Toward the Snow-Covered Wall (1)
"Ugh..."
My entire body ached as though I had been beaten with a blunt weapon.
Even after opening my eyes, my vision remained blurry.
I was so drained that I couldn't even twitch a finger, let alone move my body.
'Somehow, I survived... but my condition is a complete mess.'
Muttering blankly to myself, I recalled the last scene etched into my memory.
Ian and my combined strike breaking through the holy artifact's defense.
Garrison crashing into the forest.
And then...
"...How am I even alive right now?"
As I traced my flow of energy and recalled the situation from back then, I forced myself upright.
'There's no way that priest bastard died from just that one hit. There definitely should've been a follow-up attack.'
I kept thinking while trying to steady my confused mind.
"U-Um, are you awake now?"
A clear but unfamiliar voice reached my ears.
As my blurry vision finally focused, I was able to take in the scenery around me.
Creak... creak...
The sound of wood groaning under the snowstorm, a lantern warming the cold air, a bonfire.
And even the faint scent of herbal tea drifting through the room.
"This is...?"
"The Northern Great Wall's temporary infirmary."
The clear voice answering my question slowly approached me.
The herbal scent that had been gently circulating through the room grew stronger.
"C-Can you get up?"
"Ah, yes. Just a moment..."
While answering the voice, I looked outside the window.
A forest buried beneath a raging snowstorm.
The viewpoint was high, as if I were looking down from a watchtower.
"Urgh?!"
The moment I tried to sit up, intense pain shot through my back muscles.
"A-Are you alright?! You're still recovering...!"
"N-No, I'm fine."
Grinding my teeth, I swallowed the pain and stood up.
My entire body throbbed.
Still, it was a tremendous relief.
Pain remaining meant my senses were still alive.
'At least no part of my body ended up crippled... I'm lucky it ended with just this.'
A body like mine, one that had never circulated mana since childhood, was like a completely clogged waterway.
Injecting Ian's mana into me was the equivalent of pouring an entire ocean into a blocked canal.
If I hadn't expelled the incoming mana quickly enough, my whole body would have turned into shredded rags.
"Hoo...!"
After taking several deep breaths, the pain eased somewhat.
More accurately, my body was adapting.
Meanwhile, the owner of the voice approached and held out a teacup.
"H-Here. You'll feel a bit better if you drink this..."
"Thank you."
Piecing the situation together, the owner of the voice had to be the healer who treated me.
I accepted the steaming teacup and politely thanked her.
"Does it hurt badly?"
"I'm alright. I don't even know how to thank you..."
As I spoke, I raised my head and finally saw the face behind the voice.
The pale skin characteristic of northerners.
Thin, delicate arms.
Eyes black as obsidian.
And short wavy hair carrying the same dark hue.
A gentle-looking girl stared at me with wide eyes.
'A healer from the Great Wall... she's too young.'
She looked one or two years younger than me.
While I was thinking that, the girl who had handed me the teacup stood frozen in place, staring blankly at my face.
"...Is there something wrong?"
"Ah! N-No! It's just, um..."
Just as the startled girl struggled to find her words—
"I brought the firewood you asked for, Pion."
The sound of a wooden door opening was followed by a familiar voice.
"Uncle."
"What, you're awake already?"
Ian entered carrying dry branches over his shoulder and looked at me.
"What exactly happened? And Garrison—"
"Is that all you've got to say to your lifesaver?"
Ian grinned as he dropped the firewood from his shoulder.
"Lifesaver?"
"Yeah, you ungrateful brat."
With those words, Ian walked toward me.
And then—
Smack—!
"Gah!?"
A sharp flick struck my forehead with a crisp snapping sound.
"I carried you all the way to the Wall for four damn days, and you can't even say thank you to your uncle?!"
"Puhahaha!"
Seeing Ian complain with genuine irritation made me burst out laughing.
Looking at that carefree face made it sink in all over again that I had truly survived.
"So he said he'd keep watching me? That sends chills down my spine."
After the healer named Pion left to make her report,
I finished the last sip of tea while listening to everything that had happened after I lost consciousness.
"At least now he probably won't try to kill you on sight anymore. Don't you think?"
"But that doesn't change the fact that he's still a threat. We need to prepare separately."
Saying that, I rested my chin on my hand.
The reason Ian was protecting me was because of the mission Heinkel had assigned him.
Once my time at the Wall ended, I would have to deal with Garrison on my own.
'In the worst-case scenario, I could use Arin...'
I recalled the first time Garrison came to kill me.
Even Heinkel couldn't stop that agent from continuing his attack, but the moment Arin appeared, he abandoned the assault.
But if I did that, then that girl...
Clicking my tongue harshly, I shook my head.
Arin was the strongest force I currently possessed, but her power belonged to an unknown realm whose origin I couldn't even begin to understand.
If I forced its use, there was no way to predict what might happen.
'Then there's only one method left.'
Remembering the battle with Garrison, my eyes darkened.
A secret technique created through the coordination of two swordsmen synchronizing their mana.
I couldn't use it myself right now, but there was still a possibility of utilizing it.
'I need to create one more Death Knight.'
Unlike me, who possessed no mana, an undead with an artificial mana core could reproduce that technique.
And controlling mana wavelengths at will wasn't impossible either. It would simply require further research.
'An independent undead like Rudel won't work.'
At the same time as setting my research goal, I recalled the countless summoning circle and contract formulas I had created so far.
'Use Hector as a reference since he's currently available, but place greater emphasis on precision control...'
The arrangement of the circles, research methods to artificially control mana wavelengths, and even the blueprint for the undead I would ultimately create.
There was a mountain of work to do, but strangely enough, I didn't feel frustrated.
The two months I had been given came at the perfect time.
It was ideal for beginning new research.
'And if it's this place in particular... finding materials should be easy too.'
Thinking that, I looked out the window.
Beyond the iron curtain surrounding the continent lay the land of Sokhan, made of harsh conifer forests and glaciers.
At the very end of it stood the residence of the necromancer Archimond—the Ice Castle.
"I need to meet the person in charge."
"What, right now?"
"Yes. The sooner, the better. Even a little earlier..."
I was saying that to Ian when—
"...What's with you? Why'd you stop talking halfway?"
"Quiet."
Cutting off Ian's complaint, I focused my hearing beyond the window.
Clank, clank.
Footsteps gradually drawing closer to this place.
Not soldiers or guards.
Knights.
"...Is it true?"
"It's information gathered by the Watchers. Not only are their forms unusual, but their numbers are over five times greater..."
As the footsteps neared, voices followed.
Faint voices buried beneath the wind and countless other noises.
Unless someone had lived on this snowy plain for years, they would never notice sounds so subtle.
"Report it to the captain. Until then, keep this matter confidential."
"Understood."
A stern voice sounded from outside the door.
At the same time, the infirmary door swung open.
"Young Master Klein Leinrant."
The ones who entered the temporary infirmary were two knights wrapped in winter fur cloaks.
"When you first arrived, we thought things would end badly, but it is fortunate to see you recovered."
The knight leading them, a man with ash-brown hair, spoke to me.
Black leather armor and fur.
He looked more like a hunter than a knight.
'The Great Raven Knights.'
Looking at their faces, I repeated the name inwardly.
A knight order belonging to Leinrant, tasked with guarding the Wall.
Knights of the frozen north who roamed the snowfields of the harshest land on the continent.
"It is somewhat late, but welcome to the Northern Great Wall."
Without the slightest change in expression, the two knights bowed their heads toward me.
"I am Boran, vice-captain of the Great Raven Knights who defend the Wall."
The emotionless knights greeted me formally.
Knights clad entirely in black, without even a trace of metal visible.
The only thing gleaming was the silver emblem embedded on their shoulders.
"Welcome, huh..."
I repeated the word while looking at the emblem that represented their pride.
Instead of the knights bowing before me, it felt as though the raven spreading its wings upon their insignia was glaring at me.
As if to say I didn't belong here.
"Thanks to you, the young master has recovered safely. You've worked hard, Pion."
"Ah! N-No... I merely..."
Boran patted Pion's shoulder as he praised the healer.
Unused to compliments, Pion's face turned bright red, though she didn't seem displeased.
The smile Boran gave her was as gentle as a father looking at his daughter.
Watching them, I sighed inwardly.
'Completely different from how they treat outsiders.'
The Great Raven Knights had steadfastly protected this place ever since the Wall was built.
To them, a member of the main house suddenly arriving here was little more than an unwelcome guest.
'Especially if they've heard the rumors surrounding me.'
I recalled the greatest reason this Wall had been constructed.
The undead army that had poured forth from the Ice Castle.
The northern specters that ravaged the continent had gone feral following Archimond's death.
An army without a commander was nothing more than a rabble.
The undead that lost their leader were swiftly annihilated one by one through the allied forces' counteroffensive.
'But they never completely exterminated them.'
Recalling the undead I had once created, I let out an inward laugh.
Two hundred years had passed since the one who started the war—me—had fallen.
Yet even after all that time, the undead who had never forgotten their hatred still continued charging toward the Wall.
Their greatest enemy was the undead of Archimond assaulting the Wall.
And I was a necromancer who commanded undead exactly like his.
"We have properly reviewed the order."
Looking at the document bearing Heinkel's signature, Boran spoke to me.
"Pion says you should recover enough to move around within four days."
"That's what she said."
If they were going to treat me like an unwelcome guest, there was no reason for me to lower myself either.
When I answered in an equally stiff voice, the knight standing behind Boran narrowed his eyes.
"...Understood. I will report that to the captain."
"No, I'll deliver the order personally. I should greet my superior as well..."
Since I had been assigned to outpost duty, the knight captain was unquestionably my superior officer.
I spoke while trying to rise from my seat—
Clank.
With the sound of a scabbard striking a buckle, two additional knights entered and blocked my path.
"In your current condition, before you've fully recovered, we cannot allow you outside."
At Boran's gesture, the two knights blocking me reached out as if to restrain me.
"You're awfully nosy for people sticking their noses where they don't belong."
Thwack!
This wasn't a situation where I could allow myself to be underestimated.
I grabbed the sword resting beside the bed and struck away their hands with the sheathed blade.
"Well now, that's pretty fierce."
Ian shrugged as though he found the whole scene amusing.
'So because he married out of the family, he's staying out of it?'
Local knights blocking the path of a young master from the main family.
In an ordinary noble house, such a thing would be outrageous.
Unfortunately, I had no allies here.
"We are merely concerned for your safety, Young Master. We ask for your understanding."
At Boran's words, the knight behind him placed a hand on the sword at his waist.
If I resisted any further, they intended to subdue me by force.
Though they had not yet drawn their blades, this was already an unmistakable standoff.
"Haa..."
I deliberately let out a sigh while looking at their threatening expressions.
'I was planning to keep things civil since we're technically family.'
This was blatant overreach and intimidation.
If I tolerated this, I wouldn't be able to move a single step freely in this place.
I'd be eating from the same pot as them for the next two months.
There was no way I could live that suffocatingly.
"Who the hell do you think you are to spout such nonsense about my safety?"
Having made my decision, I removed the fur cloak draped around me.
Force was answered with force.
Thinking that, I opened my mouth toward Boran.
"Klein Leinrant, Second Young Master of House Leinrant, commands you."
The Leinrant uniform hidden beneath the thick leather revealed itself.
The emblem proving my status as a member of the main house gleamed upon my chest.
"Now get every bastard above you and below me here immediately."