Operation Fruit Frost (1)

I left the fortress to the rapturous cheers of Kaldric and his soldiers.

I hadn't forgotten to collect the Flame Giant's internal elixir, either. The elixir was red and oval-shaped like an egg, roughly half a hand-span across, with a monstrous concentration of flame energy coiled inside it.

I had already taken the internal elixir of the female giant, which was a higher grade than Thorvalg's.

My goal of suppressing Jeolmaek's seizures had been achieved, and my achievement had advanced considerably as well.

Thorvalg's elixir didn't seem like it would help me much even if I ate it, so it seemed better to give this one to one of my subordinates.

My greed for people outweighed my greed for elixirs. In my heart of hearts I wanted to bundle Kaldric up and kidnap him, but he seemed to be an indispensable presence to the lord of Fairchild, so I decided to let it go.

The trip out had taken two days; the trip back took three. It was my first outing in a while, and I'd wanted to savor the open air a little longer. The moment I returned, Lily was there to greet me, along with five days' worth of accumulated news.

"You look so much brighter after your little outing, my lord."

"Then I suppose I'll have to go out more often."

"There's good news and very good news—which would you like to hear first?"

"The very good news."

"A letter has arrived for you, young master."

Lily held out a thin envelope. It was sealed with red wax, and on its surface was written:

That single line was all. There had been no need to write the sender's name. Only one person in the entire world could call me that.

My father had departed for the north half a year ago to inspect the front lines. Ever since the city of Lester, Thalia's homeland, had fallen to the demons, humans and demons had been locked in a grinding back-and-forth, each side pushing the other a step at a time.

As I began to open the letter, Lily continued.

"And Lady Mabel has sent you a gift."

She thrust out a long, yellow fruit.

"It's Sparkling Bay, your favorite, young master. Lady Mabel grew it herself and sent it along."

So my sister was still hard at work with her farming.

This fruit, with its delightfully tangy bite, was the main ingredient in the drink I couldn't live without. I had internally established a rule that anyone who gave me this as a gift was a good person.

Whether my sister and I were actually on terms of pure goodwill with each other, though, was another question.

"And there's marriage news for Lord Chris."

I had been about to read my father's letter, and my hand froze.

"From where?"

"From Lady Izolda, daughter of Margrave Magond."

No idea. I'd never even heard the name Margrave Magond before.

"Who's Magond?"

"Margrave Magond is a man with a foot in the Empire's central politics, and the rumors say he wields enormous influence. Why, they say even His Majesty seeks his counsel."

Well, I suppose it's possible for a noble from the imperial center to slip past my notice. This country really is that big.

Measured against the Empire as a whole, the Esterzy Duchy was nothing but a frontier. With demon armies marching down at the drop of a hat, you could honestly call it the backwoods of the backwoods.

"The marriage negotiations are proceeding positively, but he won't be marrying right away. He'll need to keep a two-year engagement period at the very least."

That was the only thing worth noting from the news about Chris: that in four years, marriage news would come for me too.

Since I was destined to enter a political marriage with a match arranged by my family anyway, I held no particular expectations.

Though I did think it would be a bit unfair to my future bride if I failed to overcome Jeolmaek even by eighteen.

Imagine how absurd it would be if your ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠groom dropped dead two years into the marriage. And while spitting ice out of his mouth, no less.

"Any other news?"

"Hmm... Lord Lucian left a message saying he's 'having trouble because of crows.' That was the last of it."

Lucian was locked in a cutthroat struggle over business interests with the Ravenshade Trading Company. Because of his promise to me, he'd pulled out of the back-alley business entirely, so right now he was fighting with both hands and both feet tied behind his back.

To help him, my knights would need to be ready soon—but my order was still a flock of nameless chicks that hadn't even been given a name yet.

Still, thanks to trading blows with the Flame Giant, a few ideas had come to me that might let me grow the order quickly.

"Understood. Thank you, Lily."

I tore open the letter my father had sent.

At the very end, my father's signature was written in a loose, flowing hand.

I couldn't bring myself to put the letter down for a long while. Within those plain, unadorned words, my father's love came pouring through.

Though he hadn't been able to stay by my side, the fact that I had grown up safe and sound was entirely thanks to standing beneath my father's umbrella.

And I wasn't the only one beneath that umbrella. The entire duchy stood under it. If I truly meant to become a leader, I wouldn't need to look far for a role model.

I summoned the order's officers to the reception hall. A matter of the utmost importance was about to be discussed.

Thalia and Vitten arrived together in the same carriage. Lily brought out refreshments for them, along with a drink made from the fruit my sister had sent, ground fresh.

"I hear Srudal went on quite the adventure with Lord Iden for five days," Vitten said.

"Oh?"

"Yes. He claims he and Lord Iden split two Flame Giants between them—and that one of them was a female."

"Hooh. And then?"

"I thought, what a liar this learned ogre is. Even when I heard that Lord Iden had caught a female Flame Giant, I was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠only half-convinced. It's an absurd story on its face, but I left room for the possibility—because it was Lord Iden. But when the fellow started bragging that he'd caught one too, that's when the lie alarm went off instantly."

"Sharp as ever, Vitten."

"Haha, I may not look it, but—!"

Clack.

The moment I pulled out the red internal elixir and set it on the table, Vitten's eyes went round as saucers.

"You... you really did catch a Flame Giant?"

"I did."

"Might that be 'the Butcher of Fairchild'?"

Thalia asked. It was probably Thorvalg's epithet. When I nodded, she too failed to hide her astonishment.

"He was a long-standing thorn in our side. I remember the Duke lamenting that we lacked the strength to dispatch a knightly order all the way to the barony."

I was regretful too. If I'd caught this thing just a little earlier, I could have haggled Count Billoy down on the price of the land.

"Now that a precious source of mana has come into our hands, we're going to decide who receives it. First, I thought I'd hear the opinions of you two, as the order's officers."

I looked back and forth between the two of them and asked.

"Anyone you'd recommend?"

"I do."

"I do as well."

"Who?"

"Me."

"Shaka."

Vitten and Thalia put forward opposing candidates.

"Er... wouldn't I need to grow stronger first, in order to establish dignity as an officer?"

Vitten argued cautiously, but with conviction in his voice.

"Senior already possesses more than sufficient strength as an officer. To run the organization efficiently, we need one more squad-leader-level figure. Shaka's growth rate is fast, so she seems worth pushing."

They were both right. Vitten stood at the very edge of Upper rank—one small push and he'd reach Master—while Shaka's Awoken Ability was so absurdly broken that even reaching Upper rank alone would let her wield tremendous power.

Vitten did need dignity as an officer, and they did need one more squad leader.

"Let's promote Srudal to squad leader first. He proved his strength well enough this time. And as for this source of mana—"

That was when it happened. Something reddish scuttled up onto the table at lightning speed. Without giving anyone a moment to grasp the situation, it gulped down the internal elixir I'd set on the table.

"Whoa—?"

"Wh-what is that?!"

A red lizard climbed up onto the table and, looking thoroughly satisfied, raised its snout and cried out.

"Squeeeeeak—"

Everyone stared at the lizard with dumbfounded expressions. Setting aside the absurdity of it all, I couldn't even fathom why this thing was here in the first place.

It hadn't left the garden once in five years. How on earth had it slipped past the ward I'd set around the garden? And why would a creature that ate its meals so obediently swallow an internal elixir?

The lizard offered no answers whatsoever, darting under the table and vanishing.

"That thing—catch it!"

I shouted, exasperated. Thalia swiftly seized the fleeing lizard's tail. Dangling from Thalia's hand, the lizard swung its body left and right, squeaking piteously.

"You little wretch, spit it out right now!"

"What should we do? Force it to vomit?"

"No, it's already swallowed it."

If it had been an egg, I might have managed something—but an internal elixir? Hopeless. The moment it went down, the energy would have spread through its insides.

Come to think of it, how was this thing fine after swallowing that?

I examined the wriggling lizard from every angle. It showed no signs of exploding, or of entering some human-like qi deviation.

"Nothing to be done, I suppose. Can't exactly scold a beast that can't talk."

"Then what about me? What about my dignity that never got established?!"

Vitten wailed. My head was aching too. I hadn't gone through all that suffering just to end up as a lizard's lunch.

I left consoling the heartbroken Vitten to Thalia's care and hauled the lizard off to the garden.

After sealing the lizard inside an even sturdier ward, I stayed at the order's headquarters for a while. It was to apply the ideas I'd gained from fighting the Flame Giant to training.

The key was puppetry.

With puppetry, I could turn anything into my marionette.

Using it, I produced a whole army of wooden dummies to help the knights train.

Since the members' skills varied wildly, the dummies had to be made by ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠level, too.

Beginner wooden dummies, intermediate wooden dummies, advanced wooden dummies...

After the dummies came the formations. The plan was to trap the members inside a formation and make them fight illusions.

The formations were divided by level as well.

Beginner formations, intermediate, advanced...

First fight the illusions of neighborhood thugs; once accustomed, fight mercenary illusions; get more accustomed, and fight regular knight illusions...

Then fight the Flame Giant's illusion, and upon reaching the final level, fight my own illusion.

Quality control of the system fell to Thalia. She sparred once against the Flame Giant's illusion and reported flatly.

"I won."

"Oh?"

"However, I lost one arm. I shall do better next time."

Srudal, being an ogre, could shrug off most injuries and keep fighting, but Thalia was human, so her circumstances were different.

Having confirmed the training system worked well, I returned to the castle for the first time in a while.

"Whew..."

Sitting in the tranquil reception hall, legs stretched straight out, sipping a sweet drink, I savored a rare moment of leisure.

There'd be nothing to trouble me on the knightly order front for a while. I'd built a perfect system, after all.

Of course, I'd have to replace the talismans periodically, but I could just delegate that to the members—was what I was thinking, when—

Something red and enormous passed by the window. At the same time, I felt a very familiar heat, blazing like the sun itself.

I spat out my drink and shouted.

"A Flame Giant?!"

In an instant, every scenario imaginable flashed through my head. Don't tell me the Flame Giant sisters had come chasing me to avenge their spouses—

If that were really the case, it would be a catastrophe. There were far too many people in the castle. Most of them servants who couldn't fight at all.

I threw open the window and rushed out onto the balcony. I turned my head to look up and—

Above the roof, something long and large—like a snake, or like a lizard's tail—slipped smoothly out of sight.

...Don't tell me.

"Lizard Number One?"