I Only Summon Villainesses

Chapter 408: The Crucible Of Winter

Kassie’s fist stopped right in front of the pillar, and she turned her head looking at me with an impassive expression.

White Feather meanwhile turned with a soft smile on her face.

"Oh, Lord Cade, you were here? How long have you been around?"

She vanished from the midst of the pillars and appeared in front of me, lowering her head.

Kassie stayed there, hooked behind the clusters of colossal pillars. She continued to piercingly stare at me.

"Lady Kassandra is an excellent teacher, just now, she was teaching me about the essence of combat."

I gave her a dumbfounded look and turned my head, studying the ruinous state of the Nave, the only pews that were saved from their clash were the back rows; every other thing was terribly mangled and broken.

And she said... teaching her.

What was teaching about this level of destruction?!

White Feather regardless of my look was smiling warmly; that warmth however, was disturbing. But Kassie’s gaze wasn’t doing much to help.

She finally removed her gaze and with a lazy movement of her hands, crushed the pillars and sent them toppling over each other, causing a deafening crash to drown the hall. Billows of white dust rolled everywhere and through it, she walked out.

The Sanctum was already fixing itself as the engagement between the two of them stopped. The broken shards of the columns were flowing in reverse, so were the broken pews, it was like time was moving backward for these things, fixing them back to be what they had.

I stared at the two of them, doubting White Feather’s explanation; I was sure that something had gone down here. But I didn’t know what.

’Or were they really teaching...?’

I shook my head a moment, later.

It didn’t seem probable, for some reason, White Feather seemed to have hidden contempt towards Kassie; what I didn’t understand yet was why. I was even thinking she would actually love and worship Kassie since she was a figure of every woman.

’This is giving me a headache, I don’t even want to think about it.’

I glanced outside.

"Right, where is Maggie, I wanted to introduce White Feather to her."

Kassie lingered, then she responded with a calm tone.

"It’s been a while she’s been here, you should know that."

Right...

I should...

Except, I hadn’t been paying attention to her. I closed my eyes for a moment, taking time to dive deep within me, and vaguely feel her.

She was alive and she seemed to be active, draining a negligible amount of essence. I tried reaching her with the link; either she outright ignored me, or I couldn’t reach her, I couldn’t tell.

’Damnit! These Villainesses are such a chore!’

I turned to White Feather.

"This is a bit sad, but I wanted to finally introduce you to Maggie. Since she’s not around, I’ll move the introduction to another day."

She nodded, a calm smile on her face.

"We are currently, at a large frozen bridge, any idea where that is?" I asked her with a direct tone and look.

White Feather was thoughtfully silent for a couple of seconds, then eventually she opened her mouth.

"I guess we are in Eisenmark."

I raised a brow.

"Eisenmark, isn’t that the long voyage that Yuan was preparing us for?"

White Feather nodded her head.

"Eisenmark is a place of extreme temperature, so it is a point that cannot be carelessly ventured into. As a matter of fact, the cold kills many before the beasts do."

She gave me a glare.

"And the beasts here... they’re abominable existences, far more tenacious and malicious than anything you have ever come across, that’s the word that goes around, even I have never got to experience them for myself."

She sighed and sat down, thinking for a moment, before she continued.

"But if we are in Eisenmark, that means, that fool..."

She paused and her eyes narrowed with confusion.

"What is he looking for in Eisenmark?"

I studied her before inputting.

"Could it be related to the boy?"

White Feather did not respond, only narrowing her eyes more as though she was growing even more suspicious of something.

"It couldn’t be..."

I could only watch her, not saying anything because it looked like whatever thought she was forming in her head was only beginning to take root and clarify.

Then she finally turned to me.

"The bridge you’re currently on is only a smaller part of the Ice Roads, and if my information is credible, this one leads you to the East, Grimmwald. After which you’ll enter the center, the Capital city of Eisenmark, Stalhberg."

I studied her expression carefully, remembering once again that she was a merchant, even though she usually never had to leave her Clan; she had controlled the movement of several goods for hundreds of years; I doubted there was really anywhere or anything that White Feather didn’t know.

’Talk about usefulness. And this Kassie is fighting her?’

I shot a hidden glare at Kassie who seemed to be paying attention to White Feather... surprisingly.

"Eisenmark is dominated by three powerful Grafschaften and one ruling family."

I frowned slightly.

"Just four families?"

White Feather nodded.

"Yes, because they’re the only families with enough money and resources to care about sharing. The rest barely have enough to keep themselves alive in this vicious cold, but these houses, they’re powerful colonies of individuals with terrifying and yet amazing strength. And have created the economy of Eisenmark around themselves, simply because they have what it takes to keep people alive."

She glanced at me, her gaze stern.

"Do you know what it would take to raise an army in a climate like this...?"

I shook my head slightly.

"I can’t imagine it, half of their soldiers, if not all, would die, if they don’t have enough resources to survive the cold."

"Exactly, and yet these three families, in such extreme conditions, have made Eisenmark, one of the Empire’s go-to for troops reinforcements. Not to say, their soldiers are overwhelmingly strong, they’re nothing like the church knights, or those Naval Prefecture soldiers you swept the floor with. Word is that any of them are rarely found around, but the harsh condition of their training, has yielded unimaginable results, they’re naturally referred to as Winter Soldiers."