The whole forest freezing over? That’s definitely not normal. It was just the moment when Greta was preparing for battle.
GASP!
First, something insignificant fell from the sky.
Not an object, but a human. If you had to describe their appearance, you might say the girl resembled a rabbit.
THUD!
And then three more came down.
“The more it feels like you’re going to fall, the more you need to duck down. Didn’t I teach you this?”
“Y-yes. My body didn’t cooperate….”
“Glad to see you’re not seriously hurt.”
However, Greta’s gaze was directed not at the women, but at the man in the center. He seemed to be the key figure.
‘Strong.’
He was wrapped in an immense amount of chill, finely refined. Just standing there, an unusual prowess emanated from him.
He spoke while chewing on Sunweed.
“It’s quite exhausting to freeze everything.”
“…I never imagined a search method like that could freeze the entire forest to find me. I can hardly believe how you accomplished it.”
“Well, whatever. The important thing is that we found the person safe.”
Only then did the gaze of everyone, including the man, turn to Greta.
SWOOSH!
As if it had never frozen, the traces of the forest disappearing in an instant. Not only freezing but also thawing, raising the level of mastery. Even Greta couldn’t help but marvel.
“Is this the Black Tower Master?”
The man approached Greta.
“I am Inspector Ezekiel from the Imperial Tower.”
“I’m just a witch. I used to be the Black Tower Master.”
“Then we’ve found the right person.”
Ezekiel pointed with his chin at the frozen Forest Keeper.
“Is this friend of yours? Should I unfreeze them?”
“There’s no need for that.”
The response was calm, but inside, Greta couldn’t stop the various thoughts of admiration from bubbling up.
‘You froze the entire forest to find me?’
He seemingly made the ice imbued with mana stretch infinitely, then at some moment detected Greta and forged a path straight to her. That seemed to be the method he used.
…In theory, it was possible.
‘Even this forest holds mana.’
To freeze even the mana that trembles in real time? The level of mastery of freezing was unfathomable. She had never even heard of such a feat being accomplished at the Blue Tower.
It was then that the woman next to Ezekiel introduced herself properly.
“I’m Seina, an elder from the Blue Tower.”
“…An elder from the Blue Tower?”
Greta certainly knew Seina.
Accomplishments great for her age, with a sharp and cold temperament when handling ice.
And yet, she seemed rather gentle next to Ezekiel.
‘An Inspector with both magic and connections? Truly remarkable.’
Just as Greta was contemplating this, everyone in Ezekiel’s party expressed their respect.
“It’s an honor to meet the Black Tower Master.”
“Indeed, an honor to meet you, Black Tower Master.”
With everyone showing manners, there was no way she could remain on guard.
Ezekiel reciprocated the courtesy.
“I employed magic that goes against manners. I ask for your understanding.”
“If it weren’t for that magic, we would’ve been in much greater danger. I should be the one expressing my thanks.”
Perhaps due to their politeness, the conversation between the two groups flowed remarkably smooth, without sharp edges.
“I’d like to have a conversation with the Black Tower Master.”
“Understood. Though it’s humble….”
Following Greta’s lead, the group entered a massive hut made of logs stacked neatly.
Greta’s hut.
“…Is that really true? Teddy got punished?”
“It might be hard to believe, but it is.”
Seina smiled softly as she nodded, but Greta was taken aback by something else entirely.
‘She couldn’t even resist.’
Considering Teddy Divine’s temperament, it was expected that she would fall eventually. However, the fact that she couldn’t even resist and perished was astonishing.
Listening to the details of what transpired at the Black Tower, Greta’s gaze kept shifting towards Ezekiel. It was only natural.
“When I heard about the achievements in the Ruiple region, I suspected a remarkable Inspector had come, but I never imagined such an extraordinary mage would show up.”
“That’s embarrassing. I’m still quite far from being remarkable.”
Ezekiel replied humbly.
Or perhaps it wasn’t humility. He truly expected further growth from himself.
The conversation continued.
Greta spoke of various deeds of Ezekiel, and then shifted to discussing vision technique.
Greta asked when she heard about vision technique.
“You want the vision techniques I researched?”
“I need them urgently.”
“Giving them is easy, but… hmm…”
Greta fished something out of the pot.
Then, a disc appeared. It was divided into certain sizes, reminding one of a pizza, with various elements sitting atop it.
RIBBIT?
Out of nowhere, frogs suddenly swarmed over Greta. They were overly enthusiastic in their protest.
A telepathic message flew among Ezekiel’s party.
—Master, what are the frogs saying?
—I wouldn’t know.
—The Master you know is omniscient, right?
—I can interpret the resonance of interspecies creatures a little. How about I place a mana layer on your eardrum?
Then everyone stared at Tether quietly.
‘You?’ was the expression they bore.
Tether sighed bitterly.
—How useless must you think I am…?
Then, when Tether placed a thin mana layer over the eardrums of Ezekiel’s party, the frogs’ voices were translated.
“What are you saying to an outsider? This disc is Greta-nim’s long-held ambition!”
“It is indeed my ambition, but if it stays in my hand, it’ll remain incomplete. There’s no way around it.”
“No matter how…”
Greta calmed the gathered frogs.
“I don’t have much time left, and seeing this completed is my only wish. Holding onto it would be stubbornness and selfishness.”
Greta seemed resolute.
“I can’t understand. To a mage you’ve just met…”
“Greta-nim! Please think again…!”
“Don’t worry too much. I’m just showing it.”
Despite the frogs’ continued concerns, Greta firmly turned around and offered the disc.
“Inspector of the Imperial Tower, do you see a way to fill this?”
After a light inquiry, Greta was taken aback.
Because Ezekiel’s concentration was astonishingly visible. It was as if he had suddenly slipped into another world.
‘Taxidermy technique.’
Ezekiel recognized the disc immediately.
From each area of the disc, fire, darkness, wind… each element was swirling with high purity.
This wasn’t a force that constantly emerged.
Rather, it was a moment’s essence, preserved for eternity.
Realizing that Greta had put immense effort into it, it was clear that saying it was a high-difficulty technique was an understatement.
“I can’t contain the ice element, though.”
Greta mumbled.
It was then that Seina’s eyes widened.
“Why is that? It seems like it should be the easiest element to contain.”
“Ordinary ice melts away, and I couldn’t fit even just non-melting ice. Somewhere, I felt that there could be a more beautiful freeze.”
Non-melting ice merely doesn’t melt.
Its appearance itself looks the same as ordinary ice.
Greta felt that it’s disappointing. Seina, who loved ice, could roughly grasp that sentiment too.
Ezekiel spoke just then.
“Black Tower Master, do you have any concept of ice in mind?”
Greta nodded slowly.
“Yes. I thought of the Flowing Ice Waterfall.”
As if to recall the image she thought of, the Black Tower Master momentarily closed her eyelids.
“Ice is originally solid. Dynamic and unmovable. But what if the ice flows? Would there be more beautiful scenery than that?”
Ezekiel gently stroked his chin.
Ice.
Flowing ice.
The first to speak was Seina.
“Injecting a flowing element into the ice is a technique that even the Blue Tower struggles with. Let alone at the scale of a waterfall, the difficulty would be exponential.”
“I also know that it’s virtually impossible. That’s why I called it stubbornness.”
“…It’s difficult. No, it’s impossible.”
Tether and Agnes wore expressions of difficulty.
As they heard more, the undeniable realization of the extreme level of difficulty sunk in. Fire burns, wind spreads, ice firmly freezes.
That’s common sense; how could one make ice flow?
It was then that Ezekiel suddenly returned the disc.
Greta nodded as if to say, “I get it.”
“…As expected, it seems impossible?”
Ezekiel didn’t open his mouth to answer.
Instead, he just summoned a chilling aura.
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