Chapter 10. A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing (1)
==[Don’t be mistaken, this alliance is just this once]==
[Objective] – Gain Kai’s recognition
[Reward] – Kai’s favorability increases
[Failure] – Death
Transparent messages floated across my vision.
The quest content, and even the reward… they weren’t just underwhelming, they were practically useless.
The only thing that couldn’t be ignored was the failure penalty—death.
Because of that, it seemed like this quest was automatically accepted.
This marked the third “Favorability” quest, following the tutorial and the main quest.
“Favorability?”
As soon as I muttered the word, translucent text appeared before my eyes again.
Favorability shows how a specific character views the [Player].
It represents the player’s relationship with others and is divided into 3 stages and 9 emotional states.
First, the Conflict Stage, where the character hates the player. It includes:
[Hatred, Disgust, Anger, Discord]
Next, the Neutral Stage, where the character feels nothing in particular toward the player:
[Indifference]
Finally, the Interest Stage, where the character is actively interested in the player. This includes:
[Closeness, Friendliness, Trust, Affection]
Listed in order:
Hatred < Disgust < Anger < Discord < Indifference < Closeness < Friendliness < Trust < Affection
The explanation was lengthy, but straightforward.
I read through it calmly. It wasn’t difficult to understand.
But that was all.
“Do I really need this?”
Raising favorability didn’t seem to have any real benefit.
No extra stats, no artifacts like [Inventory], no special skills.
There was no reason to waste time caring about someone’s opinion.
…Or so I thought—until:
◆ Are you wondering what’s the point of increasing favorability?
Another translucent message popped up, as if reading my thoughts.
Absolutely not!
You can receive “very special rewards” from characters in the Interest Stage, so it is highly recommended to increase their favorability!
On the other hand, characters in the Conflict Stage may pose a threat to your life. Again, increasing favorability is highly recommended!
Please note that characters at the extremes—[Hatred] or [Affection]—may be impossible to influence, no matter how hard you try.
Because it’s hard to truly hate someone enough to kill them… and even harder to love someone more than your own life!
“Hmm…”
So it wasn’t completely useless.
If that “very special reward” was real, it could be worth it.
Whether that reward came from the quest or the person, I wasn’t sure.
But it was clearly not something to be ignored.
And it wasn’t just about the rewards.
If favorability dropped to the Conflict Stage, your life could be in danger.
Which meant favorability had to be managed.
In that sense, Kai’s current favorability toward me was: [Hatred].
The absolute lowest possible.
◆ Kai has strong, active aggression with the intent to destroy you.
◆ Kai will definitely kill you if given the chance.
…So, yeah.
The messages were very clear about what [Hatred] meant.
It was like the system could read all my thoughts.
“Okay, but so what?”
I waved my hand and dismissed the floating messages.
Sorry, but I had zero intention of raising Kai’s favorability.
Naturally, I had no plans to do the favorability quest either.
A quest is only a suggestion.
How you accomplish your goal is entirely up to you.
And there’s no rule saying you must follow the quest’s intended path.
In other words, not doing a quest is also my choice.
Even if the quest is forcefully accepted, whether or not I complete it is up to me.
Of course, I alone bear the consequences of that choice.
So be it.
◆ Waaaaaah—! Waaaaaaaah—!!
The messages started blaring warning sounds again, urging me to raise Kai’s favorability.
With exclamation after exclamation, it tried to persuade me.
I ignored all of it.
I wasn’t that easy to convince.
“I want to kill Kai just as badly.”
I, too, had strong, active aggression with the intent to destroy Kai.
If given the chance, I would absolutely kill him.
That meant my favorability toward Kai was also [Hatred].
Even if the penalty for failing the quest was death, I’d rather just kill Kai first and remove the quest entirely.
I never had any intention of letting Kai live.
What kind of logic keeps a Frost General alive?
If Kai had fallen because of Seraphia, maybe I’d think differently.
Then, keeping Kai alive might’ve been worth considering—just kill Seraphia, and problem solved.
Without her, Kai wouldn’t have fallen, and raising his favorability to bring him into the allied forces would’ve been an amazing boost.
But Kai didn’t become a Death Knight because of Seraphia.
He became a Lich—by his own choice.
He transcended everything through his own will.
Even without Seraphia, he would’ve fallen into darkness on his own.
So Kai had to die, along with Seraphia.
Besides, Ian only ever regretted killing Seraphia.
He didn’t show the slightest remorse for killing Kai—not even a single word.
Meaning I can kill Kai right now if I want.
Honestly, I wanted to kill him earlier when we were face-to-face.
But I didn’t.
For one very simple reason.
“You’re seriously strong, huh.”
Because I couldn’t kill him.
He was too strong.
If Kai had drawn his sword with killing intent instead of just overpowering me, I would’ve died instantly—without even reacting.
Even the “Predator of the Allied Forces,” the me from my past life, couldn’t handle Kai.
As a special operations commander, I had taken down multiple imperial generals with my own hands.
I had strength on par with—or above—a legion commander.
But Kai the Frost General was the one exception.
Once, during a mission…
When I encountered Kai…
All I managed to do was barely escape alive.
That was in my past life.
Now that I’ve returned to the past, the gap is even wider.
Of course, Kai also returned to the past.
He’s no longer the Frost General, just the top knight of House Whitewolf.
But a monster is still a monster.
“No wonder the Royal Guard’s trying to recruit him.”
Kai is 20 years old now—two years older than me.
But his talent and accomplishments were so vast, not even 20 more years would close the gap.
If I hadn’t inherited Ian’s abilities, that is.
But now?
I have Ian’s power: Solo Leveling [EX] — I can grow infinitely stronger.
I have Ian’s power: Will of the Player [EX] — I can devour endlessly with Predation [S+].
There’s no time to waste on favorability or whatever.
I need to grow stronger.
“First, I’ll start by replenishing nutrients.”
I ignored the noisy alerts and made my way to the castle’s dining hall.
—
The Frost Trial Grounds after Adrian had left.
A deep, heavy silence hung in the air.
Kai stood still in the center of the trial grounds, trying to control the anger rising inside his chest. But the fury wouldn’t go away easily, and he ground his teeth hard in frustration.
It felt like his mind had been dyed blood red with rage.
This wasn’t just anger at Adrian—it was also anger directed at himself.
At himself, for even being momentarily overwhelmed by Adrian.
No matter how much he thought about it, Kai couldn’t understand why he had felt fear toward Adrian.
Kai stood in silence at the center of the grounds, eyes closed for a while.
“—Sir Kai! Sir Kai!”
Suddenly, a voice calling his name snapped him out of it.
When he came to his senses, Bernard, the head butler, was shouting at him.
Next to Bernard stood Seraphia, looking very unwell.
Her already pale skin had turned ghostly white.
Cold sweat dotted her smooth forehead, and her frail body wobbled as if blown by the wind.
If Bernard hadn’t been holding her, she might have collapsed on the spot.
It was Kai’s overwhelming aura, fueled by uncontrollable rage, that was affecting her.
And not just Seraphia. Even the soldiers were collapsing under Kai’s pressure.
Kai, startled by his mistake, quickly reined in his aura.
Only then did the people around the grounds start to breathe again, letting out gasps of relief.
Kai bowed deeply toward Seraphia.
“…I lost control. I’m sorry.”
“N-No, it’s okay…”
Seraphia weakly waved her hand, as if to say she was fine.
But clearly, she wasn’t fine at all.
Even the healthy soldiers of the Whitewolf family couldn’t withstand Kai’s energy—how could Seraphia, whose body was naturally weak from a curse of extreme cold?
Inside her small and delicate body, a powerful frost continuously flowed, freezing her from the inside.
If she wasn’t treated regularly, her body would slowly freeze until she couldn’t move—and eventually, she wouldn’t even be able to breathe. In the end, she would freeze to death.
But in the snowy mountains of the North, where the Whitewolf estate was located, they didn’t have much.
Seraphia couldn’t always receive the treatment she needed.
And the constant blizzards and freezing winds of the North meant she lived in daily pain.
“…Are you okay, Sir Kai?”
Even in such a state, Seraphia worried about Kai.
That’s the kind of person she was.
Someone who cared for her people more than herself.
A woman who wouldn’t hesitate to stay up for nights on end if it helped her people.
A true lord who prioritized feeding her people over easing her own illness.
She was nothing like Adrian, the scoundrel of the family.
They didn’t even seem like siblings—and in fact, they weren’t related by blood.
Thankfully, the previous Count had left everything in the family to Seraphia, not Adrian.
That was his true and final decision, not something manipulated.
And by now, the official message containing the will would’ve reached the royal palace.
It would take about three months for the royal family to begin their full investigation and issue a formal decree.
If Adrian were to be killed before then, the royal court might find it suspicious.
After all, he was still the official heir to the Whitewolf family.
Three months.
That was how long Adrian had left before his title as Young Lord would be revoked.
Just until then.
Kai would let Adrian live—only until then.
If, after that time, Adrian still remained in the family…
If he started using his authority to spend the family’s wealth however he wanted…
If he exploited the people of the territory…
If he eventually tried to take the lord’s title away from Seraphia…
Crunch!
Kai clenched his fists tightly, and a killing intent radiated from him.
—
Inside the dining hall of the lord’s estate.
“S-sorry! We’ve run out of ingredients…”
The head chef approached, sweating nervously.
He kept glancing at me, watching my reaction.
‘What was this guy’s name again?’
Unfortunately, I didn’t remember.
I didn’t even remember the name of Bernard, the head butler, so it was no surprise I didn’t know the chef’s.
But I did remember that the food was always good when I lived here. I vaguely recalled that the chef was pretty skilled.
“We’re out of ingredients?”
“Y-Yes, sir…”
The chef bowed deeply like a criminal.
To be honest, it was hard to believe a noble household like the Count’s could run out of food.
But… it wasn’t impossible.
The Whitewolf estate was in the snowy mountains of the North.
A harsh land with year-round bitter cold.
There were almost no wild plants, and very few animals lived there.
In simple terms—there wasn’t enough food.
And the territory didn’t have mines or local specialties either. They had practically nothing, so they were financially poor too.
Though it was called a Count’s estate, it was worse off than many Baronies.
“I thought you served turkey earlier?”
“T-That was leftover from the funeral…”
In other words, it was a rare ingredient they’d been saving.
They had planned to give it to me, but Kai had knocked it over and spilled it.
Useless bastard. And now it made sense why it was turkey.
‘Did Bernard offer that to me on purpose?’
Turkey was an extremely rare ingredient.
It was something you only served on special occasions, like a father’s funeral.
Bernard wouldn’t have offered it to me just because he liked me.
Was it simply following protocol as Young Lord? That didn’t feel right either.
‘Did they think I’d freak out if the food sucked?’
That was likely.
They probably feared I’d cause a scene, so they used the rare food just in case.
To these people, I was the “scoundrel of the Whitewolf family.”
Just looking at the chef now—he had no idea what to do in front of me.
His eyes darted nervously, and finally he just shut them tight.
He was bracing for a tantrum.
“Is there really nothing left to eat?”
“W-Well…”
“Don’t you have leftover scraps? Like innards?”
“We do, but…”
“Then go get them.”
A brief silence followed.
“Wa-wait… Do you mean… the guts?”
The chef’s face went completely blank with confusion.
