The Founder's Mountain was a snow mountain, and one of the most prominent places of this Kingdom, since this was the place where the great hero Remus, along with his allies, had their last stand against the demon king.

During their battle, the great mage Marianne, used a strong ice magic that till this day and age, the snow falls there.

As for why this place was called the Founder's Mountain, it's because this was the place from where the Remus located the land where our Kingdom of Hale is situated.

"That's so cool!! I also wanna be a hero when I grow up!!"

My mother gently pat my head and she said with a warm smile.

"don't worry about that I'm sure you will, Jay."

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(At the Founder's Mountain)

"This place is so cold that it's freezing me to my bones! Still... if Celine really is here, it will all be worth it."

I told myself as I kept moving forward, it's true that I'm having difficulty recruiting new allies for the party, once I recruit Celine, I'm sure everyone will automatically join as well.

"Still....what was she even doing at a place like this?"

I asked myself when I suddenly noticed fresh footprints on the snow.

"Hmm."

They probably Belong to celine, but it seems like she was sprinting. That would be mean..

" Looks like I'm on the right track."

But even after searching for three hours, she's nowhere around, all I could manage to find are more footprints.

'from the looks of it, she was definitely running, but the question is from who? Or what?'

As I thought to myself, I heard something moving closer to me from a distance, whatever this monster is, it's footsteps were heavy.

I took a stance as the sound of footsteps got louder but soon everything went quiet....

"..."

No sound at all...

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"Is...it gone?"

I was thinking about what that thing could have been,when I suddenly felt a pointy cold iron touching my nape.

"What the hell are you doing at this place?"

Someone spoke from behind.

"I could ask the same thing to you."

I said as turned to look around at this person.

" Isn't that right, Celine?"

It was her, the first person who left my party, right after I kicked out that weakling.

"Why are you-"

Before she could finish her words, I immediately fell onto my knees and started begging.

"I'm sorry for being a jerk! Celine please join me again!! I promise that we can share our loot 70/30, of course the larger portion is yours!"

She kept looking at me begging at her feet yet no words came from her mouth. Does that mean she wants me to increase her share?

"O-okay...how about 80/20....no? then...uh..90/10....still not good? Fine then! 95/5, that's the best offer I can make! please Celine come back and join the dragonfall party!!!.."

I kept begging but she still didn't utter a single word... after sometime I realised it's not that she's not satisfied with the share in loot, it's that she's silently judging me.

Finally, she took a deep sigh, and then turned her attention to me, looking at me with her sharp eyes.

"Screw off Jason, I have no intention of joining you."

B-but why, why would she refuse such a generous offer...

Soon after giving me her answer, she begin to walk away.

"PLEASE CELINE! THINK AGAIN!!!"

I shouted but that didn't seem to stop her.

Finally, I decided to ask her why she doesn't want to join my party, but before I could scream, a loud roar interrupted me. The heavy footsteps that I heard from earlier came back, and now they were much faster and closer.

"You idiot, you just gave our location to that thing!!!"

Celine screamed at me, but I was wondering who she was referring to and why she's so worried about the thing that was coming towards us but soon all of my questions were answered..

"....fuck."

Behind us was a towering, ape like creature, it's white fur-covered skin adapted to icy environments. Its sharp claws, coupled with a hulking stature, make it a formidable presence in snowy landscapes.

It's glowing blue eyes pierce through the cold, and its breath creating cloud from its mouth.

"A high ranking snow-troll."

Celine said in a low voice, as soon as I heard her, I looked at Celine, our argument replaced with a silent truce. Survival became our common goal.

I tightened my grip on the sword that I just unsheathed, feeling the chill of the snow mountain or maybe it was just goosebumps. As Celine readied her own sword beside me.

"Ready when you are."

As soon as Celine said.

I lunged forward, slashing at the snow-troll's leg. The monster roared in pain, but it quickly got up and attacked me with a sweeping swing of its massive claws. I dodged the attack, narrowly avoiding getting caught in the troll's grasp.

Celine came from the side, creating a diversion and I took that opportunity to attack the troll's other leg, causing it to stumble.

"Alright, we got it down!!"

I said thinking we got him when Celine shouted from behind.

"Watch out!!"

As soon a I heard this, I noticed the snow-troll swung its huge arms wildly.

I jumped sideways evading the blow, meanwhile, Celine used her mastery of the sword, dodging all it's attacks, landed precise strikes on the creature's vulnerable spots.

"Woah! we're quite a great team, aren't we?"

Celine simply ignored my words and continued the fight.

As the battle continued, the troll's movements grew slow. Celine taking advantage of this, delivered a powerful blow to the creature's icy heart. I followed-up that attack with a final blow, decapitating the troll.

Breathing heavily in the freezing air, both me and Celine stood above the troll's body, sheathing our swords.

"Huff...huff...We did it.."

I was exhausted from the battle.

"...yeah.."

But Celine looked like she didn't even gave her all.

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(After sometime)

After defeating the monster, I was still trying to convince Celine to join me but she kept on refusing.

"Alright, give me one reason why you don't want to become my partner?"

Celine scowled at me, annoyed as if I struck a nerve.

"Why should I join you? Don't you get it? It's because of your nature, you're selfish, you're rude, you act as though you care for your team members but when a member shows even a slight weakness, you kick them out...just like you did with Leon."

She said to me, painting me as a bad guy.

"B-but everything I did, I did for the party members-"

I tried to defend myself, but she cut me off.

"It's not the party members you care about, but the party's name. Did you ever check up on the other members after any battle, did you knew how many times Borris got injured after all of our battles, did you know how many times Ru almost got exhausted due to excessive use of mana because you asked him, you want me to continue?"

As she continued, I felt a sense of shame...did I truly never noticed all of that.

"I don't care about you or your party, Jason...even the reason why I came to this place was because I heard from someone that Leon was last spotted here.... unfortunately instead of running into him, I ran into you."

Both of us got silent for a minute, but then Celine turned her back to me and begin to walk away.

"I hope we don't cross paths again, or else, next time my blade will do the talking."

After saying all of that, Celine, my final hope to recreate my party left me behind.