"......What?"
At those words, Crepin narrowed his eyes.
Only then did the backlight fade, revealing the man standing before him.
A black fur coat and deep black hair.
—SWISH.
And golden eyes visible behind his sunglasses.
Above all, he had a massive frame approaching 190 centimeters in height.
He was undoubtedly the Grand Duke of the North.
At the same time, the shameful display Crepin had made moments ago flashed through his mind.
His face flushed red as he barked at Walter.
Or rather, tried to.
"What is the meaning of this...?!"
But the moment he did—
Grrrrr. The wyvern behind Walter bared her fangs.
At the same time, her rough breath rose like smoke.
—FLINCH!
Crepin recoiled and stepped backward.
The sharply slit eyes unique to wyverns swept over his body.
A chill crawled over Crepin from head to toe.
"Whoa, whoa."
Walter calmly stroked the wyvern's head and gestured toward her.
"Ah, I am late with the introductions. This is Ferrari. She is a wyvern we recently tamed in the North."
"......W-What?"
They tamed a wyvern?
Crepin stared blankly back and forth between the Grand Duke of the North and the wyvern—no, Ferrari—before him.
And the others reacted little differently.
"T-They tamed a monster?"
"That is impossible......"
The knights of House Selbirot whispered among themselves, unable to take their eyes off Walter and the wyvern.
Was the North always like this?
No, even for the North, was such a thing truly possible?
They had heard that wolves were tamed in some regions, but riding around on a tamed wyvern?
They had never heard of anything like it.
Walter chuckled and scratched beneath the wyvern's chin.
"What do you think? Do we not suit each other?"
The queen rumbled contentedly beneath his touch.
Her pure-white scales resembled the North's eternal snow.
And then there was her long, graceful body, perfectly built for flight.
If the modern world had sports cars, the medieval world had wyverns.
It was like an old classmate showing up to a drinking party in a sports car after years apart.
Except this one could fly.
A flying sports car?
Ah, how could I possibly resist that?
For nearly a week, all for the sake of this single scene, Walter had lived and trained alongside a wyvern despite it being completely outside his nature.
At last, he had succeeded in climbing onto the queen's back.
This was a rather satisfying picture.
Walter pushed his sunglasses up with a flourish and sneered.
"In any case, welcome to the North."
Walter held out his hand toward Crepin.
Crepin ground his teeth.
Was he seriously saying that now?
"......What is the meaning of this disrespect?"
At the same time, Crepin's guard knight stepped beside him and spoke.
"Lord Crepin could have been seriously injured."
The guard knight questioned Walter.
But the instant he did—
CLANG—!
Lenin, who had been standing behind Walter the entire time, placed her blade against the man's throat.
Her draw had been so fast it could not even be seen.
"His Grace is speaking."
Lenin spoke in a voice cold enough to freeze.
Above all, not the slightest change crossed her face.
The surrounding air froze in an instant.
—RAISE.
The one who broke the silence was none other than Walter.
He gestured toward Lenin.
Step back for a moment.
She bowed and lowered her sword.
Walter then walked toward Crepin's guard knight.
"I apologize for that."
"......"
"However."
Walter stopped directly in front of the guard knight.
He tilted his head and looked down at him.
"Must I ask permission even to move about within my own territory?"
At the same time, the air around him sank heavily.
No matter how much the man was a guard knight of a ducal house, there was a difference as vast as heaven and earth between him and Walter, a grand duke—in other words, a duke.
Even if Walter had been rude first, a mere guard knight like him could not respond in any way.
The man flinched slightly and spoke.
"T-That was not what I meant......"
"Then do I have anything further to apologize for?"
"......No, Your Grace."
The guard knight lowered his head as he answered.
Walter lightly patted him on the shoulder and walked past.
"Act like a gentleman."
At Walter's words, Rupel, who stood behind Crepin, flinched violently.
The memory of the day Walter had slapped him across the face replayed in his mind.
Eek. Seized by PTSD, Rupel trembled and clenched his fist tightly.
—CLENCH......
Walter chuckled at the sight and addressed Crepin and the other knights.
"Then I shall guide you inside. Follow me."
Walter took the lead and headed toward Gray Castle.
Crepin’s dignity had already been left in tatters from the outset.
Crepin had no choice but to follow behind him, his brow furrowed.
***
Just like when Rupel had visited before.
CRACKLE, CRACKLE. Firewood burned in the reception room of Gray Castle.
Crepin quietly surveyed his surroundings from the corners of his eyes.
'......Something certainly does seem different.'
Both on the way to Gray Castle and inside the castle itself, the atmosphere was markedly different from before.
At this point in time, everyone should have been utterly dispirited.
But only for a moment.
'Even so, the North is still the North.'
It still had no ability to repay its debt.
Crepin clicked his tongue at the thought.
The unexpected appearance of a wyvern had humiliated him from the very start.
Now it was his turn to grasp the hilt.
Crepin assumed an arrogant posture and looked across at Walter.
Then he slowly opened his mouth.
"Now, then. Shall we discuss the matter of the debt......"
Crepin smiled broadly at the thought that he would soon hold the advantage.
But what was this?
Before he could even finish speaking, Walter cut him off decisively and shouted.
"Bring it in!"
At the same time, the reception room doors flew open and the northern knights entered.
Most notably, their hands were laden with heavy sacks.
THUD. The knights set the sacks down one after another.
—CLATTER......
One sack toppled over, spilling the gold coins packed inside across the floor in a glittering cascade.
A total of 2,135,640 gold.
The full amount the North owed House Selbirot.
"You may verify it yourself if you do not believe me."
Walter gestured lazily.
At those words, Rupel and the other knights hurried to inspect the sacks of gold coins.
"What is with this weight......"
But the sacks did not budge from where they sat.
They looked at the northern knights in bewilderment.
Those men had clearly carried one sack in each hand only moments ago.
Meanwhile, Crepin stared blankly back and forth between Walter and the pile of gold.
What was this?
What was happening right now?
"If it is not enough, tell me. I will give you more."
Walter flicked his hand indifferently toward the pile of gold.
Crepin's hand trembled as he asked.
"......How?"
This was no longer a matter of verifying the amount of the debt.
Why? How had the North prepared this much money?
At this point in time, there should have been nothing in the North capable of generating such a sum.
No, unless they had looted a hero's tomb, raising this much money should have been impossible.
Crepin stared at Walter in confusion.
"Northmedi."
Walter spoke quietly.
"Have you heard of Northmedi?"
Crepin flinched and narrowed his eyes.
"......How do you know about that?"
Could the rumors have been true?
If so, it explained things to some degree.
Winter White. That man must have settled in the North, and the grand duke had clearly benefited from him.
Crepin did not know what conditions had been exchanged in the process, but this confirmed it.
He grinned at Walter.
"So Winter White was in the North after all."
Yes, you had something to rely on. That was why you had acted so boldly.
Then Walter calmly nodded and answered.
"Of course. I am Winter White."
"Yes...... No, wait. What did you say?"
Walter kindly repeated himself.
"I am Winter White."
Crepin grabbed his head as an unexplained headache began throbbing through it.
'That bastard is...... Winter White?'
Then what about Northmedi?
Where was the Northmedi?
At the same time, Walter took a white wooden case from inside his coat and placed it on the table.
"Judging by your reaction, it seems you have heard quite a bit about it as well."
—CLICK......
He opened the white wooden case, revealing a crystal that radiated brilliant blue light.
It looked exactly like the rumored Northmedi.
Walter slowly opened his mouth.
"You must have heard through the letter that I wished to speak with you personally."
"......"
"The debt was naturally one reason, but today, I thought we might discuss something else."
He spread dozens of letters across the table with a rustle.
The seals were quite familiar to Crepin.
After all, every seal stamped upon those letters belonged to a major family of the royal capital with which he had ties.
"Northmedi certainly seems popular these days. To think so many distinguished people would send me letters."
"Why are you showing me these......"
"But what a terrible shame."
"......?"
Walter swept all the letters into the fireplace and grinned.
"So many noble houses will be unable to obtain Northmedi because of a single family."
"......"
"So I shall make you one proposal."
If you wish to maintain your relationships with the families connected to you—
Relinquish your position as heir to House Selbirot of your own accord.
Walter spoke firmly to Crepin.
"......What?"
What kind of fucking nonsense was this?
But before long, Crepin understood what he meant and let out a hollow laugh.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that nearly every noble in the royal capital currently coveted Northmedi.
And if Walter used House Selbirot as an excuse to unilaterally cut off all Northmedi transactions?
Every one of those arrows would be aimed at Crepin.
"Ha...... Ha ha! Ha ha ha!"
Crepin's hollow laughter grew until he finally burst out laughing.
SMACK—!
He struck Walter across the face and spoke.
"You dare threaten me, Crepin Selbirot?"
You have one insignificant medicine, and now you no longer know your place?
Crepin scoffed in disbelief and repeatedly jabbed Walter's head with his finger.
"Hey, you bastard. I told you before, didn't I? Don't think we are equals just because we both belong to ducal houses."
On the day Walter had borrowed money from him in the past—
Those were the words Crepin had spoken after forcing Walter to his knees before everyone in the North.
And that day, in the middle of the North's cold snowfield—
—If you have received a favor, you ought to show proper sincerity.
Crepin had sneered at Walter as he bowed his head beneath him.
—Yes. Your sincerity is so admirable that I shall personally lend you the money.
—So remember this well.
—Do not think you and I are equals merely because we both belong to ducal houses.
Crepin lightly slapped Walter's cheek several times and asked.
"Why? Do you think you can control me as you please just because you repaid that paltry debt......"
But that was when it happened.
Suddenly, Walter's hand clamped over his face.
At the same time—
CRASH—!
The instant Walter seized his face, he slammed it into the marble table.
It happened before the other man could even react.
The marble table shattered into pieces.
Fragments scattered and rolled in every direction.
CRACK. Walter tilted his neck and spoke.
"Say it again. What did you say?"
"GACK! COUGH!"
Crepin coughed up blood and twitched.
But no matter how much strength he used, he could hardly move even a single hand.
"......!"
At the sight, Crepin's guard knight and the surrounding knights hurriedly placed their hands on their sword hilts.
—WHOOOOOM......!
The reason was the air that began around Walter and settled heavily over the entire reception room.
It went beyond mere pressure.
It was like the dense fear they had felt on battlefields.
Their response was nothing more than an instinctive reaction.
—GRIND!
Crepin's guard knight desperately gritted his teeth and drew his sword.
—CLANG—!
But the instant he did, Lenin and the other northern knights leveled their blades at his throat in unison.
"I told you on the snowfield, did I not?"
Lenin spoke in the same voice as before, frozen cold.
"His Grace is speaking."
At the same time, Lenin caught the guard knight's sword with her bare hand.
Red blood streamed down her palm, yet her expression did not change in the slightest.
She tore the sword from his grasp and threw it onto the floor.
—CLATTER—!
The other knights had already been subdued by the northern knights and could not move so much as a fingertip.
A few of them tried to break free with brute force, but the northern knights did not budge.
Instead, the more they struggled, the tighter the hands restraining them squeezed, drawing pained groans from their throats.
"Urgh, ngh......!"
Walter planted his foot on Crepin's squirming head and slowly opened his mouth.
"Then I shall make the proposal again."
"......"
"Relinquish your position as heir to House Selbirot of your own accord."
In the reception room of Gray Castle—
Amid the crackling flames of the fireplace—
Walter looked down at Crepin with golden eyes and spoke.