After the war council was finished, Vaile excused himself and went to check up on Seivalt. He found his old Tamed Being in a hospital bed, rather than in his quarters. Seivalt looked… bad. Worse than he had looked when he first met Vaile after his arrival in this new world. Seivalt truly looked like he had but a few hours left to live, yet the old man was cheery as could be despite his terrible condition.

Even as he slept, he had a wide smile plastered over his face, as though he was in a pleasant dream despite the pain he should have been feeling. The healers were busting their asses and working in shifts, pouring every bit of their mana pool into healing him before nearly passing out and trading places with someone else. Eight healers were at his side at all times, trying desperately to keep their leader from slipping off his mortal coil.

As Vaile approached, Seivalt’s eyes fluttered and opened and he turned his head to his master.

“I had hoped that you wouldn’t see me like this so soon…”

Seivalt’s words were barely a whisper, but Vaile caught every one.

“Rest. You need it. We’ll take care of everything. Don’t worry, you’ll get better soon.”

Vaile tried to tell Seivalt that he would make it, but Seivalt weakly shook his head.

“No. I won’t. I had hoped to stand atop the broken realm my brother cast me out of, but it seems I must leave this task to the younger generations.”

Vaile could not find the words he needed.

“My Lord, please don’t mourn for me. I lived a life far longer than I should have and got to fulfil my long-held wish to see you again.”

Seivalt raised his arm with what little strength he had and motioned for the healers to leave him.

“I will not be kept at the brink of death like this.”

Vaile had hardly known Seivalt, yet he felt some sorrow at this turn of events. Nora entered and saw the healers not healing and was about to accuse them of treason, but Seivalt stopped her.

“Nora. I pass the mantle to you. Make the most of the power, knowledge and cunning you have and lead Red Mountain to victory. I leave everything to you. Now, let me close my eyes and rest one last time.”

Nora tried to approach but Vaile held his arm out to stop her.

“He doesn’t want to be trapped on the brink of death for forever. He has more than earned his rest.”

Vaile got down on one knee and held Seivalt’s hand.

“I barely knew you, yet you leave so soon. What few memories I have were great, and what feelings I have are sorrowful. I will be here for you, in these final moments. Don’t worry, I am here.”

Seivalt smiled and settled in his hospital bed before closing his eyes and relaxing. His breath slowed and it seemed as though sleep had taken him. Still, Vaile held his hand as the breathing slowed further and then ceased. Still clutching Seivalt’s hand, Vaile took a quick glance at his list of Tamed Beings.

Seivalt’s name was greyed out.

Vaile placed Seivalt’s hand on his chest and stood up. The looks he saw on the faces of the people around him seemed to ask the big question, to which Vaile answered by closing his eyes and giving a slow nod.

Nora in particular seemed to be in the middle of several stages of grief at once. She was most visibly angry, and Vaile suspected that anger was directed both at Seivalt for dying and herself for acting the way she did around him. It seemed as though the bubble would burst at any moment, but she excused herself from the room before then.

Vaile almost followed after her but decided against it and stayed behind as Seivalt’s body was covered in a shroud and prepared for his funeral.

…

It had been four days since Seivalt, the Tyrant of Red Mountain had passed, and there was already talk of power struggles. Nora had locked herself in her room and even though Seivalt’s funeral was to be held in a few hours she refused to respond to any requests to honor her familial ties and personal responsibilities. Vaile was not going to let everything his Tamed Being built up come crumbling down due to his death, so he made himself ready to force his way into Nora’s room at any cost.

The door was locked by a series of potent spells, deadbolts and chains, but it was nothing a short-range teleportation skill could not get around. The countermeasures to such an act would have gotten him good, if he had not prepared for them ahead of time. Despite the alarm that was screaming at everyone in the room, Vaile could not see any sign of Nora. He ventured through the room, or rather, series of rooms that made up her suite. Each room seemed to have a designated purpose, and Vaile eventually reached the room that had a life sign in it on his minimap.

Nora’s bedroom was protected by yet more security measures, but Vaile was able to circumvent them with decent speed and ease. While not specialized in those categories, he had been forced to deal with his share of security features in the game. He wasn’t good, but he wasn’t bad either. He just needed time and resources to deal with the weak (by late-game standards) locks and magic security measures.

He slowly pushed the door open and entered the bedroom. Nora wasn’t here either.

“Strange.” Thought Vaile, “She should be in here. The minimap says…”

Vaile realized his blunder and walked over to a wall that had a definite lack of anything on it. It was completely unlike the other parts of this room, in that it was barren of anything and everything, even paint or plaster.

“My guess is that this has a hidden door. Now where to find the way to activate it?”

Vaile scanned the room and located an arrangement of letters from the English alphabet. This was the only thing that stuck out to him as out of place, as the jumbled letters were all out of order. Looking closer, he noticed a pattern.

“Can’t be…”

Vaile pressed the letter ‘V’ which resulting in a clicking sound and the letter being wreathed in a blue glow.

“It can’t be that simple…”

A. I. L. E.

After pressing those letters in order, the wall that was barren sank into the ground. It was not a rotating door or a swinging door, rather it was an elemental door. Vaile sighed at the fact that anyone who knew a thing about the Red Mountain Bandits would know the password, but anyone who got this far would have earned the right to an easy puzzle.

“Now, what’s behind door number one?”

With trepidation, Vaile entered the hidden room and turned a corner.

And saw Nora grieving heavily over what could only be described as a Yandere girl’s shrine to her beloved, which in this case was Vaile.

Nora turned to lash out at whoever had entered her sanctuary and saw Vaile slowly backing out.

“I… I t-think I should j-just wait outside.” Vaile managed to stammer before being thrown onto the bed by Nora.