Chapter 21
Lian Qi wasn’t wrong to call the permafrost a giant piece of amber. The prehistoric creatures frozen inside were completely lifelike.
I saw them frozen in the ice in all sorts of poses. It seemed as if they were all in the middle of doing their own things when, suddenly, a cold snap froze them solid.
Through the ice, I could still see a rich variety of ferns, and even the moss on the rocks was clearly visible. Even more magically, there was a “paused” stream inside the ice. This could also be considered a kind of marvel.
“In fact, as soon as they thaw, they’ll come back to life,” I said to her, standing behind her. The moment my voice fell, she tried to reach out her hand to the permafrost’s ice wall. I didn’t have time to stop her at all.
“Ouch.” She immediately snatched her hand back.
“A-Are you okay?” I quickly leaned in to ask.
“Be careful not to get frostbite. The surface temperature is close to negative eighty degrees. The internal temperature might be even lower,” Sister Aijieliya said, patting Lian Qi’s shoulder as a warning.
“Just now, it felt like touching dry ice. No wonder you guys use it as a refrigerator at home.” Lian Qi blew on her fingers, staring at the permafrost wall as she asked, “What are those things inside the ice?”
“They are dragon-beasts,” Sister Aijieliya replied.
“Eek! Fei’er. They look like they’re staring at me!” Qifeng covered her mouth and shrunk back half a step in fear.
Qifeng was right. The eyes of these dragon-beasts were indeed open, but it’s impossible for them to still be conscious, right?
“It’s fine. As long as the permafrost doesn’t thaw, they’re no threat,” Sister Aijieliya said.
I suddenly thought that Sister Aijieliya, as the Headmaster of the Magic Academy, is usually very busy. Now that I’ve suddenly called her out here, she probably shouldn’t be wasting her time here with us, right? So, I suggested that she just come pick us up before sunset.
“In that case… Sister, a word in private.”
“Hm?” I was completely baffled as Sister pulled me into a corner by the ice wall.
She placed her hands on my shoulders, her wine-red eyes gazing at me intently. If the ice wall wasn’t negative eighty degrees, I don’t know if Sister was going to kabe-don1 me against it.
“Sister… are you angry with me?”
“N-No.” I shook my head, denying it, while also feeling baffled.
“Why would I be angry at you?”
“That night… the thing I had you wear… you haven’t mentioned it to anyone, have you?” Sister asked hesitantly.
I blinked blankly. “No…”
Sister let out a long sigh of relief.
“That’s good… It’s nothing, then. That’s our little secret, okay… You must not tell anyone.”
“I know.”
Sister’s tone always sounds like she’s coaxing me, as if I’m a child.
“Then Sister will come pick you up before sunset.” She smiled and blew me a kiss.
Uwaah—so embarrassing!
After bidding farewell to Sister Aijieliya, I jogged back to Lian Qi and Qifeng’s side, leaving a line of footprints in the snow behind me.
“What’s wrong with the Headmaster?” Lian Qi asked me.
“Sister misunderstood. She thought I was shooing her away because I was angry at her,” I said with a weak laugh, then continued, “Let’s not talk about that. Lian Qi, what are we doing next?”
Lian Qi gazed at the permafrost wall and said, “My first impression of this permafrost… is that it doesn’t feel like a natural phenomenon. It feels more like magic.”
“Magic?”
Lian Qi faced me, and jerked her thumb over her shoulder at the dragon-beasts in the ice wall.
“If this were normal ice, how could they still be alive after thawing? Wouldn’t they just be frozen meat?”
“Well, you’re not wrong to say that.”
“And there’s a stream inside the ice, too. That’s just too weird.”
“…In any case, as soon as the permafrost thaws, everything frozen inside will return to how it was,” I said.
“So, let’s verify why it thaws right now. Whether it’s like the Druids said, that abusing magic will cause the permafrost to melt,” Lian Qi said, pumping her fists, eager to get started.
“Wait, what are you going to do?” I asked, completely confused.
I feel like Lian Qi’s behavior is even more boyish than mine sometimes. It’s truly shameful.
“What? Abuse magic, of course.”
The moment Lian Qi finished speaking, she faced the permafrost wall, and her whole body erupted with blue magic!
Does she mean “abuse magic” as in…
Looking at this stance, is she going to use Explosion Magic on the permafrost?
“Eh? Eh? Eh??? That’s too reckless!”
“Fei’er, you and Qifeng, step back,” Lian Qi said, cracking her knuckles.
Qifeng and I looked at each other. Worried or not, we could only retreat a few steps.
Is Lian Qi going to be the first person in history to do this?
I watched, feeling uneasy, as she concentrated the magic, wrapping it around her right fist, aimed it at the permafrost glacier, and punched!
The space around the glacier showed an effect like a shattering mirror. Cracks spread out from her fist in all directions, followed immediately by a high-energy reaction. Magic was about to burst forth from the cracks… and then—BOOM! It exploded.
The shockwave from the explosion swept over, reaching all the way to where Qifeng and I were. I had to cover my head with my hands. Looking out, the rising blast of fire was truly spectacular.
But is it okay for Lian Qi to be that close to the center of the explosion?
I stared at her back. Can you imagine her, facing the explosion without moving an inch? Even if she was hit by the blast, it was just blocked by the Tier 4 magic reinforcing her body. She’s so reckless—
After a moment, the explosion died down. Lian Qi stared at the ice wall and asked, full of anticipation, “How is it? Any signs of melting?”
“I’ll go check!” Qifeng has sharper eyes and volunteered, rushing over to inspect it. But… why do I get the feeling that after Lian Qi’s explosion magic, the permafrost is completely unharmed?
I walked to Lian Qi’s side, and because I was worried, my tone was a bit complaining: “Lian Qi, you were too close when you set off that explosion magic. You even got caught in the blast. It looked dangerous…”
“It’s not that I don’t want to be further away, but who told me to be an Enchantment-type mage?”
“That’s true,” I said weakly. Enchantment-types generally can only enchant objects they are touching.
“Fei’er, Lian Qi… that… the permafrost seems completely unscathed.”
“Eh? It’s that tough? But it’s fine. Let’s try again.”
For some reason, Lian Qi seemed very excited…
She retreated at least ten steps after speaking. I couldn’t help but ask, “What are you…?”
“Didn’t you want me to be further from the explosion? I’ll give this a try. You two get behind me, too.”
This time, Lian Qi threw a punch from more than ten meters away from the glacier. Her magic-wreathed fist looked like it just punched the air, but it was as if she’d hit a sheet of transparent glass, and cracks appeared. Unlike the last time, the cracks didn’t spread out in a spiderweb pattern, but rather snaked their way to the front of the ice wall… and only then did it trigger an explosion.
“Wow… how did she do that?” I sighed in admiration.
Footnotes
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Kabe-don (壁ドン) is a Japanese term for the action of a person (usually male) slamming their hand against a wall, trapping another person (usually female) between themselves and the wall. ↩