Snow Mountain

"Erza, let's go."

"Okay. Goodbye, Cana."

Cana said worriedly, "Be careful on the road."

After Erza and Cana waved goodbye, Erza and Cain headed for the station.

While they waited for the train, Cain looked at Erza in her light outfit and felt that something was off.

Oh, right. In the anime, Erza always traveled with so many bags that she needed a whole cart to haul them, but now, aside from the armor on her body and the sword in her hand, she had nothing else.

No wonder it felt strange.

Seeing Cain looking at her so oddly, Erza thought he was worried that she had not brought warm clothes. She patted the armor over her chest and said with a smile, "I've already prepared my clothes. Look."

As she spoke, a flash of light appeared. When it faded, Erza's armor and sword had vanished, replaced by the cold-weather clothes they had bought yesterday.

Hat, coat, gloves, shoes—nothing was missing.

Mm, I had thought yesterday that Erza would look cute in this sky-blue outfit. Sure enough, Cain thought as he looked at Erza after she changed.

That had probably only taken a few seconds. Cain could not help praising her. "Is this Requip Magic? It's so convenient."

Cain's praise made Erza a little embarrassed, and she smiled as she changed back into her original outfit.

Erza's magic reminded Cain of an idea he had considered before: researching spatial equipment.

That was right, things like storage rings. This was clearly a world of magic, yet there was no storage equipment. That really did not fit the setting.

Erza's Requip Magic could be considered a portable space. The difference from storage equipment seemed to be that it could not hold things other than equipment.

He had never seen Erza take out food or anything similar from her Requip Space in the anime.

Thinking of that, Cain said excitedly, "Erza, once Grandma Porlyusica finishes making the recovery potion, can you let me study your magic?"

"Study my magic? Mm, sure. No problem."

Although Erza did not know how Cain intended to study it, she agreed immediately without any hesitation.

In her mind, Cain had always been helping her. Now it was finally her turn to help him, and that made her a little happy.

"Great." Seeing Erza agree, Cain told her about his idea of creating storage equipment.

Erza watched Cain with a smile as he explained the principles behind storage equipment. In truth, she did not understand anything he said about constructing an internal space and combining it with magic arrays to stabilize that space.

But Erza knew that all she needed to do right now was smile and watch Cain.

Soon, the two arrived in the Northern Region of the Fiore Kingdom. The moment they got off the train, the cold air made them both shiver involuntarily.

Cain hurriedly took out the cold-weather clothes from his backpack and changed into them. Erza was just as quick, finishing in only a few seconds.

After changing, Cain walked on Erza's right and explained as they went, "Despite having 'crystal' in its name, Nectar Dew Crystal is actually a kind of dew. But only dew found on Crystal Flowers is effective, so it's called Nectar Dew Crystal."

"Crystal Flowers are flowers that look very much like crystals. They're also called Crystal Flowers."

Erza clapped her hands. "So we just need to find Crystal Flowers, right?"

Cain nodded. "That's right. But while searching for Crystal Flowers, we also need to watch out for the monsters around us. The most common monster on Great Snow Mountain is Vulcan, a monster that looks like a monkey."

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"Actually, not just on Great Snow Mountain. You could say this kind of monster is widespread across the entire Ishgar Continent. They're practically like goblins."

"Goblins?" Erza asked curiously.

Cain explained, "They're creatures from novels—little green-skinned dwarves with almost no fighting ability that often appear in groups."

Erza understood. "So they're from novels."

Seeing that Erza understood, Cain continued, "Besides Vulcans, there are also monsters on the snow mountain such as One-Horned Snow Demon Bears, Woolly Pigs, and Wyverns."

"Cain, you're amazing. You know so much."

Erza's praise made Cain a little embarrassed. He waved his hand. "Haha, it's nothing. I just learned it from books yesterday."

"Ooh ooh~!!!"

Suddenly, strange cries rang out from ahead. A group of white-furred, monkey-like monsters appeared before them.

Recalling Cain's introduction just now, Erza took out her longsword from her Requip Space. "Are these the monsters called Vulcans?"

"That's right."

As he spoke, a golden magic circle unfolded from Cain's hand. Then several arrows of light shot out from the circle, each striking a Vulcan precisely in the head or heart.

The group of Vulcans, who had been on the scene for less than five seconds, all fell to the ground without moving.

Erza, who had been about to step forward and help, stared at Cain in shock. At that moment, there was only one thought in her mind: So strong.

"Alright, let's keep going." With that, he gestured for Erza to follow. Cain did not care about instantly killing the Vulcans just now.

He had never slacked off over the past year. Both his physical strength and magic power had grown rapidly, and his control over magic had improved greatly as well.

The way he had controlled the magic arrows fired by Light Rain to precisely strike every Vulcan in the head or heart was proof of his greatly improved magical control.

A whole morning passed, yet the two still had not found any Crystal Flowers.

At that moment, they were sitting in a cave to shelter from the wind and snow, eating the food they had prepared in advance. Erza said with a remorseful expression, "It's all my fault. I actually forgot to prepare food."

That was right. Last night, Erza had only remembered to put the cold-weather clothes into her Requip Space, but she had forgotten the food.

Cain merely smiled. "It's fine. Didn't I bring some?"

Cain's unconcerned manner made Erza feel even worse. They had come to the snow mountain this time to find medicinal ingredients to treat her eyes, yet she had still made such a mistake.

Cain even shared his own food with me. He definitely won't have enough to eat.

The more Erza thought about it, the sadder she became. She stood up, dropped to her knees, and slammed her forehead against the hard ground with a thud. "Cain, it's all my fault. Punish me."

Seeing this, Cain did not know whether to laugh or cry. He truly had not cared, but to keep Erza from feeling bad, he lightly flicked her forehead.

"Alright, the punishment is over. We still have important things to do after we finish eating."

Erza touched the spot where he had flicked her. It did not hurt at all. A strange feeling welled up inside her, warm and comfortable.

Is this what family feels like?

Erza was not quite sure, but she liked the feeling.

After eating, the two continued onward. This time, they had better luck. Erza pointed ahead and said happily:

"Cain, look over there. Is that a Crystal Flower?"

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