Temperus collapsing powerlessly under my grip. Missionary Kasas recoiled in horror at the sight.
"He's dead! To murder the family's executor within the family itself! Do you fear neither heaven nor the family!"
"He's not dead. He just fainted."
Don't treat me like some murderer. I don't kill people unless their dying wish is to die.
"Phew. At least you have some common sense."
Missionary Kasas, who came over to check on Temperus's condition, let out a sigh of relief. While he certainly had the political sense that one shouldn't make an enemy of the Celsius family on this land, more than that, it was largely his nature that couldn't tolerate witnessing murder right before his eyes.
"I'll go melt the ice covering that escort. Even if they're the executor's guard, leaving them like that would be dangerous."
"Before that, how about you melt the ice clinging to my body first."
"I have no divine power to spare on a dark mage. Figure it out yourself."
Then why did you even talk to me? Figure it out yourself.
While Missionary Kasas was melting the ice with dispelling magic, Hilde quietly approached me. I didn't feel any sense of her looking up to me for bringing down the Celsius family's executor...
"Father is a liar~"
"Huh? About what?"
"Earlier, when you dealt with the executor~ Actually, you didn't use any magic at all, did you?"
"What are you talking about? Didn't you see my magic? The pinnacle of formal magic. Tactical-grade magic that even the military couldn't accomplish, wrought purely with my body."
"That was all there was to it. Enduring the ice, knocking down the executor—none of that had anything to do with magic, did it?"
Good observation. Embarrassed, I scratched my head.
"You saw that. Even the executor didn't know."
"Of course. The executor is a mage. Since you didn't use magic, he had no way of knowing. Father just pushed through with brute force."
"Brute force? That was sorcery no different from magic, you know?"
No matter how much stronger I've become, once covered in ice bound by magical power, there was no way I could move. Even if I forcibly shattered it, the sharp fragments would have shredded my body to ribbons.
With Tyr's Demon God present, I wouldn't die, but if I displayed my regeneration that openly, Temperus would have noticed something. He probably wouldn't have even felt a sense of defeat.
To trap Temperus within the unknown, this was the only way.
"Then what method did you use?"
"A simple trick. I pre-froze ice onto my joints."
"Huh?"
"Celsius's magic isn't about cold—phase transition is its essence. In other words, it's crystallization magic. And crystallization magic can't freeze crystals. Because they're already crystals."
"Ah!"
Hilde, whose primary duties are disguise and intelligence, possesses extensive knowledge to respond to unexpected topics. Hilde quickly understood what I said.
"That's right. Pre-freezing ice onto the joints. Because of the rules of the Celsius territory, even just splashing water freezes easily. Even if the whole body is covered, as long as the joints are fine, you can walk. It was cold and difficult, though."
"The executor was completely taken in by Father's act."
"Taken in? He thought I was using magic right up until he fainted. Then how is that different from magic?"
If caught, it's deception; if not caught, it's sorcery. Isn't that how it always goes? Strip away the facade and all that remains is pitiful, desperate flailing.
"Seeing you readily tell me such a trick, I suppose I can assume Father trusts me ve~ry much, right?"
"I can't hide it forever, can I? Secrets are only completed when secretly confided to someone."
"Then it reaches someone's ears, and eventually rumors spread throughout the world~"
"Well, then that's reaping what you sow."
If you truly don't want anyone to know, you shouldn't say it in the first place, period.
Hilde tilted her head for a moment, lost in thought.
'Ah! Right~? If we withdraw safely from here, nothing will change. And that's not the result Father wants...'
"Anyway, can you peel off the ice covering my body? It's slowly becoming hard to move."
"Alright, Father. Stand still right there. I'll shatter it in one go with Qi projection, explosive release."
"You're only breaking the ice, right? Not me too, right?"
"Of course! Trust me and offer up your body!"
"Let's save that as a last resort. I'll try melting it with my body heat first."
"Tsk..."
"You just clicked your tongue, didn't you? Your goal was just to hit me, wasn't it?"
It's certainly tricky magic. If I try to break it by force, I'll get hurt too. Should I try peeling it off one by one along the joints?
"Huh?"
Without doing anything in particular, the crystals were slowly melting as if bathed in sunlight. Having regained my freedom, I looked down at the liquid flowing down.
"You could melt it yourself? Hmph. I should have known. I worried for nothing! Give me back my worry!"
"No. I didn't do this."
A phenomenon similar to Father Kasas's time-stop spell. But he's busy rescuing the other frozen person. Then, this is...
"Father Kasas. I think we need to hurry."
It wasn't melting. Small crystals flowing down like grains of sand were tumbling and moving in one direction.
If a glacier had an ebb tide, it would look exactly like this. So much so that I wondered if, being born of water, it longed for the moon.
The direction the ice flowed was toward the ice castle tower. As if it had been part of that ice castle from the very beginning, it seeped in and became one. So the ice castle has this kind of function too... Just as I was marveling at this, an anomaly occurred.
"Father. Over there, the castle is moving...?"
There was no need to even turn my head. The ice castle was massive enough to fill my vision, and it was unmistakably moving.
As the ice castle is a castle, it consists of multiple castle towers. Among them, the place we were at was the courtyard of the annex. A remote location where even if a commotion arose, it would be hard to notice. The executor seemed to have brought us here because he wanted to handle things as quietly as possible, but...
It appeared he already knew what was above him.
Rumble.
The annex slowly "stood up." A building that should have stood firmly in the same place was committing a massive transgression.
The pointed castle tower became the head, and the windows on the floor below became the face. The thick lower floors split open and became two arms. The first floor and stairways became legs, firmly supporting the giant.
Size approximately 25 meters. An ice giant of overwhelming size was looking down at the insignificant beings as if they were presumptuous. An ice colossus of such absolute magnitude that the thought of fighting and winning didn't even occur to me.
"Wow... Amazing."
Though I had no such leisure, an irresistible exclamation spilled from my mouth. An ice castle rising from its place and standing on two feet like a giant. Just taking it in with my own eyes felt like a dream fulfilled.
"Admire it more. Look up at it more. Looking up from down below is what suits you."
The voice came from the giant's face. Looking up as she said, through the wide-open windows, a blue-haired lady was sitting with her chin resting in her hand in an utterly arrogant posture, looking down at us.
A face I'd seen somewhere before. An attitude far more arrogant than that. Sipping from a teacup made of crystal, she looked down at us with cold eyes.
"An executor could never finish the job properly. If you had watched with even a shred of dignity, you wouldn't have been fooled by such petty tricks. Well, that's why they can only go around cleaning up messes."
For words spoken from a dizzying height of 25 meters, it came to my ears far too clearly. It didn't even seem like she was raising her voice. Is my voice like that too? I wondered, and asked at a moderate volume.
"And you are?"
"I shall bestow upon you the honor of engraving my name upon you. I am Elsia Celsius. The one who will become the master of this beautiful and brilliant tower."
The master of the Celsius territory is the Celsius family. The executor is nothing more than a useful piece selected from among the mages born and raised in this territory.
A clan of geniuses, born with outstanding intellect, inheriting the blood of the genius who first discovered magic.
From that refreshingly beautiful appearance and arrogant attitude, I felt a sense of déjà vu.
"The Blue Tower Master?"
Because her profile leaning out the window looked so similar to the Blue Tower Master of Buu Castle.
Elsia Celsius smiled with confidence.
"It seems my pitiful younger sister has lowered the family's dignity in many ways."
Younger sister? First time hearing that. The Blue Tower Master didn't particularly talk about her family. Though it's true we weren't close enough to reveal our family circumstances to each other.
...Still. I never heard she had an older sister with a Unique Magic Path!
"To think there are so many who make light of the Celsius family."
She pointed directly at me with her finger.
"Father!"
As Hilde shoved me away, the giant moved. A massive fist of ice struck the ground not far from me.
A small earthquake occurred. The vibrations flowed through the ground and the ice, and ice fragments falling from the giant's body rained down like hail. Crack, crack—the breaking and splitting ice was about to shatter and scatter...
Then seeped back into the giant's body.
An infinitely regenerating ice giant? Moreover, it's extremely fast and powerful. For something of that size to unleash its strength without any concern for self-destruction. This isn't physical force that humans can withstand.
Above all, that... isn't a Unique Magic Path!
"Hughes, was it? I'll give you a chance to answer my question. For your information, this isn't a duel. It's a grace I'm bestowing. Though that answer will become despair for you."
Elsia was still leaning against the window, leisurely looking down at us.
The Unique Magic Path hasn't manifested yet. The ice giant is a separate power, neither magic nor a Unique Magic Path. The true identity of that thing is...!
"My loyal knight Olaf. What is the true identity of this small snowman I'm riding?"
"A relic...!"
A crystallization of a mental image left behind by a magus who existed in the past, manifested into reality!