The next day, Nein and Clara return to their last location. Just two of them now after the knights send their complain to their leader for not able keeping up with their speed.
"Should we split?" She ask with a curious tilt.
"Good idea. Make sure to take a note on anything you see okay?."
And with that, they take a different way through the vast snowfields using their ability to travel through easily.
They found nothing but snow. The speed of their investigation skyrocketing since they don't have to wait for someone behind them.
The investigation takes them eight hours until evening.
Nein's the first arrived at the starting point and waiting for her to returned.
"So how is it?" He ask once Clara's there.
"I got plenty of things." She answer while giving him the note.
He grab it and read it along with his.
"Huh...good job, this should do for now. Let's return at once before it dark." He suggests after hiding the notes inside his coat.
And with a nod, they begin walking back to report what they found.
During the expedition, the siblings found two deserted island twenty kilometers from the starting point. They goes further and found another land of vast mountain range and they decided to stop at once. Everyone's speechless by the results and watching the siblings indifferent expression with wonder.
"This is... impressive. All this from...two people?." Duke Pluvia whisper in awe.
Even the Duke from Aligot who always try to flatter Nein is speechless by it. They look at each other before looking at the siblings indifferent eyes.
"Very well. You can go now, thank you for your help."
"Thank you Duchess."
With the door closed behind the siblings, the five leader still trying to put their mind around this.
"Not only there's a sea but a land as well?. Why I doesn't know that?." Kivia said perplexed.
"So what's your plan next, duchess?." Ask Trawa's duchess.
"Let's continue the expedition until we find something that's really bothering my mind. That's all for now. You can leave."
Everyone leave the room, still thinking about this discovery, or maybe about the siblings true capability. Starting to wary of what will happen if they make them as their enemies.
"Brother, is it really a good idea?" She ask before stuffing her mouth with meat.
"What do you mean?."
The siblings were eating together in a restaurant. A place that serve local cuisine that coincidentally match her taste.
"About what lies on the sea floor." She said while munching.
"... Even if we told them about it, there's nothing we can do about it. The ice is too thick for anything to pierce through. And it'll only add more to our plates." He said casually before sliding the tissue to her.
She nods silently while wiping her mouth. There's a comfortable silence between them as they simply sat down eating their food together.
"Ah, Nein!." Noz called once they leave the restaurant.
"What's up?" Nein answer the call and watching him running to their spot.
"Nothing in particular. Just telling you that I'm going to leave tomorrow." He start while panting.
Nein sigh at his action and offer him a water.
"In such weather?"
"Yeah, turns out in the morning, the storm is not as strong as when it's noon. So travel is possible that way." He explain briefly after drinking the water Nein offer to him.
Both Nein and Clara frowns from that information and looking at each other with wonder before hiding their concern for Noz.
"I see. Wish you a safe travel then."
"Thanks, and good luck with your stuff. Goodnight to you two." He finally leave them alone.
"Don't you think it's weird that we never encountered such things he mention Clara?" He ask once they're alone.
"I don't feel any changes in the air back at the starting point. Should we told duchess about this brother?"
"Yeah, we should. Come on."
They begin to walk back to the duchess manor to speak about some change in the investigation.
The next day comes and after talking about changing the investigation spot to the land on the east of Kvas instead, the two along with a bunch of guards begin to investigate the forest in the morning.
The weather indeed clearer than it used to be. They decided to split.
"Hey..." The knights that follows Clara whisper to knight beside him.
"What?." He replied.
"Is that girl really the one investigating the snowstorm?."
"Did you read the report?."
"I did."
"Then yes. Just focus with the job Ante, you wasn't there when she's casually clear the storm with a wave of her hand. Just focused on keeping up with her speed."
Hearing that, the knights finally quiet. Clara not really used being a leader as she fit more to be the one being commanded. On Nein side however, he's doing just fine, asking them their opinion when he can just do it himself. All that to not making them feels useless.
"Did you find anything odd sir Nein?." Ask one knight when Nein using his smoke.
"Not really. There's nothing out of place nearby. Let's continue our travel. Can you guys keeping up?."
"Of course. Don't worry about us."
Nein nods and continue the investigation. They walk along the frozen forest while looking for anything useful. Not even his smoke spotting something unusual. That is until a voice echoing in his head.
"O human who carries Mundus guardian's blessing. May I talk with you for a moment?."
The voice makes him stop and look around frantically. And before he can do anything, the ground vanished beneath him and pulled him down.
"SIR NEIN!!" The knights shouting to the hole he fall in.
The sounds of water droplet fills the dark space around him. He's laying down on the snow pile and not moving as he try to wrap his head around this pitiful situation. The only moment he feels so vulnerable is either with his older sister or Sylva. And he's sure it's the latter this time. He push himself upward and dust his coat from the snow.
"Hey, are you one of the guardian too?."
He received no answer for a while before the voice echoing again.
"Correct, I'm the guardian of this endless snowfields. I'm asking for your help. O human who carries Mundus guardian's blessing." The voice feels heavy and proper.
"You know Sylva?." He ask curiously.
His words makes the guardian quiet before continue speaking with wonder.
"May I ask what kind of contract you made with her?" The voice sounds sceptical.
"We're not tied by any contact. But...well...it's complicated..." He failed to find a perfect excuse to explain their situation.
Seeing Nein nervous response, the voice can't help but chuckles. It's trembles in his head making him even more flushtered.
"I see. So that's why she gave you a part of her so effortlessly."
The statement make him curious and immediately looking at his finger.
"You mean the ring?. Yeah, she gave me this before I left her forest. Is this that important?."
"A part of devine beast considered rare among you humans. And that ring made from her fur's enough to buy you a whole year alone."
Hearing that, Nein suddenly feels the true value of the ring. Thinking she's giving him this as a souvenir makes him happy and hold the ring tightly.
"So what do you want from me?. What kind of conversation you want to have with me?." He return to the matter.
"...May you...walk along the tunnel human?. You'll know once we met."
Nein saw the path and walk along it. He goes deeper and deeper until he reach the end and greeted by a vast cave covered in ice. In the middle, he saw a giant white serpent tied with chain and barrier surrounding it. It's open it's eyes and look at Nein with it's purple gaze.
"I'm Nivalis, the guardian of endless snowfields. Asking for you to break this seal and stop the awakening of the leviathan under the frozen seas." He introduce himself with grace despite being held.
Nein frowns slightly, to think what lies on the sea floor is a leviathan is concerning. It could be the source of the duchess worries.
"... Let's talk about it first." He finally said after thinking for a while.