Chapter 8: The Ghost
After escorting Bai and Ara to the manor, Iradace didn’t linger, rushing off to another location.
Bai had been right. Iradace was backed by a powerful faction, or rather, an external power that had infiltrated the Frigid Lands.
After the fall of the Ice Demons, and the other races’ subsequent departure, the Frigid Lands had become a lawless, ungoverned land.
Countless criminals and outcasts, fleeing their own people, had flocked here, forming a formidable, albeit chaotic, force.
And the various factions of the Abyssal Demon Realm, seeing this unclaimed power, had tried to seize it.
They had first tried to use force, but the scattered, warring factions of the Frigid Lands had united against them, and their plan had failed.
So, they had changed their tactics, using proxies to infiltrate and control the Frigid Lands from within.
And now, the so-called “haven for criminals” was a joke. Although on the surface, it was a lawless land, in reality, it was a battleground for the various demon races.
A criminal’s survival depended on the strength of their faction.
And Iradace was a proxy for one such powerful faction.
She wasn’t particularly strong, but she wasn’t weak either. And with a certain… weakness that could be exploited, she had been chosen as a proxy.
She had once lamented her fate, that she, and other low-level demons, were just tools, to be used and discarded. She was well aware of her own status.
But after meeting Bai, with her immense power and her presumed background, she had stopped complaining.
Because… an opportunity had presented itself. It was time for her, as a tool, to prove her worth.
As night fell, a light snow began to fall, the flakes glittering in the pale blue moonlight, a beautiful, yet chilling, sight.
“Damn it…”
Iradace sighed, then took out a precious lava rune and pressed it to her chest.
The rune was designed to counteract the extreme cold of the Frigid Lands, a cold that seeped from the very bones.
The only problem was, it was incredibly expensive. A mid-level Destruction Class Fire Demon could only produce one a month.
It was a painful expense, but she had to report this important news to her master, and she had to do it quickly.
“Damn it, if only those two Shadow Demon royal ladies had come sooner. Even in the afternoon… the Frigid Lands at night, with its strange, shifting landscape, is not a good place.”
She grumbled, but she didn’t stop, quickly approaching her destination, a deserted mine.
This had once been a mine for “Frost Ice,” a special material used to create powerful frost runes.
But the mine had been quickly depleted, and had been abandoned.
This was where she usually contacted her master. For urgent matters, she had a special rune, one that could even summon an avatar of her master, with thirty percent of his power.
But she only had three of them, and unlike the lava runes, they couldn’t be bought. She wouldn’t use one unless absolutely necessary.
“What a life…” she muttered, approaching a dilapidated shack near the mine. She waved her hand, and the dust on the ground cleared, revealing a rune etched into the floor.
It was hidden for a reason. Although the various demon factions controlled the Frigid Lands through their proxies, their relationship was a secret.
A few foolish proxies had boasted of their connections in the past, and their heads had been found hanging at the town gates the next day.
“I hope this ends soon…”
She was lazy. If she hadn’t been blackmailed, she would have never become a proxy, though it did have its perks.
She infused the rune with her power, and it glowed with a dark light. A moment later, a ghostly figure materialized.
“My lord,” she said, bowing.
“What is it?” the ghost’s voice was low and distant, its gender impossible to discern.
“My lord…”
She recounted her encounter with Bai and Ara, including her own speculations about “Shadow Princess’s” identity and her purpose in the Frigid Lands.
The ghost listened silently.
Then, after a long pause, it simply said, “I see.”
“My lord, what should I…?” she asked tentatively.
The ghost, as if reading her mind, said, “You’ve done well so far. But you’ve misunderstood a few things.”
“Misunderstood?” she asked, her eyes widening. “Please, my lord… enlighten me.”
“It doesn’t matter. Your misunderstanding was… a fortunate coincidence. It’s not a bad thing.”
The ghost paused, then continued, “And one more thing. The ‘Snow Maiden’s’ heritage… I would advise against pursuing it. Even if it were offered to you.”
“…Why?” she asked, her expression serious.
She wanted that heritage. It could solve her problems, could even free her from her cursed life as a proxy.
“The price is too high. It’s not worth it,” the ghost said. “I know what you’re thinking. These things will end soon.”
“And when they do, whatever you desire, I will help you obtain it.”
With that, the ghost vanished.
Iradace was stunned. What did he mean… end? What was ending?
But a promise of help… from her master, that was a significant thing.
But why did her master seem so… strange today?
She thought for a moment.
“He seemed… a bit more talkative?”
