The minor disturbance temporarily subsided under Cui Ciyou's exemplary handling.
The atmosphere within the group remained somewhat delicate.
Still, they had resumed their journey.
As for his own tangled romantic problems, which seemed impossible to unravel,
Cui Ciyou had actually already made up his mind.
He simply needed the right moment to act on that decision.
Until they reached the Ranoa University of Magic and brought Roxy back, he had no intention of inviting further complications.
So he deftly laughed it off.
He glossed over the charged, intimate tension from moments earlier.
And drew everyone's attention back to the journey itself.
They were heading north.
North all the way.
As the group traveled farther, the scenery around them began to change visibly.
The lush temperate broadleaf forests lining the road gradually gave way to hardy, cold-resistant conifers.
The air grew increasingly crisp, and the wind carried a faint chill of ice and snow.
"Tch. Why does this damned place keep getting colder?"
Alice rode alongside Cui Ciyou.
Her rather thin swordsman's outfit clearly no longer offered enough protection against the cold wind.
She could not help complaining.
Beside her, Elinalise gave a silvery laugh at her words and gracefully gathered her traveling cloak around herself.
"This is the northern part of the Central Continent, my dear young lady."
"Warmth is a luxury here."
"And we're approaching the principality renowned throughout the world for its magic."
"The Magic Principality?"
Sylphy asked curiously, filled with longing for this holy land revered by every magician.
"That's right."
Elinalise nodded. She seemed to have traveled here before.
And so she naturally assumed the role of guide.
"Strictly speaking, though, they should be called the Three Great Magical Nations."
"They are the Ranoa Kingdom, which specializes in magical education and cultivating talent, and the