*
In chess, there are various rules.
Like a stalemate leading to a draw, or castling where the king and rook swap places.
There were many peculiarities compared to other board games. One of them is this.
“This time, I’ll summon my friend as a hero in reverse.”
Dramatic sound effect.
Promotion.
When a pawn reaches the end of the chessboard, you can exchange it for another piece.
I placed my hand on the game board where Giseok and I were just playing chess.
“My friend is currently possessed by a vampire.”
I moved the pawn, which was already in a stalemate, a few more spaces until it reached the end.
Leaving clues in chess was probably for this reason.
To avoid the Demon King’s powers, using something akin to an anagram or puzzle would have sufficed.
‘You really have a knack for surprising people.’
His gaze was blurry, like a soul that had left the body, but it seemed his position as the vice guild master of our guild still lingered.
“Perhaps the separation of body and soul allowed him to bypass the powers.”
Originally, the powers of Demon Kings wouldn’t break unless the caster died.
Dennis, who couldn’t remember White Lily, and now Queen Bellin, whose soul was bound to a card, had been like that.
A power that covers the world with a ‘concept.’
But is there really anything perfect? Giseok’s state was weird.
He wasn’t forgotten like some people, nor had his name disappeared like others.
His situation was different from that of Pina, the Nameless Saintess.
“Should I say it’s a blessing in disguise?”
Right now, Giseok is a possessor.
His original body and soul have become separate.
So, what would happen if we summoned Giseok’s body from the real world here?
“If we bring forth his body from the original world, he might come back to life.”
Dull sound effect.
As the pawn transformed into a bishop, the stalemate turned into checkmate.
Just like doing a promotion in chess.
The idea was to summon Giseok’s original body here as a hero.
“That’s impossible. Summoning a hero to summon another hero.”
Hearing my words, the northern grand duchess trailed off.
Sophia, casting worried glances between Plints and me.
I wasn’t sure how close the grand duchess and that pillar guy had become.
But the numbers on the status window tell all.
“It was done by the Demon King’s of the Hero Church. It’s theoretically not impossible for us.”
I lowered my gaze toward the chessboard.
Thinking about flaws from the opponent’s perspective is one of the basics of strategy.
It was a method Giseok often used when participating in guild wars.
He’d revise our guild’s weaknesses and strategies from the opponent’s standpoint.
“Just like during the Demon God War, right?”
The mischief done by the Demon Kings during the Demon God War.
They had summoned Demon Kings from other worlds, continuing to fight.
“So… does that mean there’s a chance somebody might have a different face?”
“Yes, that’s right. It’s possible that the entire body could change.”
Even with the Ten Heroes appearing, the war didn’t end easily, and that’s the backdrop of why Sophia lost her father.
“What method are you going to try? Are you going to pray in the shrine or something?”
“It’s simple.”
Was it because of memories of the past? The grand duchess’s body quivered slightly.
Though I had heard about it from Giseok, it seemed like the wound hadn’t healed.
“We have the hero from the prophecy with us.”
I looked over at Pina next to me and continued.
White hair cascading down to her waist. Wolf ears perked up on her impressive figure as a glass knight.
“What? What does that even mean…?”
“It’s probably true. If I hadn’t been the hero, these things wouldn’t have happened.”
She looked at Plints with sad eyes.
After I confessed in the shrine, Pina’s emotions started to seep through.
If she had not been the hero from the prophecy, would she be contemplating the involvement of those around her?
“Pina. Could it be…?”
The fact that the princess of the Grancia Empire was the hero chosen by the gods.
Sophia looked wide-eyed at Pina, unable to speak.
“I found out today that the Demon King told me I needed to be dealt with because I’m the hero from the prophecy.”
“……”
Pina casually stated this, despite her friend’s worried gaze.
I watched her expression with a frown.
Guilt.
Could it be that she thought the Magic Hat’s invasion of the north was her fault?
I hesitated to offer any comforting words.
“Pina… are you okay?”
“Thanks to that, I got to meet Su-hyun.”
She bravely placed her hand on her chest, feeling her heartbeat.
A heartbeat now more precious to her than anything else.
“…. Then that’s fine.”
Such a straightened demeanor.
The moment I locked eyes with Pina, I saw determination in her gaze.
“Pina’s ability is Affection. It can probably be utilized as long as both sides share love as the name suggests.”
I nodded in response and began to speak.
She is the one who returned the forgotten elixir I had taken.
Perhaps it’s also because of her that I wasn’t affected by the powers of the Demon Kings.
“I’m sure summoning the hero is possible.”
The affection level in the status window was in the negatives.
Is it alright to express love like this in numbers? Probably not.
“Lady Sophia Coldheart.”
After finishing all my explanations, I directed a question towards Sophia.
Even if we could overcome the powers of the Demon Kings, what’s most important are the feelings of those involved.
“What kind of person was my friend to you?”
A heart that could melt an ice-cold heart could only come from a warm disposition.
*
A pale face with white hair.
Staring into blood-red eyes akin to the color of blood, Sophia fell into thought.
‘Plints.’
It hadn’t been long since she became acquainted with this vampire.
The reason she couldn’t immediately answer when Lee Soo-hyun asked if she could still like him even if his face or body changed.
Originally, vampires were a discriminated species.
Since betraying the first Saintess during the Demon God War, people looked down on them.
‘..Thinking back, it was odd from the moment we first met.’
A male figure who looked like his soul had departed.
Sophia clasped her injured hand that had been hurt while protecting herself.
A human hand is this warm.
Why did she look down on him when they first met just because he was a vampire?
“Does appearance matter? Plints?”
She recalled the incident when she almost poisoned him during their first meal together.
How could one finish food knowing it contained poison?
‘If it’s food you give me, I’d eat it even if it’s poisoned,’ that line still sends shivers down her spine.
Luckily, it was only mild poison, but it must have tasted bitter enough to numb her tongue.
That was also Giseok, forcing a smile while pretending to enjoy it.
‘If you’re not an ally, I thought everyone was an enemy.’
In some ways, that thinking was quite extreme.
This mindset of hers stemmed largely from her father.
Ragna Coldheart.
A member of the Ten Heroes known as the Iron-Blooded Duke of the North.
A hero who perished while fighting the summoned Demon Kings alone during the Demon God War and sacrificed himself to protect the people of the North and the Ten Heroes.
‘….But through meeting this person, I realized that’s not the case.’
When the ruling position in the North became vacant, Sophia, left alone, had no choice but to take the grand duchess position herself.
The iron-blooded land. The grand duchess of Prostia.
That throne, revered by all, was actually one of solitude.
Except for Pina, who had a similar situation, she had no one to share her inner thoughts with.
Her hands blistered, and calluses formed on her palms from wielding a spear.
Also, seizing the chance when power was weakened, she purged nobles trying to manipulate the North.
‘I wonder how different it would have been if we had met earlier.’
Since childhood, she had strived to become a strong ruler.
Protecting her country was the way to preserve the final memories left with her father.
A young girl felt the world and her heart grow cold.
Then one day.
An outsider arrived by boat.
White hair and red eyes.
The man who introduced himself as Plints was unusual.
‘This is how you use spear techniques. You rely on your body weight, engaging in offense and defense together.’
‘Is this how you do it?’
Plints, who appeared to understand more about Northern spear techniques than she did.
Though he looked frail, he was probably a former athlete, exuding the aura of a natural spear master.
‘No need to hide your hands. It’s cool because it’s like a badge of honor.’
Plints commented on Sophia’s rough palms after the poison incident.
With her guard down, she began to share personal stories with him frequently.
‘Unexpected. I didn’t think I’d find someone to play chess with me.’
‘I feel the same, Plints.’
‘Bears are smarter than wolves, after all.’
They played chess together and worked through the forgotten paperwork with Plints’s help.
Both had so many similarities, they connected like puzzle pieces.
“You asked what Plints meant to me, didn’t you, Licht?”
He had even preemptively discovered nobles scheming to assassinate Sophia.
The only friend in the lonely North who truly understood her favorite foods and hobbies.
She had thought she would never be understood by anyone.
Yet, he supported and encouraged her as she fought alone to protect the North.
“He was my most irreplaceable friend….”
Even when Sophia tried to drop honorifics first,
His refrain of ‘the lady I knew wasn’t like this…’ caused her to fail repeatedly.
Aside from the occasional nonsensical comments, the void left behind by his absence felt overwhelmingly large.
“No, perhaps we were even closer than that.”
The campfire that thawed her frozen heart.
The moment she realized that warmth, they became inseparable.
But was it true that where there are meetings, there are farewells?
The happy times spent with Plints passed in the blink of an eye.
“Plints. What if you can’t go? It’s lonely without you….”
“Haha, I still can’t stand to see my lady fall.”
The heart disease passed down through the Coldheart family.
He disappeared with words warning her that if the elixir wasn’t used, she might eventually collapse.
“Don’t say that. Just a little longer….”
At the dock as the boat prepared to leave, she acted more childlike than a grand duchess.
The distant sound of her heavy heart was so painful.
“I’ll be back, Sophia.”
As her heart began to grow cold once more, Plints hugged Sophia, promising they would meet again.
Waiting for the man who had left became an exercise in loneliness.
At first, she naively imagined he’d be back in a day or two.
But a month passed, and the man still hadn’t returned.
She spent each night waiting for him to come back.
After many days and nights of waiting, she finally met him.
“Something more important than this elixir… would have been you.”
The day after he returned to the North.
The Magic Hat invaded the North, and she became a mere shadow of her former self in trying to save herself.
A hollow face, eyes that felt completely empty.
A state where she couldn’t even speak properly due to the powers of the Demon King.
Is appearance truly that important in love?
Could she fall in love again, even if he was no longer the same as she knew him?
“……”
It doesn’t matter.
After all, she wasn’t in love with his appearance to begin with.
What thawed Sophia’s frozen heart was the warm disposition of the man she loved.
“……It doesn’t matter what you look like.”
Gently brushing Giseok’s bangs aside, the grand duchess continued.
Having realized this truth through their time together.
“No matter what form you take, I will love you. Please summon me back.”
With tearful eyes, Sophia poured out her feelings to Pina and Lee Soo-hyun.
