Flames wreathed Eris's body, wrapping tightly around her clothes before gathering in the sword she held. As they did, the silver blade turned a bright orange hue and emitted a searing light.

It was terrifying. At least, it should have been. To see all of that fire envelop her, feel the heat on her skin, and then watch it converge in her sword...

If it was any other time, Eris would have panicked. But now...

A calm female voice echoed from the side. Miss Roxy's. The blue-haired mage turned towards Rudy and said, "My dear disciple. At this point... I am convinced that you are causing the people around you to develop unnatural magical tendencies."

Rudy's face turned red and he scratched the back of his head. "I-It's not my fault, okay? I guess I'm just... a very good teacher?"

Roxy let out a deep sigh.

Rudy shifted his gaze to Eris and frowned. "...It *is* a bit weird though. I didn't think you had a talent for magic, Eri."

Eris dispersed the flames on her sword and then huffed. "I'm not *stupid*, Rudy."

"You said it, not me."

Eris felt her eye twitch, but she didn't give Rudy the satisfaction of knowing she was annoyed. No, that guy would just quietly laugh at her again if he knew.

Stupid and weird Rudy.

Eris still didn't get why he liked seeing her mad all the time and called her cute. It'd be one thing if he was just making fun of her because he wanted to annoy her, but he was serious when he said that he liked seeing her cute pouting face.

Weirdo. Didn't he like Sylphy? Saying stuff like that to her... He was as bad as his dad.

Eris shook her head and then checked her sword one more time.

It was like Rudy said. Complicated magic stuff didn't make sense to Eris, but when it came to sword things, it was easy. And most things were sword things if you thought about it.

Letters? They were just a bunch of lines cut together.

Numbers? It was just counting how many times you did something. And even the weird multiplication thing Rudy mentioned was just grouping things together. Like how two times two or whatever was just papa-papa. A group of two double hits.

So magic.

Eris couldn't figure out how to do the crazy things that Sylphy did like fly or make all sorts of ice stuff out of thin air. But if it was just hitting things...

Eris raised her sword again and pointed it at the makeshift target Rudy made. For good measure, she took a look around her surroundings to make sure it was clear.

Rudy had moved them all a bit away from the house and the sports grounds. Mostly because he was worried about Eris doing something ridiculous and blowing the house up.

Stupid Rudy. Like she would ever do that. Unlike Sylphy, she was careful about these sorts of things.

Eris wasn't like the scary younger elf girl who would freeze an entire forest just to kill a single wolf. It was all about control. Balance.

Besides, Eris knew better. There were scary people out there who could hit back harder.

Like Sylphy.

So no. When it came to magic, Eris was going to be careful. Careful and controlled and focusing on a single thing.

And right now...

Rudy and Miss Roxy were standing off to the side, keeping an eye on Eris.

Sylphy was sitting in an crystal chair, idly swinging her feet while reading a magic textbook. Still, a faint swirl of snow around her showed that she was prepared for any unexpected events.

So it was fine. Eris didn't have to worry about them. And for her target... the dummy was facing away from both houses. Which meant that even in the impossible case that Eris missed, it would be fine.

So...

Rudy called out and said, "Are you just going to stand there all day, Eri? I don't mind, but if you are I'm going to go practice my magic."

Eris glared at him and said, "I'm focusing!"

"Focus faster then? You'd be knocked down already in a real fight, you know?"

Roxy gave Rudy a blank stare and said, "Only if the fight was with Saint-ranked or higher opponent, Rudy."

"Aren't most?"

"Do you even understand how few- Ah. No, I suppose you don't. We never did cover that... Hah. More commonsense that I failed to teach you..."

"Huh?"

Eris ignored them.

Focus. Right, she had to focus.

Rudy promised that he would take notes on how she used magic and teach her how to do it better if she managed to pull off a proper hit. So she couldn't miss this chance.

Especially since that guy kept winning in every stupid game they played.

This was the only chance she had for him to take her seriously, so...

She imagined it. The way that Paul seemed to draw in all the air around him when he moved to attack. How Sylphy did the same thing with her ice magic.

It was simple. Like Rudy said, everything was like a sword. And while Eris couldn't see magic since that spell or whatever didn't work on her, she could feel it.

So she just had to do it.

Rudy was right. She hated how he always teased her and how he randomly looked super cool with his white hair and shining green eyes, but he hadn't been wrong. Whenever she listened to him, she always instantly got better.

So he was right about this too.

If Eris just imagined what she wanted, believed it would happen, and then trusted in her sword, it would work.

And right now, what she wanted...

Eris took a deep breath. As she did, she imagined it. The warmth from the flames, the way it wrapped around her and then went into her sword.

Her vision narrowed, focusing directly on her target. As it did, she sheathed her sword and shifted her stance. Moving her left foot back, leaning forward on her right. Resting her hand over the sword hilt just like Ghyslaine taught her...

"Wait a minute. How the hell-"

"Rudy."

"Ahem. How the 'heck' is that possible? Mana shouldn't-"

The world turned silent.

Eris's attention reached the peak and she felt her body heat up. The warmth of the flames from before growing.

And then she moved.

"HAH!"

One slash.

Eris kicked off the ground and swung her sword. As she did, she released the breath she was holding. And when she did...

A roar. Flames surging out like a dragon's breath-

No. That was what she wanted to see. But it wasn't good enough.

Her sword cut into the dummy and a surge of flames erupted, turning it into ash. But it wasn't anywhere close to the amount she wanted.

Still, it worked.

It *worked.*

Eris grinned and then spun around to look at Rudy. "Ha!" She sheathed her sword and pointed at him. "See! I told you I can use magic!"

"Um. Yeah." Rudy's eyes were shut tight and he was turned off to the side. "You did great, Eri. But... I think you went a bit overboard."

"Huh?" Eris frowned and crossed her arms. "Why are you-"

*plop*

Eris blinked.

When she went to cross her arms, she let go of her sword. And when she did, the sword plopped to the ground.

But that didn't make sense.

And then Eris looked down and realized why that happened.

...Right.

All that Eris was thinking about was wrapping flames around her and putting it into the sword before exploding it when she hit the target.

The flames were hot, but since they were her flames, she was fine. No matter how many she managed to make, she wouldn't be burned.

But her clothes...

Silence.

And then Eris screamed and crouched to the ground, covering herself. "Pervert! Idiot! Stupid! Why didn't you tell me!?"

Rudy coughed and said, "I didn't think you'd actually do something as ridiculous as Sylphy. But, um... Master Roxy?"

Roxy sighed and then walked over to Eris. Taking off her coat, she draped it over Eris and said, "That was impressive, Eris. But please think things through when experimenting in the future."

Eris felt her face heat up and then gave Roxy a meek nod.

...Stupid Rudy. Should've told her that something like this could happen.

Roxy patted Eris's back and then looked around. "Still. You're better than Rudy, at least. When he experimented with a fire spell-"

"MASTER!" Rudy blushed and he said, "I thought we went over this!"

"What?" Roxy tilted her head and said, "It's important to face your past mistakes, my dear disciple."

"I-I know that! But could you not embarrass me in front of Sylphy and Eris?"

Sylphy lowered her book and giggled. "But Rudy! You're cute when you're embarrassed!"

Rudy paused and then grumbled, "Okay. Maybe I should stop teasing Eris so much."

Yes! You should!

...Is what Eris wanted to say. But she was still too embarrassed about messing up and burning her clothes.

At least she had some spares. Miss Rostelina liked making outfits, so Eris could change when they went back inside. For now though, Eris carefully adjusted Miss Roxy's coat to cover her.

Thankfully, Miss Roxy was taller than her. That meant the coat covered everything when Eris buttoned it up-

Ah. But there wasn't a place to put her sword and the sleeves were too long for Eris to hold it.

Just as Eris was trying to figure out what to do, a voice called out in the distance. One that Eris wasn't expecting to hear.

"Yo! Kiddo! We're back!"

Paul.

Eris froze, slowly turning around.

...There was no way, right?

It was only like a week. So there was no way that guy left and came back so soon.

But nope. Paul was right there, waving from the front of a carriage heading right towards them.

But it wasn't just him.

There was another carriage. One with a familiar emblem. And also another familiar driver.

Her dad.

Her dad who was letting off a pleasant smile. Until he saw the scorched trail leading right to Eris. And how she was awkwardly holding her sword.

Her dad, who carefully looked at Eris's current outfit before his eyes lit up in realization. And then he laughed.

But that wasn't all.

Peeking out from the carriage behind her dad was Eris's mom.

And after that, there was Ghyslaine. Ghyslaine, who also noticed the mess and Eris's current outfit.

Eris's mind went blank. She felt her face heat up, almost as hot as the flames she was using earlier.

And then, on reflex, she ducked behind Rudy to use him as a shield.

"Wha-?! Eri?!"

Rudy turned around to look at Eris, confused.

"S-Shut up!" Eris buried herself behind his back and said, "T-This is your fault for tricking me! Figure it out!"

"W-What do you mean it's my-?! Argh, forget it. Sure." He shook his head and looked back towards the new arrivals. "Now, there's Dad. Mama Lily. Ghyslaine is there too, and both Philip and Eris's mom... Makes sense. But who the heck is that girl? And why is Orsted back here?"

Eris blinked and peeked out from behind Rudy.

There was a sharp glare directed at Eris from the side, but she decided to ignore it.

Sylphy would probably get mad at her and pull a trick again, but Eris could deal with that later.

Rudy seemed serious for some reason, so Eris decided to take a look.

She didn't know who that 'Orsted' guy that Rudy mentioned was, but there *was* a strong looking guy walking beside the wagon. A bit scary too, with sharp gold eyes and white hair.

But that wasn't the person who caught Eris's eyes. Instead, it was the regal blonde girl sitting happily on Miss Lilia's lap.

Eris hadn't met her personally, but she definitely knew the girl's face. After all, before her tutors gave up on her, they kept drilling the important people that she should know as a proper lady of the Boreas family.

And the girl sitting there...

Eris tapped Rudy on the back.

Rudy blinked and looked at her. "Yeah, Eri?"

"Since when do you know the Second Princess? I thought that you and your dad were disowned from the Notos or whatever?"

"...Wait, what?!" Rudy turned back to look at the girl and said, "That's the Second Princess? You mean Ariel?!"

"Yes?"

Rudy paused, staring at the girl.

She stared back at him, giving a small wave.

Rudy groaned and covered his face. "Goddammit. I knew things were going too easily recently."