When I opened the office door, a warm breeze rushed in.
The flames rising from the fireplace tinged the walls with red.
Kiara sat in front of the table. She was wearing neat military attire instead of the armor adorned with the Frostwolf emblem. Only the white wolf fur draped over her shoulder remained unchanged.
“Please, sit down.”
She handed me a teacup. Steam rose gently from it.
“You should warm yourself up. The chill must have reached your bones.”
“Please explain first.”
At my words, Kiara’s movements stopped. It seemed like she was trying to hide the emotions passing through her.
“First, let’s drink the tea…”
“What was that earlier?”
“Do you… really want to know everything?”
The flames in the fireplace flickered. Kiara’s white fingers tightly gripped the teacup.
Her usual cold elegance was nowhere to be found, and she seemed unstable.
“If you didn’t want to know, you wouldn’t have asked. I’m curious why you blocked my attack during the battle.”
“I see. Of course, you are a hero. I will apologize first. For hindering your victory…”
Kiara lowered her head towards me.
“I’m not asking for an apology. I want to know the reason. Why?”
“You must have seen Baeskul’s appearance. Doesn’t she… look similar to me?”
In an instant, I remembered. Baeskul’s cold gaze, her chilling silver hair, and even her power to control coldness.
“She’s one of the Demon King’s Four Heavenly Kings, Baeskul…”
Kiara’s voice trembled.
“She’s my sister.”
Kiara let out a deep sigh. Outside the window, the Frostwolf flag fluttered mournfully in the snowstorm.
“To be precise, she’s Kiria Frostguard. She was originally the Duchess of the Frostguard family.”
The strange behavior during the battle with the Four Heavenly Kings. The complicated gaze towards Baeskul. Everything made sense now.
“It was snowing like this that day. It was a surprise attack by the demons. No one expected it.”
Her voice trembled.
“I… I was still young back then. I could only hide behind my sister… She always tried to protect me, and everyone else. Just like she always did.”
Her gaze turned to the empty space. It seemed like she was recalling that day.
“The Jabberwock attacked the castle walls. My sister was at the front…”
“The Jabberwock? The ice dragon?”
Kiara nodded. Her eyes, rimmed with frost, were bloodshot.
“That’s why Fenrir went berserk when he saw the Jabberwock. Because of the memories of that day…”
Suddenly, she burst into laughter. But it wasn’t a laugh, more like a cry.
“But do you know? It was a trap. The Jabberwock was just bait.”
A cold aura filled the room.
“While my sister was fighting the Jabberwock, the demons performed a ritual… on her body…”
Kiara’s shoulders trembled.
“If I… If I had been stronger…”
Kiara’s emotions flared up. The coldness around her swirled violently.
“That’s why my sister died. Frozen completely…”
Her voice grew louder.
“But the demons… they… froze her… so coldly…”
Mumbling as if entranced, she suddenly turned her head towards me.
“I’m sorry again. I thought you, the hero, would kill my sister, and my body moved on its own… I couldn’t lose her again.”
“I’m sorry to say this, but Baeskul is no longer your sister.”
I said coldly. Rational judgment was needed. I couldn’t let emotions control me.
“Her body has already been taken by the demons. Wouldn’t freeing that body actually be what’s best for your sister?”
“No! My sister… she’s still inside. She remembers us. She remembers Frostguard…”
“How can you prove that?”
At my words, the temperature in the room dropped sharply.
“It could be the demons’ trick. Even if my sister’s spirit still lingers, compared to the mental strength of the Four Heavenly Kings, a human spirit…”
“It was when I was 18. The Frozen Legion attacked the castle walls. The commander of the Frozen Legion appeared with thousands of Frost Ghouls.”
I had heard this story when the Frostguard first arrived. The patrol soldiers proudly told it.
The 18-year-old girl had single-handedly defeated the Four Heavenly Kings, they said. A miracle of the North.
“Everyone says I’m a hero. But… my sister… she let me go.”
“Excuse me?”
I recalled my battle with her. Kiara’s skills were… certainly strong, but…
“Honestly, she’s weaker than my party members.”
No matter how well she was attuned to cold and had the soldiers of Frostguard, she could never stand alone against the Four Heavenly Kings.
In our hero party, the ones who could withstand the Four Heavenly Kings were either the hero and saintess combination, or Aris in long-range magical combat. Or perhaps Sylvia, backed by the World Tree in the Elven Forest. Nia, being the magical cat, didn’t count.
So why was Kiara able to protect Frostguard…?
It’s just that Baeskul didn’t try to kill her.
“Sometimes as the commander of the Frozen Legion, Baeskul, and sometimes as the Duchess of Frostguard, Kiria, my sister is still constantly fighting.”
Kiara’s eyes became red.
“That’s why it’s even more painful. Because I haven’t completely lost her… That’s why I… I can never give up.”
A being that is neither a complete enemy nor a complete family. I could feel the pain of her enduring for eight years in that ambiguous boundary.
“Even as we fight like this… we are protecting each other. My sister and I… We don’t want victory.”
There was a trace of longing in Kiara’s red eyes.
“I… I don’t wish for anything anymore. The glory of Frostguard, the honor of the Duchess… I don’t need any of it.”
Kiara took a step closer. Tears welled up in her blue eyes.
Her hand grabbed my arm. The cold tips of her fingers were trembling.
“I like it this way. Pretending to be enemies, pretending to fight…”
Kiara’s tears fell, turning into ice crystals.
“I’ve endured for eight years. Even like this… even like this… I want to be with my sister.”
The flames in the fireplace flickered as if about to die. The steam from the cold teacup on the table faded away.
“Hero, please leave. Just leave us, leave Frostguard alone.”
Her voice trembled. The hidden sincerity burst out.
But I couldn’t respond. The positions of the hero, who had to defeat the demons, and the younger sister, who wanted to protect her sister, were too different.
My mind was in turmoil. The fact that Baeskul was not just the Four Heavenly King to be defeated, but someone’s precious family.
But I couldn’t just leave Baeskul, who had become a demon.
“This can’t go on.”
I suddenly spoke. Kiara’s blue eyes shook.
“Is this really what you want? To leave your sister, half-dead, suffering in the cold of the demons?”
“Then…”
Kiara’s voice trembled. The hand gripping the Frostblade shook violently.
“Then what should I do…”
Her cold mask shattered. The protector of the Frostwolves was gone, leaving only a younger sister who missed her sister.
“This is all… this is all I can do.”
Kiara lowered her head. Tears fell through her silver hair.
“I know this isn’t the best, but still…”
“I’ll save her.”
I said firmly. Kiara’s movements froze.
“Kiria.”
“What…”
“I won’t just kill her. I will give her true salvation. At the very least, I’ll make sure she can say a proper farewell.”
“Is… is that really possible?”
Kiara raised her head.
A faint hope appeared in her reddened eyes.
A trembling voice. The first genuine expectation I had seen.
“We will drive out the demonic ritual and restore Lady Kiria’s consciousness.”
I took a step closer and held Kiara’s cold hand.
“Trust me, Your Grace. I promise as a hero.”
“But… how?”
“There is a way.”
I said firmly. In truth, I wasn’t sure. But right now, she needed hope.
“Really… If that’s possible…”
Tears welled up in Kiara’s eyes. But this time, it wasn’t tears of despair.
“Please help.”
She grabbed my hand tightly. I could feel warmth at the tips of her cold fingers.
“Please save my sister… save my sister.”
The flames in the fireplace flared again. The chill in the room slowly faded.
Were we no longer enemies, but allies?
It didn’t matter. The hope in Kiara’s eyes was enough.
‘There must be a way.’
Darkness that no moonlight could pierce enveloped the graveyard.
Black mist crawled along the ground.
Black marble coffins lined up in rows.
Their glossy surfaces glistened coldly under the dim moonlight.
The names engraved on them had already faded and could no longer be read.
The Necromancer’s tomb…
This was the extra stage.
In a typical playthrough, it was an ‘extra boss fight’ area that wasn’t necessary to visit.
Bones scattered across the floor.
With every step, a crunching sound echoed.
Skeletons grinned, exposing their teeth.
The twisted ribs must have belonged to someone’s chest.
The broken spine probably belonged to a tall man.
The skull that rolled to one side… was probably a girl’s.
Her youthful forehead and soft, curved temple were still intact.
Looking at the skull, she must have been rather cute when she was alive.
[Master, there’s a strange energy…]
A chill ran through me.
A creeping, unpleasant sensation.
The surrounding darkness seemed to writhe.
“Hehe~ Long time no see, living person~”
Suddenly, a clear voice echoed from behind me.
White mist swirled around and formed the shape of a girl.
Her translucent skin, floating posture, and playful frown.
“Hehe, you’re handsome. Want to be my boyfriend? I’m Misty~”
The ghost girl… no, Misty, spun around me.
The translucent edges of her skirt fluttered in the air.
The bunny pattern floating in the air was cute.
“Silly human~ You barged into the graveyard, so I can do whatever I want! Let me touch you! Ah! But I’m a ghost, I can’t touch you. Silly me!”
Her transparent form approached and pulled away repeatedly.
She passed through the nearby gravestones or circled around me.
For a ghost, she seemed too innocent.
“Your panties are showing.”
“Yieeek! Can you see it?”
Misty, who had stopped mid-air, blushed.
Her translucent face turned bright red as she tightly clutched her skirt.