Lilia Snow is an item exchange NPC who appears in the middle of the story.
Among fairies, she’s a bit peculiar—
she has memories of being with humans in the past, and as an echo of that time, she developed a gluttonous appetite. That’s the setting.
Having a sense of taste means having nerves and taste buds on the tongue, but I wonder if that even makes sense—still, that’s the setting, so what can I do.
Anyway.
In this Snowfield of Bubbling Shadows, it’s impossible to cultivate ingredients.
That’s why if you bring her cooking, she’ll exchange it for material items that can be gathered in the Snowfield of Bubbling Shadows.
Needless to say, the more cooking you bring, the better the materials you get.
Exactly five exchanges like that.
Around me lay “five snowballs personally handed over by Lilia,” and in exchange, Lilia received five black buns with cream.
**[I can’t give you any more today!]**
As expected, when affinity is low, the exchange limit is five times.
“I see. ‘Understood. Then let’s make a promise.’ ‘Next time I come looking for you with provisions, you shall hand over goods that you deem appropriate in return.’”
**[Okay! If you come again next time, I’ll give you all sorts of things!]**
“Understood. ‘Where shall we meet?’”
**[I’ll come here sometimes, so let’s meet here.]**
I clenched my fist.
I did it. I’ve done it again. Lee Young-jin!
Fairies value promises more than any other race.
And right now, we have “established an exchange” and “settled on a location.”
Lilia usually appears at camping spots, but by making the promise at the entrance rather than the middle of the Snowfield of Bubbling Shadows map, it means I can meet Lilia here from now on.
At the snowfield entrance where monsters don’t appear but map effects still apply, no less!
**[What’s your name?]**
“Wolfram von Lohengrin.”
**[Okay. Wolf! I’m Lilia. Lilia Snow! Nice to meet you from now on!]**
“Hmm.”
**[See you later then!]**
Lilia left just like that, and Mille-feuille and Ayla, who had been staring blankly at me, finally snapped back to their senses.
“W-Wolfram, you don’t get surprised when dealing with fairies?”
“What of it. Patrasche is a fairy too.”
“…Ah. That’s right. Not a dog that Wolfram keeps.”
Ayla.
He’s not a dog either.
For the record, he’s a wolf.
I looked at the red wolf lying on his belly inside the open tent, even snoring, and nodded.
He’s definitely a wolf, right?
Probably.
—
The next day.
We packed up the campsite.
The only trace of us left in this snowfield was the five-meter-tall giant snowman Ayla had built.
Ayla gazed at that snowman with sad eyes and nodded.
“Goodbye. Great Snow Tri-Star No. 1.”
Was that the name?
Then she turned her head and looked at Mille-feuille. Then looked back at the Great Snow… whatever, alternating her gaze like that.
“Ayla-senpai? Wh-why are you looking at me like you want to devour me…?”
“I was just thinking… if Piyo-chan boarded the Great Snow Tri-Star… it would be truly rebellious, wouldn’t it?”
“Eh!?”
Are you a giant robot pilot?
Anyway, chatting like that, we hurried back.
Since a day had passed, we didn’t know when the map might go berserk again.
“Wolfram.”
“What is it.”
On the way back, at the fork between the dormitory and the convenience store, Ayla asked a question.
“So when are we coming here again?”
“Undecided.”
“You have to call me, okay? I’ll have Great Snow Tri-Star No. 2 designed by then!”
To raise Lilia’s affinity, of course I need to come to this snowfield—if I came once a day, a hundred days would finish the affinity grind, but coming every day for a hundred days isn’t easy.
Even if it’s once a week, that’s a hundred weeks. A year has 52 weeks, so that’s about two years.
“I’ll have to think about it again later.”
“Then I’ll make a Great Snow Wolfram too!”
“Understood. I’ll contact you soon.”
“Okay!”
—
After sending the two off, I closed my eyes on the cart led by Patrasche.
Blue sky, pure white clouds. And even whiter…
Even more, even more whiter…
**[Wolf. Where are you going?]**
“…Why are you here.”
**[The snowfield is boring, so I thought it’d be fun to be with Wolf!]**
“…”
**[Rather than waiting for Wolf to come, isn’t it more fun if I go out too!?]**
The pure white fairy was flying above the cart, tagging along.
The NPC came to me first.
I didn’t think of this one.
“How far do you plan to follow?”
**[I want to hang around by Wolf’s side and see the human world once more!]**
“Lilia. You and I have a legitimate trade relationship. That’s unreasonable.”
**[Is that so? Hmm. Is that so?]**
“It is. In this world, if there’s giving, there must be receiving—”
**[Then I’ll give you this!]**
“Hm?”
**[The Snow Fairy’s Blessing dwells within your body!]**
**[Heat below a certain threshold cannot penetrate your body!]**
Ha.
Really.
When you give me stuff like this, I’m like, well—
**[Fairy affinity is high.]**
**[You are freed from all heat-related status effects!]**
**[This blessing continues as long as the fairy’s favor continues!]**
“Lilia.”
**[Yeah?]**
“Follow me wherever you want.”
**[Okay!]**
Well.
I suppose I can think of her as a talking portable air conditioner.
Come to think of it, she always gave me little items like this.
True to her title of Great Magic Merchant.
Of course… the problem was that I shouldn’t be accepting them.
—
Ciela’s Coffin.
Practically a dormitory exclusive to the children of the Ciela family.
For this term’s cohort, since only Regina Ciela uses it, this place was a symbol of luxury.
Compared to Zefflin’s best dormitory, Glestheim Dormitory, it didn’t pale much in comparison.
The only difference was that it was one floor lower than Glestheim.
The interior might be just as luxurious, but because of the despair of not being allowed to use a building higher than the Student Council President—more precisely, the Imperial Palace—Regina Ciela doesn’t like this place.
The despair that this lavish dormitory could collapse at any moment with a single word from Lohengrin trampled Regina Ciela’s heart, and to her, this dormitory prepared solely for her was a curse itself.
However, recently she had begun to like this dormitory just a little.
The fact that it’s spacious—
That single point alone pleased her.
“…Ah.”
Naturally, if the walls are wide, you can install many things.
A room that no one except Regina can enter.
The walls of that room were filled with paintings.
Paintings depicting only herself and the one person she was trying to let in.
To be precise, they were paintings.
A total of 99, covering all four walls and even the ceiling.
Inside every single one, without exception, she and one man were depicted.
“A living space has value simply by being spacious—I feel like I’ve gained new insight, thanks to that person.”
She traced each painting with her fingertips, smiling.
In front of the largest painting mounted in the center of the room, she even let out a small gasp.
“As expected, this painting I commissioned from the Atelier District is my favorite.”
A painting of herself sitting in a bathtub overflowing with rose petals, and a blond man with his hands around her neck—that painting captured her heart and wouldn’t let go.
The man’s eyes were cold beyond measure, his lips devoid of any affection, yet those slender hands gripped her throat without mercy.
Isn’t that just like their relationship?
By status alone, he’s clearly weaker than her.
Yet he stands in a position where he could strangle her at any time.
Simply by bloodline alone, he could kill her whenever he wished.
But that wasn’t all.
By bloodline,
by skill,
by spirit,
and even by the ambition he harbors—he is the only one who can trample her.
“You were interested in art too. Someday, if you fill the hundredth painting in my room… I’d probably die of happiness.”
As she was admiring the paintings like that, the watch on Regina’s wrist began to ring.
“You said this was a defective product. Fufu.”
This watch she had submitted to the Zefflin Magic Craft Competition.
The man had advised her that if she delivered this to the Imperial Palace, a great crisis would come someday.
That’s right.
This watch is a serious defective product.
The magical ink bleeds, so when indicating the time, it leaves stains later on.
Since it runs on the wearer’s internal mana, if you wear it too long, you eventually can’t read the numbers anymore.
Only the alarm sound tells you that this watch once functioned properly.
The numbers on Regina’s watch were already pitch black.
She had worn it every day since the day he pointed it out. And every time her eyes went to her wrist, she thought of him.
And she, without ever tiring, looked at her wrist day after day.
As the eldest daughter of the Ciela Trading Company, which handles only the most perfect items, she should have discarded it immediately.
But Regina kept wearing it on her wrist, as if this watch connected her to him.
A defective product. Just like herself, isn’t it?
And the only one who can point that out is, of course, him alone.
No one around her pointed it out. The only useful person is him.
Then—does he have no weaknesses?
Regina, out of sheer curiosity, began investigating the Imperial descendant.
A situation that could get her arrested for treason. But that thrill began to enchant her.
And what came out was something truly ordinary, yet in a way understandable.
When summer or winter comes, the man doesn’t leave his dormitory, which is equipped with heating and cooling.
Because his physical status is so low, he simply cannot go out.
“Fufu. To think you had such an adorable weakness.”
If she gave him a small cooling accessory, wouldn’t he see her differently?
Thinking that, Regina Ciela rose from her seat.
“I hope I grow larger inside that person who receives this.”
But would someone so overwhelmingly above you even like such a trivial gift?
No—rather, what if he refuses? Saying he’s already overcome such a weakness, looking down on her—if he would do that…
“That would be even more intoxicating.”
Thinking that, Regina felt that she was truly a troublesome person.
“You can trample and violate this trouble of mine whenever you wish. Fufu, aha. Ahahaha…”
She was truly a troublesome person.
—
The next day, I showed my face at a lecture for the first time in a while.
Come to think of it, I have to meet the minimum attendance requirement to get next semester’s scholarship, so I had no choice.
And trailing behind me were Patrasche and Lilia, tagging along.
The two get along well.
Fairies aren’t particularly interested in each other to begin with. They do have some territorial disputes, but since they already consider themselves to be in my territory, they don’t fight.
Honestly, I couldn’t concentrate on the lecture.
Everyone’s stares were no joke.
Especially that Regina Ciela over there—her gaze was burning as if she wanted to devour me.
What is it. Did she hold a grudge from last time at the social gathering?
Let’s escape quickly as soon as the lecture ends.
“I’m leaving. Patrasche. Lilia.”
“It seems it’s already too late.”
“I pay my respects to His Highness Wolfram von Lohengrin. Have you been well since the last social gathering?”
“…The young lady of the Ciela family, I presume. What business do you have?”
Ugh, seriously.
Why are you talking to me.
“It’s nothing grand.”
“Then may I take my leave?”
“Before that… I dared to be rude because I wished to present something to His Highness.”
“Present something?”
A gift?
You?
Why?
“Yes. This.”
Saying that, Regina held out an item.
A gold ring with a red-tinted rim.
I know this.
One of Regina Ciela’s 99 gifts.
“An accessory. Its effect is—”
“An accessory with a minor fire resistance enchantment.”
“As expected. You recognize it.”
“The reason you hand this to me?”
“I obtained it in case Your Highness, who will achieve great things in the future, might grow weary from the summer heat.”
“Hmm.”
A gift from Regina.
My, my.
Another unpleasant thing has arrived.
In the main story, receiving Regina’s gift is “not allowed.”
She offers to give you a gift, and if you accept, she treats you as “someone who overcomes adversity through her favor.”
And then she binds that person with a continuous barrage of gifts.
According to the café affection named 【You Guys Call Her Miss Ciela】, that’s an expression of euphoria—”I helped the other person. That means I’m above them!”—and they said that part is cute.
You find that way of thinking cute? Really? Are you insane?
Anyway. That’s why all of Regina’s gifts should be refused as a rule.
“No. I will not accept it.”
“Eh? W-why is that?”
On the contrary, if you refuse, she smiles with genuine joy.
Because it makes you appear as someone who overcomes trials without her help.
However, when refusing, you need a valid reason.
“If you have no reason… should I take it that you’re refusing solely out of hatred for me?”
“…”
If you don’t, she takes the refusal as a deep wound.
You’re not accepting my affection because you hate me, right? That kind of mindset.
Uwaaaaaah… Seriously so annoying…
There’s a reason I’ve seen her ending about ten times.
“Do you see this one? Right here.”
Saying that, I pointed to Lilia behind me, and Regina tilted her head.
“Oh my, such a pure white person. Are they an attendant?”
“A snow fairy.”
“…Pardon?”
“When I went on an expedition to the northern snowfield. I made a pact. She is bestowing her blessing upon me.”
Regina’s eyes went wide.
“…Th-that’s impossible. You’re saying you set foot on that northern land that no one has set foot on for three hundred years?”
**[Why is it impossible? Wolf and I really did make a promise!]**
At the voice like pitifully falling snowflakes, Regina’s body trembled.
Her voice is pretty, but the problem is she talks like a complete child.
If you put her together with the Compass of the Little Ones, they’d probably get along great.
“…Truly, that’s not a human voice. I sense overwhelming magical power.”
“Do you understand now?”
“Yes. A real fairy. So you truly succeeded in the first expedition in three hundred years.”
To be honest, I have a skill that raises my immunity to mental interference from the Imperial bloodline to near-immunity, but normal people get mental-status ailments from a single word from a fairy.
Even Regina Ciela furrowed her brow just slightly. She must have realized the mental interference was affecting her.
“That’s right. You don’t mean to say that this shoddy toy is more effective than the blessing of a snow fairy, do you?”
“Preposterous. What I brought is trash. Yes. It’s truly nothing but trash.”
Regina hesitated, then asked a question.
“Then I have one thing I’d like to ask. Your Highness.”
“Permission granted.”
“Then—is that red wolf also a fairy?”
“Yes. That one is a fairy of fire and telekinesis.”
As expected of the genius who follows right behind Eve.
Once she remembers Lilia’s wavelength, she understands Patrasche’s wavelength and asks if they’re kin.
“Then does that mean both heat and cold are no longer Your Highness’s weakness?”
“Of course. I’ve already overcome such weaknesses. Withdraw, Ciela. I have no time to spare for your worthless toys.”
At the words laced with contempt, Regina’s eyes glazed over and she began trembling.
“Ah, aaaa. Aaaaaaaaaah. That contempt. Truly, the Twin-Yao’s Explosive Ice Attack Prince His Highness!”
What.
What the hell is that epithet.
“I concede defeat. Please forgive me for daring to try to present such rude and crude gifts.”
“I shall forgive you.”
“…Then I’ll take my leave.”
Saying that, Regina withdrew with a bright smile.
Hey, wait.
Wait a second.
If that gift she was trying to give me was a contest of “status” between me and Regina—
does this mean I just fulfilled the condition for “3 wins against Regina Ciela”?
Does that mean Regina’s route opens?
“…”
No.
That can’t be.
It mustn’t be.
For real.
