Two hotspots emerged in the Celsius territory upon the descent.
Naturally, one was the descended Floating Castle. The capital of the Magic Federation and a miraculous city floating in the sky. Its interior was truly another world, where people could stand on walls and ceilings due to gravitational anomalies. It was a mystery beyond comparison to the Celsius territory, where ice merely froze a bit better.
Today as well, those who admired the Floating Castle lay beneath its shadow, mouths wide open, waiting for sweet fruits to fall from it.
And the other was the academy where the mage who had come from the Floating Castle resided.
A short time barely exceeding half a month. He was a grand master who, while running a small academy in the frontier, had already produced five mages and awakened mana perception in over a hundred people. The results he achieved in half a month already rivaled the annual output of the Celsius territory.
They say word travels a thousand miles without feet. Already, all the lottery winners of the Floating Castle were moving to meet him, who promised to verify their prize money. So many people sought him that even non-existent black market tickets were being sold.
...And, heard in secret. The rumor that he even taught secret magic to the irredeemable common folk. There were far too many people seeking him.
The hope of the common people. The mage who makes mages. The teacher of foolish citizens.
The subject of that rumor was precisely me.
"Hilde. Let ten people in."
"Yes! You ten at the front, please come in!"
Hilde went outside and shouted loudly. Then, a great commotion arose from the line outside that had been waiting as quiet as mice.
"I'm the tenth person! Who's in front of me!"
"Hey, you! Don't cut in line!"
"The three of us are together. We were just holding their place in line."
"Where does that exist? Do you want to go to the afterlife as a group too?"
Competition always turns ugly. Even if it's something as simple as standing in line. Hilde shouted with all her might toward the people again.
"Everyone! Stop messing around and take out the number tickets I handed out earlier! You'll go in number order! Up to number 10!"
A noisy commotion arose, and the students entered the academy with hearts full of expectation. Harboring a single thread of hope that they could become mages if chosen by me.
...And, even if they weren't chosen. They could still learn a magic called Formula Magic.
"Don't push! I'm number 1!"
"Who's pushing anyway? There's no one behind me!"
"Uh! Uhhh...!"
At that moment. The students standing in line were simultaneously pushed to one side. The densely packed crowd slid like objects on a conveyor belt. Flailing to keep from falling, they pushed the person next to them, and those pushed knocked down the next person like dominoes.
Pandemonium broke out. Screams and noise filled the front of the academy. People tumbled away in a mass, and the front of the academy was emptied.
"Excuse me."
And a group approached through the empty street.
It was a mage wearing a robe imbued with a faint blue light. Beside him were five bodyguards. Experts who had cultivated ki were surveying the surroundings with sharp eyes.
"Move! Get up! My daughter is trapped underneath!"
"Mom! Mommy!"
The front of the academy was pandemonium. It was because the unprecedented power that appeared along with the mage had swept over everyone.
The mage who had been watching quietly lowered his hand lightly. With that, the power pressing against the space disappeared. The mage who had 'cleared away' all these people with a single gesture scanned his surroundings with eyes looking at trash.
Meanwhile, there was one person who had managed to resist the magic. A retired mage, now an old man running a small academy, rose to his feet and demanded.
"Hey! What are you doing! How many children are here that you use such rough magic!"
Anyone could see it was the mage's doing. Logically, if not him, there was no one else with the ability or reason to use magic.
But the mage shamelessly asked back.
"Magic? What magic?"
"Th-...!"
At the mage's counter-question, the old man could not answer.
The old man did not know what kind of magic it was. He had been a mage in the past, but even then his level was not high. The magic performed by an active Chosen One was too high-level for the old man.
'Magical power is permeating the space. Wind system? But, the wind didn't blow...'
The old man fell silent, and the mage looked down on him and spoke.
"If you're also a mage, prove it. What magic I used. If you insult my honor without having figured it out, I'll report you."
The Magic Federation has one rule. That is, the party claiming harm must prove the facts.
This is actually natural. One cannot prove non-existence, so the person claiming that something happened must prove the damage.
But, what if it's magic?
If one suffered from a phenomenon incomprehensible by common sense, a power difficult to even perceive without mana detection?
The Magic Federation maintains the same rule. Even if it's magic, even if it's a fact that cannot be proven without being a mage. The Magic Federation still demands the party to prove it.
As if in retaliation for the witch hunts of the distant past.
Knowledge is power, and magic is authority.
That became the ideology of the Magic Federation.
That's a good thing for me.
"You used the wind system and crystal system simultaneously. You solidified the atmosphere into a faint crystallization, making the space transform like jelly. By moving that with Pascal, people were pushed away simultaneously."
If he truly wanted to clear them away, he could have just stirred up a strong wind or pushed them with ice. But the mage deliberately used a difficult method. To show off his ability and to not even give those beneath him any grounds for rebuttal.
It was a futile attempt against me who can read minds. I read the mage's thoughts and gave the perfect answer. The old man exclaimed in admiration as if he finally understood, and the mage twisted his lips in dissatisfaction.
'They said he was a mage expelled from the Floating Castle preparing for employment. He recognized the atmospheric crystallization right away? He has some substance.'
Such inner thoughts were brief. The mage spoke to me with relative politeness.
"My greeting is late. I am Temprus Kelvin. A magical scholar working for the Celsius family. I came to meet you after hearing the rumors."
"Did you take a number ticket?"
"...What?"
I asked back with an indifferent expression.
"I asked if you took a number ticket. All the people here came to see me."
Only then did Temprus discover the number tickets in the hands of the fallen people. Having easily guessed their purpose, Temprus's expression hardened further.
"Haha... A joke, too. Do I look like the same kind of person as them?"
"Well, order isn't necessarily important. In special cases, you can be seen first regardless of the number ticket."
"Of course."
Huh? I didn't say you were special. I corrected his misunderstanding.
"I hope your business is a special enough case to interrupt my work. Otherwise, it's just a waste of time."
"...!"
"Hilde, pack my bags. Today is a business trip."
Having called Hilde inside, I casually put on my coat and came out. Ignoring Temprus who was glaring at me, I shouted to the sprawled people.
"Today's lecture is canceled. Study on your own while I'm away. I don't know when I'll return, but even if I do, I can only teach magic to those who are prepared."
"Ugh... I waited for days..."
"That person used magic to take first place without even taking a number ticket. Power that ignores order, that is true magic. Everyone, work hard and strive to become a mage like that. That is all."
Temprus's face turned red and purple as he listened. Why? Did he think my speech was sarcastic? No. I was purely stating facts.
As I finished the speech, Hilde came out with my bags packed. I took the bags and gestured with my chin to Temprus to hurry up and go. Temprus spoke.
"This isn't a place to bring a housekeeper."
"Then will you attend to my bath?"
"...How vulgar. Do as you please."
'If not for Lady Elisha's words, I would have executed this fellow right here. Why on earth does the Lady want such a person?'
Biting his lips, Temprus whipped his body around. His guards widened the gap and surrounded me and Hilde as well. It was an attitude hard to tell if it was guarding or escorting prisoners.
Under heavy guard, I headed toward the center of the Celsius territory.
The main house of the Celsius family is also called the Ice Castle. The reason is simple. Because that is the shortest and most certain explanation.
The appearance of the Celsius main house was as if an ice castle from a fairy tale had been manifested in reality. The walls and pillars were transparent yet tinged with a faint blue light. The transparent crystals scattered the sunlight like a kaleidoscope, illuminating the world in place of the sky hidden by the Floating Castle.
The massive walls and the large castle gates were also ice. Not bricks, but solid ice frozen in that very shape from the beginning. Despite being a huge inner castle, there wasn't a single small scratch or scuff on the surface. The unrealistically large ice castle truly had a clear and transparent form as if pulled straight from imagination.
I walked and casually placed my hand on the ice wall.
Warm.
For ice, that is. But at this level, I would believe it if someone said it was water frozen from warm water.
Warm ice, two words that didn't match at all were existing perfectly as a single concept.
"Do you know the rule of the Celsius territory?"
Temprus, who had been glancing at me, suddenly asked a question. I answered without even looking at him.
"Above freezing and boiling points, right?"
"Then, you must also know the principle contained in the ice of the Ice Castle."
'I wonder if you would know. The Celsius territory is the wealthiest and most outstanding territory in this Magic Federation. It's not a place that someone like you can ignore!'
A battle of wills already? Hmm. But what can you do. Structurally, you can't pose a question I don't know.
Reading Temprus's mind with telepathy, calmly chewing over it, I chose the most elegant words possible and spoke.
"Warm ice does not melt. Because there is no warmth to take from me."
"...The expression is quite poetic for a mage."
Sneering? You lack literary refinement. I explained more clearly.
"The rule of the Celsius territory is above freezing and boiling points. In other words, the fact that ice forms a crystal structure not with cold but with magical power. By strongly applying that rule to the castle walls, they produced ice close to room temperature. This is thanks to the Celsius family's proprietary unique magic and... its relic, right?"
'The relic? How does a drifter who's not even from the Celsius family know about that...?!'
Perhaps he didn't expect me to notice the relic, Temprus made a bewildered expression. I enjoyed his reaction and lightly added.
"How did I know it was a relic? The answer comes out if you think a little. Even if it's above the freezing point, the freezing point can't be this high. If so, there would be no water to drink and we'd all die of thirst. Actually, the water in my canteen hasn't frozen yet. That means magic is only working on the ice structures. It can't possibly all be the result of white magic, and a mage can't always be emanating unique magic. Then, we reach the conclusion that it's unique magic as a phenomenon without will... that is, a relic."
If it's a relic, it would cause this mysterious phenomenon without needing to be given magical power separately. If it's the Celsius territory, they would have quite a few relics of that type.
Perhaps because too much talk came out of my mouth, Temprus coughed falsely and cut me off.
"Ahem, ahem. There's no need to explain."
"Wrong."
"Pardon?"
"I said your answer was wrong. I kindly explained it because you didn't seem to understand, so you should say thank you."
At the blatant disregard, Temprus's face turned red.
Temprus was a Chosen One. Having taken on the role of a fixer even within the Celsius family, he was a capable person who could go up to the Floating Castle if he set his mind to it.
He had merely chosen to live grandly in the Celsius territory rather than scraping by in the Floating Castle. He was someone who might ignore others but had never been ignored.
Yet I, who had rolled in from somewhere, was openly ignoring him. It was a quite insulting situation for Temprus.
But somehow.
I, who have telepathy, hold a slight advantage whenever I compete in knowledge with anyone. Because I know what he knows, but he doesn't know what I know.
In other words, I am one rank higher than anyone who exists in this Magic Federation.
Then I'm the best, aren't I. In this Magic Federation, isn't that the truth?
Sick of my consistent arrogance, Temprus glared at me and spoke.
"...Let's leave it at that. I acknowledge that you are outstanding. I was half in doubt at first, but meeting and conversing with you in person like this, I could clearly realize it."
"I understand. People usually don't know well until they see for themselves."
"I don't know if you're qualified to be that arrogant, but I understand why the Lady highly valued your ability."
Temprus spoke to me while guiding me inside the Ice Castle. I stepped forward boldly. The ice door slid without a sound.
"However, this land is the territory of the Celsius family."
Like that, the castle gate of the Ice Castle closed behind me and my retreat disappeared. As if they had been waiting, Temprus snapped his fingers. His five guards turned their bodies and surrounded me. Emitting sharp momentum, this was truly no longer for the purpose of guarding.
Hilde clutched her bag and trembled, feigning fear.
"Uh-uh? Teacher. What's going on? You said it was a business trip?"
"I guess this is the business they spoke of. Threatening me?"
In the tension where hands might come out at any moment, Temprus slammed his cane down. Then, one side of the Ice Castle melted away, revealing the facility hidden within it.
It was a prison with icicles hanging long like bars. Without any other facilities or furniture, it was a prison made purely for the purpose of confinement. Inside those bars, people were trapped, frozen.
They weren't dead yet. That ice too was made of magic. It would be a bit cold, but less so than being in water. They were merely trapped in the ice shells surrounding their bodies.
I recognized a few of their faces.
"The Celsius family ordered me. Hughes. Teacher of foolish citizens."
Richard and his friends whom I met in the outer district, and the underachievers who had secretly come to the academy at night.
All of them were people who had learned Formula Magic from me.
"To recruit you, who spread black magic throughout the territory, or else... eliminate you."
Showing undeniable evidence, Temprus pointed his cane at me.