"It’s fine," Ilya said. "A drawn-out fight will make too much noise, and Sherry is sleeping inside. I’d rather not wake her over something this trivial."
The knights exchanged bewildered looks.
"With all due respect, Young Master, our duty is to ensure your safety, not the maid’s sleep. If anything were to happen to you, none of us could answer to His Grace!"
Ilya remained silent for a moment before taking another step forward.
"Young Master!"
Ignoring the urging behind him, he slowly closed his eyes.
"Hoo..."
The Frost Bear noticed him.
Roooooar——!
With a roar, the beast lowered its body before charging straight toward him, shaking the frozen ground beneath its feet.
"Young Master!"
"Get back!"
One after another, they rushed forward, convinced they were already too late.
Ilya, however, remained where he stood.
His left hand slowly extended toward the charging beast while his right remained raised before his face. The two hands moved in perfect unison before his fingers shifted into a different seal, the tips of his thumbs and index fingers meeting to form a small triangle.
"Ignis Muspell..."
Scarlet mana fluttered below the Frost Bear’s feet.
"Gjósa... Exsurge..."
A magic circle spread across the frozen earth with astonishing speed, its outer ring appearing first before another formed within it, then another.
Layer upon layer of circles rotated in opposite directions, each new ring locking into place with the last until the entire spell had been constructed.
Roooooar——!
With a furious roar, the Frost Bear bent its hind legs and threw its massive body backward, attempting to escape the formation before it could activate.
But by then, the final rune had already fallen into place.
"Eruptio."
Boom——!
The ground exploded.
A towering pillar of fire burst upward, hurling snow and chunks of earth high into the air as the eruption engulfed the Frost Bear’s lower body.
The creature let out a roar of pain, staggering backward through the flames instead of falling, its thick fur blackened and scorched but far from defeated.
"...."
"...."
"...."
The knights stared in silence.
Before anyone could react, Ilya had already begun circulating mana once more.
While the pillar of fire continued to rage, encasing the Frost Bear, mana gathered around his fingertips for a second time, as though casting another incantation before the first had even finished was the most natural thing in the world.
Then, Ilya raised his hand.
His index finger extended toward the Frost Bear like the barrel of a gun. Several small flames ignited around him, one after another.
"Ignis Sagitta."
Several flames ignited around him simultaneously.
———!
Without waiting for the eruption to subside, they shot forward all at once, streaking through the air like blazing arrows before crashing into the Frost Bear one after another.
Each explosion forced the monster farther back while leaving the accompanying knights frozen in place, unable to decide whether they should intervene or continue watching.
Then, Ilya began chanting a third spell.
Before the final firebolt had even reached its target, another wave of mana gathered around him as his fingers shifted into yet another seal.
"Ignis Muspell... Solis... Descende..."
The mana surrounding him surged.
Above the Frost Bear, a crimson magic circle slowly flared across the sky. Heat poured from its center until the surrounding snow began to melt.
Roooooar——!
The Frost Bear finally sensed danger.
It abandoned all thoughts of attacking and turned to flee, desperately trying to escape the spell’s radius.
It had taken only a few steps before the magic circle completed itself.
"...Fall."
A pillar of scarlet fire descended.
———!
The beam struck the Frost Bear directly, swallowing its enormous body in an explosion of flame that illuminated the mountain pass.
When the flames finally dispersed, the road had fallen silent once more.
Only a charred corpse remained where the Frost Bear had been moments earlier.
"...."
"...."
"...."
The knights were speechless.
Their eyes remained fixed on the smoldering crater where the Frost Bear had fallen before they slowly turned toward the young lord who had already lowered his hand.
To Ilya, it seemed no different from removing a fallen tree that had happened to block the road.
Without another word, he brushed the snow from his coat and climbed back into the carriage.
The moment he stepped inside, he found Sherry sitting perfectly upright. Her eyes were wide open, her blanket had long since fallen onto her lap, and she stared at him as though she had just witnessed something she wasn’t supposed to see.
"Ah."
Ilya paused for a moment before closing the carriage door behind him.
"Was it too loud?" he asked apologetically. "I apologize. I thought that would have been quieter. Unfortunately, I still don’t have enough power to deal with something like a Frost Bear using a subtler spell..."
"N-No...! N-Not at all, M-My Lord... I mean... M-Master Ilya!"
Sherry hurriedly shook her head. It took her a few moments before she finally managed to calm herself, though she still struggled to put her thoughts together.
"I-I wasn’t frightened by the noise! I... I just..."
"...."
"Wow... Master Ilya really is a wizard now..."
"Yes," Ilya replied calmly. "I’ve been practicing."
Sherry nodded repeatedly, the shock on her face refusing to disappear.
"T-Three spells... one after another... and you didn’t even let the Frost Bear get close..."
She swallowed nervously before lowering her voice.
"E-Even the wizards who occasionally visited my hometown... they never fought like that..."
"I imagine that’s because they weren’t expecting to fight a Frost Bear in the first place."
"Th-That’s not what I meant..."
Sherry lowered her head with a helpless smile, unable to find the words to explain herself.
Meanwhile, Ilya sat back in his seat and reopened the book he had been reading earlier.
"You can go back to sleep, Sherry," he said without looking up from the page. "I’ll try to keep it quieter if there’s a next time."
"...Yes, Master Ilya."
Sherry leaned back against the carriage once more, though this time she couldn’t bring herself to close her eyes.
Every few seconds, she found herself stealing another glance at the young man calmly turning the pages of his book.
"...."
In truth, Ilya had wanted to show off, even if just a little.
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