“Huh......”
At the belated exclamation of one noble, the nobles gathered around began to stir.
“What in the world is that......?”
“Didn’t they say he spent an entire year shut away in his room?”
“I am certain he had not even reached Sword Beginner before that, yet now he is at least at the level of a Sword User......”
“Did you happen to see it? I could have sworn the Frost Giant’s hand froze......”
“Come now, what are you saying? A Monster that lives in the snowfield freezing? You might as well say a fish drowned.”
There was no doubt that the Subjugation Festival to be held the next day was the main event.
Even so, today’s Subjugation Festival had drawn everyone’s attention as well.
And as the nobles who had been cheering for their own children stared in shock—
“I thought there would be nothing but chaff here, but this is amusing.”
For the first time since stepping down from the platform, the Grand Duke of Bahen spoke.
At the end of his gaze stood Ian alone.
***
I grabbed the Frost Giant head rolling across the ground and stuffed it back into the sack.
If this had not been the Subjugation Festival, I probably would have brought back only the ears......
‘If I’m going to do it, I might as well make the point clear.’
If I wanted to stop the Great Invasion, I needed more than just growth in my own combat strength.
I needed allies too.
And to get them, drawing attention with a performance like this was essential.
The Frost Giant heads scattered across the ground were fairly disgusting, but there was no helping it.
“Young Master, well done.”
“Ah, thanks.”
Tarian hurried over and handed me a towel.
I certainly looked ridiculous.
True to the name giant, Frost Giants bled a great deal, and my entire body was soaked in their blood.
As I wiped my face, I could feel everyone’s eyes on me.
‘Was this enough?’
“Ian.”
“Brother. What do you think?”
“As expected, I knew you would succeed.”
“You looked pretty surprised for someone who knew.”
“......Just let that pass.”
My brother smiled as he wiped away some blood I had missed.
That reaction alone told me.
It had been more than enough.
“The way everyone looks at you has changed completely, Young Master.”
“As it should.”
I glanced around from the corner of my eye.
The other participants were sorting through their spoils as well, but most of them were nothing remarkable.
“What in the world......”
“Lord Johannes was not the winner?”
I chuckled at the bewildered participants.
“Ian Rashid. No, Sir Ian.”
“Hey, just call me normally.”
“Ahem. Then, Ian. It was a good match.”
“Yeah. Sure. It was.”
A good match?
For a moment, I wondered what he meant given the size of the gap between us.
Still, compared to the others, Johannes Bahen had done fairly well.
Aside from freezing up at the beginning, his movements had not been bad.
He had taken down several Monsters, including Frost Giants.
But.
‘At this level, he won’t be much use even when the Great Invasion comes.’
Well, setting that aside.
“Hand it over.”
“Wh-What?”
“Your sword. You said I could have it, remember?”
I held out my hand with a grin.
As a direct descendant of the Bahen Grand Ducal House, there was no doubt his sword was a famed weapon.
‘Still, I have Frost Fang.’
Even if it was a famed sword, I probably would not have much reason to use it.
There was one simple reason I wanted it anyway.
Like Frost Fang, it might have another Pact attached to it.
-J-Johan, you’re not serious, right?
“A promise...... is a promise.”
-Johan! Johan!
Winterbane called pitifully for its master, but unfortunately, Johannes could not hear its voice.
“Heh heh. You’re mine now.”
“......”
I could feel the tension in Johannes’s hand around the hilt.
He clearly did not want to let go.
The moment I practically pried the sword out of his grasp—
[You have successfully completed your Pact with Winterbane (Rare).]
[You have acquired ‘Extreme Cold Art (D)’!]
[Extreme Cold Art (D)]
[Rank : Epic]
[Description : The Bahen Grand Ducal House’s secret mana cultivation method. Your mana circuits expand, and your affinity with mana increases. You can give energy tangible form.]
Extreme Cold Art.
The mana cultivation method that had raised the Bahen Grand Ducal House to become the hegemon of the North.
And it was an Epic-grade Skill.
“Whew......”
The moment I breathed out softly, I could feel even more mana than before flowing throughout my body.
‘Cold.’
Until now, my mana had only strengthened my physical abilities.
Now it naturally radiated out around my body.
Seeing my own mana given tangible form rather than merely using it inside my body was a strange and wondrous feeling.
“What in the world is this......?”
“Ian, you have made another breakthrough.”
“Congratulations, Young Master.”
Johannes was bewildered.
My brother looked surprised, yet smiled warmly.
And Tarian accepted it calmly, as though this outcome were only natural.
-Th-This is cheating!
‘What cheating?’
-Uuu...... Johan, save me......
I smiled as I felt the pleasant chill.
It was a cultivation method that matched perfectly with the mana attribute I had obtained through Frost’s Blessing.
‘And that isn’t all.’
If these effects were all it had, there was no way it could have raised the Bahen Grand Ducal House to its current heights.
The true value of Extreme Cold Art lay in the fact that it was a growth-type Skill.
Here, giving energy tangible form was slightly different from sword aura.
Rather than being simply a product of martial force, it was closer to a magical phenomenon.
In practice, it was practically like a Trait of the family.
‘You can see it clearly when Luke Bahen fights in the game.’
I remembered how he did not stop at coating his sword in aura, but even used wide-area techniques like massive waves of freezing energy.
Thinking about that, it was almost unbelievable that I had obtained this now.
“This is good. My mouth’s watering.”
-M-My mouth? Are you planning to eat me or something......?
“......”
I looked down at Winterbane, which had somehow reached a bizarre misunderstanding.
Then I shifted my gaze toward Johannes.
“Want it back?”
“A-A promise is a promise.”
“If you want it back, say so. I’m willing to make a deal.”
The people nearby who had been watching us fell into stunned silence.
After all, I had effectively won Winterbane, one of the Bahen Grand Ducal House’s famed swords.
I did not particularly care what they thought.
The only person whose reaction I was conscious of was my brother......
“You earned it through a fair wager, so you should decide what to do with it.”
Apparently noticing my glance, my brother smiled as he spoke.
As expected of him.
I nodded and looked over Johannes.
‘I should use this opportunity to make sure this guy grows properly too.’
I needed to bring Johannes Bahen’s growth trigger forward.
And beyond that, I should obtain whatever was worth obtaining from the Bahen Grand Ducal House.
If I could gain Bahen’s cooperation on top of that, even better.
One way or another.
“As expected, it ended with your victory, Young Master.”
“I told you. I wasn’t planning to hand you over.”
“Hmm......”
Apparently, he had not expected me to say that.
Tarian looked at me, then let out a quiet laugh.
“As expected, Young Master, you are quite an interesting person.”
“Ah......”
Johannes looked back and forth between Tarian and me.
It was not as though someone had stolen the love of his life, so I did not really understand why he was sighing like that.
“Well, let’s interact from time to time from now on.”
“Y-You would allow that? As expected, you are my......”
“Hm?”
“Ah, no. Nothing.”
He had lost both Tarian and Winterbane, yet Johannes’s expression was calm.
‘What’s with him?’
The way he stared at me was a little uncomfortable.
Still, it seemed to come from a positive place, so that was a relief.
It would have been troublesome if he had started harboring malice.
“Then let’s see.”
By then, the judges had arrived and quickly began tallying the results.
Each Frost Giant was worth fifty points.
Considering that Monsters on the left path were worth an average of five to eight points, and those on the right path around ten to twenty, the score was overwhelming.
“Th-The final tally is...... one thousand points.”
“Huh......”
At the result, delivered in a trembling voice, exclamations broke out all around us.
Twenty Frost Giants.
My level was certainly impressive for having killed that many, but more than that......
‘What’s really impressive is that the Bahen Grand Ducal House managed to capture that many in the first place.’
As I had said, a group of Frost Giants was dangerous enough to overrun a village.
The fact that the Bahen Grand Ducal House could release that many here and keep them under control showed just how powerful they were.
“Hah. At this point, your victory is practically certain.”
“What do you think? I told you I was confident.”
“Of course I believed you. Though I did not expect quite this much.”
To be fair, even I had not expected it to be this easy.
In the game, one would normally need to be at least two years into a run before even attempting a score like this.
Johannes, in second place, had two hundred points.
The gap was enormous.
‘I didn’t expect the difference in level to be this big.’
Thinking about the Great Invasion that would arrive in five years, there was still a long road ahead.
On top of that, the North was currently enjoying a rare period of peace and was even reducing its military spending.
“Huh. I had never even heard his name, yet he won. We will have to keep an eye on him from now on.”
“Perhaps the saying that no younger brother can surpass the elder is not always true. At that level, he may even exceed Baron Rashid......”
“Ha ha. Rather than standing around like this, perhaps we should share a glass of wine......”
The nobles began gathering around me.
Some of them were the same people who had dismissed me at first.
‘Interesting.’
I did not particularly hold it against them.
Ian really had spent an entire year holed up in his room.
And either way, keeping these people alive and bringing them onto my side would be more useful.
Besides, most of them were probably approaching me not because of my current strength, but because of what they imagined I might become five years from now.
Judging by how things were going, half of them would probably be dead by then.
“Thank you all for the kind words. But if you wish to discuss anything further, would you speak with my brother?”
“Ian?”
I felt a little bad, but matters concerning the family should naturally be decided by its head.
“Wait.”
In the middle of that, someone walked through the nobles toward us.
Frost-colored silver hair.
The same expressionless face I had seen before.
Larissa Bahen.
“Ian Rashid.”
Even though she spoke in a low murmur, the nobles around us immediately turned their attention toward her.
Some of them even moved away entirely.
I was briefly confused, then searched my memories and remembered why.
‘A walking disaster.’
There was a reason she was no longer in the North by the time the game began.
She had gone around challenging not only the nobles gathered here, but even the knights under them, defeating them one after another.
Eventually, she left for the central regions entirely and reached Sword Master.
That was her personal story.
“It is an honor to meet you, my lady.”
“......?”
She tilted her head slightly, as though confused.
“Is something bothering you?”
“Speak casually.”
“Ah, I’m more comfortable speaking politely.”
She glanced toward Johan.
Apparently, she had noticed the difference in how I treated them.
Unlike Johannes, she was someone who deserved formal speech.
The fact that she was already approaching Sword Master was reason enough to show respect.
‘Right now, she’s probably about even with Tarian.’
She was not even twenty yet.
An absurd level of talent.
“His Grace the Grand Duke is calling for you.”
“I see. Understood.”
“But that sword?”
“I won it in a wager.”