541 - Spending the Winter # 4

"What kind of person is your younger sister?"

"I don't know."

"Is she good at fighting?"

"Probably. Unlike me, she's the type who bullies other kids."

If it had been my sister summoned to this world instead of me, and if she had been given similar conditions, she would have reached Gold Tier within a month.

"I'd like to meet her once."

"...."

Ever since she found out I have a younger sister, Gloria-nim has been persistently asking for information about her. I don't know where this sudden interest came from.

Is it fascinating that Pluto has a daughter?

No, it doesn't feel like that.

Anyway, I never thought Gloria-nim would be interested in anything other than dueling strong opponents like this.

Thanks to that, the walk through the market with her wasn't exactly boring.

"Excuse me. You don't sell whale horns here, do you?"

"Do whales even grow horns? I have rabbit horns, if you're interested."

Why on earth do they have rabbit horns but no whale horns?

"More importantly, aren't you Hassan-ssi? I heard that praying to you significantly increases one's income-. Before you go, let me just offer a quick prayer."

"Then, goodbye to you."

Another wasted trip to a shop.

I scoured the markets of Sodomora to find a whale's horn, which seemed like the easiest item to get. But there wasn't a single place selling horns grown from whales. It seemed they didn't even know such a thing existed.

This isn't easy.

"How long do you have to find these? All the items on this list."

"There's no limit. But only when I've gathered them all will I be able to get married."

"I see."

Even if there's no time limit, if I can't find all of these, the wedding will keep being delayed. Then Luna and Hippolyte will be greatly disappointed. It means it's better to find them as quickly as possible.

Just then, Gloria-nim gave my lion skin a firm tug.

"What is it?"

"Do you also, by any chance, do 'Ing-ing' with your sister?"

"What? Fuck, are you crazy?"

I was so shocked I almost spat out my breakfast. Because the people who heard Gloria-nim's words started whispering about me.

━Did you hear? That man does 'Ing-ing' with his sister-.

━What the fuck, is that true? He does that kind of thing with his own biological sister? But... what is that exactly?

━I don't know. Whatever it is, it's clearly something morally wrong-. How shameless-!

It seemed people were about to misunderstand.

The 'Ing-ing' Gloria-nim was talking about was likely a life-or-death battle royale. There was no way those people would understand that.

I decided to move quickly before a bizarre rumor about Hassan doing immoral things with his sister was added to my reputation.

I took a brief rest in a relatively quiet park. It was a park covered in snow that reached up to my knees, seemingly unmanaged.

Pasueuk-.

I brushed away the snow to find a buried bench and sat down. Gloria-nim also sat down beside me.

Gloria-nim, who had been asking about my sister incessantly until just now, now seemed to know how to keep a decent silence. Or so I thought for a moment.

"About your sister-."

She started up again, trying to ask me something.

Seeing her like that, I suddenly recalled something from the past. It was back when I was still stuck in the military. Around the time I was a Sergeant, shortly before my discharge.

My sister had come to visit me for the first time in my life then.

━Hey, be grateful. I actually came to visit. But is this really a place where humans live? It's so deep in the mountains I almost couldn't find it.

I remember her being incredibly rude. However, as is usually the case when a sister visits, the unit was bound to get noisy.

━H-Hey. Who is that, that S-rank super-beautiful girl in the middle of a military base-! I've never heard of such a beauty being on base-!

━Sergeant-nim, who is that? Who is it exactly-! Depending on your answer, I might not be able to forgive you, Sergeant-nim...!

━Uhyoooot-! A beautiful girl in a school uniform-! A wonderful memory, getto-daze-! Let's make sure to store every single bit of this in our mental memory-!

I remember many men boisterously laughing and talking about it that day.

Of course, those lines above are somehow distorted in my head. It wasn't actually like that.

But the hyperactive atmosphere might have been similar...

Anyway, it was a huge stir because a high school girl had come to the base for a visit.

In the end, my sister extorted 100,000 won from my salary under the pretext of bus fare for her return trip. She even bought chicken with my money.

I had to endure questions about my sister from my juniors and peers all day long.

━Sergeant-nim, no, Brother-nim-. Please give your sister to me-!

━Piss off, kid, she's still in high school.

No, it was like that until I was discharged. Thinking back, my sister's visit left nothing but terrible memories, including the money she took.

Did she come just to screw with me?

And just like those memories.

Gloria-nim keeps asking me about my sister.

"Have you ever made a snowman with your sister too?"

"...."

Of course, I knew well that her questions and the questions from my soldier days had different meanings.

Her asking about my sister was probably due to a kind of longing. Because she also had a time when she was someone's younger sister.

By asking me.

She was likely looking back on the times when she was happy.

At least, that's what I thought.

Thinking that made me feel so sorry for her that I couldn't bring myself to ignore her questions.

"When we were young, we made them often. Since it snowed a lot."

"I haven't. In the Samaria Wilderness, it didn't snow. Even when my brother told me about something called snow. I thought it was a lie."

"...Then. Have you never made a snowman at all?"

"Never. Such ordinary things. They don't suit me. I don't even know how to do it."

I suddenly remembered that she was carrying the burden of a Holy War. And that she was performing various tasks to return to an ordinary life.

But also, that she couldn't forgive herself and was continuing her penance.

Thinking that made her seem so pitiful that I stood up without realizing it.

"Then let's try making one now. A snowman."

"What?"

"Why so surprised? We can just make one. There's plenty of material around-."

"You have tasks to do. Is there time to play? You can't become a free person like that."

Gloria-nim's question made me flinch slightly. It was because I felt like I was wasting time on other things while neglecting important work. This girl, she's pretty sharp.

But that thought was fleeting.

At a time when my sister would surely be playing normally, this girl was so obsessed with her tasks that even making a snowman felt like a waste.

That thought crossed my mind.

I felt sorry for her. Of course, I didn't show it outwardly. She didn't seem like the type of person who would be happy to receive sympathy from anyone.

So I just moved my hands and packed the snow into a ball.

It's cold, maybe because I'm using my bare hands.

But my dexterity produced a decent-looking snowman in a flash. Gloria-nim's raccoon skin quivered as if she were startled by it.

"What, how did you do that just now?"

"You might not know, but I'm a pro at making snowmen. I rolled around in Gangwon-do. Want me to show you again?"

I quickly packed two more snowballs and made another snowman. I didn't forget to use sticks and pebbles lying around to make arms, eyes, a nose, and a mouth.

"Look."

"That's really fast."

"You try it too."

"Me?"

"Yeah. You said you've never made one. It's nothing much. But still, there's a big difference between having done something and never having done it."

"...."

Gloria-nim's hands didn't move easily. Well, I guess making a snowman feels too much like child's play. Just as I was about to lightly crush the snowmen I'd made.

Seuseuk, seuseuk-.

Before I knew it, Gloria-nim was crouching on the ground and starting to roll a snowball.

"It doesn't clump together as well as I thought."

Of course, she's quite clumsy.

"It's not something you can do with just strength. A delicate balance is important."

Seureuk, seureureuk, seureuk-.

After a few minutes, Gloria-nim finished a large snowball.

She placed it on the ground, made another snowball, and eventually placed it on top like a head.

"It's easy."

She took out a Copper coin she had in her bosom and pressed it into the snow to make an eye. Soon, a snowman about the same size as Gloria-nim was completed.

It was lumpy and had mud on it here and there, but Gloria-nim seemed to like it. At the very least, she didn't seem to hate it.

Gloria-nim said.

"It's nothing much."

It really was nothing much.

Making a snowman is something even a child can easily do. Nevertheless, Gloria-nim stared at the snowman she had made for a long time, as if she had felt something from the act.

"It's a really trivial thing."

Saying that, she took off the raccoon skin she wore on her head and covered the head of the snowman she had created.

"It was... such an easy thing."

"Yeah."

"It's the first time I've ever made something with my own hands. I'm... good at breaking things."

I also dragged the snowman I had made and placed it next to hers. Then, I took off the Regulus skin I was wearing like a hood and put it on my snowman.

With that, snowmen of a younger sister and an older brother were instantly completed. Whether she liked that or not, Gloria-nim continued to make snowballs after that.

"This is Dolly, and Dot. This is Gyubi."

One, two. Three-.

MnZBMElkRjFKc3ZCR0RiWklQRlA5WlZINzRaZThhUzZ1cnMyS01IbEgxWUJnS2VTc2tlL1hHUU1zL2h0M0g3MQ

"This is Olif and Weinrich."

In total, nine snowmen were made-.

All those snowmen were given names that sounded like people's names. I realized those were the names of Gloria-nim's childhood friends.

"So, what are we supposed to do after making snowmen like this?"

"Well. You just leave them. Until they melt away."

"I see."

As she spoke, Gloria-nim's hands were swollen blue. Did she get mild frostbite from touching the snow for so long?

This girl, who doesn't even get a scratch no matter how much she's hit.

Surprisingly, she was weak against the ice attribute.

With a newfound feeling, I took hold of her hands.

"W-What is it-!?"

Gloria-nim pulled her hands away in surprise.

"No, your hands are frozen."

"...Leave it. Something like this, if I just blow on it, it'll melt."

Ho-. Gloria-nim warmed her frostbitten hands with her own breath. She's a tough one.

Come to think of it, even in this cold weather, all she's wearing is that raccoon skin and a thin cotton garment.

Her sandals also left all her toes exposed, so rolling around in the snow must have looked damn cold. Does she not have money to buy clothes?

Now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever heard of Gloria-nim engaging in any economic activity. Even if she did earn money, it would probably all go toward compensation for the trouble she causes everywhere.

Should I buy her a set of clothes? We'll have to travel together for the next few days. If she keeps walking around looking so half-naked, I'll feel cold just looking at her.

So, while we were at the market, I bought Gloria-nim a long outer coat and long boots.

"Thank you, customer-nim. They'll look great on her. Here, shall I give you a ribbon as well?"

Of course, Gloria-nim's reaction to receiving them was fierce.

"How am I supposed to wear something so stifling? And a ribbon-? Forget it-!"

"If you don't want to wear it, fine. If you want to throw it away, throw it away."

"...It's a bit much to throw away-. I'll just take it for now. I won't wear it, though."

Instead of wearing the clothes, Gloria-nim stuffed them into a bundle and tied it to her club. I wondered why she wouldn't wear them, but I guess they were just uncomfortable for her.

So we wandered around the market here and there to find the whale's horn. Of course, there was nothing that could be called a direct gain.

We only managed to get information that such items seemed to be sold in the underground market.

Eventually, it got late, and we returned to the mansion.

"Living in a place like this. Looking at it again, you're practically a king."

Upon seeing my mansion, Gloria-nim was busy looking around everywhere, like a savage girl who had dropped into modern civilization.

"Gloria-nim. For now, you can sleep in any empty room."

"I only need a roof, but whatever. Then I'll take the room next to yours."

I gave Gloria-nim a room, promised to look through the market again the next day, and then took my leave.

Seueuk-.

Then, I suddenly felt a ribbon in my pocket and turned back.

This was the free gift I got when I bought Gloria-nim's clothes.

A ribbon.

It didn't suit Gloria-nim, but I thought I'd ask if she wanted it anyway. When I reached the guest room where Gloria-nim was staying.

I could see her through the slightly ajar door.

"Is this... how you wear it...?"

There was Gloria-nim, looking in the mirror and trying on various clothes.

"How on earth are you supposed to wear something like this? Something so fluttery... How do ordinary girls wear this kind of thing...?"

She was holding up and wearing the clothes she said she wouldn't wear, looking at herself in the mirror.

"It's a bit tight... Ing-ing-ah-. This button-. Ah, right, Ing-ing isn't here-."

She was muttering to herself and clumsily trying on the clothes. Perhaps because she was doing something so unfamiliar, she didn't seem to notice me standing at the door.

"Are these stockings? Do you wear them on your feet? So stifling-."

But the merchant must have had a good eye after all.

Because they suited her so well-.

It actually made me feel a bit sad.

So, just as I moved my hand to leave the ribbon in front of the door and go, she must have snapped out of it at the rustling sound of my hand coming out of my pocket.

"What, who's there-!?"

Gloria-nim reacted loudly.