The King of the North
The King of the North.
"The connection's been cut?"
"Yes. It appears to have been severed by physical means."
In a northern manor where no new life ever took root, a man who had been watching the snow flurries dance across the sky opened the window and asked the question.
At the center of a distinctly antique chamber — complete with a fireplace crackling with burning logs — a man knelt with his head bowed. A hood covered his face completely.
Even in chess, a pawn was only a pawn. A foot soldier never revealed who he was.
"How many spirits have we secured so far?"
"Regrettably, only about half of the intended number."
"Hmm… so they figured it out. How did those dwarves catch on?"
"According to our investigation, several hours before the device stopped operating, a group of outsiders arrived."
"Outsiders?"
"Yes. Our findings indicate they were a party composed of Academy students and faculty."
"How did Academy people end up all the way out here?"
"One of them is a half-dwarf who was raised in the fortress, apparently."
"And their reason for coming?"
"We haven't determined that yet… though reports suggest they came seeking the Dragon's Breath."
"The Dragon's Breath… hmm. Fine. Investigate those people thoroughly, and quickly."
"Understood."
"That aside — the monster operation is proceeding without issue, I trust?"
"Yes. We currently have approximately twenty Fang Wolf pups, seven Ice Ogre cubs, and six Cockatrice eggs secured."
"Good. You may go."
"As you command."
The moment the conversation ended, the hooded man vanished without a trace.
"Haa…"
Left alone in the room, the man swept his black-dyed hair back with an air of irritation and dropped heavily onto the sofa near the fireplace.
"…Does this body feel heat even in weather this cold?"
He stared blankly at the fireplace roaring with fierce heat — a stark contrast to the barren, lifeless world outside — then slowly began to undress.
When he peeled away the coat lined with beast fur, the first thing revealed was a massive sword scar cutting across his entire torso.
The enormous wound carved into his broad shoulders and solid frame did not so much inspire dread as it did a raw, primal wildness.
The scatter of smaller scars told the rest of the story — how much punishment this body had taken, and how thoroughly it had been tempered.
Having discarded the heavy fur coat, the man pulled on a thin set of sleepwear. Only then did the cold sweat beading on his forehead begin to cool.
Standing barefoot on a floor cold enough to give an ordinary person frostbite, wearing nothing but indoor slippers and thin clothes, he reached for the crystal orb resting on the table beside him.
The orb immediately began to shimmer with a blue light.
"…Who is this?"
"Jin Bores."
"—Identity confirmed. Where shall I connect you?"
"Connect me straight to the top. I have a report."
At the static-laced voice that followed, the man clicked his tongue in annoyance. Jin Bores.
The heir of the North.
The Empire's Fang.
A merciless predator.
And the master of the North.
Head of the Bores Bordergrave family. Jin Bores began delivering his report into the crystal orb.
"I just transform here?"
Having eaten, drunk, and slept their fill, Rosaria's party rose late the next morning and headed straight out of the fortress.
"I've already set up a concealment barrier nearby, so transform freely."
They returned through the same exit they had used before and settled into a wide clearing a short distance from the mountain's peak.
The Dragon's Breath had resumed operation — now they needed materials for the crafting process.
"Alright then… transforming—"
Apparently growing more accustomed to the change, Tene's dragon head burst forth from a swirl of black mist as she returned to her true form.
"Just one scale is enough, right?"
Snap—
Tene plucked a single scale from her forearm.
"Holy crap… look at the size of that thing."
To her, it was nothing more than a tiny flake of skin. To the humans, it was large enough to put a Type-A tent to shame.
The black scale Tene had removed was not merely dark — it possessed a peculiar luster and a flawless, unblemished form.
"Woohoo! Look at this! This hardness! This shine! Now this is a real dragon scale!!!"
Louis didn't stop at admiration. She charged forward and started rubbing her cheek against the scale.
Come to think of it… isn't she basically nuzzling Tene's dead skin?
Watching the scene, Rosaria's face twisted slightly at the thought that a dragon scale equaled Tene's scabs — but Louis paid her reaction no mind whatsoever, lost in her own excitement.
"But how are we supposed to carry something this big?"
They had obtained the dragon scale they came for, but its sheer size made both transporting and concealing it a serious problem.
"I've already thought of that. Tene!"
[Yes?]
Louis grinned as though she had planned for this all along. At her call, Tene pressed one of her massive dragon claws into the center of the scale.
And then—
Crack—
In no time at all, the dragon scale split perfectly in half.
"If we break it into pieces like this, we can pack it up no problem!"
"Ahh, I see."
No matter how hard a dragon's scale might be, it was no match for the strength of its own master.
"If I had my way, I'd cut off those claws and use them too… ah, and the fangs and horns!"
[No! My horns are not velvet antlers!]
"Can't you spare just a little? Really just a tiny bit?"
[I said no—!!]
Louis had been watching the scene with pure delight, but her words grew increasingly obsessive, her eyes glazing over with rapture as she set her sights on Tene's claws, then her fangs, and finally her horns. Tene shrieked in horror.
"Tch. What a shame."
"You are seriously a freak."
"A freak?! A craftsman is supposed to take an interest in fine materials!"
Rosaria frowned and fired back, but Louis protested with complete confidence, insisting she was perfectly normal — though the madness gleaming in her eyes refused to fade.
"Anyway, so we just take these with us, right?"
Rosaria pointed at the dragon scale, now broken into manageable pieces, and began stuffing them into the bag she had brought along.
"Let's hurry back and get some lunch."
[Yes—!]
Their business outside was done. Beaming at the thought of heading back for a meal, Tene prepared to polymorph—
"Hold on, Tene. Come with me for a bit."
[…Me?]
Felix stopped her in her tracks.
"Where are you going?"
"There's something I need to take care of while we're in the North. I'd rather not go alone."
[Whaaat…?! But I still need to eat lunch…]
"We'll be back quick and then you can eat… up you go!"
[Hiiing…]
Tene protested meekly, but with Felix already climbing onto her back and urging her on, she had no choice but to lower her head.
"When will you be back?"
"Won't take long. Oppa, help Louis with the crafting."
"You were really interested in making weapons from dragon scales. You sure you don't want to watch?"
"Can't be helped."
"Hmm… alright. Go on, then."
Before coming north, Felix had been keenly interested in forging weapons from dragon scales. Watching him abandon the chance to observe the process left Rosaria tilting her head — but she didn't dwell on it and simply saw them off.
"We'll be back! Let's go!"
[Hiiing… we'll be back…]
Whoosh—
"Cough! Cough, cough!! Ugh… the dust…"
Tene beat her enormous wings, kicking up a cloud of dirt, and in moments she had dwindled to a speck on the horizon.
"Alright! Let's move! My hands are itching like crazy!"
"Yeah, yeah, I know."
Rosaria watched them go for a moment, then let out a deep sigh as Louis — finally in possession of the materials she had been craving — impatiently herded her back into the fortress.
[So where exactly are we going?]
"Just a second… looking at this… that way. Land over there."
Having parted ways with Rosaria's group, Tene and Felix flew endlessly across the vast snow-covered plains beyond the fortress mountain, eventually touching down in a forest.
"Why did we come here?"
"We're meeting someone here. Ah — this is the spot."
Tene was thoroughly bewildered to find herself deposited in the heart of a snowbound mountain after being hauled off without warning, but Felix paid her confusion no mind. He scanned the surroundings, then leaned his back against a nearby tree stump and waited.
"Our escort should be arriving soon…"
"Who's coming—"
Twitch—
"Noona! Up in that tree!"
Still completely in the dark about who they were meeting, Tene instinctively lifted her head and looked toward the branch of the tree Felix was leaning against.
By now thoroughly accustomed to her dragon senses, Tene possessed perception sharp enough to catch even the faintest trace of something amiss.
And then—
Thud—
The branch shook, and a figure appeared before them.
A man in a black-dyed hood — moving as though he had slipped through the darkness itself — rose to his feet and revealed his face to the two of them.
"Good day, young master. And to you, great Black Dragon."
"…Who?"
The man carried a weight of experience that, while not quite matching Gordon's, was considerable in its own right. He bowed courteously, as though he already knew exactly who they were.
"You're one of Dame Fenril's people, aren't you?"
"That is correct."
"Ah…! One of hers…"
The man was Gilbert — a subordinate of Fenril, former boss of the Red Fang and current Knight Captain of the Evergarden family.
He was the same man who had once barred Freya and Fenril's path and bared his teeth at Gordon when Freya first went to meet Fenril. As Fenril's loyal subordinate, he had followed her into the count's household.
Since then, under Freya's orders, he had been embedded in the North gathering intelligence — which was why neither of them had ever met him before.
Of course, ordinary employees of the count's household had no idea that Tene was a dragon. But Gilbert, as Fenril's right-hand man, had been briefed in advance.
"As ordered by my lady, I have investigated the current climate of the North and Viscount Bjorn's activities."
"You prepared the original separately, I assume?"
"Yes. The original has already been dispatched to my lady's location."
Gilbert rummaged through his coat and handed Felix a set of documents compiling all the intelligence he had gathered during his time in the North.
"Hmm…"
Felix began reading through the papers.
"It looks like Viscount Bjorn has already captured a considerable number of monster young."
The documents detailed Viscount Bjorn's activities in the North exactly as expected, and Felix learned that the man was already well underway with his monster-hunting operation.
"We still don't know who his backer is, though."
The identity of whoever was covering for Viscount Bjorn remained unknown.
However—
"…The Bores family's movements are quieter than I expected."
Even this much information revealed a great deal.
"The Bores family?"
"They're the Bordergrave family responsible for the North. The weather here is brutal, it's a hard place to live, it sits on the Empire's frontier, and monsters show up on top of everything else — so they style themselves as the shield of the North."
"You could call them the de facto rulers of the North without anyone batting an eye."
The Empire's northern reaches were snow-covered mountains, and beyond them lay the boundary line carved open by the ancient Demon War.
The demons had been driven back, but no one knew when they might return — so a border had been established, and the family charged with guarding it was the Bores family.
The land was vast, but farming was nearly impossible, and illegal crossers and monsters poured through at any hour. Outside of Bores territory, northern cities were practically nonexistent.
"And yet that same Bores family is letting Viscount Bjorn — a mere viscount with no real connection to the North — run around their own front yard capturing monsters… and their response has been lukewarm at best…"
No matter how high-ranking a noble he might be, Viscount Bjorn had no legitimate ties to the North. The fact that he was roaming the northern snowfields capturing monsters while the Bores family took no meaningful action struck Felix as deeply strange.
And further—
"Who is the current head of the Bores family?"
"Bordergrave Jin Bores."
"…Jin Bores? Isn't he still just the heir?"
"Five months ago, following the sudden death of the previous head, Bordergrave Jin Bores assumed the position."
"…Huh."
In the original story, Jin Bores had still been the heir when he appeared at the Academy. The news that he had taken a leave of absence and become the master of the North outright left Felix laughing in sheer disbelief.
"Alright, I understand. Gilbert?"
"Please, feel free to address me casually, young master."
"Then… Gilbert. You haven't received orders to return yet, have you?"
"No, I have not."
"I know it's a lot to ask, but it looks like there's more I need you to dig into."
Felix tucked the documents into his coat and continued with a resigned sigh.
"I'll leave it in your hands. And don't worry — I'll make sure the medicine you procured is delivered safely."
"Yes, understood."
With that, Felix clapped Gilbert on the shoulder. Gilbert offered a brief bow and vanished from the scene as swiftly as he had appeared.
"…I didn't expect being right to feel this unpleasant."
Felix muttered darkly to himself.
"Tell me too! What's going on?"
"………"
"Stop teasing me!"
Despite having stood right there through the entire conversation, Tene hadn't followed any of it. She planted herself in front of Felix, cheeks puffed out in frustration.
The sight was so adorable that Felix simply watched her in silence — which only made Tene hop up and down in a full-blown tantrum.
"If my guess is right… Jin Bores. He's a reincarnator too."
"Ahh! …Wait, what?"
Tene nodded along and crossed her arms — then her head tilted sharply to the side at Felix's next words.