Colette POV, 3rd Person Omniscient

Colette dipped her hands into the freezing-cold water, her narrow shoulders shuddering.

"Gha, it's cold. So cold..."

She rubbed her numbing fingers together in the water while letting out frosted breaths. The dirt clinging to her fingers slowly washed away into the river and she began to feel them again.

It was that time of the year where it was getting much colder. Colette's hometown didn't really get that warm to begin with; however, even if she was used to that, it didn't mean that she was immune to the chill of the Ice Season. To make matters worse, the air was far, far colder this year compared to the typical year.

Though adults would probably laugh it off as her being "cheeky" if she used a phrase like "compared to the typical year" considering she was still 12 years old.

"There, all cleaned up now. Still, it's so cold... I'm gonna have to hurry and warm myself up by the fire." The brown-haired girl muttered to herself, trying to help herself do her daily duties.

Colette drew her washed hands out from the water, then picked up her bracelet, which she'd left on a nearby tree stump, and slipped it back onto her wrist. With a shudder of her narrow shoulders, she turned back towards her small cabin.

She'd already gone ahead and kindled a fire in front of her cabin, having imagined something like this would have happened. Back when she'd still not been used to these kinds of chores, she'd ended up putting off lighting the fire until later. But because of that, she'd kept failing to light it due to her frozen numb fingers, and had been left unable to even get warm.

Nevertheless, Colette took those failures as a learning experience; one that would help her to spread her wings out and grow. She would probably fail again when she next unfurled them, but she'd use those failures as a learning experience as well.

Slowly but steadily, one step at a time. That was Colette's mantra.

"I don't need to rush since it's the Ice Season, though it'll be much tougher on me if I don't. So I'll..."

Colette began to walk over to her cabin so she could warm herself by her fire, all the while checking off the steps she'd done from her fingers. Then...

"...You there, do you perhaps have a moment?"

Suddenly, Colette heard a voice echoing. She stopped in her tracks, having been in the motion of heading back.

She'd heard a girl's voice, one which she wasn't familiar with. The village she'd been raised in wasn't that big, so all its inhabitants knew each other. She could immediately tell who it was when anyone spoke.

Since her voice hadn't matched any of them, Colette felt a little, or rather, fairly surprised. She nervously turned around to look at the river where she'd just washed her hands in.

However, surprise came to her in that moment in a manner that was far greater than her surprise at the unfamiliar voice.

"...Wha"

"My apologies, but it looks like I could use some help... The cold water's dropped my body temperature right down, and I feel like I'm about to lose consciousness. I may die, you see." A girl said as Colette saw the person's situation, and she widened her eyes.

The individual was being swept away by the freezing-cold river as she said that to Colette.

Colette barely managed to stop herself from letting out a scream, before hurriedly reaching her hand out to the girl in the river.

"You have my thanks. I would have ended up drowning if you'd left me there. Or perhaps I would have frozen to death first? Either way, I would have died. Some people believe that freezing to death is an easy way to die, like falling asleep... But having actually felt what hypothermia is like when I was soaked in the river, I would say that it doesn't seem one bit easy, wouldn't you agree?" The pink-haired girl said as she pondered about something, and Colette looked quite flabbergasted.

"U-Uh..."

Colette felt overwhelmed by her companion, who was rattling on, showing no signs of stopping as they warmed themselves by the fire. But it wasn't like she wasn't showing a response to what had just occurred; her companion's face was awfully pale, and her fingers were trembling with cold.

Perhaps she was delirious, cornered down in both mind and body, Colette thought.

She felt sorry for the shivering girl, who was still showing a smile. She gently offered her some freshly boiled water, in an attempt to ease her suffering.

"Something hot to drink? Truly, you have my thanks. Restoring one's body temperature back to normal is the most important thing to do when dealing with hypothermia. It makes sense in that respect to warm one's body up from the inside. So, you had that kind of knowledge inside you all along, even though you look like you come from an environment with lacklustre education." The pink-haired girl rambled on again, and Colette fortunately found a point to reply.

"I'm not really sure about education. But like, even children, nevermind adults, know to give someone who's cold a hot drink, no?"

"...Right. I was the one being big-headed here. Then I shall gratefully accept your drink."

The girl brought her parted lips to her cup of hot water, then almost dropped it, likely because it was so hot to the touch. She breathed on it, and somehow started to drink from it.

"...What a strange girl."

Colette muttered that to herself, without even meaning to.

The girl had been carried in by the cold river. ──That expression alone carried a strange vibe to it, however the girl gave off an odd impression in many other respects.

She had long pink hair, and was wearing a cloak made for men, as well as shoes that didn't at all seem suitable for a girl as slender and petite as her. She looked to be close to Colette in age, and was probably a tad shorter than her. However, her facial features were quite attractive, so much so that Colette couldn't take her eyes off them. She possessed a beauty that was unsuiting to her age.

And, the most eye-catching feature about this girl's appearance was...

"Have my ears perhaps caught your attention?"

Colette realized for the first time that she'd been staring at the girl's ears ── At her distinctive, long ears.

Many different kinds of Demi-Human lived in this world, but amongst them, there was only one species that was renown for and wide for their long, beautiful ears.

"Are you an elf?" She asked, unsure of the other girl's meaning.

"The answer to that question is a difficult one. Certainly, the girl who I got this body from had elvish blood flowing through her; but, it's hard to say whether the same blood is flowing through her body when it was reproduced like this. If we were to dig more into it, then it's also a matter of which out of one's body or soul revolves as its main driving force. This body is elf, but my soul clearly isn't..."

"Erm, umm...?"

"...I'm dipping into my bad habits again, aren't I."

The girl finally answered her question, though Colette hardly understood what she'd said. Still looking around, the girl brushed her chest with her finger and then drew a breath.

Some kind of blue, glittering stone, which looked rather beautiful, was hanging there over the girl's chest. She held it pinched between her fingers as she mumbled "I get it, I get it" to herself.

"There's some really noisy girls around, you see. I'll go ahead and recognize myself as an elf here, so as to keep things going smoothly." The pink-haired girl said as she gave a slight smile, but Colette seemed to have realized something.

"...! Th-Then, could it be that you're much older than me?"

"How old am I? If you mean this body, then I suppose I could say that I'm roughly 400 years old."

"400 years old...!"

Colette had heard that elves were a species which lived for far longer in contrast to their looks. But even so, 400 years was quite a surprise; far beyond what she could fathom. Because, when it came to the topic of 400 years.

"Back then, was when the "Witch of Envy" was carrying out her evil..."

The girl's expression clouded over immediately after she'd let the name of that abominable "Witch" slip through her mouth.

Her expression could only literally be described as having clouded over. Colette felt deeply regretful, wondering if her careless remark had hurt her.

"Oh, you didn't do anything wrong. It's just that I had a few things on my mind. Which reminds me, I still haven't heard the name of my benefactor yet."

"...Huh, me? I'm Colette, and I live in this cabin."

"I see, I shall remember it, Colette. My name is... Omega. For now that'll do."

"Omega...chan?"

"I'm really not too used to people calling me by "chan". It sounds rather sweet, wouldn't you say? Although my contractor insists on calling me by a nickname..."

Not blaming Colette for her blunder, the girl── Omega gave her an adorable, yet relatively intelligent smile. And while keeping that smile on her face, she spoke.

"While we're on the topic of "sweet", do you have anything to eat? It seems like my once slumbering stomach has kicked back into life after drinking your hot water... I'm famished."

Though feeling unsure as to whether she was good or bad at relying on the kindness of others, Colette willingly complied with Omega's request.

Luckily Colette had a rabbit in her cabin that she'd caught just before she'd found Omega, so she began to quickly prepare it and cook it for the starving girl.

"Hm, Colette, for such a young girl, you sure know your way around knives, don't you? There's no hesitation in your hands as you handle the rabbit."

"My parents passed away, so I had to help out with adult work since I was small. That's why I'm pretty good at catching wild rabbits like this one. Oh, Omega-chan, are you okay with eating meat?"

"Yeah, I have no problem with it. Even so, rabbits, rabbits, huh..." Omega said as she pondered about the Great Mabeast that was defeated recently.

"...? What about them?" Colette asked, completely unaware of her new companion's thoughts.

"Nothing, it's just that I've had a recent run of fate with them, so they're like bad luck to me. Naturally, I have no problem with eating them, so I'm looking forward to it."

Since she was expecting from her, Colette determined herself to cook it properly for her rare, yet welcome visitor.

She really wanted to take the time to roast it with some herbs, but from the way Omega was lying on the floor, bursting with hunger, it didn't seem like she could afford to wait any longer.

All she could do was sprinkle some solte and peppa on it as she hurriedly roasted it on the fire, preparing it with speed in mind. The fragrance lured Omega back to her feet, which she did so unsteadily.

"Here you go! It's hot, so be careful when you eat it." Colette said with a smile as she handed the food she made herself to her friend.

"Oh dear, you mean that because you saw me mess up with the hot water earlier, right? Sure, I've been showing you a bunch of clumsiness for a while now, but that's because this body appears to be more sensitive to hot stuff than my original one." Omega clarified, hoping that the young girl wound not misunderstand.

In all honesty, Colette had no clue what she was talking about anymore. Nevertheless, Omega accepted the rabbit meat she'd offered, served on the bone. She breathed hard on it, before then daintily taking a bite out of it.

Daintily taking a bite out of it. It felt like a weird expression to use, but at least that seemed to be the only way Colette's eyes could describe it. Even Palmyra, who lived in the biggest house of the village, wouldn't have been able to eat this in such a captivating fashion, she thought.

"Me being washed away by the river earlier was also like that, but you see, I've been asleep for quite a long time. It's been a very long time since I stood and walked on my own two feet." Omega said.

"Really? Is that why you ended up forgetting how to swim?" Colette said back, now curious.

"No, I've never been able to swim. I was swept away by the river because I was trying to get some water to quench my thirst, and I slipped. My legs were shorter than I remembered them being after all...seriously, if my contractor saw it, he'll probably laugh..."

"You have a contractor?" Colette asked, even more intrigued now.

"Well, yes. He and I shared a common interest in something, so we ended being together. I could take you to see him later, maybe..."

She took another bite out of her meat-on-the-bone as she proudly professed that she couldn't swim with a shake of her leg. Colette's conversation with Omega was refreshing, considering she was used to passing time in idle boredom.

From what she'd heard, Omega appeared to be in the middle of an aimless journey. Frankly, given her age and her ability to handle things, didn't her travelling alone seem like a recipe for disaster?

Colette, though hesitant, offered her a proposal.

"Um, if it's okay with you, why don't you stay in my cabin for a little while? It's going to get way colder, so I think you should prepare properly for your journey."

"Hmm, I appreciate the offer, but even if I allow you to do all that for me, there's not much I can give back in return..."

"...Then please tell me a story"

"A story?"

Colette got a positive response to her proposal, thus taking away the reason for Omega's own hesitation from her.

She was an elf with a long life-span, who'd lived for more than 400 years. ──A being that was familiar with events that many living in the present had no knowledge about.

"It'd make me really happy if you told me some stories that I don't know... Like, for example, a story from long ago, from the times that no one knows about."

Omega closed one of her eyes and nodded as soon as Colette had asked her that.

Then...

"Indeed, people typically want to know, don't they? He was strange in that respect as well."

Colette looked confused, but allowed Omega to continue.

"My apologies. I was talking to myself. ──I don't mind. Talking with people has always been one of my favourite things to do after all. If you're okay with that, then I suppose I shall trouble you for a little while."

Omega gave her a small smile which indicated that she'd accepted Colette's proposal.

The Witch of Greed began her long speech of the tales untold and those lost to history, while the girl listened intently as the cold wind blew, the words drifting into the peaceful night.