Night, Ravenclaw dormitory.
Sterling suddenly sat up in bed, rubbing his forehead. His originally pale skin was now flushed red.
"Something's wrong with Vivian's territory. I can't get through."
He'd tried projecting to the fairy garden, but crashed into a thick crystal barrier before even beginning his descent. The impact jolted him awake.
That crystal bore no trace of Vivian's aura. Not her handiwork... Rather, it seemed like something from the Black Mirror Kingdom?
Maybe he was overthinking. Wasn't the Black Mirror Kingdom still on an expedition to the Snow White Kingdom? Speaking of which, the Snow White Kingdom!
Sterling suddenly remembered he hadn't continued searching the snowfields for Gerda in many days. Who knew how deep into the plains she'd ventured by now?
Since he couldn't find Vivian, he'd look for Gerda instead.
Sterling closed his eyes. Avalon, activate.
This descent succeeded, though he felt bone-piercing cold even in midair. The snowfield's temperature seemed increasingly frigid. Previously Sterling only felt cold after actually landing on snow.
But thanks to this, Sterling's consciousness fully awakened during descent, allowing him to observe the snowfields from a high altitude...
First to meet his eyes was a terrifying mass of black forces.
In the snow-white vastness stood an incongruous, slowly advancing black spot. Though appearing small in area, Sterling was currently above the clouds.
In reality, this army was absolutely massive.
"The Black Mirror Kingdom actually dispatched so many knights... Where did the Queen get so many magical materials to craft knights?"
Sterling was puzzled. Having begun studying alchemy these past days, at his current level, transformation between alchemical materials and products involved roughly nine-tenths consumption.
According to books, even the greatest alchemist Nicolas Flamel achieved only three-fifths consumption.
However, the Queen was a great wizard seemingly specialised in alchemy.
Present-world restrictions on Potions and Transfiguration completely didn't exist for Vivian. The Queen might have similar abilities, like one-to-one conversion?
He wanted to learn her magic... Unfortunately, her royal city showed she wasn't particularly inclined toward teaching.
As Sterling approached ground level, his descent slowed. The knights were completely out of sight, but unexpectedly, cooking smoke appeared within visual range.
"Wingardium Leviosa!"
A Levitation Charm on his shoes let Sterling glide a short distance, landing safely in soft snow.
This was his first conscious Avalon arrival... Since his landing required spells for stability, working backward meant...
Previous unconscious arrivals involved hard ground impacts?
So awakening after each arrival wasn't "waking from dreams" but "waking from unconsciousness"?
Sterling touched his head. Fortunately, it was hard enough to avoid becoming an idiot.
Then he began seeking the smoke's location.
Sterling felt this was Gerda's cooking smoke. Simply put, among the three snowfield forces, only she needed fire for eating or warmth.
Queen Kai needn't be mentioned, and the Black Knight army had few living members. Even for cooking, they'd probably use alchemical tools.
Thinking about it, he hadn't seen Gerda in quite a while.
Since following Queen Kai into the snowfields, even Avalon's message magic couldn't find her, possibly due to this plain's special properties.
Sterling manifested a sleigh, then used magic to transfigure three large dogs to pull him toward the smoke.
Creating fully conscious beings was still premature, but creatures with one or two simple commands were barely manageable.
With the sleigh's help, he quickly saw a blue tent with a small campfire before it.
A small fish was skewered over the fire, probably caught from a nearby frozen river.
Sterling was certain. This was Gerda's location. He'd often seen this tent while traveling with her. But where was Gerda?
This fish was nearly burnt. Fishing in snowfields wasn't simple.
Sterling returned the sleigh and dogs to magic power, circling the camp searching for Gerda's traces.
"Gerda? Are you there? It's Sterling! I came to visit!"
Unfortunately, it was snowing now. Otherwise footprints would show where she'd gone.
Sterling called out several more times when suddenly he heard weak cries for help from the left.
"Sterling... I'm here..."
Snow monster attack?
Sterling immediately rushed over, drawing his wand, ready to greet any snow monster with a Draconic Flame spell.
Instead, Sterling and Gerda, half-buried in snow in a pit, stared at each other.
Gerda wore only a plaid dress, completely inadequate for the freezing temperature. She shivered violently until spotting Sterling, then nearly wept with relief.
"Sterling... give me some fire, quick!"
Sterling sighed, conjured a small fireball, and gently tossed it down to float before Gerda. She brought her face close to thaw her frozen features.
"Why are you dressed so lightly outside camp? If I hadn't come, though you wouldn't freeze to death, you'd be stuck for days."
Thanks to Avalon's protection, unless naturally dying of old age or killed by magic, Avalonians would "restore bodily function" three days after "body cessation".
Sterling didn't understand the principle. Perhaps worlds as wonderfully fairy-tale-like just worked this way.
Gerda waved with a poor expression. "I was warming by the campfire when I heard snow foxes here and wanted to bring one back for warmth."
"It was supposed to be brief, so I didn't dress warmly... then accidentally fell in."
"So how was this pit formed?" Sterling found it strange such a deep pit existed here. It didn't look natural.
Had the Black Knights laid roadside traps? Did they think such traps could contain a great wizard?
Noticing Gerda's evasive expression, a thought occurred to Sterling.
"Don't tell me this is a trap you dug yourself to watch for snow wolves or something?"
Gerda nodded, face red.
Merlin above... Sterling felt if she went to Hogwarts, she'd definitely be a Gryffindor.
"After making the trap, didn't you mark it to warn yourself?"
"I did!" She raised her head sharply, not allowing her intelligence to be so slighted.
"Then how did you fall in?"
She lowered her head again. "Snow covered it."
Here it was. That intelligence-extinguishing feeling is like teaching Ron Charms!
Sterling felt he'd been sighing too much lately. They said this caused ageing. He needed restraint...
But seeing pit-bound Gerda, the sigh just escaped his mouth.
"Sister Gerda, you're nearly seven years older than me."
He said no reproachful words, yet seemed to say all reproachful words.
Seeing Gerda's shame nearly causing fainting, Sterling cast Wingardium Leviosa on the snow pile beneath her, lifting her from the pit.
Gerda hung her head dejectedly, seemingly devastated by a much younger child's disdain.
"Hey, won't the fish burn?"
"What! That won't do! I'll run back first. Hurry over!"
Gerda instantly found strength, dashing back to camp and leaving deep footprints in the snow.
Sigh... Who was the adult and who the child here...
Sterling sighed again, planning to study anti-ageing potions next time. Since sighs were unavoidable, he'd avoid ageing instead.