TSOMFL 09

My body tilted sharply to the side.

For a moment, the memory of the foul underground laboratory overlapped with the present.

— Genuere! Come here right now!

The sensation of a priest wearing glasses grabbing my wrist and throwing me into a cold experimental device came rushing back.

I tightly shut my eyes.

It felt like rough hands would grab my wrist and drag me away at any moment.

But what first touched my body was… the warm embrace of a boy.

Thud.

“…?”

Warm heat spread across my back, and my heart was pounding loudly.

At that moment, I realized something again.

“So this is how warm a person’s arms can be.”

Of course, I knew it in my head.

But it was warmth I had never felt even once in the underground laboratory.

Tashik held me tightly, stepped back two or three paces, and sat down on the soft snow ground.

Thanks to that, I wasn’t hurt, and I no longer remembered the terrifying moment when my wrist was grabbed by the priest.

When I came back to my senses, I quickly left his warm arms and stood up right away.

Tashik looked up at me with a confused expression.

“…Are you okay?”

“Ah? Yeah.”

I was completely fine.

Bark, bark!

…Except for the wolves quickly running to me and pressing their furry bodies against me, panting.

Surrounded by wolves again, my body froze.

Meanwhile, Tashik stood up, frowned while looking at me, and carefully approached.

“You. Are you hurt anyw—”

“This, we need to sell it.”

Our words overlapped.

My eyes met Tashik’s gray eyes.

I pointed at the claws frozen solid near the demonic beast’s corpse.

Then I looked straight at Tashik and said:

“These claws. We need to take them to a herbal medicine shop and sell them. Is there a way to transport them?”

“….”

“If you help me, I’ll definitely repay you.”

Tashik did not answer.

‘Should I try a bit more?’

I clenched both fists and made my eyes sparkle.

“Don’t worry. If we sell this, we’ll make a lot of money!”

“….”

After a long silence, Tashik let out a deep sigh.

“Ha….”

I tilted my head, confused.

‘Why is he reacting like that when I said we can make money?’

Is he still more used to wild living and doesn’t understand what money can do?

At that moment, Tashik roughly ruffled his hair.

“You… really….”

He took out a cloth from his leather bag and walked toward me.

Then he wiped the black liquid off my clothes and hair.

“…Ah?”

Now that I looked, the sticky black fluid from the demonic beast was all over my body.

Well, of course.

I had climbed onto its corpse.

Tashik wiped my cheek and asked:

“Does it not bother you at all to have things like this on your body?”

“Hmm?”

After thinking for a moment, I nodded.

It didn’t really bother me.

It was something I had to accept.

“Compared to what I experienced in the laboratory, this is nothing.”

Tashik looked at me quietly and sighed faintly.

Then he said:

“…Anyway, don’t worry.”

“Huh?”

“About transporting those claws.”

I froze for a moment.

Then a smile naturally formed on my face.

“Thank you, Tashik!”

I joined my hands and made my eyes sparkle.

“I’ll definitely repay you!”

“…You really…!”

Tashik looked like he wanted to say more, but instead he roughly scratched his head and turned away.

“Follow me.”

Tashik whistled.

Fweeeet!

The wolves around us perked up their ears and looked at him at once.

Tashik whistled again.

Fweeeet!

Bark, bark!

The wolves all barked and ran toward the frozen claws lying in the snow.

* * *

At the bottom of the snowy mountain, there was a small village.

There was a herbal medicine shop there because rare wild herbs that grew through the snow were valuable medicinal ingredients.

Tashik told me that when his mother was still alive, he often visited such shops.

So we decided to go there.

We wrapped the frozen demonic beast claws in leather, placed them on the wolves’ backs, and went down the mountain.

The herbal shop was located on the outskirts of the village market where few people passed by.

Before entering the shop, I gathered my thoughts.

“I should look as scary as possible.”

That way, I could pressure the herbal shop owner and sell the claws for more money.

I grabbed the door handle and pulled.

A rusty hinge made a creaking sound.

Creeeeak—

The smell of old herbs rushed into my nose, and a narrow, dark interior appeared.

I tried to walk in confidently.

But my steps suddenly stopped.

I was confused.

The man sleeping at the counter had the same face as the glasses-wearing priest who once grabbed my wrist.

‘What?’

He should have been frozen by me, and he shouldn’t even be alive now.

‘Is someone playing a trick?’

But regardless of my thoughts, my body could not move, as if frozen.

Then the man took off his glasses.

“Ah, a customer has come.”

Only then did my vision clear properly.

“Ah!”

The man in front of me was not the priest.

He was a kind-looking old man with a half-bald head.

As soon as I realized that, the tension in my body finally eased.

The old man placed his glasses on top of the book he was reading and stood up.

“Welcome… no, what is this?”

He widened his eyes, put his hands on his waist, and looked down at us.

“Where did these young brats come from? Looking at you, it seems like you’ve come here to beg at my herbal shop, huh?”

His gaze was obvious.

He was treating us like beggars.

Well, anyone would think that looking at me and Tashik in worn leather cloaks.

But I didn’t care and smiled.

“Hmm?”

I walked boldly into the shop.

“You called us brats, right? But what if you see this?”

I turned arrogantly and said:

“Tashik. Bring it.”

Tashik brought the large leather bundle from the wolves’ backs and placed it on the counter.

Thud!

The old herbal shop owner frowned.

“Hah! You little kids bringing something this big— wait. What is this?”

Then his eyes slowly widened.

“T-This is!”

Even though it was frozen and gave off a cold aura, he immediately recognized what it was.

He opened the bundle and was shocked.

“This… this is a full set of frozen demonic beast claws… You brat. You’re quite a powerful ice ability user, aren’t you?”

‘Good. He recognized it right away.’

I looked straight at his shaking eyes and said:

“Do you still want to call us brats?”

“….”

While he was speechless, I got to the main point.

“Old man! How much will you pay for this?”

“Uh… something like this… maybe… 100 Krone?”

“300 Krone.”

I crossed my arms and lifted my chin.

I already had negotiation knowledge from the novel in my mind.

‘Honestly, 100 Krone isn’t bad.’

But my freezing skill was clearly different from ordinary ice users.

‘It’s rapid freezing, so the material quality is much better.’

So I should get at least 200 Krone.

“200 Krone is a monthly living cost for a family of four commoners.”

I tapped the desk with my finger while the old man hesitated.

“You won’t lose money. As you can see, it’s large, and it was frozen immediately after extraction, so the quality is much better. It won’t even melt easily.”

“Hmmm…”

The old man wanted to deny it, but couldn’t.

Even his expert eyes could clearly tell I was right.

After a long silence, he finally spoke.

“Then… how about 250 Krone?”

“Okay.”

I nodded simply.

“Ha… I’m going crazy.”

The old man stomped his feet, clearly troubled by the sudden expense.

Then I raised my hand.

“Ah, but before selling, there’s one more condition.”

(To be continued)