To accomplish the mission he claimed to be meaning to take upon in front of Janus, Alkayne and the majority of the troops that had accompanied him went back the fortress, only leaving one of his elite knights and a handful of soldier at the frozen lake, of course, the minor lord took Jiji with him, the nun preferred following him around rather than staying with her own family for some reason.
Nothing noteworthy happened on the way there, a few avalanches threatened to bury them, which was not out of the ordinary, such events occurred all the time in the frozen mountains, the journey back was more efficient than their initial travel to the lake as partway through, they ran into the heated road being constructed, the material wasn't the same as the one used in the construction of the bastion's roof, as instead of iron, it was rock that was being laid into a wide path, they never lost their warmth and would prevent snow from stacking up, allowing easy and simple transit from the fort to the frozen lake.
Upon arrival, Alkayne immediately went to his private quarters, looking down on the frozen lake, if what he believed was true, then his attempts to completely cull the accursed would be met with resistance.
Alkayne had been suspicious ever since he heard Janus's story about the apparition of the curse due to cannibalism, contrasted with what he had heard from Jiji, it clearly made it seem like the pope was either completely mistaken and oblivious, or purposefully telling a manipulated version of the events, the minor lord felt like the second option seemed more probable.
Now, Alkayne did not know the reason Janus had for lying, but he had clearly made sure to spread this false tale to all of the inhabitants, it was highly unlikely that they were all knowing of the lie and spreading it willfully, but since people turning into accursed and being thrown in the mountains was hardly something that could be missed, as the disappearances would be noticed eventually even if the act itself was concealed.
By that logic, it meant that the people and accursed thrown into the mountains and left to wander were coming from somewhere else- Janus had also affirmed that the lake was the only place where kalts still lived, once again, Alkayne did not believe it.
Especially after what he had discovered in the Grand Monastery, beneath the floor, he had sensed hundreds, if not thousands of life forces belonging to accurseds, hidden away directly underneath the monastery, he greatly doubted this could go unnoticed.
However, the zombie truly had no clue as to the why or how, what he was imagining seemed like a rather advanced ploy, but to what end? What would be the point of growing the amount of accursed wandering the mountains? Why ditch some people unaffected by the curse as well?
Janus was already a respected ruler, he already had status and power, no one was higher elevated than himself.
'I guess I'll start right now and wait for a reaction-' Alkayne retracted his senses from the lake and instantly stopped in his tracks, turning around to see Jiji in her birthday suit, lying on her stomach upon the already broken bed with feet kicking the air.
"Jiji, I need to work…" he tried to weasel his way out, but she just winked at him.
"Come on, isn't it part of your role as a husband?" she wasn't wrong, unfortunately, and it wasn't like Alkayne could claim that he had any issue with it, last time had clearly demonstrated both to his partners and himself that he still definitely had a ferocious beast yearning for such contact within him.
"Well… Cecili is not here, so it wouldn't be fair to-"
"I am here" she literally just appeared as he said that, like it had been rehearsed.
It was a two against one, and he had no weapons.
"Alright, but let's be quick about it"
They were not quick about it.
The sun was able to set and rise again before Alkayne was done accomplishing his duty.
Assembling some troops, forming multiple groups each led by one of his knights, they set out into the mountains to hunt the accursed down, their remains were also taken back to the fort and stored, even the accursed would be granted the privilege of undeath, as death rejected none.
However, Alkayne made sure to conceal the fact that they could convert livings to undeath, or at least, make it seem it wasn't as easy of a process as it truly was, the first few days were plentiful harvests and definitely certified to the minor lord that this whole business was fishy, the sheer amount that were killed and taken back in less than a week far exceeded the population of the frozen lake, and there were still plenty more, it seemed simply ludicrous that there had been so many inhabitants in the villages of those who left, especially when some of them would have had to be eaten to cause accursed to appear in the first place.
Not all who had been caught in the blizzard could have become cursed.
Alkayne would always be a part of those expeditions himself, even making sure to leave himself open to sneak attacks and the likes, just in case something or someone was watching, but nothing happened at all, even when busy cutting some accursed down.
For some reason however, apparently, him going out to slaughter livings and coming back covered in their freezing blood and bits of gore, was making Jiji especially amorous, he had no other choice but to satisfy her every single time, and of course, Cecili would always be there as well even if she didn't get even remotely as enamoured by his bloody appearance, she just seemed to enjoy some attention from Alkayne.
Truly, the benefits of being undead were shining through in these instants, no matter how much he exerted himself, be it physically or mentally, no fatigue or strain could reach him, only if he used up some death force would he perhaps slow down, but he didn't even need to reinforce himself with energy to slay the accursed, in fact, he wasn't even using his innate abilities despite the fact that they consumed nothing either, only swinging and stabbing his halberd.
Although the deeper they went, the more mutated some accursed would be, they would get stronger, faster, more cunning, but this slight increase in power wasn't nearly enough to put pressure on a minor lord or his elite troops.
Soon enough, Alkayne found one.