Fantasy Clock～Dream Ruler～

A little bit of snow fell from the leaden sky. Even though he was wearing heavy shoes, he could not help but feel the coolness.

Such a cold weather caused Elus, who only had a cloak to keep out the cold, to fold her arms and keep warming her palms with the friction between the skins, so as to prevent herself from shivering uncontrollably.

(Woo... If I knew it earlier, I wouldn't be so brave and wear so little.)

It's not like Ellis is alone. Take Charlotte beside her for example—the boy breathed into the palm of his hand while walking. Eyes trembling and narrowed into a slit. He didn't intend to raise his eyes, and noticed that the silver-haired boy didn't feel like he was in an iceberg at all. Instead, he whistled easily, and the breath of ice came out of his mouth happily.

"Hey, dead ice boy, why are you not afraid of the cold!" Charlotte suddenly felt a little unwilling, and asked the boy with a trembling voice.

"What? I advise you to admit defeat as soon as possible if you know how powerful I am." The young man's tone was full of sarcasm, and Charlotte clenched his fists tightly, as if he was about to throw his limp fist to the ground in the next second. on the boy. And he quickly gave up this idea, after all, even he himself felt that this was really a fist without oppressive feeling...

"That...it's strange that you, a guy who uses fire magic, are afraid of the cold." The drunken girl on the side seemed not afraid of the cold either, but only spoke to Charlotte and Ai who were trembling and unable to move their legs. Ruth was troubled. It's not enough to abandon them because of this.

"Ningzi, shut up... No! You all stop talking! One day you will all be melted by my fire." Charlotte clenched her fists tightly, but the flames that were suffocated were instantly turned into flames by the low temperature. A small spark dissipated into the sky.

The girl named Ning Zi raised her eyebrows, and picked up the jug only to find that there was no drop left. Elus on the side covered her mouth and tried to hold back her laughter, but in the end she couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"Don't laugh, you bastard!" For some reason, Charlotte had a look of blaming Elus. Seeing him like this, Elus couldn't hold back her smile anymore.

...

Three weeks ago, Charlotte's team of adventurers successfully repelled a demon king's minions. Originally they planned to use this to apply to join the kingdom's army to attack the devil. However, the senior officials of the legion believed that the devil's subordinates were seriously injured by their own soldiers and fled to the ruins. Charlotte and the others just picked up a ready-made bargain. The Magician Control Association also took the opportunity to suppress them to maintain their majesty.

It was still early in the day, and there were few guests in the tavern. Except for Charlotte and his party, there was almost no one else. The store manager forwarded the warning letter received from the Magicians Control Association to Charlotte.

At first I had a little bit of luck, but I didn't expect every good word in the letter from beginning to end. The four of them couldn't help but sat in the tavern in a low voice. And the one with the most depressed mood is probably Elus, this guy is always good at depression. The store manager returned to the counter, raised the wine glass to the light, stuffed the towel into the wine glass and wiped it with squinted eyes, looked at them through his fingers, and sighed softly.

"Mr. Store Manager, are you worried about them?" The waitress in a red dress quietly walked into the counter. There is a touch of elegance in the simple manner.

Perhaps due to long-term professional habits, she has a "business-style" smile on her face, and her tone of voice naturally brings some politeness to the guests.

"What are you talking about pears! Hahahaha...why would I worry about them? Let them handle the young people's affairs by themselves." The store manager paused for a while, and immediately put on a nonchalant expression The expression continued to turn the hand holding the towel, and coughed. In a blink of an eye, he was attracted by the sound from over there——

At the side of the seat, Charlotte, who was carrying a heavy luggage, raised his head first, with a bright smile showing on his face inappropriately.

"Is there something wrong with your brain?" The silver-haired boy raised his eyebrows and asked without hesitation. Charlotte knocked on the table and stood up, with a look of "do you dare to say it again". But this time Charlotte was not as usual, she didn't argue with the silver-haired boy, and quickly sat back in her seat.

"Forget it... I don't care about it with you! I actually thought about it for a long time last night, and finally came to a conclusion. Now we have only one way to go."

"Oh, really? I don't want to believe that you have any good ideas." The girl shook the wine glass in her hand, and a row of wine bottles was already lined up behind her. Charlotte and the silver-haired boy were a little ashamed.

"Don't say anything!" Charlotte waved his hands, his tone was so hurried that it made people think that flames would be sprayed from his mouth in the next second. He took out a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket, then put him on the table and smoothed it gently, with that smile on his face that would never disappear even if the end of the world came, "Whether you want to let the control The guys from the association stop warning us, or let the Legion recognize us, we all have only one way!"

The silver-haired boy showed a hint of curiosity, moved the paper to his eyes, and gently lifted it up, on which was written the suspected location of another demon king's subordinates in scrawled handwriting. The silver-haired boy moved the paper down slightly, and saw Charlotte sitting across from him with a smile on his face. The boy approached Charlotte and asked:

"Do you mean...to defeat another subordinate of the Demon King to prove that our last victory was not a fluke?"

"Yeah." Charlotte saw that the boy understood his intentions, and her smile became stronger. He looked around and asked, "How is it? What do you think?"

"Well... an idiot like you is commendable for putting forward such an opinion." The silver-haired boy gave Charlotte a white look. Although the words were stinging, they seemed to be acquiescing.

"You bastard, dead ice boy! When the time comes, I will settle the score with you!" Charlotte responded angrily.

"No objection." The girl frowned slightly, and she did say so, but her expression was telling—"Charlotte... you bastard, can you not involve me in troublesome things every time!"

Finally, Charlotte turned her head and stared at Elus. The staff trembled due to the rhythm of her fingers, and Elus raised her face in embarrassment.

"Hey...you have such a depressed expression, you..." Charlotte put away her smile slightly, and complained with concern. He turned to the right and rubbed Elus's head roughly, and Elus hurriedly backed away, with complaints all over her face, rubbing her messy hair by Charlotte.

Charlotte giggled, stretched out her hand, grabbed Elus's hand, and tilted her head at the same time, saying:

"Come with us, we can't do without you."

His words made Eluth's body tremble, and Charlotte didn't notice that tears welled up in her pupils. Elus resisted the fluctuating emotions, deliberately put on a reluctant expression, and nodded her head gently.

At the counter, the store manager looked away in relief, and then he found that he seemed to be being watched by a scorching gaze. It was only then that he realized that his eyes were completely attracted by them, and the movements of his hands stopped involuntarily.

"...Ha, this kid, you are quite good at comforting people in critical times, right?" The store manager continued to work while trying to divert Riko's attention. However, Lizi just sat on the seat, with her hands folded and her head propped up, as if her penetrating eyes were unwilling to divert from the store manager at all. The store manager couldn't help but lowered his head in embarrassment, and simply tried to ignore Li Zi's gaze.

On the other side, Charlotte carried the heavy luggage on her back and stood up first, with a look of eagerness. "Okay, let's go then!"

"Mm, good." The girl answered him twice perfunctorily, and downed the wine in the glass.

When the wine glass was put back on the table, the wine was filled again. The girl couldn't help but said, "Ah, I really don't want to leave..."

"Wait for me." The silver-haired boy suddenly called out to Charlotte, "I wanted to ask you just now. You bastard...you have already planned to come to us, right?" The boy said in a slightly speechless voice. Pointing to the luggage behind Charlotte. "In addition to the note you took out of your pocket just now, no matter how you look at it, it seems that you came to us after you had already made up your mind."

After hearing this, Charlotte didn't mean to deny it, but just smiled heartily.

...

"Ah, I must be crazy to agree to run with you to such a cold place!" Elus was so cold that she felt her whole body was completely frozen, so she kicked on the spot, complaining at cried Charlotte.

Charlotte just wanted to refute her, but in a blink of an eye, she found that Elus was half a head shorter than Charlotte when she pedaled to the highest point, which made Charlotte laugh at her. Thinking that it was Elus who laughed at herself just now, Charlotte couldn't help smiling even deeper.

"You...I'm annoying you to death. Don't laugh!" Eluth shouted with red eyes. Although her voice was soft, Charlotte still clasped her hands in an apologetic attitude. Elus looked around for a few times, and suddenly lost hope, "What should I do? I got separated from them, and the rest of you are as afraid of the cold as I am. Magic is too cold to use... We will meet again Did you die from the cold before reaching the Demon King's subordinates?"

"You get depressed too easily..." The white mist kept drifting upwards from Charlotte's mouth. Ellis lowered her eyes in embarrassment.

Charlotte hesitated for a while, walked to Elus's side, held Elus' cold little hand, and then walked forward.

The moment Elus touched Charlotte's hand, she couldn't help being stunned. She stared blankly at Charlotte's back. Not only was he holding her hand without saying a word, which made her feel overwhelmed, but also because Charlotte's palm was not only not cold, but... even felt warm.

"Hey... wait! What's going on with you?" Elus moved her mouth tremblingly, pointing to Charlotte holding her hand.

Charlotte turned his head slightly, showing his signature smile, and asked, "Are you referring to why my hands aren't cold at all, or the fact that I'm holding you?"

In this snow-capped mountain, only his palms and the smile on his face remain tender.

It was difficult for Elus to respond for a while, and she always felt that her head was about to freeze. She used her brain in this state to think, and suddenly, she got a suspicious answer——Yes. How could a magician with fire magic be afraid of the low temperature in the snow mountain? Therefore, there is only one possibility, that is, Charlotte deliberately pretended to be afraid of the cold.

"But, why?" Elus confirmed this guess without asking, she failed to get an answer from Charlotte, Charlotte just pulled Elus to the front of a cave. He hesitated for a moment, as if confirming that the heat he felt came from the depths of the cave, he dragged Elus into the cave.

Elus wanted to be deterred by the spreading darkness for no reason, but her weak body was easily pulled in by Charlotte.

Along the way, the darkness eroded Elus' vision, and there were even strange trembling and panting sounds from time to time.

Elus, who was always afraid of the dark, couldn't help becoming scared, she walked forward cautiously, her eyes widened. Of course, even that doesn't improve anything. Similarly, for Charlotte, this kind of environment will consume his magic power exponentially. So in order to save his magic power, he couldn't spend his magic power to create a flame to illuminate the front at this time.

However, Charlotte could at least see clearly in the dark, so he also clearly noticed that Elus was very scared.

"Hey, close your eyes." Charlotte said in front of her, and the anxiety in Elus' heart disappeared because of this warm voice, "Since you can't see anything when you open your eyes, why don't you just close them?" Eyes go?"

"No... no! Wouldn't it be more inconvenient for me to walk like this?"

"You just hold my hand." Charlotte's words made Elus lose all desire to speak for a moment, "Pull me, and I will tell you where to go."

Elus stood there in a daze, only the warmth coming from her body made her feel that she was not alone here. She seemed to instantly get the answer why Charlotte pretended to be afraid of the cold just now.

"Elus... We still have a long way to go in the future, I can't leave my companions behind, and it must be the same for you..."

"Companion...is that right?"

"You couldn't see it this time, and it might be my turn next time. At that time, I need you as a companion to lead me to the front."

"Pfft... how could anyone curse themselves like that~"

"So, this time you can rely on me with confidence, and it will be the same every time in the future, rely on your companions with confidence."

"..."

Seeing that Elus' emotions calmed down slowly, Charlotte breathed a sigh of relief and showed a relaxed smile. He led Elus towards the front. As we continue to go deeper, the surrounding temperature is also gradually rising.

"Hey, you...you don't need to do that kind of thing. I'm not so useless..." Elus complained softly from behind, which sounded more like a baby.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

Elus didn't understand Charlotte, and she didn't know if she was pretending to be stupid, or if she really didn't understand what she meant...or maybe she guessed wrong. Elus hesitated for a moment, but at the same time anxiously wanted to open her eyes. However, the warmth coming from the front made her sure that her guess was the correct answer, and she regained her courage.

"It's annoying, what I'm talking about is... just now...you pretended to be afraid of the cold in order not to let me feel that you are dragging you down!!"

Charlotte turned her head slightly. Although it was such a simple sentence, it seemed that Elus had been struggling for a long time. He suddenly didn't know how to evaluate her.

After a long silence, he turned his head and said unintentionally:

"...Elus, you really are not being frank."

Elus lowered her head, always feeling her cheeks burning hot.

"What... what!"

As she spoke, she thought about it restlessly. Although holding Charlotte's hand, she didn't have to worry about bumping into anything, but she always had the feeling that if Charlotte held hands like this again, the top of her head would be smoked. But it's not good for her to break away from Charlotte's hand inexplicably, or it will look strange instead.

Just as she was worrying, a ray of light suddenly entered her line of sight. Every time she took a step forward, the surroundings seemed to become brighter, and the temperature continued to rise. Elus bit her lower lip lightly, taking this opportunity to let go of Charlotte's warm hand. Immediately after she opened her eyes, the ice under her feet made her feel slippery, and she moved her eyes slightly up. Charlotte just glanced back at her slightly, without asking her anything.

"That... um... It feels like the surrounding area is a lot brighter, so I should be able to walk by myself, that's it~"

Charlotte looked at her strangely upon hearing this. Her eyes clearly asked her back—"I don't seem to have asked you anything?" Elus also felt this, touched her lips, and coughed lightly. Gradually, she realized something strange, and looked down to see the wanton spread of ice. Charlotte looked at her feet in the same astonishment.

"What do you think? It's kind of like the magic of a dead ice boy..."

"I also think it's Ace's magic..." Elus' voice was still a little trembling, but this time it was more out of worry. My companion got separated from me not long ago, and now I see the weapon used by my companion again, I feel uneasy no matter how I think about it.

What's even more strange is that, contrary to the ultra-low temperature just now, there are even bursts of heat coming from the front, making Elus's body feel no coolness at all.

The two looked at each other, then lowered their footsteps at the same time, and walked cautiously to the depths, and then there was a deafening tremor not far away, and the ice surface seemed to be cracked because of this, spreading all the way to the two of them. tiptoe. Then came a familiar sound from that direction, but it seemed to be a miserable moan from being hit hard by something.

Charlotte could no longer sink her feet when she heard the sound, and ran forward as soon as she gritted her teeth. Elus had no time to stop her, so she followed him too. The two of them drilled through an ice cave one after the other, and the ice surface extended to the end.

Not far away was a half-human, half-beast figure holding a ball of flames so hot that he couldn't even believe it. Before they had time to identify him, the flames pierced towards them in a blink of an eye. Charlotte and Elus dodged to the two sides one after another, the ice surface instantly melted, and a fiery red line streaked far away.

"No wonder there is such a strong heat in this cave, is it your fault?" Charlotte stood firm and shouted loudly at the man standing in the center with half of his body in the shape of a dragon.

Elus took a look at the terrible fiery red, and then noticed a familiar face not far behind the man, and the eyes belonging to that face were also staring at her at the same time.

Ace lying there seemed to be trying to release his magic power, and a layer of ice formed on his arm, but it was melted by the high heat constantly emerging from his side, and soon turned into gas and dissipated towards the sky.

The man stared at Charlotte with blood-red eyes, and suddenly Charlotte felt an unbelievable pressure. He quickly took a step back, but was still hit by a fierce punch poured with flames. The soles of his feet, which he stood firmly on, rubbed against the ground quickly, and a scorched red line slid backwards.

Just as he was about to stand firm, he saw only the left half of the wings behind the man was covered with red flames, and the fallen wings rushed towards him. At the same time, a blazing flame no less than his own held the dragon's wings, and an uppercut hit the man's chin with a heat equivalent to just now. After repelling the opponent, Charlotte reached out and wiped the corner of his mouth.

"You people, I have some impressions..." The man stretched out his left hand, and that hand could no longer see any human form, and it could not be more appropriate to use the dragon claw as a metaphor, "The one who defeated the phantom...is you. Because of you, His Majesty the Demon King has been annoyed recently. However, it doesn’t seem to be that bad.”

After that, he casually pointed behind him, the silver-haired boy exhaled slightly, and turned his eyes to Elus again. And Elus seized the opportunity and pointed the staff in her hand at the man who rushed towards Charlotte again:

"Imprison! Imprison here!"

A blue light sprayed out along the front end of the staff, and a magic circle was instantly drawn on the man's feet as he stepped forward. he. Immediately afterwards, Charlotte took the opportunity to slam her fist hard on the opponent's body.

Taking advantage of this moment, Elus ran forward quickly, and pillowed the silver-haired boy's head. The boy was muttering something, and she couldn't help but put her ear closer to the boy.

"You guys came just in time...! This man's level now, whether it's me, you, or Charlotte, can defeat him..."

"If that's the case...how did you get beaten like this?" Elus obviously didn't understand what the boy meant.

"This guy, as long as his heart is not destroyed, he will continue to be reborn, and...will be stronger than the last time. So, don't let Charlotte consume all his magic power, try not to kill him... You must know that my magic power was completely exhausted in the first few times."

Elus was stunned for a while, then nodded her head. She glanced at Charlotte, whose whole body was surrounded by flames, and pointed the staff at him, and the voice of the silver-haired boy was replayed in his ears because of her magic power. Charlotte was taken aback for a moment, and had no choice but to hold back her fist. Elus breathed a sigh of relief, and then unavoidably looked at the young man with some worry, and said:

"But if this goes on, we won't be able to defeat him at all..."

"That's why I said that you came at the right time—his heart is in the cave. I just covered Ning Zi and let her pass by, so hurry up and catch up with her to help!" Elus just thought When he moved, he couldn't help but stop. Seeing what Elus was worried about, the boy said quickly, "Don't worry about me... go help her!"

Elus turned her head slightly, the man was struggling and would break free in a short while. He seemed to be looking in this direction the whole time. She took a deep breath, and was about to make up her mind to step forward, but she was pulled back by a voice that suddenly sounded in her mind, that voice was telling——"You can't leave your companions behind." As a result, her gaze once again focused on the silver-haired boy.

A moment later, a magic circle glowing red lifted the silver-haired boy up out of thin air.

"Manipulation! Follow my manipulation~" Elus squeezed out the magic power on her body while manipulating the body of the silver-haired boy and walked out. The man seemed to have noticed the movement on Elus' side, and he made a gesture to break free from the last rope, kicked Charlotte away, and hurried over here.

Even if Elus realized this, she couldn't speed up or stop to dodge—now her remaining magic power could barely support the manipulating magic, and once it was stopped, it couldn't be restarted, so she couldn't be interrupted at all. down. She felt that the danger was already behind her, but there was a voice in her heart that kept her from taking action——

"It will be the same every time from now on, so you can rely on your companions with confidence."

Now, only to believe in Charlotte, Elus believed so firmly. She closed her eyes slowly, as if she felt a pair of warm hands in front of her pulling her. The moment the hands behind him were about to touch her, the man's body was kicked away by a heavy blow, and he hit the wall directly, knocking out uneven holes, and the shattered marks spread like spider webs Come.

The sound of flames colliding with each other continuously came from behind, and the sound became more and more intense. Elus suppressed the thought of turning back, and the magic circle shot out from the top of the staff dragged the silver-haired boy forward along with her footsteps, and the voice behind her became softer and softer until she could no longer feel the magic power. Only then did Elus let out a sigh of relief, and weakly let go of the silver-haired boy, and all her magic power was exhausted at this time.

The boy fell to the ground, staring at Elus in a daze.

"Hey, are you an idiot?" The boy's words made Elus a little displeased, and she gave him a hard look, but the boy didn't care, and continued, "It's pointless to spend magic power on such a thing."

"That's not it!" Elus leaned back against the wall, her voice was very soft, so soft that it made people feel weak. She slowly sat down on the ground, staring straight into the boy's eyes, "I think you should have found out ~ that man has been watching you, if you leave you there, he will definitely I threatened you, Ace!"

The light in the silver-haired boy's eyes flickered, and he seemed a little disappointed with Elus' answer. He smiled helplessly, shook his head, and replied with certainty:

"Charlotte has always had a bad relationship with me... As long as I tell him to leave me alone, he will definitely do so. You don't have to worry about it at all."

While talking, the young man was stared at by Elus's clear eyes, the young man suddenly lost his confidence, his voice became softer, and at the same time, he shyly looked away from Elus.

"You know he won't do that~ Besides, I can't leave you, Ace, alone."

Elus' faint tone made the silver-haired boy always have the illusion that the current Elus is different from before, and he couldn't help but be taken aback. He calmed down quickly, and squinted at Elus's clear eyes that would never change no matter what.

"Why do you say that?"

"Because, you are his companion, and you are also my companion~"

Elus' serious gaze made him speechless for a while. After a long time, he sneered, and Elus looked at him puzzled.

"Hey, your words really sound like that idiot Charlotte..."

The silver-haired boy looked at the top of the cave with a slight smile when he saw Elus' cheeks smeared red.

"Companion...is that right?"