Blue Tower Lord, Elisha Celsius, had one more title. She was the Director of Intelligence of the Sorcery Federation. A powerful position that involved all information going in and out of the Floating Citadel.
Elisha's appointment as Director of Intelligence was more influenced by her personality than her ability. Most mages were lone wolves and self-centered, making them inept at observing others and extracting information. There was no better candidate than Elisha, who excelled in social skills and coordinating others.
Elisha, who inwardly looked down on everyone, surprisingly performed her duties well. Most information inside and outside the Floating Citadel passed through Elisha, and with her innate intellect, she collected and verified information.
That 'information' also included the matter of Hughes, who had gone down to the Celsius territory.
"Lancart Spendrai. I did quietly observe Hughes as you said, but."
Elisha had recommended that Hughes stay with the Celsius family while in the lower realm. Celsius was her birth family after all, and there was no shortage for an outstanding mage to stay. It was her goodwill, but Hughes gave an ambiguous answer, and for some reason taught children at a frontier academy.
It was strange but understandable. Hughes was researching ways to use magic with insufficient mana, and finding methods while teaching children of the lower realm seemed quite plausible.
However, at some point Elisha obtained information that Hughes was spreading formula magic. She may have left, but it was still her birth family. Elisha didn't hide that information, and the Intelligence Bureau quietly sent intelligence to the Celsius territory.
"Is this really okay?"
As a result, a clash occurred. It was fully predictable and could have been prevented.
If only Lancart Spendrai hadn't been there.
"So what? Formula magic is indeed inferior magic, but for people with inferior levels, there's no magic more suitable. There's no problem with Huey's judgment."
Elisha tried to prevent the clash. At this point when the Floating Citadel had descended, there was nothing good about causing a disturbance. But Lancart stopped her, and Elisha had no choice but to follow his words.
Was it because Lancart showed signs of being willing to fight? That too, but.
"Is that the will of the Demon God Temple?"
More accurately, those who would be behind Lancart Spendrai.
It was because of the Demon God Temple.
Lancart answered with his arms crossed.
"The Progenitor Tirkancarca is a Demon God. Originally close to being a Demon God, but through some catalyst, was completely reborn. Huey was probably involved."
Elisha raised her eyebrows slightly. The information Lancart spoke of was the first time she heard it, and no information to deduce that had been conveyed to Elisha until now. Probably Lancart had intentionally omitted information.
Of course, Lancart's words contained a fanatical belief in Hughes and a logical leap derived from it, but it was nevertheless a fact close to the correct answer.
"The first reason formula magic is inferior is that it requires the body as a price, and the second reason is that despite being dark magic, the sacrifice requirement is meager, making it unable to manifest great magic. It's ironic to commit taboos for power but actually lack power. However, if the vampire's regeneration can cover the price..."
"The range of usable magic would greatly increase."
There is something called blood magic. It is magic that vampires manifest by consuming blood energy. Its origin is dark magic, but offering one's own body as a sacrifice was so easy for vampires that it was given a different name.
If all humans could use that as a technique.
"The Demon God Temple intends to make dark magic into a world law?"
Elisha calmly recited the Demon God Temple's final goal and their long-cherished wish.
World Law.
A law that would apply to the entire world, a rule the Demon God Temple would build up.
Magic noble families wove heirlooms with magic to create rules. They established rules in this cold and desolate land, and survived in their own ways by applying those rules.
However, heirlooms, no matter how powerful, were merely objects that caused phenomena at the cost of mana, and both range and power were limited. Moreover, heirlooms were not eternal. They could reach their limits, suffer some damage, or go awry due to external interference.
Many magic noble families disappeared due to unavoidable uncertainty. Especially after the powerful Fahrenheit territory fell, some mages felt skepticism.
Wondering if it was right to rely on rules established with such imperfect heirlooms.
The Celsius family tried to increase stability with more heirlooms, but other mages turned their eyes outward.
Instead of imperfect heirlooms with clear limits, complete and infinite mysteries as the core of the magic circle.
Not merely the domain of a single city, but a range encompassing the entire planet.
Instead of unique magic, with the logic of the world.
Weaving the Demon God to create a massive, powerful, and eternal rule encompassing the entire world.
The Demon God Temple was a group gathered to pursue a goal that would tempt any mage.
It was the most dangerous secret society in the world.
Among them, Lancart, a mage of particular attention, nodded refreshingly.
"Huey must have judged it worth considering."
Elisha fell into doubt. As far as she knew, Hughes was from the Military Nation and had never set foot on the Sorcery Federation's land, a pure outsider. So how could he be connected to the Demon God Temple?
Let alone.
"I'm the one who found you and brought you to the Demon God Temple. Until then, I had never even heard of someone named Hughes."
Now she kept her distance, but for Elisha, who had once been a member of the Demon God Temple, it was even more incomprehensible.
Lancart said casually.
"You're about the only one who gave me something that could be called a favor. You can be proud of that."
"My eye for recognizing your talent was accurate... but in hindsight, it seems like a mistake."
When Elisha had just come up to the Floating Citadel. There was a time when she worked in the Intelligence Bureau and visited various countries around the world disguised as a wandering mage.
The Military Nation was a closed country, controlling information through unknown means. Too little was known compared to the size of the nation, but Elisha knew this was exactly the time to target people.
Elisha approached the Military Nation's magic officers, and among them, she found and recruited the most talented one. It was something other mages couldn't even imagine, but Elisha did it.
Though it became the thing she regretted most by now.
Lancart said.
"Mistake? Knowing cannot be a mistake. Not knowing is wrong and a deficiency. If you have a fault, it's that you failed to recognize just one thing."
"Your personality?"
"What about my personality? And there should be something more important than such trivial things."
Lancart, who dismissed his own personality as a trivial matter, wore a confident expression.
"You didn't know Huey."
"...What is his identity?"
"I can't define Huey with a trivial word. That's why it doesn't work."
What on earth did he do to make that arrogant mage into an ardent follower? It was incomprehensible with Elisha's common sense.
"It seems you don't understand well. Well, I get it. I didn't know at first either. But... let me tell you one thing for certain."
Lancart, filled with faith that even revealed madness, declared without a shred of wavering.
"Mages cannot defeat Huey."
Laws are written in legal codes, but they do not exist there.
If one were to find the substance of law, an intangible concept, law exists in people's hearts. That's why distributing the law becomes a greater task than creating it. For one law to change, one must win against the hearts of all people who know that law.
In that sense, the Sorcery Federation's rules had a nature that all rulers coveted.
That was immediacy.
The territorial law applied to all people in the territory the moment it changed.
"Huh? What's going on?"
"It's warm...? Is summer here?"
"That can't be. The family must be holding some festival. Or perhaps, the Demon Lord in the Floating Citadel complained about the cold."
The territory's temperature rose.
The Celsius territory's rule was beyond freezing and boiling points. It bound heat to raise the temperature and protected this land from this severe cold... until now.
Because the heirloom was in the middle of the Celsius family, inevitably the Celsius family's castle was the warmest. Since the center of power was here, it couldn't be helped that heat lingered.
I slightly changed that effect.
Not just trapping heat, but gathering the cold air from across the entire territory.
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"It's warm. I feel alive now. When it's cold, you should stoke the fire harder, right?"
"Stop right now!"
Rankin Celsius raised his staff and prepared magic. The cold energy rising from the staff took the shape of an icicle. Rankin Celsius, with swirling mana coating the icicle, finished his chant.
"Ice Spike!"
The sharp part of the icicle had forced freezing magic, and the back had forced vaporization magic. Spewing whitish steam behind it, the icicle flew like a fire arrow.
Oh my, how scary. I reached toward the thermostat of the heirloom room. Far above, I slightly touched the mark with the number 100 and muttered.
"Boiling point control, over."
Pshhhhh.
The flying icicle rapidly lost power. It had been flying while spraying steam with forced vaporization magic, but because the boiling point changed, the steam spray stopped.
I watched the icicle fluttering and scattering like a butterfly, then adjusted the mark again.
"Boiling point control, under."
The icicle that had lost direction and scattered regained propulsion. In all directions, instead of me, it suddenly shot targeting various parts of the Celsius territory.
Rankin Celsius's expression hardened. Because he knew the danger of the icicle better than anyone.
"The icicle has freezing magic on it! Don't get hit!"
And Rankin Celsius erected an ice protective wall around himself. His guards hid behind Rankin's ice wall, but others weren't that relaxed.
"Aaaargh!"
"Run!"
Unable to find cover in time, they were directly hit by the icicles. Thud, thud thud. Dull sounds rang out. Since everyone was armed, the impact wasn't too great, but the problem was the freezing magic on the icicles. Ice spread from the point of impact. People screamed and froze....
"Freezing point control. Over."
At that moment, the ice instantly became a water bomb and burst. The thoroughly soaked soldiers looked at each other with bewildered eyes. In the hazy flowing steam, I clapped my hands and shouted.
"That was a drenching show! Thank you everyone!"
'What the...!'
Rankin Celsius, floundering in the water from the melted ice wall, couldn't hide his astonishment.
'It's not a coincidence. Nor was it aimed. He completely recalculated the freezing and boiling points to alter the trajectory! How can someone who isn't even a Celsius use the heirloom so well?'
People suddenly hit by water typically have one of two reactions. One is to go limp, or the other is to get angry at the wetness and unpleasantness.
The reactions shown now were mostly the latter. Well, they were people who had even armed themselves to catch me, so it couldn't be helped.
"You...!"
The soldiers charged all at once before I could do anything. Soaking wet, they were charging toward me who controlled the freezing and boiling points.
Oh well, it can't be helped. You won't know unless you experience it.
"Stop! Don't approach while wet...!"
"Freezing point control."
Crackle.
The charging soldiers froze from their ankles down just like that. Those who lost their balance bumped into each other and fell, creating chaos.
Kelvin Celsius said it was nothing special, but that was excessive modesty. Controlling the freezing and boiling points is the foundational knowledge of this land, and if you can control that, you can do anything.
Therefore, that qualification doesn't come from bloodline or knowledge.
It means that as long as you can utilize the tool well, it doesn't matter who you are.
"What, what is that..."
"Someone who's not even a Celsius... how can they use such magic..."
It seems ice is colder than water. They got angry when hit by water, but lost spirit when hit by ice.
"This time it's a freezing show! Thank you!"
"That..."
Or not? They're getting angry again.
It was then.
"It would be too much for the power of the common people."
Shwaaa-. The ice, like an ebb tide, 'flowed into' one place. At the end was Elsia Celsius. The owner of the heirloom room from whom I had pickpocketed the key.