Winter break was over, and I had returned to life at the Academy.
The snow that had begun to fall rapidly last night had piled up in the blink of an eye, blanketing everything in a world of silver. The roofs, the courtyard, and the branches of the trees were all elegantly painted white.
As I walked from the dormitory toward the Academy building, I saw someone building a snowman in a corner of the school grounds.
Black hair with a touch of bedhead. A small, somewhat hunched back. Faint dark circles under her eyes.
"...Aristia."
"Ah, Albert-kun. Good morning~"
Aristia turned around, still holding snowballs in both hands, and gave me a goofy grin.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm making a snowman~. Look, here’s the face, and here’s the body."
There it sat: a classic snowman made of a small ball of snow placed atop a larger one.
A Demon King building a snowman. It was a truly idyllic sight.
"Does even a Demon King want to make things like that?"
"Uhehehehe. I don't really feel a particular urge to, but..." She patted the snow, shaping it with her hands. "I do like cute things, you know?"
I looked at the slightly misshapen lump. Was that thing really "cute"?
As we were talking, a voice called out from behind us.
"Ah, there you are! Good morning!"
It was Silvia. Her silver hair fluttered in the wind as she ran toward us, waving both hands. Luna followed a few paces behind at a light jog.
Luna stared at the snowman and spoke. "Building a snowman already?"
"Not me. Aristia is."
"Uhehehehe. It’s cute, isn't it?"
""Yeah, yeah. Very cute.""
It was just two big snowballs stuck together. Was it really that impressive?
"Spell: Destruction."
The moment Aristia whispered the words, the snowman exploded.
"""Eh!?"""
Our three voices harmonized in shock. Well, of course we were surprised. She was just talking about how cute it was, and then she suddenly obliterated it!
"After you went through the trouble of making it!?"
"Uhe? If you create something, you must destroy it. It’s just how things are~"
I suppose there is a certain satisfaction in smashing something you’ve built, but this girl did it as naturally as breathing. She was definitely dangerous.
To make matters worse...
"Maybe I’ll make a new one now."
Even as she said that, she crouched back down and started rolling snow again. Why bother making another one the second you destroy the first!? It was a total waste of effort.
As I stood there recoiling in disbelief, another voice flew our way.
"Albert-dono oooooooo!"
Kaname Shiunin was sprinting toward us at full speed. Even though the path was slick with snow, her feet didn't slip an inch. A samurai's core strength really was something else.
...Ah, never mind. She tripped.
"What is everyone doing gathered here!?"
"Nothing in particular."
"That response is far too salty, I say...!"
"No, I’m serious..."
The snowman we had been watching was already a pile of debris thanks to Aristia.
"In that case, how about a snowball fight, I say!?"
"That’s a bit sudden, isn't it?"
"Since we have this many people, now is the perfect opportunity! Let us exchange blows!"
Honestly, we weren't at the age for this anymore. But surprisingly, Silvia and Luna actually went along with Kaname’s idiotic suggestion.
"I like it! Let’s do it!"
"It’s been a long time since I was a child, so I’d like to try it."
Aristia stood up, patting the snowball in her hands.
"Uhehehehe! That’s good! I like that!"
Hey, Demon King! You’re into it too!? Well, I guess for someone who builds snowmen alone, this was a natural progression.
It looked like I was being dragged into it. It couldn't be helped.
"Fine. Let's do it."
With those words as the signal, a corner of the school grounds was transformed into a battlefield.
There were no specific rules. We simply made snowballs and hurled them at whoever was closest. No teams, just free-for-all chaos.
A snowball I threw caught Silvia right in the head.
"Ow! Cold! You’re going to get it, Albert-kun! Take this!"
I lightly dodged the return fire Silvia sent my way.
"Sorry, but you’re not going to hit me with a frontal assault like that."
I turned my sights toward the next sacrifice.
"Take this, Kaname!"
The snowball flew toward Kaname—and in that instant, her body flashed with light.
"Whoa!?"
Immediately after, my snowball vanished.
"Fuhahaha! You are naive, Albert-dono! I activated my Thunder Beast Shroud for a split second to vaporize the snowball, I say!"
"Isn't that cheating!?"
"Fuhahaha! A warrior uses every tool at their disposal! This is the pinnacle of the martial arts—!?"
Kaname activated her Thunder Beast Shroud again to intercept a snowball from a different direction. The snow certainly melted, but...
"Agah!?"
Something hit her directly, and she went down.
"Hey, are you—!?"
At that moment, a snowball flew toward me from the same direction. Reflexively, I reached out my right hand and caught it.
It hurt.
Confused by the sharp pain in my palm, I looked down at the snowball I was holding and saw a stone embedded inside. I see. Even if the lightning melted the snow, the stone inside would keep flying.
Is she trying to kill us!?
I looked toward the source and saw Milia, the professional assassin, standing there. When did she arrive?
"Aha! How do you like Milia-chan-sama's Special Snowballs?"
"Wait, this is a snowball fight, not an assassination attempt."
"Does it matter? It has 'fight' in the name, doesn't it?"
"That’s just a figure of speech!"
As we argued, a dark shadow suddenly fell over us. I looked up in confusion and saw a massive mass of snow hovering in the sky.
Eeeeh!? Why!? How!?
"Uhehehehehe. Getting everyone at once is so much easier, isn't it?"
Aristia was holding up her index finger with a wide smile. She must have used magic to conjure a mountain of snow. Was this another waste of the Demon King's Magic Power, just like her cooking?
It wasn't even a snowball anymore; it was an avalanche hanging over our heads.
"There! Boom!"
"Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"
With no time to escape, we were swallowed by the massive drift and buried.
Eventually, I managed to thrust an arm out from under the snow. Someone grabbed my hand and hauled me out. It was Luna.
Snow was clung to her hair and clothes.
"Are you all right, Lord Albert?"
"...Yeah. You’re fast at getting out."
It had taken a massive amount of physical strength just to crawl to the surface.
"I was raised in a snow country. I’m used to this."
That was the first I’d heard of it.
"Heh. Was it nostalgic for you?"
"I suppose so. It was fun."
Luna smiled warmly.
"But it also brings back memories of my village being destroyed. I remembered my rage as well. I will absolutely kill the Demon King—"
Luna squeezed my hand tightly as she spoke.
That was her reason for living. I didn't have the right to say anything about those feelings.
Meanwhile, that very same Demon King was...
"Uheh... save me~"
She was letting out a muffled cry from under the drift, with only one arm sticking out of the snow. You were the one who launched the area-of-effect attack! Why did you catch yourself in it!?
"She’s strange and interesting. Looking at her is soothing."
With that, Luna walked over, grabbed Aristia’s arm, and pulled her out of the snow.
After the snowball fight ended, we headed toward the Academy.
Once there, we heard a strange rumor.
"Kingdom Knights Order Captain Leonhardt is dead."
"They say someone murdered him."
And the rumor continued.
"His son, Knight Klaus, has gone missing!"
The other students were whispering that Leonhardt and Klaus had been caught in some sort of conspiracy. But I, knowing what had actually happened to Klaus, felt a cold weight settle in my chest. The day I feared had finally arrived.
Verdict had finally begun to move.