11

Ains looked around inside the hut.

A sofa made of animal hides and wooden bookshelves lined the walls, packed tightly with numerous books.

‘The person who lived here might have been extremely wealthy.’

Handwritten, bound books were expensive items.

Ains didn’t know the exact price per book, but in Tas Village there was only a single bound book, kept with great care—enough to show how precious such things were.

Surrounded on three sides by bookshelves stood a large desk. Countless sheets of paper lay scattered across its surface, covered in dust.

Judging by the amount of dust, no one had been coming or going for a long time.

Between the large desk and the leather sofa, the three boys sat huddled together, anxiously looking up at Ains as he stood by the door, eyes shining as he surveyed the room.

“Going back… wouldn’t it be better to wait for the adults here?”

“Evan-san and the others won’t stop searching until they find you. And the night forest is crawling with magical beasts. The longer it takes, the higher the chance Evan-san and the others get eaten.”

It would be wrong for Evan-san and the others to be eaten by magical beasts because of your own foolishness, Ains concluded silently.

The three boys seemed to understand that they were at fault, their faces twisted bitterly.

“Even so, the forest is full of magical beasts, right? If we go back, we’ll just get eaten!”

As one spoke, the other two chimed in,

“Y-Yeah, that’s right.”

“No. I came here alone. Without a single scratch. Even with you three added, I’m confident I can protect you from magical beasts.”

And then Ains continued,

“You don’t get to choose here. I owe my life to Silica and Evan-san. That’s why their lives take priority.”

Ains opened his left hand toward the three boys.

Without chanting, he deployed the already-magicalized Ice Edge.

From his palm emerged a sharply pointed blade of ice.

“W-What are you trying to do!?”

The boy in the middle shouted, his voice cracking.

“If you really refuse to come with me, then I can just take your heads back. That should be enough to make Evan-san and the others give up. It’s quicker, right?”

There might still be guilt about not saving you, but it wouldn’t outweigh their lives, Ains reasoned, nodding to himself.

“Y-You wouldn’t—!”

One of the boys at the edge tried to provoke him, but the Ice Edge sliced past the boy’s cheek. With a sharp clack, it embedded itself in the frame of the bookshelf.

A moment later, a thin red line appeared on the boy’s cheek.

The ice was below freezing, yet the cut burned with searing pain.

“There won’t be a next time.”

Ains’s eyes reflected the three boys coldly.

“O-Okay. We’ll go with you.”

The boy in the middle stood up, and the two on either side followed suit.

“Then let’s go.”

The four of them left the hut.

At a certain distance from it, magical beasts were already surrounding them.

The beasts snarled and growled in unison.

Being threatened while encircled—enough to make even grown men’s knees buckle.

“It’s… it’s over…”

The color drained from the three boys’ faces.

“I told you already, protecting you is easy. Abbreviated chant: ‘Ice Hell (Cocytus)’.”

At Ains’s chant, the temperature dropped sharply. The instant they felt the freezing cold, the surrounding magical beasts were immobilized, instantly encased in ice.

The three boys stared wide-eyed at the scene before them.

One moment it had grown cold—the next, the terrifying magical beasts were dead, frozen solid. This was magic.

“Weren’t you… useless?”

One of them spoke to Ains, unable to process what he had just seen.

“I don’t care if you call me useless. You probably don’t even know my name, and maybe you don’t care—but I’ll introduce myself.”

“I’m Ains. For now, I’m a magician, but I aspire to become a sorcerer. One eye, one leg, one arm—a complete set of useless traits. Still, I think I’m at least more useful than you.”

He turned toward the three boys with a practiced smile.

In the world of extreme cold and ice, Ains’s silver hair gleamed with a frigid light.