The Holy Man of Another Century Gospel

Chapter 284 Crossing the Snow Mountain
The sky gradually darkened.

Riding a snow sheep, Eric surveyed the area around the camp amidst the wind and snow. Looking out at the gray landscape, he was fairly certain that no more demons would be coming up the mountain today.

Back at the camp, Natalia opened the other tent and sat by the iron pot, gazing at the bubbling mutton and broth inside.

"It's been cooking all afternoon, and it still doesn't seem to be cooked through."

To avoid the smell of mutton filling their sleeping area, they had to cook mutton there. The corpses of the demon warriors that had been abandoned there had been dragged out by Eric, who dug a snow pit and buried them.

With such heavy snow, when he inspected the area earlier, he could hardly see any remaining traces.

"The air pressure is low at the top of the mountain, so it's normal that it's not easy to cook the food properly."

Eric looked at the spice leaves bubbling up in the pot with the broth and sighed deeply. "There's no pressure cooker or anything here. Do these demons usually just eat dry rations?"

"A pressure cooker?" Natalia looked at him.

"Hmm... a pot that makes meat stewed until it's very tender, invented by alchemists."

"How could there possibly be one here?"

Eric also sat down by the iron pot, watching the rising steam from the top of the tent.

"It's been cooking all afternoon, it's almost done. If it's not overcooked, just chew it a few more times, it'll be done when it's cooked."

Natalia had no objections, and the two tidied up briefly before starting their dinner.

There were quite a few household items in this demon camp, including pots, pans, and bowls. Before using them, Eric first used holy flames to sterilize them thoroughly for half a day, and then carefully wiped them with snow.

What's even more difficult to handle is the mutton itself. Eric and Natalia don't really have much skill in this area; killing a sheep for meat is more difficult than killing a person.

Eric scooped up a large piece of mutton still attached to the bone, stared at it for a moment, and couldn't help but recall the snow sheep he had chopped up so badly.

"Not ripe yet?" Natalia looked at him.

"It's ripe." Eric blew on it twice, then held it in his hand, blew on it several more times, and then took a bite.

"How is it?" Natalia asked again.

"It's a little hot."

I'm talking about the taste.

Eric licked his lips. "I almost swallowed my tongue."

"Is it really that delicious?" Natalia laughed, picked up a piece of mutton, blew on it a few times, and put it in her mouth.

"Hot...hot...uh..."

Natalia swallowed a piece of mutton with a slurred breath and let out a long sigh.

"The taste is actually pretty good... I can cook edible mutton now."

Eric smiled, said nothing, and picked up another piece of mutton for her.

Because of his terrible knife skills in handling the ingredients, the mutton pieces were of all sizes, with the meat still attached to the bone. The only thing that could be confirmed was that they were hairless, not because he cleaned them thoroughly, but because he had cut off and thrown away the hairy parts.

“If we weren’t in this dangerous situation, I’d love to have a couple of drinks,” Natalia said.

They also found some homemade demon wine in the camp's cellar, which smelled not much different from the wine they could drink on human lands. However, just to be on the safe side, Eric did not take the wine out.

After all, if you compromise even a little on drinking, it can easily escalate into a big compromise, and you might accidentally get so drunk that you won't wake up until the demon patrolmen stab the curved sword into your body the next day.

“Just bear with it.” Eric spat a piece of bone to the side. “Once we get back to the mainland, we can drink however we want.”

Natalia nodded; she was just saying it casually.

A large pot of mutton, cooked to varying degrees of tenderness, was eaten by the two of them, stopping and starting, for quite some time. They spat out a lot of bones, but there was still a considerable amount left in the iron pot.

The soup was boiling, and his body was warm from eating. Eric had already taken off the snow sheepskin from his body, swallowed the last bite of mutton, and exhaled a breath of hot air.

"I'm satisfied..."

Natalia has a much smaller appetite than him. Although she only stopped eating now, she didn't actually eat many pieces because she ate slowly.

"There's still a lot left."

"After all, it was a whole snow sheep... although a lot was wasted during processing."

Natalia also removed the fur from her body and stared at the luminous orb above her head for a while.

Eric looked at her, about to say something, when suddenly his head turned and he looked outside the tent.

Natalia was startled, immediately holding her breath and staring at him, suppressing the urge to ask a question.

Eric picked up his longsword, walked slowly to the outside of the curtain, and suddenly threw it open and rushed out.

Natalia stood up, picked up the demonic curved sword that Eric had thrown to her earlier, and listened carefully to the sounds outside.

She waited for a while, but didn't hear any sounds of fighting.

Soon, Eric returned to his tent, looking relaxed yet slightly strange.

"They weren't patrolling demon cavalry, they were a few snow wolves."

"..."

He picked out a large piece of meat and bone stuck together in the iron pot. Natalia followed him outside and watched as he threw the mutton to several green-eyed snow wolves outside the camp.

Several snow wolves began to fight over it, and soon each grabbed a piece and busied themselves with devouring it.

"Shouldn't we kill them?" Natalia asked in a low voice.

“I’m too full,” Eric replied. “I don’t want to move around.”

"..."

Natalia was speechless for a moment, then said, "If a few pieces of mutton can get rid of them, then there's no problem."

"Those snow wolves that attacked us this morning were probably tamed by those demon sentinels in the same way," Eric said.

"Can we tame them?" Natalia asked, her gaze returning to the snow wolves.

"Will it be a food reserve that has legs and can follow us?"

Natalia smiled. "If I really tamed them, I wouldn't have the heart to eat them."

The two stood outside the tent for a while, watching the snow wolves finish eating and leave. Eric then closed the simple wooden doors on both sides of the camp.

These two wooden doors opened with a push, clearly not for guarding against people, but probably to prevent these snow wolves from harassing the snow sheep in the camp at night.

"Do they eat corpses?" Natalia suddenly asked.

Eric glanced at her, then looked out at the dark mountaintop. “When they’re really hungry, they’ll even eat their own kind. Wolves have a keen sense of smell, so they should be able to easily spot the corpses of their own kind and the demon cavalry on the mountain path.”

After resting for a while and digesting some of the mutton in his stomach, Eric moved the wooden door on one side of the camp, mounted his snow sheep, and went out to patrol again.

Natalia was with him too.

The two circled around, but the wind and snow on the mountaintop were much fiercer than those at the foot of the mountain and halfway up. Even with the illumination, they couldn't see very far, and when they returned, they were covered in snowflakes from head to toe.

They brushed the snowflakes off each other, and Natalia looked in the direction from which the wind and snow were blowing.

"The snow and wind in the Demon Realm mainly blow from the north, right?"

Eric responded, understanding her meaning.

On snow-capped mountains, the direction of the cold wind is least affected by other factors.

And that is precisely the direction they will take next.

Eric put the snow sheep in the shed and said, "Hopefully, when we wake up tomorrow, the snowstorm will have stopped, and then we can decide whether to continue or turn back."

Natalia said okay.

It was freezing cold, so the two of them didn't stand outside blowing in the snow any longer and went inside the tent.

Eric started ventilating the place after taking it over, but the demon sentinels had been living there for who knows how long. The beds on the ground had become tainted with the smell. It wasn't noticeable from a distance, but once you lay down, you could smell the odor in no time.

The two had no choice but to use the fur they had brought as a sleeping mat.

In the middle of the tent was a fire pit dug into the ground, with an iron stove placed on top. This side of the tent was only used for sleeping. Eric took down the iron stove, lit another fire, and warmth quickly filled the entire tent.

“These demon sentinels are in better conditions than many of the guards at the Black Ice Wall back then,” Natalia said.

The two dragged the bed to the same side and lay down together; it wasn't time to go to sleep yet.

“That’s different. Nobody even notices when they’re dead.” Eric turned to the side, placing his hand on her waist. “Even the enemies who killed them have taken over this place, eating lamb stew and sleeping in their tents.” Natalia smiled, but then suddenly remembered something, and her smile faded.

"At the Black Ice Great Wall, we didn't know that West Ice-Free Bay had fallen until the demons were right in front of us."

Eric remained silent, then put his arm around her waist and pulled her a little closer.

Natalia hugged him tightly, "Looking back now, it feels like it was only six months ago..."

Eric lowered his head. "This might be good news for us: in just six months, the demons have been conquering and attacking everywhere, and now their main focus is on attacking Grandia. They can't spare many manpower to defend the northern border of the empire that they have already occupied."

Natalia responded, and after a while suddenly said, "Then after we go back there, can we organize a resistance army in the North?"

Eric looked at her. "Has Your Highness begun to value the power of the common people?"

“I have always valued this,” Natalia said. “Aren’t the guards I lead at the Black Ice Wall all of commoner origin? It’s just that in the past six months, in order to establish a front against the demons as quickly as possible, I have prioritized the noble route.”

Eric nodded, then said, "Let's talk about it when we get back to the North."

"Hmm..." Natalia casually agreed, then looked up, "So what are we talking about now?"

"Tell me what we can do next."

His hands moved faster than his mouth, already reaching inside her clothes.

Natalia twisted slightly, not resisting, but still grabbed his hand and pointed to the luminous orb above their heads.

"Let's take this one out first."

"Then you can't see anything at all?" Eric looked at her face.

"...What do you want to see?"

"Your everything."

Natalia pursed her lips, then raised her arm and placed it over her eyes without saying a word.

In the darkness she created, she perceived with unparalleled clarity the slow, almost agonizing, unfolding and peeling away.

His gaze and kisses covered every inch of skin exposed to the cold air…

"Well!……"

The cold wind howled outside the tent all night long.

The next morning, when Eric woke up, the snowstorm was still ongoing, but it had lessened considerably.

Natalia clung tightly to him, most of her bare back exposed to the already chilly air.

They went to bed very late yesterday, but the fire pit on the ground had already gone out.

Eric pulled the fur up to completely cover her, slowly pulled himself out, put on his clothes, and then added more firewood to the fire pit, lighting it with the holy flame.

Not long after, Natalia also woke up.

The two got up, ate something, and then quickly packed up and left the camp.

"Which two snow sheep did we ride over here?"

"This one...and this one too."

Eric was surprised. "You actually recognized it?"

“Of course.” Natalia glanced at him, then pointed out some details. “This piece of wool was plucked like this by me… I noticed the black spot on your snow sheep’s right hind leg a while ago…”

They mounted their old buddy, but to save time, they didn't bring the two remaining snow sheep. Eric was already satisfied with the lamb stew.

Because the snowstorm had not yet stopped, visibility remained limited.

The two arrived at the other side of the snow-capped mountain. Looking at the hazy scenery below, Eric asked Natalia for her opinion on whether they should continue heading in the direction that was increasingly turning north.

“I can’t tell,” Natalia shook her head. “Look, yesterday the wind was blowing from this side, but today it’s blowing from this direction again… Using the wind direction to determine direction is not very reliable.”

Eric looked down the mountain. "Let's go down this way and take a look. I reckon there's another demon camp here; we might be able to observe some more useful information."

Natalia nodded. "Okay."

The two ran down the ski slope.

Going downhill was much easier than going uphill. The snow sheep were running wildly, and Eric and Natalia's job was not to urge them to speed up, but to control them so they didn't run too fast.

Along the way, the two passed several small wooden houses, similar to those they had seen when they came up from the other side.

The side of the snow-capped mountain was gentler and the path was longer than the side they had come up from. Even so, after climbing the snow-capped mountain all day, they quickly descended to the foot of the mountain in just over two hours.

As they approached the bottom, the two noticed a demon camp on the other side of the mountain. It was incredibly large, almost like a town. Eric and Natalia decisively avoided that area and descended to the ground from the other side, where there was almost no path.

"What's going on with that demon camp? It's so huge..."

Eric shook his head, indicating that he did not know.

He looked around. The place they had come down to was a steep hillside where snow couldn't hold, and the rocks were exposed. The bottom was recessed, not forming a deep cave, but it could provide temporary shelter from the wind and snow or the view from both sides.

"You stay here for a while, I'll go check out the situation over there."

Natalia knew that following him at this time would only be a hindrance, so she agreed.

She hid here, and Eric rode on the snow sheep again, pulling on the snow sheep's fur to completely conceal himself in the white camouflage.

Eric ran through the snow-covered forest at the foot of the mountain until he reached the vicinity of the demon camp. He found a place to stop, tied the snow sheep to a tree, and then went over there alone.

The closer Eric got, the more he realized the sheer size of the demon camp.

Based on their actual location at that moment, he also had different guesses.

If they are heading south, then this is the outpost camp of the demons before they officially launch their attack. Countless demon warriors are gathering here, waiting for the right moment to suddenly appear under the Black Ice Great Wall.

If the direction is reversed, and this is the northern part of the Demon Realm, then this should be the place where the people from the demon villages he saw along the way settled after their relocation.

Eric continued to approach, changing direction and observing from different angles.

Few demons were active outside. Two stood at the entrance, both dressed as heavily armored warriors. He hoped this was the first possibility he had guessed, but he couldn't be sure, so he could only continue to observe.

Eric circled back onto the snow path on the hillside, intending to observe the situation in the camp from a higher vantage point. Unexpectedly, he saw a demon knight riding a snow sheep up from the other side.

He quickly lay down, using the snow sheepskin on his body to blend in with the snow on the ground.

The demon knights didn't come over; instead, they followed the snow path uphill, probably heading to patrol the sentry camp at the summit.

Eric gazed into the distance for a while, then quickly realized that they didn't have much time left.

—Once the demon knights patrol to the mountaintop and discover that the camp has been captured, they will definitely come down the mountain immediately to report the news, triggering a general state of emergency for the demons.

The ski slopes here are very long; it would take at least a day to climb up...

What if we take care of that patrolling demon knight beforehand?
The patrol's departure and failure to return will certainly alert the camp, but it's better than it discovering the situation and immediately coming down the mountain to report it.

With that thought in mind, Eric got up and quickly chased after the patrolling knight in the direction he had left.

While the latter was still within sight, Eric activated several speed boosts and sprinted across the snow.

A moment later, the demon knight who was climbing the mountain seemed to notice something, and looked back. He was also noticed by the swirling snow waves.

The demon knights immediately turned back and charged towards Eric.

Eric glanced back down.

If he kills this demon knight here, will the demons down the mountain notice him...? They shouldn't be able to see him from this distance, right?

Eric stopped looking away, waiting for the demon knight to come and die.

However, the demon knight seemed to have no intention of attacking him. He rushed down and slowed down when he was still a dozen steps away, carefully examining him as he approached.

"Human," it suddenly spoke, surprisingly in the Common Language, though somewhat haltingly, "You are not allowed to leave the camp. You, go back."

The demon knight raised an arm and pointed to the camp at the foot of the mountain.

Eric was taken aback, but quickly composed himself, hiding his surprise.

“But Simagu told me that I could wander around the neighborhood as I pleased.”

Upon hearing the name Xinmagu, the demon knight showed a thoughtful expression, then shook his head.

"Humans, no. Go back to where you belong. Demons don't like Simmagu, and they don't like you either."

(End of this chapter)