Does the mechanical girl dream of the Messiah?

Ella was just showing her dissatisfaction, but the cold and cruel scene almost made Lunisia unable to open her eyes. Although Asheselyn was a construct rather than a human being in any classification, in reality, at least one-third of her body was not made of black iron, but flesh and blood. That part of human flesh and blood was abnormally combined with metal, and was usually covered by gauze clothes. Now, because the metal part was heated to a dangerous level, it looked miserable and charred at the edge.

"It's okay. Unlike ordinary mechanical structures, the internal functions of this machine will not be affected."

"That's not the case!"

Lunicia protested with a trembling voice, and then couldn't help but sneeze loudly because of the cold wind she inhaled.

"You made Lady Luna worried. You are just flesh and blood above your ribs."

"Ah. Are you talking about this?"

Ashlee did not stop moving forward, nor did she look back to check her body. She certainly knew her condition better than anyone else. In order to prevent the excessive heat from melting the ice and snow under her feet, she remained suspended in a state, and as she moved forward, she stretched out her finger and pointed at her face.

"This machine, 'I', shouldn't be blushing?"

"Well... not really."

"No—yet!"

"Ms. Luna, even if you don't have to force it..."

Indeed, it was magical. Although Ashlee's body was emitting a high fever, her face remained the same as always, and there was no sign of any impact at all.

"This machine doesn't hurt, and there's no abnormality from it. If that's the case, will you feel relieved?"

"No. Besides, I wasn't worried about you in the first place."

"No—"

"Well, really."

Although there was no sign of repentance on her face, Ashlee still slightly reduced the power of her body's heat radiation as Ella and Lunicia had hoped.

"Is this okay?"

"I don't have any opinion..."

"No way!"

Although it was reduced, it was not completely reduced. Basically, it was no different from before. Ella, who had no idea, was just casual, but Lunisia could not accept such perfunctory treatment. So Ashlee could only continue to reduce the power until it could only heat herself and had little effect on the surroundings.

"so?"

"Wouldn't it be nice to start like this from the beginning?"

"Luna seems to be afraid of the cold. The drifting Mars doesn't look like it's doing well here."

"But yours... is totally meaningless."

"Really? I thought it would be better."

"It's alright - I'm fine -"

"Are you really okay, Lady Luna...?"

Of course, Ella did not do nothing. This was not in line with her character. She added a "magic trick" effect to Lunicia's clothes, armor, and the tightly wrapped cloak, making them warmer on the basis of their original heat preservation ability. Of course, this seemed to be a drop in the bucket, so Ella also used some other means, such as the fireballs surrounding them. According to the standard structure, "flame arrows" can only be launched as flying props, but in the hands of those skilled magicians with profound theoretical knowledge, they can also achieve other effects by changing the spell model.

One of them is the fireball that is used simply for heating like now. However, similar to the situation in Ashetherin's place, the effect is not very good because it is in an open environment.

“Hahaha——Why did it turn out like this——”

As for why we have fallen into this situation, this question is not difficult to answer -

Just look around you.

Scattered steel wreckage can be seen everywhere, some are still burning, and some are completely silent. Whether it is solid white steel, blue dragon crystal or rusty iron blocks, they are now just monuments standing on the ground. Those are the wreckage of the "Restraint Ship Gleipnir", and they are also - although it sounds strange, it is true - the most familiar things to Lunisia and her group in this land. After all, they have more or less spent some time on that ship that no one wants to board again. As for whether that time can be described as wonderful, that is another matter.

Here, all you can see is the pure white earth.

The creaking sound under my feet was a thin layer of snow. Perhaps it had just snowed not long ago. After all, it was still a long way from midsummer. It was just after the coldest time of winter. Under the snow was pure white ice that was harder than granite and difficult to melt even if Ashlee walked on it. The ice was not transparent. Even if I lay on the ground and looked down, I couldn't see anything. It was hard not to wonder if I was walking on a huge iceberg.

All you can see when you look around is endless white, and at most the thick, unchanging gray on the sky.

Because the surroundings were too empty, even the sense of distance was disrupted and it was impossible to tell how far that distant place was from here. This experience was very novel to Lunicia. After all, she had never walked on such a vast landscape. No matter in Zerhal or the southeast of the continent, she could not find such a flat and vast land.

Although all that seems to be seen here is snow and ice.

The Far North, the Hyperborean continent, was cut off from the world six hundred years ago, leaving only legends and mysteries, a forbidden land that no one has set foot on since then. Whether to curse the ups and downs of fate or to be grateful for the blessing of miracles, this land that no one has visited for a hundred years is now presented to travelers from the far south.

The "Restraint Ship Gleipnir" seems to be under the influence of "The Witch of the Blue Abyss" Enel most of the time, and only flies in this abandoned airspace called the Ice Sea Route. It will leave this area and go south to the still operating routes to hunt. After attacking the "Duke of Candiano" airship, the ship seems to have begun to return to its original activity area, which is why Lunicia and her group fell here after the airship disintegrated.

While the Storm Wall still stood, no one could get close to this place.

After the storm wall disappeared, no one wanted to set foot here.

The three girls were the first visitors to this lonely land in hundreds of years.

Even so, no one would greet them. Everything was shrouded in a refreshing silence, the chilly air and biting wind seemed to announce the beauty of the uninhabited world. This "abandoned land" together with the southern polar region was so beautiful that it even made people hate the gray clouds above their heads even more.

"Ms. Luna, you are more sensitive to the cold than I expected."

"Will it be that cold, Luna?"

“Yes—!”

Lunicia's face turned red, and it was unclear whether it was because of embarrassment or simply because of the cold.

"On the contrary, Ella - why - doesn't look cold at all..."

It’s not that I want Ella to feel cold, but it does look weird.

The silver armor on Lunicia was a high-end gift from the Muirand government as a thank you gift to the hero who came from afar. This set of enchanted armor, which was almost equivalent to the "Silver Thorn" community treasure, not only had a much better defense capability than the armor that she had bought before due to the material and force field, but also had multiple effects in other aspects, such as a certain degree of self-repair ability, magic resistance, and convenience in travel and adventure.

Although it looks like ceremonial armor, it emphasizes the elegance and beauty of the body rather than the heaviness of defense. However, due to the enchantment effect, it has a stronger thermal insulation ability than armor using ordinary fur and thermal insulation lining. It can prevent heatstroke and water loss in hot areas, and on the contrary in cold areas, it can prevent body temperature from being plundered by the surrounding air, and keep the wearer's temperature as safe as possible.

Such armor is not only in short supply, but also requires tuning before use, but——

When it is beyond its capabilities, its role becomes very limited.

The function of improving the adventure experience is ultimately a bonus to the defensive ability. Perhaps in a place around minus 30 degrees, the wearer will feel as warm as spring, but in the extreme north - the Hyperborean continent where the temperature can drop to minus 80 degrees or even 100 degrees - this level of warmth can only prevent people from freezing to death immediately. So after adding the hood and cloak, the warming effect of magic tricks, and many other measures, Lunicia was still shivering from the cold.

At times like this, we can only be thankful that it is not the coldest month.

But if you look at Ella Hepper -

Unlike Lunicia, Ella exchanged the gift from the House of Nobles for a magic storage ring, so her equipment was not as enhanced as Lunicia's. As before, she wore leather armor with only decent defensive capabilities, and the work done to keep warm was just a fur cloak on the outside, which could only meet the normal degree of cold-proof needs. Even so, Ella looked indifferent, as if the temperature here was not much different from that in Muirand.

"Cold...will it? I think it's fine."

“Are you, are you okay…?”

Lunicia didn't know what to say.

"Ah, this."

Until this moment, Ella seemed to have just remembered that she might be the exception and Lunicea was the representative of normal people.

"...Well, I grew up in this kind of environment, so I can tolerate it."

“Is that so—”

Can humans become cold-resistant creatures after being frozen for a long time? Or rather, can someone really spend their entire childhood in such severe cold? No, it should be said that such a place can actually build a human settlement? - Of course, Ella is strictly speaking a half-elf - But thinking about it, there was originally a highly magical civilization called Hyperborean here, so it's not surprising. Traces of human existence can be found everywhere in this world.

Perhaps this kind of wonderful traces can be found not only in the cold northern land and the southern polar region, but also in the sky islands above the sky and the abyss under the ocean.

"Hmm, I've never heard of it. How could it be so cold?"

"Does Lady Luna want to know?"

"Ah."

Lunicia tilted her head and smiled her signature smile.

"Because—it's about Ella."

Chapter 2 Snowfield Journey

"But, Lady Luna, do you really have to bring that?"

This ice field is much wider than it looks. The vast and pure whiteness greatly weakens the sense of distance. It may take much longer to reach a place that looks like it only takes an hour. Coupled with the loss of physical strength caused by the severe cold, this trip is far from as pleasant as expected. The only thing to be thankful for is that the weather conditions have not made things difficult for the group for the time being. Due to the presence of gray clouds, the ultraviolet reflection is very weak, and there will be no snow blindness or other phenomena. It is still sunny at the moment, and abnormal weather such as storms and heavy snow have not yet appeared.

Simple, easy... While walking on a road that had nothing to do with these words, Lunicia still had to drag "that thing", which made Ella look distressed.

To put it simply, it was a huge box made of iron blocks.

Whether it is the material of the box itself or the iron chain used to pull the box, all of them come from the wreckage of the crashed "Constraint Ship Gleipnir". The craftsmanship is not sophisticated. It is just using a giant sword to cut the metals that have lost their magical properties, and then welding them together at high temperature to make it into the shape you want. Anyway, it is just an emergency item and does not require too delicate craftsmanship.

"Yes, that's right."

Although she was very cold, Lunicia still smiled and shook her head.

Even though it is far beyond the ability of ordinary people to handle, this weight is still not heavy for Lunicia. Even so, it is still a burden on her shoulders, even with the help of Ashethelyn.

"Because...just abandoning them like this would be too pathetic."

In the closed iron box, a woman and a girl in formal dresses hugged each other, with their eyes closed, smiles still on their lips and gentle expressions. If it were not for the horrific wounds all over their bodies, people would probably mistakenly think that they were just asleep, taking a short rest during the journey, and would open their eyes again after a night and smile at each other.

This was not an iron box, but a coffin covered with feathers, sawdust and cotton, sprinkled with holy water and blessed by a paladin.

Clearly, in the final decisive battle, Lunicia and her group were in the center of the airship, while Rosa and Leah were at the stern. The two sides were separated by such a great distance, yet in the end they fell not far from each other. Is this what is called fate?

In any case, Lunisia chose to collect their "bodies" and take them on the road.

"Can't we just find a random place to bury it? There shouldn't be any tomb robbers here."

Not to mention tomb robbers, there's not even a living person to be found here.

Ella didn't want Lunicia to torture her like this. The relationship between the two sides was not very friendly. It was closer to hostility. They were just cooperating for common interests. She really couldn't find any reason to do this for them.

"This is - an ice layer, right? Just pick a random place, and you don't know - what will happen -"

For example, if a glacier moves and falls into the sea, Lunicia gestured.

Therefore, she had no intention of abandoning this heavy iron coffin until she found a suitable burial place.

"They are mechanical puppets like this machine, not humans. They can be created again. As long as their memories are read, they will stand in front of Luna again as before."

Ashlee raised objections tactfully from another angle, but Lunicia just shook her head slightly.

"Then wait till the time comes--we'll talk about it--?"

I have already felt it before. Lunicia is definitely the type who treats such lifelike mechanical puppets as living people. It is an indisputable fact that they died in front of me. Because of this, even if they may draw their swords against me again as enemies, I will be happy for their return. Stubborn, too nice, and always obsessed with trivial matters, no matter how you look at it, the white knight named Lunicia is the most hopeless one among her group.

However, neither Ashlee nor Ella Hepper nor her traveling companions would say anything about it.

They were all real weirdos who knew this but still chose to travel with her.

If you count it this way, it would be a weird group consisting of three weirdos, which is really hard to laugh at.

There were two footprints and traces of the coffin being dragged. There were very few traces that could be seen on the snow. It seemed that there were only a few of them, which even made people doubt whether there were other lives here.

This is not a completely flat land, at least not from what you see.

Needless to say, there were many mountains, some dotted, some rolling, and those traces were enough to prove that they were now standing on the real continent, not an overly thick iceberg, but there were also some traces that could destroy this perception. For example, this suddenly appeared in the sight of the group, maybe it was the trace of a canyon.

From a distance, the canyon was difficult to distinguish from the surrounding snow due to the mist covering it, but this problem disappeared when we got closer. The ice layer was so thick that it broke off without any warning. Looking deep into the canyon, we could see the crystallized land and countless boiling magic powers like a cauldron of chaos, buried under the ice coffin, turning into a forbidden zone for life.

The cracks in the earth were illuminated by colorful magic, like gorgeous lamps, dispelling the darkness. In the deepest part, one could faintly see something moving.

It was impossible to see what it was from such a long distance, but Ella intuitively believed that it was not a living creature, but an activated, crazy element. The drastic change of magic power turned the depths of the canyon into an area similar to the elemental plane. The fire, water, wind and land infected by madness seemed to come alive, tearing and biting each other in an endless battle.

"Be careful not to get hurt, Lady Luna."

"Um--"

"If Luna falls down because she's lying on the edge of the cliff and looking down, this machine will pull her up, don't worry."

"…It's better that this doesn't happen. Lady Luna, this place is dangerous."

"Indeed—"

If you fall from here, even if you can overcome the damage caused by the fall, you will definitely suffer a great loss at the bottom of the valley.

This deep canyon is definitely not a naturally formed landform no matter how you look at it. Coupled with the low-concentration dragon crystals that are fused with the ice at the edge of the canyon and are indistinguishable from each other, this place looks like a masterpiece of a certain wizard.

Traces of battle - If there is no restraint in a fight between people at the legendary level, it is quite normal to leave such traces.

This is a battlefield.

Six hundred years ago, a great war took place here, the truth of which no one knows, but it must have been extremely tragic. The result of the battle was that the wizard civilization called Hyperborean completely disappeared from this world, which also meant that the North Continent actually disappeared at the end of the world and became a wasteland, but now it seems that the traces of this civilization are still clear.

Just like the magical glow at the bottom of this canyon.

……

"Mrs. Luna."