How to Save a Time-Limited Heroine

Complete the contract between Agnes Levadine and Hornlake, the Spirit of Winter. (Complete)
Summon the Spirit King. (Incomplete)
Prove yourself. (Incomplete)

The first objective was cleared.

Now, the second and third objectives remained.

Deltain continued to ponder.

‘Summoning the spirit king is one thing, but what’s up with the third one?’

With only the vague command to , his head throbbed.

Looking back, most of the tasks presented by the interface were like this, but the rising sense of frustration was unavoidable.

Deltain reflected on his past experiences and tried to deduce the meaning of .

‘It seems like it’s related to a side quest…’

But that was all he could figure out.

With a sigh, Deltain addressed Hornlake.

“So, is everything sorted out? Can we start now?”

[Pardon?]

“The Spirit King. That’s what I came here to see.”

More precisely, he had come to acquire the , but from the quest task and Hornlake’s expression, it seemed it didn’t know much about it.

Perhaps the spirit king they were about to summon would offer the proof as a reward.

There was no need for further unnecessary chatter.

Deltain wanted to get straight to the point.

Hornlake let out a small sound of realization and nodded.

[Yes, understood.]

“How do we summon it?”

[There’s not much you need to do… I, well, I’ll…]

Hornlake suddenly twisted its body and looked at Agnes.

It pursed its lips as it stared.

Agnes tilted her head.

“What are you staring at like that?”

[Uh, well…]

Hornlake glanced at Agnes’ chest, or rather, her heart, strangely.

[I need to enter your body… and, uh, I’ll need to absorb some of your energy…]

In short, she was saying this.

They needed to become one.

It was quite an uncomfortable statement for Agnes, but for Deltain, it was an eye-opening one.

Deltain grabbed Hornlake’s shoulder and asked.

“Energy? Not magic? Wait, do you know what that seed is?”

Hornlake let out a small hiccup, tilted its head, and replied.

[Oh, of course! Energy is the source of all spirits.]

“Source?”

[Yes, it’s where my father was born.]

“I thought the spirit king was a natural creation, formed as life appeared on the planet.”

[Is it a matter of sequence? If so, I don’t know! I just know energy is the beginning of all spirits!]

For someone claiming ignorance, it was incredibly confident.

Deltain felt a surge of frustration.

His eyes filled with blood, and his fists clenched tightly.

“… never mind.”

Clicking his tongue, Deltain ran a hand over his face.

He scolded himself.

‘Don’t be hasty. I’ll find out everything once we summon the spirit king anyway.’

Unexpected information from an unexpected source had briefly thrown him off balance.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Deltain looked at Agnes.

“I’m counting on you.”

“Hmm…”

Agnes glanced between Deltain and Hornlake before smiling mysteriously.

Deltain flinched involuntarily.

He knew from experience that whenever she made that face, something unpleasant was about to happen.

His suspicion was right.

“For free?”

Agnes grinned brightly.

Deltain ground his teeth.

“… fine. Just tell me what you need quickly.”

“Kiss me.”

[Huh…!]

Hornlake clutched its chest in horror.

Deltain furrowed his brow and spoke to Agnes.

“Do you really want to do this now?”

“It’s because of the situation. It’s part of the education.”

“What?”

“It’s something you need.”

Agnes smiled warmly as she looked at Hornlake.

Deltain’s expression became even more irritable.

If he was to be honest.

He didn’t want to follow through with her demand.

But with his goal so close, wasting time squabbling over this was even worse.

After a short moment of deliberation.

Deltain walked up to Agnes, grabbed her by the collar, and leaned in.

Smooch.

Their lips met.

“Ah!”

Orga let out a gasp, and the chieftain covered Orga’s eyes.

Deltain ignored this and slipped his tongue inside.

Perhaps because she had been standing atop the snowy mountain for so long, Agnes’ lips were cold.

But the breath that came between them was warm, and her skin was soft.

It was an unsettlingly pleasant sensation.

Deltain noted this feeling inwardly as he pulled away.

Agnes’ face filled his vision.

She looked like a rabbit, her eyes wide open.

“Is that enough?”

“Whoa, I didn’t expect you to be so bold. I’m a little flustered now.”

“Stop with the nonsense and really get started.”

But just as he turned his head towards Hornlake…

Deltain froze.

[Grooo…!]

The snowball that made up Hornlake’s body was cracking.

The snow that formed its eyelids had already crumbled away, and there was a gaping hole in its chest.

It was shuddering in agony, like something on the verge of death.

Deltain looked at Agnes, feeling an overwhelming sense of unease from Hornlake’s inexplicable behavior.

“What’s with it?”

“Don’t worry about it. Just think of it as punishment.”

A punishment for daring to entertain sinister thoughts under the guise of work.

Agnes swallowed those words with a smile.

*

It took about another ten minutes for Hornlake to stop acting strangely.

Agnes never revealed the cause behind it until the end.

[I-I will start now….]

Was it just imagination, or did Hornlake’s voice carry a hint of sorrow?

Deltain was pondering this as Hornlake’s previously firm voice weakened, and its body collapsed.

‘Did it turn into a spiritual form?’

His gaze shifted to Agnes.

Her eyes, which had been fixed on something in the air, gradually lowered until they were focused on her chest.

Then.

“… ah.”

Agnes twitched slightly.

“How is it?”

“It tickles.”

“And besides that?”

“Not much, really.”

So, the spirit didn’t affect the magic flower?

As that thought crossed his mind, something unusual happened.

Ssssh.

A breeze blew from somewhere.

It caught Deltain’s attention.

‘Is it coming?’

Even though there was no visible flow of mana, Deltain was sure this anomaly was caused by the spirit king.

It was a certainty rooted in instinct, one he couldn’t logically explain.

Ssssh.

The wind blew once more.

Then a visual change occurred.

Rumble.

“A-a snow avalanche?!”

As Orga fussed, what was happening resembled an avalanche.

But it wasn’t.

The snow-covered peaks surrounding the lake were trembling and rising into the sky.

“The snow is rising!”

The snow began to gather in the air, forming a massive structure.

It was enormous.

The snowball mass was large enough to engulf the entire mountaintop where the lake was located.

Its shape slowly transformed, resembling the upper half of a human.

Rumble.

In the end, the mass took the form of an imposing giant.

“Is that…?”

The Spirit King.

Deltain let out a dry laugh.

‘I can’t feel a thing?’

Despite the immense visual impact, there was no detectable presence from the spirit king.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t sense mana. Rather, it felt like the being itself was beyond perception.

The reason was obvious.

‘… it’s beyond my comprehension.’

That thing existed outside the realm of what he could perceive.

In other words, it was a creature beyond the fourth dimension.

The will of a planet was beyond anything he could fathom.

How much more malicious could this game get, throwing such a being into a quest?

As the thought crossed Deltain’s mind, his expression wavered, and the spirit king spoke.

[You have arrived.]

The words struck his mind like a hammer.

It was a resonance that could only be described that way.

[Contractor.]

Deltain’s gaze sharpened.

‘… contractor.’

It wasn’t a word he’d never heard before.

Before meeting the spirit king, when he was dealing with Gaias and Chambler, they had uttered that word.

Back then, he dismissed it as the babbling of demons. But now, he had to reconsider.

“What does that mean?”

They knew something.

The word was clearly central to this DLC story.

It was with that thought that he asked the question, but the spirit king’s answer was brief.

[Prove it first.]

An alarm sounded.