The fire had been moved many times.
But never once had the flames grown.
What on earth was happening?
“Well done!”
When I turned to look at Master Avana, she was already holding a staff in her right hand and a magic book in her left. She quickly recited a spell from the book and stretched out her staff toward the red-haired magician.
A green light flickered within the purple glow, then surged toward the red-haired magician. Or, more precisely, toward the ground beneath her feet. As soon as the green light touched the ground, thorny vines burst up and wrapped around the red-haired magician’s legs.
Whoosh—!
The flames that had enveloped her face flickered and died at their core.
A pale, delicate hand had seized the embers that had fueled the fire.
The red-haired magician, now with an even cleaner face than before, looked down at the embers in her grasp and murmured.
“Oh? This is Master’s flame. But isn’t it better than mine?”
Her silky golden eyebrows twitched.
She shifted her large eyes and glared at me. Her pupils, shining brightly, were also golden.
Golden eyes.
I quickly spoke.
“My psychokinesis was cut off!”
“The initiative was stolen. There’s nothing you can do when the difference in skill is this vast. For now, get inside the castle.”
“But the house—”
“It’s fine. Only the surface is burning.”
Master Avana raised her staff once more.
Again, green light rose from within the purple glow, this time fanning out widely.
As the green light enveloped the clearing, including the wooden hut, the trees that made up the hut regained their vitality and trembled.
Amazingly, the flames burning inside were expelled in all directions. Though the surrounding forest caught fire, the hut’s wooden structure remained lush and green.
What a relief.
Psyche is safe.
“A plant that drains magical energy? I’ve never seen that magic before. But the affinity is poor.”
The red-haired magician mocked, then brought the tip of her staff to her restrained feet.
Yellow flames ignited at the contact point, reducing the restraining plants to ashes.
It seemed that her staff carried her own embers.
“As long as I handle that magician, get inside. Quickly! It’s dangerous out here.”
Her words jolted me back to my senses.
I took a step forward, but when I looked back, Master was preparing another spell.
She was buying me time to escape.
But she was still in danger.
“Don’t be surprised. I’ll carry you.”
“What?”
I lifted her into my arms in an instant.
As expected—light as a feather.
“That magician is casting something, Master.”
Master Avana was momentarily startled but soon hardened her expression and resumed reciting her spell.
At that moment, behind the red-haired magician, a flame of sunset and ash ignited.
The sunset-coloured fire gathered to form a bird, while the ash-coloured flames shaped its beak and talons.
Once fully materialized, it let out an explosive burst—engulfing the surrounding trees in fire.
Fire magic really is spectacular.
As I crossed the threshold into the hut, Master Avana, still on my shoulder, stopped chanting and raised her staff high.
A blue light surged from within the purple glow.
The door of the hut swung open, and a massive torrent of water gushed out.
The water engulfed both the red-haired magician and the blazing bird she had summoned.
Swoooosh—!
The torrent swept over her once before whirling around in a great curve, extinguishing all surrounding flames before retreating back into the hut.
The red-haired magician managed to stay standing despite the torrent, but she was thoroughly soaked.
Her summoned bird had nearly lost its form, reduced to little more than a flickering ember.
She muttered, her voice trembling.
“Th-This isn’t ordinary water?”
Master dismounted from my shoulder and spoke.
“You’re on par with me in skill, but you lack experience. The castle is a mage’s domain. Just fighting near it gives me the advantage. Now that I’m inside, you will never defeat me.”
“……”
Master Avana’s words sounded like a declaration of victory.
The red-haired magician’s pupils trembled, and her legs wobbled.
Just then, the ember she had stolen from me wavered slightly.
It felt as if it were calling me.
I quickly reached out and willed my psychokinesis toward the ember in her grasp.
The ember slipped from her fingers and shot far away.
I had regained control.
The red-haired magician’s golden eyes flared with sudden rage.
“A mere apprentice dares to steal fire from me?!”
“I think you’re mistaken. It was mine to begin with.”
She clenched her teeth and raised her staff high.
At that moment, Master Avana pointed her staff forward and declared.
“Drop the staff. Or I’ll kill your familiar.”
So that blazing bird wasn’t just a simple spell—it was her familiar.
Judging by her twisted expression, that must have struck a nerve.
“Try it if you dare!”
“You saw the water earlier. I’ve nurtured it for over a century, continuously infusing it with magic. Now that I know I can extinguish your flames, it wouldn’t take much to destroy your familiar.”
“……”
“You were sent by Kalasta, weren’t you? I have no desire to offend him. If you put down your staff now, I’ll treat you as a guest.”
At those words, the red-haired magician’s eyes sharpened.
“Don’t use your Master as an excuse!”
She swung her staff fiercely.
The tiny ember behind her ignited violently, reforming into a bird that shot toward Master Avana.
“Foolish.”
Master Avana raised her staff once more.
The hut’s door burst open again, unleashing an even more powerful torrent of water.
The fiery bird flapped its wings desperately within the flood, but in the end, its form collapsed.
It shrank into a small fireball and fell to the ground with a dull thud.
Master used psychokinesis to pull it toward her and tucked it inside her robe.
The red-haired magician gulped nervously.
Master Avana looked at her with a cold gaze.
“Drop the staff.”
At those words, the red-haired magician’s golden eyes flashed fiercely.
“Never!”
I respect that.
“She sure has quite the pride.”
The red-haired magician spread her left hand. With a pop sound, a small explosion erupted, and a magic book materialized in her left hand.
Master Avana quickly spoke.
“You don’t even have a familiar. Do you really think I’ll let you cast a spell?”
Ignoring those words, the red-haired magician began chanting.
Master Avana swiftly swung her staff upward. In response, thick wooden vines shot up from the ground beneath the red-haired magician, spiraling around her staff.
She had to stop chanting midway and grab her staff tightly with both hands to avoid losing it. Just as suddenly as it had appeared, her magic book vanished.
Looks like I can help too.
I stretched out both hands and used telekinesis to strengthen the grip of the wooden vines.
“Thanks, Ran. That gives me a bit more room to breathe.”
Master Avana made the magic book disappear, then raised her left index finger. Dozens of streams of water split apart, forming a prison-like structure around the red-haired magician and rushing toward her.
“Ahh!”
At that moment, she lost her staff and had no choice but to be trapped in the water prison. Water continuously poured down inside, tormenting her.
“Are you ready to give up now?”
The red-haired magician struggled to speak through the torrent.
“Cough cough N-never. Cough cough”
“You’re really stubborn.”
Shaking her head, Master Avana pulled her left hand back. The water prison floated up and hung itself from one of the branches that formed the hut.
Like some sort of decoration.
“Let me know when you decide to become a guest. I’ll take you down anytime.”
With that, Master Avana opened the hut’s door and stepped inside.
I stared up at the red-haired magician.
Are all magicians this beautiful?
I asked her, “Why are you being so stubborn?”
“Cough A mere. Cough Apprentice. Cough Dares. Cough To—”
Enough.
She wasn’t someone I could hold a conversation with.
After a moment of watching her, I followed Master Avana into the hut.
“Mint?”
Psyche, who was casually pouring water in the kitchen, called out to me.
She seemed completely unharmed.
“You’re okay, right?”
She turned her head away and dropped mint tea leaves into my cup.
No matter how long I waited, she didn’t answer.
Since she was acting normal, she must be fine.
“Have a seat. Judging by that girl’s temperament, it’s going to take a while to break her stubbornness.”
I sat across from Master Avana.
She was holding a small, dark, murky orb in her right hand.
“Is that her familiar?”
Master Avana examined it from different angles before responding.
“Yeah. I really intended to kill it, but it survived. That’s probably why she was bold enough to send it here.”
“That thing’s still alive?”
“It’s an egg. Give it enough flames, and it’ll be reborn.”
Something clicked in my mind.
“A Phoenix?”
Master Avana widened her eyes.
“Oh. I don’t remember teaching you that. How did you know?”
Hmm. Where had I heard about phoenixes before?
I had no idea.
Must’ve picked it up somewhere.
“You know, that undying bird, right? I got it right, didn’t I?”
She studied me for a moment before answering.
“That’s right. It’s an incredibly rare creature. Binding one as a familiar would have been extremely difficult—turns out, she’s quite a talented magician. She just lacks experience and overcomplicates things.”
“Come to think of it, didn’t you say she’s on a similar level to you?”
“Judging by what I sensed, yeah. Pretty impressive for her age.”
I tilted my head.
“But I thought magicians don’t age?”
“They don’t age after they reach full maturity. It doesn’t mean they stop growing. That girl is still in her growth phase, so her appearance is true to her actual age.”
Now that I thought about it, Psyche was the same age as me.
“If she’s at a similar level to you and has such a rare familiar, wouldn’t Kalasta cherish her as a disciple?”
“Probably. Her appearance alone surpasses normal human standards.”
“Speaking of which, I’ve been curious—why are all magicians so beautiful?”
Clink!
I flinched.
Psyche had suddenly slammed my cup onto the table.
She calmly placed a cup in front of Master Avana as well, then sat in the chair between us.
Crossing her legs, she gazed out the window. Despite her rough action, her face remained as expressionless as ever.
“Magical talent, dignity, and authority—all of those come from uniqueness. A beautiful face is the most common form of uniqueness. That’s why it’s so common for magicians to be beautiful. But once you reach a certain level, you’ll realize—there’s another hierarchy even among them.”
The most common form of uniqueness, huh?
Interesting way to put it.
“Do you think Kalasta will let this slide? If she’s his cherished disciple, he won’t be happy about how she was treated.”
“She’s the one who caused trouble in someone else’s domain first. She set fire to my castle. Even Kalasta himself wouldn’t have done that. Honestly, even if I killed her, no one could blame me.”
“……”
“The real question is, why did she come here all of a sudden? Did Kalasta send her?”
I shrugged.
“Doesn’t seem like she’ll answer that easily.”
“Exactly. Still, a fire magician trapped in a water prison… A few hours in there, and she’ll throw away her pride and beg to get out.”
Master Avana lifted her cup and drank the mint tea in one go. Since it was elven tea, it was cold, untouched by fire.
“Anyway, I’m going to rest. Using magic back-to-back is giving me a splitting headache. Psyche, don’t let that girl see you. Ran, either rest or practice your psychokinesis.”
With that, she went up to her room.
Contrary to Master Avana’s expectations, the red-haired magician refused to give in—even by the next morning.
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