Chapter 10

A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing (1)

==[Don't Get the Wrong Idea. This Alliance Is a One-Time Thing]==

[Objective] - Earn Kai's recognition.

[Reward] - Increased affinity with Kai

[On Failure] - Death

Translucent messages filled my vision. But both the quest objective and its reward were beyond trivial. They were utterly useless.

Still, with death as the penalty for failure, I couldn't simply dismiss it. Perhaps that was why it seemed to have been accepted automatically.

And this was the third kind of quest to appear after the Tutorial Quest and main quest: an Affinity Quest.

"Affinity?"

At my question, translucent messages streamed into view.

* * *

Affinity is a measure of how a given individual feels about the [Player].

It represents the [Player]'s interpersonal relationships and consists of 「3 Tiers」 and [9 States].

First is the 「Conflict Tier」.

Individuals in the Conflict Tier dislike the player. This tier consists of four states: [Hatred, Loathing, Anger, Conflict].

Next is the 「Neutral Tier」, in which the individual has no particular feelings toward the player.

This tier consists of only one state: [Indifference].

Last is the 「Interest Tier」, which means the individual takes an active interest in the player.

Depending on the degree of interest, it consists of four states: [Closeness, Friendliness, Trust, Affection].

The states can be ranked in order as 'Hatred < Loathing < Anger < Conflict < Indifference < Closeness < Friendliness < Trust < Affection.'

* * *

The explanation was fairly lengthy. I calmly read it through. It wasn't particularly complicated, so I understood it quickly.

But that was all.

"Why bother?"

There wasn't any particular benefit to raising affinity. It didn't give me extra stats or artifacts like [Inventory]. Nor did it grant special abilities.

There was no need to waste my time obsessing over affinity.

... Or so I was thinking when it happened.

◆You there, wondering what good raising affinity could possibly do!

As if it had heard me, another stream of translucent messages appeared before my eyes.

* * *

You couldn't be more wrong!

There are also 'very special rewards' to be obtained from individuals in the 「Interest Tier」, so we recommend working hard to build affinity!

Conversely, individuals in the 「Conflict Tier」 may threaten your life, so once again, we recommend working hard to build affinity!

Please note that some individuals can never reach the two extremes of [Hatred] and [Affection], no matter how hard you try.

After all, it's hard to hate someone enough to kill them, and loving someone more than your own life is harder still!

* * *

"Hmm..."

On closer inspection, it didn't seem entirely useless. The messages had mentioned 'very special rewards,' after all.

I couldn't tell whether those rewards came from the quest itself or from the individual in question. But they certainly weren't something to dismiss.

And the rewards weren't all I needed to consider. The messages said that letting affinity fall to the 「Conflict Tier」 could endanger my life.

For several reasons, affinity needed managing.

On that note, Kai's affinity toward me was [Hatred]. The very bottom of the scale, meaning he really disliked me—

◆Kai harbors active aggression and is determined to kill and destroy you!

◆Given any trigger, Kai will most certainly kill you and wipe you out!

... Well, there you had it.

As if to tell me I couldn't have been more mistaken, the messages made absolutely certain I understood the [Hatred] state.

They'd seemed to be reading my mind for a while now, but anyway.

"So what do you want me to do about it?"

I waved a hand, dispersing the messages floating before my eyes.

Sorry, but I had absolutely no intention of raising Kai's affinity. Naturally, that meant I had no intention of doing his Affinity Quest either.

Quests only pointed me in a direction. How I achieved their objectives was entirely up to me. And there was no rule saying I couldn't reject the direction a quest proposed in the first place.

In other words, I was also free to choose not to do it.

Even if I was forced to 'accept' a quest, I decided whether to 'carry it out.' Of course, I alone bore responsibility for the consequences.

But what did it expect me to do?

◆WEE-OOO! WEE-OOOOO!!

The messages kept sounding alarms, warning me to raise Kai's affinity. They insisted I couldn't be more wrong and tried desperately to persuade me.

But I wasn't listening.

It was the one that couldn't be more wrong. Dead wrong.

"I want to kill Kai just as badly."

I, too, harbored active aggression and was determined to kill and destroy Kai. Given any trigger, I, too, would most certainly kill him and wipe him out.

In other words, my affinity toward Kai was also [Hatred].

Even if the failure penalty was death, all I had to do was kill Kai first and eliminate the Affinity Quest itself.

I'd never had any intention of letting him live. How could I possibly spare the Legion Commander of Bitter Cold?

If Seraphia had been responsible for Kai's fall, I would have thought differently. There would have been room to spare him. I would only have needed to kill Seraphia.

Without her, he wouldn't fall. Raising his affinity and recruiting him into the allied army would have gained us a tremendous asset.

But Seraphia hadn't turned Kai into a death knight. He had become a lich himself.

Through his own will, he had transcended everything. Even without Seraphia, he could turn evil... or rather, fall all on his own.

That was why Kai, like Seraphia, absolutely had to die.

Above all, Ian had only regretted killing Seraphia. He hadn't so much as mentioned killing Kai, let alone expressed any regret.

In other words, there was no problem with killing Kai right now.

If I'd had my way, I would have killed him during our confrontation earlier. The reason I hadn't was very simple.

"He really is strong."

I hadn't been able to kill him.

He was far too strong. It was lucky he'd focused on restraining me. If he'd drawn his sword to kill, I would definitely have died on the spot without even being able to react.

To put it bluntly, even my previous self, the allied army's Predator, couldn't handle Kai.

As Chief of Covert Operations for the special warfare unit, I'd carried out countless missions. I'd personally eliminated quite a few imperial legion commanders in the process.

My combat prowess was certainly above that of a legion commander. But Kai, the Legion Commander of Bitter Cold, was the exception.

I'd run into him once during a mission. All I'd managed was to escape with my life.

If that had been true in my previous life, I was even less of a match for him now that I'd returned to the past.

Of course, Kai was also his past self. He was merely House Whitewolf's head knight now, not the Legion Commander of Bitter Cold. Even so, a monster was still a monster.

"Those rumors about the royal guard trying to recruit him weren't just empty talk."

At this point in the past, Kai was only twenty. He was two years older than me, but the gap in talent and accomplishment couldn't be bridged in twenty years, let alone two.

That was assuming I hadn't obtained Ian's abilities, of course.

Things were different now.

With Ian's ability, I Alone Level Up[EX], I could grow stronger without limit.

With Ian's ability, Player's Will[EX], I could use Predation[S+] without limit.

So I had no time to stand around. Affinity, my ass. I was too busy getting stronger.

"First, let's replenish my nutrients."

Ignoring the messages blaring at me, I headed for the dining hall in the lord's castle.

* * *

A deep, heavy silence had settled over the Frost Trial Grounds after Adrian's departure.

Kai stood motionless in the center of the grounds, struggling to rein in the anger surging through his chest. When it refused to subside, he ground his teeth.

It felt as though rage had stained his reason scarlet.

His anger was directed not only at Adrian but at himself. He berated himself for having been overwhelmed by Adrian, however briefly.

No matter how he thought about it, he couldn't understand why he'd felt fear of Adrian.

For a while, Kai stood in the center of the grounds with his eyes closed.

"—Kai! Sir Kai!"

Someone calling his name suddenly snapped him out of it. As he came to his senses, he realized Bernard, the head steward, was shouting at him.

Beside Bernard, Seraphia was struggling. Her already white skin had gone beyond pale to ashen. Beads of cold sweat dotted her smooth, white forehead.

Her body, delicate as a thin flower petal, swayed as if caught in the wind. She was so unsteady that she would have crumpled to the ground long ago if Bernard hadn't been supporting her.

She couldn't withstand the pressure radiating from Kai as his anger ran unchecked.

And she wasn't the only one. Even the soldiers had collapsed to the ground, unable to endure it.

Hastily realizing his mistake, Kai reined in his presence. Only then did cries of "Ah!" burst out across the grounds as everyone finally found relief.

Kai bowed his head deeply to Seraphia.

"... That was disgraceful of me. I apologize."

"N-no..."

Seraphia weakly waved her hands as if to say she was fine.

Of course, anyone could see she wasn't. Even the castle's healthy soldiers hadn't been able to withstand Kai's pressure. Seraphia, born frail due to the curse of bitter cold, could hardly have endured it.

Within her small, delicate body, an absolute chill called 'bitter cold' flowed ceaselessly, freezing her from within.

Without regular treatment, her body would gradually freeze until even moving became difficult. Left untreated, it would eventually make breathing difficult too, until her body froze completely and she died.

But resources were scarce in the snowy northern mountains. Seraphia couldn't receive treatment whenever she needed it.

And in those mountains, where bitter cold raged all year round, she lived every day in pain.

"What about you, Sir Kai...? Are you all right?"

Yet she was worried about him.

That was the kind of person Seraphia was. Someone who cherished and cared for her people more than herself. A woman who thought nothing of staying awake for nights on end for the sake of her subjects. A true lord who readily chose to fill her people's stomachs before easing her own illness.

She was nothing like Adrian, that wastrel. It was impossible to imagine them sharing the same blood, and in fact, they were siblings without any blood relation.

Fortunately, the late count had left everything belonging to the house to Seraphia, not Adrian. That had truly been his will, not a forgery of any kind.

By now, the courier would have delivered the will to the royal court.

It would take at least three months for the Crown to conduct a full investigation and issue a formal decree.

If anything happened to Adrian before then, the Crown might grow suspicious. Whatever else he might be, Adrian was House Whitewolf's eldest legitimate son.

Three months.

That was how long remained before Adrian was stripped of his current authority as young lord.

Only until then. Kai would let him live only until then.

If Adrian remained with the house even after that time passed, flaunting his authority as eldest legitimate son and spending the family's wealth as he pleased—

If exploiting the people wasn't enough for him—

If he ultimately tried to take the lordship from Seraphia...

CRACK!

As Kai clenched both fists fiercely, unmistakable killing intent took hold.

* * *

In the dining hall within the lord's castle.

"I-I'm sorry! We've run out of ingredients..."

The head chef approached me, sweating nervously and watching my reaction.

'What was this guy's name again?'

Unfortunately, I couldn't remember. I hadn't even remembered Bernard's name, and he was the head steward. There was no chance I'd remember the head chef's.

Still, I remembered the food being excellent back when I'd lived here. I could vaguely recall, at least, that the head chef was quite talented.

"You're out of ingredients?"

"Y-yes..."

The head chef hung his head like a criminal.

Frankly, a high-ranking noble household like a count's running out of ingredients sounded absurd.

But it was entirely possible.

The Whitewolf county lay in the snowy northern mountains, a harsh environment plagued by relentless cold all year round. Very few kinds of plants grew here, and consequently, the animals were far fewer as well.

Simply put, food was scarce.

Nor did the county have mines or local specialties. It didn't have a damn thing, so its finances were in dire straits too.

It was a county in name only. In reality, it was worse off than a barony.

"Didn't you cook a turkey earlier?"

"Th-that was left over from what we brought out for the funeral..."

In other words, it was an ingredient they'd been saving with the utmost care. They'd tried to serve it to me, only for Kai to spill it on the ground.

That bastard was no help whatsoever. And I'd wondered why they were serving turkey.

'Bernard was going to give that to me?'

Turkey was an extremely precious ingredient. So precious that they only brought it out for special occasions like my father's funeral.

Bernard couldn't have served it because he thought well of me. Nor was it quite convincing to chalk it up to his principle of obeying the young lord's orders...

'He must have thought I'd throw a shit fit.'

That was probably it. Apparently, he'd brought out the precious ingredient for fear that I'd raise hell if he served me something that tasted bad.

After all, to the people here, I was 'the count's wastrel son.' One look at the head chef standing helplessly before me made that clear.

Just look at those eyes darting everywhere before he finally squeezed them shut. Wasn't he bracing himself for my impending shit fit?

"Is there nothing to eat at all?"

"W-well..."

"You have the guts you discarded while cooking, don't you?"

"We do have those, but..."

"Go get them."

A brief silence followed.

"The shit...? I mean, the guts?"

The head chef stared at me, dumbfounded.