Rei had activated the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor, but time passed without the slightest response.
Deciding it might be best to wait a little longer, he adjusted the heat radiating from the armor to send warm air toward Samarun, who sat some distance away.
Naturally, the snow around Rei began to melt in rapid succession. The roughly twenty centimeters that had accumulated when they first arrived dwindled before their eyes.
Once melted, the snow became water—and if Rei left, that water would refreeze into ice under the winter night conditions. But since he had chosen this spot with Samarun specifically because few people passed through, there was no need to worry about it.
"Warm...? Is this from you, Rei-san?"
"I should warn you, I haven't perfectly mastered the heat control yet. I don't think you'll burn to death instantly if you get too close, but you might still end up with burns."
Despite those words, Samarun rose from where he had been sitting on the ground.
Even with Rei directing no awareness or intimidation toward him, the fact that Samarun could move so easily was unexpected.
(What you like, you become good at... no, that's not it. Was it "even moss can bore through rock with determination"? That doesn't seem right either. Whatever the case, being able to approach me in this situation is genuinely impressive.)
Rei let a small smile cross his face at Samarun's demeanor—the very picture of a man possessed by magic.
Whatever the reason, if Samarun could pull this off, all Rei could call it was impressive.
Seeing Samarun timidly reach toward the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor, Rei lowered the temperature as far as he could.
It wasn't precise yet, but he had learned to control the heat to a certain degree. At the very least, it was fortunate that Samarun wouldn't suffer instant immolation, as Rei had just warned.
"This is... incredible. Rei-san, is this magical power?"
"Yeah. My magical power, condensed and compressed... well, something along those lines, until it became visible."
"What kind—what kind of effects does it have!?"
"Simply put, body strengthening and things of that nature."
There were various other offensive applications, but those weren't something he could mention here.
(...Hm?)
Mid-conversation with Samarun, Rei caught a sudden gaze.
He turned swiftly—and found not an enemy targeting him, but a small bird.
It was a bird Rei recognized. It perched on a nearby branch, irritably raking its talons across the wood.
Every line of its body radiated ill temper—a perfect reflection of Erinde, who controlled it.
And that was only natural. The night had grown late, around the time most would be preparing for bed. Erinde had been relaxing with hot wine in hand when they suddenly sensed an enormous surge of magical power within the Officer Academy grounds.
Their relaxation shattered instantly. Could it be an enemy? Had the one who fired that poisoned arrow at Rei earlier that day launched another attack? Suppressing their alarm, they rushed to the headmaster's office and dispatched their bird familiar to investigate.
...And this bird, created by Erinde, naturally did not lose its vision after dark.
With its superior night vision, it surveyed the source of the magical power—only to find not an enemy, but Rei himself, the very person who had been targeted.
Samarun stood right beside him. For a moment Erinde wondered if Samarun might be an enemy agent, but the two were clearly conversing amicably.
Erinde was not generous enough in spirit to let this pass.
Their fury now animated the bird perched before Rei and Samarun.
"Chichichichichichi."
Under normal circumstances, it might have been a pleasant chirp. Right now, the bird was visibly furious.
This was not an attitude that could be brushed off lightly.
"Ah... u-um, I'm sorry, Academy Headmaster. This was a bit of a misunderstanding, or rather... I never expected things to go this far..."
"Chih! Chichichichih! Chichichih!"
Neither Rei nor Samarun—though the latter was clearly the one being scolded—had any idea what the bird was saying. But the fact that Erinde was angry came through loud and clear. They exchanged helpless glances.
They held each other's gaze in silence for several seconds.
In the end, Samarun was the first to look away.
Given his deep respect for Rei, he couldn't bring himself to hold firm against the implicit contest of wills.
Moving carefully so as not to provoke the bird, he approached the tree.
The snow had melted around Rei's Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor, leaving the ground clear. In fact, the ambient temperature had climbed to nearly twenty degrees—leaping from the freezing cold of a snowy night straight into spring, or even early summer. Steam rose from the meltwater, lending the air an almost muggy quality.
Beneath that unnatural warmth, Samarun reached the tree and bowed deeply to the bird.
"I'm truly sorry, Academy Headmaster. I just had the chance to see Rei-san's skill, and I got carried away..."
"Chichichichih!"
Rei couldn't understand a word the bird said, but the anger came through perfectly—to Samarun and Rei alike.
"Chichichichih!"
The bird let out another irritated chirp.
(...Did that bird just click its tongue?)
Rei, who had been watching closely, could have sworn he heard a click at the end. But Samarun showed no reaction—either he hadn't noticed, or he'd heard nothing at all.
Was it his imagination? Puzzling over this, Rei continued to observe the exchange.
"Chih! Chichichichih!"
The bird chirped, aiming its beak toward the headmaster's office.
Under ordinary circumstances, that might have been an adorable sound. But charged with Erinde's displeasure, the tiny creature radiated an almost raptor-like intensity.
Pinned by a gaze sharp enough to belong to a bird of prey, Samarun reluctantly turned back toward Rei.
"Rei-san, I'm sorry, but could you come with me? The Academy Headmaster is summoning you."
"Sure, that's fine... but we haven't exchanged a single word. All we've heard is chirping. How do you understand what it wants?"
"Ahahaha. I'd say that much is practically an essential skill for working here."
"...This is the Officer Academy, right?"
It hardly sounded like a skill required at a military academy. Rei asked partly to confirm—though since he was already teaching classes, the answer was self-evident.
"Of course it is. ...More importantly, let's hurry. If we anger the Academy Headmaster in this situation, things could get rather difficult later."
"Chih?"
That chirp—carrying the unmistakable air of "Did you say something?"—made Samarun flinch, his shoulders shrinking.
Taking pity on him, Rei nodded in agreement.
"Alright. No point standing around. Let's go."
He turned on his heel—
"Chichichichichichichih!"
The bird—Erinde's familiar—let out a piercing shriek.
No, at this point "shriek" might be a better word for it.
"What is it?"
"Rei-san, um... your red mana skill is still active, so that's probably it. Though personally, I find it absolutely fascinating, so I wouldn't mind if you kept it up..."
Rei glanced down at his hand. Sure enough, it was still sheathed in the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor.
He had activated it to lure out attackers—or whoever might be surveilling him—with the side benefit of training in its use. But the conversation had taken such an unexpected turn that he'd completely forgotten he still had it deployed.
The fact that Erinde's bird familiar could behave normally in that state was partly because Rei harbored no hostility toward it—but more than that, it spoke to just how furious Erinde was over the whole incident.
"Sorry, you're right. Walking through the school like this would cause all sorts of problems. Especially at night—it'd stand out badly."
With the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor active, red magical power cloaked Rei's entire body. In the dark, that glow was conspicuous enough to serve as a beacon. If anyone else caught sight of Rei walking through the halls like this, they'd be startled at best. Given the overwhelming presence he radiated, they might even lose consciousness on the spot.
(I don't even know if this world has something like the Seven Wonders, but if it did, I'd definitely qualify as one. ...Then again, this is a world where mana and magic are commonplace, so maybe there's no such thing?)
In the first place, Rei's very existence was stranger than any Seven Wonders—but setting that aside, he dismissed the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor.
Darkness rushed back in. Only moonlight remained to illuminate the surroundings.
Beneath that pale glow, Rei slipped the Ring of the New Moon back onto his finger and called out to Samarun.
"Alright, let's go. Ideally, we'd have seen some movement before heading to the headmaster's office, but..."
"Huh? What do you mean? Movement... about what?"
"I'll explain once we're there. Repeating myself is a hassle, and the Academy Headmaster will do a better job with this kind of explanation than I would. They're an Elf, after all."
"Chichichichih!"
Erinde's anger flared through the bird, which chirped as if to say: Don't think being an Elf excuses everything!
Rei deliberately let that slide and started to leave with Samarun—then stopped, turning his gaze toward the darkness.
"Hm? Rei-san, what's wrong?"
"No... I just realized there's still someone I hadn't told about this."
"Huh?"
Samarun stared blankly, unable to follow—until a presence emerged from the dark and froze him in place.
"Gururururu!"
What appeared with that rumbling cry was, naturally enough, Set.
The moment it spotted Rei, it charged forward at full speed and pressed its head against him.
"Guru, gurururu, gururu."
"Ah, yeah. Sorry for making you worry. Look, everything's fine—nothing to worry about."
Rei stroked Set's head as it nudged against him, his voice calm and reassuring.
Set and Rei were bound through Beast Magic. Rei had removed the Ring of the New Moon, unleashing the mana he'd been concealing—and on top of that, activated the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor.
From Set's perspective, it was only natural to fear something had happened to Rei.
That was why it had burst from the stables and come running.
But when it arrived, Rei wasn't in any danger. He was simply talking with Samarun.
Given how worried it had been, a bit of sulking was only to be expected. And if that sulking took the form of rubbing its head against Rei, it only showed how desperately it wanted to be petted.
Understanding this, Rei obliged, gently stroking Set's head without pulling away.
"Gurururu..."
Under Rei's hand, Set's mood improved noticeably. The rumble in its throat shifted from a sulky whine to pure, affectionate contentment.
(To tame a gryphon this easily... I'd heard Rei-san was a Tamer, but could it be that mana plays a role in taming? If so, does that mean any mage could potentially become a Tamer?)
Watching the two together, Samarun found himself wondering whether the art of the Tamer was tied to magical power.
In a sense, he was right. In another sense, he was wrong.
Among monsters, many were drawn to mana. That much was true. A monster encountering someone whose mana resonated at a compatible wavelength could certainly grow attached to them. In fact, a fair number of those called Tamers had tamed monsters attracted to their mana.
But Tamers also employed other methods—simply befriending the creature, or feeding it, demonstrating strength, raising it from a young age. The means of taming varied from one Tamer to the next.
Viewed in that light, Samarun's theory wasn't entirely off the mark.
What was decisively wrong, however, was the fundamental nature of Set's bond. Though Set was publicly treated as a tamed monster, its connection to Rei actually stemmed from Beast Magic—an ancient magic entirely separate from conventional taming.
"Samarun, we should get going. You said we're in a hurry, right?"
"Chichichih!"
At Rei's voice and the bird's impatient chirp, Samarun snapped back to reality and set off toward the headmaster's office.