“Gnunu…”

“Mumumu…”

Rey and Icicle remained hostile even after we returned to Akoup. Rey had taken to running outside alongside the carriage, matching its speed, while Icicle leaned against the window opposite her, enjoying the scenery.

Meanwhile, I sat inside with my eyes closed, inwardly panicking about what to do. Getting involved in a fight between girls often only made things worse when someone like me, clueless about the dynamics, tried to intervene. I decided it was best to let time resolve things and kept my distance.

In the quiet that followed, I took the opportunity to ponder why Ivy hadn’t simply defeated Icicle.

It was one thing with ordinary monsters like Sanshita, but Icicle was an entirely different level of dangerous. Having consumed the Demon King’s Fingers, she was essentially one of his officers.

And then there was Rey. With someone as famous as Logan mentoring her, Rey was clearly no ordinary human either. There was something about her that I hadn’t wanted to touch on, sensing that doing so would lead to a point of no return. But eventually, if I was to get more involved with her, I would have to confront that truth.

—Alright, I’ve made up my mind. Once the fight between Icicle and Rey is over, I’ll muster the courage to ask her.

Sure enough, the two ended up fighting. I had grown used to the rough solution of resolving disputes through combat. My brain had definitely become more straightforward after spending so much time with adventurers and other folks in Akoup.

“Don’t come crying after you lose.”

“I could say the same to you, my dear.”

“—Mii!”

At Ivy’s signal to start, the two kicked off the ground simultaneously.

Icicle leaped high into the air, spreading her wings. Her iridescent feathers shimmered brightly as she ascended.

Rey, on the other hand, closed the gap in an instant and delivered a slash.

“Tch, tough!”

But the strike only managed to crack the carapace covering Icicle’s leg.

“Not done yet!”

“Tch, how annoying.”

Before me unfolded a fierce battle: the airborne insect queen versus the war maiden chasing her through the skies.

This was the first time I’d seen Icicle in combat since she had been defeated instantly when we first fought.

She used magic I’d never seen before.

In magic, there’s a concept known as "action." It refers to the number of steps involved in creating and deploying a spell. For example, the magic Ivy and I use typically involves creating a spell and then releasing it in a single direction—a single action.

Adding a homing function would make it a double action. If the spell branched into multiple attacks mid-flight, it would become a triple action.

Our primary spells are single-action types, designed for high speed and simplicity. We sometimes enhance them with double-action features or use single-action spells to collide and amplify each other. However, we rarely employ anything more complex due to the increased casting time required.

Icicle, it seemed, operated differently.

“Ohohohoho!”

As Icicle flew, her wings buzzed, and she cast magic from her fingertips. These spells resembled various insects—mosquitoes, moths, and even winged caterpillars.

Each spell moved independently, darting toward Rey in a seemingly chaotic swarm. I couldn’t even begin to grasp how many actions were involved in their creation.

Her magic was undoubtedly complex and intricate, far beyond my own capabilities.

But Rey wasn’t one to be outdone.

“Take this!”

Enhancing her body for speed, she closed in with a sword, slashing at Icicle. She fired straight magic arrows at high velocity, employing simple yet overwhelmingly powerful single-action spells.

Her style relied on maximizing output, leveraging her abundant mana to its fullest.

It was versatile, lacking significant weaknesses, and effective against a wide range of opponents. The downside was the rapid depletion of mana, which made sustaining such power challenging.

Ivy and I silently watched the two clash. Logan had left earlier, claiming other matters to attend to.

“Hmm…”

“Huh? Oh, it’s Katya. What are you doing here?”

As I lay in the garden, yawning and dozing off, I noticed Katya, the daughter of the Marquis of Endlord, standing nearby.

“I heard you and the others had returned, so I hurried over.”

“Ah, I see.”

“Just one question… Why do you look so sleepy while watching such an intense fight?”

“Well… I mean…”

“Mii!”

When Rey and I fight, the battles often involve tearing up the ground or reshaping the terrain. Icicle’s abilities are flashy and versatile, but they start feeling repetitive after a while.

“You’re all ridiculous…” Katya sighed, not at Rey and Icicle’s heated duel but at me and Ivy.

I couldn’t help but feel somewhat dissatisfied.