Creeak.
Cain opened the iron door that seemed to have been neglected for quite some time.
‘It looks like this door isn’t being used anymore.’
As soon as he opened the iron door, a bone-chilling wind swept across Cain’s cheek.
Without hesitation, Cain stepped through the door and closed the rusted iron gate behind him.
Then he began walking toward the snow-covered mountains.
Though it was a path he had used 200 years ago, Cain walked through the snow without hesitation, as if he had been here just yesterday.
‘I’m not sure if this is still the shortest route…’
The northwestern path Cain was taking now was the shortest route to the Snow Leopard’s habitat.
Since he had decided to take the ‘test’ today and prove his abilities, he figured it would be best to finish it as quickly as possible and get it over with, which is why he came this way…
‘I didn’t expect there to be no guards at all.’
Of course, there would be barrier artifacts that would trigger alarms when unauthorized intruders entered, but he hadn’t expected there to be no personnel stationed here at all.
‘I thought there were guards at the four cardinal directions. Are they short-staffed?’
Or perhaps they had cleared out the magical beasts from the snowy mountains well enough that the four-directional perimeter was sufficient?
He hoped it was the latter.
‘Strictly speaking, I should report my destination to the guard personnel here before leaving… but since I told Alice I’d be going out, it should be fine.’
Cain thought this and continued walking, then stopped short.
‘…Wait. Did I just think “it should be fine”?’
He was surprised at himself.
If it had been Sein Sears from his previous life, he would have headed to the nearest cardinal direction guard without hesitation.
‘Is this the influence of Cain Sears’ personality? Or perhaps…’
Cain placed his hand on his chest.
He could vividly feel the flame circle swirling with strong vitality within his heart.
‘I knew that one’s innate elemental affinity and the nature of mana contained in the body could influence personality, but…’
Even as Sein Sears, he had never lived as another person, so this kind of change in mindset was bound to feel unfamiliar.
‘Come to think of it, Harman always used to tell me this too.’
-Sein, you’re good at everything else. But couldn’t you try being a little more flexible with work? They say there are exceptions to every rule. Sometimes you need to move efficiently.
-It’s true that there are exceptions. But those exceptions should also be allowed within the scope specified by the rules.
-…Right.
-Thank you for understanding.
Of course, Sein Sears knew that flexibility was necessary.
But at the time, Sein Sears didn’t know how to set the boundaries for that ‘flexibility.’
It wasn’t that he deliberately acted rigid, but literally that he couldn’t grasp where to set the acceptable range.
‘Even when I asked my disciples, they just said that flexibility meant it varied case by case.’
In the end, thinking that overlooking things one by one without standards would lead to chaos in discipline, Sein Sears chose to uphold rules without compromise.
And that hadn’t been particularly uncomfortable for him.
‘But now, somehow I feel like “this should be okay.”‘
An emotion he had never felt in his previous life.
‘If the life I thought was correct wasn’t actually correct, then choosing change in this life might not be bad either.’
*Crunch.*
Cain stepped forward again, treading on the pure white snow.
A Snow Rabbit appeared midway, but Cain simply ended its life with a single Fire Ball.
“Hmm. Is it breeding season? For a Snow Rabbit to come out this far.”
Though he had killed a magical beast, catching a Snow Rabbit alone wouldn’t even count as achieving results in the Sears family.
Cain continued forward.
Eventually arriving near the Snow Leopard’s habitat, Cain paused for a moment.
When taking the family ‘test,’ it was common practice to wait in ambush like this at the outskirts of the habitat until a Snow Leopard appeared.
This was because getting too close to the habitat and encountering multiple creatures at once could be life-threatening.
However.
*Crunch, crunch.*
Cain began walking again.
‘I don’t plan to go too deep. But waiting in ambush would take too much time.’
In any case, Cain had come this far without officially reporting his exit.
Alice would probably report on his behalf, but the longer Cain was away, the more news of his taking the ‘test’ would spread and draw attention.
‘There’s nothing good about catching the attention of the direct descendants who are in competition.’
In this situation, the best course would be to quickly complete the test and return, then report directly to the family head separately.
That was also why he had deliberately come out two days earlier than the deadline Blake Sears had given him.
‘So I won’t hide my body.’
Instead, he would wait at a crossroads where Snow Leopards occasionally passed by in ones or twos.
Standing proudly until a Snow Leopard appeared.
In his previous life, Cain had encountered three Snow Leopards this way, but ultimately achieved victory using only 2nd Circle ice magic.
Moreover, the current Cain could use—no, had to use—fire magic, which had good compatibility against them.
There was nothing to fear.
“Grrr…”
“…I already got a bite.”
Despite saying he would stand proudly and wait, a Snow Leopard had already appeared.
“It’s really been a long time since I’ve seen one.”
It looked exactly as he remembered.
No, more precisely, it seemed to have grown a bit larger than back then.
“Gruk.”
The Snow Leopard tensed its hind leg muscles.
At the same time Cain, who had already gathered mana in front of his chest, opened his mouth, the Snow Leopard shot toward him like a bullet.
Thud.
The distance was still sufficient, but a mage lacking real combat experience would have panicked at the Snow Leopard’s agile movement through the snow.
And the moment they panicked, the delicately arranged mana would have scattered helplessly like sand flowing between fingers before they could even begin an incantation.
However.
“Fire Needle.”
The mana, arranged in perfect order without the slightest disturbance, manifested as dozens of red masses along with Cain’s incantation.
The masses, which had taken the form of small spheres, compressed and shrank as if under intense pressure, all transforming into the shape of razor-thin needles.
“Grrrrr!”
The Snow Leopard’s eyes flashed as it leaped.
It paid no attention to the tiny red needles, which were nothing compared to its sharp claws and large fangs.
Slash.
The Snow Leopard swung its front paw to tear apart Cain’s pale, soft skin.
“Keng…?”
But what the Snow Leopard saw next was not Cain torn to shreds, but vividly burning flames.
Thunk.
“Keong!”
The Snow Leopard let out a scream filled with pain.
Two Fire Needles had pierced each of the Snow Leopard’s eyes.
Not only that, but dozens of Fire Needles had used the Snow Leopard’s charging momentum to penetrate deep into its hide.
Confirming that the tips of the needles had reached the inside of the hide, Cain quietly uttered his next incantation.
“Fire.”
Whoosh!
As he supplied mana to the rear ends of the small Fire Needles embedded in the Snow Leopard’s body like injecting fuel, the inside of the Snow Leopard’s body swelled and burst into flames.
By the time the smell of cooking flesh spread along with the smoke, Cain withdrew his mana.
The Snow Leopard collapsed and couldn’t move.
“Indeed. The firepower itself isn’t bad, but…”
Cain had safely moved to the side of where the Snow Leopard had charged.
“As expected, lower circle fire magic has terrible physical force.”
Fire is essentially more of a phenomenon than matter.
No matter how strong the flames, they cannot grab a swung sword or knock back a charging Snow Leopard’s body.
‘But flames created from mana can have physical force depending on the mana’s purity, density, and absolute quantity.’
Before Sein Sears’ appearance, this was part of why fire magic could be praised as the greatest magic.
It boasted strong firepower compared to other elements while being able to cover its weakness of physical force with mana.
However, lower circle fire magic inevitably had weak physical force, which is why Cain had thrown his body to the side to dodge during the brief moment the Snow Leopard staggered after being hit by the Fire Needles.
‘Actually, if my mana’s purity had been just a little lacking, it would have been close.’
Without Cain’s body’s innate affinity for fire magic and the high-purity mana he had accumulated based on that, even making the Snow Leopard stagger would have been difficult.
Of course, he had already thought of several methods for such situations, but this time, this alone was sufficient.
“Now if I take this guy’s head back, the ‘test’ will be over.”
Thanks to the Snow Leopard appearing sooner than expected, the test ended very smoothly.
Cain tried to draw the dagger from his waist to take the Snow Leopard’s head.
However, instead of drawing his dagger, Cain turned his gaze beyond the snowfield.
“Karrrr!”
Three Snow Leopards were approaching him from the distance.
And one of them was much larger than typical Snow Leopards—a fully mature adult.
Cain looked up at the thick smoke flowing from the still-warm Snow Leopard like a distress signal and spoke.
“This is what’s not good about fire magic.”
Then he extended both hands forward and calmly gathered his mana.
* * *
Alice was humming.
“Hm hm hm. My, my dear! Our young master has finally completed his circle…”
As she randomly added lyrics to a melody she liked, Nefti, who was quietly cleaning nearby, asked.
“Did the young master leave without even eating breakfast?”
“Yes. Maybe the young master was excited because he finally completed his circle? Thinking about how he couldn’t sleep last night…”
Alice couldn’t contain the smile on her lips and bounced around.
“You’re making dust, sister.”
“Oh, sorry. I’ll help you clean too.”
After finishing cleaning with Nephti’s help, Alice waited for Cain while baking delicious bread with Nephti.
They were the small lemon madeleines that Cain had praised last time.
Since then, Alice had learned in great detail from Nefti how to bake lemon madeleines.
“When he comes back, he’ll be relaxed and surely hungry.”
Though it was just a brief visit to the family head’s office to use magic once and come out, it would be a historic moment for Cain.
Right now he would be standing tensely in front of Blake Sears, concentrating all his attention on casting magic.
“…But why isn’t he back yet?”
They had finished cleaning and baked the bread just right.
She had prepared everything so he could eat them at their warmest and softest when Cain arrived…
“They taste best when eaten now…”
Unable to wait any longer, Alice put the lemon madeleines in a basket and left the room.
‘Could he have failed to cast magic and gone somewhere to brood?’
Anxiety began to sprout in Alice’s mind, which had been full of hopeful thoughts.
Alice pressed her lips together firmly.
‘Young master. Even if you ultimately couldn’t succeed with magic, you are still you, young master.’
Alice approached Philip, who was guarding the door of the north building.
“Oh, Alice. What brings you here?”
“Philip, did young master Cain, who went in earlier, come out?”
If Cain had left here long ago, she planned to immediately search everywhere in the castle, starting with the training room.
But Philip’s answer completely missed Alice’s expectations.
“Huh? What are you talking about? The young master never came here.”
“…What did you say?”
Thud.
The basket Alice was holding fell to the ground.
