A month later after the war against werewolves of the Silver Moon clan, the people of Magi Village struggled in the harsh cold winter raining upon Magi Village and several countries. The people of Magi Village struggle the worst as they haven’t fully recovered from the Lycanthropy War and the wounded felt the stinging cold on their claw wounds. Alice wakes up from her bed but her body shivers endlessly from the cold. Unlike normal humans, Alice has more sensitive skin for the sudden changes of temperature than others.
“Brrr....what a freezing winter today, I wonder...what should I do to forget the cold?” she wondered while shivering.
As she searches the chest used to keep books of magic, myths, legends, and other fantasy stories, Vine enters her tent with a shaking body and goosebumps all over his skin.
“Alice....do you have something that could keep the tent warm? My tent doesn’t have the thing used to warm ourselves when we felt cold,” he asked while shivering.
“Warm ourselves? You mean the fireplace? Sorry but we don’t have a fireplace here cause we live in a tent. But....I have some blankets that would keep us warm. Wait....Are you shivering from the cold?” Alice asked.
“Of course I am! The realm where I lived doesn’t have a cold season like this. Man...Everyone in Magi Village is crazy. They don’t feel cold at all, brrr.....,” Vine said while shivering from cold.
“Well, it can’t be helped. The people here are used to cold weather. As for me, I felt the same cold as you because I’m not the kind of person whose skin could adapt to any temperature change,” Alice admitted.
Alice searched the book she was looking for while she tried to stay warm.
“There you are. Perfect for a winter day, I wonder what day is it,” she wondered while holding the book.
“Don’t you have something that you can use to know what day is it?” Vine asked her.
Alice turned her head toward Vine. “You mean “Calendar”? Oh right....I will have to ask the others if they can get us some calendars as a reminder of what day is it today,” she said with a mutter at the end of her sentence.
Alice carries the book under her arm and pulls the blanket from her bed.
“Let’s warm ourselves and read this book together just like when we read a book about siren together,” she said.
Alice prepares a bag bed for two people and Vine immediately sits on the bag bed.
“Since my bed is too small for two people, I prepared this bag bed just like before,” she said.
She sits beside Vine and the two cover themselves together using the blanket.
“Now then...according to this book, Krampus appears on Christmas day. I wonder if it’s Christmas day this season,” she wondered with chattering teeth.
“Anyway, Krampus is the name of the demon that appears on Christmas day to punish any bad children who did naughty things during Christmas. It has the appearance of a humanoid goat, the upper half of a goat, and the lower half of a mountain goat. Its eyes are red, black, or none and it gave a horrifying feeling to anyone seeing it. Tail of a lion, cloven hooves, hands of a man with sharp claws, and sharp teeth. It appears during Christmas in order to abduct misbehaved children. None know what happened to the bad children but many sources said that Krampus spanks these misbehaved children he abducted and by the time he returned those children to their respective homes, the children have turned into good children? Hold on...spanking is his way to turn the children into good children? Huh?” Alice gave a very confused look on her face.
Vine gives an astonished look on his face. “What’s a spanking?” he asked.
Alice looked at him with a very confused look on her face and raised eyebrow. “You have never heard of spanking?” she looked at Vine.
Vine shakes his head a bit. “No...What does spanking look like?” he asked with a curious tone.
“Here, I will show you. Do you want to see what spanking looks like?” Alice asked.
Alice stands up and takes a tree branch hanging above the chest. Seeing the tree branch used for spanking makes Vine gulp nervously.
“Uh, no....no thank you then...,” he shook his head.
“Oh come on. You said that you want to know what a spanking looks like. Just this once for demonstration. Turn around,” Alice said and her fingers motion Vine to turn around.
Vine gulps and turns around. Alice closes her eyes and hits Vine’s butt with the branch once.
“Ouch!!! That hurt!” Vine yelled.
“That’s what spanking is. Hachiing!!” Alice sneezed.
While Vine rubs his butt in pain, a screech of a bird is heard from the distance. “Ah, right on time,” Alice said.
Phoenix lands in front of the tent with a rolled-up scroll in his beak. Alice takes the scroll from its beak and reads it.
“Alice, it’s Roy. Tomorrow is a Christmas day! You can invite anyone over to my house and we will celebrate Christmas together! You can also come early to help us prepare for the celebration,” the letter said.
Alice looks up with a shocked look. “Wait, tomorrow is Christmas day?? Magi Village really needs a “Calendar”...,” she exclaimed.
Alice wrote the reply on a new paper using pen and she pets Phoenix’s head after she finished writing the reply.
“Send this reply letter to Roy, will ya? We’re coming over to his house,” she told Phoenix.
Phoenix gives a cute caw and flies with her letter in its beak.
“We are going to his house?” Vine asked her.
Alice turned her head slightly on him. “Yup, we are going to his house. Let’s get ready, we’re leaving right now cause the road takes a day to Roy’s house,” she said.
“What? Now?? Oh man....,” Vine said in shock as he prepare his bag while Alice walks out of the tent to see if there is anyone who wish to join.
“Hmm...I have a bad feeling about tomorrow. I hope the creature in this book isn’t real. I will bring June with us since she can keep us safe in case the monster in the book came to us. Krampus....I hope that I wouldn’t have to fight you,” she thought.
Alice puts on black fur hooded jacket and searches for June in the forest.
“June!! June!! Are you there??” she called.
While looking for June, Alice notices a frozen puddle and sees her inside it.
Alice flinches in shock. “June! My goodness! You overslept so much that you didn’t realize that it’s freezing winter. Hold on...I’m going to ask Martha to melt that ice. Martha!!” she called Martha while running back to the village.
In the Magi Village, Martha gave a wide eye on Alice upon hearing what happened.
She suddenly slams the guest table. “What?? June is frozen in the puddle? Did she oversleep??” she asked in shock.
“She probably did. Can you help me?” Alice asked.
“Sure can do. I will thaw the ice with my magic,” Martha answered.
Both of them went back to the frozen puddle.
Martha checks the thickness level of the ice. “Wow, she did oversleep. I have to melt the ice first. A siren couldn’t stay frozen for too long. Don’t worry, I will save you. Flametongue!” she said and casts magic.
Martha generates flame on her palm and blows the flame to the ice. The ice thaws within a minute and June jumps out from the puddle with a dazed look on her face.
“What happened? Why did the water feel warm?” June asked with a dazed look and sleepy eyes.
Alice gave a worried yet angry face to her. “You overslept, June! We were worried that you would freeze to death if we hadn’t thawed the ice from you. Have you forgotten that winter is near?” she asked while yelling at her at the same time.
June’s eyes turn at Alice with a surprised look. “Winter? Oh no...I forgot that I shouldn’t have overslept when winter is near. I was frozen in the water, wasn’t I?” June asked, still dazed.
“Yes, yes you did,” Martha said with a nervous grin.
June yawns and looks at Alice. “So, is there something I can do for you?” she asked her.
“Well....Roy invited us to his house. He said that tomorrow is Christmas day so he wanted to celebrate together with family and he invited us too. Well, let’s just accept his invitation. Besides, we had nothing to do and I already hoped to get a nice break this winter. But the reason why I called you was because of this,” Alice showed her a book.
June looks at the book closer. “Krampus? It will appear on Christmas day?” she read the book with a wondering look.
“Yeah....I was afraid that the monster would come here tomorrow. In case it’s coming for us, we couldn’t handle it without you,” Alice said.
“In that case, I will join you,” June agreed.
“Alright!” Alice shouted in excitement.
Alice, Vine, and Martha walk to Roy’s house on foot with June accompanying them.
ns 15.158.61.21da2
