The Ice Queen's Summons
After it was decided that they would visit Vivaldi Territory during summer break, Arina's behavior had become noticeably brighter. Even though she had stayed up late the night before finishing Professor Scape's assignment and should have been exhausted, she had stayed awake until the small hours searching for information about Vivaldi Territory before finally falling asleep. Unlike Kain, who never put his smartphone down, this was the first time in the past two years that Arina had stared at her phone so intently.
"How busy does she plan on running around?"
It was one of the biggest mistakes people made when planning their first trip—stuffing every single thing they wanted to do into the schedule without accounting for travel time or rest. This trip was for Arina, and he had expected this outcome the moment he left everything to her, but he still couldn't help feeling a wave of fatigue at the future already unfolding in his mind.
—I apologize, Master.
At the additional piece of bad news delivered on top of everything else, Kain's eyes, which had been drooping with exhaustion, narrowed sharply.
"So you're saying she told you to have me come in person if I wanted to talk?"
What the hell was that woman's problem now? His irritation spiked at the early-morning call from Pride, but unlike usual, he didn't raise his voice. Pride sounded utterly dejected, and Kain saw no point in venting at him.
'It's not like it can be helped.'
The other party was an Absolute Being, just like him. Absolute Beings were those who had obtained the privilege to do whatever they wanted in this world. Unless they were like Majoan, who aligned themselves with the world's standards according to their own sense of justice, there was no rebelling against their words. The best they could do was exactly what Pride was doing now—relaying the Ice Queen's message to another Absolute Being.
—I had expected her to refuse and had prepared several ways to persuade her, but I never imagined she would directly mention you, Master.
The reason for this oversight was clearly a lack of information. Rion Tyrfing, the Ice Queen. The princess of the once-prosperous Tyrfing Kingdom. A hikikomori Absolute Being who lived alone in the forbidden zone that even the great chieftain Campbell could not approach within the Frozen Tundra, never taking a single step outside her domain—surpassing even Kain in seclusion. The information the underworld had gathered on the Ice Queen ended there. Compared to the other three Absolute Beings who were relatively active outside, their intel on her was severely lacking.
The one thing that was certain was that, like Kain, she was completely indifferent to worldly affairs. That was why they had assumed she would simply refuse if she wanted to refuse, never expecting her to bring up Kain as a condition.
—This is entirely my fault. I will atone for this sin by committing seppuku right now, so please use your great power to revive me and use me as you see fit, Master.
"Cut the crap and stay put."
Damn seppuku fanatic. Where the hell did he pick up that nasty habit? With a single irritated remark, Kain stopped Pride's actions and stared blankly at the ceiling.
"Tsk."
The situation was a real mess. It hadn't been long since he returned from the Underworld. If he told Arina that he had to go somewhere again in this situation, her face, which had been so excited about going to Vivaldi, would droop like laundry left out in the rainy season. And regardless of how she would feel, Kain himself had no desire to leave the house for a while.
—What will you do?
"What do you mean, what will I do? She called, so I'll go."
Honestly, the Ice Queen's participation was in the realm of choice, not necessity. There was no need to go out of his way. Even so, Kain decided to make the effort. Since Pride had made such bold claims to Majoan, he needed to bring back some decent results so the man's shoulders wouldn't slump. It wasn't the first time Pride had tried to pull some crazy stunt like seppuku, but he was still Kain's first subordinate.
"Send me the coordinates via text. I need to get back before the kid finishes school."
Moving in a hurry for something trivial wasn't his style. If this turned out to be a pointless summons, she'd better be prepared. Beyond his thick glasses, his eyes gleamed with a violet light.
＊ ＊ ＊
In Tyrfing, there existed a forbidden zone that no one except the great chieftain could approach. It was once the capital of the nation of fire and iron. At the same time, it was the place where the current Frozen Tundra had begun. The Frozen Castle. A majestic ice fortress standing tall in the middle of a frozen metropolis, its people preserved exactly as they had been in life. The coldest place in the northern center of this frozen land.
Inside, a woman stood by the window, gazing down indifferently at the frozen city below.
"……"
When she had awakened her Ebon in the past, time in this country had completely stopped. This unchanging scenery, with no variation throughout the 365 days of the year, was the entirety of the world she could see. The world praised the Empress of Yggdrasil, who directly governed an entire nation, as the "Empress," while calling her, who remained aloof in her towering ice castle without ever emerging, the "Ice Queen." But she herself felt that the title suited her far too poorly.
After all, she was nothing more than a coward who had been terrified of her own power and locked herself inside this frozen castle. Yes, she herself was included in the stopped time of this country—the princess of Tyrfing who had frozen her parents and everything in this nation.
"Princess."
As mentioned before, this frozen castle was a place called forbidden even within Tyrfing. The reason was that anyone who entered the Ice Queen's domain without permission would have their entire body frozen without exception. But the reality was that everything approaching the Ice Queen, who could not control her own Ebon, simply froze, and she loathed this cursed power that prevented anyone from getting close to her.
Yet she could blame no one. The reason she could not control her Ebon was because of the trauma from destroying this country—her mental wounds. And the proof of that was the man before her eyes, the only one in this Frozen Tundra who could enter the castle: Campbell, the former commander of Tyrfing's knight order and current great chieftain of the Frozen Tundra.
"We've received word from the underworld. They say the Death King himself will be coming."
"……Is that so?"
"Will you accept the alliance?"
Tyrfing was a land where everything was frozen, but it was not completely cut off from the world. Through their dealings with the underworld, they received news from outside as well. Though she didn't know the details, she was aware that the current continent was divided between two factions—the Tugwi and the Empress on one side, and the Death King and Majoan on the other—standing in opposition. That was why she could easily guess the reason the underworld had sought her out this time.
"I wonder."
At the question, Rion Tyrfing, the Ice Queen, gave a bitter smile. Alliance or whatever else—when she couldn't even go outside, what could she possibly do? It was a pity for them, but the reason she had summoned the Death King was nothing special.
'Perhaps someone like the Death King could speak with me.'
An existence who had risen to the seat of Absolute Being after her. She had heard plenty about him. Even his victory over the Empress, who had already held the world in her grasp before Rion herself. If his abilities were real, perhaps he could enter this castle, where even superhumans could not, and face her.
That was the expectation she held.
"I just hope the Death King won't get angry after seeing how pathetic I am."
An alliance required matching status. In reality, the only thing she could offer was the use of her name. Whether they would be satisfied with that, she didn't know.
"It will be fine."
At those words accompanied by a gentle smile, the anxious pounding in Rion's heart began to subside. As always, Campbell's words gave her more reassurance than anything else in the world. Even back then, when she had been crushed by guilt for destroying this country with her rampaging Ebon and killing everyone, including her family.
"It's all right, Princess."
The sole survivor of the royal palace, he had never given up on her to the very end. Ignoring her screams to run away, to leave this place quickly, he had continued advancing toward where she was. With his frozen body, he opened the door and, with dying movements, took one painful step after another until he reached her. Slowly, ever so slowly—moving at a pace that made even a snail seem fast. And after breaking through the extreme cold that even most superhumans could not withstand, Campbell, who had reached right in front of her, placed his frozen hand on her head and forced a smile.
"I said it was all right, didn't I?"
It was the same thing he had said when she fell from a tree while playing in the garden in the past. It was the common reassurance a knight would give—that he would protect her so she wouldn't get hurt—but he had truly kept that promise to the very end. Hearing those same words again as he patted her head as if to comfort her, Rion felt her heart calm.
Yes, this man was all right. He could approach her without dying. With that belief and relief, from that moment on, it seemed only Campbell was unaffected by her Ebon, allowing him to freely come and go within this frozen castle.
To Rion, those words were a magical phrase. An all-purpose statement that everything would turn out well. At those same words, spoken from a face scarred by wounds sustained while breaking through the bone-chilling cold, Rion let out a small laugh.
'Right.'
Whatever the other party thought of her, what did it matter? Just as it was for Kain, for her as well, building a good relationship with the Death King was something she could take or leave. The reason she had specifically summoned him was to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings by freezing the superhumans under his command. And because she wanted to talk with someone other than Campbell after so long.
"He came faster than I expected."
Thinking this, Rion suddenly seemed to notice something and raised her head toward the sky. The sky, which had remained empty without a single cloud since that day when time itself had frozen and stopped, merely alternating between day and night. Across it, something pure white was flying toward her.
When she focused her vision, she saw a grotesque creature made of bone. It looked like some kind of wyvern skeleton, and standing atop it was a man looking down at the frozen castle where she resided.
'That's the Death King.'
One of the five Absolute Beings existing on the continent. The moment the Ice Queen recognized him, her Ebon began to rampage as always. Along with the triggered trauma, her once-calmed heart began pounding again. Cold air shot toward the Death King looking down from the sky. The moment the pure white mana, freezing space as it flew, collided with the skeletal wyvern—
Whoosh!
The clear, cloudless sky was covered in pitch-black darkness. An otherworldly mana, frigid in a different sense from the Ice Queen's cold, settled over the frozen city as if driving away her chill. And the Death King, standing atop the skeletal wyvern as if the Ice Queen's attack meant nothing, slowly removed the thick glasses he had been wearing.
"……"
A pitch-black sky. A man with eyes gleaming an ominous violet. Displaying a presence worthy of his reputation, a thick scent of blood—origin unknown—spread cloyingly across the entire city.