I narrowed my eyes and scanned in the direction Aspeiran’s finger was pointing.

Far away, between the towering glaciers, there was something long and shining.

“Oh, that!”

A pillar of light emitting a soft white glow, stretching up as if to pierce the sky.

I had seen it once before. No, I hadn’t just seen it. I had even used it directly.

Yes, that’s right. That pillar of light was the gate connecting Beltraum and Ellos!

Encountering again something I once risked my life jumping into brings back memories. As I stared blankly at the gate, mesmerized like by a burning campfire, Aspeiran wrapped his arm around my shoulder.

“Are you okay?”

“What do you mean?”

“You… had a bad experience because of the gate.”

Aspeiran said with a subdued look. He seemed worried I might feel traumatized seeing the gate.

I scratched the back of my head and smiled awkwardly.

“I’m fine. Actually, I jumped in somewhat voluntarily. I wanted to escape from that village…”

After all, to meet Aspeiran and escape my terminal illness, I had to leave Elbas and go to Ellos.

‘To be honest, even if I hadn’t been terminally ill, I probably would have looked for a chance to jump into Beltraum someday to meet As…’

But suddenly, a grinding sound came from Aspeiran’s mouth as he quietly looked down at me. He muttered something softly.

“Those bastards… I shouldn’t have killed them so easily…”

“Pardon?”

I asked, not having heard clearly, but it seemed to be just a mumble to himself as As shook his head. I nodded lightly and leaned my arms on the railing.

The gate, when seen with the assurance that I’m now safe, was quite beautiful, though I shouldn’t say this.

Moreover, unlike the gate I entered which emitted light crazily, this one was glowing softly like a mood light. Perhaps that’s why it doesn’t feel so threatening.

…But is that really okay? The light seems unusually weak?

I turned to look at Aspeiran.

“Is that gate in good condition? Compared to the one I entered, the light seems too weak.”

“It’s because it’s a gate that’s been open for a long time.”

Aspeiran said, leaning on the railing like me.

“After a gate first opens and spits out monsters once, the light dims somewhat. After that, hordes of monsters don’t burst out like at first.”

“I see monsters do come out though.”

“Occasionally. But the survey team can handle that much, so monsters don’t attack civilian areas. We deliberately left gates only in uninhabited areas to begin with.”

Aspeiran’s words reminded me of what the researchers had told me.

Unlike Elbas where gates open all over the continent, in Ellos gates only open in the northern part of the continent, that is, in Roakin.

Since gates first opened about 500 years ago, Roakin has been in fierce battle with Beltraum. And finally, they devised a magic to forcibly close the gates.

Afterwards, Roakin dispatched excellent mages to close all the gates as soon as they opened. However, the Mad King Keimeloyeum, who was obsessed with Beltraum, was different.

He didn’t care if his people were torn apart and killed by monsters. He preserved all open gates and used them as his experimental grounds.

The first thing Aspeiran did while fighting Keimeloyeum was to seal the gates. However, even he preserved five gates after his ascension, against his subjects’ opposition.

It was for the investigation and research of Beltraum. The difference from Keimeloyeum was that all the gates Aspeiran left were in sparsely populated areas, and he stationed people nearby to block monsters.

So, there has never been a single civilian casualty due to the preserved gates. The opposition from his subjects also quieted down.

‘I heard there were a few times when people got badly hurt during exploration though…’

I clasped my hands tightly. When we enter Beltraum in two days, we’ll probably face many dangers.

But I wasn’t afraid. Because Aspeiran is by my side. If I trust and follow him, I’m sure we can safely return home.

‘Home.’

At the word home, Belloy Castle naturally came to mind. Even though it’s been only a few months, it seems I’ve already completely accepted that once unfamiliar place as my home.

Suddenly, my heart swelled. I turned to Aspeiran.

“Jumping into Beltraum was a big adventure, but I think it was worth it.”

“Worth it?”

“Thanks to crossing Beltraum, I came to Roakin, got to live in Belloy Castle, and above all.”

The snowstorm grew a bit stronger. I smiled as I tidied my wind-blown hair behind my ears.

“I met you, Your Majesty.”

The silent march of snowflakes, swallowing all the world’s noise.

In it, the man beautiful as if the god of winter had been reborn opened his eyes wide. He stared at me blankly, as if in a trance.

Aspeiran placed his hand on his chest as if measuring something, lowered his eyes, then looked at me again. His breathtakingly blue eyes were sunk in a deep light.

At last, he lifted my hand with a touch as if handling the most precious thing in the world. A low voice flowed from his well-shaped lips.

“Shuria, when this exploration is over, I…”

Bang bang bang.

We flinched at the sound of someone pounding on the door. It felt like waking from a momentary sweet dream.

‘The, the atmosphere was really strange.’

I hurriedly stepped away from Aspeiran and fiddled with my hair for no reason. The snow falling on my cheeks melts and disappears quickly.

Aspeiran, grinding his teeth, shouted sharply.

“What is it?”

“Your Majesty, it’s Akla. I’m terribly sorry to interrupt your time together, but dinner preparations are complete.”

“…”

Aspeiran twitched his eyebrows as if displeased. But soon, he exhaled words like a sigh.

“We’ll be right there.”

The presence beyond the door disappears. Aspeiran turned his gaze to me. Surely he’s not going to continue that uncomfortable atmosphere from earlier?

Fortunately, Aspeiran said nothing and pulled me into his cloak.

“Let’s go. The snowstorm is getting stronger. You’ll catch a cold at this rate.”

Aspeiran spoke like a caring elder brother. Only then did I feel completely at ease. I nodded and snuggled up to his warm side.

I’m not going to ask what he was going to say since I’d rather avoid another awkward atmosphere, but I am a bit curious about what he was going to say.

What could it have been?

After dinner, everyone at the exploration branch gathered in the conference room.

Akla stood in front of the slate and said,

“As you all know, the snowy mountain terrain returns on September 3rd, the day after tomorrow. The goal of this exploration is to investigate the habitat of the newly discovered monster, ‘Bonakau’.”

Bonakau… What a strange name. Did Sek come up with it?

While I was thinking of the man who would be laughing and giving strange names to plants in the lab right now, Akla continued speaking.

“This exploration will involve 7 survey team members, 1 researcher, 5 royal guards, and 1 non-combat personnel. A total of 15 people will be mobilized, and His Majesty will lead directly.”

Seeing some survey team members nod, it seems they were already notified in advance about who would be going.

The non-combat personnel is me, the researcher is Elkin. And only 5 royal guards are being mobilized… Are 2 staying behind at the branch?

Looking towards where the knights were sitting, two knights who met my eyes pretended to sniffle. I also pretended to sniffle back, shooting them a regretful look.

As the conference room became somewhat noisy, Akla tapped on the slate.

“From midnight tonight for one day, all gates will disappear and Beltraum’s surface terrain will be replaced. So we’ll depart at 2 PM tomorrow, wait near the gate, and enter as soon as the gate reopens at midnight.”

Akla, who had written the schedule on the slate, looked around the audience.

“Any questions?”

“No, sir!”

The survey team members answered energetically. Akla shifted his gaze towards Aspeiran.

As Aspeiran nodded, Akla said,

“Then, those not participating in this exploration may leave now. Exploration personnel, please remain. We will distribute the exploration items.”

Most people left, and only 15 remained in the conference room. After distributing something to each person, Akla approached me and sat down beside me.

“Alright, Miss Shuria. Since this is your first Beltraum exploration, I’ll explain it to you personally. Look, there are two essential items for exploration.”

Akla handed me things that looked like pocket watches. Opening the lids, I saw that one looked like a compass, and the other like a clock.

However, the compass-like one had no direction markings, and the clock-like one had 10 markings instead of 12.

Akla pointed to the compass-like object.

“This is a compass for finding the direction of the gate.”

“The gate?”

“Each gate to Beltraum has its own unique magical frequency. If you store that frequency in the compass before entering the gate, you can find the gate you came through from anywhere in Beltraum.”

“Ah…”

“In the unlikely event that you get separated from us, go in the direction this black needle points. You should be able to find the gate.”

It seemed to be a minimal measure for finding one’s way in the vast Beltraum. Next, Akla pointed to the clock.

“You know that one surface terrain is maintained for only 9 days, and if you don’t get out of Beltraum within 9 days, you’ll be trapped in Beltraum as the surface terrain changes, right?”

“Yes.”

“This clock shows the time limit. One mark here represents one day. You must get out of Beltraum before the hand points to 9.”

Now the clock hand was getting close to 9. It must be almost time for the gate to disappear.

Akla shrugged.

“It’s difficult to gauge time in Beltraum. That’s why this clock is absolutely necessary. You must never lose either the compass or the clock.”

“I’ll treasure them like my life!”

“That’s exactly the attitude, Miss Shuria.”

Akla, having finished her kind explanation, was about to pat my shoulder… but awkwardly withdrew her hand.

Her gaze flicks towards Aspeiran. Aspeiran was staring intently at us.

Somehow, I thought Aspeiran’s eyes seemed to be burning fiercely, when Akla gave me a thumbs up.

“I hope our king, no, Miss Shuria has a good impression of the 3rd Exploration Branch!”

“What? I already love this place. It’s wonderful.”

“I’m glad to hear that…”

Akla exhaled a sigh of relief as she stood up.

As she clapped her hands to get everyone’s attention, Aspeiran, who had somehow approached us, opened his mouth.

“You may dismiss now. Everyone enjoy your last rest before entering Beltraum. Once the exploration starts, it will be difficult to sleep properly.”

It was a frightening declaration.