"My lord Niklaus? You're finally awake! I thought you'd sleep forever!"
Ethan's voice, mixed with a hint of deliberate playfulness, cut through the tangle of his thoughts. Ethan didn't comment on Niklaus's alarming state, nor on the pallor of his face or the cold sweat gleaming on his forehead. He sat patiently beside a crackling fire, roasting two rabbits. The warmth spreading through the cave was a blessing after the snow's frost.
Little Adele sat beside Ethan, her wide eyes staring at Niklaus with fearful curiosity. Then, with sudden boldness, she rose and ran toward him, hugging his leg tightly.
Niklaus looked at her, then gently but firmly pushed her away. It wasn't anger—just an automatic motion, like removing something stuck to his clothes. He looked at his body. The dried blood that had covered him last night was gone. His heavy cloak looked relatively clean, though faded in places. It seemed Ethan had washed the blood out. He didn't comment. Didn't care.
He moved toward the fire and sat on a protruding rock near the warmth. A slow movement that betrayed lingering pain and exhaustion.
Ethan handed him a waterskin and pieces of roasted rabbit on a stick. He didn't bring up his earlier discoveries about Adele and Maria. Instead, he gestured toward the girl and said: "You slept for three days. The girl told me her name." He glanced at Adele, who had returned to sit beside Niklaus—this time at a respectful distance. "Though she didn't speak. She just waited for you to wake up." A hint of wonder colored his voice. Then he smiled faintly, trying to break the ice: "Seems she likes you, even though you're terrifying beyond reason. Do you put a spell on children to make them cling to you?"
"My lord Niklaus," Ethan said, his tone suddenly shifting to something more serious, less playful. "As unnaturally strong as you are... you're still only sixteen. You need to eat. So you can... grow."
There was a glimmer of challenge—or perhaps hopefulness—in Ethan's eyes as he studied Niklaus's height, which was around five-foot-eleven—the same as twenty-one-year-old Ethan. The young man seemed to hope his master wouldn't "grow" any more than he already had!
Niklaus took the waterskin mechanically. The cold water slid down his throat like a lifeline, quenching a little of the fire in his head. Then he took the rabbit meat. The thought that he was in a sixteen-year-old's body, while his soul—Arthur's soul—was twenty-nine, stung him again. How annoying, almost humiliating, yet unimportant at the same time.
A heavy silence settled in, broken only by the crackle of the fire. Then, uncharacteristically, Ethan spoke in a lower, serious voice:
"Why?"
Niklaus stopped chewing for a moment, his eyes meeting Ethan's in the firelight.
"Why did you give me the high-grade potion? And why did you carry me on your back through all that snow?"
Niklaus didn't answer. He kept eating, but Ethan caught a flicker in his crimson eyes—a hint of confusion, as if the question itself disturbed his mental order. After several long seconds, Ethan heard the familiar cold, empty voice emerge like a frozen breeze:
"Because you'll be useful to the plan."
The words were dry, pragmatic, utterly devoid of warmth.
But this time, Ethan smiled. Not a playful smile, but one of deep understanding—a little sad.
"It's good to be useful."
His tone was light, but his eyes said more. In that moment, between the glow of the fire and the wind's moan outside the cave, Ethan understood something Niklaus himself didn't:
Even he didn't know why he had saved him. That act, justified with words like "self-interest" and "the plan," came from something deeper—something even Niklaus couldn't comprehend or accept.
So he hid behind icy phrases.
Ethan smiled again—not at the situation, but at the enormous contradiction in the man who had saved him twice: once in the slave market with a simple sentence that changed his fate, and once in the deadly snow with a precious potion and a burden heavier than mountains.
Niklaus didn't see Ethan's smile, nor the understanding in his eyes. He was staring into the fire, but his mind was far away—drowning in another pit: a pit of unanswerable questions, nightmares that weren't nightmares, and an identity melting like snow under the flame of doubt.
Adele, with childhood innocence, leaned her head against his leg. This time, he didn't push her away.
The fog of nightmare dreams suddenly lifted under a touch harder than reality. It wasn't Ethan's voice or the fire's warmth—it was a familiar metallic click ringing deep in Niklaus's skull, followed by words forming before his inner eyes like blue fire script:
[System Warning: Forest of Death is 12 miles east. Entry forbidden by decree of the Duchy of Vandemir. Probability of arrest by the Duchy Knights: 92%]
[Reward for entering and surviving: Complete healing of all pain. Full restoration of energy and vitality + 120 points.]
[Urgent note: Accelerated mission execution required. Duchy Knights are active in the region investigating the inn's destruction.]
Then the stats emerged:
[Status Window]
User: Niklaus von Valderin Theodore Oblivion Azura
Current Rank: D+ (Sealed)
Physical Status: Severe muscle fatigue
Mental Status: Semi-stable
Points: 150
[Basic Stats]
• Strength: 67 → 80 (+13)
• Endurance: 61 → 81 (+20)
• Speed: 70 → 80 (+10)
• Perception: 74 → 80 (+6)
• Spirit: 90 (Note: true spirit cannot be measured due to seal)
• Mana: SSS (Sealed)
[Magical Seal Status]
• Unbreakable by conventional means
• Magical Seal: Restricts mana flow by 99%
• Alert: "Hostile" energy detected within the seal. Requires specific catalyst to break (unknown)
[Latent Skills]
New Skills (Locked)
· Elemental Activation (requires breaking magical seal)
· Shadow Summoning ✓ Unlocked
· Internal Energy Manipulation (requires advanced magical knowledge)
• Gather information about magical seal ❌ (Incomplete)
Main Mission:
[Head to the Forest of Death]
[Objective: Remove the magical seal]
[Condition: Stay alive and preserve sanity inside the forest]
[Reward: Unknown]
The nightmare images intensified in his head, blending with the System's warning. He didn't even bother focusing on the status window—his mind was about to explode under the weight of the dreams and invasive memories that felt like his own. He was losing his mind before even entering the forest. He thought that if he went in, he'd lose it entirely.
He raised his eyes from the flames, the familiar empty tone returning to his voice, addressing Ethan:
"The Forest of Death. It's close. Entry is forbidden. The knights are active after the inn incident." He paused for a moment, his crimson eyes glinting in the darkness. "The plan is changing."
He pulled out the glowing red brooch from his cloak's folds. It wasn't just an ornament. The rare metal, the intricate design worn only by the elite—everything about it screamed importance. He looked at it in heavy silence: he would only use it at the extreme edge. Selling it would expose his identity; keeping it made it a final weapon... and now its time had come.
He extended his hand quietly and placed the brooch into Ethan's astonished palm.
"You're not coming with me into the forest."
Ethan shuddered as if touched by a barbed wire:
"What?! How is this supposed to happen? Entry is almost impossible! And why are you giving me this? What if you don't come back? Or if someone discovers Adele?"
The bitter truth hit him: Niklaus had changed his plan because of Adele. He knew his master never intended to take him into the forest, but he thought his usefulness might change that decision. Adele had become the uncalculated obstacle.
"I'll come back," Niklaus said, his tone as sharp as a blade's edge. "And if I don't... take care of Adele for the rest of your life."
Ethan understood now that Maria's last words had been: "Take care of Adele." He hadn't understood why Niklaus agreed, but now he realized the motive was the same.
Ethan tried to hide his worry behind his usual sarcasm, but his voice trembled slightly:
"Am I Adele's mother now, to take care of her forever? Do I look like a wife seeing off her husband to war, left behind with the children?"