2

Rodney, who was at the height of tension, took Noel’s words, moved the seed from the box into a special bottle with a magical mechanism set into it, and quietly lowered magic into it.

He spun greatly compressed magical power from his fingertips like thread.

Rodney’s splendid red hair carried delicate ice magical power and danced in the air like a flame made of ice.

Rodney Garcia.

At the magical skill of the young genius called an unrivaled genius magician, the magicians sent gazes mixed with piercing envy and jealousy.

There was no other wielder of ice magic in this country as magnificent as him.

A sharp, hostile tension involuntarily ran among the magicians who witnessed the ability as a magician of this young man who was always grinning and making nothing but jokes.

Magicians were not, by nature, beings inclined toward cozy fellowship.

Since Beth had come to the greenhouse, the Magic Institute had somehow been filled with a calm atmosphere, but magicians were originally the sort who stole one another’s techniques and competed in magic.

As people, they were all magicians with gentle personalities, but once they returned to their original nature as magicians like this, they were dragged along by that instinct and could no longer resist.

“Rodney-sama, please do your best.”

In the greenhouse where invisible threads of tension were stretched taut, Beth’s truly relaxed voice, though she had not even a trace of magical power, rang out.

The magicians suddenly came back to themselves.

This was no time to be jealous. What they should wish for now was the germination of this seed.

Inside the bottle, it shone with a faint, pale blue light from the delicate magic Rodney had unfolded.

Everyone watched with bated breath.

After about an hour, the lily seed, like a black pill sitting inside the bottle, began to emit light while carrying a faint blue glow.

It was the moment the first stage had been broken through.

The magicians watching over Rodney gave a small round of applause and let out breaths of relief.

After this, with a constant temperature and magical power supply, they would fix this stable state as it was for several days.

Since it was considered preferable that the owner of the ice magic being output not change, Rodney would continue spinning delicate ice magic without sleep or rest for several days.

At the point when the blue magical power settled into the seed, there was nothing any other magician could do.

Everyone gave Rodney encouragement, left gifts for him, and returned to their respective research.

Only the three of them remained in the greenhouse: Rodney, Beth, and Noel.

“In this way, using Rodney’s ice magical power as a catalyst, the seed will awaken after a few more days. Once the seed awakens, Beth, your work begins. Until then, rest slowly in your room.”

Like a researcher, Noel began recording Rodney’s magical power output, time, and other details on the paper in his hand.

Even though Beth had been told she could return to her room already, magic was still rare to her, so she looked into the bottle with interest and asked Rodney plainly amateur questions such as, “It is beautiful,” and “Will the color of the light change?”

Rodney, who had been at the height of tension, seemed to lose strength weakly at those foolish questions even while outputting magical power.

He sat down on the spot and finally showed his usual smile.

“Ah, it’s beautiful, right? When I first learned magic, it was so beautiful that I was moved and cried.”

Beth continued asking questions with a gentle smile.

“What magic was it at first?”

“At first, everyone starts with water. You produce a lump of water, but I’m a lump of talent, right? I wanted to show the girl I liked, so I hardened the water into ice and suddenly made something like crystal right at the start. Then it caught the sunlight and sparkled beautifully, and even a little rainbow came out. My teacher made a huge fuss, my parents were overjoyed, and the girl I liked was impressed. I was so happy that day.”

The tense air in the greenhouse from a moment ago returned in an instant to the peaceful, usual atmosphere.

Rodney, whose presence had been like that of an ice spirit, had now even returned to his usual light banter.

Delicate ice magical power continued to be spun from his fingertips, no different from before, but Rodney had a carefree smile.

“That is amazing! In summer, I should have Rodney-sama come visit Beth’s Mill. If you made a pillar of ice inside the mill, it would be cool and such a help. Then I will treat you to especially delicious watermelon!”

“That sounds good. Beth’s watermelon would be the best, wouldn’t it? I’ll make ice for you, so let’s eat frozen sweets with watermelon syrup.”

“Frozen sweets? I have never eaten anything like that. What are they like?”

“What! You have never even eaten frozen sweets? I can’t believe it! Frozen sweets are, you see…”

Noel watched over the two of them as they shared that charming, peaceful conversation.

There was a reason Noel had made Rodney activate ice magic in this greenhouse.

If it had only been for germination, there would have been no particular problem with occupying a room and doing the work in another building within the research institute.

Rather, the cold air from Rodney’s ice magic might have had an adverse effect on the delicate plants in the other greenhouse.

However, a magician’s magical power strongly reflected the state of their mind.

If this germination was Rodney’s first major job, it would be extremely difficult for the still-young Rodney to compose his mind until he could stabilize his magical power under this extreme state of tension. If handled poorly, his mind could break.

Noel had considered entrusting it to Naranda, but Rodney’s ice magical power surpassed Naranda’s.

In this greenhouse, if it was with Beth, Rodney could feel at ease and test the limits of his own ability with peace of mind.

That was what Noel had believed.

And Noel seemed to have been correct.

Far from having his mind broken by the work before him, Rodney was promising Beth that after this work ended, he would make a lump of ice and make frozen sweets for her, her first frozen sweets in her life.

(Even this thing is growing so big and energetically.)

Noel glanced down at his feet.

The banana slug, spoiled by Beth and grown as large as it pleased, was slowly crawling through the greenhouse.

(It seems I was not in any position to say anything about Rodney either.)

Unbeknownst to him, before this major task, his body had apparently gone stiff with tension.

As he watched the somehow blissful figure of the slug slowly crawling along, Noel felt the magical power that had been stiff and stagnant inside his body slowly beginning to circulate.