Chapter 99

The End of the Long Winter (3)

The pain that froze her entire body day after day was completely gone. She could no longer hear the voices that had always gnawed at a corner of her mind. She felt so refreshed, as though the illness tormenting her had been cured—

'... I'm dead.'

Seraphia realized that she had died.

But...

'...'

She hadn't wanted to die.

Who would ever want to die? No one in the world truly wanted to die. There were only people who no longer wanted to live the way they were living.

Above all, she had only just begun to grow closer to Adrian. She had been full of dreams of living with him like a real family.

Perhaps... she had asked for too much.

Still, hadn't she camped with Adrian, even if she had earned his hatred? Hadn't she fought alongside him, even if she had been nothing more than bait?

She did have memories of time spent with him. Those had given her a little happiness.

... Yes, that was enough.

The joy and happiness had been all too brief, but to Seraphia, those memories were more precious than anything—

"You're awake...!"

A voice suddenly rang out. Seraphia tilted her head in puzzlement and turned toward it—

"Sir Kai...?"

Kai was here?

Her head, tilted to the left, tilted to the right instead.

Why was Kai here? Had he died too? Had the lycanthrope killed him? Or had it been her own power...?

"Thank goodness... Thank goodness."

Kai slowly exhaled, releasing the burdens and worries that had weighed him down.

He slowly approached Seraphia and knelt. Up close, his eyes still bore deep traces of exhaustion.

"Truly... truly..."

Yet his voice held hope.

He quietly closed his eyes. Soon she could see clear droplets welling in their corners.

"Huh...?"

Seraphia blinked her red eyes. Bewildered, she looked around—

"To see you again... Thank you for coming back to us safely."

There was Bernard, the head steward.

"She's awake! She's really awake!"

"How...! I can't believe it!!"

"I'm so, so glad...!"

And the maids of the lord's castle. All of them were looking at Seraphia, rejoicing.

Surely this many people couldn't all have died...

"I'm alive? I am?"

"You are."

Meeting her gaze, Bernard nodded as he answered.

It was utterly unbelievable. But as her senses gradually returned—

"W-wait...?"

Her eyes flew wide.

She calmly turned her attention inward. She could feel the cold still flowing through her body. It hadn't disappeared.

But a gentle heat was rising from somewhere. It enveloped the cold flowing through her, thawing her frozen body and mind.

And so, nothing hurt at all.

"H-how is this possible...?"

"Lord Adrian treated you, Lady Seraphia."

The answer came from Kai. Tears still pooled in his blue eyes.

"My brother... did?"

Kai nodded once and explained everything that had happened. It was quite a long story, but Seraphia didn't miss a single moment of it. As he went on, her eyes grew wider and wider.

And when he finally reached the present...

"Ah... ahh..."

Tears had welled up in her wide eyes. Soon, they became tears of joy at being alive.

The maids in the room were so moved that they scarcely dared to breathe aloud. Some rejoiced with tears in their eyes.

Seraphia's lips, once drained of color, were now filled with life.

Her small shoulders shook. She sobbed quietly, as though something terrible might happen if she cried aloud.

Kai turned to look out the window. Beyond the glass, the county lay frozen.

It was the season of bitter cold. Everything in the county was covered in frost.

And yet, the county wasn't cold at all.

"HURRAAAAH!!"

As news of Seraphia's recovery spread throughout the county, people raised their hands and cheered. Residents embraced one another, bursting into tears of joy.

The children, now plump and well fed, didn't understand exactly what had happened, but caught up in the adults' joy, they ran about cheering too.

All of this was a miracle wrought by one man: Adrian.

Because of that one man, Adrian, new hope was blossoming among the residents. Thanks to that one man, Adrian, a firm belief in a bright future had taken root in the county.

And because Adrian was there, the long, bitter winter was passing from Seraphia's face, reflected in the window, crumpled and thoroughly unlovely as she cried—

"Hic...!"

And the first flower of a warm spring day was beginning to bloom.

* * *

Messages suddenly sprang up before my eyes in a flood. For a moment, I couldn't even begin to guess what they were up to in the county this time.

◆EEEEEEEEEK!!!

Sure enough, the messages from Berserk Fuss[?] blocked my view.

◆What kind of magic did you work?!!?

◆Seraphia's affinity toward you has reached its limit!!

As I suspected, affinity reaching its "limit" seemed to mean something different—

◆Maximum affinity and the affinity limit are strictly different things!!

◆It means her positive feelings toward you have gone beyond an extremely high level and become "excessive"!

◆This opens up the possibility of developing your relationship with Seraphia further and forming an even deeper "bond"!!

It didn't seem significant enough to have any immediate effect.

◆And that's not all!

◆Tie me up and lock me away~♪ That's fine by me!

◆Every resident of the county is now your captive!

◆Captivated by you, a man who possesses the finest virtue a lord can have!

◆And what would that be?

◆The virtue of feeding them three square meals a day!

◆Huh...?

◆Who's the square, you ask?

◆You are, you little bastard!!

... It was definitely out of its mind.

The fuss didn't merely evolve each time; it kept advancing. There was nothing remotely sane about it.

Anyway, I didn't know what had happened in the county, but—

'I suppose it all worked out.'

Even setting Seraphia's affinity aside, it was very encouraging that the residents' affinity had reached [Trust]. I'd gained +3 levels, too, and hadn't been stripped of 「Management Mode」.

'Management Mode...'

From what I'd heard last time, 「Management Mode」 served as a guide that let me view and manage information about a realm I owned. And I happened to be about to lay the foundations for the allied army.

◆A player-owned realm exists.

◆Would you like to register your realm in 「Management Mode」?

Fortunately, no error message appeared this time.

◆Registering your realm in 「Management Mode」.

◆Loading...

Some time passed.

◆Registration complete.

Along with the completion message, the functions of 「Management Mode」 appeared before my eyes.

==<Whitewolf County>==

[Area] - 2,234 km²

[Population] - 1,871

[Prosperity] - Township

The county's information appeared in a concise, straightforward format. And it was only the most basic information. It didn't offer as much variety as I'd expected.

In other words...

* * *

1. The [Player] can acquire 'Realm Experience' to raise the 'Realm Level.'

As the Realm Level rises, you can research various realm activities and acquire and apply beneficial effects to the entire realm.

2. The [Player] can view the financial status of their realm, as well as its material and human resources.

3. The [Player] can check whether hidden resources exist within their realm.

* * *

Those functions weren't there.

But while the messages made a fuss, they never lied.

'Do I have to keep clearing quests to unlock the additional functions?'

That seemed likely.

It was disappointing, but the feature was still useful enough. I examined the county's information floating before my eyes.

For counties in the Kingdom of Battenberg, a small-to-medium county generally covered around 500 km². Large counties sometimes exceeded 2,000 km².

That made 2,234 km² a considerable area, beyond even a large county—

'But almost all of it is unusable.'

In this environment of year-round bitter cold, only about 5% of the total area was habitable. And even that only meant people could live there, not that the land was useful. They didn't call it a region at the limits of human survival for nothing.

In terms of usable area, it didn't even qualify as a small county.

The population went without saying. It was on par with a barony's. That must have been why its prosperity rank was Township. The territory barely qualified as more than a village.

'Can I see a breakdown of each category?'

I checked, and I could. Detailed information was available for each category if I wanted it. When I opened the details for [Population]...

◆Sex Ratio

[Male] - 955 (51%)

[Female] - 916 (49%)

I could see the population's sex ratio—

◆Age Distribution

[14 and Under] - 531

[15–39] - 857

[40–59] - 306

[60 and Over] - 177

As well as its age distribution—

◆Occupational Distribution

[Villagers] - 1,148

[Soldiers] - 598

[Artisans] - 77

[Employees] - 48

And even the occupational distribution, all at a glance.

'... How is a function like this even possible?'

It was happening right before my eyes, yet I could hardly believe it. Could it be magic? Far too many of these things were impossible to accomplish with magic.

Of course, I wasn't an expert on magic. But I did have the knowledge Iliana had taught me. This definitely wasn't magic.

These functions could only exist in the imagination. Which meant I ought to consider it a kind of aura...

'But I can't use aura.'

It went beyond being unable to use it. It couldn't even be "applied" to me. The fact that Isolde's divine healing had no effect on me proved that much.

That meant it wasn't aura, either. Ian's ability was neither magic nor aura.

'Did Ian discover another form of available energy derived from mana?'

The primordial energy, mana (Mana).

The available energy derived from mana (Available Energy): magical power (Mana Force) and aura (Auror).

Both were energies made usable from mana, energies that humans had "discovered."

In other words, there could be other forms of available energy besides magical power and aura. And Ian might well have discovered one...

'But I can't use mana.'

It wasn't just that I couldn't use it. I couldn't even take it in. So even if Ian had discovered another form of available energy, I couldn't use it as long as it was based on mana.

Which meant...

'This isn't the power of mana?'

That was the only possible conclusion. In turn, that meant another primordial energy existed besides mana...

'Hmm.'

Come to think of it, Ian's ability, I Alone Level Up[EX], was a mysterious power that enhanced my physical capabilities by raising something called a level. Mana couldn't explain that ability. If it were based on mana, it couldn't have affected me.

The same went for Player's Will[EX], which had now become Successor's Will[EX].

Now that I thought about it...

'Every one of Ian's abilities has that Extra rank, [EX].'

Did another primordial energy besides mana really exist? Had Ian been able to wield it?

'... Ian, you bastard. You could've just explained things properly.'

Just wait until I found him. I'd give him a proper earful.

Well, he probably hadn't said anything because he hadn't known the details himself.

Still, Ian was the only one who might have the answers. These questions could only be resolved by asking him directly.

Yet his whereabouts remained a mystery. Was he drawing the Emperor's attention? Or was he roaming the continent looking for me? I couldn't be sure of either.

With that in mind...

'I do need to watch the empire's movements and gather information.'

If Ian was drawing the Emperor's attention, there would be traces of it in the empire.

'But making contact with the empire is very dangerous.'

Information about my side could leak to them. Worse, I might be exposed to the Emperor's surveillance network and find my movements restricted.

Especially with Seraphia, the Sovereign of Bitter Cold, on my side, I had to approach the empire with the utmost caution.

That was why I hadn't touched any intelligence concerning the empire so far. Gathering it was beyond the capabilities of Adlan and the merchants' guild.

In any case, no matter how I looked at it...

'I've got a hell of a lot to ask Ian.'

... These weren't things I could figure out just by thinking about them now.

I shook my head to clear away those thoughts and examined the population data before me, paying particular attention to the occupational distribution.

'Naturally, there are a lot of villagers.'

"Villagers" meant residents without a specific occupation. Since that included all the children and elderly, they were bound to make up the largest share.

Taking that into account...

'The proportion of soldiers is high.'

Overwhelmingly high, in fact.

Normally, an appropriate proportion of soldiers was around 1–5% of the total population. They cost a great deal to maintain: one soldier's annual upkeep was three to five times that of an ordinary resident.

If soldiers made up more than 5% of the population? Their upkeep became unaffordable.

Even using the maximum figure of 5%, ninety-three soldiers would have been appropriate for Whitewolf county. Having 598 was anything but normal.

'Because no other productive activity is possible.'

Whitewolf county suffered from constant bitter cold. Never mind farming; even gathering and hunting were impossible.

There was only one exception. Selling monster by-products was its sole productive activity.

Soldiers were essential for hunting monsters, so their proportion had to be overwhelmingly high.

Putting all of that together...

'It's a disaster.'

A dire disaster.

Of course, I'd expected things to be disastrous. But seeing the numbers made it worse than I'd imagined.

'It's not as if I can leave the county at this point...'

More importantly...

'I still haven't settled what to do about Seraphia.'

My plan to make Whitewolf county my base hadn't changed. That meant it was time to get to work in earnest.

'The money left in my Inventory...'

I had roughly seventy-five million gold remaining. It was an immensely reassuring sum, but that didn't mean I could relax.

'It'll disappear fast if I use it for operating expenses.'

Only my Inventory was infinite. My money wasn't.

'I need to build an economic system that can sustain itself through local taxes.'

To do that, I had to give the residents jobs so they could work and earn money. And creating jobs meant devising various ventures for the territory.

'I've got a long way to go.'

But even a massive castle wall began with a single brick. I had more than enough funds; I was practically swimming in them.

Above all, I still had the entire operational system of the allied army, which had united all the continent's forces, stored in my head—

◆Territory Quest, [Unemployment! Aaargh! Damn It! Fix the County Right Now!] has arrived.

Getting the county back on its feet would be child's play.

* * *

Darkness had settled over Whitewolf county.

THUD!

The heavy sound of something falling disturbed the county's stillness—

Bernard, the head steward, stirred and slowly opened his eyes. It was the dark hour before dawn. He looked out the window.

There, beneath the faint moonlight, were enormous crates stacked neatly atop one another, mountains of grain sacks, and heaps of fine fabrics and silk...

"W-what on earth...?"

Bernard couldn't tell whether he was dreaming or awake.