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It seems the Long-Tailed Tit has essentially moved its domain into my lantern, Lux Originis. ¹

Because of the limitations of my vessel, the lantern’s passageway leading outside is narrow, so the amount of power it can release at any one time is greatly reduced.

On the other hand, it is immortal as long as the lantern isn’t destroyed—and apparently, I’m the only one in the world who can destroy this lantern.

“Cheep pi pi!”

Perhaps because our communication had become easier, I could sense its determination more strongly than ever before.

The essence of the Snow Fairy’s power is “Snow.” Not in the physical sense—like the phenomenon of water vapor freezing in the air and falling to the ground—but “Snow” in a conceptual sense.

It can transform itself into any substance it recognizes as “Snow” and manipulate that same substance within its own domain.

The snow-covered plains stretching hundreds of kilometers around the Eternal Ice Cavern—all the snow piled up there is this child’s weapon and source of life.

This is not an opponent an ordinary human can handle.

Even weakened, the only effect is that the maximum amount of snow it can carry at once becomes dependent on me once we step outside the snowfield; apparently, there’s no change as long as we remain within the Eternal Ice Cavern’s boundaries.

“…Actually, doesn’t this technically mean I’ve conquered you?”

I asked the Long-Tailed Tit, who was weaving through the air at a speed that left afterimages. It stopped circling the air and tilted its head.

“Cheep.”

I wonder if the terrain will return to normal once we’re gone—though I can’t imagine a climate that’s changed this much would revert so easily. It’s just a guess, but I suspect it will gradually return to a normal plain over time.

I hope so.

Maybe if I just act like nothing’s happened, things will work out.

Worst-case scenario, I’ll just claim the monsters outside are the culprit and pass the buck to those adventurers.

As I briefly entertained such a wicked thought, I started planning my strategy.

Cold magic probably won’t work on those kaijuus, so I’ll have to rely on physical attacks using ice.

If it’s not ice woven purely from mana through sorcery, maybe alchemy will work on them.

“Throw some ice my way.”
“Cheep.”

A chunk of ice about the size of a basketball was tossed my way.

“Forge.”

…It felt strange, but I could manipulate it far more smoothly than I expected. The ice block, now shaped like a sword, hit the ground with a high-pitched clang.

“Hmm.”
“……”

The Long-Tailed Tit approached and began pecking at the ice sword with its beak. Then, as if deep in thought, it looked at me and made four ice blocks of the same size float around itself.

“Cheep.”
“……Forge, Polish.”

I reshaped the ice block hovering in the air into a spear, sharpening the tip as much as possible.

With a flutter of its wings, the ice spear flew through the air with a whoosh and plunged deep into the bare bedrock.

Perhaps because it’s now settled inside my lantern, the ice this child created was easy to manipulate.

“……This should work.”
“Cheep!”

It looks like I’ll be able to avoid the embarrassment of just clinging to her back.

■■■■■■

“Are you ready?”
“Indeed. Apologies, we made you wait.”

When I returned after my break and the meeting, it seemed the members of Steel Blade had already worked things out among themselves.

The others still looked scared, but they seemed to have calmed down a bit—at least they didn’t seem to be overly afraid of us anymore.

“We’ll handle support; you lot do as you please.”
“Thanks a bunch.”

Captain taught me a basic rule: there’s nothing more dangerous than an impromptu alliance.

If you’re operating with multiple teams under different chains of command, it’s best not to even think about trying to coordinate clumsily.

Thanks to the Snow Spirit God, they don’t doubt our strength, so thankfully, they aren’t asking unnecessary questions or interfering.

We’ll clear the obstacles before Sufi and the others wake up. It’s getting to the point where I can’t hide my physical condition with gear anymore—I want to settle this here and now.

“Alright, let’s go.”
“Yeah! Let’s go, everyone!”

Amid the blizzard, I could see a hole we’d flown through. The members of Steel Blade were shrouded in a red haze, looking up with tense expressions as they held their equipment.

I have the Long-Tailed Tit to ride, but now I wonder if these people have a way to fly.

“Thou art the howling wind, the force that pushes one forward, the Child of the Spring Breeze. In accordance with the pact forged by fate, come to me, my ally! Sylphid!”

As Rimona chanted the summoning spell, the wind swirled in the snow. A translucent green…What is it? A fairy-like, mysterious creature appeared.

“Sylph, can you carry us up there?”

The fairy-like creature nodded at Rimona’s words, but just as I thought it was nodding back at her, it turned to look at me.

…After a moment of awkward silence, the fairy-like creature floated over toward me, ignored her instructions, and began circling around me.

“Jyuriri!”
“――――”

As soon as the Long-Tailed Tit ruffled its feathers and let out a warning call, the fairy-like creature made a sound like a wind chime being blown by the wind and backed away.

Um…

“N-nice to meet you?”

When I said that in a voice just loud enough for the fairy-like creature to hear, it seemed somewhat satisfied and returned to its contract holder.

What was that all about?

As the fairy-like creature returned to a stunned Rimona, it stirred up an updraft. The wind was strong enough to lift a person off the ground, and it swept up the snow on the ground as well.

It possessed quite an amazingly powerful force for such a low-spec phantom body woven from the contract holder’s mana.

“Us too.”
“Cheep.”

Here too, just by spreading its wings, the Long-Tailed Tit’s round body floated gently upward.

In the blink of an eye, we flew through the blizzard and emerged onto a familiar glacier. It seems there aren’t any particular obstacles when leaving.

Come to think of it, the blizzard hasn’t stopped even though its main body has moved to my lantern… Could it be a separate instance from the Snow Spirit?

Nah, never mind for now. I’ll think about it later.

“O light that illuminates the darkness…”

As the mage of Steel Blades finished his incantation, a sphere of light appeared and illuminated the surroundings. I could feel the temperature gradually dropping.

It’s hard to make out what’s being said because I’m completely covered by my hood.

A vibration, like something large moving, is drawing closer.

Just as I thought—they’d definitely spotted us. If we tried to escape with Sufi and the others, we would’ve run right into them.

“They’re coming! Rimona!”
“Please, Sylph!”

A membrane of wind spread out, and the temperature rose instantly. I see—so there are ways to mitigate the cold besides using fire.

In this world, people, places, and objects are governed by the concept of “attributes.” Broadly speaking, these are the four major elements—Fire, Wind, Water, and Earth—along with Light and Darkness. Strictly speaking, there are various names for derived attributes and the like, but these six are the most representative.

There are various theories behind it, but essentially, you can think of it as the effectiveness of an attack being enhanced or weakened depending on the compatibility between attributes.

The Eternal Ice Cavern seems to have an overwhelmingly strong Fire attribute, and it felt as though the power was being pulled toward the low temperatures. Since it affects the space itself, it feels as though the power of Fire weakens drastically at the deepest level.

The Ice attribute is a derivative of Fire—they both involve changes in temperature.

“Here they are.”

Emerging from the darkness was a colossal ice worm covered in wounds. Its face alone looked big enough to be a small house.

“Giriri-ri-ri-ri”

It clacked its fangs together, grinding them against one another.

“That’s a warning sound! Watch out for the minions! Blaze!”
“O fire of the war god, ever-raging and unceasing…”

The battle began without a signal. As expected of a B-rank party, everyone was strong.

Geist swung his massive axe with ease, striking the ice worm’s face as it tried to bite and knocking it back. He seemed like a muscle-headed brute, but he skillfully avoided direct clashes and deflected the creature’s destructive power.

Rimona was fighting using spirit magic while making requests of her Sylph. It was likely proxy magic, borrowing the spell formulas of her contracted spirit. Although the weapon she was using was a shortbow small enough to fit in her bosom, the arrows she fired pierced through the ice worms’ skin and ice as hard as iron.

Meia, dagger in hand, was swiftly and accurately dispatching the small Ice Worms that tried to attack her companions. In terms of raw combat power, she seemed to be a notch below the other members, but she was still plenty strong.

After initially casting a powerful fire spear spell, Braje seemed to be using smaller spells to support his companions while looking for an opening to cast a more effective spell.

All four of them are extraordinary—they’re a far cry from greenhorns like us who reached the deepest level purely by luck.

Even so, this party can’t defeat that Ice Worm.

When Braje cast his fire spell, I saw the ravaged carcass of a giant salamander lying in the distance. Given the circumstances, this must be the culprit.

Even though it’d just defeated a monster of the same size, the Ice Worm had few new wounds. That just goes to show how strong it is.

“Should we give it a try?”
“Cheep!”

If I just stand here staring blankly, I’ll probably pass out.

“Set.”

The Long-Tailed Tit flapped its wings and soared into the air, causing ice chunks to float around it. I immediately lit my lantern and carved them all into a spiral, drill-like shape.

Without a moment’s delay, the Long-Tailed Tit launched an ice spear—spinning it, of course. We’d only practiced this a little after our meeting, but I’m patting myself on the back for what’s a pretty good combination.

The ice spear pierced the Ice Worm’s body, and blue fluid began to ooze from its massive form.

All right, it’s working.

“If we keep this up…”

Just as I was thinking I’d carve it out while the adventurers held it down, the Ice Worm looked in my direction, chipped off a piece of the glacier, and hurled it at me.

An ice wall rose up in an instant, blocking the enemy’s ice block.

“Nice block.”
“Cheep!”

Clutching onto the Long-Tailed Tit as it flipped, I used Alchemy to carve a sword out of the ice wall.

It seems all the ice here was made from snow that had accumulated on the snowfield and been compressed. In other words, all of this was practically an extension of my friend’s body.

It can move and gather it at will in an instant. However, it can’t perform detailed work. The most it can manage is icicles, and apparently, even when thrown with full force, that would just annoy the giant ice worm without causing much damage.

…Now that we can communicate clearly, I’ve realized this little one was apparently picking fights with the giant ice worm that was just hanging out in its territory. It seems this kid is the one responsible for shattering some of that thing’s fangs, horns, and parts of its skin.

Cold doesn’t work on it, it withstands physical blows, it’s a fast runner, and there’s no way to finish it decisively. The Long-Tailed Tit could have taken it down if it’d chased it down in earnest, but aside from being unable to move away from its core, there were other reasons it couldn’t leave the deepest level.

All of this was relayed to me by the bird itself.

The Ice Worm had been lurking around here for days—it’s relentless. Now that it’s set its sights on us, it’s not the kind of opponent that’ll let us get away.

So we’ll just have to win when the time is right, when we’re fully prepared…!

The anxiety about protecting myself has also been eased by the fact that I’ve managed to bring adventurers over to my side.

The lack of a decisive move won’t be a problem as long as I can sharply carve out chunks of ice. That’s all thanks to the metallurgical alchemist’s guidance.

“Let’s give ’em hell!”
“Juruuru!”

The fact that I’m feeling just a little excited about fighting a powerful enemy alongside an old friend I’ve just reunited with—maybe I really do have a boyish side after all.