Life didn't get easier, even in another world.

Chapter 72 - From A Fan To A Heater

After discussing the matters for a little bit more, the group decided to rest the night before visiting the second location. It wasn't really late, it was still midday. But it wasn't enough for them to fully check the second location. Also, some of the members were tired.

As they were currently in the middle of nowhere, there was no place for them to rest. It wasn't really a nice choice to camp in such a plain. That was why they teleported to somewhere else using a device and some mana from the mages in the unit. 

They were SMF members. There was no need to follow the rules set for the common people such as the restrictions set for teleporting. 

The place where they teleported to was a familiar city for Kairen. It was the city near Mount Fiera that they had visited some time ago to kill a monster. They had stayed here for a night back then after they finished the mission.

The second ruin that they were going to visit was near this mountain. It was in a place located behind the mountain that was even hard for exports to go to. It was in a place that even vehicles couldn't pass. Therefore, that area was full of monsters.

It was a little bit uncomfortable for the people who were about to turn to fired humans in the hot plain hours ago to suddenly go to a snowy mountain. They didn't even have appropriate clothes for this weather, but team leader Dains told them not to worry and only rest.

Finding a hotel and a few rooms to stay the night wasn't hard at all. The unit divided themselves into groups and stayed in rooms designed for two people. 

"You look down."

Reyan started talking while cutting the meat on his plate to pieces. Kairen that was his roommate as usual poked the meat with his fork with a sullen face.

"I liked that notebook..."

"Why are you so sad about it? You'd just found it hours ago."

"Still, I liked it. That notebook didn't deserve such a fate! I don't even have its corpse!"

"What corpse... Sigh."

Reyan sighed and shook his head. He didn't say anything for a moment as he was busy chewing meat.

"At least you have the pictures."

"Yeah."

Kairen nodded his head and also cut a small piece of meat.

"What are you going to do with them?"

"I'm not sure yet..."

"Hmm. But honestly, I was surprised that team leader Dains let you take the notebook."

Kairen's hand, holding a fork and moving it towards his mouth, stopped midair. He felt huge embarrassment after being reminded of his talk with the team leader. 

He had told so much nonsense with a serious face about what they were supposed to do with their enemy to no one but their team leader. Even Serria, the one known for her super bright ability in telling nonsense, couldn't do such a thing.

"Ahem, yes. That was surprising."

Kairen could see Reyan's momentarily odd gaze before he looked down to his plate again. 

'What is this?'

The odd look lasted only for a moment, but it was enough for Kairen, who had been dealing with any kind of looks since coming to this world, to notice. 

He shook his head and looked at his own plate as well.

'Anyway, let's just eat and go to sleep.'

His body was tired from all the walking they had done today. He was feeling sad because of the notebook and was about to explode because of embarrassment. The only thing that he needed at the moment was sleep.

.

.

.

"I'm really doing my best. Stop nagging please."

"I can't. I'm about to die. Help! Even this magic can't keep us warm enough! I can't feel my fingers!"

"I can't cast more spells than this. It's my limit."

Elsie responded to Asa's nagging with a stern face. She was trying to perform her role as a heater to the best that she could. She was continuously casting spells that warmed up the team without stopping for a moment.

"Heh! That's what will happen to you if you use a naive boy as a fan, Ms. mage! You will eventually be used as a heater! Heh! See! This is called punishment! You will be repaid for all of your actions in this world fairly and equally, O ignorant humans! Suffer, mage! Suffer!"

Kairen ignored Serria's vicious whispers and started to cast a spell as well. Elsie's magic was definitely not enough to keep the whole group warm even though she was trying her best. Kairen was shivering as he walked. He could feel his limbs going numb gradually.

"Oh? You're casting a spell as well?"

Serria stopped blabbering and glanced at Kairen. 

"I'm freezing."

"Come on, it's not that cold."

"You wouldn't get it."

The cold was mostly unbearable for the two mages of the unit, Asa, and Rai. It was because the aura users, as well as the team leader and the deputy team leader, had a good body and physique. Just look at those muscles, how could you compare them to the skinny Kairen and Rai or the teenager healer? 

Walking in the snowy way of the mountain was hard by itself, and this shitty cold only added up to their suffering. Kairen felt that he would die if he kept on walking on this road for more than 30 minutes. 

Why did they have to come here without any equipment or vehicles? It was snowing, and it was windy. The road was covered in ice and snow and was slippery. In addition, they were near the mountain and the road wasn't really flat and smooth. 

'I regret choosing this job...'

Team leader Dains had taken out a few warm clothes from his watch, which Kairen now was sure was an inventory item, and handed them to everyone. But a bunch of clothes wasn't enough. At least, not for the members with weak bodies.

Kairen sighed and cast a spell. He could feel his body warm up a little bit after that. 

"Monsters in the right."

Kairen could hear the sound of rustling coming from the right side at the same time that Rai announced that. He turned to look at the side. There, he could see a group of monsters growling and walking towards them. There were five of them that were staring at the humans while drooling. It was disgusting, truly disgusting no matter how many times Kairen saw them.

They all became alert as soon as sensing monsters approach them. The unit members took out their weapons and moved into a formation. 

Aside from the sheer cold and the rough road, they encountered monsters from time to time. They had to stop and fight monsters every few minutes. That made it even harder for Kairen, who had to use his mana to fight instead of heating himself.

"Do whatever you want but please don't remove the heating magic, Elsie."

"Yeah, please."

"We can take care of them ourselves so you continue to do whatever you were doing till now. These punks will freeze and die without it."

"Huh? O_okay..."

Elsie stepped back and only focused on her role as a dedicated heater. There was no need for her to take action in killing the monsters actually. The monsters weren't that strong and the team had enough power to kill them all easily.

"Sigh."

Darren sighed with an 'I'm tired of this shit.' kind of expression. He grabbed his knives tight, leaned his body, kicked the ground, and shot forward.

POFF

The snow on the ground rose to the air because of his fast move and fell on Asa, standing behind him.

"...."

Asa glared at the man's back and spat out the snow that had gone into her mouth to the ground.

Kiiiiii Kiekk

The pained screams of the monster rose at the moment. Darren had arrived behind their backs in no time and stabbed them with his daggers. He hadn't even wrapped his aura around the blade, as if the monsters didn't need that much effort.

Two monsters fell to the ground in a second with their bodies torn. Another monster was shot to die at that moment. The third monster's body also fell to the ground beside the other two. 

Kairen targeted one of the remaining ones and shot a simple energy beam towards it. Easy, cheap, and powerful. He was quite fond of this magic.

The monster's body burned and crumbled after being hit with the energy beam as he expected. The last monster was also taken care of in no time. 

"Done."

Darren said that and walked back to the team with a carefree expression. He didn't care the slightest about Asa's vicious glare. She was now literally hugging Elsie because of the cold.

"We will arrive there soon. Continue to walk for just a little bit longer."

Team leader Dains said to the sullen members of his unit and started walking again.