamic battle scene of Cha Hae-in, who seemed to be dancing a 'sword dance' with daggers in both hands and his hair fluttering.
And right behind her, a huge flying dragon was spreading its wings as if to protect her.
It was just astonishing to Suho, an art student, how he made such an elaborate and outstanding statue out of ice.
"Looks like your mother is using a dagger."
"huh. He said he didn't have any weapons, so he lent me a dagger used by our tribe. And from then on. The fact that Chacha became our savior."
One day, Cha Hae-in suddenly descended from the sky on a black dragon through a blizzard.
When she just arrived in this frozen forest.
Just in time, the Ice Elves who lived in this forest faced a great danger.
"For some reason, the spirits of the Echo Forest came out of the forest all at once and poured into our village."
* * *
[Echo Forest]
This forest was a sacred place for the Ice Elves, who said that once they stepped into it, they would never come out alive.
And at one time this forest used to be called by another name.
It's called 'Forest of Trials'.
The Echo Forest was also the place where the adult ice elves went through the 'trial of the warrior' in order to be recognized as brave warriors.
However, even that ordeal did not dare to go into the depths of the Echo Forest, and only took place on the outskirts of the forest.
It was because if he went deeper than that, he could be possessed by the spirits of the Echo Forest and go insane.
"You're possessed by a spirit?"
"huh. The spirits of the Echo Forest are insubstantial. that's why it's scarier can change in any form. But it's hard to tell even if it's in its true form."
"…I have no idea what you mean by that explanation."
While Suho was listening to the legend of the Echo Forest from Sirka, the surroundings were still noisy.
The Ice Elves were preparing a small reception for Suho.
"Today is a party!"
"It's a welcome party for Seongseong!"
"Who keeps saying Seongsung! It's Seongsuho!"
Where did all the bloody looks from the beginning go? Those youthful faces were full of lively expressions.
Before I knew it, an elf was making art out of ice sculptures for protection in a corner.
Another elf brought out specially saved fruits for protection.
And another elf…
[Uh-huh! The little lord likes meat! Also, do you have any magic stones I can eat?]
Verdo was oblivious to the preparations for the welcome party for Suho, meddling hard.
Either way, Shirka's story continued on this side.
"But originally, the spirits of the Echo Forest were beings that never came out of the Echo Forest."
Due to the location, the forest where the Ice Elves lived and the Echo Forest were right next to each other.
Still, as long as they didn't invade the realm of the spirits first, they weren't dangerous at all.
"At least that's how they knew until 'that day'."
One day, 'the day' when the sky in the frozen forest was suddenly torn apart and a dimensional crack opened.
Perhaps under that influence, the spirits of the Echo Forest suddenly ran out of control.
Then, it popped out of the Echo Forest and started attacking the Ice Elves indiscriminately.
It was a catastrophe for the young Ice Elves who were left behind in a village where excellent warriors had already left.
"That was a few years ago, so we were much weaker than we are now."
"You said my mother saved you then?"
"huh. The cha-cha was amazing."
Cha Hae-in suddenly appeared on a flying dragon and asked the Ice Elves to lend him a sword.
The moment the dagger was gripped in both her hands.
"Skill sword dance."
Shirka muttered her technique Cha Hae-in had taught her.
Cha Hae-in started to draw fancy curves with daggers in both hands as her movements became faster as if she was dancing.
Pod! Pod! Pod!
The wondrous and overwhelming battle that shrewdly cuts down the spirits as if dancing at a fast tempo.
Because of her beauty, the Ice Elves initially tried to nickname her 'Dancer'.
However, another nickname was created because the party banned it because it was embarrassing.
"That new nickname is 'Dragon Shaman'."
"…Are you not ashamed of that?"
"Kaisel liked that nickname. So, reluctantly, they let me just call it."
And as the nickname suggests, Cha Hae-in's battles were always accompanied by the black dragon Kaisel.
Suho didn't know about Kaisel, but Ber quickly appeared and explained.
[Kaisel was once so great that Baran, the lord of the white flame, rode under the name of the flying dragon, Kaiselin. By the way, it was an S-class monster.]
"S-class monster?"
Suho's eyes widened.
Isn't it said that my mother suddenly awakened the power of an S-class hunter and rides an S-class beast?
It was a completely different image from the mother who usually led a peaceful life at home.
"Anyway, thanks to Chacha and Kaisel, the spirits that were attacking us fled back to the Echo Forest. And Chacha stayed with us for a while and taught us swordsmanship."
"You learned swordsmanship from your mother?"
"huh. Until then, the village elders who raised us had all been killed by the spirits. That's why I don't know when the spirits of the Echo Forest will suddenly attack again, so it's chacha who protected us."
This was the reason Cha Hae-in was called the savior of the ice elves.
She even taught the surviving children how to fight and was responsible for their safety…
"Chacha is the mother of all of us."
Seeing Shirka smile brightly as she said this, Suho felt a sense of longing.
"So after that, my mother is now…"
"Yeah. As I said before, I suddenly rode a Kaisel into the Echo Forest a while ago. He said there was a strange smell there. He hasn't come back yet."
"Is it a strange smell?"
"hmm. What should I explain? Cha-cha can smell magical powers as sensitively as we ice elves."
Along with those words, it was Sirka who sniffed Suho's scent.
"Suho, you have a very nice scent. so i knew right away That you are Cha Hae-in's son."
Cha Hae-in talked a lot about his family while living with the Ice Elves.
"Chacha said that. His son looks just like his father and smells great. So, by chance, if her husband comes looking for her while she is in the Echo Forest, she told me not to attack her first and tell her this."
"what are you saying?"
At Suho's question, Shirka opened her mouth with a serious expression.
"…found a place where 'gray snow' falls."