Editor : Amethyst00



Drip—

The sound of a droplet falling from the cave ceiling—formed from steam condensing from the hot spring—echoed refreshingly through the space.

Crackle, crackle—

A campfire illuminated the inside of the cave brightly.

Chloe, who had laid out her school uniform and underwear nearby, approached the hot spring and cautiously dipped her foot in.

The temperature wasn't too hot, nor too lukewarm—just right. The warmth spread from her toes upward.

Having been exposed to the cold for so long, the heat creeping up from her feet spread through her body, drawing a contented sigh from her lips.

After taking a moment to enjoy the warmth, she carefully immersed her whole body into the spring.

"Phew… As expected, nothing beats soaking in hot water on a cold day."

Chloe hummed a little tune with a languid expression.

"Mmm~ So warm and nice~ Hot springs are the best~ The best~"

"You like it that much?"

"Eek?!"

Splash—

Startled by the voice echoing from the other side of the cave, Chloe instinctively pressed herself against one side of the hot spring and let out a small scream.

"D-Did you hear me?"

Her face turned completely red as she asked. Leo's laughter rang out.

"How could I not?"

Splash!

'Ugh, seriously!'

Embarrassed to the core, Chloe plunged her face into the water.

She had gotten too relaxed and completely forgotten they were in a cave.

Still shivering with embarrassment, she slowly peeked her face out.

"I've wondered since the entrance ceremony—why do people call you the Ice Queen when you're full of openings like this?"

Even during their first meeting, Leo had picked up the student ID Chloe had dropped.

She tried hard to be the perfect top student, but when you took a closer look, she had quite a few clumsy sides.

Chloe, her mouth just under the surface of the water, blew bubbles with a sulky expression at Leo's comment.

Crackle—pop—

The fire crackled as silence settled.

Then Chloe spoke up.

"Leo."

"What?"

"Are you okay? It must be freezing."

Even with Leo's monster-like stamina, being exposed to the cold like this was surely exhausting.

Plus, with his clothes soaked, his body temperature was likely dropping, steadily draining his energy.

'And right now, we can't even use mana.'

They didn't know exactly what kind of curse it was, but it was definitely something sinister.

Not just magic power, but aura and spirit power too.

Everything was sealed off.

"I'm managing."

Leo's reply made Chloe dip her mouth back in the water.

After blowing some more bubbles, she spoke again with a determined expression.

"Leo. If you stay like that, even you might run out of stamina. I… I don't mean this in a weird way, but… Why not come into the hot spring?"

Her voice trembled slightly, but she was very sincere.

Step, step—

She heard Leo's footsteps.

His large shadow appeared on the cave wall, then began shrinking as he approached.

Seeing that, Chloe pressed herself against the edge of the hot spring again.

Standing at the edge of the water, Leo asked seriously:

"Are you really okay with this?"

"It's an emergency."

Avoiding his gaze, Chloe tried to stay calm.

Leo let out a small sigh.

"Turn around."

Chloe turned her head the other way at his words.

Rustle—plop—

The sound of wet clothes hitting the ground followed.

Her heart pounded like crazy at the sound of him undressing.

'Empty your mind. Empty… Rune symbols, rune symbols…!'

Bright red in the face, Chloe desperately recited rune symbols in her head.

Splash—

Ripples spread in the water.

As the tiny waves touched her back, Chloe stiffened.

Every motion of the water felt far too stimulating.

'Wait. When you think about it… this is mixed bathing, isn't it? Am I doing something completely ridiculous right now?'

Chloe's lips moved silently.

She'd made the offer thinking it was an emergency and that Leo couldn't stay out in the cold, but looking back, it was an outrageous thing to do.

'He doesn't think I'm a weird girl, does he?'

She was sure Leo wouldn't do anything inappropriate.

But more than that, she was worried about what he thought of her.

Her thoughts spiraled, her mind spinning.

"Thanks for being thoughtful."

Just then, Leo spoke.

Trying to appear composed, Chloe answered.

"We're in a crisis. You shouldn't waste energy. So… don't turn this way, okay?"

"Okay."

"Still, this spring is kind of small for two people."

It wasn't tiny, but there wasn't much room to relax either.

"If you're okay with it, lean against my back. It'll be more comfortable."

Chloe flinched.

She cautiously leaned back against Leo's back.

It definitely felt better, but her heart still pounded wildly.

Leo's warmth was completely different from the temperature of the water.

It made her self-conscious, and she hugged her knees, wiggling her toes nervously.

"Chloe."

"Y-Yes?!"

Startled by Leo calling her name, she jumped.

"Do you like hot springs?"

"Yeah. Most people from the northern continent do. It's cold there."

"Then come visit Tonkan during winter break."

"Oh, right. Tonkan became your kingdom, didn't it?"

Chloe smiled, picturing the famous tourist city of hot springs.

"How are the hot springs in Tonkan?"

"I went in with Chelsea. It was nice."

"Wait, what? You bathed with Chelsea?!"

"We wore swimsuits, so don't get any weird ideas."

At Leo's words, Chloe dipped her face in the water and blew bubbles again.

Embarrassed but wanting to avoid awkward silence, she quickly said, "Anyway, you said this mana-freezing effect is a curse, right?"

"Yeah."

"Just what kind of curse king could do something this powerful?"

"…"

Aside from the blizzard starting to rage, there weren't many signs of danger.

But if this were a battle situation, with their powers sealed, it would be incredibly dangerous.

"Leo. You said you've experienced this kind of curse before, right? When was that?"

"When I fought Erebos. Just for a moment."

Leo didn't want to reveal the full truth, so he bent it slightly.

"At the time, all the mana in the area was burned away instantly."

"Now it's frozen solid…"

Chloe fell into thought.

'And then there's that snow…'

She recalled the earlier incident.

Snow that wouldn't melt.

She had collected some in an empty potion bottle to investigate, but it had already melted.

'After it melted, it was just regular water.'

There was nothing special about the water itself.

Which meant the power that froze it must be extraordinary.

"A similar curse to the one during the Erebos fight. And snow that won't melt…"

Piecing the clues together, Chloe asked Leo seriously

"Leo, do you think this could be related to a fragment of Erebos?"

"Probably not."

"Why?"

"Would that monster be called the Flame of Calamity for nothing?"

A dark god who hated the world and sought to burn everything to the ground.

The absolute flame of destruction.

That was Erebos.

He wielded many divine powers.

But even in the moment he was defeated, Leo had never seen Erebos use ice-related abilities.

'Still…'

The properties may be different, but—

As Chloe pointed out, the current phenomenon definitely resembled Erebos's traits.

'I'll have to ask Rian when we get back to the academy.'

Rian, being a divine being, knew more about Erebos than anyone.

"By the way, how's your ice-clone research going? The one you mentioned at the entrance ceremony?"

"Oh, not much progress, but I feel like I found a lead!"

Chloe's eyes sparkled.

"Your advice to approach it with the many-worlds interpretation really helped! That theory says every choice branches into a new world…"

Chloe excitedly began explaining her magic theory in detail.

'…Maybe I shouldn't have asked.'

Watching her get carried away, Leo scratched his cheek.

He'd momentarily forgotten that this brilliant girl's passion for magic was as intense as Luna's.

Magic wasn't just for combat.

It was about exploration and research—fulfilling intellectual curiosity.

In that sense, Chloe was much more of a mage than Leo.

To Leo, magic was a weapon to defeat enemies.

But to Chloe, it was an endless field of study.

And in terms of academic talent, she was a certified genius.

Their fundamental approach was different.

By their third year, Chloe reminded Leo more and more of Luna when discussing complex magical theory.

'She's also a bit like Lysinas.'

Known as the Wise Queen, Lysinas had a strong thirst for knowledge too.

He'd been a great discussion partner for Luna, who only cared about magic.

'While Luna's curiosity was purely magical, Lysinas's curiosity was about all things.'

Chloe's curiosity wasn't limited to just magic either.

With her voracious reading habits and love for learning, she resembled Lysinas in many ways.

'She's even good at chess, too.'

As Leo recalled his two companions—

"Leo?"

Grab—

Chloe grabbed Leo's shoulder and pulled him to face her.

"Are you even listening to me?!"

Chloe glared at him, full of annoyance.

Leo's red eyes met Chloe's blue ones in the air.

She had gotten so wrapped up in her theory that she had forgotten their current situation.

Leo closed his eyes and leaned his head back.

Realizing the situation, Chloe's mouth flapped wordlessly.

Her face flushed red.

A wave of embarrassment far worse than before washed over her.

Her mind went blank, and her body stiffened, hypersensitive to every sensation.

Drip—

A cold droplet formed from the steam overhead fell onto Chloe's back.

"Eek?!"

Splash—!

Chloe shrieked and jerked forward in surprise, landing right in Leo's arms.

Frozen in shock for a moment, she quickly pulled away in panic.

"S-Sorry! I'm sorry, Leo!"

"No need to apologize. Oh—my mana's back, by the way."

Leo spoke casually.

"O-Oh, you're right! Th-That's a relief… A real… relief… Ahhh!"

Chloe buried her face in her hands as Leo chuckled and stood up.

"Let's just call it an accident."

"Y-Yeah! An accident! Ahahaha…"

Chloe laughed awkwardly.

Leo dried himself off with magic, then dried and dressed in the clothes by the fire.

Still in the hot spring, Chloe tried to calm her wildly beating heart.

Then she cautiously spoke.

"Leo. Just saying this out of caution… but don't tell anyone about this, okay? Especially not Carl."

"Don't worry. I won't."

Chloe sighed in relief at Leo's answer.

"By the way, Chloe. You're… uh, bigger than I expected…"

"If you say one more word, I'll turn you into human sherbet."

"So scary. Let's get ready to go."

Chuckling, Leo stepped away, and Chloe dunked her face in the water again.

'I'm gonna die of embarrassment.'

Bubble, bubble, bubble…

After spending some time collecting herself, Chloe took a deep breath and got out of the spring.

She got dressed.

While brushing away lingering thoughts, she suddenly recalled something.

'Now that I think about it, Celia and Xia were soft, but Leo is… firm. Must be the muscles.'

Staring off in a daze, she found herself comparing Leo to other girls in the knight course and slammed her forehead into the wall.

Thud—!

'Ugh! Seriously! What kind of comparison is that?! Chloe Müeller! That's perverted!'

Shaking her head to banish the thought, she straightened her ribbon tie and walked over to Leo.

"Let's go, Leo."

The snowstorm had stopped.

Leo, waiting outside the cave, looked at the now-composed Chloe and said

"Chloe, you're bleeding."

"What?!"

Startled, Chloe wiped her nose.

"…No, your forehead."

"Oh!"

Panicking, Chloe hurriedly cast a healing spell on her forehead.

Leo clicked his tongue at the sight.

"You kids these days…"