Chapter 6
Screeeak!
Kain opened the iron door, which seemed to have been left untouched for quite some time.
'It seems they don't use this door anymore.'
As soon as he opened the iron door, a biting cold wind struck Kain's cheek.
Without hesitation, Kain stepped out the door and closed the rusty iron door behind him.
Then, he began to walk towards the snowy mountains.
It was a path he had used 200 years ago, but Kain walked through the snow without hesitation, as if he had been there just yesterday.
'I don't know if this is still the closest way though...'
The northwest path Kain was currently taking was the closest shortcut to the snow leopard's habitat.
Since he had decided to take the 'test' and prove his skills today anyway, he figured it would be best to finish it as quickly as possible and be done with it, so he had come this way...
'To think there would be no one guarding it.'
Of course, there would be a barrier artifact that sounded an alarm in response to unauthorized intruders, but he didn't expect there to be no personnel stationed at all.
'I thought there was a guard on each of the four sides. Are they short on manpower?'
Or had they cleared out the monsters in the snowy mountains so well that the four-sided guard was sufficient?
He hoped it was the latter.
'According to the rules, I should inform the guard here of my destination before going out... but I told Alice I would be back, so it should be fine.'
Kain thought so and continued walking, then paused.
'...Wait. Did I just think 'it should be fine'?'
He was surprised himself.
If it had been Sein Siers in his previous life, he would have unhesitatingly set off to inform the guard at the nearest perimeter.
'Is it the influence of Kain Siers' personality? Or perhaps...'
Kain placed his hand on his chest.
He vividly felt the fire circle swirling within his heart, brimming with strong vitality.
'I knew that one's innate affinity and the attribute of the mana one possessed could affect one's personality, but...'
No matter how much he was Sein Siers, he had never lived as another person, so this change of heart was unfamiliar.
'Come to think of it, that Harman fellow always used to tell me.'
-Sein, you're good at everything, but you know what? How about showing a little flexibility in your work? There's even a saying that every rule has an exception. Sometimes, you need to move efficiently.
-It's true that there are exceptions. But those exceptions must also be allowed within the scope specified in the rules.
-...Right.
-Thank you for understanding.
Of course, Sein Siers knew that flexibility was necessary.
But at the time, Sein Siers didn't know how to set the line for that 'flexibility.'
It wasn't that he was deliberately being strict, but literally that he didn't have a sense of where to set the acceptable range.
'Even when I asked the disciples, all I got back was that it varies from time to time, so isn't that flexibility?'
In the end, Sein Siers, thinking that discipline would become a mess if he gave in little by little without a standard, chose to adhere to the rules without compromise.
And he wasn't particularly uncomfortable with that.
'But now, I somehow feel like 'it might be okay to do this'.'
An emotion he had never felt in his previous life.
'If the life I thought was the correct one wasn't, then maybe trying to change in this life wouldn't be so bad.'
Thump!
Kain stepped forward again, treading on the pure white snow.
A snow rabbit appeared in the middle, but Kain simply extinguished its life with a single fireball.
"Hmm. Is it breeding season? For snow rabbits to be out this far."
He had caught a monster, but in the Siers clan, catching a snow rabbit alone didn't count as showing results.
Kain continued onward.
Soon, Kain, having arrived near the snow leopard's habitat, paused for a moment.
When taking the clan’s 'test,' it was common to lie in wait like this on the outskirts of the habitat until a snow leopard appeared.
This was because approaching too close to the habitat could be dangerous if one encountered multiple snow leopards at once.
However.
Thump, thump!
Kain took another step.
'I don't intend to go too deep. However, lying in wait would take too much time.'
In any case, Kain had come this far without officially reporting his departure.
Alice would probably report it for him, but the longer Kain was away, the more likely the news that Kain was taking the 'test' would spread and attract attention.
'There's no benefit in being noticed by the direct descendants who are in a competitive relationship.'
In this situation, the best thing to do was to quickly complete the test and return to report directly to the family head.
That was also why he had deliberately left two days earlier than the deadline Blake Siers had given him.
'So, I won't hide myself.'
Rather, he would wait on a path where snow leopards often passed by, one or two at a time.
Standing confidently until a snow leopard appeared.
Even in his previous life, Kain had encountered three snow leopards that way, but he had ultimately achieved victory with only 2nd Circle ice magic.
Now, the current Kain could use, no, had to use, fire magic, which was advantageous against them.
There was nothing to fear.
"Krrr..."
'...Looks like I've already got a bite.'
Contrary to the words "standing confidently and waiting," a snow leopard had already appeared.
"It's been a long time, hasn't it."
It was exactly as he remembered it.
No, to be precise, it seemed a little bigger than it was back then.
"Krrk."
The snow leopard tensed the muscles in its hind legs.
At the same time as Kain, who had already gathered mana in front of his chest, opened his mouth, the snow leopard shot towards him like an arrow.
Tap tap!
The distance was still sufficient, but a mage lacking practical experience would have been bewildered by the agile movements of the snow leopard even in the snow.
And in that moment of bewilderment, the delicately arranged mana would have scattered futilely like grains of sand slipping through their fingers before they could even complete an incantation.
However.
"Fire Needle."
The mana, which had maintained its order without the slightest wavering, manifested into a dozen red masses along with Kain's incantation.
The masses, which had taken the form of small spheres, increased in density and decreased in size as if strongly compressed, simultaneously transforming into thin needles.
"Krrr!"
The snow leopard's eyes flashed as it leaped.
It paid no heed to the red needles, which were no bigger than barbs compared to its sharp claws and large teeth.
Thwack!
The snow leopard swung its front paw to tear Kain's fair and soft skin.
"Huh...?"
But the next moment, what the snow leopard saw was not a shredded Kain, but vividly burning flames.
Thwack!
"Kuaaah!"
The snow leopard let out a scream of pain.
Two Fire Needles had pierced its eyes respectively.
Not only that, but the dozen or so Fire Needles had used the force of the snow leopard's charge to dig deep into its hide.
Confirming that the tips of the needles had reached inside the hide, Kain quietly uttered the next incantation.
"Fire."
Whoosh!
As mana was supplied to the tails of the small Fire Needles embedded in the snow leopard's body, as if injecting fuel, the inside of the snow leopard's body swelled and burst into flames.
Around the time the smell of burning flesh spread along with the smoke, Kain withdrew his mana.
The snow leopard lay motionless on the ground.
"Indeed. The firepower itself isn't bad, but..."
Kain had already safely moved to the side of where the snow leopard had charged.
"As expected, lower-circle fire magic has terrible physical force."
Fire is inherently closer to a phenomenon than a substance.
No matter how strong the flames, they couldn't grab a swung sword, nor could they knock back a charging snow leopard.
'But fire made of mana can have physical force depending on the purity, density, and absolute amount of mana.'
That was also why fire magic could be praised as the greatest magic before the emergence of Sein Siers.
While boasting strong firepower compared to other attributes, it could cover its weakness, physical force, with mana.
However, lower-circle fire magic inevitably had weak physical force, and that was why Kain had leaped to the side to evade while the snow leopard momentarily faltered after being hit by the Fire Needles.
'Actually, even now, if the purity of my mana had been just a little lower, it would have been a close call.'
If it hadn't been for Kain's body's innate affinity for fire magic and the highly pure mana he had built upon that, it would have been difficult to even make the snow leopard hesitate.
Of course, he had already thought of a few countermeasures for such situations, but this time, this alone was sufficient.
"Now, if I take its head back, the 'test' will be over."
Thanks to the snow leopard appearing sooner than expected, the test ended very smoothly.
Kain was about to take out the dagger he carried at his waist to take the snow leopard's head.
However, Kain soon turned his gaze beyond the snowfield instead of taking out the dagger.
"Karrrr!"
Three snow leopards were approaching Kain from afar.
And one of them was a fully grown adult, much larger than the average snow leopard.
Kain glanced up at the thick smoke, which was flowing out of the still-warm snow leopard like a distress signal, and opened his mouth.
"Fire magic has this one downside."
Then, with both hands outstretched, he calmly gathered mana.
***
Alice hummed a tune.
"Hmm hmm hmm. D-dear! Our Yooooung Maaaaster. Haaas a cirrrrcle..."
As she sang, attaching random lyrics to a favorite melody, Nefty, who was quietly cleaning nearby, asked.
"Young Master didn't even eat breakfast before leaving?"
"Yeah. Maybe the Young Master is excited because he finally completed his circle? When I think about how he probably couldn't sleep a wink last night..."
Alice couldn't contain the smile spreading across her face and skipped around the room.
"You're making dust, Sister."
"Ah, sorry. I'll help you clean."
After helping Nefty finish cleaning, Alice waited for Kain and baked delicious bread with Nefty.
It was the small lemon madeleine that Kain had praised last time.
Since then, Alice had learned how to bake lemon madeleines in great detail from Nefty.
"He'll probably be starving when he gets back, all the tension will be gone."
Even though it was just a brief visit to the Lord's residence to use magic once and come back, it would be a historic moment for Kain.
By now, he would be standing in front of Blake Siers, completely tense, focusing all his mind to cast the spell.
"...But why hasn't he returned yet?"
The cleaning was all done, and the bread was baked just right.
She had even prepared it so he could eat it when it was warmest and softest, right when he was supposed to arrive...
"It's the most delicious right now..."
Unable to wait any longer, Alice put the lemon madeleines in a basket and went out the door.
'Could it be that he failed to cast the magic and went somewhere to be depressed?'
Anxiety began to sprout little by little in Alice's mind, which had been full of hopeful thoughts.
Alice pressed her lips tightly together.
'Young Master. Even if you ultimately couldn't succeed in the magic, you are still Young Master.'
Alice approached Philip, who was guarding the gate of the North Wing.
"Oh, Alice. What brings you here?"
"Philip, has Young Master Kain, who went in earlier, come out?"
If Kain had left here a long time ago, she planned to start searching for him everywhere in the manor, starting with the training hall.
However, Philip's answer completely deviated from Alice's expectations.
"Huh? What are you talking about? The Young Master hasn't come here."
"...What did you say?"
Thud!
The basket Alice was holding fell to the ground.
"Whoa! Alice! You dropped the bread! Can I eat this? It hasn't been three seconds yet."
