The Northern Continent.The Borders of the Arendelle Kingdom.Two Years After the Exile.
The transition from the suffocating, ash-choked nightmare of the Barren Wastelands to the freezing, pristine expanse of the Northern Continent was not a sudden, magical shift. It was a grueling, agonizingly slow geographical bleed. The dead, grey dirt had gradually, mile by grueling mile, given way to permafrost, and the permafrost had eventually surrendered entirely to deep, unrelenting snowbanks.
It was already late in the afternoon by the time Rudeus Blackheart and his massive companion officially crossed the invisible border into the sovereign territory of the North.
The air here was fundamentally different. It lacked the toxic, sulfurous bite of the Wastelands. Instead, it was razor-sharp, painfully crisp, and so incredibly cold that every single exhalation plumed into a thick, white cloud of condensation. The sky above was no longer blocked by the terrifying, perpetual Total Solar Eclipse or choking ash; it was a vast, unbroken expanse of pale, icy blue, dotted with heavy, grey snow clouds threatening a blizzard.
Rudeus pulled the thick, heavy collar of his meticulously crafted Mana Bear fur coat higher up around his neck, burying his lower jaw into the warm pelts to shield his skin from the biting, howling wind. His heavy, steel-toed boots crunched rhythmically, sinking knee-deep into the pristine white powder with every step.
He stopped for a moment, resting his gloved hand on the heavy, scarred iron hilt of his Six-Flanged War Mace secured at his left hip. He looked out across the endless, undulating hills of pure white snow and dark, towering pine trees.
"Are we honestly still that far away from the civilized borders of the Arendelle Kingdom, Damien?" Rudeus asked aloud, his deep, raspy voice easily cutting through the howling wind.
A few feet ahead of him, a massive, terrifying shadow paused its relentless march.
It was Damien. But the creature currently standing in the snow was absolutely, fundamentally unrecognizable from the tiny, bleeding, terrified black wolf pup Rudeus had scooped up from the dirt two years ago.
Fueled by the incredibly dense, high-mana diet of apex wasteland predators, and hardened by two years of relentless, brutal survival training alongside his master, Damien had grown into a true, mythological monstrosity. He was a massive, apex Dire-Wolf. His shoulder easily, intimidatingly reached Rudeus's waist. His thick, pitch-black fur was a stark, terrifying contrast against the pure white snow, absorbing the ambient light like a walking black hole. His muscles coiled and shifted under his pelt with lethally fluid grace, and his intelligent, predatory eyes glowed with an eerie, golden luminescence.
Hearing his master's question, the massive black wolf turned his large head. He didn't whine or bark. He simply offered a low, rumbling grunt of acknowledgment, shaking a layer of accumulated snow from his thick mane.
Damien immediately lowered his massive snout back down, burying his nose deep into the freezing snowpack. He inhaled deeply, his advanced, supernaturally enhanced olfactory senses analyzing the microscopic scent particles carried on the freezing wind. He was actively, meticulously leading Rudeus down the absolute shortest, most direct pathway that he instinctively remembered from his fragmented, traumatic puppyhood before he was orphaned in the wastes.
Rudeus watched the massive beast work, his crimson eyes narrowing thoughtfully as he mentally cross-referenced their current trajectory with the encyclopedic, geographical lore embedded deep within his past-life memory of the visual novel.
'If I remember the game's world map correctly...' Rudeus murmured inwardly, his breath puffing white in the cold air. 'The absolute longest, but by far the safest, most heavily patrolled mercantile route to enter the North is by walking extensively toward the Eastern mountain passes. The East is heavily fortified by Arendelle border guards and templar outposts. But... we are currently trekking through the deep West.'
Rudeus looked around at the towering, silent, oppressive pine forests surrounding them. The deep West of the Northern Continent was notoriously untamed.
'It makes logical sense, though,' Rudeus reasoned with himself. 'It's highly likely because Damien only inherently knows this specific western path. Unlike the heavily traveled eastern roads, he was born completely in the wild, likely somewhere near this very border, before his pack was forced south into the Wastelands. Though, honestly... I am not complaining about avoiding the official border checkpoints.'
Rudeus smiled beneath his fur collar.
'He has already done so incredibly much for me. I trust his instincts more than I trust any human map.'
Sensing a shift in his master's emotional state, the massive wolf stopped tracking for a second. Damien turned around and tilted his large, terrifying head to the side in a gesture of profound, almost comical confusion, wondering why Rudeus had suddenly stopped walking.
Rudeus let out a hearty, genuine laugh, the sound echoing through the silent, frozen forest. He dismissively waved his thick, leather-gloved hand in the air.
"Ahh! Don't mind me at all, buddy!" Rudeus called out cheerfully, resuming his heavy, crunching march through the snowdrifts. "I was just standing here thinking deeply about exactly when we will finally arrive at the capital of Arendelle, and what we are going to do once we get there."
As they continued to hike through the treacherous, uneven terrain, Rudeus constantly, meticulously kept his head on a swivel. His crimson eyes darted left and right, scanning the bases of the massive pine trees and the edges of the frozen streams. He was actively, habitually trying to forage, hoping to spot some resilient, cold-weather medicinal herbs, edible root vegetables, or perhaps some frost-resistant mushrooms clinging to the bark.
After five agonizingly slow, freezing minutes of intense visual searching, Rudeus let out a heavy sigh of disappointment.
He didn't see absolutely anything useful. No glowing herbs, no edible fungi. Nothing but dead pine needles and endless ice.
He honestly expected this harsh reality. They were already deep within the absolute geographical heart of the North. This specific, massive continent was infamous in the game's lore for being trapped in an endless, punishing, perpetual winter, almost as if the entire landmass had been subjected to a massive, continent-spanning curse of ice and snow centuries ago by a rogue deity. Survival foraging here without specialized, localized knowledge was nearly impossible.
"Sigh..."
Rudeus sighed again, his stomach giving a low, dissatisfied rumble.
Suddenly, the massive black wolf ahead of him stopped and threw his head back.
"AWOOOOOOO!!!" Damien unleashed a long, resonant, echoing howl into the freezing sky. It was not a howl of danger or warning; it was a specific, recognizable vocalization meant to notify his pack leader. He had successfully locked onto the distinct, unmistakable scent of human civilization, woodsmoke, and forged iron drifting down from the north. They were getting close.
Rudeus's face instantly lit up. A wide, genuinely delighted smile broke across his scarred, weather-beaten face.
"Great! Incredible work!" Rudeus praised enthusiastically, clapping his gloved hands together to shake off the snow.
He reached into the deep, enchanted spatial pocket of his heavy leather tactical satchel—the very same satchel he had carried since the simulation dimension.
"Thanks, Damien! Here, you absolutely earned a massive reward. Have some premium jerky."
Rudeus pulled out a thick, heavy, incredibly dense slab of dark, cured meat. This wasn't standard, cheap military ration jerky. This was pure, high-grade sustenance harvested directly from the colossal, terrifying Giant Boars that roamed the deepest, most dangerous sectors of the Barren Wasteland.
These specific slabs of jerky were Rudeus's absolute finest, most meticulous culinary creation.
It had taken him months of agonizing, highly dangerous trial and error in the toxic wastes to perfect the preservation process. The Giant Boars of the wasteland were highly corrupted creatures; their blood and meat were naturally laced with lethal, abyssal toxins and paralyzing venoms that would instantly kill an ordinary human. Rudeus had to utilize his encyclopedic knowledge of alchemy, combined with the precise, localized application of his Void Divine Art, to painstakingly extract, neutralize, and completely erase every single microscopic trace of venom from the muscle tissue before slow-smoking the meat over specific, purified petrified wood.
The resulting product was a masterwork of survival engineering: incredibly dense, phenomenally high in caloric and magical energy, and entirely, perfectly safe to consume.
He tossed the massive slab of dark meat through the freezing air.
Damien's jaws snapped shut with the terrifying, bone-crushing force of a steel bear trap, catching the heavy slab of jerky flawlessly in mid-air.
The massive wolf didn't even bother to chew properly.
"NOM! NOM! NOM!" Damien ravenously, joyfully devoured the entire, massive slab of hardened meat in three massive, terrifying bites, swallowing the dense protein whole. After completely finishing the meal, the colossal beast sat back on his haunches. With an almost comical, feline grace, Damien raised his massive paw and used his long, rough tongue to meticulously wipe his face and muzzle clean of any lingering grease and crumbs.
Rudeus walked up to the beast, entirely unafraid of the lethal jaws that had just pulverized a slab of meat as hard as oak. He reached out and affectionately, vigorously ruffled the thick, coarse black fur behind the wolf's ears.
"Good boy! The absolute best boy," Rudeus praised softly, feeling the deep, thrumming purr vibrating within the wolf's massive chest.
Rudeus then stood up straight, stretching his broad, muscular shoulders to loosen the stiffness from the cold. He raised his hand and gave a sharp, definitive forward wave—a silent, tactical signal to resume their march. He couldn't wait any longer. His blood was pumping with a fiery, uncontainable anticipation.
He couldn't wait to finally see Elsa. The legendary, King of All Villainess he had sworn to save.
"Hmm~, hmm~, hmm~"
Rudeus actually began to quietly, cheerfully hum a random, upbeat melody from his past life on Earth as he fell into step behind Damien, following the wolf's lead through the deep snowdrifts.
He was in a genuinely, profoundly happy mood. Ever since the agonizing, brutal events in the simulation dimension, and his subsequent, unceremonious exile from the Rosania Empire and the academy, he had found a strange, liberating peace in the brutal wilderness.
He was utterly, incredibly thankful that the terrifying, omnipotent entity known as the Blindfold Man had intervened. He had been given a massive, universe-altering shortcut. Instead of dealing with the suffocating, toxic political machinations of the Aristocratic Faction, the abuse of the Grand Duke, and the suffocating plotlines of the main heroines, he had been granted the raw, unadulterated freedom to forge his own path, train his own power, and rewrite the narrative on his own terms.
'I genuinely, truly gotta thank him for dropping me in hell~.' Rudeus thought inwardly, a dark, highly cynical amusement swirling in his mind.
'Maybe I'll thank him properly right after I manage to figure out how to physically choke his omnipotent neck for making me suffer in that ash pit for two years, hahahahaha!'
***
The Borders of Arendelle.The Outskirts of the Frontier.Three Hours Later.
After three more grueling, freezing hours of relentless, uphill hiking through the dense pine forests, the oppressive tree line finally, abruptly broke.
Rudeus and Damien emerged from the shadows of the woods and found themselves standing high upon the crest of a massive, snow-covered hill.
They looked down into the vast, sprawling valley below.
Rudeus stopped dead in his tracks. The sight before him was breathtaking.
Nestled perfectly within the protective embrace of the valley, surrounded by frozen, crystal-clear streams and towering, snow-capped peaks, lay a sprawling, idyllic human settlement. Hundreds of sturdy, meticulously crafted log cabins and stone houses dotted the landscape, their steeply pitched roofs heavy with accumulated snow. Thick, welcoming plumes of white woodsmoke rose lazily from hundreds of stone chimneys, painting a picture of absolute, undisturbed domestic tranquility against the harsh winter backdrop.
It was the very first sign of genuine, peaceful human civilization Rudeus had laid eyes upon in exactly two years.
Rudeus slowly lowered the heavy fur collar of his Mana Bear coat, completely exposing his scarred face to the biting wind. He stepped to the very edge of the precipice and opened his arms wide, welcoming the biting, freezing air.
He took a massive, deep breath, filling his lungs to capacity.
"Ahhh...."
He let the breath out in a long, misty cloud.
"...So, this is the authentic, frontier countryside of the North, huh? I honestly, genuinely missed visiting quiet, isolated provinces and rural countrysides...."
As he stared down at the peaceful, smoking chimneys of the village, a sudden, powerful wave of deep, unadulterated nostalgia washed over his soul.
He wasn't remembering anything from the life of Rudeus Blackfyre. He was vividly, agonizingly remembering the precious, fleeting memories of his past life on Earth. He was remembering when he was young, when the dimensional incursions hadn't yet destroyed the world, and when his parents were still alive and smiling.
He vividly remembered the rare, precious times his parents managed to secure time off from their grueling jobs. They would pack up their beat-up old car and drive far away from the smog and noise of the city. They would visit the deep, rolling, forested hills of West Virginia, retreating into the Appalachian Highlands. He remembered the specific, crisp scent of the mountain air, the crackle of the campfire, the taste of cheap hotdogs, and the absolute, profound joy of laying on a blanket in the grass, stargazing for hours with his father, mapping out the constellations while his mother laughed softly in the background.
"....Hmmmmm."
Rudeus squeezed his crimson eyes shut, inhaling the fresh, pristine, icy air of Arendelle, desperately trying to map the scent of this magical world onto the fading memories of his lost home.
"Haaaahhhh....." He exhaled slowly, opening his eyes, blinking away a sudden, entirely uncharacteristic sting of moisture.
Beside him, the massive black wolf was also thoroughly enjoying the sensory experience. Damien stood at the edge of the hill, his eyes closed, his nose pointed upward, deeply inhaling and exhaling the sharp, fresh cold air, a stark, wonderful contrast to the toxic ash he had breathed his entire life.
Then, with an entirely un-predatory, highly comical display of canine innocence, the massive Dire-Wolf let his incredibly long, rough pink tongue loll completely out of the side of his mouth. As the thick, heavy snowflakes drifted down from the grey clouds, Damien happily, enthusiastically snapped at them, catching the freezing flakes on his tongue and eating them exactly as if he were eagerly devouring scoops of sweet ice cream.
Rudeus looked down at his terrifying, lethal companion and burst into genuine, hearty laughter. The sheer absurdity of an apex, world-ending beast trying to catch snowflakes completely shattered his melancholy.
Rudeus brushed off a large, flat rock near the edge of the cliff and sat down heavily, resting his forearms on his knees as he continued to observe the peaceful village below.
He let his mind wander, contemplating the vast, terrifyingly complex future that lay before him.
'Maybe...' Rudeus thought inwardly, a rare, genuinely hopeful smile touching his lips. 'Maybe, after I successfully manage to navigate this insane plotline... after I finally save Elsa from her destined execution, and miraculously manage to solve all of the catastrophic, treasonous political problems surrounding her royal family... maybe, just maybe, we can quietly retire and live out the rest of our days here in this peaceful, isolated countryside. Just the two of us, away from the madness of the capital. Just....'
Rudeus's hopeful smile suddenly faltered. He let out a long, highly stressed, incredibly exasperated sigh.
His mind had involuntarily flashed to the image of a different woman.
'...If Melissa is somehow miraculously transported here, or if I ever manage to find a way to bring her to this world... I bet my life she would absolutely, wholeheartedly love the idea of living in a secluded, snowy cabin in the woods. But...'
A drop of cold sweat actually formed on Rudeus's forehead despite the freezing temperature.
'.....She is absolutely, undeniably going to brutally, violently murder me the exact microsecond I try to introduce her to another woman. And it will be infinitely, catastrophically worse when I try to casually explain to her that sa woman is essentially going to be my second wife in a high-fantasy political marriage. Lol.'
Rudeus let out a nervous, strained chuckle at the horrifying hypothetical scenario.
'Yeah. I bet she absolutely would literally skin me alive, hahahahaha!'
Rudeus laughed out loud, but there was a genuine undercurrent of primal fear in the sound. He knew Melissa intimately. He remembered exactly who and what she was in his past life.
Even though Melissa possessed a highly attractive, charmingly tomboyish, and incredibly rowdy, fun-loving exterior personality that made her incredibly popular, beneath that energetic facade lurked a deeply terrifying, violently possessive, and unapologetically yandere nature, especially when it came to anyone or anything threatening her relationship with him.
His mind flashed back to a specific, chilling incident from their high school days on Earth, back when he was still known as Damien.
He had possessed striking, naturally vibrant red hair even back then. One afternoon, a highly arrogant, popular girl from a rival clique had publicly, loudly mocked him in the cafeteria, loudly insulting his "freakish, unnatural" red hair to get a cheap laugh from her friends. Rudeus hadn't really cared; he was used to insults.
But Melissa had heard it.
She hadn't yelled. She hadn't caused a scene. She simply smiled a chilling, empty smile and quietly walked away.
Exactly three days later, the entire school was plunged into absolute, horrified shock. They heard the gruesome news broadcast. The girl who had publicly ridiculed his hair had been found dead in an abandoned alleyway across the city. The police reports, which had been leaked, detailed a horrific scene. Before she was murdered, the girl had had her tongue violently, surgically removed, and her scalp had been entirely, brutally shaved bald.
Rudeus had been shocked, but when he secretly confronted Melissa about it later that evening... he hadn't recoiled in horror. He hadn't called the police. His morality, already deeply fractured by the trauma of losing his parents and growing up in a dying world, had twisted in a very dark, pragmatic direction.
When he heard her chilling, completely unapologetic confession, he had simply let out a dark, breathless laugh. He had actually gone up to Melissa, pulled her into a tight hug, and sincerely, genuinely thanked her for violently defending his honor. To Damien, his unique amber eyes and his vibrant red hair were the absolute only physical traits he had inherited from his dead parents; they were his last remaining connection to them. Melissa had understood that profound significance, and she had exacted lethal, terrifying retribution on his behalf.
That was the exact moment their bond had solidified into something unbreakable, toxic, and absolute.
Rudeus smiled warmly at the memory, the freezing wind whipping his green and red hair around his face.
"I really do always end up owing you an incredible, massive debt, huh....." Rudeus whispered into the snowy wind, his crimson eyes softening with a deep, tragic longing.
".....Mel."
Rudeus sat there for another minute, letting the cold air clear the ghosts from his mind. Then, he raised both of his gloved hands and forcefully, loudly slapped his own cheeks, snapping himself back into the present reality.
'Alright! That is absolutely enough pathetic, nostalgic monologuing for one day!' Rudeus reprimanded himself inwardly, his tactical mindset snapping back into place. 'We have a mission. Let's go right now!'
He stood up from the rock, his heavy boots crunching in the snow.
"Let's move out right now, Damien! No more breaks! Let's head down there and find the fastest route toward the Arendelle Kingdom's capital!"
The massive black Dire-Wolf immediately snapped to attention, his ears perking up. He unleashed a loud, booming, enthusiastic howl of agreement that echoed down into the valley below.
"AWOOOOOOO!!!"
***
The Northern Frontier.Wandering Oakentown.Thirty Minutes Later.
The hike down the steep, snow-covered hills took less time than Rudeus had anticipated. Within thirty minutes, he and Damien were walking down the main, packed-dirt thoroughfare of the frontier settlement.
Rudeus stopped in front of a massive, intricately carved wooden archway that spanned the entrance to the main commercial district.
He looked up at the large, swinging wooden sign hanging from iron chains. It was written in the harsh, angular runes of the Northern dialect, but the magical translation matrix embedded in his brain instantly deciphered it.
"Welcome to Wandering Oakentown. Premium Trading Post and Geothermal Sauna." Rudeus raised his gloved hand, covering his mouth in deep, calculating thought as he rhythmically tapped his index finger against his scarred cheek.
"Hmm....."
He slowly scanned the architecture of the town. The buildings were massive, sturdy structures built from interlocking, treated pine logs, designed to withstand apocalyptic blizzards. Steam billowed from specialized vents in the roofs of several larger buildings, confirming the presence of the advertised geothermal saunas.
"....If I am absolutely, perfectly correct in my recollection of the game's geographical routing, based entirely on the deep lore of the visual novel's travel mechanics..." Rudeus muttered quietly to himself, his crimson eyes darting around, searching for a specific structural landmark.
"...There absolutely must be a fully operational, steam-powered magical railway station located somewhere within the immediate vicinity of this specific trading post. It's the primary, canonical route players use to travel safely from the frontier directly into the heart of the capital city, which is Wisteria."
While Rudeus was lost in deep, intensive thought, trying to mentally overlay the game's 2D map onto the 3D reality of the town, the massive black wolf beside him sat down patiently in the snow. Damien began to meticulously, casually lick the freezing snow from between the thick pads of his massive, lethal paws.
Suddenly, a bright, overly cheerful, entirely unexpected voice broke through Rudeus's concentration.
"Hello there, Mister!!!"
A young woman seemed to materialize out of thin air, suddenly standing directly in front of them on the snowy path.
Rudeus blinked, momentarily startled by her sudden appearance. He quickly analyzed her. She was a young, seemingly ordinary village woman. She possessed bright, braided blonde hair, rosy cheeks flushed from the cold, and she was wearing a thick, colorful, heavily embroidered traditional winter dress typical of the Northern commoners.
Rudeus, entirely focused on his objective of locating the train station and completely uninterested in engaging with random NPCs, simply offered a vague, dismissive wave of his gloved hand. He completely ignored her greeting, turning his gaze back toward the town square, continuing his intense internal monologue to try and perfectly remember the exact geographical layout of the Arendelle Kingdom based on the game's extensive geography.
The young, blonde woman was surprisingly not offended or angry in the slightest that the imposing, heavily armed stranger had completely, rudely ignored her cheerful greeting.
Instead of walking away, she enthusiastically pivoted. She took a highly confident, entirely fearless step directly toward the massive, terrifying, apex Dire-Wolf sitting in the snow.
"Hello there, you big, beautiful boy~!!!" The woman cooed in a sickeningly sweet, high-pitched voice.
She bravely, foolishly extended her bare, un-gloved hand directly toward the massive, bone-crushing jaws of the beast.
"Paw! Give me your paw!" She commanded playfully, exactly as if she were speaking to a highly trained, domesticated golden retriever puppy, rather than a mythological monster capable of biting her torso in half.
Damien froze. The massive wolf slowly stopped licking his paw. He slowly, terrifyingly tilted his massive, scarred head to the side in profound, genuine confusion. He looked at the fragile human hand offered to him, entirely bewildered by the sheer, suicidal audacity of the creature.
Rudeus's peripheral vision caught the interaction. His combat instincts flared instantly. He snapped out of his geographical contemplation, realizing a potential massacre was about to occur if Damien misinterpreted the gesture as a threat.
"Ahh! Hey! Stop right there!" Rudeus barked sharply, his voice commanding and authoritative.
He immediately stepped between the blonde woman and the Dire-Wolf.
"I am incredibly sorry for that," Rudeus apologized quickly, his tone polite but firm as he physically blocked her access to the beast. He casually reached back and deeply, reassuringly ruffled the thick fur on Damien's neck to keep him calm.
"I absolutely have not managed to train him to perform those kinds of domesticated parlor tricks yet. He is not a lap dog."
The blonde woman didn't look frightened or deterred by Rudeus's sudden, imposing intervention. She simply smiled brightly, clasping her hands together in front of her dress.
"Oh, I see, I see! That is perfectly fine!" The woman nodded enthusiastically, her braided hair bouncing.
Then, she gasped, bringing a hand to her mouth in a highly exaggerated gesture of realization.
"Oh my goodness! I completely, entirely forgot where my basic manners went!" The woman exclaimed, offering a slight, somewhat clumsy curtsy.
"Hi~ there! My name is Enna, and I want to formally welcome you to Wandering Oakentown! Even though this specific, humble village is located incredibly far away from the bustling capital of Wisteria, I promise you, we live incredibly happily and peacefully here! Though...."
Enna's bright, cheerful smile suddenly faltered slightly, her voice trailing off in a highly dramatic, perfectly calculated pause.
Rudeus immediately caught the conversational bait. His tactical mind registered the unnatural shift in her cadence. He slowly raised a single, scarred green eyebrow, examining her face intently.
"Though... what?" Rudeus asked, his voice low, cautious.
Enna quickly shook her head, pasting the bright, cheerful smile back onto her face with an almost mechanical precision.
"....Oh, absolutely never mind that, Mister! It is nothing for a traveler to worry about! Come on! Please, allow me to personally lead you directly into the main town center of our village! I would be absolutely honored to introduce you directly to the Village Elder!"
"I see..." Rudeus replied slowly, his tone flat, entirely devoid of enthusiasm.
He absolutely did not want to ask any further questions about her "problems." In his extensive, past-life experience playing hundreds of RPGs, he knew exactly how this specific scenario played out. Engaging with a random, overly friendly NPC who hinted at a hidden tragedy always, inevitably led to being forcefully dragged into an incredibly tedious, multi-stage, time-consuming side-quest. And he absolutely did not have the patience or the time to play the hero for a random village when Elsa's life was on a strict canonical timeline.
"And, before I completely forget," Rudeus added, his voice formal and guarded.
He reluctantly, politely offered his right, leather-gloved hand forward to complete the basic social introduction.
"My name is Rudeus..."
He paused for a microsecond, ensuring he didn't accidentally use his discarded, hated lineage.
"....Rudeus Maximilian V. Blackheart."
Enna eagerly reached out and grasped his heavy, gloved hand, shaking it with an enthusiastic, surprising amount of physical strength for a seemingly ordinary village girl.
"It is so incredibly good to officially meet you, Tourist Rudeus! Welcome to Oakentown!" Enna chirped, her eyes shining with an almost manic brightness.
Rudeus offered a tight, forced nod of acknowledgment. As she began to turn away to lead them, Rudeus's analytical mind finally snagged on a massive, glaring, undeniable anomaly that had been bothering him since she first opened her mouth.
He spoke up, his voice cutting through the freezing air like a knife.
"Hey! Stop for a second."
Enna abruptly halted her enthusiastic pivoting. She slowly turned back around, her bright smile perfectly intact, but her eyes slightly narrowed.
"Hmm? Yes? Is there a problem, Tourist Rudeus?" Enna asked innocently, tilting her head.
Rudeus kept his crimson eyes locked intensely onto her face. He didn't blink. He slowly raised his left hand and pointed directly over his shoulder at the massive, terrifying, pitch-black beast sitting patiently in the snow behind him.
"Ahh, look, I know this might sound incredibly dumb for a traveler to ask, but..."
Rudeus's voice dropped all pretense of polite, casual conversation. His tone became sharp, interrogative, and highly analytical.
"...Why exactly aren't you completely, utterly paralyzed by shock right now? Why aren't you screaming for the guards? Why aren't you even the slightest, microscopic bit terrified that I just casually walked into your peaceful village bringing a massive, mythological, apex-predator black Dire-Wolf with me?"
Rudeus let the question hang heavily in the freezing air.
He intimately knew the terrifying reality of his companion. He knew the sheer, suffocating, primal aura of lethal violence that Damien naturally, biologically radiated. An ordinary, peaceful commoner girl from an isolated, idyllic trading post should have taken one single look at the glowing golden eyes and massive fangs of the beast and immediately fainted from sheer terror, or ran screaming in the opposite direction. But Enna had confidently, fearlessly approached the beast and tried to pet it like a domesticated poodle. It made absolutely zero logical sense.
Enna didn't flinch at the sharp interrogation. She simply reached up, tapping her index finger playfully against her chin in a highly exaggerated gesture of thought.
"Ahh! That is a very good question!" Enna replied brightly, her tone sickeningly smooth.
"Maybe it is simply because we are incredibly, intimately used to seeing massive wolves out here in the deep wilderness, and also—!"
Enna smiled, a wide, totally unconvincing grin that didn't reach her eyes.
"Our absolute favorite, common household pets here in Oakentown are actually wolves too! I am so incredibly sorry, I completely forgot to tell you that fun little cultural fact right away, Mr. Tourist!"
Rudeus stared at her for three full, silent seconds.
He didn't argue. He didn't call her out on the absolute, glaring absurdity of her statement.
He simply raised his gloved hand and offered a smooth, dismissive, entirely placating wave.
"Ahh, I see. No, please, it is entirely my own fault. I am simply an ignorant traveler, and I am clearly not fully accustomed to the unique, localized customs of the Arendelle frontier here." Rudeus replied, his voice dripping with a thick, syrupy layer of false apology and feigned ignorance.
Enna nodded enthusiastically, completely buying his clueless tourist act. She immediately reached out, aggressively gripping his wrist with her strong hand.
"Perfect! Let's go right now! I am so incredibly excited to introduce you to the Elder!" Enna chirped, beginning to physically, forcefully drag him down the snowy path toward the denser cluster of cabins.
"He-hey! Easy there! You don't need to drag me, I can perfectly walk on my own two feet, you know!" Rudeus complained loudly, adopting the persona of a flustered, overwhelmed traveler, stumbling slightly as he allowed himself to be pulled along.
Damien let out a low, highly suspicious huff, standing up and silently, dutifully following closely behind his master.
Rudeus kept up the flustered, complaining tourist act flawlessly on the outside.
But internally?
Internally, Rudeus's tactical, veteran mind was operating at maximum, lethal capacity.
He turned his head slightly away from the blonde girl, ensuring she couldn't see his face.
A dark, terrifying, incredibly predatory smile slowly, maliciously stretched across his scarred face. His crimson eyes burned with the cold, calculating thrill of impending violence.
He had completely, effortlessly seen through her paper-thin facade.
Her lie about keeping massive wolves as common household pets was the most hilariously, fundamentally stupid, nonsensical lie he had ever heard in both of his lives. No isolated, peaceful village kept apex, man-eating monsters as lapdogs.
Her lack of fear, her hidden physical strength, her desperate attempt to isolate a heavily armed stranger by aggressively dragging him to meet an "Elder" in an unfamiliar location... it was a textbook, amateur ambush tactic.
'Gotcha!'
Rudeus cheered inwardly, his blood pumping with dark, adrenaline-fueled excitement as he willingly allowed himself to be led directly into the heart of their trap.
'You completely, utterly failed the perception check, you fucking bandit!'
He tightened his grip on the handle of his heavy iron mace, eagerly awaiting the moment the mask would finally drop, so he could show them exactly what kind of monster had just wandered into their territory.