A warm fire crackling in the fireplace.
Richter Bederman sat in the plush chair placed before it, tilting a large goblet of wine to his lips without restraint.
“Ahh… The wine here really is exceptional.”
In good spirits, Richter gazed out the window.
There was nothing to see but the dreary interior of the castle, mountains completely covered in snow, and plains.
But Richter, looking out at that scene now, felt extremely satisfied.
“I can’t believe he actually went along with it. Hehehe. Blake, you fool.”
The reward Richter had offered.
The shocking conditions of restoring the funding that had been cut and promising never to interfere with Cain again.
While presenting that offer, Richter had simultaneously imposed the ridiculous risk of ‘going to the snowy mountains alone.’
T
‘Of course that was absurd.’
He couldn’t even remember how he had managed to hold back his laughter at the time.
‘I was a bit surprised when that Cain fellow suddenly said he would go.’
He hadn’t realized the boy lacked such basic judgment. Well, that would explain why he had the audacity to strike Hayden without knowing his place.
‘In any case.’
The reward Richter had offered was so attractive that Blake could hardly refuse it.
But if Richter hadn’t presented a corresponding risk, the other party would surely have thought he was hiding something and refused.
By presenting an absurd reward with an equally absurd risk, Richter made them think ‘of course there’s a catch.’
Then by subtly and ambiguously softening the conditions, he guided them to focus on ‘maybe this is actually doable…?’
‘And when things get to this point, pressure from the surroundings naturally starts building.’
Sure enough, Christan Sears stepped forward and began discussing sending them, and when this happened, Richter could step back and blow his nose without getting his hands dirty anymore.
‘But Blake, that bastard is quite stubborn too.’
Saying he wouldn’t send them if there were no volunteers.
The plan that had almost succeeded nearly fell apart.
“Well, they ended up going anyway, so it doesn’t matter.”
Gulp, gulp
Richter found the wine especially delicious today and drank it down eagerly.
Now that Cain had departed for the snowy mountains, he would never have to see Cain’s face again.
‘The guys who went with him are also worthless too.’
Wayne Sears’s foolish sons, and one foundationless apprentice disciple.
It was a combination with no hope of surviving in the snowy mountains.
‘Ah, if it were the mountains under normal circumstances, they might have lived to return.’
But in snowy mountains where Ice Trolls were rampaging, they would never be able to come back.
‘Actually, they won’t even need to encounter an Ice Troll.’
With just four 2nd Circle mages, forget about Ice Trolls—even if just a horde of Snow Rabbits swarmed them, they’d freeze up in fear at the sheer numbers and allow them to approach.
For a lower circle mage to allow enemies to get close meant little different from death.
They couldn’t immediately flood their bodies with mana to respond like knights could, nor could they calculate changing coordinates while moving and fix casting positions instantly like higher circle mages.
Even if they were monsters that could be taken down with a single direct hit from a Fire Ball, the moment they allowed them to get close, sharp claws would dig into their soft flesh and muscles, tearing them to shreds.
‘Excellent.’
Gulp, gulp.
Richter emptied an entire bottle of wine in an instant.
‘Well, someone might think this is a cruel act.’
All Cain had done wrong was land one punch on Hayden.
Richter wasn’t doing this because he held some deep grudge against Cain, nor because Cain’s wrongdoing was a grave sin that deserved to be repaid with death.
Richter sat in the armchair before the fireplace and opened another bottle of wine.
“A dog that bites its master must die.”
The small rain of flames that Cain had scattered began to subside.
The Fire Needles pierced precisely through the crowns of dozens of Snow Rabbits.
The hill that had echoed with sharp screams was suddenly dyed in silence.
Only after a moment did the sound of the cutting wind striking their earlobes and the thumping of heartbeats begin to be heard again.
“Squeak…!”
“Fire Needle.”
Thud. Thunk.
The few remaining Snow Rabbits left near Bolio, Ed, and Fon died to Cain’s additional casting.
“…Insane.”
After a long silence, that was the word that came from Bolio’s mouth.
‘Is, is that even possible?’
He couldn’t believe it even seeing it with his own eyes.
After the sparring match with Cain, Bolio had honestly admitted that his skills were still lacking compared to Cain’s.
And at the same time, he thought that while he was lacking now, if he trained hard, he would someday be able to surpass Cain or at least catch up to a similar level.
‘I thought we were both just 2nd Circle after all.’
In fact, just by addressing the weaknesses Cain had pointed out, Bolio felt his skills improve visibly and dramatically.
With such improvement from his existing level, he thought he might be able to compete with Cain to some degree.
If he gained enlightenment or meaningful improvement while carrying out this mission, he had even been thinking of asking Cain for another mock duel when they returned.
But.
‘…This is just a completely different league.’
To be able to accurately pierce so many Fire Needles into Snow Rabbits and kill them in one shot.
No matter how different people’s strengths were, and even if Cain had advantages in precise control, this was ridiculous.
“Wow…”
“Th-that was really cool just now, Cain.”
Ed and Fon were also staring at Cain with their mouths agape and eyes wide.
They only closed their mouths after five or six snowflakes had entered through their open mouths.
“How on earth did you do that? Is it actually possible to summon that many Fire Needles?”
Ed and Fon, who mainly used Needles rather than Fire Ball or Arrow, knew well how difficult that was.
Fire Needle was magic that, while weaker in firepower than Fire Arrow, gained advantage in numbers, but even so, it required a process of sharp compression, so handling more than Fire Ball in terms of quantity should theoretically be impossible.
“I didn’t summon many Fire Needles. I split each summoned Fire Needle into several pieces and used them.”
“Split them…?”
“Right. I initially summoned only fifteen Fire Needles. I split each of those into four pieces and used them. Do you understand now?”
But Edward’s mouth only opened even wider once more.
“I never thought to use them that way… And even if you did that, you’d still have to simultaneously hold and control 60 small Fire Needles with mental power.”
“That’s right.”
“It’s not just ‘that’s right’…!”
A hollow laugh escaped Edward’s mouth involuntarily.
“It’s not that difficult. If I had to control them one by one separately, I wouldn’t have said it was easy, but what I did was just calculate coordinates in advance and drop them simultaneously.”
“…”
Ed was momentarily at a loss for words.
“Right. I won’t ask how you calculated it. Instead, let me ask just one thing. If you split the Fire Needles, the power should have decreased accordingly, so how did you kill them in one hit?”
He knew Cain’s Fire Needles were strong.
Even if Ed poured all his mental power into making them, the firepower would probably lose to Fire Needles that Cain created instantly as if stamping them out.
But even though he had split each of those into four pieces, it was hard to understand how the Snow Rabbits collapsed in one hit without being able to do anything.
Cain gave a simple explanation about the skull structure of Snow Rabbits.
“Oh, there was something like that…”
“I had no idea. How do you know things like this?”
“Information you can learn just by carefully reading the books in the eastern building’s library and the records hall. While it’s good to train in magic normally, if you don’t know information about monsters in actual combat, it’s difficult to respond in sudden situations like this.”
“Ah, the records hall!”
Ed slapped his forehead with a face that said he’d never thought of it.
“So there was a reason you said you were going to the records hall right after education ended. That’s so like you, Cain.
“Du-during education you listened really hard too… A-and you went to study even after it ended…”
“…”
…That’s not it though.
Cain subtly turned his gaze toward the Snow Rabbits.
‘Well, I guess it doesn’t matter.’
He had gone to the records hall to look into the Bederman family’s support records, but there was no need to correct them.
“I should study monsters too when we get back.”
“I-I thought I was working pretty hard, but I need to reflect…”
Fon muttered dejectedly.
Cain casually changed the subject.
“Still, compared to when I first saw you, your skill in handling Fire Needles has improved quite a bit. Adding rotation to penetrate Snow Rabbits and catch multiple at once was a good strategy.”
“Re-really?”
Ed and Fon’s expressions brightened at Cain’s praise.
“Actually, right after you taught us that, we went back and practiced like crazy! Once we got the hang of it, we improved every time we practiced, so it was fun.”
“Ri-right. Thanks, Cain. Hehe.”
Ed and Fon seemed genuinely happy.
‘It’s like seeing my former disciples.’
—Master! I finally did it! I now clearly understand what you meant!
—Well done. You can write it in the secret manual as I taught you.
—Ah, that’s a bit…
—What’s wrong?
—No, nothing! I think I’ll write down my interpretation separately and pass it on! Anyway, thank you so much! If it weren’t for you, Master, no one could have taught me this approach.
Although it took time, his disciples expressed gratitude with happy faces whenever they applied new insights to their magic.
‘They were slow but sincere and good children.’
What on earth had happened to those disciples in the past that the family…
‘No. Now is the time to focus on what I need to do.’
Cain shook his head to dispel the chain of thoughts.
And he quickly checked the condition of Ed, Fon, and Bolio one last time.
There were no injuries, and they still seemed to have enough stamina left to travel.
He nodded slightly and was about to turn his head again when Bolio called out to Cain.
“Hey, Cain.”
“What is it?”
“Don’t you have anything to say to me?”
Bolio was looking at Cain with a slightly sulky expression.
“What should I say?”
“You know, that thing you said to Ed and Fon… feedback or something.”
At those words, Ed, who was beside them, burst out laughing first.
“Puhaha! Cain, Bolio wants you to praise him too!”
“Hey, it’s not like that! I mean give me honest feedback!”
“Was that what you meant? Hmm, you’ve addressed the weaknesses I mentioned well. If you continue like this, the number of spells you can handle at once will increase faster. However, from ten Fire Balls and up, don’t focus on increasing the number—it would be better to train mainly with Fire Arrow.”
Bolio’s expression changed subtly at Cain’s answer.
“…Thanks.”
“Wow, Bolio. Are you embarrassed right now?”
“Want to die?”
“If you’re done now, come help cut off the Snow Rabbit ears. We still have a long way to go.”
Cain said as he drew the dagger from his waist.
