Third Person’s POV

The armoured aura master stepped forward and laid his hand upon the ice encasing them.

Then he poured warm, dense aura energy into the frozen shell.

The ice resisted stubbornly at first and cracked only in thin lines, but under the pressure of his powerful aura energy, it gradually softened and melted away within several seconds, until the frozen casing broke apart entirely.

The unconscious grandfather and grandson collapsed heavily onto the ground in a heap of frost and wet robes as they breathed out shallowly while still alive.

The armored aura master continued to pour his warm and steady aura into the grandfather and grandson, allowing the dense energy to circulate through their frozen bodies and restore what the violent cold had nearly taken away from them.

That unnatural frost had seeped deep into their bones, muscles, organs, and even their mana veins like a silent poison.

It had completely numbed their movement and suppressed their vitality from within, but under the pressure of his cultivated aura, it gradually began to melt and disperse.

Thin vapors rose from their bodies, and their stiff limbs loosened.

Their pale skin slowly regained a trace of color, and even the lifeless, glassy dullness in their eyes began to fade as a dim spark of awareness slowly returned to them.

Old man Caspian was the first to stir properly as his fingers started twitching and his shoulders trembled.

Then, with visible effort, he forced himself upright and slowly managed to sit up in the snow while breathing heavily as if every motion still demanded strength from him.

When his eyes finally settled on the armored aura master, they were filled with gratitude and humble emotion as he spoke in a tired, sincere voice,

"Thank you, friend... I truly thought you would leave my useless grandson and me to die."

As he spoke, he gave a bitter and self-deprecating smile as he supported the body of his grandson beside him with one of his hands.

The young man remained half collapsed in the snow and was still trembling badly.

His face had drained of color, and his eyes were vacant with lingering terror, as if the experience had shattered whatever courage he once pretended to possess.

The two of them appeared so pitiful and harmless in that moment that even Arlene felt her heart soften slightly.

She could not help but feel sympathy toward the old man.

From her perspective, he had guided them faithfully through dangerous lands and had endured every hardship without complaint, even though he was a non-combatant, and had now nearly lost his life after being forced to expend what was clearly a precious treasure for survival.

A quiet sense of obligation formed within her.

In her mind, she had already decided that once they returned safely, she would double the payment originally promised to him for serving as their guide throughout this harsh expedition.

But the armored aura master was not moved in the same manner as the young princess and her maid. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

His face remained calm, and his eyes remained hard.

Unlike Arlene, he had spent long years among soldiers, mercenaries, liars, and desperate men.

He knew too well that weakness could be genuine, but it could also be performed.

And something about old Caspian still unsettled him.

This old tracker carried reputation and experience.

Such a person should not have become so utterly broken and helpless merely from one frightening encounter, especially after surviving as long as he had in lands like these.

After a brief silence, the armored master finally spoke.

His tone was blunt, steady, and without the slightest softness.

"No need to thank me, Mister Caspian. I did not save you when the wolves surrounded you, and I would not have interfered even if they had torn you apart."

The words struck the air like cold iron as everyone present was startled, yet he didn’t care about their reactions and continued without pause.

"As for helping you and your grandson now by removing the frozen poison from your bodies, I did that only because it is within the limits of the orders given to me by the Chief Priest."

He glanced at them once before finishing.

"I was sent on this expedition mainly to guard the Princess from any life-threatening danger and nothing more.

And if you didn’t have your spell scroll, I wouldn’t have made my move even if you and your idiotic grandson had died at the jaws of those wolves, so you don’t need to thank me, old man."

The sheer bluntness of his words left the group momentarily stunned.

The young maid Claire looked openly aghast, as if only now realizing that the silent armored man she had largely ignored possessed such an unforgiving nature beneath his disciplined exterior.

Even Arlene felt that he had gone somewhat too far, as in her eyes, there had been no need to humiliate the poor old man so openly after helping him.

Yet no one knew that even the armored aura master himself felt faintly surprised by the harshness of his own words.

His earlier suspicion toward the pair had softened somewhat after seeing their frozen state.

But the moment he witnessed Caspian’s pitiful gratitude, the old man’s helpless tone, and the carefully humble demeanor he wore so naturally, an inexplicable irritation had risen inside him.

Something about it felt false, too polished and too convenient.

This intuitive feeling disgusted him enough that his words came sharper than intended.

Old man Caspian was also stunned for a moment.

Then inwardly, rage surged through him like fire as he felt humiliated and belittled.

He felt as if he had been stripped of his dignity before the princess and the others by a mere hired guard who dared speak to him as though he were trash.

For a brief instant, he nearly forgot himself.

Had he not still been working toward a greater hidden purpose, he would have lashed out immediately, if not with force, then at least with words sharp enough to repay the insult.