The Holy Man of Another Century Gospel

Chapter 281 Snow Tracks
The next morning, when Eric woke up again, the wind and snow outside were still blowing fiercely.

"It looks like the snowstorm won't stop anytime soon."

Natalia had woken up earlier and was stirring the iron pot hanging on the stove. When she saw that he was awake, she asked, "Are we going out again today?"

The bubbling sound from the iron pot filled the room with the aroma of food, quickly dispelling Eric's desire to continue sleeping.

"We'll see." He sat up, wiped his face, paused for a moment, then looked at Natalia. "Am I dreaming, or did you really cry last night?"

"..."

Natalia glared at her: "Don't mention it again."

It doesn't seem like a dream.

Eric got up and opened the door. A strong gust of wind carrying snowflakes blew in, the air biting cold. Natalia behind him cried out in surprise, and he quickly closed the door a little closer.

"It's not just not stopping, it's even more intense than last night."

Outside, everything was white; the snow on the ground had been smoothed out, leaving no trace of where they had ever been.

Natalia's voice, carried through the wind and snow, sounded distant: "It's as if this place wants to keep us here, to prevent us from leaving."

Eric gave a casual reply, looked around, then looked away, closed the door, and then noticed Natalia turning to look at him.

"Could this be the work of the Demon King...?"

Eric was taken aback, then laughed and cried at the same time: "Don't overestimate him. Was he standing outside the village casting 'Ice and Snow' here? It's the coldest time of the entire continent right now, and this is the coldest place on the entire continent, so it's normal for the wind and snow to be so heavy."

He sat down by the fireplace, and Natalia asked again, "Did you dream about the Demon King last night?"

Eric thought for a moment and shook his head. "I've forgotten whether I had a dream last night."

Natalia glanced at him but said nothing.

Breakfast was quickly prepared. After filling his stomach, Eric stood at the door for a while longer, but feeling that the snowstorm wouldn't let up, he decided to go out and take a look.

“Don’t leave me here alone,” Natalia said to him.

Eric thought for a moment and didn't refuse. "Then wear two more layers and wrap yourself in the fur."

He also wore an extra layer of clothing.

Fully armed, Natalia exhaled, "What kind of fur is this? It's so warm, I feel hot."

Eric glanced at the fireplace. "You won't think that way once we're outside."

They drove the two snow sheep outside, and the two of them rode on them one after the other. A gust of wind and snow came, and Natalia immediately shrank her neck.

"Where are we going?" she asked, her voice barely audible.

Eric squinted at the snowstorm, recalled what he had seen from the watchtower yesterday, and pointed in a direction.

"We visited the nearest village yesterday, and today we're going to the second closest one. Stay close to me."

The two set off one after the other. Getting lost in this snowstorm was practically the same as dying. Natalia kept her eyes fixed on Eric ahead.

The snow sheep beneath her didn't require her to consciously control it; it could keep up closely with its companion in front of it, which made her breathe a slight sigh of relief.

The two kept less than half a meter apart, and Eric would occasionally turn around to make sure she was still following behind.

The oppressive cold brought by the fierce blizzard almost froze the two's perception of time. When they arrived at another demon village, Eric felt that nearly half an hour had passed, while Natalia felt that only a dozen minutes had gone by.

"Just remember the direction we came from."

Before entering, the two walked around the outside thoroughly. Eric carefully examined every house they passed to determine if any demon deserters like those from yesterday were hiding inside.

After circling around, he saw nothing, but that didn't mean there was no one inside: in this awful weather, he wouldn't have gone out if he wasn't looking for food.

"Let's go check out that house first." Having chosen their target, Eric and Natalia headed over together. He stopped seven or eight meters away and tiptoed over through the snow.

Natalia lay down on the back of the snow sheep to avoid the wind and snow, her eyes fixed on him until he sneaked into the house and came out again, beckoning to her.

She drove both snow sheep over, and as soon as she got down, the two snow sheep crawled inside on their own.

"so cold……"

Natalia kept stamping her feet, both of them were freezing.

Eric then made her take off her shoes and then cut some wool to stuff inside.

"It's a bit crowded... but it has definitely gotten warmer."

The two began searching the village, inside and out, starting from the house where they had settled down.

When they arrived at a new house, Eric would go first to check for any risks before letting Natalia follow.

She looked around. "At this time, the demons should be up by now."

"Then I found that breakfast had been delivered to my door."

"...Demons don't eat people."

“I vaguely remember that some demon tribes are cannibals,” Eric recalled the missions he had undertaken.

The two searched around for most of the morning, finding a few sheepskins, some dried meat, and a few pieces of cheese, but they had all spoiled badly, probably due to improper storage.

At noon, Eric and Natalia did not return to their previous location, but instead ate lunch here using the food they found.

“I was thinking… we could just keep searching like this, resting wherever we end up,” Natalia said. “The stuff is hanging on the snow sheep.”

Eric thought for a moment, "I originally wanted to wait for the snow to stop, but now it looks like it's not going to stop at all, and it's even getting stronger. I don't know how long it will take, so let's do as you say."

"Then let's go back this afternoon to pack our things, and then we'll set off."

"Ah."

In the afternoon, the two rode their snow goats back to their previous lodgings, packed up the food and furs they had found over the past few days, hung them on the snow goats, and then returned to the village they had visited that morning to continue their search and scavenging.

The two had a decent haul that afternoon, finding some more food and several animal pelts, including those of snow sheep and other animals they didn't recognize.

Several of the snow wool furs were sewn into complete coats, some even with hoods. The two wore the snow wool coats on the outside and stuffed other furs inside. Although they looked a bit bulky, it solved the problem of keeping warm.

One minor drawback is that the snow wool coat is too good at camouflage in the current environment.

"Don't stray too far from me... You're all in white, I almost didn't see you."

"If I crouch on the ground, can you find me?"

"...Stop fooling around."

Natalia folded up the excess fur and used it as padding for the snow sheep, then secured it with thin rope to serve as a makeshift saddle.

They had already looted most of the place, but it was getting late, so the two found a relatively intact house in the village to rest.

The next day, Eric and Natalia woke up to find the snow still falling outside.

“Let’s get going,” Eric said. “We have enough food for now. We can scavenge a bit more when we rest at our next stop.”

Natalia had no objection.

Covered in fur and stuffed with cashmere in their shoes, the two men prepared for a day's journey and resolutely plunged into the snowstorm. They also prepared to carry some dried meat with them.

Two snow sheep ran at a steady pace across the snow, with Eric leading the way and Natalia following closely behind.

But the vast snowfield seemed to be all the same, especially when the wind and snow obscured the view. Eric often had to run up a high slope to redetermine his direction.

"This direction."

"Ah."

The snow sheep ran down the long snow slope. Eric glanced back and saw that Natalia was completely wrapped in a snow sheepskin coat, with even her hair tucked in. Only her face was visible. If you kept a little distance, it would be difficult to spot her if you turned around suddenly.

Continuing in the direction we had just determined, we left two long sets of footprints in the snow, which, despite the heavy snowfall, could not be covered for a while.

Along the way, the two passed through several seemingly deserted demon villages.

"This village looks bigger than the ones we passed through before."

"Is anyone inside?"

"I don't know, never mind... Anyway, we're not staying here."

Around noon, the two ate some dried meat that they had roasted before setting off, and then fed the snow sheep a lot of dried vegetables.

The snow sheep are quite accepting of dried vegetables, but they will stop after a couple of bites and lick the snow off the ground.

“It’s too dry,” Eric said.

Natalia looked at the jerky in her hand. "I think so too." "At least we won't choke to death on the jerky." Eric grabbed a small clump of snow and stuffed it into his mouth, wincing from the cold.

There are no surface water sources here, and they don't have water bottles or water bags, so this is the only way for them to replenish their water supply outside.

After a short rest, Eric checked the direction again, and the two continued on their way.

The wind and snow continued, and the sky remained dark.

Occasionally, when they run into windy areas, the wind and snow blow fiercely, making even the tall snow sheep unsteady on their feet, and the snowflakes hitting their faces even feel a bit painful.

Eric and Natalia kept their bodies low to the ground to withstand the effects of the wind and snow, so much so that even after leaving this most difficult stretch of the road, they still habitually lay on the backs of the snow sheep.

"I feel like if the wind gets any stronger, the snow sheep will be blown over."

"That place happens to be at the exit of a valley, where the crosswinds are strong..."

Eric pulled down the snow sheepskin covering his face and looked ahead, where there was another demon village.

Natalia noticed him too and asked if he wanted to rest there.

"What time do you think it should be now?"

"Judging from the sky, it's almost dusk... but if our last break was at noon, it's probably only two or three o'clock now."

Eric looked back at her. "I think so too, so I want to keep going and find a place to rest when it's really dark."

Natalia said she would listen to him.

The two maintained a undisturbed attitude, quickly passing by the demon village. Apart from the ever-present snowstorm, there was no sign of anyone inside, nor any movement whatsoever.

Heading south, continuing onward, two or three hours later, as darkness truly began to fall, Eric started looking for places ahead where he could rest and spend the night.

After driving for another half hour or so, Eric noticed something standing on the snow slope to his right.

The two approached and discovered that it was a watchtower that had collapsed in the middle.

The presence of watchtowers indicates the presence of demon villages nearby.

Sure enough, after the two crossed the snow slope, there were some scattered demon houses on the other side.

“Let’s spend the night here,” Eric said to Natalia.

She nodded and followed him down the snow slope into the village.

The two found a house in a corner to stay in. The wind and snow were still blowing fiercely. Eric rode the snow sheep around quickly but found no trace of the demons.

“No man’s land.” Eric said to Natalia as he herded the snow sheep into the house.

"Let's find some food here."

The house was still cold, with no fire lit yet. Natalia only poked her head out a little, not untying the snow sheepskin covering her body. "Try not to touch the food we brought for now."

"it is good."

After settling the snow sheep, the two came out of the house and began to plunder the nearest house.

Their main objective was to find food, and they no longer had much need for things like fur, so they went straight to the cellar behind the house and started prying open the locks and searching.

Dried vegetables could be found in almost every cellar, so when they found that the nearest cellar only had these, the two decided to give up and move on to the next cellar.

"My hands are so cold." As Natalia climbed out of the cellar, she breathed on her hands to warm them. During the day, when they were traveling, their hands were mostly buried in the wool of the snow sheep. Although they would get a little cold, it was nothing like this.

Eric rubbed his hands together; they were also freezing.

"How far did we run today?" Natalia asked.

"The straight-line distance is probably only a few dozen miles," Eric said. They had been running for almost a whole day, but due to the terrain, they inevitably took some detours, and the wind and snow also affected their speed.

"I feel like it's colder here than where we were before," Natalia said, shrugging her neck.

Eric felt the same way; it was just as cold here as where he had spent the night. "Unless we've gone the wrong way, it should be getting warmer and warmer... and less colder."

He thought that he wouldn't need to use the word "warm" before leaving the Northern Demon Realm.

Natalia looked at him. "Is it because the snowstorm has gotten worse?"

“Maybe,” Eric said. The two went to the back of another nearby cabin, where the cellar was completely exposed without any cover.

When Eric crouched down, he discovered that the cellar door was unlocked and opened with a simple pull.

"There's no chain store left, so there's probably not much left inside." He shone a luminous ball downwards.

“It’s locked here,” Natalia said, picking up a lock from the side.

"..."

Eric turned his head and paused for a moment.

He took the lock from her hand; it had clearly been pried open, with signs of forced entry still visible.

The fact that Natalia could spot it at a glance means that the lock was pried open and thrown aside not too long ago, otherwise it would have been covered by the snow long ago.

He raised his hand to activate the illumination spell, squatted down to examine it carefully, and quickly discovered some messy footprints on the nearby snow that were almost completely covered.

To suffer.

The thought flashed through his mind, and Eric immediately turned off the light spell and pulled Natalia to squat down.

"There are demons lurking here," he whispered.

Natalia also noticed the faint footprints. "Are they here? Or were they just passing by?"

“They must have passed through here not long ago… It’s getting dark, where else could those demons go? They’ll probably spend the night here,” Eric deduced.

He had just walked around here, but due to the heavy snow, he hadn't found anything. However, the demons hiding in the shadows had likely already discovered him.

Looking back at the footprints the two had left behind, Eric pointed outside, indicating that Natalia should follow him around to return to the house where they had settled.

"Are we leaving here?" Natalia asked, following closely behind.

Eric glanced into the distance.

"We'll see. It's already getting dark, and unless we turn back, I don't know if there's anywhere else we can spend the night."

The two circled the village, completely camouflaging themselves with their snow sheepskins, and slowly returned to their lodging.

As soon as he arrived nearby, Eric noticed two more footprints next to the hoofprints he had left when he rode a snow sheep to inspect the area.

Natalia pointed to the snow, and Eric nodded, indicating that she should hide in the corner. He then drew his weapon and slowly circled around to the front door of the house.

baa—

However, just as he reached the door, two snow sheep were driven out one after the other, and a demon was driving them away inside. In the dim light, he couldn't even see him dressed in white.

However, another demon following behind it quickly spotted Eric and shouted to warn its companion.

Two demons rushed out, shouting at him in their demon language. Eric raised a hand and activated a light spell, illuminating his human face as well as the standard armor worn by the two demons.

"..."

For a moment, only the howling of the wind and snow and the panting of the snow sheep, driven back into the cold, filled the air.

The next moment, the two demons drew their weapons and attacked Eric simultaneously.

Eric inexplicably breathed a sigh of relief.

Golden light shone, and white snow flew.

The actual battle lasted less than the standoff before it began. Two demon deserters fell, their blood quickly staining the surrounding snow.

After dealing with the two demons, Eric immediately found Natalia and told her to keep hiding. Then, he followed the footprints in the snow to find where they had come from.

The footprints eventually intersected with the sheep hoofprints he had left earlier, disappearing into another wooden house diagonally across the village.

Eric pushed open the door, and inside, several other demon deserters were gathered around a hearth fire, roasting something over the flames.

Judging from their previous ease and their astonishment upon seeing him, Eric realized that the two demon deserters finding their hideout was more like an accidental discovery during a casual outing.

The longsword was still stained with blood; there was no longer any peace between them.

Although the other side has a slightly larger number, it's only a slightly larger number.

After dealing with the few demon deserters in the cabin, Eric searched around and found that they actually had quite a bit of dry rations, which they must have found before they arrived.

After bypassing the corpse, Eric found an earthenware pot, wiped it with snow, filled it with his rations, and took it back to his lodgings.

(End of this chapter)