His hands and feet were ice-cold, but his forehead was warm.
These were signs of hypothermia.
Kraft stepped forward to help Shane examine Stark. His conclusion matched Shane's exactly. Stark's condition was critical.
Hypothermia during a blizzard was terrifying. They had to find that shelter as quickly as possible.
"I'll carry him."
As he spoke, Kraft wrapped his own blanket around Stark before crouching down and lifting him onto his back.
Watching his actions, Shane imdiately gained a bit of goodwill toward the martial monk. Even if the guy had smacked him the mont they t, his character was still reliable.
The group quickened their pace.
Finally, after walking for a while longer, Shane spotted the outline of a cabin in the distance.
The cabin looked sturdy. Its doors and windows were intact, and it was obvious soone regularly maintained the place.
After pushing open the door, they found the interior extrely simple. There was only a table and chairs, along with several thick blankets. Other than that, the room was empty. And because nobody lived there, the entire cabin was freezing cold.
Kraft placed Stark in front of the fireplace and tried to take out so tinder to start a fire, but after fumbling around for a while, he couldn't find any.
Beside him, Fern imdiately ignited a small fla on her fingertip and tossed it into the fireplace.
Whoosh—
The flas licked at the firewood, and the dim golden light instantly brought a touch of warmth to the cabin.
Kraft was about to thank her, but Fern had already walked past him. With quick, practiced movents, she took out a soup pot from her backpack and started boiling water for soup.
Kraft could tell the little girl was angry.
By the fireplace, Shane pressed a hand against Stark's forehead, his expression grim.
"This won't do. His body temperature is dropping too fast."
Kraft took out the Holy Scriptures and imdiately cast a simple healing spell on Stark. Pale green light descended onto Stark's body, slightly improving the color of his pale face.
Unfortunately, only a few seconds after the healing spell ended, that faint color disappeared completely again.
The two exchanged a glance, both realizing the situation was bad. In Stark's current condition, healing magic was far too slow. They had to stop the hypothermia imdiately, or the consequences would be disastrous.
Shane glanced toward Fern's boiling soup pot and suddenly got an idea.
"Kraft, if soone suffering from hypothermia takes a hot bath, can it raise their body temperature quickly?"
"As a monk, I've never done that to a hypothermic human before. But in the rural areas of the Northern Lands, farrs do use hot baths to restore the body temperature of livestock suffering from hypothermia."
"Then let's try it on him."
"This..."
"We don't have ti to hesitate. If anything goes wrong midway, I'll need you to use magic to help him."
"Understood."
Shane took out a huge cauldron from his backpack.
This was one of the gifts from the city hall after resolving the dungeon incident in the Inverted Land beneath Gostan City. Among the entire cookware set, this was the largest pot, and he'd never had a chance to use it until now.
Shane and Kraft shoveled snow into the cauldron until it was full before starting to heat it.
While waiting for the water to warm up, Kraft continuously cast healing magic on Stark, but the results were minimal.
anwhile, Fern and Frieren carefully tested the temperature of the water. According to Shane's instructions, it had to stay at the level of "warm, but not scalding."
"Mr. Shane, it's ready!"
Hearing that, Shane imdiately stripped Stark's clothes off. Together with Kraft, they carefully lowered him into the pot.
During the process, Frieren curiously tried to sneak a look, only for Fern to cover her eyes and drag her away.
Before long, the steaming mist ward the entire cabin.
Shane carefully controlled the water temperature while repeatedly checking Stark's forehead. Everyone gathered around the giant pot, anxiously waiting.
Finally, after simring him for half an hour, Stark's pale complexion gradually turned red.
"Mm..."
The boy slowly opened his hazy eyes, only to see four pairs of eyes staring directly at him.
He blanked out for a mont, closed his eyes again, then reopened them.
The sa four pairs of eyes were still staring at him.
"You guys..."
The mont he spoke, the slightly hoarse sound of his own voice startled him. But soon afterward, he noticed sothing even more shocking.
He was completely naked... soaking in a giant pot?
"What is going on here?!"
Stark's voice suddenly shot up several octaves.
Shane let out a sigh of relief. Good. His lungs sounded strong enough. He was probably fine now.
Kraft raised a hand and used a Disease Detection Spell to briefly examine Stark before kindly explaining:
"You suffered hypothermia during the blizzard. We had to use this thod to warm you back up quickly."
Stark vaguely rembered feeling unbearably cold before blacking out.
But taking a bath in front of everyone like this was way too embarrassing!
He hurriedly shrank deeper into the pot, trying his best to let the water cover his entire body.
"Wh-Who took my clothes off?"
Shane couldn't help but complain, "In a room this tiny, does it really matter who took them off?"
Kraft also tried to comfort him.
"Don't worry. You're developing quite well."
Hearing that, Stark imdiately relaxed a little.
But even while busy covering Frieren's eyes, Fern's deadpan voice drifted over from afar.
"It's actually really small, though."
Stark instantly started stamring.
"W-W-W-What is small???"
The crisis was over.
The cabin gradually beca warr as well, and everyone finally relaxed.
Frieren imdiately started dozing off.
Fern quickly settled her down to sleep.
Since they were worried about Stark's condition, he was arranged to sleep closest to the fireplace that night.
Late into the night, after everyone had fallen asleep, the only sound remaining in the room was the crackling of burning firewood.
Shane slowly opened his eyes and glanced toward Kraft in the distance.
As expected, Kraft was also awake, quietly staring at him.
The two exchanged a look before silently getting up and leaving the cabin together.
The blizzard had mostly subsided, and the world was now deathly quiet.
Wrapped in a blanket, Shane stood beneath the cabin's roof, waiting for Kraft to speak first.
"How did you know I had sothing to say?"
"Instinct."
Kraft smiled.
If he had still harbored so doubts about Shane's allegiance at first, then after watching him save Stark and seeing how openly he faced him now, those suspicions had mostly disappeared.
However...
"Was the demonic aura I sensed really coming from that jar?"
Shane remained silent.
After a mont of silence between them, Kraft continued:
"But you don't need to worry. I won't try to attack you again. Because just now, I sensed the aura of the Goddess from you. Everyone blessed by the Goddess is an ally."
"Really? Maybe it's because I know a bit of Goddess magic?" Shane joked.
"It's not just that. As you probably know, elves are a very peculiar race. We're close to nature and can perceive even the slightest fluctuations in mana. Just now, what I sensed from you was precisely that subtle fluctuation. It was a power originating from the sa source as the faith of the Goddess."
"Shane, has anyone ever told you that you possess the talent of a priest?"
Shane smiled.
"Pretty much everyone I know says that."
"Then that explains it. But this isn't rely the talent of a priest. This is the Goddess's blessing. You are soone chosen by the Goddess herself."
Shane thought of the mad sage, Sharl.
"If you knew how I was born, you probably wouldn't say that."
Kraft shook his head.
"Shane, do you believe in souls? In the faith of priests, souls are eternal and indestructible. Death is rely a path to another world."
"You're talking about... the land where souls rest?"
"That is certainly a beautiful and sacred place. I've read descriptions of it in the Holy Scriptures. It's said to be a paradise for souls. But personally, I prefer to think of it as a gateway to another world."
A gateway to another world?
This was the first ti Shane had heard such an interpretation.
Flam's notes described it as the gathering place of souls. The world commonly associated it with the Demon King's Castle. Yet Kraft claid it was a gateway to another world...
Shane's gaze crossed the snowy plains and drifted farther north.
For so reason, he suddenly rembered that fleeting vision. The colossal golden tree that blotted out the sky. The barefoot girl whose face he couldn't see.
A sowhat absurd speculation quietly surfaced in his heart.
"Kraft, have you ever seen sowhere... a gigantic golden tree?"
"You an the World Tree?"
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