Today too Kai headed without fail for the Frost Proving Ground.
Since the running contest with Adrian his whole body had felt like lead.
A week had already passed since then, but the aftermath would not readily settle.
Rest is a form of training too.
He needed to rest his body somewhat, but he simply could not stay still.
Adrian's growth was extraordinary.
To say he was growing explosively was by no means an exaggeration.
And about two and a half months remained until the royal decree came down.
Once that time passed, Kai would kill Adrian.
He had to.
But there was no telling how Adrian would have changed by then.
In a span of barely over ten days the person himself had changed.
He could not begin to imagine how Adrian would have changed after seventy.
Which meant Kai could not stay still either.
To kill Adrian with certainty, Kai too had to condition himself without pause.
Dragging a body heavy as lead, Kai hurried his steps toward the Frost Proving Ground.
And so he arrived at the Frost Proving Ground.
But the air of the proving ground was decidedly strange.
Contrary to his expectation that it would be blazing with the heat of training, the inside of the proving ground had gone cold.
The soldiers and instructors were rigid with tension.
Kai looked over the proving ground and quickly realised the reason.
An unexpected person had come to the proving ground.
A woman with dreamlike silver hair that seemed to have drunk its fill of moonlight.
"Ah, Sir Kai."
Spotting Kai, Seraphia came trotting over.
Kai's head tilted to the side of its own accord.
"What brings you to the Frost Proving Ground?"
"Ah, the thing is......"
Seraphia smiled awkwardly and then spoke again.
"I thought I might do some exercise."
"......Pardon?"
Kai's face and expression floated up blank, like a fool's.
And no wonder — Seraphia, exercising?
In a sense that was far more shocking than Adrian exercising.
To exaggerate only a little, it was as shocking as Adrian chewing and eating a Dermexus's heart.
That she was born frail from the curse of frost was a secondary matter.
Seraphia was currently taking on the whole of the county's administrative work.
The Lord's proxy at present was the Head Butler, Bernard, but in practice Seraphia was handling every duty as Lord.
Which meant she had no time.
The hollows under Seraphia's eyes right now.
He could tell it was by no means an excuse but simple reality.
"But I didn't know what I ought to do..."
Seraphia lowered her head slightly.
She stroked her own left shoulder with her right hand and watched the reactions around her.
Kai turned his gaze and looked around them.
There were a great many soldiers training at the Frost Proving Ground.
And there were the instructors who drilled the soldiers every day.
And yet every one of them was frozen at attention.
Not one of them was approaching Seraphia.
And no wonder — Seraphia is the Lord of the White Wolf county.
The royal decree had not yet come down, so she had not been formally recognised as Lord, but in the end that was a matter of time.
From the soldiers' point of view it was no different from the 'supreme commander' coming out on inspection.
The reason the soldiers and the instructors were all frozen lay nowhere else.
But Kai is the knight who guards Seraphia.
He had sworn that even if everyone in this world turned away from Seraphia, Kai alone would be at her side without fail.
Kai turned his gaze back and said to Seraphia.
"I will teach you."
"Ah! Really?"
At that Seraphia's eyes shone.
Red eyes, as though rubies had been set into them.
Receiving her bright smile, they truly shone like jewels.
"Then may I ask it of you!"
"You may command it rather than ask it."
Kai moved off calmly.
Seraphia's face and expression, brimming over with anticipation.
He could not bring himself to turn away from that.
Kai tidied up the equipment strewn over the proving-ground floor, one piece at a time.
Since she was a beginner exercising for the first time, they had to start with light things.
And with Seraphia's body being frail in particular, even that required care upon care.
"Um, Sir Kai."
At Seraphia's voice calling him, he raised his head.
Seraphia was glancing about her.
The look of someone searching for somebody.
Sure enough, Seraphia asked Kai.
"Has my brother not come yet, by any chance?"
And with that she glanced around her again.
She was like a baby bird looking for its mother.
"I heard he exercises here every day......"
Disappointment had spread across Seraphia's face at some point.
Kai's gaze happened to fall on Seraphia's white neck. On her neck the finger-shaped bruise still remained.
It had faded a great deal from the first.
And even so it was distinct.
"He will be back soon."
Kai let nothing show.
***
A week had already passed since I began hunting on the Snowy Mountain.
Only after that time could I face the prey I had searched so long for.
A frame of some two metres.
Great brutish eyes and burly muscle.
An Ice Troll.
The Ice Troll that found me did not let out a threatening roar.
But that drool running down its mouth.
It had recognised me as certain prey and quarry.
An Ice Troll is not a monster gentle enough to let go of prey it has encountered.
And in any case the element called 'gentleness' cannot be found in a monster.
The Ice Troll's eyes took on a glow.
I read the emotion held in that look.
Hunger.
And that in turn becomes ferocity.
The Ice Troll charged at me in an instant.
I swept my waist quickly. Just as I was about to draw my sword.
I stopped, and halted the motion.
An Ice Troll's weak point is the heart.
Therefore aiming for the heart with a sword, as last time, is the method that can hunt an Ice Troll with certainty.
An Ice Troll's hide is not as tough as a Dermexus's. Even I, who cannot handle Aura, could pierce an Ice Troll's hide and destroy the heart.
But...
'The Ice Troll's heart gets damaged.'
The Ice Troll's heart gets damaged, as it did last time.
If the heart is damaged the genetic factors obtainable are reduced as well. From a completely destroyed heart, no genetic factor whatsoever can be obtained.
The Ice Troll was a rare monster, hard to find.
A variant of the troll, and a monster that inhabits only the northern Snowy Mountain. Even so it was rare enough that only after a week of roaming could I barely find a single one.
There is no telling when I might find another.
So I must not damage the heart the way I did last time.
I was not unaware of this fact back then either.
Only, there had been no choice.
Because if I had not aimed for the heart, I would have died.
But now it is different.
Through ten days of conditioning my body has grown.
Through seven days of hunting my body has evolved.
The Ice Troll's movements were clearly visible.
A heavy fist bearing down to fill my whole view.
Standing against that is an idiotic idea.
But.
I do not dodge the fist swinging at me.
I meet it.
CRASH—!
When my fist met the Ice Troll's, CRUNCH! — my fist was the first to be wrecked.
My muscular strength is vastly greater than before.
But compared to an Ice Troll's it is not yet enough.
Even so, it was enough to land a blow on the Ice Troll.
CRACK!
A crunching sound came from the end of the Ice Troll's fist. The Ice Troll's steps were pushed back one after another.
Had it felt a stronger recoil than expected?
The Ice Troll's face twisted with pain.
GRAAGH!!
The Ice Troll let out a shriek.
In the brief moment it fell back a few steps.
The Ice Troll's crushed fist had returned to its original state.
Truly absurd recovery.
An Ice Troll is an Ice Troll, sure enough.
But that—
Was true of me as well.
◆Using the skill 'Regeneration [C+].'
◆Consuming a large quantity of calcium to regenerate the wrecked skeletal structure.
Translucent messages surfaced before my eyes.
My shattered fist regenerated in an instant.
GROOK?!
At that the Ice Troll's face was dyed with visible bewilderment.
It seemed considerably startled that I, a human, was displaying recovery to match its own.
GRAAAGH—!!
The Ice Troll, dyed with fury, charged again.
And this time too I did not fall back.
I drove my fist at the Ice Troll's oncoming fist.
CRASH—!
The fists collided again and the bone and flesh of each were crushed.
The degree of injury was far deeper on my side.
And with it, the calcium stored in my body was depleted fast.
I took monster meat out of the Inventory and chewed and swallowed it.
Monster meat is rich in protein and fat.
That is, calcium, the component of bone, was hard to obtain from it.
But that posed no problem whatsoever to the me of now.
◆You may consume Kcal to synthesise [calcium].
◆Surplus Kcal - 3,880Kcal
◆Use the skill 'Nutrient Synthesis [C]'?
Over the past week I had been able to hunt an additional Alakron.
By that I had been able to raise Nutrient Synthesis from grade [C-] up one step to grade [C].
Now, along with [carbohydrates, protein, fats, water], I could freely synthesise [vitamins, calcium] as well.
The efficiency of conversion could be raised considerably too.
A flame surged up inside my body and calories burned.
The burned calories were converted into calcium, and that in turn became nutrients for the Regeneration [C+] ability and regenerated my wrecked skeleton in an instant.
G-GRAAGH?!
The Ice Troll leapt in the air.
The Ice Troll had gone past bewilderment into outright horror. I went on trading fists with the Ice Troll.
BAM! BAM! CRASH!
As time passed the Ice Troll's regeneration grew noticeably slower.
And no wonder — an Ice Troll's regeneration requires nutrients as well.
But an Ice Troll's nutrients are finite.
Whereas I could keep replenishing nutrients.
Because the Inventory was packed past sufficiency with the monster meat I had hunted all this time.
And on top of that I could pick out and obtain the nutrients I needed with Nutrient Synthesis [C].
"Let's fight this out to the end, then."
It is a fight in which whichever side's regeneration hits its limit first loses.
***
◆You have slain an Ice Troll!
◆You have gained 120 combat experience!
◆Your level has risen!
Translucent messages surfaced before my eyes.
Before long the Ice Troll's heavy body tipped over. The tipped body was buried in the snow and showed no movement whatsoever.
"...Tenacious bastard."
The words came out of my mouth on their own.
And no wonder — the meat I had stored in the Inventory was all gone.
It was certainly a different order of thing from the weakened specimen last time.
Still, I had barely managed to win, so it was fortunate.
I moved over and checked the Ice Troll's corpse.
It lacked only movement; it did not look dead.
But the translucent message had reported a certain death, so a confirming blow was unnecessary.
When I drew my sword and carefully opened the Ice Troll's chest, an Ice Troll heart in perfect condition revealed itself.
A heart without a single part of it damaged.
Which amounted to saying the genetic factors obtainable were undamaged as well.
"If this goes well the regeneration ability might strengthen a step."
Carrying that expectation, I brought the Ice Troll's heart to my mouth without hesitation.
Crunch.
A tough texture and a sharp smell of blood filled my mouth.
At which the madness came rushing in without fail.
As though a red mist were overrunning it, the inside of my head was dyed red.
Blood vessels stood out in my eyes, and my whole view was dyed crimson.
Just as my reason was about to sever at last.
◆Player's Will [EX] resists the encroaching madness!
Along with a translucent message surfacing out of nowhere, my mind snapped clear.
The red mist overrunning my head vanished, and my crimson view returned to normal.
"So it isn't complete immunity."
As this showed, Ian's ability, Player's Will [EX], does not hold perfect immunity against madness.
The precise description was [gains immunity to all effects that 'exceed the Player's mental fortitude' (curses, illusions, brainwashing, hypnosis, suggestion, and so on)].
In other words, it was structured so that Player's Will [EX] activates only once the maximum of the mental fortitude I can bear is surpassed.
And the maximum mental fortitude I possess.
"That, I don't precisely know."
But it did not seem to be very high.
Because the me of my previous life lost his reason and rampaged without fail at a single Predation.
Later, with Ian's help, I was able to control it to a degree.
But in truth Ian's help was nothing much either.
"I don't even remember how many times Ian hit me."
Beating me like a dog was the whole of it.
Whenever I was wrapped in madness Ian would beat the hell out of me until I came to my senses.
......Come to think of it, I really did take a great many beatings from Ian.
That was a time before I had the regeneration ability either, so I suffered for it.
Well, one way or another, with Player's Will [EX] I no longer had to fear the madness.
Crunch.
I forced the last remaining fragment of the Ice Troll's heart into my mouth.
The Predation [S+] ability took a little time to analyse and apply the genetic factors.
"Hmm..."
I sank into thought for a moment.
"So seventeen days have passed."
Already seventeen days since I came back to the past.
Ian had still not shown himself.
Of course seventeen days is not such a long time.
But neither is it a short one.
If it were Ian, it was time enough that he should have shown himself long since.
And that he has not shown so much as the tip of his nose even now......
"Don't tell me I'm the only one who came back to the past."