The morning sunlight pressed its way through the gaps in the window. But Elian couldn’t get up. It wasn’t sleep paralysis. It was because a massive beast of a man had wrapped himself around him and refused to let go.
“Mmm….”
The arms Calix had locked firmly around Elian’s waist tightened their grip. He buried his nose into the nape of Elian’s neck and drew in a long, deep breath. He’s clearly asleep — so why is he being this relentless?
“Um… Your Grace? The sun is high in the sky.”
Elian squirmed and spoke up. The ruler of the North, who would ordinarily rise sharp as a blade, didn’t so much as twitch.
“No.”
A low, sleep-drunk voice rumbled against Elian’s ear.
“Five more minutes.”
“You’re not a child, for goodness’ sake….”
Elian stared up at the ceiling in disbelief. The Ondol was something else. It had knocked out the Grand Duke — a man who’d been plagued by insomnia — so thoroughly he’d practically been unconscious. The problem was that the floor was too warm and Elian’s body heat too comfortable, which meant this man had absolutely no intention of crawling out from under the covers.
I’m going to die from the weight, I swear.
The Grand Duke’s frame was enormous. With that muscular body pressing down on him, Elian could barely breathe. Just as he was trying to force his way free, a blue window materialized before his eyes.
Ding―!
[Settlement Complete: Comfortable Co-Sleep]
― Sleep Bonus (10 hours): 5,000 BP
― Grand Duke’s Psychological Stability ‘Peak’: 10,000 BP
(Close Contact Bonus ‘x2’ applied!)
[Total Earned: 15,000 BP]
“…Whoa.”
Elian’s eyes went wide.
Fifteen thousand points.
He’d done nothing but sleep through the night, and he’d earned three times what he’d spent on the initial wall foundation work. This was practically winning the lottery in his sleep.
The performance is no joke.
Elian’s gaze turned capitalistic in an instant. He settled back down and gently patted Calix on the back.
“Of course, Your Grace. Sleep as long as you like. Five minutes? Take five years if it pleases you.”
“…Quiet.”
Calix murmured and pulled Elian in even tighter. His legs tangled around Elian’s — as if he had no intention of ever letting go. Elian looked up at the numbers floating in the air with a deeply satisfied expression. Any discomfort from the weight was more than cancelled out by the joy those points brought him.
***
One hour later. The two men finally emerged from the room.
“Phew….”
The moment Elian stepped out, he pressed a hand to his lower back and let out a groan. No matter how wonderful the Ondol was, sleeping on a bare floor with a massive man draped over him had left his back feeling like it was about to snap clean in two.
“Oh, my back.”
Calix, on the other hand, stepped out looking absolutely pristine. The dullness had left his skin, which now held a healthy glow, and his red eyes — always bloodshot before — were clear and bright. Even the mana running through his veins was calm, still as an undisturbed lake. It was the most refreshed he had ever felt waking up in his life.
Hans, the butler, and Cedric, the adjutant, had been waiting in the corridor and stepped forward to greet them.
“M-my Lord? Are you up?”
Hans asked carefully. His gaze moved back and forth between the hand Elian had pressed to his lower back and the Grand Duke’s unusually radiant face.
“Ah, Hans. Some water, please. I’m absolutely parched.”
Elian stretched and muttered.
“His Grace wouldn’t let go of me all night, so I didn’t sleep a wink. And the strength on him — I wore myself out just trying to break free.”
“…!”
“…!”
Hans and Cedric’s eyes flew open simultaneously.
Wouldn’t let go all night?
The strength on him?
Wore himself out?
In both their minds, a very adult imagination began to run wild. At precisely that moment, Calix smiled with quiet satisfaction and drove the nail in further.
“I feel wonderfully refreshed, thanks to you. Do ask me again sometime, Elian.”
“Honestly, Your Grace — next time let’s do it in a bed. The floor was way too hard.”
“…!”
Their Lord was now suggesting they do it in a bed. Cedric cleared his throat and turned away. Hans clapped a hand over his mouth, overcome with emotion.
Our Lord… is finally going to become the lady of the North!
It was the moment an enormous misunderstanding cemented itself into accepted fact.
***
At that same hour, outside the manor.
The Grand Duke’s personal guard, the Black Lion Knights, were suffering miserably.
“Ugh… it’s so cold.”
Kyle, the captain of the knights, blew into his hands and stomped his feet. They’d stood watch outside all night to guard their lord, and the biting winds of the North had cut through every gap in their armor. Everyone was shivering, wiping their noses with sniffles.
Just then, the manor door opened and Calix and Elian stepped out. Kyle had to question his own eyes. His lord’s complexion — always ashen with cold — was now rosy and smooth, like someone who’d just stepped out of a hot spring.
“Your Grace! You’re safe!”
“Safe? Was something the matter?”
Calix asked, genuinely puzzled. Kyle felt aggrieved. We were nearly frozen to death out here.
“We were concerned you might have found these humble quarters uncomfortable….”
“Uncomfortable.”
Calix let out a small, quiet laugh.
“It was heaven.”
“Pardon?”
The knights murmured among themselves. Heaven? This crumbling shack of a place? Just then, Elian swept his gaze over the knights. Sturdy builds, boundless stamina. In his eyes, the knights were beginning to look like premium construction labor.
“You must all be freezing, knights. Come inside and warm up.”
“A knight on duty cannot simply—”
“Just one cup of tea. It won’t take long.”
Unable to resist Elian’s persistent coaxing, Kyle and the knights filed into the manor with a show of reluctance. Elian led them straight to the Ondol room currently in trial operation.
“Just take off your shoes before you come in.”
The knights shuffled in awkwardly and sat down on the floor.
“…Oh.”
“Ohhh….”
Idiotic moans escaped from even those iron-hardened knights. A wave of warmth rising up from beneath them. The muscles frozen stiff in the cold melted into languid relief in an instant. Once seated, not a single one of them could bring themselves to stand back up. And so the mighty Black Lion Knights ended up sprawled helplessly across the Ondol floor — still in full armor — in a truly unprecedented spectacle.
***
“Your Grace.”
Elian left the melted knights behind him and led Calix into the study.
“There’s something I need to tell you.”
Elian’s expression was unusually serious. Calix sat down on the sofa and rested his chin in his hand.
“Go ahead. I imagine you’re about to propose some new construction project.”
“Exactly right.”
Elian smiled and gestured toward the window. Beyond it, the village looked bleak. Old houses with collapsed roofs and walls that let the wind whistle through. The domain’s residents were huddled outside around small bonfires.
“Starting today, I’m launching the ‘Valeria New Town Project.'”
“New Town?”
“I’m going to install Ondol in every home in the domain. I will make sure no one in my domain freezes to death ever again.”
Elian’s eyes shone with conviction. Calix studied those eyes for a moment. Not lining his own pockets, but spending that enormous sum for the sake of his people? It was, without a doubt, the attitude of a lord worthy of praise. But Calix’s gaze sharpened. Because the practical problems remained unsolved.
“A fine idea. But the funds and materials?”
“….”
“Don’t bring up the previous lord’s emergency savings. This is a reconstruction of the entire village. A project of that scale — you couldn’t cover it if you sold this entire castle. And with the blizzard blocking the roads, do you expect all those materials to fall from the sky?”
Calix’s red eyes bore into Elian. The Grand Duke was no pushover, as expected. A flimsy lie wouldn’t work. Cold sweat ran down Elian’s back. But he couldn’t retreat here. This project was a matter of the domain’s survival — and above all… he absolutely needed this man’s mana.
Right. If we’re going to keep walking this path together anyway.
Elian made his decision. He couldn’t exactly spell out the System’s embarrassing rule about requiring physical contact with the Grand Duke — but he could reframe it in the logic of this world.
“…I’ve awakened an ability, actually.”
Elian began carefully.
“An ability?”
“Yes. My body carries no mana of its own, but in its place, I’ve gained a special power. An equivalent exchange, of sorts.”
Elian took a step closer.
“The ability to absorb high-density mana and materialize it into physical objects — things I’ve studied and designed myself.”
“Mana… into physical matter?”
A look of skepticism crossed Calix’s face. Mages could conjure water or fire from mana, yes — but creating permanent building materials was a feat that might as well belong to the gods.
“I don’t expect you to believe me. Let me show you.”
Elian extended his hand toward Calix.
“Your Grace — your hand, please.”
Calix held his hand out with a doubtful expression. Their hands met. Elian opened the System Shop in his mind.
Purchase 10 bricks.
Ding―!
[100 BP consumed]
Whirr―.
Light burst from their clasped hands. Calix felt the cold mana that had been raging inside his body being drawn out through Elian’s hand. And then, a moment later —
Thud, thud.
Ten red bricks dropped from the air and landed on the floor with a heavy sound. They were not an illusion. They were real bricks.
“…!”
Calix’s eyes widened sharply. He reached down and picked one up from the floor. Solid. Rough. Cold.
“This is… made from my mana?”
“Yes. More precisely — I made it using your mana as fuel.”
Elian explained, earnest and measured.
“My ability is powerful, but it consumes a great deal of fuel. Ordinary mana stones can’t sustain it. Only someone with mana as vast and pure as yours, Your Grace, can help me.”
This was half a lie — but half the truth. Without Calix, there were no points, and no materials.
Calix stared blankly down at the bricks. His whole life, he had thought of it as a curse. The power that froze and destroyed everything it touched. The terrible cold that had hurt his mother, that had driven his lovers away. The force he had spent his entire life suppressing and hiding —
“It becomes a home that saves people.”
Calix’s voice trembled, just barely.
“Yes. That cold, freezing power of yours — for someone out there, it becomes the warm Ondol that keeps them from freezing to death through the night.”
Elian gripped Calix’s hand tighter.
“So please, Your Grace — help me. Give me your curse. And with it, I will build the hope of the North.”
Calix looked up and met Elian’s eyes. The man before him looked entirely different now. He had lived his life calling himself a monster — yet this man was telling him he would make him a savior. That he would turn his destruction into creation. His winter into spring.
Something burning surged up from deep within his chest. It was different from the warmth Elian’s body gave him — a different kind entirely. The sensation of a soul being warmed.
