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"Here we go."
So saying, Teacher Cyril stepped into the arch.
Since there was a glass wall there right up until I was about to touch it, I squeezed my eyes shut just before touching the glass wall, even though I knew I would pass through it.
But what came was not the sensation of touching hard glass, of course, but a chilly cold air touching my cheeks.
I reflexively opened my eyes, and I was captivated by the scene.
"It's all white."
A silver world as far as the eye can see.
I had expected it from the cold air I felt through the glass, but I couldn't help but be moved when I actually saw it.
The trees that could be seen from the outside were made of ice.
It wasn't that they were covered in ice like tree frost, but that they were made of ice in the truest sense of the word.
It looked like a tree version of crystal flowers at first glance, but seeing the icicles hanging straight down from the ends of the branches, it was a different kind of beauty than crystal flowers, which are made of crystal.
Moreover, the snow didn't contain any dirt at all; its shadow was blue.
But when I took a closer look at the snowfield, I saw cold-colored flowers peeking out from under the snow.
"That flower..."
My eyes fell on the somewhat familiar flower, the flower that resembled the bellflower I had been holding in my hand.
Then, the color of the flower, which had been pink and yellow until just now, had turned white.
"That flower changes color with temperature. That's why only cold-colored flowers like blue and purple bloom in cold Svieville."
The Thioage flowers, gradually cooled by the outside air, turned a pale blue.
"It's cold here. There's a cabin ahead."
Brother Bertrand and Teacher Cyril crunched through the snow, walking through the silver world.
"Brother Bertrand, what is this tree called?"
"That's Riva Auto. Some people simply call it tree frost, but tree frost and Riva Auto are different. What do you think the difference is?"
"Is tree frost just a tree covered in ice and frost, and Riva Auto is made of ice to begin with?"
"That's right. As I thought, you seem to be smarter than the others. I'd certainly like you to show off that brainpower at the academy."
"The academy, you say?"
Brother Bertrand and I, still held by Teacher Cyril, were looking in roughly the same direction.
Even though it was because I was being held, I was honestly happy to be able to talk from an adult perspective for the first time in a long time.
I was a little dissatisfied with my lisp, but it was also fun to talk to Brother Bertrand, who didn't treat me like a child in a strange way.
"We'll talk more inside."
When I was told that and shifted my gaze from Brother Bertrand to the direction we were heading, there was a brick mansion there that was too much to call a cabin.
"A c-cabin...?"
"That's right. That's the cabin. My servant should have prepared tea inside."
I thought I had gotten pretty used to the royal family's lifestyle, including the size of the rooms and everything else, over the past five years, but I couldn't call a Western-style house the size of a detached house in Japan a cabin.
It seemed that there was still quite a difference in values between me and a true member of the royal family.
"Cyril, it must be cold in just a shirt. Let's go inside quickly."
I remembered Teacher Cyril's outfit at Brother Bertrand's words, and I turned to look at Teacher Cyril.
"No, I have fur. I'm actually warmer because I'm holding Prince Raimond."
Teacher Cyril, smiling cheerfully, was still cool.
(According to Brother Bertrand) As soon as we entered the cabin, Teacher Cyril put me on the ground.
Teacher Cyril, who really doesn't treat me like a child more than necessary, is the ideal man.
Even though he has fur, there's no way he can't be cold when my cheeks, the only part exposed to the outside air, are this cold.
But Teacher Cyril doesn't show it at all.
I don't know what the aesthetic sense of the cat beastmen is, but he has sharp eyes and perfectly straight whiskers.
Isn't he pretty handsome?
Wait, is Teacher Cyril perfect?
I knew it.
While I was once again groaning over Teacher Cyril's perfection, Brother Bertrand urged me to go out to the terrace.
Of course, a terrace in this extremely cold place is insane, but it works on the same principle as this glass dome, and there's practically no cold air to be felt inside this mansion.
The snowscape visible from the warm terrace.
The blue and purple of the Thioage flowers paint that white world. The aqua blue of the shadows in the snow. The Riva Auto, which has a white sparkle different from snow, reflecting light, and the blue created by its highly pure ice.
The simple colors made it incredibly beautiful.
Drinking warm tea while looking at this snow scene was quite luxurious, wasn't it?
"Now, let's get down to business. How did you cause that scale of explosion?"
"I caused an explosion with the difference in volume when water becomes steam."
"Steam...? So the magic you used was magic to create water and heat magic...?"
"To be accurate, it's magic to gather water in the atmosphere."
"Hoh? Water in the atmosphere. I've never thought of that, but it's certainly not impossible. Why is there water in the air?"
I tilted my head at Brother Bertrand's words.
Apparently, the idea that air contains water isn't common in this world.
"Steam comes out of boiling water, right? If you keep heating it for a while, the water in the pot will disappear. There's no need to think about where that water went. You can't create something from nothing, and something can't just turn into nothing on its own, right?"
Creating something from nothing is impossible without magic.
Conversely, it's impossible to completely return something that already exists to nothing.
"...You predicted that the air contains moisture from just that phenomenon?"
To be accurate, I just learned it in science class in modern Japan.
But I can't say that, so when I said something plausible, Brother Bertrand seemed very impressed.
"After all, it's a waste to keep you smoldering under Maya. Raimond, why don't you come to the academy with me?"
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