The six Monarchs who serve the Emperor.
The six Monarchs were the Emperor's greatest force, and my sister Seraphia was the witch who reigned among those six as the 'Monarch of Frost.'
And Kai was the most loyal knight guarding that Monarch of Frost, and a 'knight of death.'
A Death Knight.
A Death Knight is an undead, an outstanding knight of his living days brought back.
In other words, Seraphia had resurrected Kai, once the faithful knight of the house, as a Death Knight.
......Or so everyone in the allied forces believed.
I believed it too.
But it wasn't so.
Seraphia did not resurrect Kai as a Death Knight.
In truth this is a story I heard from Ian as well.
It was just after Ian fought his decisive battle with the Monarch of Frost, Seraphia.
And it was after the shocking news that Ian's frozen left arm could not be restored had swept through the allied forces.
According to Ian, Seraphia had in fact wished to grant Kai rest.
From the very beginning, Seraphia had never even intended to resurrect Kai as a Death Knight and work him.
If what Ian said was true, a question arises.
Then how was Kai able to be resurrected as a Death Knight?
To this question Ian answered thus.
—The question itself is wrong.
—What?
—Kai wasn't resurrected as a 'Death Knight.'
Naturally I asked.
What kind of bullshit was that.
Ian answered.
—He became a Lich.
A Lich.
Kai was not a Death Knight but a 'Lich.'
Death Knights and Liches are both undead monsters of the highest order.
In that respect, 'Death Knight and Lich,' like 'dog and wolf,' showed no great difference.
But here too, as with dog and wolf, there was a decisive difference between the two—
Namely, 'will.'
A Death Knight is an undead resurrected by a caster who handles the dead in order to work an outstanding knight as his servant.
In that process, the Death Knight's own will plays no part.
In most cases the resurrection happens through another's intent, unrelated to the person's own will.
But a Lich was not like that.
A Lich becomes a Lich purely by his own will.
He turns himself undead.
Which is why there is no case of a Lich being made by force.
Good intent, bad intent, or no choice at all — a Lich is possible only through one's own will.
It is impossible for someone else to help, either.
The moment another's will is involved even slightly, it becomes not a Lich but a Death Knight.
Therefore a Lich requires outstanding knowledge of magic as an absolute condition.
Because he has to turn himself undead.
Meaning there is a reason the perception 'Lich = mighty mage' is accepted almost as a formula.
Naturally a question arose.
Kai, a knight, a Lich?
Had Kai gone and learned magic?
Ian answered that this was not the case.
Kai was a knight who did not know the first letter of magic.
I went to the allied forces' hero, the Archmage, and asked.
Whether it was possible for a knight who was not a mage to become a Lich.
The Archmage answered.
—No.
It was a firm answer, without a moment's hesitation.
Only, the Archmage could not explain it.
—I don't really know either. How such a thing could be possible...
Might it be Ian's misunderstanding?
That was the only explanation and the only answer.
But neither I nor the Archmage thought it was Ian's misunderstanding.
The Emperor's sole opponent, the Hero Ian.
Because there is no chance that Ian would 'misunderstand' something.
Kai had unmistakably become a Lich as a knight.
In that case there was only one answer.
They say there is no law without phenomena.
If a phenomenon arises that contradicts the existing law, it indicates not a problem with the phenomenon but that the existing law is wrong.
But rather than deny the existing law, the allied forces' Archmage placed the focus on the manifestation of a new phenomenon.
And within that, an expansion of the concept of 'will' was proposed.
—As you know, a Lich turns undead by his own will.
A mighty mage wishes to become a Lich.
Holding such a will, he uses his outstanding knowledge of magic to become a Lich.
But such a will.
That is, mere desire alone cannot make a Lich.
What makes one a Lich?
—In the end, it's 'knowledge of magic.'
But what if that were possible?
Desire, and will.
What if that alone could function as everything?
—Every phenomenon in this world is connected to the 'will of the world.' Magical phenomena are no different. So if one could only interact with that will of the world...
And then came more explanation, this and that.
Beyond that my head hurt and I stopped listening.
Why do mages love explaining things so much, honestly.
From what I roughly understood, it was 'loyalty.'
The will called loyalty that the knight Kai possessed.
That, in the end, twisted the law and turned him undead.
—Though whether that's actually possible, I'm not really...
The Archmage seemed unable to believe it, even having given the explanation.
That was how impossible it was.
But what if everything the Archmage said was true?
Then Kai became undead by himself, through a transcendent will strong enough to twist the law.
As Head Knight of House White Wolf, in order to protect his liege Seraphia to the very end, he refused even death.
'He's a lunatic.'
In other words, a lunatic.
For a Death Knight there is at least the rest called death.
But a Lich is not so.
A Lich is an unclean being who has himself refused the rest of death.
What remains for a Lich is only the ruin of eternal suffering.
Kai would not have been unaware of it.
And even so, Kai did not hesitate.
A lunatic for loyalty.
A lunatic for knighthood.
That is precisely the man standing before my eyes now.
The knight who drove the allied forces into terror, who must be killed along with Seraphia.
"What is your purpose?"
The Legion Commander of Frost, Kai.
***
Adrian, held in Kai's grip.
Kai chewed over the situation of a moment ago.
Adrian's eyes, which had given off a red glow.
Those eyes, with no reason visible in them at all, like a monster's, were by no means a person's.
Kai had also been able to see the desire reflected in those eyes.
It was unmistakably 'appetite.'
It was one of the primal human desires, but it is a desire that must never be shown toward a fellow human.
It was not a mistake.
Adrian had unmistakably been about to slaughter the soldiers and eat them.
He had immediately meant to draw his sword and take Adrian's head.
He had not considered subduing him.
Instinct simply warned him, powerfully, that Adrian had to be killed.
But then Seraphia arrived behind him.
At her voice his reason snapped back.
"Sir Kai...!"
Seraphia thinks of Adrian as precious family.
He is nothing but the Count's wastrel, yet she cherishes him, saying he is still her one and only brother.
To kill an Adrian like that would go against his loyalty to Seraphia.
Kai was barely able to sheathe his sword.
And he was able to stretch out his hand quickly and barely catch Adrian's.
But......
CRRRRK!!
The strength with which Adrian tried to shake off Kai's hand was extraordinary. It could not possibly be thought of as human strength.
It was absolutely not strength the Count's wastrel could put out.
Instinctively he drew up the power of Aura.
Had he not, he would have lost his grip outright.
And even so, holding on was the most he could manage.
Subduing him was beyond dreaming of.
It meant Adrian's strength was a match for strength amplified with Aura.
Kai's eyes trembled for an instant.
Fortunately Adrian was not looking at Kai.
Adrian looked once at the turkey dish fallen on the floor, and only then raised his gaze.
Adrian's eyes, turned up toward him.
They were red as blood.
They were also ominous as blood, but the glow from before was no longer visible.
Adrian's eyes held a clear focus.
And within those focused eyes, Kai was able to see 'something' latent inside Adrian.
Something savage, crouching with an enormous body.
For now it was restrained by some unknowable force and could not raise that body.
But it seemed that with any trigger at all, it would meet that dreadful release.
When he faced it.
What Kai felt was terror.
Not the terror of facing a fellow human.
Kai is a man prepared to throw away his life for Seraphia at any moment.
The terror one can feel from a fellow human gives Kai not the slightest fear.
Therefore that thing inherent within Adrian, and the being called Adrian, must absolutely never be called human.
A natural predator of humankind.
Further, something that reigns above all living things.
The primal terror of life itself that comes with facing such an ultimate being.
Though he felt it only for a very brief moment.
Kai could see himself overwhelmed in that instant.
"Leave the county at once."
Kai cried out instinctively.
Adrian's red eyes looked straight at Kai.
"And if I refuse?"
Adrian threw off his hand with all his strength. And this time Kai could not stop him.
...Because for a brief moment, he had been overwhelmed.
Adrian, free of Kai, took a few steps back.
"What is your purpose?"
Kai asked, and Adrian did not answer.
He merely turned the wrist that had been held this way and that a few times, checking its condition.
"I asked what your purpose is."
Only after he let some of his force show did Adrian finally turn his gaze. But Adrian was not cowed or daunted in the slightest.
And this despite Kai showing a fairly strong force of presence.
Ordinary people, and even trained soldiers, would not easily withstand this force.
How much more so the Count's wastrel.
Sure enough, most of the soldiers were shrinking back.
And yet Adrian did not so much as blink. If anything he met it with a force of his own and pressed in on Kai.
"Since when could a mere knight give orders to his Lord?"
"You are not the Lord of the county—"
"You are not unaware that I still hold the authority of the young lord."
"......"
Kai fell silent.
Because he was not unaware that it was not a false statement.
Only, he could not accept it.
Kai's blue eyes looked straight at Adrian.
Adrian's red eyes looked straight at Kai.
Their gazes met. Neither turned away.
The force of each grew fiercer.
A taut tension was drawn tight.
The air wrapping the Frost Proving Ground cooled to ice.
A stillness like the eve of a storm.
All at once.
Adrian let out a snort of laughter.
"We took in some wandering stray-dog pup and raised it among wolves, and it seems to have mistaken itself for a wolf."
"......"
"Don't get the wrong idea, Kai."
Because whatever else you are, you're a stray. A son of a bitch.
"The one who picked you up and raised you was House White Wolf. The master you owe your loyalty to is House White Wolf as well."
Not that loathsome Seraphia.
With those words Adrian walked past Kai and away.
Kai did not move from where he stood.
It would be accurate to say he could not move.
If he moved even the smallest amount here......
If Seraphia had not been in this place......
CRRRRK!!!
Kai would have killed Adrian on this spot, near enough to call it a certainty.
***
It happened the moment I stepped out of the Frost Proving Ground.
◆Kai's affinity toward you boards the express carriage bound for the abyss!
◆Kai's affinity toward you has entered the [Hatred] state!
◆A person fallen into the [Hatred] state holds an active aggression to kill and destroy you!
◆Given any trigger at all, Kai will certainly kill and be rid of you!
◆Unlike the [Anger] state, which gradually subsides with time, the [Hatred] state grows stronger as time passes if no particular measure is taken!
◆If you do not want to die, raise Kai's affinity as fast as you possibly can!!
Translucent messages surfaced across my whole field of view.
Following after them, WEE-OOO—! WEE-OOO—!
A blaring alarm came from every direction.
"Noisy."
The racket was an absolute uproar.
Especially with that WEE-OO—! WEE-OOO—! as though the world were ending.
That alarm wailing away without pause was enough to drive the sense out of you.
Well, from the look of it.
It seems I got properly under Kai's skin.
I waved my hand about as if shooing off flies and scattered the messages.
And then, a jolt—!
I winced hard at a pain like an electric current.
The wrist Kai had held.
When I checked its condition, the wrist bone was fractured.
"That monster of a man."
There really was no other word for him but monster.
At this rate I wouldn't be able to use the wrist for a few weeks.
Fortunately I could just regenerate it, but the nutrients in my body were completely depleted.
"I need to go to the dining hall and eat something."
Just as I turned to go, it happened.
◆Beginning affinity quest [Don't Get the Wrong Idea, This Alliance Is a One-Time Thing].
"An affinity quest?"
...And now what?