In the large bathtub, the three boys were squeezed together side by side. Tiny ice crystals floated on the surface of the water, refracting cold glints of light.
"Ch... ch-ch..."
Lyon hunched his shoulders, his arms tightly wrapped around himself as his teeth chattered uncontrollably. He turned his head to look at Tike, who was shivering just as violently beside him.
"Hey, you... you use Water Magic. You don't need to adapt to the cold like Gray and I do, right? Is... is it really necessary for you to squeeze in here?"
After the day's training ended, Ur had issued this special training task: to strengthen their adaptability to the cold, in addition to training in the ice and snow, they had to take an ice bath every day.
Just as Lyon said, Tike used Water Magic, so Ur hadn't forced him to participate. Yet, he had jumped in on his own.
Tike trembled all over, his lips already turning a bit purple from the cold, and said, "Heh heh... I just wanted to soak with you guys! Isn't this... super fun?"
Huddled in the corner of the tub, Gray remained silent. He submerged himself up to his chin, his eyes tightly shut, eyelashes trembling slightly. Every muscle in his body was tense as he resisted the chill.
"Deliora..." Gray repeated the name silently in his heart. It was the only motivation supporting him through this bone-chilling cold.
To become stronger, for revenge, he could do anything, endure anything!
Tike quietly turned his head to look at Gray's profile, which was written with absolute resolve.
Between the boy's tightly pursed lips and slightly furrowed brows lay a pain unimaginable to ordinary people.
During training earlier, Tike had learned the reason for Gray's persistence—Deliora had killed Gray's parents. So, Gray wanted revenge and needed to gain enough power to defeat Deliora.
Honestly, Tike couldn't quite understand such deep-seated hatred.
Although he copied Ultear and called Ur "Mom," and Ur was very good to him, he could sense that his relationship with Ur was not the same as the bond between Ultear and Ur.
Therefore, for him, the word "parents" was just an empty symbol—without warmth, without shape.
And without love, how could there be hatred?
"Gray," Tike asked suddenly. "Do you love your parents?"
This sudden question made Gray slowly open his eyes, a flicker of impatience flashing through them. His body trembled slightly—not just from the icy water, but from some deep, indescribable emotion.
"What does that have to do with you!"
"Answer me." Tike stared stubbornly at Gray, showing no intention of backing down.
Gray was silent for a moment. Water dripped from his clenched fists, and his voice suddenly filled with power.
"Of course I love them!"
He still clearly remembered holding his father's hand with his left and his mother's hand with his right. That warmth, that sense of security, seemed to still linger at his fingertips.
But all of that had been ruthlessly torn apart by Deliora.
Deliora, the demon that had cast a shadow over his life—he swore he would completely obliterate it with his own two hands!
Seeing Gray like this, Tike's eyes also became determined.
He made his decision.
"Gray, I'll help you take out Deliora."
Gray's eyes slanted upwards slightly, revealing a hint of stubbornness.
"I don't need your help!"
"And I don't need your permission," Tike responded in a low voice, appearing completely unshaken. "Anyway, I will definitely go take it out."
This wasn't a discussion; it was a declaration.
His certainty surprised Gray considerably.
"You have a grudge against Deliora too?"
That was the only possibility Gray could think of.
But the Tike in front of him shook his head.
"No, I've never seen it."
"Then why..."
Before Gray could finish, Tike answered his question preemptively.
"Because I hate it."
The scent emitted by someone whose loved ones had been taken away—that smell of intertwined sorrow and pain—was one of the scents Tike found most unbearable.
But this wasn't Gray's fault.
Because the perpetrator who caused this scent was Deliora.
So, the object of Tike's hatred should be it as well.
Huddled on the other side of the tub, Lyon couldn't help but chime in.
"I'll help too! The three of us will defeat Deliora together one day!"
Gray turned his head to look at Lyon. The emotion flickering in his eyes was a bit different now, tinged with a touch of gratitude and warmth.
But—
(No, they are different from me.)
---
After the bath, it was soon time for bed.
Ur's house didn't have beds. They each slept on the floor covered only by a thin blanket.
This was all for the sake of Ice Magic training—to temper their will and train their bodies' adaptability.
Tike was no stranger to sleeping this way; he used to sleep like this often. Having a thin blanket now was already a great luxury for him.
"Can I still sleep next to Big Sis tonight?" Tike looked up and asked Ultear expectantly, his voice soft and dependent.
Ultear smiled gently and nodded. "Of course you can."
Nearby, Ur looked at the two children and felt she needed to make them realize the difference between boys and girls. She lectured somewhat seriously, "Tear, you're a girl. You can't always sleep cuddling with a boy."
Ultear, however, seemed completely unconcerned.
"Mom, it doesn't matter. I'm willing to sleep with Tike forever."
Ur shook her head helplessly.
"You can't do that even if you're biological siblings. Only a husband and wife can maintain that kind of intimate contact forever. Are you two planning to get married in the future?"
At these words, Ultear's face turned beet red instantly, and she stammered, "Mom, don't joke about that!"
That kind of thing was way too early for her and Tike, not to mention she only thought of him as a younger brother.
(Are we even old enough to discuss this?)
Tike muttered to himself. Seeing the embarrassment on Ultear's face, he didn't want to make things awkward for her, so he picked up his blanket, ready to squeeze in with Gray and Lyon.
"You guys don't mind if I squeeze in, right?"
Lyon shrugged. "Whatever. We're fellow disciples training together anyway."
Gray curled his lip slightly but scooted over, tacitly agreeing.
Only then did Tike lie down beside them, closing his eyes to ponder Ur's words.
Tike understood the concept of marriage Ur was talking about; after all, he had smelled similar scents before.
Although sometimes different, they were basically the same—a mixture of sweetness, nervousness, and anticipation.
So he knew that Big Sis wasn't giving off the scent of romance. Instead, her aura was closer to her mother's—full of care and protection for him, incredibly close to the scent of family.
(Isn't that pretty good, too?)
Tike thought silently, the corners of his mouth curving up slightly, before falling into a deep sleep.
---
The Magic Development Bureau
In this abandoned building that should have been dead silent, a silver-haired woman dressed in black clothes and pants with a white kimono patterned with blue flowers draped over them walked in boldly.
The woman's fingers lightly brushed over the mottled walls. Her nostrils flared slightly as wisp after wisp of faint scents circulated at the tip of her nose, revealing to her every bit of what had happened here.
Suddenly, she stopped at the door of a room and entered without hesitation. Her exquisite wooden clogs crushed the rotten corpses on the floor, making soft cracking sounds that resembled a final, mournful cry.
The silver-haired woman looked at the traces of black water remaining on the floor, her eyes as cold as moonlight narrowing slightly. With a wave of her hand, a blast of magic power shattered the wall in front of her, and she gazed straight toward the distant north.
"Where did you run off to? My..."