Elian threw open the warehouse door and stood there with his mouth hanging open.
“…Are you kidding me.”
It was really there. Even in the darkness, they gleamed like black jewels. Five tons of premium anthracite coal, packed into every corner of the warehouse. The System was no illusion.
“M-my lord! What — what is all this?!”
Hans, who had followed close behind, nearly dropped his torch and let out a shriek. And no wonder — just a few hours ago, this place had been completely empty, without so much as a rat passing through.
“I told you, didn’t I. That there was a way.”
Elian shrugged with a practiced air of calm. Inwardly, he was mocking himself — the fruit of burying my face in the Grand Duke’s chest — but outwardly, he had to maintain the dignity of a lord.
“Magic… don’t tell me — did you awaken to magic, my lord?”
Magic? Elian’s mind raced. There was indeed a record that one of this body’s ancestors had been a seventh-circle mage. Of course, Elian himself was an ordinary person without a single drop of Mana to his name — but still.
“It would seem… that way.”
There was no better excuse than that. Vague as it was, Hans believed every word without question.
“The late lord must be watching over us from above!”
Hans wiped tears from his eyes, overcome with emotion. Elian thought to himself:
Magic is magic, alright. Magic powered by grinding up a human Mana tank called the Grand Duke.
He’d somehow talked his way through it, but there was still no time to relax. This was no moment to be standing still.
“Hans, send people out right away to distribute this coal at the village hall. And light every single fireplace in the castle — every last one. No one is sleeping cold tonight.”
“Understood! I’ll get everyone moving immediately!”
Watching the people Hans had directed bustle about hauling coal, Elian let out a long breath of relief.
We survived.
Tonight’s freezing crisis was behind them. With the tension gone, exhaustion hit him like a wall. Elian trudged back to his bedchamber. Whether it was from having his energy drained by the Grand Duke or some side effect of the possession, his entire body felt as heavy as waterlogged cotton.
But what greeted him as he collapsed face-first onto the bed was that wretched System Window.
[Quest Complete: Survive the Freezing Night!]
[Reward Delivered]
[New! Linked Quest Triggered]
[Quest Name: You Can’t Think on an Empty Stomach]
― Details: The cold has been resolved, but the food stores are empty. All residents face starvation within 3 days.
― Required Resources: 500 sacks of flour & 100 boxes of preserved rations.
― Required BP: 300 BP
“…Ha.”
Elian dragged both hands down his face.
Out of the frying pan and into the fire. This time it was 300 Points. 300 Points — a short embrace wouldn’t even come close. At 50 Points per minute, the math said he’d have to hold the Grand Duke tightly for a full six minutes.
That’s exactly the right amount of time to be written off as a complete lunatic.
The Grand Duke had already been alarmed earlier — if he clung to him for six whole minutes, he might end up with a blade through his ribs. Would it be better to just squeeze his eyes shut and go for a kiss?
“Whatever, I’ll sleep on it.”
Elian yanked the blanket up over his head. The warm air inside the room wrapped around him like a drowsy embrace. With no idea whatsoever what storm his actions had set in motion, he sank into a deep sleep.
* * *
At that same hour, in the guest chamber.
“Ngh….”
Calix gripped the headboard hard enough to splinter it. His head was splitting. The excess Mana coursing through his veins had turned to ice, freezing his entire body from the inside out.
It felt like shards of glass flowing through his bloodstream. With every beat of his heart, a wave of cold hacked through his body. The feeling in his fingers and toes would go numb — and then, without warning, a searing, unbearable pain would bore into the back of his skull.
White frost formed on the bedsheets. Even his own breath crystallized in the air around him. This was supposed to be the warmest room in the manor — the guest chamber — but to Calix, it was nothing more than an ornate freezer. Sleeping draughts didn’t work. A mage’s treatment didn’t work. All he could do was grit his teeth and wait for dawn. This was the truth of every night he had ever endured.
The Grand Duke of the North, Calix Drac.
As a child, he had awakened to a vast, curse-like reservoir of Mana. This power had made him the greatest Sword Master on the continent — but it had also saddled him with unbearable suffering. While ordinary mages lived by expending Mana, his body generated it at a rate that perpetually outpaced consumption.
No matter how much warmth was applied, his body kept freezing over, like a block of ice that refused to melt.
It was fine… back then. I’m certain of it.
He recalled the moment, barely three hours ago, when that brazen Baron had thrown himself into his arms. The instant they touched, the cold had settled as if it had never existed. A warmth spread through his chest, as though he were holding a furnace against his heart.
It was the most complete sense of relief he had ever felt in his entire life. But the moment the man pulled away, the pain had returned — doubled.
“Cedric.”
At Calix’s call, his direct adjutant Cedric, who had been waiting just outside the door, entered immediately.
“Yes, sir. Is something the matter—”
“That Baron. What is he doing right now?”
A look of puzzlement crossed Cedric’s face. The Grand Duke, taking an interest in some minor lord? Wasn’t this the man who was utterly indifferent to everyone?
“I’m told he distributed coal to the residents from the warehouse and has since retired to his bedchamber. Though I can’t imagine why they were living in such cold when they had coal all along…”
“Coal is beside the point.”
Calix cut him off irritably. He tore open two of his shirt buttons as if they were suffocating him. He could barely breathe.
“He went to sleep?”
I’m going out of my mind because of you, and you just went to bed. If you give medicine to a sick man, shouldn’t you see the treatment through to the end?
Is he toying with me?
At first, Calix had taken him for a flatterer. Then a lunatic. But those eyes. The desperate look in his eyes as he clung on and begged for just a little longer — it was too genuine to be an act.
Then there was only one conclusion. The man had wanted it too. Contact with him. So why did he run?
“…Does he dare think he can play games with me.”
Calix’s crimson eyes gleamed with danger. To think someone would use such a transparent little trick against the ruler of the North. It was breathtakingly insolent. But what infuriated him more was that he had no choice but to let that insolent little scheme work — because right now, the cold seeping into every inch of his body was on the verge of shattering his skull.
“No one is to follow me.”
Calix rose from the bed and moved toward the door.
“Sir? Where are you going? It’s the middle of the night!”
“I need to find out what kind of trick he’s pulling.”
* * *
Deep in the night, when all had fallen asleep. Creeeak. An under-oiled hinge let out a sharp cry. It was loud enough to snap Elian awake on pure reflex.
A thief?
What could anyone possibly steal from a lord’s manor this desperately poor? But when Elian opened his eyes, he had to choke down a scream.
In the darkness, a massive shadow stood at the side of his bed. Moonlight spilling through the window fell across the shadow’s face. Glowing crimson eyes. Disheveled black hair. An almost offensively handsome face. It was Calix Drac.
“…G-Grand Duke?”
Elian asked in a hoarse voice. What is a murderous madman doing in my room in the middle of the night? Did he come for payback because I shoved him too hard earlier? Or did he find out I’ve been thinking of him as a gold mine?
“Must be nice, sleeping without a care in the world.”
Calix’s voice came out low and rough. He was dressed in nothing but a thin shirt — no outer coat. The room was clearly warm, yet the cold radiating off his entire body made the surrounding air seem to ripple.
“Sir, this is my bedchamber…”
“Some of us are too furious to sleep.”
Calix pressed one hand into the side of the bed. The plush feather mattress sank deep under his weight. Elian instinctively scooted back, but before he knew it, his back was against the headboard. There was nowhere left to retreat.
“You have no sense of responsibility whatsoever. You heat a person up like that, and then go to sleep all by yourself without a care?”
“What? H-heat you up? What are you—”
He’s misunderstanding. I was only sharing body heat. But there was no chance to explain. Calix’s large hand shot out and seized Elian by the ankle.
“Ah!”
A firm, iron grip yanked him forward. In an instant, the distance between them collapsed. Calix’s body was genuinely cold — cold enough that the skin where they touched felt like it might get frostbite. But right at that moment—
Ding―!
A familiar window appeared before Elian’s eyes.
[System Notice: Contact detected!]
[Nighttime Bonus Applied: Efficiency x1.5!]
[Currently accumulating points… 12 BP… 15 BP…]
…Huh?
Elian’s eyes wavered. A nighttime bonus? On top of that — just being held like this, and points were already accumulating?
“Stay still.”
Calix let himself collapse down over Elian, their bodies overlapping. Elian had been about to push him off for being too heavy, but he stopped. Calix was pressing his cold forehead against the thin skin near Elian’s nape and collarbone — breathing in rough, ragged pulls, like a beast fighting through pain.
“My head hurts…”
Where there was usually arrogance in Calix’s voice, there was now something strangely, inexplicably soft.
“Just let me stay like this until the pain passes.”
Elian swallowed. The Grand Duke’s breath tickled against his nape. This is dangerous. This situation is extremely dangerous. And yet, Elian’s gaze was fixed on the blue window floating in the air.
[120 BP… 150 BP… 200 BP…]
It was counting as an embrace, and the numbers were climbing at a reckless pace. If he held on just a little longer, 500 sacks of flour would materialize. Just a little more and… they might even get to eat meat!
Elian quietly raised one hand and gently patted the back of the Grand Duke who was pinning him down.
“…Yes, sir. Stay as long as you need to feel better.”
So please — don’t pull away until the Points hit 300.
