“Alright, let’s go find this little guy’s village!” Thrett lifted Snow onto the horse, seating him in front.
The person with purple hair rode alongside on a horse, having just had an argument with Thrett. Although Snow didn’t know what had happened exactly, he could tell that everyone here deeply respected Thrett.
“I guess it’s because of the First Snow Festival that no one noticed the kid falling off the cliff, right?” speculated the person with purple hair.
“Really? I thought he was just a snack for some wild animal.”
“Ah, I fell down by myself,” Snow hesitated, looking like he wanted to say more. Thrett found it quite intriguing, reaching out to ruffle Snow’s hair before continuing the conversation with the person with purple hair.
Gurgle, gurgle— Suddenly, a loud noise interrupted their conversation.
“Hmm? What was that sound just now?”
“I didn’t quite catch it,” the two looked around, trying to locate the source of the strange noise, while Snow quietly curled up his body.
Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle— This time the noise was even louder than before, startling Snowlamp, who was even surprised by the sound coming from his own stomach, causing him to shrink even smaller.
“Oh…”
“Um…”
Thrett and the purple-haired person exchanged a glance before bursting into laughter.
This made Snow feel extremely embarrassed. Unconsciously, he tightened his grip on the reins in front of him and tried to make himself smaller, hoping to reduce the sound, but his stomach kept grumbling incessantly. He hadn’t eaten enough for several days, and as soon as he relaxed, an intense feeling of hunger swept over him.
“Speaking of which, what can this little guy eat?”
“Probably anything fruit-related.”
Having had enough laughter, Thrett rode his horse to find some food to fill Snow’s stomach.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Fruit, huh? There should be apples in this season. Let me take a look.” After scanning around for a while, Thrett guided the horse towards a certain tree.
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Vfflcu Vcbk’r wbeat kjafglcu, Ktgfaa lclaljiis atbeuta bo ijeutlcu jujlc, yea tf cbalmfv atja Vcbk vlvc’a rffw qifjrfv ktfc tf kjr ijeutfv ja fjgilfg, rb tf vlrwlrrfv atf lvfj.
“Do you want some?” Despite the good quality of the fruit, Thrett had no appetite for it. He plucked a few and stuffed them into Snow’s arms.
“Here you go. I don’t know what humans eat, so have these to fill your stomach for now.” Thrett chuckled heartily and patted Snow’s head once more.
Snow looked at the smiling face and immediately picked up a few apples from his arms and offered them to Thrett. Unlike those children, he didn’t want to hog all the food. He hoped Thrett could enjoy them too.
“Do you want them? That’s not necessary. I don’t need to eat.”
“Not need to eat?” This surprised Snow a little. He was curious about what kind of person could go without eating.
Thrett pushed back the apples and smiled gently, saying, “These are all for you. Aren’t you hungry? Go ahead, eat.”
Seeing that smile again, Snow quickly picked up the apples with both hands, squinted at Thrett, showing a shy smile, and nodded gently. Then he took a bite of the apple. He wanted to respond to Thrett with a smile, expressing how happy and grateful he was right now.
“Ziyuan! This kid, he’s smiling at me!” This instead shocked Thrett, who quickly shook the person with purple hair next to him, nearly causing them to fall off their horse.
‘Is my smile strange?’ Snow tilted his head in confusion, but seeing Thrett’s reaction, he seemed to become happy again. Snow decided to eat the apple first to fill his stomach before saying anything else.
—
Not long after, Snow was sent back to the village. Thrett carefully lifted him from the horse and placed him on the snowy ground, pointing in the direction not far away, indicating it was the nearest village to where he fell.
Looking towards the village, Snow knew it was a place of despair, yet his feet still moved in that direction. He felt a force stirring inside him, resisting Thrett. Snow disliked the strange sensation emerging within him.
Though he wanted to spend more time with Thrett, his body forced him away. As he walked, Snow kept looking back, reluctant to leave Thrett, until he was almost out of sight.
Thrett waved goodbye to him, seeming to say something, but the distance made it hard for Snow to hear. Snow could only imitate him, waving goodbye with one hand. Then Thrett mounted his horse, leading the group away, disappearing into the pure white expanse of the snowfall.
With a pile of apples in his arms and the gray scarf loosened around his neck, its two gray tails hanging on the snowy ground, Snow suddenly—suddenly felt a strong surge of warmth in his heart on the seventh day of the snowfall. Bitter emotions welled up, overflowing to the corners of his eyes, streaming down his cheeks and finally dripping onto the snow.
Then, he tilted his head back and cried loudly. During the time since becoming one of the nameless, he had been suppressing the deepest fears, anxieties, and angers buried within him.
How could he not cry after losing his family? How could he not be afraid after being branded with the mark of the nameless? How could he endure a life of hunger, cold, and beatings alone? But because he had no one to rely on, Snow held back his tears until he met that person.
‘Now I can cry, because that person is here.’ Why he entrusted all his emotions to someone he met for the first time, Snow couldn’t understand himself. But he truly appreciated meeting that person.
The cries echoed across the snowy plain, full of vitality and emotion. After crying, his heart felt full.
From that moment on, Snowlamp regarded that person as his ‘world,’ a black but gentle world.
The small wings on his back had disappeared, replaced by a platinum-haired girl standing tall before Snow. Wrapped in blood-red splendid attire, the girl was much taller than the young Snow.
She suddenly knelt on one knee, bowing with the utmost humility, and spoke in a tone devoid of any fluctuations: “Nice to meet you, esteemed hero. I have been eagerly awaiting your arrival.”
Though Snow didn’t recognize this girl who seemed to appear out of nowhere, he didn’t want her to kneel on the snowy ground. The winter ice and snow could easily freeze her legs.
“I am your Hero Sword, the blood-red Lena, Goddess Elena. I am the blade that belongs only to you, esteemed hero.”
Later, Snow slowly learned from Lena that he was a special being called the ‘hero,’ endowed with extraordinary power to protect humanity and confront the Demon Lord. He had heard the term countless times from his parents before, but back then, he didn’t have a clear concept of what a hero was, only that it seemed to be a word that brought joy.
When he finally understood this, he immediately decided to use the power of the hero to protect this world, especially the land where Thrett was.
White dots of light slowly descended from the sky. This was the Light Snow of the 9999th year of Sipistole, the seventh day. Snow embraced his destiny and found his place in it, vowing to use his power to protect the ‘gentle world’ he had identified.
He carefully folded and put away the scarf. He could share the apples with the children in the village after returning, but not the scarf. It was his connection with that person, a treasure far more important than his own life.
—
The Beginning and End of That Child, and Reunion (Part I)
—
Not long after, Snow began to secretly practice using the Sword of the Hero in remote places, with Lena appearing by his side to guide him. Besides teaching him some history of Sipistole and a bit of academic knowledge, she usually didn’t say much else. In terms of actual swordsmanship skills, Lena wasn’t of much help.
She told Snow that the Sword of the Hero was a very precious and powerful artifact, and only the hero could summon it; in the hero’s hands, the sword was as light as a feather, easily controlled, and capable of cutting through any tangible object in the world. So, as long as he had this sword, even if he didn’t know any fancy swordsmanship, he would be several times stronger than an ordinary person. However, Snow didn’t tell anyone about his identity as the hero. He was still ignorant and didn’t know how to wield that power, so he never thought about using it.
And so, three years passed. Snow also became acquainted with a few friends, among whom the closest was probably Ram, the girl who was responsible for taking care of the children in the nameless people’s hut.
Ram often secretly took some food from the adults to share with Snow; if she washed her usually dark face clean, she would reveal her originally delicate face. Three of her ten fingers were missing, and the remaining ones were swollen and deformed due to frostbite over the years, making the adults in the thieves’ village sick to their stomachs at the sight. So, no matter how beautiful her face was or how gentle her personality, Ram was still only assigned to hard labor.
Although she didn’t speak often, she always showed Snow a faint smile. She was the only person Snow could share the details about ‘that person’ with, and she was also the only one who knew Snow’s name. Snow told Ram that when he fell off the cliff, he was saved by someone dressed in all black who gave him the scarf. Although it was the same incident, whenever they chatted casually, Snow would repeatedly bring it up and reminisce about it. Ram always listened quietly, admiringly imagining herself being treated so gently by someone.
Strangely, while Snow vividly remembered the warmth of that memory, he gradually forgot about ‘that person.’ Memories seemed to be buried bit by bit by the falling snow, eventually buried deep in his mind, causing him to gradually forget the person’s name, expression, and smile. Eventually, Snow only remembered that the gray scarf was the only connection between them.
He once asked Lena why he was forgetting those memories. Although Lena didn’t fully understand the situation, she still told him that it was likely the magic of the First Snow, which made him forget the memories of meeting that person.
As Snow grew up, his work also changed. From simple chores and field work, he now took care of and slaughtered livestock, as well as dealt with corpses, most of which were heavy and exhausting physical labor. Snow’s appearance was too ordinary, like a presence as inconspicuous as air, unable to attract any attention or favor from adults.
If a good-looking Nameless appeared, they would be taken to the leader of the thieves’ house, where they would supposedly do simple servant work and receive very good treatment. However, Snow had never seen any of the children who entered come out again.
Actually, he knew why, because it was his job to bury the bodies, and the bodies he buried were those beautiful Nameless. Their necks, hands, and legs were covered in bruises and swollen marks, thick and foul-smelling fluids oozed from their bodies, and their appearance after death was completely different from their lives. Snow had some idea of what happened to these Nameless, and he didn’t want the Nameless he knew to be sent to the leader’s house, especially not Ram. So, he had secretly warned Ram to be careful not to reveal her appearance to the adults.
Several years later, Snow’s intelligence and obedient personality were finally noticed by the adults, coupled with the excellent physical strength he had gained from his childhood labor. This made the adults value Snow greatly.
The thieves began teaching him how to use bladed weapons, how to steal and plunder, and even gave him a dagger, instructing him to accompany them in raiding other villages. Snow did not resist because Nameless who didn’t obey orders would be tortured to death, with no room for negotiation
Snow’s learning ability and adaptability were remarkably high. Whether it was silently sneaking into villages to steal or staying behind to block pursuit for the thieves, he could easily accomplish it effortlessly. Consequently, he gained more and more recognition from the thieves, but he couldn’t find any joy in it. Hurting others, plundering goods—it was necessary, he couldn’t resist the thieves’ orders. At the same time, his swordsmanship improved continuously, and his strength was no less than that of the adults.
However, he never used the Sword of the Hero in front of others. Snow didn’t want this sword, meant to protect the world, tainted with evil. At most, he used it to hunt down wild beasts in the forest and bring back extra game secretly.
Since Lena always spoke in a respectful manner, Snow gradually learned to speak the same way through exposure. Despite being only in his teens, he was quite capable, and his humble and sensible attitude pleased the thieves even more, leading to an improvement in his treatment.
