V1C2

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Chapter 2 – Tin Woodman’s Island

TL/Editor: Yana/Obleau

I waved my hand forward to dismiss the message, as if swatting away a fly. No matter how much I walked, I saw only a plain filled with white snow. I needed to seek shelter before my whole body got soaked from the snow …

【First Quest: Listen to the story of the Tin Woodman】

I ignored the newly appeared parchment and tried to move on. After walking for a long time, my legs began to feel heavy. Looking down, I saw a bridge covered with snow. Both of my legs, along with my dress, were as heavy as drenched cotton. I couldn’t move on any further.

“A-ah-ah!” I screamed and fell forward. My face was buried in the fluffy snow. My body also began to gradually sink deep into the snow. All day I felt heavy, like a summer day in the rain. I felt like a cotton doll after soaking up water. I couldn’t get up at all.

As time went on, the wind grew stronger and a severe blizzard began. The sky had darkened and a crescent moon peeked out through the clouds.

The snow fell on me more and more. Due to the blizzard, my vision was blurred and my head started spinning.

As I made my way through the pile of snow, a deep blue icy floor emerged. After trudging through the snow a little more, white sand appeared. The sane was mixed with pebbles and stones of an unusual shape.

On the border of ice and sand, water froze with white foam. The waves rushing towards the sand seemed to freeze in an instant. As soon as my wet hands touched the pile of sand, the damn parchment slipped onto the sand and into my view.

【You need special magical powers to go on an adventure! Please select one of the items below (an item will be randomly selected if the time limit is reached.)】

12 hours of Cinderella

Beautiful scarlet rose

Seven Dwarfs of Snow White

(Name deleted) Song.

Alice’s potion.

【…Time is over】

【Automatic selection of item A】

【Description of the selected item】

The parchment quickly disappeared. Snow accumulated more and more overhead. The moment I buried my face in the snowy field and took a deep breath, a voice rang out over my head.

“A long time ago, a boy named Cheneren lived with his mother.”

Raising my head, a large oval frame emerged and loomed in front of me. The frame depicted a portrait of a human child in a white robe. The child was an adorable toddler with curly black hair, blue eyes, and chubby cheeks.

A voice emerged from the frame again.

“Once, his mother brought home a stepfather and two sons. A few years later, Cheneren and his mother were caught in a big carriage accident. His mother died instantly, whileCheneren, having barely survived, was left with a limp leg.”

A picture of a carriage falling from a cliff appeared in the frame. Soon the picture transitioned into a portrait of a boy holding a cane in his hands. Disheveled curly hair, thin cheeks, and blue eyes were portrayed. ‘Is he only 13 years old?’ However, the eyes of the boy looking at her were filled with anger, nothing that resembled anything of a child’s gaze.

“His stepfather and two older brothers drove the sick Cheneren to the smithy. He had to work hard every day with a defective leg.”

(Note – Yana: originally I used “forge”. This word may be a little unclear. So I changed that word to “smithy”. But you can also choose synonyms such as: farriery, stithy, blacksmith shop)

A boy with his face covered in black soot appeared in the frame. He had broad shoulders and large forearms covered under rolled-up sleeves. The hard work of being a blacksmith seemed to have changed him.

The boy was fanning the furs in an uncomfortable position in front of a blazing stove. I was distracted by the flames of the stove. The blaze, a subtle mixture of yellows, reds, and oranges, was beautiful.

“One day, Cheneren went to the beach alone, missing his dead mother. Limping, he saw a girl lying on the beach.”

The framed picture changed again. It was an image of a boy tossing his cane aside and picking up the girl who was lying on the shore.

The boy, wearing a surprised face, stroked the girl’s cheek. The girl’s face was hidden by his hands. At that moment, she carefully opened her eyes. Cheneren looked into her purple eyes.

“They look like a beautiful flame.” Cheneren’s voice was heard from the frame.

“… Whispered Cheneren.” The narrator’s voice dictated.

“But the girl soon lost consciousness, not hearing his whisper. Cheneren thought that he would be happy if the girl opened her eyes again and looked at him, even if he limped on one leg.”

Shortly thereafter, the picture in the frame changed. It showed the lonely back of a boy who was left alone on the beach. The boy stared blankly out to sea, leaning on his cane.

“Then, Prince Snow White suddenly appeared and took the girl from Cheneren. Prince Snow White’s servant scared off Cheneren.”

“Keep it secret that you saw the princess.”

“Cheneren was very surprised. The girl was the youngest princess residing in the palace. Prince Snow White did not even bat an eye towards Cheneren in his dirty clothes. The servants returned to the palace with the lost princess and prince Snow White. But Cheneren could not smithyt the princess no matter how hard he tried.”

The picture changed once again. A boy reappeared in the frame. This time, he had grown beyond recognition and was still wearing shabby clothes. Though his face was still gorgeous, there were dark circles under his eyes, like that of a sick person’s. I could not find any warmth in these sharp eyes.

The cold gaze of the young man was directed towards a huge castle behind the forest. He sat on the window-frame of the blacksmith’s shop and stared blankly at the castle.

“Once, a ball was held in the palace. The boy’s stepfather and brothers set out for it, leaving Cheneren all alone. He was desperate to go, and luckily he managed to get to the ball with the help of a good old fairy. Cheneren, who washed the soot away and dressed in nice clothes, was happy to finally get the chance to meet the princess again.”

The picture changed to a young man that appeared, dressed as a nobleman. An old man with a magic wand created a pumpkin carriage for him.

“Cheneren, the magic will dissipate as soon as the bells strike midnight. So you have to get home before that!”

“I understand, how many times do you have to repeat the same thing?” The man’s hoarse voice continued after screaming. I could sense in him the fiery personality that was hidden underneath his nervous voice.

I stared at the young man bent over with a cane. Why did a handsome boy grow up to be such an ill-mannered guy?

“What?”

After the frame shook for a moment, the old man’s angry roar echoed into the sky. “Oh, let’s get it over with! You cheeky little brat! To hell with all of it! Go back to the smithy!”

“Listen, let’s pretend that nothing happened.”

“Yes! I will die of anger helping you!”

“Then I will kill you first …”

The young man’s words broke off. And from the frame came the slightly bewildered voice of the narrator.

“My dear Cheneren could not resist and argued a little with the old fairy …”

The picture changed quickly. It showed the old man, tied up in ropes and lying in a smithy. A pumpkin carriage, driven by white horses, was seen heading towards the castle. Only after a moment of silence was the tired voice of the narrator heard again.

“Cheneren took the fairy wand, locked it in the smithy and headed to the palace. At the thought of asking the princess to dance, Cheneren was so happy that he wanted to jump with joy. Of course, he couldn’t do that because of his limp.”

The palace garden appeared in the frame. The young man sat helplessly by the fountain. His eyes were fixated on the terrace of the banquet hall, where the bright light was pouring out. The figure looked like an abandoned child.

“He arrived at the palace, but Cheneren was unable to meet with the princess. The people invited to the ball stood in front of Cheneren so that he could not reach the princess. Cheneren understood. Even if he washed away the soot and dressed in nice clothes, he was still just the same lame, old Cheneren. While he was hiding in the darkness of the garden, the princess danced away with the princes in a beautiful red dress.

“You are beautiful like a blazing flame.”

“… Cheneren looked at the princess and whispered sadly.” The narrator continued in a sad voice.

“At midnight after all the bells rang, the fairy’s magic effects wore off. Cheneren returned to the same young man again, dressed in rags. At that moment, the princess came to the garden to rest after dancing all evening. They briefly glanced at each other. The princess looked at Chaneren in surprise, and then ran out of the garden. When he looked at the place where the princess ran off to, Cheneren pulled out the fairy wand.”

The picture shifted slowly. It was a picture of a beautiful glass castle standing in a canyon covered in snow.

“With the magic wand, Cheneren engulfed the entire palace in glass. The looks of contempt towards Cheneren, the mocking comments, and all the people in the ballroom were trapped inside the thick glass palace. The music stopped and the world fell silent.”

The young man stood full-length in a ballroom with blue glass. Leaning on a cane in one hand and holding a magic wand in the other.

He was surrounded by people encased in glass. When they laughed and talked, they were as hard as statues. Cheneren stood between them, looking somewhere in surprise.

“At this moment, the princess …”

The narrator’s voice grew quieter and quieter, and the picture in the frame gradually disappeared.

【The story is interrupted due to the interference of the “prince“.】