It was three days later when we returned to Nagu Town.

The blizzard had lasted a full two days, and then we spent another day traveling. Once we got back to town, Rosen quickly reported the vampire attack on Qili Village to the mayor. The mayor was so shocked that his frail old body started trembling at once. He suddenly couldn’t catch his breath and fainted. Luckily, I had some healing potions with me. I poured a bottle of Minor Healing Potion down his throat, and that brought him back around.

So potions in this world could be used like that. Honestly, it was quite an eye-opener.

We sent an urgent message to the County of Galaton using the Commercial Association’s magical communication device. Only then did the atmosphere inside the town hall ease a little. I stood by the door, gazing at the snow swirling through the sky as I exhaled a white plume of breath. Here in this bitterly cold borderland, orcs watched from across the Grey Snow Mountains, while vampires roamed the forests. Even so, the people who lived here were still hopeful about tomorrow. The ten-year tax exemption had attracted so many impoverished people to settle here. I was beginning to realize that this unfamiliar world was nowhere near as wonderful as I’d imagined.

The wind and snow tossed my silver hair as I looked up at the snowy sky and prayed for this calamity to end soon.

White steam filled the wooden bathhouse. Droplets gathered on the roof and ran down the slope into the water collector, freezing into white icicles outside the vent. I sank into the hot water and let every cell in my body soak up its warmth, breathing out in pleasure. After more than half a year, I’d more or less gotten used to this body. I was even beginning to forget what I’d looked like in my previous life. The flesh really did have a profound effect on the soul. I could feel this girl’s body gradually changing me. Even the slightly embarrassing curiosity I’d had before had faded away with time.

Phew…

With a sigh, I sank my face into the hot water and held my breath, letting my whole body enjoy the bliss of a bath.

Just then—splash!

A noise came from outside the door. I opened my eyes in the tub at once and warily gripped the sword I’d left by the entrance.

“Pandora,” I ordered, “go check the door.”

A blue phantom appeared out of thin air. Her pretty face was full of displeasure, as if to say, “So you finally remembered I exist?” But she still carried out my order at once. The Sky Eye Drone emerged from the void and circled my house through the blizzard. Its optical lens shifted focus again and again before finally settling on a figure collapsed by the door.

Who could it be at this hour?

I quickly dried myself, got dressed, and opened the door as quietly as I could, sword in hand. A petite figure lay facedown in the snow, her blue cloak covered in flakes.

“Hey,” I prodded her with the scabbard. “Are you still alive?”

“H-help…”

She let out a catlike whimper, her voice barely more than a breath.

Anyway, I should get her inside first.

So I left my sword by the door, grabbed both of her hands, and dragged her into the living room like a corpse. I pulled off her cloak and hat, and only then did I realize the person was a girl. She looked about fifteen or sixteen, with beautiful golden hair cut to her neck. She wore a white shirt and a blue pleated skirt that fell just to her knees. The outfit reminded me of the school uniforms I’d seen back on Earth in my previous life. But wandering around outside dressed like that in the middle of winter—was that some new kind of suicide method?

“My Lady,” Pandora’s phantom appeared beside me. “According to the scan, this human female’s body temperature is only 32 degrees, below normal, and she also has mild frostbite.”

“This is hypothermia.” I started unfastening the girl’s clothes. “If we don’t warm her up quickly, she really could die.”

“What do you intend to do, My Lady?”

“Obviously, use the bathtub.”

As I spoke, I picked the girl up. She was really light, as if she barely had any meat on her bones. I carried her into the bathroom and lowered her into the tub. The water was about forty degrees—warm enough to bring her temperature back up quickly.

About ten minutes later, the girl in the tub let out a faint groan and slowly opened her big blue eyes.

“Goddess?”

“No,” I said, taking her hand. “My name is Elsa. I found you passed out by my front door just now. You nearly froze to death. Are you feeling any better?”

“Mm.” She nodded, looking a little disappointed. “Where is this?”

“How should I put it?” I thought for a few seconds. “This is the eastern frontier of the United Kingdom, at the far eastern edge of the County of Galaton, right next to the Grey Snow Mountains and the Black Forest. You’re in my home, in a town called Nagu.”

“Nagu Town? I’ve never heard of it…”

Much as I hated to admit it, the truth was… this town was practically impossible to find on a map. As the saying went, “When something seems too strange, there’s usually a reason.” A mysterious girl suddenly appearing out of nowhere was the sort of “good fortune” that made me wary. Who was this girl? Why had she passed out right in front of my house? What concerned me even more was that her magical aura was far stronger than an ordinary person’s.

“I’m curious,” I said. “Why were you wandering around this snowy borderland in such a flimsy school uniform? Weren’t you afraid you’d freeze to death?”

“No, it’s not that,” she stammered. “Actually… I… I was planning to teleport to Galaton Count’s Castle, but there seemed to be something wrong with the teleportation device. It couldn’t lock onto the coordinates, so I picked a nearby location in a hurry. I didn’t expect to end up on a frozen river. Just when I thought I was going to freeze to death in the blizzard, I saw lights by the riverbank. I struggled toward them, and then… then I lost consciousness…”

I glanced at the bathroom’s vent. The oil lamp I’d just made was hanging right beside it. I guessed she’d seen its light, then staggered across the frozen river until she reached my front door.

That girl was lucky. If I hadn’t found her in time, she probably would’ve frozen to death. But I had a pretty good idea where she’d set her new coordinates: the town hall. The Commercial Association had set up a magical communication device there, so I guessed she’d locked onto it.

“Don’t worry. I’m the town pharmacist, not some suspicious person.” I smiled. “What’s your name?”

“My name is…” She hesitated. “My name is Maeve.”

It seemed the girl was still wary of me. She hadn’t given me her full name.

“Maeve,” I said with an even friendlier smile, “you can stay here tonight. Tomorrow morning, we’ll go to the town hall. The Commercial Association has a long-range magical communication device there, so we should be able to contact the count’s castle. Miss Fenny, the person in charge of the Association, is a friend of mine. She won’t mind us borrowing it.”

“Really?” Maeve nodded shyly. “Thank you.”

And so the mysterious girl named Maeve settled in at my home for the time being.