==[Find the Hero!]==
[OBJECTIVE] - Find the Hero.
[REWARD] - ???
[ON FAILURE] - The end of the continent
Translucent messages surfaced across my whole field of view.
Perhaps thanks to the experience of receiving a quest earlier, I could understand it quickly.
And though there was a tremendous penalty on failure — the end of the continent — it wasn't particularly surprising.
Because it was a matter of course.
"I ran away from home about fifteen years ago, so..."
In other words, I've gone back fifteen years.
Then about ten years from now the Emperor begins moving in earnest.
And then, one year.
Every kingdom and city on the continent is erased from the map.
There is one being who can stop that Emperor.
Only Ian.
Ian alone can stand against the Emperor.
Without Ian there is no future for the continent.
I have to find Ian, no matter what.
It's a quest that can dare to call itself a [main quest].
"But that's all of it?"
The contents were far too thin.
It throws a heap of questions at you and then acts like none of it is its business, doesn't it?
There were no concrete instructions about how I was supposed to go about it.
There wasn't even a hint about where I could go to find Ian.
It didn't so much as offer a trace or a thread to pull.
"So a quest only presents a direction, is that it."
Looking back at the [tutorial quest] earlier, that seemed to be it.
After all, the [tutorial quest] only presented the goal of 'surviving' the Ice Troll.
Whether I would survive by 'fighting' the Ice Troll.
Or survive by 'running' from the Ice Troll.
It didn't decide anything about how I would reach the goal.
The choice of how to achieve the goal is entirely mine.
Which means the responsibility for the result is entirely mine as well.
In that case, the goal at least was firm.
"I have to find Ian."
And with him, stop the Emperor.
I had to find Ian before the Emperor began moving in earnest.
Which means the deadline is ten years from now.
That was a fairly long time.
Even so, it isn't a leisurely amount of time.
I may have come back to the past, but the Empire reigns as the continent's overlord in this period too.
Even at this moment in the past, the Emperor is the strongest there is.
But he isn't yet at the point of overwhelming the continent, so he keeps himself curled up.
By now the Emperor will be laying the groundwork for his invasion of the continent.
In other words, he's secretly plotting something deep inside the imperial palace.
There was nothing urgent right this moment, but that doesn't mean there's time to take it easy.
I have to find Ian as fast as possible.
Together with Ian I have to build the strength and the forces to stop the Emperor.
The problem is 'how' I find Ian...
"Hmm..."
I calmly put my thoughts in order.
In the current situation, the options given to me were 'two.'
The first is to set out to find Ian just as I am.
If regression is Ian's ability, then Ian came back to the past along with me. As the quest says, Ian will be 'somewhere on the continent.'
Find Ian, who is somewhere on this vast continent, and build the strength and forces to oppose the Emperor.
That was the first option.
"The problem is that I have no idea where Ian is at this point in time."
The same was true for Ian.
Ian likewise had no idea where I was at this point in time.
We never went out of our way to talk about things from fifteen years ago in any detail.
But Ian could 'guess.'
Because Ian knew I was the eldest son of House White Wolf.
And if he came back to the past along with me?
Then Ian is certainly looking for me too.
In the past — that is, in my previous life — I stormed out of House White Wolf.
But since Ian knows I've come back to the past, he could guess that I would act differently from my previous life.
Ian might be heading for House White Wolf right now.
And if I went out to find Ian for nothing and we crossed paths without meeting?
"There'd be nothing more troublesome than that."
So: stay at House White Wolf until Ian comes to find me.
That is the second option given to me.
"This is something I never even considered, but..."
The truth is I had no intention whatsoever of returning to the house.
Back in my wastrel days I had that kind of greed.
Which is why my fury at Seraphia, who took everything of the house from me, was tremendous.
But now it wasn't like that.
Something like that no longer holds the slightest meaning for me.
The feelings the Count's wastrel held faded and vanished after I became the allied forces' Predator, crossing battlefield after battlefield.
To the me of now, the comrades of the allied forces are more precious than the people of the house.
So what remains is not fury at 'Seraphia,' who took everything of the house, but only fury at the 'Monarch of Frost,' who slaughtered the comrades of the allied forces.
"Now that I think about it, I didn't kill the Monarch of Frost either."
Thinking it over this way, I failed to kill the Monarch of Frost, Seraphia, as well.
Seraphia absolutely cannot be left alone.
Even if I set out to find Ian this very moment, I have to kill Seraphia before I go.
Sister this, family affection that.
None of it means a thing to me.
It's simply removing one of the six Monarchs, called the Emperor's greatest force, ahead of time.
And yet when it comes to actually killing her?
What Ian left me catches at me.
"...I'm going to lose my mind, seriously."
Ian, that bastard — what on earth was he thinking, leaving me with nonsense like that.
"Just wait until I see him."
I'm going to give him a proper earful.
At any rate, I couldn't kill Seraphia carelessly right now.
Because there must be a reason he regretted it more than being shot down after confessing to the Saintess.
Until I know that reason, what to do with Seraphia has to be 'on hold.'
"So it's decided, then."
The two options available to me had now narrowed to one.
"Let's go back to the house."
If he came back to the past along with me, Ian will be looking for me too.
Rather than moving carelessly, it's wiser to wait for Ian at the house.
Above all, I haven't even decided what to do about Seraphia yet.
"Only until Ian comes."
Exactly that long, and no longer, do I leave Seraphia alive.
"Let's go back."
Having put my thoughts in order, I turned on my heel.
Except.
"...Where was the house again?"
I had forgotten where the house was.
To me now it hasn't even been a week since I stormed out, but in reality it was a thing from more than fifteen years ago.
The location of the house, and the people of the house too — I couldn't remember any of it.
The only one I did remember was my sister and the Monarch of Frost, Seraphia.
And......
"Ah, now that I think about it, Kai. That lunatic is alive too."
Because I've come back to the past.
In other words, along with Seraphia there was one more person at the house I absolutely had to kill.
Except, hm.
"In my current state I can't beat him."
......I had no confidence I could beat Kai.
Seraphia hasn't awakened as the Monarch of Frost yet.
But Kai was another matter.
The Head Knight of House White Wolf.
Even now he's an outrageously strong bastard. Kai is.
"Should I devour a bit more before I go back?"
The truth is that Predation was not an ability I could use however I liked.
The Ice Troll's Regeneration [C+].
As you can tell from that, in most cases eating a heart once does not let you manifest the whole of an ability.
A few times at the least.
Hundreds of times at the most.
I had to repeat Predation, and every time I did I was wrapped in madness.
And so, the me of the past.
That is, the me of my previous life, could not absorb all that many abilities.
But.
"Right now I have Player's Will."
I had Ian's ability, 'Player's Will [EX].'
Even using the Predation ability to my heart's content, there would be no being wrapped in madness.
Which means that if the number of specimens is sufficient, I can grow stronger 'without limit.'
And at this point in time the Emperor has yet to make his move.
Ice Trolls, and countless other rare monsters besides, exist in the wild.
On top of that.
"Come to think of it, I never properly checked the 'Solo Level Up' ability."
Ian's other ability, Solo Level Up [EX].
I still didn't know what that ability was.
"If it's an ability of Ian's like Player's Will..."
Ian's absurd strength.
Perhaps the secret of it lies in Solo Level Up [EX].
***
A territory situated in the middle of an endlessly spreading snowfield.
Behind the territory, snow-covered hills and mountain ranges surrounded it as though a white cap had been set over them.
To endure the brutal weather the walls were thick and high, and ice and snow filled the gaps between the stones.
Centered on the imposing castle at the territory's heart, several small villages had taken root, each village made of snow-covered roofs and low wooden houses.
As if to show the strong will to overcome the harsh cold, it was a territory whose landscape let you feel warmth and vitality even in the dead of winter.
"Hm."
Within that landscape, a man let out a small sound of consideration.
The sharp contour of his face and the line of his jaw.
His deep, cold blue eyes were sharp and keen like a wolf's.
Long, bright golden hair, as though it had drunk in sunlight.
A perfect body, solidly trained.
Silver armour fitted perfectly to that body.
An air as cold as the frigid air itself, not readily showing emotion.
The name of the man who called to mind a noble wolf was Kai, Head Knight of House White Wolf.
Kai examined the Ice Troll's corpse the soldiers had brought with close attention.
The Ice Troll's corpse was remarkably intact.
It lacked only movement; you might have wondered whether it was still alive.
In other words, whatever led the Ice Troll to death had not required much of a process.
'It pierced the heart.'
The Ice Troll's heart was nowhere to be seen.
But judging from the position of the pierced hide, he could tell it had gone precisely through the heart.
'There are no defensive wounds.'
Which meant the man had watched for a single opportunity and driven his blade into the Ice Troll's heart.
And judging from the wound that had been opened—
It was a blow that hadn't even carried Aura.
Which means this was a simple thrust.
For that to be possible, it would have to be founded on exceptional dynamic vision that reads an Ice Troll's movements precisely.
And was that all?
The agility to evade an Ice Troll's attack.
The boldness to cut in close inside an Ice Troll's guard.
And finally, the timing and the exchange of driving the blade home.
All of it had to line up perfectly, without a hair's width of deviation.
And that is genuinely not easy.
Perfection to that degree is difficult to achieve even through countless repetitions and grueling training.
The boldness to cut inside an Ice Troll's guard is a serious hurdle to begin with.
Even veteran mercenaries who have rolled through battlefield after battlefield find that kind of nerve difficult.
In other words, it is a thrust that not even a veteran mercenary would dare attempt.
That is how perfect this thrust was.
A weakened Ice Troll was not an opponent that could dare do anything about it.
In all likelihood the result would not have differed greatly even had it been a healthy specimen.
'Could I have blocked it?'
Kai drew an image of the opponent in his head. And after carrying the exchange through several times, he could quickly reach a conclusion.
He would likely have chosen to evade rather than attempt to block.
Because the very thought of blocking a thrust this perfect was foolish.
Which was why he couldn't believe it.
"......"
He simply could not believe this was the work of the 'Count's wastrel.'
Having finished examining the corpse, Kai slowly turned his head.
Seraphia, the liege he had to protect with his life.
Kai studied the black handprint stamped on her long, white neck with close attention.
She had covered it with a scarf as best she could, but a bruise gone black on that snow-white skin was not a thing easily hidden.
He could tell at once how powerfully it had been gripped.
Kai could read the unmistakable killing intent held in that handprint.
He had meant to kill her.
And to do it thoroughly.
Adrian had tried to kill Seraphia.
Which was why Kai had no choice but to ask.
"Why did you leave that man alive?"
Why on earth had Seraphia let Adrian live?
From what he heard from the soldiers, Seraphia had stopped them.
The soldiers had no choice but to release Adrian as Seraphia commanded.
Had Kai been in that place, he would never have left it at that.
Not only would the situation of Seraphia being threatened never have arisen, Adrian could never have walked out of that place alive.
Adrian... has to be killed.
That is the path for Seraphia, and for House White Wolf, and for every resident of the county's territory.
"Watch your words, Sir Kai."
But Seraphia's thinking was the exact opposite of Kai's.
"Whatever anyone says, my brother is the rightful heir of House White Wolf."
Seraphia, who still called Adrian 'brother.'
Seraphia shielded him, saying he was her only family, but Kai did not.
"He is at the same time a man who threatened My Lord's life. I merely fulfill my duty as the knight who protects My Lord."
"Then all the more reason to watch your words. The Lord is not me but my brother."
As expected.
Adrian should have been killed on the spot.
Kai was able to harden his resolve all the further.
If that man came back to the house claiming to reclaim the rights of the rightful heir...
That was when it happened.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
A bell rang out from the castle tower that rose high to watch over the surroundings.
The soldiers on the walls moved as one, so it seemed something had happened.
"S-something terrible has happened!!"
Sure enough, a soldier came running, out of breath.
The soldier's face was frantic.
"L-Lord Adrian has returned to the county, they say!"
A vivid, blade-edged killing intent surfaced in Kai's deep blue eyes.