「Well, whatever… I was going to give them to you later, but I can't have you walk around with a half-empty gun… Here.」

With a roll of his eyes, Straf reaches into the purple vortex that appears beside him.

「Huh? What's this?…」

Clinkclinkclinkclink…

Nona asks as she cups her hands and receives a handful of metal half-capsules with a soft clatter.

「Bullets. They're like magic gems, but for guns. Honestly, with how much of a pain in the ass it is to produce these, I'm actually wondering if magic guns aren't just better.」

Straf nonchalantly explains while Olivia manages to calm down. She sets her brush down on her easel and approaches the two.

「Bullets?」

Nona tilts her head, lowering her hands into her lap.

「Yeah. More importantly… You'd be up for a trip to exotic places after I'm back from the magic school with Lia, right?」

Straf shrugs, then asks as he places his fists back on his hips.

「Exotic places? Which ones?…」

「Mr. Straf?… What is that?」

Nona asks, but before Straf can reply, Olivia chimes in and points at the piece of metal in Nona's hand.

「A problem solver.」

Straf bluntly replies with a bored gaze and a tight-lipped grimace on his face. Olivia furrows her brows with her head tilted.

「Cool painting.」

Nona remarks as she leans back in her bench with her leg idly wrapped around her hammer's shaft, smiling a little at the young painter.

「Ah. Thank you! It's not finished, but… I think it's my best one yet. It captures a fleeting moment in time, where the lake is frozen…」

Briefly taken by surprise by Nona's offhand compliment, Olivia blinks at her amber eyes as she processes it, then returns a warm, beaming smile.

「…That was kind of scary. The city was regular kind of noisy, so I didn't really pay any attention to what's happening behind me…」

Olivia explains as the warmth in her smile fades to awkwardness, tapping her index fingers together.

「…And then「Bang!」and I'm fairly I heard something whiz past me! It was so loud it hurt my ears.」

She adds, spreading her hands for the emphasis with her brows raised, glancing at Straf and Nona.

「…Whiz past you?」

「Yes!… It looks like it was a near miss for the ducks too. Whatever it was, it cracked the ice.」

Straf echoes back with one of his brows inquisitively raised, and Olivia nods her head. She glances at the ice sheet, which bears a massive crack on its surface where the bullet fell.

「Geese… Nona, where exactly were you aiming?」

He replies, then turns his gaze to Nona and asks with his tight-lipped grimace directed at her.

「At the ducks.」

She nonchalantly replies, and points her finger at the ice sheet while holding a handful of bullets. Straf looks at the easel, the bench, and the crack in the ice.

「Geese… Nona, quick addendum… Wherever you point the gun, assume that there is also an expanding cone stretching out from the barrel…」

Straf says, and reaches for her gun.

「…That means this. Anything caught in this cone when you pull the trigger has a chance to instantly die, so make sure you don't point it anything you don't mind being dead.」

He explains as he catches the pistol's thin, stubby, exposed barrel, and directs it upward at the sky in a harmless direction.

「…Why didn't the ducks die then?」

Nona asks after a moment of thought, tilting her hatted fluffy head.

「Geese… And it's because it's a chance. Just don't point it in the general direction of people without a good reason.」

Straf shrugs as he adds, still staring at her with a tight-lipped grimace, with his lips pressed together into thin lines.

「Mr. Straf… That problem solver… Is that magic? That dragon on the Main Street is magic too.」

Olivia asks, pointing at the gun while Nona is trying to figure out how to load it, first taking the pistol for a muzzleloader, before realizing that will not work.

「No, it's not. It's actually so mundane, that I'm getting my ears screamed off to take it away from her for a few days now.」

Straf replies with a shrug as he presses a button on the side of Nona's pistol and demonstrates to her how to reload it.

「Huh?… By who?」

Olivia tilts her head, watching Nona load a bullet backwards. Straf clicks his tongue and rolls his eyes in frustration, then quickly corrects it.

「By a bimbo dyslexiac… Doesn't matter. Anyway…」

He casually replies while cautiously watching Nona reload the magazine, then slip it back in. She lifts her amber gaze into his eyes and flutters her eyelashes at him.

「…So, how about it? Want to travel to exotic places with us? You missed out on the beach episode, so I figured that this time, the entire harem goes.」

Straf asks, shrugging his shoulders with his fists on his hips while looking down at Nona.

「I don't mind if you think that's okay. What exotic places, though?」

Nona replies, then asks back with her head tilted. She fiddles briefly with her holster as she puts the gun back into it.

「The Eastern Kingdoms… Maybe some other places after that. We'll see. You'll have to wait for Lia to finish her magic school term again, though.」

Straf says, then briefly rubs his chin and shrugs his hand, returning both to his coat's pockets.

「Again?…」

Nona asks with her brows furrowed, not hiding her disappointment whatsoever.

「You'll be leaving for two months again?」

Olivia asks with a gently gloomy face.

「Yeah, soon. She signed up for the school, she might as well finish it… And she makes it a big deal, so I thought I'll go with her just in case.」

Straf nods back, and returns a quick shrug towards the two. Nona's shoulders slump, and she lowers her gaze. Olivia simply replies with an understanding nod, though with a sad frown.

「…Well, I'll be heading back now. Nona, don't shoot at stuff. It's rude, and you're not an edgy guy from another world.」

「Huh?」「Huh?」

Straf points his finger at Nona as he turns around and departs. Both of the girls tilt their heads in confusion, and exchange puzzled glances…

…

Around the same time, in the frozen north, in Tisha's bedroom…

Sitting beside Damian at her desk, resting her elbow upon it, Tisha snickers with a snide smirk on her pale face while looking at him with her rosy cheek on her palm.

「Tsk… What's so funny?」

Lifting his gaze up from their tome, Damian asks with his mouth scrunched to the side as he side-glances at her.

「Oh, nothing… It's just Wolftooth wiped the floor with you.」

She nonchalantly replies, and her smirk grows to a grin.

「Tsk… What about it!? I'm a mage, not a musclehead warrior!…」

With another clicks of his tongue, Damian shakes his head in disapproval, returning his gaze down to the book in front of them.

「Funny quote coming from someone who wanted to be a mercenary.」

Tisha bites again, tilting her diagonal braid resting on her forehead a little.

「I'd fight with magic, not a sword or an axe!… If we were in a magic duel, I'd wipe the floor with him too!」

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Outraged, Damian straightens out of his idle slouch in his chair.

「Well, that's true…」

Tisha agrees with a casual shrug of her shoulders, turning her bored, blue-eyed gaze aside.

「…But it's your own fault for taking an innocent joke seriously.」

She adds, returning her pitying smirk to him again with her brows slightly elevated.

「Tsk… So what!? For how much you say your father would chop someone's head off for this and that, he sure didn't mind him saying that!」

Damian replies, throwing his arms aside with a frustrated grimace on his face. He returns to reading through the tome, angrily.

「That's 'cause dad can pick up that it's just a joke. He's not a tyrant. I told you he's more civilized than most northern rulers…」

Tisha nonchalantly shrugs her hands with an almost bored gaze, leaning sideways onto the desk.

「…Besides, I think both dad and Wolftooth respect you a little more now.」

「Huh?」

She adds, and Damian narrows her eyes at her.

「You might find it shocking, but Wolftooth isn't actually that bloodthirsty of a guy… And I think dad just approves that his joke made you angry enough to duel him.」

Tisha explains with a nonchalant grimace and a casual shrug of her shoulders while propping her head up on her hand.

「…I got my ass kicked, though.」

Damian begrudgingly admits after a frustrated sigh.

「Yeah. That's to be expected… What was unexpected, was you actually standing up to Wolftooth and challenging him. Most northerners wouldn't do that…」

She nods along in agreement, still grimacing.

「…You heard what he said. He called you a trash warrior, but he won't disrespect your bravery. You both knew the result ahead of time, but you went with it anyway. He respects that-」

Thunk.

Tisha gets interrupted by something noisily impacting against the large, snowy window behind them.

「Hm?…」「Eh?」

Tisha and Damian furrow their brows, squinting at something hovering just outside the castle's walls.

「…Ah! That's unusual!」

Tisha declares as she jumps out of her seat and rushes towards the window. Damian follows, lightly confused.

「…A message from the Academy?」

He asks, watching the bird-shaped construct of magic flapping its wings in the snow outside with a rolled up, sealed paper in its talons.

「Yup! I wonder what it is!… Help me with the window.」

With her fists on her hips, she nods her golden head with a content smile on her face. Tisha then gestures her head towards the window, and moves her hands towards its handle.

「…Help you… How?-」

THUNK! Fwwwwwwwwwoooooooooooooooooommmmmm!…

Before Damian can even finish his question, as soon as Tisha twists the handle, the window flies open. She resists the wind, wrestling with the window to prevent it from smashing on the bedroom wall. She manages to slow it down enough for it to just powerfully slam against it, and the thick glass resists shattering. The bird flies in, releases the message from its talons, then pops into flakes of mana which dissipate into fine dust, then nothing at all.

…Fffffffffwwwwwoooooooooooooooooooooommmmmmmmmmm!

Tisha waves her hand for Damian to help her as she pushes her shoulder against the window. He joins her, helping her push it with all his might using his hands while the wind howls.

「Hnnnngggghhhhh!…」「Hmmmmmmmpfffff!…」

Thunk… Clack!

「…Whew. This is why dad forbid me from opening this. If it'd break at a wrong time, we'd be in big trouble.」

Tisha lets out a relieved exhale and glances around the snow-dusted room for the message. It has been blown away back to their desk.

「He forbid you!? And you still did it!?」

Damian asks with his eyes wide open as he follows her back. She scoops the message off the floor, and cracks the blue wax picturing the battle fortress, unrolling the letter.

「Let's see, let's see… Hup.」

She mumbles to herself as she drops down to her seat, and her blue eyes begin scanning through the letter…

…

Around the same time, west beyond Telas Kingdom, in Neela's bedroom…

Neela is reading through her magic tome with a bored, weary gaze. She lets out a long, tired sigh.

Knock knock…

「…Lady Neela, food will be ready shortly. Should I tell the master that you will not be coming?」

A maid peeks her frilled head in through the door behind Neela, quizzically furrowing her brows.

「Ah… No, I will be there… Soon. I want to finish this chapter.」

Neela replies, reluctantly glancing at her tome before returning a faint smile towards the maid.

「…I understand. I will relay that. Please excuse me, then.」

The maid nods and retracts out of the doorway, pulling the door shut behind her. Neela lets out another long, weary sigh, and returns to reading her book.

Fwapfwapfwapfwapfwap…

「Hm?…」

Neela lifts her eyes to the window in front of her desk. A bird of magic is feverishly flapping its silhouette wings outside, fighting the windy weather while the leaves rustle.

「…Ah. What is this?」

She hastily stands up and opens her window. The bird drops the message from its talons right into her waiting hands, before disappearing into flakes of mana, which evaporate away.

Lightly confused, Neela breaks the blue wax seal with the battle fortress, and unrolls the message to read it while a pleasantly warm wind flows in through the window…

…

Around the same time, in the Redwing palace, in one of the hallways…

With his hands in his pockets, Straf is casually making his way to Cycelia's room. He passes a gaggle of maids, who glare at him over their frilled shoulders. He takes a turn around the corner, and before he can make it to Cycelia's room, he finds her standing in one of the junctions, swiveling her chestnut head around. She notices Straf, and breaks into a sprint towards him.

「Straf! Straaaaaaf!…」

Cycelia shouts his way with dismay in her voice while clutching a sheet of paper in her dainty hand. The closer she gets, the more apparent the anguish on her face becomes.

「What's up? What happened?」

Straf asks casually, furrowing his brows at her. She stops in front of him, clutching at the letter in her hands, holding back tears in her emerald eyes with her lips pursed into a pout.

「The Academy of Magic!…」

She manages to exclaim, before having to stop and collect herself to avoid tearing up.

「What? What about it? Did they kick you out?- Shit, I didn't think of that…」

Straf asks before his head perks up, and he rubs his chin with a sour grimace on his face.

「No!… The academic year!… It's been cancelled, Straf!」

Cycelia replies, shaking her chestnut head. She turns the letter around and shows it to Straf, pointing her finger at its text.

「Cancelled?」

Straf echoes back, furrowing his brows in confusion.

「Well… Suspended indefinitely for administrative reasons because of the battle fortress! They don't know when it might start again!… They only told us to keep studying…」

She explains with a gloomy face, lowering her emerald eyes.

「…I was really looking forward to it, Straf! The Academy was fun despite everything that happened! I wanted to show Tisha and Neela what I learned too!… Huuuuuuuuu!」

Cycelia adds, blinking more and more frequently the longer she speaks, before bursting into tears. She grabs onto Straf, hugging her face into his chest.

「Tsk… Yeah, that sucks…」

《…Oh thank fuck, no more magic school. I should put a few more points into luck just to be sure… There might be thirty minutes of runtime left still.》

Straf pets Cycelia's chestnut head, expertly hiding his delight at the information while she noisily bawls into his chest…