The Magic Tower's Tracker
What greeted me as I emerged from the vast ice cave was a silence so complete it felt unnatural. Even the usual whisper of wind had vanished from the snowy peaks, leaving the mountain frozen like a painting—time itself locked in place, unmoving.
The blizzard that had once blurred my vision was gone as well. I looked down across the open expanse of the snowfields. From a cloudless blue sky, golden sunlight spilled forth, sliding across the pure white ice as if gliding on glass.
That sunlight fell first upon the adventurers dusted in white frost. They stood frozen exactly as they had been while climbing—bodies locked mid-stride. Like the people who had decorated the depths of the great ice cave, none of them had likely even realized their end had come.
The moment the golden light touched those newly formed ice ornaments, a chill brushed my cheek. The wind I had thought frozen solid along with the mountain had returned.
Crunch—
Then, not far from where I stood, came the sound of snow breaking underfoot. It was not the presence of the boy who had introduced himself as a remnant thought of Kashipa. That immense existence had already vanished from this snowy mountain.
So who, then?
I turned with Nightmare at my side.
"Haa…"
A man's breath misted white in the air. Walking slowly toward us with an exhausted expression was a man who looked quite young.
His clothes were hardly suited for climbing a frigid mountain. No sword hung at his back or waist. And if one asked whether he carried any other weapons—well, he did not.
He had no need for ordinary arms. After all, the man who had just revealed himself was a mage.
A thin veil of mana wrapped his body, pushing back the surrounding cold.
"Golden hair like threads of light… green eyes that sparkle… a girl smaller than others her age…"
The distance between us closed. What spilled from his lips was a precise description of me.
"Just to be certain—are you Ceris?"
A strange hostility radiated from him. Even if I denied it, he already seemed convinced I was Ceris. Resting a hand on the sword at my back, I asked in turn,
"And who might you be?"
"Imperial-rank mage of the Magic Tower. Leoniss."
"Imperial…?"
Leoniss brushed the snow clinging to his clothes, then drew a cigarette from his coat and set it between his lips. At once a tiny flame flickered at the tip and lit itself of its own accord.
White smoke mingled with his breath and drifted away. When the haze had been carried off by the wind, he spoke again.
"I hear you've been impersonating a Magic Tower mage."
"That was…"
"Will you come quietly?"
They say a long tail gets caught, don't they?
I swallowed dryly and drew my sword. With a cold rasp the blade cleared its sheath, catching the sunlight and scattering white glare across the snow.
Denying it would have been awkward. I really had been posing as a Magic Tower mage. Rotating the Mana Circles in my heart, I asked Leoniss,
"If I go quietly, what happens to me?"
"So you are considering it?"
"If the treatment isn't too bad, I might think about it once."
"Shameless."
"I'm sorry for impersonating the Tower. But I really am a mage, you know?"
"Save the excuses for the Tower. There is no mage named Ceris among our ranks. Nor is there any mage as young as you."
I carefully stroked Nightmare, who was snorting sharply beside me. He seemed to have sensed Leoniss's hostility and grown agitated.
"Final offer, Ceris. If you don't want to get hurt, come with me quietly."
"No."
At my refusal Leoniss's brow twitched hard. Cigarette smoke once more rode the wind and scattered.
A strange silence settled, tension coiling tight. Watching him carefully, I waited until the white smoke veiled his eyes—then vaulted onto Nightmare's back in a flash.
If I fled on Nightmare, I was certain I could shake this mage Leoniss. Nightmare seemed to understand; he drove his hooves into the ground with tremendous force.
Thud-thud-thud—! Snow and ice shattered beneath us, whipping up a white storm.
In that instant a sharp whistle of air cut through the gale—piiing!—and a flash of light buried itself at Nightmare's feet. At the same moment the flow of mana around us twisted violently.
A sudden, inexplicable dread seized me. Instinctively I leapt from Nightmare's back.
Fwaaak—!
The moment my feet left the saddle, a blue barrier erupted from the ground, rising into a pyramidal cage that sealed Nightmare inside.
Hiiihiiing—!
Landing on the pure white snow, I checked on him. Trapped on every side, Nightmare reared in fury and hammered the mana walls with his forelegs.
Yet the barrier enclosing him on all sides did not so much as tremble under the assault.
"Good instincts."
I exhaled low and fixed Leoniss with a glare. He held a small metal rod in one hand, frowning.
That rod was clearly the tool that had captured Nightmare. A sidelong glance at the snow confirmed an identical rod driven into the ground nearby.
The instant my attention left him, a faint breeze brushed my cheek—and Leoniss, who had been standing at a distance, was suddenly right in front of me.
Our eyes met in midair. His fist, drawn far back, was already wreathed in blue mana, promising what would come next.
Our gazes locked. In Leoniss's eyes the small girl reflected there was raising her sword with a startled expression.
The fist streaked toward my chest, but I desperately brought the flat of my blade up to meet it.
Kung—!
The impact was strong enough to make me wince. As the massive force lifted my body slightly off the ground, thin threads of mana shot out and wove a delicate veil over me.
An attack style I had never expected. I had assumed the mages of this world would always fight with long-range bombardment, yet Leoniss fought nothing like an ordinary mage.
Even now he never stopped closing in and striking. Driving off the ground with explosive speed, he swung his fist again.
I answered in kind, driving my own fist forward. Mana reinforced my body while, an instant before our knuckles met, the Emblem of the Great Warrior activated and strengthened me further.
Kuuung—!
Fist met fist, and I realized my side held the greater power. Seeing Leoniss stagger back with a look of surprise, I allowed myself a small smile of victory.
But in that very moment a sudden shock slammed into my head. My vision swam; strength drained from my limbs. Leoniss did not miss the opening.
Both of his fists lashed out without hesitation, aiming for me while I was still defenseless—yet I recovered just in time. Chin lifted, I threw myself backward.
Paaang—!
Leoniss's fist smashed empty air. Mana-reinforced, it glowed a vivid blue.
His relentless assault was like a storm. As I put a little distance between us and gauged his strength, he too exhaled a short breath and studied me in turn.
Then mana began to gather on either side of him, shaping itself into long, rod-like forms.
So there really is nothing new under the sun…
I let out a short sigh and rubbed my still-tingling head. That strange impact that had struck me moments earlier must have been one of those Magic Missiles.
Raising my sword, I condensed a small amount of mana in the air. Starlight mana gathered and stretched into a long shape—the spell I had named Magic Missile.
Leoniss's brow twitched hard. Using a spell so similar to his own seemed to surprise him.
"A very suspicious little thing…"
His voice scattered white into the air as his body shot forward. Snow exploded beneath him. The instant he arrived, we swung sword and fist at each other.
Leoniss dropped low to evade my wide slash. At once I released mana, forcibly twisting the path of my blade.
Kaaang—!
Sword and fist collided; a powerful shockwave burst outward. Immediately the two Magic Missiles Leoniss had prepared streaked toward me. At the same time I loosed the two I had formed.
Kung—!
Two different streams of mana clashed, whipping up a storm of blue energy. As the wind from the vanishing spells brushed my cheek, a new mana bullet slipped through the gap.
A third attack I had not seen. I answered just as swiftly, forming another Magic Missile.
Kung—!
Leoniss, whose expression had barely changed until now, looked startled—yet I could tell the surprise was not genuine. Behind the fading afterimages of mana I sensed still more Magic Missiles taking shape one after another.
This guy… deceiving an opponent and hiding his true strength came as naturally as breathing. I immediately drew out fresh mana to match every missile he created.
The fourth and fifth Magic Missiles collided and vanished. Even while the magical duel continued, the close-quarters fighting never paused. Fist and sword flew, chipping away at each other's mana barriers. At last the fifteenth Magic Missile winked out.
Through the scattering blue afterimages Leoniss's face appeared, cold and set. He no longer seemed able to produce new missiles—yet I still had room to spare.
Mana condensed in the air; the sixteenth and seventeenth Magic Missiles rose, then more, until twenty hovered before me.
Puh-buh-buh-buk—! The missiles slammed into Leoniss one after another. His blue mana barrier was scraped away and his body was driven backward.
I did not waste the opening. Stretching out my hand toward his chest, I pressed my small, gauntleted palm against him and poured a massive surge of mana into his body.
When two manas of different natures meet, they violently repel each other. This time was no different.
Kwaaang—!
With a tremendous shock Leoniss was hurled backward, thin trails of blood spraying from him. Watching him fly, I instinctively knew it was not over yet.
The moment that realization struck, I sprinted after the airborne Leoniss and raised blue lightning in both hands. The instant the bolts left my fingertips, azure thunder crashed down upon him.
Kwa-reu-reung—!