Chapter 710: Invitation with Snow
“I understand…” Strax murmured, looking at the paper in front of him. It was a short letter from Samira—and, as always, straight to the point. She explained that the so-called “Veil Company,” which had been trying to buy information about him on the black market, was nothing more than…
Idiots.
Well, that wasn’t exactly the word she used, but that’s what he understood. Their leader, apparently, wasn’t the smartest guy in the world—he went poking his nose into the black market without even informing his partner and the brains of the company. Result: Yennifer and Cristine went into alert mode, and a good deal of ti was spent trying to find out who these mysterious people were.
In short? It was all a huge waste of ti. And the most curious thing: the mbers of the Veil Company actually seed like a group of good people. Happy, even too happy. It makes sense, considering how innocent the leader is.
“What do you think?” Strax asked, shifting his gaze from the paper to Scarlet, who was slumped in the armchair beside him. Near her, Monica efficiently arranged a pile of docunts with almost irritating precision, while Beatrice, as always, sipped her tea with the calm of soone who has all the ti in the world.
“A foolish man,” Beatrice comnted, with a slight smile before taking another sip of her tea. “But if he managed to form a solid company even being foolish, perhaps we can take so advantage of that.”
“I would just ignore them,” Scarlet replied, without even looking up. “Too much innocence only brings destruction. It’s not the ti to let vulnerabilities appear.”
Monica sighed, closing a folder with a snap. “Perhaps, but considering how stable we are now, I doubt a small unforeseen event will bring us down, husband.” She looked at him and smiled slightly. “We are making good use of our citizens, but the expansion will begin soon. Having soone who knows the surroundings well could be useful.”
Strax nodded, thoughtfully. Now that he had assud this new role in his life, his priority was to be the best leader possible—and that could only be achieved with competent people by his side.
“And Agnes? How is she doing?” he asked, smiling.
Thanks to Frieren, who had been training Agnes’s daughter—a young woman who turned out to be a Shaman—the woman had decided to reciprocate the help. She said she didn’t want to be indebted and started working directly for him.
“She’s incredible,” Scarlet replied with a sparkle in her eyes. “I taught her so combat techniques, and in three days she had mastered them all. Now she’s teaching the Beastn of the Beast Monarch.” She crossed her arms, proudly. “Her blood is special. If I didn’t know you and Scathach, I’d say she’s the greatest genius I’ve ever seen. The speed of learning is absurd, but the way she teaches… that’s what’s truly frightening.”
Strax leaned back in his chair, a slight smile on his face. “It’s good that she’s proving useful. I confess I feared I was pushing her too hard right from the start,” he said, his voice serene but sincere.
Scarlet gave a short laugh, crossing her legs in the armchair. “Pushing a warrior too hard?” she teased, with that mocking tone only she could master.
“Please, Strax. That woman was born waiting for soone to finally push her to the limit. You just did her the favor of fulfilling her unspoken request.”
Strax raised an eyebrow, amused. “Fair enough.” He chuckled softly. “Right, right…”
He placed the letter on the table, his gaze becoming more serious. “And our plan? How is it progressing?”
Scarlet straightened up, resting her elbow on the armrest of the armchair. “At the sa point, for now,” she replied. “We’re waiting for information from Cristine. She and Yennifer split up as we agreed.”
Strax nodded slowly, attentive. “Yennifer went to take care of the Veil Company, to try and understand if this Erik fellow is really just a fool with good intentions,” Scarlet continued. “Cristine, on the other hand, went north. She’s scouting the borders beyond Hilfhord towards Cristhalis, where the winds bite and the mountains never lt.”
Beatrice, until then silent, set down her cup with a slight clink. “The territory of the Ice Monarch,” she murmured, as if pronouncing the na of a storm.
Scarlet nodded. “Exactly. Even though we are ‘theoretically’ in the North, we are still very far south compared to her domain. Cristine went to the lands that truly deserve that title—where the snow itself has a will to kill anyone who treads upon it.”
Strax stroked his chin thoughtfully. “And she went alone?”
“Of course not,” Scarlet replied, a slight smile appearing. “She took three of the beast-n trained by Agnes. Her best. If sothing goes wrong, we’ll hear about it.”
Monica, still organizing reports, added without looking up: “The problem is, if sothing goes wrong, the news might arrive too late.”
Scarlet rely shrugged. “It’s part of the ga.”
Strax took a deep breath, his gaze distant for a mont. “The Ice Monarch…” he said softly. “I hope she’s like the little beast who got a beating and gave up on life, but at the sa ti, I wish it were more interesting to subdue her.”
A brief silence hung over the room, broken only by the low crackling of the fireplace and the distant sound of the wind rattling against the windowpanes. Strax kept his gaze fixed on nothing, as if seeing far beyond those walls—beyond the borders, beyond the horizon, perhaps even beyond his own ambition.
That’s when three knocks sounded on the door. Dry, rhythmic.
Scarlet turned her face, suspicious. “Expecting soone?”
Strax raised an eyebrow. “No.”
The doorknob slowly turned, and a figure entered, clad in almost nothing, with a thin bra holding up those two enormous breasts, tanned skin and horns pointing to the sky…
“Man, people use too many letters in this place,” her voice sounded arrogant and quite conceited. “A ssage arrived, darling.”
Strax frowned. “A ssage? From whom?”
Kali advanced a few steps, holding a parchnt sealed with blue wax. The symbol—a frozen spiral encircling a crown—made the air in the room seem to grow colder for a mont.
Beatrice slowly put down her cup, her eyes narrowing. “That is…”
“The seal of the Ice Monarch,” Scarlet completed, her voice firm, although a curious smile began to form on her lips. “It seems soone at the end of the world has decided to break the silence.”
Kali complained. “The ssenger said he was instructed to deliver it by hand and leave without saying a word. He almost lost his fingers from how much the cold clung to him, but he managed to get here alive.” She spoke and continued, “Seriously, who imbues a scroll with ice magic and gives it to an ordinary human to transport?”
Strax reached out, calmly taking the letter. The wax creaked as he broke the seal, and a blast of icy air escaped from the parchnt, making even the candle flas flicker.
He read in silence for a few seconds—his eyes scanning the lines with increasing attention. Gradually, a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
Scarlet watched him, curious. “What is it? Bad news?”
Strax let out a low, almost amused laugh. “It depends on your point of view.”
“And what does the letter say?” Monica insisted, finally putting down the papers.
Strax looked up, letting the parchnt fall onto the table. The broken seal reflected the light of the flas as if it still shone with ice.
“The Ice Monarch,” he said, in the calm tone of soone savoring each word, “wants to et .”
The silence that followed was almost palpable.
Beatrice raised an eyebrow. “et… personally?”
“Exactly.” Strax rested his chin on his hand, the smile growing. “It seems she’s heard enough about to decide that a simple exchange of ssages wouldn’t be appropriate.”
Scarlet chuckled softly, shaking her head. “And you thought you’d have to go to her with an entire troop. Apparently, she’s already opened the gate herself.”
“That sounds like a trap to ,” Monica observed, her tone practical and cold. “Monarchs don’t invite foreigners for tea and conversation. At least that’s the impression I got from the Beast Monarch coming personally with a pseudo-army just because we annoyed him.”
“It could be.” Strax shrugged, looking at the letter again. “Or it could be curiosity. The dangerous kind, of course… but still curiosity.” Beatrice rested her hands in her lap, looking at him over the steam of her tea. “And what are you going to do?”
Strax leaned back in his chair, his smile now a mixture of arrogance and genuine interest. “What I always do, Beatrice.” He looked at each of them, his eyes burning with that glint they all recognized. “I’m going to accept the invitation.”
Scarlet leaned forward, her feline smile returning. “Finally, sothing interesting.”
“Interesting and lethal,” Monica added, sighing. “I hope you know what you’re getting yourself into.”
Strax chuckled softly, picking up the parchnt again and twirling it between his fingers. “Know?” He raised his eyes, his tone firm, confident, almost predatory. “I never know, Monica. That’s what makes it all fun.”
Kali, still standing by the door, couldn’t hide a slight shiver. His laughter, deep and full of anticipation, seed to make the air in the room vibrate.
Strax stood up, going to the window. Outside, the night was covered in thick clouds—and, in the distance, a bluish glow moved over the northern mountains. The harbinger of the approaching cold.
He observed for a mont before saying, softly, almost to himself:
“Ice Monarch, is it?” Strax murmured, with that half-smile that always appeared when he was about to do sothing crazy. “Let’s see if your throne is as cold as they say…”
He clapped his hands, excitedly, the sound echoing through the room.
“So!” he announced, spinning on his heels energetically. “Who wants to co with ?”
Silence.
His gaze swept the room. The empty armchairs. Beatrice’s teacup still spinning alone on the saucer, as if it had been dropped in a hurry. Monica’s pile of papers was perfectly stacked—and the most suspicious detail: even the pen had been placed upright.
He blinked. “…Where did they go?”
Scarlet, the only survivor in the room, yawned lazily and waved her hand.
“As soon as you started the sentence with ‘Who wants to co with ,’ the three of them evaporated.”
Strax crossed his arms, making a face that showed he didn’t know whether to laugh or complain. “Oh, co on… cowards.”
“Not cowards.” Scarlet smiled, stretching like a satisfied cat. “Intelligent. You said ‘Extre North’. I think just hearing that, half the city already grabbed a blanket.”
“You’re a bunch of drama queens,” he grumbled, breaking into a wide smile.
“It’s just a little cold. At most, you’ll lose a few fingers. Nothing much.”
“Yes, nothing much,” Scarlet replied, laughing, getting up. “For soone who can regenerate their body, maybe. As for , I prefer to keep my ten fingers intact, thank you.”
“So you’re staying too?”
She raised an eyebrow and lightly patted him on the shoulder. “Stay? Of course not. If I let you go alone, you’ll end up fighting a blizzard just to prove a point. And I don’t want to have to reconstruct my husband’s body after he’s frozen and used as decoration in her castle.”
Strax chuckled genuinely, stifling a laugh in his throat.
“So you’re coming with , then?”
“Of course,” Scarlet replied, shrugging her shoulders with a mischievous smile. “Besides, I’ve been resting too much. I need to stretch my legs… and, who knows, maybe kick one or two ice servants to get the blood flowing.”
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