Five minutes later, beyond a forest nearby the village, at the foot of the mountain range…

With a large but empty leather rucksack on his back, Rudolf walks out of the thinning treeline, wading through the snow towards a steep slope while Straf and the rest follow.

「Here it is… The climb. As you can see, it's not that bad…」

Rudolf points his hand towards a part of the steeply sloping mountain face that indeed appears almost stair-like. The stairs, or the stone ladder is rough an uneven, making it very difficult for nature to ice it over, and giving hands ample friction to hold onto it. Moreover, one can simply lean onto them and be perfectly safe from falling. It appears that all but the clumsiest of climbers could make it with ease. Though it's a fair distance above, the steps seem to ease off into a flat path beyond a certain point in the climb.

「…If an old man like me can make it easily, youngsters like you should be fine.」

He adds, turning to the group. Only then does he notice Lily's red eyes and her impatient gaze. He simply shrinks with a tight-lipped grimace on his face, as it's too late to panic now.

「…What is that? A trail marker?」

Cycelia asks, pointing her finger at stacked stones nearby. A long piece of red cloth is wrapped around the stack's top, flapping in the wind.

「Ahhh… That…」

The guide glances at the waist-high pillar of stacked stones, then heads towards the path. Cycelia and the rest follow him.

「…On my way back, I noticed someone stacked stones like that along the path, and tied a piece of red to 'em. Makes the trail easy to follow… It's easy to see the red.」

He adds as he begins climbing, holding his staff loosely between his thumb and pinkie. Cycelia waits her turn, blinking her emerald eyes at Straf.

「How thoughtful of the cat.」

Straf remarks with his mouth aslant, waiting for the guide to climb up. Once she has some space, she grabs onto the stone stairs.

「Ah!…」

Cycelia's chestnut head perks up, and she steps away. Straf raises a brow at her.

「…Straf, could you go first?」

She asks with an awkward, tight-lipped grimace on her face.

「Huh?… Yeah, I guess…」

Mildly confused, he shrugs and steps in the way. He catches up right behind Rudolf with ease.

《Why didn't she-?》

Straf thinks while climbing, staring upward while furrowing his brows.

「Tsk…」

《Panties, huh?… She has her coat on, and she's still such a proper lady…》

He clicks his tongue, rolling his eyes before glancing downward at Cycelia's face. She and the rest are right behind him.

The climb up is rather uneventful. Boring, even. It's far too low to provide fancy sights, but far too long to be dealt with quickly. Worst of all, it's too short to be at least memorable. Rudolf finally reaches the part of the climb that no longer requires one to use his hands, and simply stands up. The path underneath his boots is bare and covered with fine gravel, presumably due to a fortunate rock overhang sheltering this part from snowfall.

「Careful now!… Don't slip! This is the most dangerous part of the trail itself! Once we get to the flat parts, we'll be able to take it easy!… Mostly!」

Rudolf calls out, poking the somewhat steeply sloping gravel with the bottom of his staff before turning back and continuing along the path.

Straf helps Cycelia up and continues onward, while Cycelia helps Nona up. Lily simply lifts herself up with ease and nonchalantly dusts off her tiny pale hands…

…

Fifteen minutes later, further down the mountain trail…

Rudolf and the group pass by another pile of stacked rocks. A red cloth flaps in the cold harsh wind of the Eastern Ranges.

Minding her step, Cycelia looks over her shoulder. Her snow-covered homeland is becoming more and more visible the higher they climb, though right now she can only see bits of the Academy of Magic, and Millie's distant manor. She turns her emerald eyes to the vicinity of the Academy, and looks at the rest of the mountains. There is a massive chunk missing from one of the mountain's spine, clearly visible even though so far away, appearing as if a venerable giant took a gluttonous bite out of it.

She turns her eyes forward towards Straf's broad, coat-covered shoulders while he follows the guide with his hands in his pockets.

「Um, I have a question!…」

Cycelia calls out to Rudolf from behind Straf. Both glance at her over their shoulders.

「Yes, young lady?… What is it?」

Rudolf asks, briefly turning his gaze forward again to mind his step while helping himself with his staff.

「How long is the path?… What I mean is, you didn't pack any food or anything, right?」

She asks, tilting her head a little, blinking at the guide's mostly deflated brown backpack.

「Why, young lady? Are you hungry?…」

「No no! We had breakfast!」

Rudolf asks, to which she quickly replies with a shake of her head.

「Well, if nothing goes wrong, we should be there by nightfall. If the weather takes a turn for the worse, we might have to spend the night in a little crevice. There are a few along the way.」

The guide shrugs his shoulders and replies, quickly glancing back at her. He takes a look with Straf at the gray sky, but it appears there are no signs of inclement weather.

「…Do you get food on the eastern side then? I'm a little curious about how you do things.」

Cycelia takes a few hasty steps forward behind Straf, and peeks her face out from beyond his back.

「Yup.」

Rudolf simply replies with a nod.

「…Do you speak their language then?-」

「Ha! As if! I can maybe pick out a few words of their gobbledygook!」

Cycelia asks, and the guide guffaws at the suggestion, shaking his head with an amused, toothy grin. Straf raises his brow.

「Eh?… But then how?… How do you do business?」

Confused, she furrows her brows, blinking her emerald eyes at Rudolf's empty backpack.

「Heh, simple!… I point and talk! Wave some money around, show them fingers!…」

Rudolf lets out a singular chuckle and demonstrates, pointing his finger at nothing in particular, waving his hand around, showing Cycelia four fingers, and many other mercantile gestures.

「…They might be foreigners, but they're people too, you know! They understand some of it!… Ah, it might be a little late, but a word of warning!… They don't use drakes!」

The guide adds, shrugging his arms. He then glances over his shoulder at Straf and the rest with his brows raised and his index finger extended.

「What!?…」「Tsk… Son of a fucking bitch.」

Cycelia perks up in shock with her eyes widened, while Straf clicks his tongue in visible frustration.

「…How do you buy things at all then?」

She asks, deeply confused with her brows heavily furrowed. They pass another stack of rocks with a torn length of cloth flapping wildly off to the side.

「Well… They don't use drakes, but!… Some of them accept them!… Some! You have to beg 'em mostly, and outside of the border villages, there's no chance any of them will take them.」

Rudolf explains, waving his hand around as he does so.

「…Straf, do you have some gold on you?」

Cycelia asks with a troubled face.

「Nope. All of it is in the bank, and other secure locations.」

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Straf replies with a shrug of his shoulders.

「How do we buy things, then?… What if nobody accepts our drakes?」

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

「I'll think of something… Worst comes to worst, I'll do some odd jobs and barter some shit.」

Cycelia furrows her brows, and Straf glances at her with bored eyes, and his mouth scrunched to the side.

「Right… Right. I don't need to worry, I can always rely on you…」

She nods her chestnut head, then visibly cringes.

「…But this was meant to be a vacation for you too.」

Cycelia adds with a pained smile.

「Don't worry about it, Lia… Hobomode is fun to climb out of.」

Straf replies with an accepting sigh and a shrug.

「H- Hobomode?」

She echoes back, tilting her head.

「Yeah, but the problem is you either climb out too fast, or you never do… Seriously, what kind of a greedy fuck sells a basic sword for eight fucking silver coins?…」

He nods, and grumbles to himself under his breath.

「Um, er… What is a hobomode, first?…」

Cycelia asks with an awkward smile, tugging gently at Straf's sleeve from behind.

「Oh boy… Remember when you were hiding from the manhunters and eating nuts and berries?…」

Gaining an amused and lightly patronizing smirk on his face, Straf begins to explain as the group continues along the trail…

…

A few hours and many pillars of stacked rocks later…

The sun is well past its zenith, now descending towards the horizon. The path is well snowed-over, requiring forceful steps, though the guide is mostly clearing a trail for the rest. Behind the group are snowy mountains, and in front, mountains. Neither the empire nor the Eastern Kingdoms can be seen, but the encouraging presence of the stacked rocks ahead and the fact Rudolf is casually pressing on encourage the group to follow.

While the path along the trail is flat and easy to traverse, aside from the ever-present snow and the biting cold, it's leading alongside a deep ravine between the mountains, filled with an unknown depth of snow, presumably after multiple avalanches packed it full. Large birds are flying in circles over the mountain on the other side, across the ravine.

「What are those?…」

Cycelia asks while looking at the distant birds.

「Hm? Ah… Snow rocs. A scholar could explain it better, but they're basically giant eagles that like snowy mountains like these… They're not dangerous, unless they're hungry…」

Rudolf glances at Cycelia, then looks where her eyes are pointed. He takes a quick peek at the rocs, then loses interest.

「…What do you do if they are hungry?」

She furrows her brows, peeking out from beyond Straf.

「Well, uh…」

The guide thinks, stroking his beard.

「…Hope they don't see you? I think the mage over here could handle one or two, probably.」

He replies, helplessly spreading his hands with an awkward smile. Straf looks at the man with his mouth aslant, then turns his bored gaze to the birds.

「So they are dangerous!」

Cycelia exclaims while gripping onto Straf with the tips of her fingers.

「Oh, not compared to thunderbirds they're not. A thunderbird will kill rocs for fun, and maybe eat them later if it feels like it. If you see a yellow-feathered bird, bury yourselves in the snow.」

Rudolf scoffs, shaking his head with furrowed brows and a lightly troubled smirk.

「Go on ahead without me, I'll catch up.」

Straf declares as he takes a few steps to the ravine's side. Though somewhat perplexed, Cycelia walks past. Nona tilts her hood-covered head at him, while Lily raises her brow.

「Hm?… If you need a latrine break, I'd suggest you be quick-」

FWOOOFPM!

Rudolf stops in his tracks and partially turns around, only to see Straf leap into the air towards the ravine with a gigantic cloud of snow rising into the air as he jumps.

「Ah!? Eh!? Eeeh!?…」

The guide practically jumps up in stunned shock and points his shaky finger at Straf, who is casually flying across the ravine in a flat arc with his hands still in his pockets.

「…Wh-!? Ho-!? W-!? What!? What is that man!?…」

Rudolf exclaims while watching Straf, now reduced to a small black dot on the white background. He lands on the other mountain, kicking up an equal amount of snow as he slides along the mountain's slope as if snowboarding. The rocs take notice and begin hungrily circling over him like vultures over a dying animal. The guide blinks in disbelief and rubs his cold hand on his eyes, completely baffled.

「…What does he even need me for if he can do that!?」

「Eheheh… I kind of forced him to pay for your services… But I appreciate the information about the Eastern Kingdoms! Really, it'll be big help!」

The man asks, turning his wide-open eyes to Cycelia. With an awkward smile on her face, she chuckles a little as the group stops beside him.

In the distance, a blue beam pierces through one of the rocs, which then chaotically plummets to the snow, limply tumbling and spiraling on its way down. One bird from the flock is angered and dives for Straf with its menacing talons pointed at him. Another blue beam pierces its body, and Straf simply side-steps out of the way of its corpse with his hands in his pockets as it crashes down into the snow, kicking up a white cloud. More blue rays project from Straf's general proximity, effortlessly slaughtering the flock.

「T- Th- That's all of them! He killed the entire flock! He never even removed his hands from his pockets!」

Rudolf remarks while pointing his finger at Straf over the ravine.

「Hmpf. Naturally… Straf is far above trash like this.」

Lily remarks while looking at Straf with her arms crossed and a smug smirk on her pale face.

「Well, it is cold out here…」

Cycelia shrugs, still awkwardly smiling while Straf digs through the snow, picking something out of it. He throws what he finds into his [Portable Storage] along with the dead birds.

「That's a valid reason to kill a horde of dangerous beasts with your hands in your pockets!?」

The guide exclaims with his jaw dropped. Straf leaps across the ravine again.

…FFFFWOPMF!

He lands a few paces away, kicking up a cloud of snow as he casually slides along the slope up.

When he slows to a halt, he nonchalantly wades through the thigh-deep snow back to Rudolf and the group.

「…I told you to just keep going.」

Straf says with a disappointed, almost annoyed tone and his mouth aslant. Rudolf lowers his arm, simply staring at Straf in disbelief as he rejoins them.

「Well… You put on a show, so we had to watch.」

Cycelia shrugs with a smile.

「Tsk… I got some garbage to sell, and now there shouldn't be anything along the trail ready to eat Carrothead.」

Straf clicks his tongue and nonchalantly continues following along the guide.

「Ah. You did it for Greaves and his friends?…」

Her chestnut head perks up in surprise, and her pale face returns a warm smile.

「Huh? No, I did it so we're not completely broke. If there's free stuff around, why would I not take it?…」

Straf furrows his brows with an incredulous expression on his face, raising the corner of his mouth.

「I wouldn't call that free, though…」

Cycelia interjects quietly, still smiling.

「…Besides, if they can't handle a random encounter, there's no way they're taking on the last boss.」

He adds, shrugging his coat-covered shoulders.

「The last boss?…」

Confused, Cycelia echoes back, tilting her head as she and the rest follow behind Straf. They pass another pile of stacked rocks, and a shred of red cloth flaps wildly in the bitterly cold wind…