Chapter 9

The Hour Between Dog and Wolf (2)

The six Sovereigns who served the Emperor.

Those six Sovereigns were the Emperor's greatest assets, and my younger sister, Seraphia, was the witch who reigned among them as the Sovereign of Bitter Cold.

And Kai was the most faithful knight guarding that Sovereign of Bitter Cold—a knight of death.

A death knight.

Death knights were undead resurrected from knights who had excelled in life. In other words, Seraphia had resurrected Kai, her house's faithful knight, as a death knight.

... Or so everyone in the allied army had believed. Myself included.

But that wasn't what had happened. Seraphia hadn't resurrected Kai as a death knight.

To be honest, I had heard all this from Ian. It was shortly after his decisive battle with Seraphia, the Sovereign of Bitter Cold—after the shocking news that his frozen left arm could not be healed had swept through the allied army.

According to Ian, Seraphia had actually wanted to grant Kai rest. She had never even considered resurrecting him as a death knight to do her bidding.

If Ian was telling the truth, that raised a question. How, then, had Kai returned as a death knight? Ian's answer was this.

["You're asking the wrong question."]

["What?"]

["Kai wasn't resurrected as a death knight."]

Naturally, I asked him what the fuck he was talking about. Ian replied.

["He became a lich."]

A lich. Kai hadn't been a death knight, but a lich.

Death knights and liches were both undead monsters of the highest order. In that respect, they showed little difference, much like dogs and wolves. Yet, just as with dogs and wolves, there was a crucial difference between the two—

Will.

A death knight was an undead created when a necromancer resurrected an exceptional knight to serve them. The death knight's own will played no part in that process. In most cases, they were brought back by someone else, regardless of their wishes.

Liches were different. A lich became one entirely through their own will, turning themselves into an undead.

Which meant no one could be forced to become a lich. Whether their intentions were good or bad, whether they had no other choice, becoming a lich was possible only through their own will.

No one else could help, either. The moment another person's will interfered, even slightly, the result would be a death knight rather than a lich.

As such, becoming a lich required extraordinary magical knowledge, since they had to turn themselves into an undead. There was a reason that “lich = powerful mage” was accepted as practically a rule.

Naturally, that raised another question. Kai, a knight, was a lich? Had he learned magic or something?

Ian said no. Kai was a knight who didn't know the first thing about magic.

I went to the Archmage, one of the allied army's heroes, and asked whether a knight who wasn't a mage could become a lich. The Archmage answered.

["No."]

The answer was firm, given without a moment's thought. But the Archmage couldn't explain what had happened.

["I don't understand it myself. How that could possibly happen..."]

Perhaps Ian had been mistaken. That was the only explanation, the only answer.

Yet neither the Archmage nor I believed Ian was mistaken. Ian was the Hero, the only one who could stand against the Emperor. He wouldn't make a “mistake” like that.

Kai had unquestionably become a lich as a knight. That left only one answer.

Wasn't there a saying that no law existed without a phenomenon behind it? If a phenomenon contradicted an established law, that suggested the fault lay not with the phenomenon, but with the law.

Rather than reject the existing law, however, the allied army's Archmage focused on the emergence of a new phenomenon. Specifically, the Archmage proposed expanding the concept of “will.”

["As you know, liches become undead through their own will."]

A powerful mage wished to become a lich. With that intent, they used their exceptional magical knowledge to achieve it.

But that will—that mere desire—wasn't enough to make them a lich. What actually turned them into one?

["Ultimately, it's their magical knowledge."]

But what if it were possible? What if desire, or will, could perform every function on its own?

["Every phenomenon in this world is connected to the 'will of the world.' Magical phenomena are no exception. So, if someone could interact with that will of the world..."]

The explanation went on and on from there, but it was giving me a headache, so I stopped listening. Why did mages love explaining things so damn much?

From what I gathered, it came down to loyalty. The will that was the knight Kai's loyalty had ultimately bent the laws and turned him into an undead.

["Though even I don't know whether that's actually possible..."]

The Archmage didn't seem to believe the explanation either. That was how impossible it was.

But if everything the Archmage said was true? Kai had made himself undead through a transcendent will strong enough to warp the laws themselves. As House Whitewolf's head knight, he had rejected even death so he could protect his liege, Seraphia, to the very end.

'Crazy bastard.'

In other words, he was a crazy bastard. Even death knights still had the rest of death awaiting them. Not liches.

Liches were unholy beings who had rejected death's rest of their own accord. All that remained for them was the doom of eternal suffering.

Kai must have known that. Yet he hadn't hesitated.

A man mad with loyalty. Mad with chivalry.

That was the man standing before me now. The knight who had terrorized the allied army, whom I had to kill along with Seraphia.

“What are you after?”

Kai, the Legion Commander of Bitter Cold.

* * *

Adrian remained caught in Kai's grip. Kai mulled over what had just happened.

Adrian's eyes had glowed red. Devoid of any reason, like a monster's, they had been anything but human.

Kai had also seen the desire reflected in those eyes. It had unmistakably been hunger. One of humanity's primal desires, yes, but never one to be directed toward another human.

He wasn't mistaken. Adrian had been about to slaughter the soldiers and eat them.

Kai had immediately moved to draw his sword and cut off Adrian's head. Subduing him hadn't even crossed his mind. Instinct had warned him forcefully that Adrian had to die.

But Seraphia had followed him there. Her voice had brought him sharply back to his senses.

“Sir Kai...!”

Seraphia considered Adrian her precious family. He might be nothing more than the count's wastrel son, but she cherished him as her only brother. Killing him would betray Kai's loyalty to her.

Kai had barely managed to sheath his sword. Then he had swiftly reached out, only just catching Adrian's hand.

But then...

CRRACK!!

The strength with which Adrian tried to shake off his grip was extraordinary. Kai could hardly believe it was human strength. It certainly wasn't strength the count's wastrel son could possess.

Instinctively, Kai drew on his aura. Otherwise, Adrian would have broken free then and there. Even so, merely holding on was all he could manage. He couldn't dream of overpowering him.

Adrian's strength rivaled his own aura-enhanced strength. Kai's eyes wavered for a moment.

Fortunately, Adrian wasn't looking at him. Only after glancing at the turkey dish on the ground did Adrian raise his eyes.

Those upturned eyes were as red as blood. As ominous as blood, too, yet they no longer held that earlier glow. They were clearly focused.

And through those focused eyes, Kai could see “something” lurking within Adrian.

Something ferocious, its enormous body crouched low. For now, an unknown force held it down, keeping it from rising. But with just the right trigger, it seemed that it would be unleashed in all its horror.

Faced with it, Kai felt fear.

Not the fear of facing another human. Kai was prepared to give his life for Seraphia at any moment. The terror one human could inspire in another held no fear for him.

Therefore, that thing inside Adrian—and Adrian himself—could never be called human.

Humanity's natural predator. No, something that reigned over all living things.

It was the primal terror of a living creature faced with such an ultimate being. Though he felt it for only an instant, Kai realized that he had been overwhelmed.

“Leave the county at once.”

Kai shouted instinctively. Adrian's red eyes met his head-on.

“And if I refuse?”

Adrian wrenched his hand free with all his might. This time, Kai couldn't stop him. Because, however briefly, he had been overwhelmed.

Freed from Kai's grasp, Adrian took several steps back.

“What are you after?”

Kai asked, but Adrian didn't answer. He simply rotated the wrist Kai had held a few times, checking its condition.

“I asked what you're after.”

Only when Kai let some of his intimidating presence show did Adrian finally turn to look. Yet he showed no sign of shrinking back or being cowed, even though Kai was exerting considerable pressure.

Even trained soldiers would struggle to withstand it, let alone ordinary people. How much worse should it be for the count's wastrel son? Sure enough, most of the soldiers were cowering.

Yet Adrian himself didn't so much as blink. Instead, he exerted pressure of his own against Kai.

“Since when does a mere knight give orders to his lord?”

“You are not the lord of this coun—”

“Surely you know I still retain my authority as young lord.”

“...”

Kai fell silent. He knew those words weren't wrong. He simply couldn't accept them.

Kai's blue eyes stared straight at Adrian. Adrian's red eyes stared straight back. Their gazes locked, neither looking away.

The pressure each exerted grew stronger. Tension drew taut between them. The air enveloping the Frost Trial Grounds grew chill.

A stillness like the calm before a storm.

Suddenly, Adrian gave a derisive chuckle.

“Take in a stray puppy and raise it among wolves, and it starts mistaking itself for a wolf.”

“...”

“Don't fool yourself, Kai.”

You're still just a stray, a fucking dog.

“It was House Whitewolf that took you in and raised you. And House Whitewolf is the master you owe your loyalty to.”

Not that despicable Seraphia.

With those final words, Adrian walked past Kai and left.

Kai didn't move from the spot. More precisely, he couldn't.

If he moved even the slightest bit now... If Seraphia hadn't been here...

CRACK!!!

Kai would almost certainly have killed Adrian right there.

* * *

It happened the moment I left the Frost Trial Grounds.

◆Kai's affinity toward you is boarding an express carriage to rock bottom!

◆Kai's affinity toward you has entered the [Hatred] state!

◆Characters in the [Hatred] state display active aggression, determined to kill and destroy you!

◆Given any trigger, Kai will be certain to kill you!

◆Unlike the [Anger] state, which gradually subsides over time, the [Hatred] state grows stronger with time unless action is taken!

◆If you don't want to die, raise Kai's affinity as soon as possible!!

Translucent messages filled my vision. Then came a blaring alarm from every direction.

WEE-OOO! WEE-OOO!

“Noisy as hell.”

What an absolute racket. Worst of all was that alarm, shrieking endlessly as though the world were ending.

WEE-OOO! WEE-OOO!

It was driving me out of my mind.

Well, from the look of things, I'd really gotten under Kai's skin.

I waved a hand as though shooing away gnats, scattering the messages. Then a sharp, electric pain shot through me, making me grimace.

The wrist Kai had grabbed. When I checked it, I found the bone was fractured.

“That monstrous bastard.”

He really was a monster. With an injury like this, I wouldn't be able to use my wrist for weeks.

Fortunately, all I had to do was regenerate it, but my body's nutrients were completely depleted.

“I'd better get to the dining hall and eat something.”

Just as I turned to head there, it happened.

◆Starting Affinity Quest [Don't Get the Wrong Idea. This Alliance Is a One-Time Thing].

“An affinity quest?”

... What the hell was this now?