From evening until late into the night, Sora remained in a deep sleep, and following Delflinger's suggestion, they hid him in the bushes.
The others crouched behind nearby trees, watching the lake.
Even though it was late, the two full moons cast more than enough light, with not a cloud in sight.
From a distance, two cloaked figures approached the lakeshore, one tall and one short. The shorter one raised a wand and gave it a slight shake.
"Those are the attackers?" someone whispered.
"Looks like they're chanting a spell."
"To attack the water spirit in her own lake, they'd have to be Triangle-level, maybe even Square-level mages. Are we really going to confront them?" Montmorency asked anxiously.
"What are you talking about? Of course we are. We'll definitely win," Louise said.
"Montmorency, as long as I'm here, I won't let you get hurt," Guiche declared.
"Ah, you two…" Montmorency muttered bitterly. If only Sora were awake, we could actually rely on him. But with Zero Louise and this idiot Guiche… Am I supposed to go out there alone?
"Take me along. I'll absorb their magic," Delflinger said to Louise.
"Alright, here we go!"
Louise dashed out, gripping the sword with both hands.
"Stop right there!!" she shouted at the attackers, her voice ringing with more bravado than sense.
The tall attacker turned to look back.
Guiche and Montmorency seized the moment and flanked from the sides.
"Haru Ursus!" [Rock Spear]
"Imo Water Hail!" [Water Bomb]
The ground beneath the attackers' feet split open, and a two-meter-long stone spear shot upward, skewering toward them.
Both cloaked figures leapt aside.
A water sphere nearly as large as a person surged toward them.
The tall one gave his wand a light flick. An orange, head-sized fireball shot from its tip, slamming into the water bomb midair.
The water exploded into a billowing cloud of steam.
Several silhouettes burst through the steam, lunging at the tall attacker with spears in hand.
They were Guiche's bronze golems.
The shorter attacker whirled around and raised his wand high, pointing it forward.
The lingering steam condensed in an instant, forming three one-meter-long icicles that shot toward the bronze golems.
With a rapid "papapa," the ice spikes punched through the hollow constructs.
"Puppet magic of the Gramont family?" the tall attacker muttered in surprise.
While Guiche held their attention, Montmorency finished casting her second-tier water spell.
"Haya Yat Wott Wott Geer Wind!" [Water Shock]
A rushing torrent, as thick as a human torso, erupted from the tip of Montmorency's wand and blasted straight at the attackers.
The tall attacker glanced sideways and extended his wand, rapidly casting basic spells in succession.
[Fireball]. [Wind Bomb].
The head-sized fireball swelled under the rushing wind, swelling into a crimson mass nearly half as large as a person in midair.
[Level Two—combined wind and fire, Empowered Fireball].
"Boom!"
The empowered fireball collided with the water shock.
The resulting impact sent a violent wave of scalding steam rolling out in all directions, knocking everyone flat.
"Now! Let's go!" Delflinger shouted.
Louise charged straight into the steam. The glow from the sword spread out, forming a faint barrier that shielded her from the heat.
Seeing someone rushing in, the tall attacker raised his hand and hurled four or five fist-sized fireballs in quick succession.
"Kyaaaah!"
Louise held Delflinger up in front of her.
Even without touching the fireballs directly, the moment they came close, Delflinger unleashed a powerful suction, drawing each one into his blade.
Louise closed the distance in an instant, threw her weight forward, and pinned the tall attacker down, pressing the sword to his neck just as she'd seen Sora do.
"Don't move!" Louise cried, trying to sound dignified.
As the steam dispersed, everyone froze in place.
The shorter attacker had been holding off both Guiche and Montmorency alone with a flurry of Wind Blades. Hearing Louise's shout, they all turned.
"Louise!?" the tall attacker beneath her screamed.
"Huh?" Louise blinked and looked down. The cloak slipped from the attacker's shoulders, and in the moonlight, long, fiery-red hair spilled out.
"Kirche!" Louise gasped.
The shorter attacker also pulled back her hood, revealing short, blue hair.
"Tabitha!" Montmorency and Guiche exclaimed together.
"How could it be you two?" everyone—except for Tabitha—cried out in unison.
Realizing they were all classmates, they quickly lowered their wands and blades and gathered to compare notes.
Tabitha and Kirche explained that they had been sent to stop the water spirit from flooding the villages.
"It's alright. Sora has already made a deal with her," Louise said. "As long as we help her recover her lost treasure, she won't flood the world."
"Sora? He's here too? Where is he?" Kirche looked around eagerly.
Louise led them over to the shrub where Sora was hidden.
"Oh, Sora, what a wonderful fate—to meet again so soon!" Kirche cried, throwing herself at him and wrapping him in a tight hug.
Sora's sleeping face twitched into a slight frown, but he did not wake.
"What happened to him?" Kirche turned, looking to Louise for an explanation.
Delflinger spoke up and explained the situation again.
"The baptism of the water spirit… that's incredible," Kirche breathed, mouth hanging open.
Sora's affinity with fire was already extremely high. With the water spirit's baptism on top of that, he now had every chance of becoming a Square-class mage, proficient in both fire and water.
To explain briefly: a mage's rank is determined by how many spells they can compound, not by how many different elements they know.
There are not many Square-class mages who have mastered all four elements. Single-element compound magic—like fire-fire-fire-fire—is far more common than combinations like water-fire-earth-wind.
Kirche herself only knew fire magic, yet she had already reached Triangle-level.
Tabitha, on the other hand, was even more gifted and powerful, proficient in both water and wind magic.
Guiche and Montmorency, still at Line-level, were each only capable of using a single element.
"So that's how it is. In that case, we'll give up on attacking the water spirit. She's promised not to raise the water level any further," Montmorency said.
"Right. No one wants to be enemies with a creature as powerful as a water spirit," Kirche agreed.
"If she weren't confined to the water, even an entire national army wouldn't be qualified to face her."
Tabitha gazed at sleeping Sora, as if silently acknowledging a debt.
"So… are we heading back?" Kirche asked, looking to Tabitha.
Tabitha nodded slightly. "Thank you. Sora, wake up soon."
"Then let's camp by the lake for tonight," Kirche decided.
By now, it was already the dead of night. After fighting and talking so long, it was nearly two in the morning, and exhaustion settled over them all.
They sprawled wherever they could find space, some leaning against trees, others stretching out on the grass.
Guiche held Montmorency in his arms; she pushed at him half-heartedly, but in the end, she let him.
Louise claimed the place right on Sora's chest, curling up on top of him, while Kirche and Tabitha leaned against nearby trees and closed their eyes.
Good night.