Chapter 51. Predatory Instincts (2)
◆Frost Curse [P] : Generates a [supernatural thermal energy deficit] within the cursed target that gradually expands in intensity and range. As time passes, the thermal energy deficit expands toward [infinity], and [curse effects] corresponding to the deficient energy are activated.
It was information about the ‘authority’ Seraphia possessed as the Monarch of Frost.
Its measured rank was [P], which stood for Primal.
It was several ranks above Dragon Rage Explosion[E], which represented the Epic rank—quite literally, it was on ‘another level’.
However, it was somewhat different from the power of frost that I knew Seraphia possessed.
That was because the description provided by Predatory Instincts [S] referred to it as a ‘curse’, not an authority.
In that sense, the explanation involving a [thermal energy deficit] was also somewhat different from the concept of cold that I knew.
But Seraphia was currently unable to control that authority.
‘Come to think of it, the Archmage said that cold doesn’t technically exist.’
The Coalition Forces’ Archmage had once said that, from a magical perspective, the concept of ‘cold’ could not exist.
One merely felt cold when heat moved from a place of higher temperature to one of lower temperature.
The Archmage added that the very notion of cold heat was paradoxical.
Therefore, the Archmage defined Seraphia’s authority not simply as cold, but as ‘the power to annihilate a target’s heat and energy’.
That also rendered its supposed compatibility with the fire we commonly knew meaningless.
Mere fire held no elemental advantage over Seraphia’s authority.
After all, Seraphia’s authority was capable of creating a deficit in any form of thermal energy and annihilating it.
There was a reason the Monarch of Frost had been called [the Coalition Forces’ greatest enemy] in my previous life.
There was a reason Ian had been forced to lose his left arm.
◆Seraphia is currently under the effects of a [curse].
According to the information I obtained through Predatory Instincts [S], Seraphia was currently suffering from [curse effects].
And those [curse effects] were appalling enough to make even me recoil.
==< Frost Curse[P] >==
◆[Physical Weakening] - The cursed target continuously loses maximum health due to the freezing cold. The lost health cannot be naturally recovered, and all stats decrease in proportion to the health lost.
◆[Freezing Inducement] - The cursed target becomes increasingly vulnerable to entering a frozen state. At regular intervals, parts of the target’s body freeze, restricting the movement of those areas or rendering them completely unusable.
◆[Mental Confusion] - The cursed target is subjected to constant mental trials due to the extreme cold. When undergoing these trials, the target may suffer abnormal conditions such as disorientation, cognitive decline, unconsciousness, hallucinations, and auditory hallucinations.
◆[Sensory Paralysis] - The cursed target’s sensory nerves gradually freeze and become paralyzed due to the cold. The sense of touch disappears first, followed by smell and taste. Hearing soon vanishes as well, and eventually even sight is blocked, resulting in the complete loss of all five senses.
......
For a moment, I was rendered speechless.
I couldn’t believe that Seraphia was currently suffering from all these [curse effects].
It was a miracle that she was still alive.
More precisely, one could say that she was ‘dying’.
Judging from the description, the [curse effects] seemed to intensify the more she used her authority.
And by using her authority this time, she appeared to have exceeded the limit of what she could endure.
“Please….just hold on a little longer...!”
Unable to watch any longer, Kai lifted Seraphia into his arms. He then descended the snowy mountain at an explosive speed.
He was so fast that he had already become a single dot in the distance.
It was difficult to believe that he had suffered a fatal wound that had torn open his side.
Then again, what else could one expect from someone who lived and died for Seraphia?
Well, anyway.
“It doesn’t look like she has awakened as the Monarch of Frost.”
There didn’t seem to be any need to kill Seraphia right now.
Before long, Kai had completely disappeared from view.
When I looked around, the scene was nothing short of horrific.
The monster army filling my entire field of vision had stopped moving as though they had become ice sculptures.
But upon closer inspection, every one of them looked as though they had been fed through a grinder.
“....What a waste.”
It was an incredible waste.
Just how much money could I have earned by taking those things away and selling them?
Of course, since I hadn’t used Predation[S+] on the monsters in the army, I couldn’t sell them as meat.
However, I could have sold by-products such as their hides and bones.
Those materials were considerably valuable.
But now that they had been completely shredded, their commercial value was zero.
“I can’t use the Lycanthrope’s corpse either.”
The same was true of the Lycanthrope.
It had taken a direct hit from Seraphia’s authority.
The Lycanthrope was in an even more gruesome state than the monsters in the army.
Its steel-like muscles had all ruptured.
Every blood vessel throughout its body had been torn apart.
The Lycanthrope had been damaged so thoroughly that not a single by-product could be salvaged from it.
“It would’ve been worth at least tens of millions of gold.”
That enormous sum of money had effectively been fed through a grinder.
Even so, I didn’t blame Seraphia.
If Seraphia hadn’t unleashed her authority, the Lycanthrope would have escaped.
“I suppose it was incredibly fortunate that I managed to salvage its heart.”
For me, consuming its heart with Predation[S+] was more important than its corpse.
The genetic factor of the authority bestowed by the Monarch of Beasts.
It was something I couldn’t have obtained even if I had offered tens of billions of gold.
I could confidently say that it possessed an astronomical value that could not be measured in money.
Therefore, it would be more accurate to say that I obtained it ‘thanks to’ Seraphia rather than ‘because of’ her.
“It couldn’t be helped.”
Swallowing my disappointment, I descended the snowy mountain.
* * *
Immediately after the Lycanthrope was subjugated.
The moment the news arrived, the entire County was turned upside down.
The soldiers at the count’s castle were the first to hear the news.
“So defeating the Gelu-Drake wasn’t just luck.”
“But honestly, I didn’t believe that story.”
“Neither did I. I thought Sir Kai might’ve done all the work and had his achievement stolen.”
“Exactly. It wouldn’t have been the first or second time something like that happened.”
Adrian, the delinquent of the count’s household.
The tyranny he had inflicted upon others had been enough to make them shudder.
“But did you see Lord Adrian fighting the monster army this time?”
“Of course I did.”
“Was there even a single soldier here who didn’t?”
Every soldier in the count’s castle had gone out to fight.
That was why they knew.
The monster army had surged toward them like an avalanche.
They had personally experienced the terror inspired by its overwhelming numbers and momentum.
For that very reason, they understood better than anyone what Adrian must have felt when he refused to retreat and instead charged straight into the midst of that army.
“Do you know what I was thinking back then?”
“What were you thinking?”
“I don’t know….I felt like I could risk my life to follow a man like Lord Adrian.”
“Did you suddenly develop loyalty that wasn’t there before?”
“....Apparently so. I never expected to feel this way either.”
“I admit it. Honestly, I feel the same.”
After all, this hadn’t been the only time.
Adrian had also ordered the soldiers to retreat during the battle with the Gelu-Drake.
Against both the Gelu-Drake and the monster legion, Adrian had never hesitated to put himself at risk for the soldiers.
And it had certainly not been mere recklessness.
“His movements were unbelievable.”
“....I wondered whether he was even human.”
“Is he really human? Isn’t he some kind of monster?”
In particular, there had been the torrent of flames that erupted at the end.
The Dragon Rage Explosion that set the entire landscape ablaze was truly—
“....Absolutely unbelievable.”
“I couldn’t believe what I was seeing with my own eyes.”
“Is he really human? Isn’t he a dragon?”
That was why they could now believe it.
The leader of the army—the Lycanthrope.
This time, they could believe without the slightest doubt that Adrian had subjugated that monster.
And beyond that.
Even though he had only just subjugated the Lycanthrope, he was already over there.
Huff! Huff! Huff!
As always, Adrian was training his body in the Frost Trial Grounds.
“How is that man a delinquent?”
“Are all delinquents these days like—”
“You think?”
“Right?”
“Of course not. If Lord Adrian is the minimum standard for being a delinquent…. Whoa. What kind of world would that be?”
With this, the image of Adrian as a delinquent had completely vanished from the soldiers’ minds.
“Instructor Leverton.”
“....Y-Yes?”
“If Lord Adrian were a mercenary, what level would he be?”
“Oh, right. Instructor Leverton used to work as a mercenary.”
“What do you think? What rank would Lord Adrian have?”
Mercenaries were divided into seven ranks.
Iron, for those who had only just received their mercenary badges.
Bronze, for those who could properly be called mercenaries.
Silver, for those who had been active for at least a year.
Gold, for those who were beginning to be recognized as veterans.
And this was said to be the ordinary limit.
It was the highest rank that someone without any exceptional talent or skill could reach through effort alone.
In that sense, Leverton had been a Gold-ranked mercenary.
He had encountered the barrier separating him from Platinum and accepted the former count’s offer to become a training instructor here in White Wolf County.
“W-Well….I’m not sure….?”
….He couldn’t evaluate Adrian.
The world Leverton had experienced ended at Gold.
Platinum, Emerald, and Diamond.
Leverton had neither seen nor experienced the world beyond Gold. To Leverton, all of those ranks were simply on ‘another level’.
“I-I don’t know...?”
That was why he didn’t know.
But if he absolutely had to answer, then perhaps....
It was a world he had neither seen nor experienced, but....
Perhaps it was intuition.
Or perhaps it was the discerning eye he had developed while training the soldiers.
Leverton felt that Adrian could surpass Platinum, Emerald, and Diamond to become a ‘Master-ranked mercenary’.
And perhaps.
He might even surpass Master and become the ‘Mercenary King’.
….But did that make any sense?
Who could possibly imagine such a thing?
How could the greatest dullard under heaven, someone incapable of controlling even a handful of mana, become the Mercenary King?
If anyone went to the Mercenary Guild and said something like that, they would immediately be punched in the mouth.
And yet Adrian had subjugated the Gelu-Drake, stopped a monster legion by himself, and ultimately defeated the legion’s leader.
Huff! Huff! Huff!
More than anything, when Leverton watched that astonishing physical training, he became even more convinced of his belief—
“Wow…. He’s truly incredible.”
“The more I watch him, the more amazed I become.”
The way the soldiers looked at Adrian had clearly changed.
While the soldiers’ perception of Adrian had completely changed, the maids in the lord’s castle had also begun looking at him in an entirely different way.
The maids were huddled together on one side of the Frost Trial Grounds.
“He’s running while carrying that. Wow...!”
“I don’t think I could even lift that iron equipment once.”
None of the maids could hide their admiration for Adrian.
One maid, in particular, quietly murmured as she watched Adrian’s body become drenched in sweat that poured down like rain.
“He’ll take a bath after training, won’t he?”
“Of course. He’s sweating so much, and his entire body is covered in dirt and dust.”
“Then, you know....”
The maid leaned forward and spoke in a low, whispering voice.
“Wouldn’t he need someone to assist him with his bath?”
A brief silence followed.
The other maids’ faces instantly turned red.
“W-What are you saying?!”
“You! You’ve lost your mind!”
“No, I was just thinking about it. Lord Adrian has never once allowed anyone to assist him with his bath.”
“Th-That’s true...?”
“Even when he lived a life of debauchery, he never accepted assistance while bathing.”
More precisely, he had thoroughly avoided any situation that could become sexual.
He had changed considerably now, but only a month ago, Adrian had been known as a delinquent.
Adrian had spent every day indulging in gambling and pleasure.
Yet strangely enough, he had never shared a bed with a woman.
He might have slapped the maids across the face.
He might have teased women.
But he had never actually laid a hand on them.
No one knew why, but he had never crossed that particular line even once.
….Of course, he had gleefully crossed every other line.
Well, anyway.
“But....”
A young maid quietly added something.
“What if he really says he needs us?”
“Whaaat?”
“If he trains this intensely, he won’t have any strength left. More importantly, he specifically told us to remain on standby today....”
….Now that they thought about it, she was right.
Everyone’s faces instantly turned bright red—
“S-Stop! You’re making us imagine strange things for no reason!”
The maids hurriedly lowered their heads.
However, their fingers kept twisting the hems of their skirts.
“....Instead of doing this, should I just ask him first?”
“Ask him what?”
“I could offer to assist him with his bath.”
“Whaaat?!”
“You! You!”
“What will you do if something serious really happens?!”
“Oh, it won’t. He never did anything like that even when he was a delinquent, so why would he start now?”
“Th-That’s true, but....”
“You never know what might happen.”
“That’s right! Who could have known that Lord Adrian would change like this?”
“Then, well…. Ahem, ahem.”
The maid cleared her throat as her face reddened slightly.
Then she glanced sideways.
After stealing a look at Adrian—
“Maybe…. I wouldn’t mind if something serious happened just once?”
“Kyaaa! Listen to her!!”
“Eek! You’re crazy! You’ve seriously lost your mind!!”
“Look at how red her face is after saying that! You totally imagined it, didn’t you? Didn’t you?”
“N-No, I didn’t!!”
“Of course you did! Your face is as red as a carrot!”
“I-I don’t know! Maybe the thought just crossed my mind once!”
“Once? You look like you’ve imagined it a hundred times already!”
“Kyaaaaaaaa—!!”
Before they knew it, the cheeks of all the shrieking maids had become flushed as well.
“But….Lord Adrian can’t hear us talking, can he?”
“Oh my!”
“What if he really can hear us?!”
All the maids covered their mouths at once.
Then, as though they had made a silent agreement, they looked toward Adrian.
“....He’s so focused on his training that he probably can’t hear us.”
“R-Right...?”
The maids sighed in relief, but continued chatting among themselves in voices lowered as much as possible.
Thus.
To the soldiers and maids, Adrian was no longer a delinquent. He was a lord they could follow even at the risk of their lives.
And his was a name that made their hearts flutter for no particular reason.
Their gazes toward Adrian were now filled with ‘respect and excitement’—
“More importantly, what about Lady Seraphia?”
“Yeah.”
“I heard she was badly injured this time…. Is she all right?”
“No. She still hasn’t regained consciousness.”
“I’m worried something truly terrible might happen to her.”
Their ‘worry and anxiety’ for Seraphia followed alongside those feelings.
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