Outside Mistwood, the carriage was still parked where it had been left.
Nina held a carrot in her hand, feeding it to the horse.
“Here, good horse, eat up; this is your dinner for today.”
Within the boundaries of the magic array, there wasn’t much for Nina to do, and feeding the horse had become one of the few enjoyable activities for her.
Watching the horse chew the carrot bit by bit, Nina smiled.
“Sif, don’t you want to feed the horse? It looks really funny when it eats.”
Sif, sitting on the carriage, shook her head.
“You’ve already fed it, so I don’t need to.”
It seemed that feeding the horse was Nina’s main pastime for the day. Initially, she’d tried feeding it every few minutes until Sif convinced her otherwise.
If Nina continued like that, she’d probably overfeed the poor horse!
Sif knew that if not for her, Nina might have already ventured into Mistwood to search for Daniel.
Yet, she had chosen to stay and keep Sif company.
It had been days now, and still, there was no sign of Daniel. Fortunately, they had enough food in the storage crystal to last at least ten more days.
Just then, a figure appeared in front of them. Nina squinted and realized it was Daniel.
“Headmaster, you’re finally back!” she said, relieved. “It’s been almost two weeks. You said you’d only be gone for a short while!”
Daniel gave a sheepish smile.
“Sorry, some unexpected things came up. I’m sorry to have worried you.”
Sif nodded silently, while Nina continued,
“Headmaster, next time something like this happens, you need to tell us how long you’ll be gone. Otherwise, we’ll worry.”
Daniel nodded.
“Yes, this was my fault. Let’s go, then.”
With that, he dismissed the surrounding magic array. The moment the array was gone, the rustling sounds of footsteps echoed from Mistwood.
It seemed something had been watching them all along. Daniel looked toward the forest, where two glowing red eyes peered out from the shadows.
“Headmaster, what is that? I’m going to check!” Nina exclaimed, noticing the eyes as well. She vanished in an instant.
“Eh?” Sif watched with a puzzled look.
She’d always thought Nina was like her but hadn’t realized she had this kind of ability, something she hadn’t shown before. Within seconds, Nina reappeared.
“Headmaster, it was just a spell beast, and not a very cute one. Let’s go.”
“Alright. Hop in,” Daniel replied.
Once inside the carriage, Nina excitedly described the spell beast she had seen to Sif.
She didn’t feel superior because of her skills; in her mind, Sif was simply her good friend. Daniel glanced briefly in the direction where the spell beast had appeared and scanned it with his mind power.
The spell beast was eyeing the bushes warily, as if expecting an enemy to jump out. With a single thought, Daniel shattered its soul, eliminating it instantly.
He then climbed into the carriage, and they set off northward.
As they traveled, the temperature steadily dropped.
“Headmaster, where are we going? Everything below us is just white, and I can’t tell what it is,” Nina asked as she and Sif looked out the window, watching the landscape change. Sometimes they passed mountains, sometimes rivers, or grasslands.
But as they continued, the scenery grew monotonous, mostly white with some green patches.
“A snowy mountain,” Daniel replied. Since they had headed north, they had now entered the snowy mountain range.
Hearing this, Sif curiously stuck her hand out the carriage window but felt nothing.
She couldn’t even feel the motion of the carriage.
Noticing her movements, Daniel chuckled.
“The carriage has a magic array, so it’s normal that you don’t feel the cold outside. We should get you some warmer clothing soon.” Discover exclusive tales on freewebnovel
With the magic array insulating the carriage, neither girl felt any cold.
However, their clothing wasn’t suited to the harsh environment outside; without protection, they would freeze in just a few hours.
Daniel thought about stopping at a town to buy them warmer clothes.
“There’s no need, Daniel. My aunt put various clothes in my storage crystal,” Sif offered from inside the carriage.
As the manager at Dragonscale Bank, Claire had ensured Sif was well-prepared, providing everything from cooking ingredients to clothing.
“Nina, do you need one? I have extras,” Sif offered.
“Yes, please! Give me one!” Nina replied happily.
Listening to their conversation, Daniel smiled. Since both girls had warm clothing, there was no need to worry.
…
At the summit of a snowy mountain, near a cold spring, a spell beast resembling a white bear sat by the water’s edge. Its white fur rippled slightly in the cold breeze from the spring.
Suddenly, the bear opened its eyes and looked toward the sky.
Despite its large size, it was far from clumsy; its senses were exceptionally sharp, and it quickly spotted a shadow approaching from afar.
The bear recognized the familiar aura emanating from the figure in the sky—it was an “old rival,” a snow eagle.
Living in nearby mountains, they frequently clashed over control of the cold spring. The last time, the white bear had won.
Given the time that had passed, it seemed they were due for another showdown.
This time, the bear felt even more confident, having grown stronger from spending so much time near the spring.
As it braced itself for the snow eagle’s attack, a small figure suddenly appeared before it, reaching only half its height.
A human?
Just as this thought crossed the bear’s mind, the figure vanished, and a tremendous wave of mana surged before it.
The next instant, the bear lost all sensation, its massive body collapsing to the ground.
After dispatching the bear, Daniel looked up.
“Alright, you can come down now.”
Two heads peeked over the side of the snow eagle, one belonging to Nina and the other to a slightly trembling Sif.
“Headmaster, is this the ‘formidable foe’ that Snowy warned us about? It doesn’t seem that impressive!” Nina said, sliding off the eagle’s back.
Sif quickly jumped down, clearly eager to get off the snow eagle as soon as possible.
“It was just two spell beasts fighting over territory,” Daniel replied. “Sif, why don’t you take a look at the bear?”
Sif ran over to examine the white bear, wondering if it could be used as cooking material.
