As evidence of having caught the snow rabbits, Cain, Ed, Fon, and Bolio each cut off a portion of ear from the snow rabbit carcasses they had caught and stored them separately in their bags.
“We only need to cut one each, right?”
“Yes. Just don’t forget to standardize on the right ear.”
The snow rabbits’ ears had an unusual structure where the ear flap facing forward was thinner than the back.
There was a theory that they were structured this way to better channel headwinds, though it wasn’t certain.
In any case, thanks to this structure that distinguished left from right like left and right hands, cutting off just one ear from a snow rabbit served as sufficient proof of having caught one.
“Wow, there really are a lot of them.”
“Y-yeah…”
“Is this really breeding season?”
It was Bolio, who had been silently cutting ears, who answered that question.
“It’s a bit strange to call it breeding season. When I was a 1st Circle last year, I came to this area following the 2nd floor people under Instructor Rowen’s leadership. That happened to be during breeding season, and while snow rabbits did appear, there were many small ones that had just been born.”
“Now that you mention it, there are almost only adults here?”
“I-if it were breeding season, there would be many small ones like Bolio said…”
During breeding season, many creatures increase at once.
And when that happens, naturally the snow rabbits that had established themselves in the habitat and had offspring would spread outward from the center with their young.
Snow rabbits were magical beasts that traveled in groups when hunting, regardless of whether they were adults or young, so there was no particular possibility that the young were hiding somewhere separately.
“Bolio is right. This definitely isn’t breeding season. And the Bederman side would have already known that.”
“They knew?”
Cain nodded while skillfully cutting snow rabbit ears with swift movements.
“Bederman definitely said they were attacked by snow rabbits on their way to our family. Then they too would have been able to guess whether it was breeding season by seeing whether there were only adults like us, or if there were young ones too. But there wasn’t a word about that.”
“Now that you think about it, that’s true…?”
“Of course, if we had brought up that topic first, they wouldn’t have tried to tell us, making excuses like ‘we swept them away so quickly that we couldn’t confirm that exactly’ or ‘we can’t be sure with just this one piece of information, so go check for yourself.'”
“That’s a plausible reason.”
“Th-then if it’s not breeding season, what could it be?”
Fon asked with a slightly frightened expression.
“There are several possibilities. Their habitat could have been destroyed by natural phenomena and they came out looking for a new home, or the flow of ley lines flowing through the snowy mountains changed and they tried to establish a base in a place with more abundant mana. If not that…”
Rustle.
Cain, who had finished cutting the last snow rabbit’s ear, turned to them and said.
“A magical beast strong enough to drive out all the snow rabbits appeared in their habitat.”
“Eek!”
If the habitat had been destroyed by natural phenomena—that is, earthquakes, severe snowstorms, or resulting avalanches—even if the distance was far, the family couldn’t have failed to notice.
‘Even to say they left seeking mana, I don’t feel any particularly high-purity mana in this area.’
While cutting the snow rabbits’ ears, Cain had been steadily checking the purity and flow of surrounding mana.
From what Cain felt, if anything, going toward the direction he had come from would lower the purity, not increase it.
Therefore, the most likely possibility was the appearance of a strong magical beast.
Ed and Fon swallowed nervously after hearing Cain’s words.
“If it’s just a snow leopard, that should be fine…”
“R-right. Cain caught an adult snow leopard by himself last time.”
“If it’s as Cain says, a snow bear would be most likely. Even though snow leopards are strong, they’re no match when snow rabbits gang up on them. But snow bears are said to be worth a hundred.”
“…Then we might have to fight a snow bear? Bolio, have you ever seen a snow bear?”
“No. Actually, all I know is that it’s an incredibly huge bear.”
Bolio looked at Cain and asked.
“Cain, don’t you know anything about snow bears? You were reading something about magical beast information from a book earlier.”
“Based on adults, body length is about 2.3 meters. Weight approaches 600 kilograms, and eye color is mostly…”
“No, we don’t need all that detail… Isn’t there anything like weaknesses?”
“Just under the jaw, groin, and heart. Basically, since the torso hide is thick, the general strategy is to target the eyes or limbs first to restrict movement.”
“Wow, you’re like a walking magical beast encyclopedia, Cain.”
Bolio, Ed, and Fon all marveled simultaneously.
“B-but don’t you need to be at least 3rd Circle to catch a snow bear? I think I heard that…”
It was Bolio who shook his head at those words.
“That’s the standard way, but looking at our level of skill… No, to be honest, if Cain is with us, it’s worth trying. Why?”
Bolio suddenly clenched his fist as if frustrated.
“I saw that cocky bastard Anyas bragging about catching a snow bear alone recently. But I think if Cain fought against Anyas, Cain would win. No, he’d definitely win.”
Although Cain could only use magic up to 2nd Circle, if he utilized his ability to use magic itself and his ability to delicately concentrate firepower, he could surely finish someone like Anyas in just a few exchanges.
‘I know because I’ve fought Anyas myself.’
Of course, Anyas would have improved since then too, but even considering that, Bolio’s opinion remained unchanged.
The skill Cain had just shown in battle was at a level that didn’t make sense for a 2nd Circle.
“And what happens if we come all this way and just go back because we’re scared of a snow bear? If we just properly complete the mission and return, we can give those Bederman family bastards a blow and recover the support funds too.”
“Right. Bolio’s right. We can’t give up after coming this far.”
“I-I think so too.”
Bolio shouted confidently to Cain.
“Cain. Honestly, at first I wanted to compete with you on contribution, but I’ve decided to give up. Instead, I’ll trust you and do my best to help. Let’s do this properly. We can do it, right?”
“Of course. Thank you for trusting me.”
Cain smiled faintly.
Ed raised his hand and shouted.
“Good! I’ll do my best to help too!”
“M-me too!”
Cain continued advancing along the gentle path.
“Squeak!”
“Squeeeak!”
“Oh! This time they’re coming from below!”
“Fire Needle.”
Along with Cain’s unhesitating incantation, one thick Fire Needle mercilessly pierced through the heart of a snow rabbit racing up from below at a terrifying speed.
“We’ll help too…”
Thwack! Thud!
“…”
Ed, Fon, and Bolio also gathered mana to help, but before they could even begin their incantations, Cain’s Fire Needle pierced the snow rabbits’ hearts in sequence as if sewing in mid-air.
“What kind of aerial acrobatics is that?”
“It’s my first time seeing him catch them all with just one like that.”
“E-even maintaining it straight through is difficult…
“But even though we agreed to cooperate, isn’t Cain hogging too much by himself?”
Bolio belatedly complained, but Cain was already trudging down to cut the snow rabbits’ ears.
“Sorry, but there’s no time to wait. The sun sets quickly in the snowy mountains.”
Today was already the day they departed. When they had finished packing and set out, it was already past noon, so as Cain said, there wasn’t much daylight left.
Looking in the direction the snow rabbits had come from, Cain said.
“This time the snow rabbits came up from below, not from above. That means they’ve already dug burrows and established temporary residences in that area.”
“Temporary residences?”
“Does that mean they’re not just temporarily driven out, but don’t even dare think about returning?”
“Exactly. Usually when one snow bear disturbs a habitat, the snow rabbits know they’ll return after some time. We need to consider the possibility that snow bears are acting in groups.”
If not, it would mean there’s a magical beast even stronger than snow bears.
‘A magical beast stronger than snow bears…’
Cain continued forward while thinking of several candidates in his mind.
After crossing the hill, their first destination came into view.
The destination was a small cave just below the peak.
“We finally arrived!”
“Whew. Now I feel like I can live.”
“O-outside is really cold.”
Although having circles in their hearts supposedly made them less affected by cold, walking through snowfields while continuously facing cold wind inevitably accumulated cold and fatigue.
“Fire.”
Bolio, who had abundant mana, lit a fire inside the cave.
“Ah, it’s warm.”
“W-warm is definitely the best…”
Ed and Fon also warmed themselves.
“Cain, you come warm yourself too. What are you doing over there?”
“C-Cain?”
“I don’t know. If you don’t want to, forget it.”
While the three warmed themselves, Cain sat near the cave entrance in a cross-legged position and concentrated.
‘The location is good indeed.’
The flow of mana that had only been faintly felt earlier now felt vivid, as if it were passing through his body.
And.
‘…!’
Only then did Cain realize the identity of the strange sense of discomfort he had felt.
‘The flow of the ley lines is definitely different from the snowy mountains I knew. The direction of flow has completely changed. As if twisted by some enormous force.’
Of course, since over 200 years had passed, there was a possibility the flow had changed.
But even so, there were no cases where the direction would be completely twisted to this degree.
‘No. There was one such case.’
Cain recalled something that happened 200 years ago.
‘A white crystal generated once every few hundred years in the snowy mountains, containing extremely pure condensed magical power.’
The so-called ‘Snow Flower Ice Crystal’ – a snowflake-shaped crystal.
White magic stones that could be mined from some caves in the snowy mountains were also valuable resources, but Snow Flower Ice Crystals were incomparably rarer, and the power contained within them was immeasurably deep and dense.
‘Just its existence alone could change the flow of ley lines in the snowy mountains.’
This fact was likely unknown even to Blake Sears.
‘At best, he might have just heard the name Snow Flower Ice Crystal.’
In his previous life too, he had only discovered it after launching a massive search operation without knowing it was a Snow Flower Ice Crystal.
‘If that has appeared again now… what an incredible connection.’
Of course, nothing was certain yet.
However, if a Snow Flower Ice Crystal had really appeared, it could explain everything happening in the snowy mountains right now.
‘Because it would make sense if strong magical beasts drawn to the power of the Snow Flower Ice Crystal moved and caused all this.’
With his eyes closed, Cain carefully felt the direction the changed flow was moving and applied it to a map of the entire snowy mountains in his mind.
This allowed him to narrow down the location candidates for the source of that power, presumably the Snow Flower Ice Crystal, to two or three places.
‘If I could just approach the Snow Flower Ice Crystal…’
Cain’s other purpose for coming to the snowy mountains—organizing the mana in his body in an area where pure mana flowed to surely and quickly create a ‘complete 2nd Circle.’
That too could be achieved in a short time.
There would be no area where purer mana gathered and flowed than near a Snow Flower Ice Crystal.
‘It’s not just about achieving it.’
If he was lucky enough to find it quickly, and if he could invest about a full day, he might even be able to advance to 3rd Circle and lay some foundation.
‘Even calculating based on my usual pace, it would skip at least three months.’
Moreover, if he could safely return with the Snow Flower Ice Crystal, just this one item could improve the family’s financial situation enough that they wouldn’t have to worry about it for quite some time.
‘The delayed maintenance work and territory management could all be solved at once.’
Since the Snow Flower Ice Crystal could also explain why the snow rabbits were showing abnormal behavior, the mission would naturally be completed as well.
They would recover the support funds from Bederman and future interference with Cain would disappear, so it would truly kill four birds with one stone.
‘It’s not impossible for me to directly absorb the power contained in the Snow Flower Ice Crystal… but that’s too dangerous.’
With a body that hadn’t even achieved 3rd Circle yet, carelessly touching the power of a Snow Flower Ice Crystal could shake even the mana system he had already organized.
‘For now, the best approach is to use the ley lines twisted by the Snow Flower Ice Crystal to organize mana and achieve 3rd Circle.’
Having organized his thoughts, Cain opened his eyes and stood up.
‘The next destination is decided.’
But there was still a remaining problem.
“Oh, Cain. You’re up? Did you figure something out?”
Namely, going to where the Snow Flower Ice Crystal was located with only 2nd Circle magic would be extremely dangerous.
‘No, to be precise, it would be dangerous with only 2nd Circle flame magic.’
To be able to use ice magic, and to respond flexibly to any unexpected situations, it would be the right judgment for Cain to move alone now.
Cain opened his mouth.
“You guys said you’d do your best to help me.”
“We did…?”
“Wh-why are you suddenly asking that?”
“What? Do we finally have something to do?”
At Bolio’s words, Cain nodded.
“Yes. I’ll give you a map, so catch the snow rabbits in the marked areas.”
“Ooh, you were deducing places where snow rabbits might be! Are methods for finding such things also in books?”
“Just leave it to us!”
Bolio and Ed immediately answered enthusiastically, but Fon felt something off about Cain’s words.
“W-wait a minute. Then what about Cain? What are you going to do while we’re catching them?”
When Fon asked carefully, Cain pointed to the snowy mountain peak buried in northern snow fog and answered.
“I’m going north.”
