“Your Grace, are you busy?”
When Elian pushed open the office door and stepped inside, Calix was standing at the window, gazing blankly outside. It was the first time Elian had seen him since the hwangto sauna incident yesterday.
Calix slowly turned his head. His expression appeared indifferent, but the shadows under his eyes were a little hollow.
“…You’re here.”
His voice was flatter than usual. The shock of overhearing Elian’s murmured thought — it’ll be hard to go all the way — had yet to fully fade. But the oblivious Elian simply assumed Calix was tired and walked straight toward him.
“I have something to discuss. I need to head out to the Ys River near the Valeria Domain.”
“The Ys River? What for.”
“I need to build a dam. Didn’t I promise the Treasurer? I’m going to make my domain a model district — a completely self-sufficient energy city.”
Elian grinned and added,
“I’ll explain on the way. I desperately need Your Grace’s help. Pack your things — right now.”
***
From the Grand Ducal castle to the Valeria Domain was a full two days’ ride on horseback. Any typical noble would have taken a comfortable carriage, but Elian shook his head.
“The carriage is too slow. Let’s go on horseback.”
Then, as naturally as breathing, he took hold of the reins of the black horse Calix had been about to mount.
“I didn’t mention this, but my riding skills are very, very poor. We need to move quickly, and if we ride separately I might fall off.”
“…So?”
“Let’s ride together. I’ll sit in front of you.”
[System: Physical contact during shared riding (close contact): +10 BP per minute]
Perfect. A goldmine.
Elian’s mind was entirely consumed with points. To buy materials for the dam, he needed to stay pressed against Calix for the entire journey.
Calix let out a quiet sigh and lifted Elian up onto his horse. Elian fit snugly into his firm arms. The moment their backs and chests pressed flush together without a gap, Calix’s brow furrowed. He tried to force himself not to be aware of it and spoke.
“Let’s move out.”
The horses carrying the Grand Duke’s party broke into a gallop all at once. But Calix found it utterly impossible not to be aware. With every jolting bounce, Elian’s back and backside pressed and shifted against Calix’s body in a relentless rhythm.
“Mmm, Your Grace’s Mana must be stable. Your chest is so warm.”
Elian complained of the cold and burrowed entirely inside Calix’s cloak. His hands rubbed ceaselessly against Calix’s thighs and forearms.
Just a little more… I’m short on funds for cement.
Elian was desperate for the points, but to Calix it was nothing short of torture. Everywhere they touched felt like it was catching fire. The urge surged to rein in the horse right now, drag this infuriating body into the forest, and— but Calix tightened his grip on the reins and held himself in check.
This isn’t coming from genuine feeling. This is simply… survival instinct on his part. Nothing more.
How long had they been riding. The sun sank low and the Grand Duke’s party made camp in a forest clearing. A campfire crackled and popped, but the night air of the North was sharp enough to cut skin.
“Sleep well.”
Calix watched Elian drinking tea by the fire for a moment, then moved to enter his own tent. His intention was to put as much distance between himself and Elian as possible. But this was Elian — he wasn’t about to let that happen.
Swish—.
The tent flap lifted, and Elian appeared out of nowhere clutching a pillow.
“Your Grace.”
“…Why are you here? Your tent is over there.”
“It’s too cold. I feel like I’ll freeze to death sleeping alone.”
Elian answered shamelessly and made his way over to Calix’s thick sleeping bag.
“Sleep with me. You’re cold too, aren’t you, Your Grace?”
“Elian.”
“Or… do you dislike me?”
When Elian, mid-obsession over points, stuck out his lip and looked up with wounded eyes, Calix found he couldn’t refuse. In the end, two grown men lay side by side inside a narrow single sleeping bag. Elian’s head came to rest on Calix’s arm, and their bodies pressing together was inevitable.
“Haa… so warm.”
Elian curled into Calix’s chest as though hugging a furnace. He tucked his cold feet between Calix’s calves and buried his face against his chest.
Ding!
[Sleep mode activated: +500 BP per hour]
With a reliable source of income secured, Elian fell asleep almost immediately, his breathing softening into gentle, even sighs. But Calix was painfully, acutely uncomfortable.
The soft give of Elian’s skin against his chest. The steady rhythm of breath grazing his collarbone. And the legs tangled completely unguarded between his own. Against his will, his body below the waist swelled to an almost unbearable degree — yet he couldn’t move so much as a fingertip.
This is agony….
Elian was sleeping in his arms with no ulterior motive whatsoever, and Calix resented him for it — and despised himself for wanting him this way. All through the night, Calix carefully stroked Elian’s hair and let the cold night air do what it could against the heat burning through him.
***
Two days later, the gates of the Valeria Domain finally came into view. Along the top of the magnificent Grade S Defense Wall — Elian’s pride — the domain residents were buzzing with chatter.
“Oh? They’re coming!”
“It’s the Lord!”
The gates swung open and domain residents in worn clothing came rushing out, along with the elderly steward Hans. The look on their faces held more relief than joy.
“My Lord! You’re safe!”
Hans seized Elian’s reins with glistening eyes.
“The vassals who returned from the Grand Ducal castle told us — that there had been a great commotion because you had displeased His Imperial Majesty… We feared you might have been thrown into the dungeons or executed…!”
Good grief. I should have sent word ahead. Worry ages a man faster than anything…. Elian’s brows creased with guilt, and around him the murmuring of the domain residents drifted over.
“Thank goodness. So he wasn’t rejected by the Grand Duke after all.”
“I figured our Lord had gotten himself killed for aiming too high.”
Elian smiled wryly. Was my reputation really that bad.
Just then, Calix, who had been riding behind Elian, swung effortlessly down from the horse. He reached up without ceremony and steadied Elian as he dismounted.
“Who spread such nonsense?”
Calix’s low voice swept over the gathered crowd. He wrapped a firm arm around Elian’s waist and surveyed the domain residents.
“Elian and I are undeniable partners. The one who will be cast aside is not him — it will be anyone who moves against him.”
“G-Grand Duke, Your Grace!”
The eyes of the domain residents went wide as the Grand Duke personally escorted their Lord and publicly declared them partners.
Right — calling us engaged or something like marriage would run into the issue of gender. So he found this way around it.
“Waaaaah—!”
A cheer erupted. Our Lord has the Grand Duke in the palm of his hand! The Valeria Domain’s star is finally rising!
Watching the crowd’s delight, Elian looked up at Calix. He always wore an impassive expression, but by now Elian had learned to read the genuine feeling beneath it. Sure enough, he was embarrassed — the proof being the faint flush creeping up to the tips of his ears.
Thank you, Your Grace.
Calix was allowing himself to be used — and on top of that, going out of his way to restore Elian’s standing. The consideration moved something in Elian’s chest.
Leaving the welcome behind, the two of them led a large crew of laborers straight upstream along the Ys River. The riverbank, lashed by a biting wind, was blanketed entirely in white ice and snow.
“Right here.”
Elian dismounted and studied the frozen river.
“I don’t follow.”
Calix’s brow furrowed.
“How does blocking a river generate energy? Water is just water.”
“No — flowing water is an enormous force unto itself. Rather than explain a hundred times, it’s better to see it directly.”
Elian drew in a deep breath and fixed his gaze on the empty air before him. It was time to use the new ability he had gained.
[Special Skill activated: Blueprint Design (S)]
[Target terrain scan complete. Outputting virtual schematics.]
Hummm—.
Elian’s eyes lit up with a blue glow, and then tens of thousands of blue Mana lines stretched outward through the air. A massive concrete wall. Complex networks of piping. An immense floodgate. The shape of a great dam that did not yet exist was overlaid across the frozen river like a full-scale augmented reality projection.
“This is the blueprint inside my head. It resonates the power of water with mana stone coils to draw out Mana energy — a Mana hydroelectric power plant.”
Calix stared at the sight before him, transfixed. A set of schematics more precise than anything the court mages could produce. And the certainty in Elian’s eyes. It was astonishing enough to make him wonder if this was really the same feeble man he had known.
“…I find myself genuinely curious what goes on inside your head.”
“A genius brain, clearly.”
Elian grinned shamelessly and released the skill. Then he slipped around behind Calix and wrapped both arms around him from behind in a backhug, whispering.
Ding!
[Physical contact with the Grand Duke of the North (backhug) detected!]
[BP +500]
“The theory is perfect. The points for materials were fully stocked on the way here — thanks to you, Your Grace. There’s just one thing left: the groundwork.”
“What do you need me to do?”
“Please dig out the riverbed over there. Deep and wide. I’m counting entirely on you, Your Grace.”
Elian cheered, but Calix smiled with a touch of bitterness as he drew his sword.
As I thought. That’s what he kept close to me for.
Calix drove his sword into the ground, pouring every ounce of pent-up frustration and longing into the strike.
BOOM—!
With a thunderous roar, the Permafrost cracked and split apart. In a single blow, the foundation trench for the dam was carved out perfectly. The mark of the continent’s greatest Sword Master — even the cut edges were perfectly uniform.
“Wow… you’re incredible, Your Grace!”
Elian gave a thumbs-up. Calix sheathed his sword with a weary air and turned away.
“This is just the beginning. That civilization you speak of — go ahead and show me what it looks like.”
Elian opened the System Shop and smiled.
Alright, Calix. I’ll protect you no matter what!
Built upon a foundation of crossed wires and mutual misunderstanding, the grand history of the North’s development was beginning.
[Shop Purchase: Ultra-Fast-Setting Waterproof Cement (x500)]
[Shop Purchase: High-Tensile H-Beam Rebar (x200)]
Hundreds of cement sacks and steel beams rained down from the air, and Elian shouted to the laborers who had stepped back to avoid Calix’s sword strike.
“Alright — let’s pour some concrete!”
