Even though Sophie reacted the instant she heard the first word, it was already too late.
It was snowing.
Sophie heard the chirping of insects.
The night pressed down on the damp leaves. A black bug, barely half the size of a fingernail, clung to the underside of a leaf vein. Its elytra rubbed together, producing a short, sharp chirp.
The bug had six legs.
The tip of its third leg was stained with a speck of wet mud.
The mud was mixed with thirty-two grains of fine sand and two decaying moss spores.
The spores emitted an unpleasant odor.
The bug's left elytron moved a fraction of a second slower than its right.
This disturbed a second bug.
Then a third.
Soon, the entire lawn was awake with movement.
The flutter of every insect's wings, the slight bend of every blade of grass under tiny feet, and the path of every dewdrop rolling down a leaf from the vibrations—all of it, in a single instant, crammed completely into Sophie's mind.
Sophie felt everything.
There was no sequence, no distance, and no distinction between primary or secondary. All of this information flooded in at once.
Sophie's hand was still resting on the doorknob.
The brass doorknob had been touched by countless guests and polished many times by Damian. Sophie could feel every single scratch where fingerprints had pressed into the metal surface. The thin sweat secreted by her skin spread along her palm lines, her pores contracted, and the fine hairs on her hand were swept in the same direction by the draft.
The stains on the ceiling, the dust on the walls, the scuff marks on the floor, the pressure exerted on the bedpost when Miss Hero tackled her...
More and more information flooded in.
A sudden warmth tickled her nose. She was starting to get a nosebleed.
Humans are surrounded by countless pieces of information at every moment.
The skin knows where the wind comes from, the ears know when someone walks past the wall, and the eyes know the curtains are blue. However, the brain filters out the vast majority of useless data, leaving only the tiny fraction necessary for survival.
Because that specific information is what matters.
Outside the window, a gray sparrow that had rested there this morning was startled by their noise, flapping its wings.
Its three hundred and sixty-two flight feathers adjusted their angles in sequence. The air beneath its wings was compressed and pushed out, forming an invisible vortex.
And there were more birds—all the birds in the sky.
The pigeons in the ruins, the swallows under the eaves, the owls startled awake by the snow in the barren forest outside the city. She felt the sensation of every single feather slicing through the air, the blood pumped by every heartbeat, and the sky reflected in every bird's eye.
Thousands of skies.
Gloomy skies, shattered skies, skies sliced apart by ruined towers, skies obscured by chimneys, and skies reflected in puddles that rippled with every footstep.
The sky was unfolding.
The light above the clouds, the snow beneath them, and every grain of dust swept up by the wind blowing from the north over the mountains. Every grain of dust had its own shape, and every shape possessed countless angles that could be described. They scrambled to force their way in.
Sophie's vision went black.
But darkness, too, was composed of information.
As her eyelids fell, her eyelashes brushed against each other, blood flowed beneath the thin skin, and the lingering light spots on her retina expanded in concentric rings. She saw red, she saw black, and she saw countless photoreceptor cells dying and being reactivated.
Closing her eyes was useless.
She took a deep breath.
Oxygen, nitrogen, water vapor, microscopic soot from combustion, the sweet scent of milk wafting up from the inn's kitchen, the faint aroma of black tea Shironaka Fueno had left on her clothes, and the scent of Miss Hero carried over from Aishide.
It was too much.
Even though her comprehension had reached its limit and her thoughts had ground to a halt, the endless, unfiltered, and unstructured stream of information kept pouring in.
And yet, all of the above—from the friction of the black bug's elytra on the underside of the leaf vein, to every single grain of dust swept up over the northern mountains; from the seventh scratch polished onto the brass doorknob by Damian, to Silvervein City during the era of the Red Moon Empire; from the unseen vortex beneath the sparrow's wings, to the thousands of shattered skies in the eyes of thousands of birds—everything, simultaneously, all at once, flooded into Sophie's brain.
And all of this had occurred since the moment she laid eyes on Aishide.
A single heartbeat had not even completed half its cycle.
Aishide's fifth word had not yet left her mouth.
The trailing sound of the fourth word had only just left her lips, traveling through the corridor's air at three hundred and forty meters per second, crawling slowly, inch by inch, toward Sophie's eardrums.
The pendulum on the wall hung suspended between two ticks.
The first snowflake had only just begun to drift from the sky outside the window.
The very first second of the Domain Expansion had only just begun.
“Domain Expansion: Three Thousand Worlds in a Single Thought.”
Only when the final syllable fell did the domain truly expand.
...
New Calendar 263, Red Moon Empire, the Far Northern Snowfield.
The sun had not yet crossed the mountain ridge, but the world was already a vast expanse of white.
Heavy snow pressed down on the spires, and the early morning wind swept through the towers, carrying away ice shards hanging from the eaves.
Attendants responsible for clearing the courtyard lined up in two rows, using wooden shovels to push the snow accumulated overnight against the walls. Patrolling guards wore heavy cloaks, white frost dusting their armor plates.
A carriage carrying firewood entered through the side gate, its wheels crunching over the frozen ground.
The highest point of this city was the Queen's chambers.
The floor was covered with a dark red carpet, and rows of jewelry cabinets stood against the walls, pearls, gemstones, and gold gleaming quietly in the morning light.
However, the Queen did not look at them.
She stood before a silver mirror.
The mirror was as tall as a person, its frame carved with blooming roses. Each petal had been polished incredibly thin by craftsmen, making the entire mirror look as if it were surrounded by a silver thicket that would never fade.
Two maids adjusted the Queen's gown, while another knelt by her side holding a jewelry box.
“Rubies, or sapphires?”
The Queen raised her chin, allowing the maid to hold the necklace against her neck.
“Rubies suit your complexion better, Your Majesty.”
The maid answered with her head bowed.
“Rubies it is, then.”
The Queen looked at herself in the mirror.
Her black hair was pinned up, not a single stray strand escaping from beneath her crown. Her deep black gown cinched her waist tightly, and the ruby hung between her collarbones, its color resembling a droplet of congealed blood. With just a slight turn of her head, the mirror revealed a flawless face.
The maids held their breath and waited.
The Queen stared for a long time before finally showing a satisfied smile.
“Everyone out.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
As if granted a grand reprieve, the maids lifted their skirts and left the chambers one by one.
The chambers fell silent.
The Queen raised her hand to smooth the black hair near her ear, then adjusted the angle of her crown.
Once she was certain that her reflection was still flawlessly beautiful, she stepped closer to the mirror.
This was her daily morning ritual.
No matter how grand the banquet held the day before, no matter how many poets praised her beauty, and no matter how those visiting envoys lost themselves looking at her, only the answer from the magic mirror counted as the truth.
Because people lied.
Mirars did not.
The Queen gazed at her reflection, the corners of her lips curving upward.
“Magic mirror, magic mirror.”
The silver roses on the frame gleamed with a cold light.
Ripples spread across the once-clear glass, blurring her reflection. The flames in the fireplace dwindled, leaving only a low resonance echoing through the chambers.
The Queen asked:
“Tell me, who is the most beautiful girl in this world?”
The ripples gradually subsided.
The ancient, steady voice of the magic mirror spoke from within.
“Your Majesty, your beauty surpasses the flowers of spring and the moonlight of midsummer. In all the kingdom, there is no other beauty who can compare to you.”
The Queen's smile deepened.
She liked this answer.
To be precise, she liked the first half of this answer.
“But—”
The Queen's fingers paused on the ruby.
The magic mirror did not falter under her suddenly icy gaze.
“In the northern royal city, there is still someone even more beautiful than you.”
The Queen glared at the magic mirror.
“What did you say?”
“Her skin is like rye, her hair like pink cherry blossoms, and her lips like blood.”
The mist on the glass parted to the sides.
A figure sitting by a window appeared in the mirror.
She wore a simple white gown, her pitch-black long hair draping past her shoulders as she bowed her head to wrap the wing of an injured bird. The winter morning light fell through the window, illuminating her profile with a clean, gentle glow.
“She is the Black Snow Princess.”
The magic mirror said.
“As long as she lives, she is the most beautiful girl in this world.”
The smile on the Queen's face vanished.
She stared at the Black Snow Princess in the mirror, silent at first.
After a moment, she raised her hand and removed the ruby necklace she had just chosen from her neck.
She placed the necklace on the dressing table.
But in the next instant, the Queen swept her hand across the table, knocking the jewelry box to the floor.
Pearls and gemstones rolled everywhere.
“Why her?”
She took a step forward, her black skirt crushing the scattered pearls.
“She is nothing but a child hiding in a side palace, too afraid to even attend banquets.”
The magic mirror did not answer.
In the mirror, the Black Snow Princess had finished bandaging the bird's wing. She pushed open the window, gently tossed the bird into the sky with both hands, and then lifted her face to watch its silhouette vanish into the morning light.
The Queen saw her smile.
It was not ostentatious, nor did it carry any hidden meaning.
It was so innocent.
And precisely because of that, it was all the more captivating.
The Queen turned around and pulled a golden silk cord by the bed.
A crisp ringing sound traveled through the thin pipes inside the walls to the depths of the palace.
In less than half a minute, hurried footsteps approached from outside the door.
“Guards.”
The door opened, and two maids knelt at the entrance.
“Your Majesty.”
“Go and summon the Royal Hunter.”
The Queen paused, looking back at the Black Snow Princess in the magic mirror.
“Summon the best one.”
...
When Hiso received the command, he was eating breakfast in his hunter's cabin outside the royal city.
A hard piece of baked rye bread, a steaming bowl of meat broth, and half a cured sausage that had probably been frozen in the warehouse for who knew how long.
Such was the treatment of the kingdom's best hunter.
But considering he could gain hunter skill experience by doing absolutely nothing, he accepted it.
It wasn't like he could taste anything in the game anyway.
Just as Hiso dipped the bread into the soup, the door was pushed open from the outside.
A cold wind carrying snow swept into the room.
Four royal guards stood outside.
The leader rested his hand on the hilt of his sword.
“Hunter Hiso, the Queen summons you.”
Hiso looked at them, then at his bread, which was only half-soaked.
“Now?”
“Now.”
“Can you wait until I finish eating?”
The guard remained expressionless.
“Her Majesty is waiting.”
Fine.
Apparently not.
Hiso picked up the bread, stuffed the bite-sized portion into his mouth, and grabbed his cloak from the wall.
Just as the cloak settled on his shoulders, a translucent system prompt floated into the edge of his vision.
【Side Quest Triggered】
【Quest Name: Black Snow Princess. No faction restrictions. Rewards will be calculated based on the player's specific performance.】
Sure, sure, Black Snow Princess.
Although he had always felt that Red Moon had a lot of troll content, Hiso still found it bizarre every time he encountered it.
A princess.
A queen.
A hunter.
Anyone could guess what would happen next.
But he still had to follow the questline.
Hiso closed the door and followed the guards into the wind and snow.
To get from the hunter's cabin to the main palace gate, they had to cross half the royal city. Shops along the street were just opening, merchants working together to dismantle the wooden shutters blocking the wind and snow.
A charcoal seller pushed a small cart past the corner, the wheels sinking into the snow and leaving two deep ruts.
Some recognized the royal guards, and they also recognized Hiso walking between them.
Curious gazes followed them all the way.
Hiso paid them no mind.
As he walked, he checked his equipment.
Longbow, quiver, hunting knife, rope, a small pouch of light feathers to determine wind direction, and half a piece of unfinished rye bread.
Perfect.
If the Queen really sent him into the forest to kill the princess later, he might be able to max out his hunter experience in one go.
Who said prey had to be an animal?
The palace gates slowly opened ahead.
The guards led him through the long corridors, finally stopping outside the Queen's chambers.
“Go inside.”
Hiso pushed the door open and stepped in.
The mess in the chambers had already been cleaned up.
The fallen jewelry was gone, and the jewelry boxes were back in place. Only a fresh scratch on the edge of the dressing table proved that the Queen's rage was no illusion.
The Queen stood before the magic mirror with her back to the door.
“Your Majesty.”
Hiso greeted her casually.
The Queen frowned slightly but said nothing.
“Are you the best hunter in the kingdom?”
“If there isn't another hunter named Hiso in the kingdom, then that would be me.”
The Queen turned around.
She clearly did not appreciate his response.
“If you want to get the job done, I am your best option,” Hiso said with a completely businesslike expression.
No favorability.
And she was too old.
“Very well.”
The Queen stepped down from the dais.
Her black skirt swept past Hiso's eyes, finally stopping two paces away from him.
“I have a task for you.”
“Speak.”
“Tomorrow morning, take the Black Snow Princess to the northern forest.”
Hiso listened quietly.
The Queen's voice held no hesitation.
“It is a desolate place teeming with wild beasts. Take her to the deepest part of the forest, and kill her.”
The Queen raised her hand.
A maid stepped forward, carrying a wooden box.
The box was not large, coated in deep red lacquer, with matching velvet lining inside. When the maid opened the lid, a faint woody scent drifted out.
It was empty.
The Queen looked down at the box.
“After you kill her, cut open her chest.”
She spoke each word very slowly.
“I want you to bring her heart back to me. Only when I see that heart with my own eyes will I believe she is truly dead.”
Hiso glanced at the wooden box.
Great. He could level up his dissection skill too.
He had no objections.
“What is the deadline?”
“Bring it back by tomorrow.”
“And my reward?”
“You will receive it.”
“Then we have a deal.”
Hiso took the wooden box.
Only after the box entered his inventory did the Queen's expression soften.
“The Black Snow Princess knows nothing of this.”
“I understand.”
“Do not arouse her suspicion, and make sure no one else sees you.”
“Understood.”
“Once the deed is done, you will receive enough gold to last a lifetime.”
Hiso showed no signs of excitement.
The Queen assumed he was simply intimidated.
She turned back toward the magic mirror.
“Go, hunter.”
“Do not disappoint me.”
...
The next morning, the snow stopped.
A light carriage was parked at the back gate of the palace.
When the Black Snow Princess arrived, Hiso was checking the snow chains on the wheels. Hearing footsteps, he looked up and first saw a pair of white boots stepping into the light snow.
Above them was a white cloak adorned with silver clasps.
The Black Snow Princess had brought no maids or guards, carrying only a small wicker basket.
Her long pink hair draped over her shoulders, her cheeks slightly flushed from the morning wind, but her lips remained vivid red.
She looked exactly like the descriptions in fairy tales.
As if she had stepped straight out of a storybook.
Except for her skin tone... which was a very healthy wheat color.
Why is she literally a "Black Snow" princess?
This isn't even the Little Mermaid!
Hiso struggled to keep a straight face.
“Are you the hunter?”
The Black Snow Princess stopped in front of the carriage.
“The Queen said you would take me to see the white stag.”
“Yes.”
Hiso stood up straight.
This was the excuse the Queen had prepared for him.
Supposedly, a pure white stag had appeared in the northern forest, its antlers wrapped in silver vines.
It sounded like a hastily made-up lie, yet the Black Snow Princess actually seemed to believe it.
She placed the wicker basket onto the carriage.
Inside the basket was a wrapped piece of bread, a small bottle of a warm beverage, and a red apple.
“Is the forest far?”
“An hour by carriage, and then we'll have to walk.”
“Then will this be enough?”
Hiso glanced at the basket.
“If we're just looking at a stag, it's enough.”
If you have to run for your life, that was a different story.
The Black Snow Princess nodded and boarded the carriage, holding onto the door frame.
Hiso took his seat at the front, flicking the reins.
The carriage headed north along the road outside the back gate.
At first, the royal city was still visible.
The high towers, city walls, and snow-covered roofs merged in the morning light, with cooking smoke blown low by the cold wind. The Black Snow Princess lifted the carriage curtain, peering outside from time to time. She seemed to rarely have the chance to leave the palace like this.
“What is that place over there?”
She pointed toward a row of low wooden cabins at the end of the road.
“The lumberjacks' quarters.”
“And further beyond?”
“The hunter's cabin.”
“Do you live there?”
“Yes.”
“Alone?”
“Alone.”
“Don't you feel lonely?”
“Originally, seven dwarfs lived nearby too,” Hiso said as he drove the horses. “But I cleared them out.”
“Why did you clear them out?”
“Because I hate banging my knees when walking in the forest,” Hiso replied.
The Black Snow Princess choked on her words.
“Mr. Hunter, have you really seen that white stag?”
“Skip.”
...
“We're here. We'll walk from here,” Hiso said, stopping the carriage once they reached the destination.
The Black Snow Princess stepped out of the carriage.
She first looked at the pathless forest ahead, then turned back to look at the carriage tracks they had left behind.
“The white stag... is in such a remote place?”
“If it lived in a stable, you wouldn't need a hunter to guide you.”
“Fair point.”
The Black Snow Princess picked up her wicker basket and followed behind Hiso.
The snow in the forest was deeper than outside.
At first, it only covered the soles of her boots, but as they went deeper, the snow reached her shins. The Black Snow Princess walked slowly, but she never complained.
When encountering dead branches blocking the path, she would lift the hem of her cloak. When crossing icy slopes, she knew to step into Hiso's footprints.
Hiso cleared the path ahead.
His longbow hung over his shoulder, his hunting knife pressed against his waist, occasionally bumping against the backpack containing the wooden box.
The Black Snow Princess grew quieter and quieter.
Half an hour later, she stopped.
Hiso took a few more steps forward before turning around.
“What is it?”
“I'm tired.”
The Black Snow Princess placed her wicker basket on the snow.
“Can we rest for a moment?”
“We can.”
Hiso glanced at the quest marker.
It was already very close.
The Black Snow Princess squatted down, opened the basket, and took out the wrapped bread. She broke off half of it and offered it to Hiso.
“Here.”
“I'm not hungry.”
“You've been staring at this basket.”
“Princess.”
“Yes?”
“You ask too many questions.”
“Because your answers are very strange.”
The Black Snow Princess did not pull back her hand with the bread.
Hiso looked at her.
She looked back at Hiso.
Snow fell from a branch, landing on a nearby shrub with a soft thud.
Splat.
The Black Snow Princess threw the bread directly at Hiso's face.
At the exact same instant, she spun around and dashed into the forest.
Hiso tilted his head to dodge the bread, checking his hunter experience.
Excellent, let's farm this a bit more.
When he looked back, the white cloak was already darting behind the trees.
She was certainly decisive in her escape.
But in this deep, desolate forest, where could a young girl possibly run?
Hehehe.
Hiso first looked down at the bread lying on the snow, and the bottle of warm drink next to the basket.
The cap was loose.
If he had reached out to take the bread just now, the Black Snow Princess would likely have thrown the entire bottle of hot drink in his eyes.
So that was her plan.
She had already started suspecting him while in the carriage.
Stopping to rest was merely an excuse to wait for an opportunity to create some distance.
Hiso unslung his longbow.
“My little princess, stop running.”
With a sharp whistle, his arrow grazed past the Black Snow Princess's ear.
Deep snow was the worst terrain for running.
The Black Snow Princess's cloak was quickly snagged and torn by a branch, her boots sinking repeatedly into the drifts. She dashed diagonally toward the lower valley, clearly aware that Hiso could easily cut off her escape route by tracking her path back.
Good judgment.
Too bad she was up against a hunter.
Hiso didn't even need to look for tracks; he could pinpoint the Black Snow Princess's location solely through his vampire instincts.
The distance between them closed rapidly.
The Black Snow Princess heard the noise behind her as well.
She glanced back, her expression grim. She immediately yanked off her white cloak and threw it over a low branch.
The wind blew the cloak, making it look like a running figure.
Meanwhile, she changed direction behind the next tree.
Swish!
The arrow pierced the cloak, pinning it to the tree trunk.
The Black Snow Princess did not stop.
Hiso ran past the tree, glancing at the pinned cloak.
A clever decoy.
At least she wasn't some stereotypical princess who would just cry and wait for the hunter to take pity on her.
He pulled out a second arrow.
The sound of snapping branches echoed ahead.
The Black Snow Princess rushed down a slope. Her boots lost traction on the icy surface, but she quickly grabbed a hanging vine, swinging herself across a snow-covered ravine.
Hiso stopped at the edge of the ravine.
The Black Snow Princess landed on the other side, stumbling a few steps before regaining her balance.
She turned around.
The two faced each other across the wide gap.
“Why?”
The Black Snow Princess panted.
Hiso raised his bow.
The only response she received was the whistle of an arrow slicing through the air.
The Black Snow Princess ducked immediately.
The arrow grazed the top of her head, severing a strand of her pink hair.
Staring at the pink hair falling onto the snow, she abandoned all hope of reasoning and fled once more.
Hiso lowered his bow and moved along the edge of the ravine.
He could have easily jumped across.
However, an ordinary hunter shouldn't possess such physical prowess.
If he wanted to secure a perfect rating, it was best not to use abilities outside of his Hunter class.
Transforming into his Vampire Form would severely lower his score.
Hiso found a fallen tree spanning the gap and quickly crossed over.
The Black Snow Princess's footprints stretched deeper into the valley.
The trees grew denser there, and the ground became increasingly slick.
Loose rocks and exposed roots hid beneath the thick snow; a single misstep would result in a nasty fall.
Hiso pursued her for less than a hundred meters before spotting a silver hair clasp dropped in the snow.
Further ahead, a drop of bright red blood stained the snow beside a tree root.
The Black Snow Princess was injured.
“Run all you want, little princess, but you cannot escape.”
Hiso drew his hunting knife, advancing step by step.
The blade glinted in the snowlight.
One step.
Two steps.
The moment he rounded a tree trunk, a sharp branch wielded by the Black Snow Princess thrust directly toward his face.
Hiso dodged to the side and grabbed her wrist with his left hand.
The Black Snow Princess drove her knee toward his abdomen.
Hiso stepped back slightly to absorb the impact, twisting her wrist in a counter-move.
The branch fell into the snow.
With her free hand, the Black Snow Princess scooped up snow from the tree trunk and flung it directly at his eyes.
Hiso closed his eyes and turned his head.
She seized the opportunity to break free, but she had barely taken two steps before his hunting knife whistled past her cheek.
Thud!
The blade embedded itself in the tree trunk ahead, blocking her path.
The Black Snow Princess stopped.
Hiso wiped the snow from his face and opened his eyes.
“Still running?”
The Black Snow Princess kept her back to him, her shoulders rising and falling with her heavy breaths.
Hiso walked over and pulled the hunting knife out of the tree.
“Turn around.”
The Black Snow Princess slowly turned around.
Her previously neat pink hair was now disheveled, her skirt stained with slush and mud, and her cheek lightly scratched by branches.
She no longer looked like the pristine portrait in the magic mirror.
She stared at the knife in Hiso's hand.
“The Queen lied to me?”
“Yes.”
“She sent you to kill me?”
“Yes.”
“And you will do it?”
Hiso glanced at the quest objective floating in his vision.
“It's my quest.”
“If I were willing to offer you my body to win your favor...” The Black Snow Princess took a deep breath.
“No way, you're too old,” Hiso said with disdain.
Even though she had favorability, still...
The Black Snow Princess: “...”
Her? Too old?
The Black Snow Princess fell silent.
Hiso took a step forward, holding the hunting knife.
The Black Snow Princess didn't retreat any further; there was nowhere left to go behind her.
“Before you strike, can I ask one question?”
“Ask.”
“Why does the Queen want to kill me?” The Black Snow Princess looked up, staring straight into Hiso's eyes.
“I... want to die with clarity.”
Hiso thought about it. Although the plot didn't explicitly state it, considering this was the “Black Snow Princess” story, the answer was obvious.
“Because she believes you are the most beautiful woman in the world.”
The Black Snow Princess froze.
She looked at Hiso, then at the hunting knife in his hand.
For the first time, genuine disbelief appeared on her face, which hadn't even lost its composure when facing his arrows.
“How dare you? Assume my gender?”
Hiso's hand, gripping the knife, froze mid-air.
...
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