A pitch-black carriage with no family crest was racing madly along the bumpy dirt road.
The driver was whipping the two powerful horses ahead of him for all he was worth, foam spilling from their mouths.
The moment Rudeus's magic perception penetrated the carriage, he clearly "saw" Eris bound hand and foot with thick hemp rope, curled up like a caterpillar in a corner.
A thick wad of filthy cloth had been stuffed into her mouth. Her eyes were red as she struggled desperately, whimpering through the gag.
Inside the carriage, two high-ranking mercenaries in plain clothes, their temples bulging, were wiping their longswords with sinister expressions.
"Hmph, two little mice."
Rudeus sneered and instantly recalled the clones scattered in all directions.
All his magic returned to his main body. He withdrew the wind pressure holding him aloft and shot toward the front of the carriage like a falling meteor, trailing a piercing sonic boom through the air.
Whoosh-!
A fierce wind howled.
Without warning, a violent current of air exploded in front of the speeding carriage.
Amid the dust filling the sky, a slight, brown-haired boy in a mage's robe hovered quietly above the ground, like a god descended upon the world.
The driver was scared out of his wits and yanked frantically on the reins:
"Who are you?! Get out of the way!!"
"Stop... right there..."
Rudeus spoke coldly. The instant he raised his right hand, the water and ice elements drifting through the air condensed in a ten-thousandth of a second.
-Ice Lance!
The temperature in the air plunged to freezing.
An enormous Ice Lance, a full three meters long, formed in front of him. Its entire length glowed with a blue chill, and its tip was sharp enough to tear through steel with ease.
Without a moment's hesitation, the Ice Lance shot forward with a piercing whistle!
Squelch!
The Ice Lance moved faster than the naked eye could follow, piercing straight through both horses running side by side.
The tremendous impact pinned the dead horses to the ground.
But momentum sent the enormous carriage behind them pitching forward and rolling wildly the instant it lost its pull.
The wheels screeched and shattered against the ground. The whole carriage looked set to smash to pieces in a matter of seconds.
If it was allowed to crash down, Eris would be gravely injured, if not killed.
"Telekinetic Object Manipulation! Up!"
Rudeus reached out and grasped at the air with his left hand-
A vast yet gentle invisible force enveloped the entire carriage as it was about to fall apart, like a pair of invisible hands.
Amid that terrifying tearing force, he precisely "scooped" Eris out from where she was bound.
He gently cradled Eris and brought her safely to his side.
The unfortunate carriage, having lost the protection of my power, slammed into the ground and rolled more than a dozen times before ending up as a pile of scattered splinters and scrap metal.
"Pah! Pah!"
The two kidnappers were, at least, agile Advanced Rank warriors.
The moment the carriage overturned, they used Touki to protect their bodies and tumbled straight out through the windows.
After rolling awkwardly across the ground and getting a mouthful of dirt, the two rose unsteadily to their feet, their eyes full of shock and malice.
Eris lay in Rudeus's arms, a strip of cloth stuffed in her mouth and red marks on her body where the ropes had cut into her. The violent jolting had left her somewhat disheveled.
Rudeus slowly lowered his head and tapped with a fingertip. Invisible blades of wind precisely severed every rope on her body, and he pulled the filthy cloth from her mouth.
"Mmph... Rudeus?! Why is it you?!" The moment Eris was free, glistening tears finally welled up in her eyes.
But her pride and stubbornness made her force the tears back, though her body was still trembling slightly.
Looking at the young lady, who was usually so fierce but now resembled an injured kitten, Rudeus put away his usual carefree smile.
He reached out with his right hand, gently placed it on her shoulder, and comforted her in a voice more magnetic and composed than ever before:
"Eris, don't be afraid. From now on, please rely on me without holding anything back!"
He straightened and stood in front of her, the fierce wind making the hem of his clothes flap and snap.
"Boku... sekkō dakara!"
At that moment, the last rays of the setting sun fell on his back, stretching his shadow out long.
From Eris's perspective, the figure of her usually rather laid-back, easygoing tutor had become as imposing as a towering, insurmountable mountain.
"You little brat! How dare you ruin our plans! We'll kill you!!"
Ahead, the two kidnappers spat bloody foam from their mouths. Touki surged wildly around them as they brandished their finely forged longswords, took their stances, and attacked Rudeus one behind the other.
One kicked off the ground and became a swift afterimage, raising his longsword high as he closed in on Rudeus first, exuding a fierce killing intent.
From the look of it, he intended to cut his opponent in two.
"Rudeus! Watch out! He's so fast!" Eris couldn't help crying out behind him.
Yet Rudeus didn't even raise an eyelid in the face of a charge that would have terrified an ordinary person out of their wits.
He raised his right hand leisurely, pressed his index and middle fingers together, and pointed them at the charging kidnapper from afar.
"Eris, watch closely~ Against small fry like these, I only need one hand..."
The vast magic within him began gathering and compressing furiously at his fingertips.
As the density of the magic exceeded what the atmosphere could withstand in such a short time, the space in front of his fingertips began to visibly warp.
As the magic continued to compress, the fireball quickly turned from its initial scarlet to a scorching blue, finally condensing into a deep, dark purple plasma of destructive temperature.
"You have never seen the light of fire."
"No wonder Ganyu wandered through the cold night."
He gently flicked his fingers.
Extreme Compression · Fireball!
Whoosh-!
Without the roar of an ordinary Fireball, the small purple fireball whistled out at an eerie, almost gliding speed, tearing a scorched black trail through the air.
The sword-wielding kidnapper was evidently a seasoned and ruthless fighter.
Sensing the destructive power contained within the purple fireball, he forcibly twisted his body mid-charge and threw himself into a desperate sideways roll, narrowly dodging it!
"Haha! You missed! Brat, you're about to die, so what the fuck are you showing off for?!"
The sword-wielding kidnapper rolled to his feet, an arrogant, triumphant grin on his face.
But Rudeus, standing in front of him, curled his lips into a slight smile, certain of victory:
"Fire may be extinguished, but its heat cannot be taken;"
"A warrior may be wounded, but his will cannot be broken!"
"Gather your edge..."
"Steady the mountains and seas..."
"The fire-in my heart-burns anew!!!"
-Boom!!!!!
The very instant the kidnapper was gloating, the purple fireball that had grazed past him erupted without warning into an unprecedented thermonuclear chain explosion, only a foot behind him!
It was an expansion reaction caused by compressing magic to its absolute limit and then releasing it in an instant.
The raging purple flames erupted like a volcano suppressed for countless ages. An enormous pillar of purple fire, several meters across, rose from the ground and pierced the clouds!
A terrifying heat wave turned into a visible shockwave, carbonizing and vaporizing the trees within a hundred meters in an instant.
The gloating kidnapper didn't even have time to scream before the raging pillar of purple fire swallowed him whole.
The terrifying flames burned for a full three minutes.
Why did they burn for only three minutes?
The answer was that everything flammable in the surrounding area had already burned away.
When the purple light of the fire finally faded, the once-flat highway had vanished. In its place was a huge black pit, dozens of meters across and bottomless, its edges melted by the heat into a glassy surface.
As for the two kidnappers? Not even a speck of their ashes remained in this world.
Only after watching the last flicker of flame go out did Rudeus lower his magic shield.
-Dead silence.
The only sound left across the fields was the rustling of wind blowing over the scorched pit.
Eris nearly collapsed to the ground, but fortunately I was at her side. Her little hands were gripping Rudeus's arm tightly, her whole body rooted to the spot in utter shock.
Her beautiful eyes were wide and round as she stared at the enormous black pit before her, then turned to look at Rudeus, who was perfectly composed, not a hair out of place.
The sight she had just witnessed had made an unimaginable impact on her young mind.
That was a power no human could attain. At that moment, in her heart, Rudeus had become the equal of a god who wielded destruction.
"R-Rudeus... s... sugoi!!"
A full half minute passed before Eris finally found her voice.
Her whole face flushed red with excitement, and her grip on Rudeus's arm was astonishingly strong as she let out a nearly worshipful shriek.
Rudeus turned around slowly, raised his hand, and smoothed Eris's slightly disheveled, beautiful red hair with an exceedingly gentle and indulgent gesture.
Looking at her eyes, sparkling again and full of admiration, he gave her a confident smile with a hint of foxlike cunning:
"Young lady, do you want to learn how to pull off something as thrilling, spectacular, and ridiculously cool as that?"
Eris nodded so rapidly it looked like she was pounding garlic. "I do! I want to learn! Rudeus, teach me, quick!"
"Hehe, it's very simple."
He looked straight into her eyes:
"As long as you listen to me and pay attention in class every day, starting tomorrow-no, starting today-I'll teach you every advanced technique you want to learn, without holding anything back!"
After hearing Rudeus's words, Eris showed none of her usual temper or resistance. In their place were boundless enthusiasm and excitement.
She jumped up and down on the spot, then threw herself forward and wrapped her arms around his neck:
"That's wonderful! Rudeus is the best!! I'll listen! From now on, I'll definitely do as I'm told!!"
Feeling the young lady's warmth in his arms and the joy of finally having tamed her, Rudeus made a victory sign in his heart: All according to plan!
When night fell, he brought Eris back to the Earl's mansion in Roа, unharmed and even a little overexcited, and the entire Greyrat family erupted.
When the current head of the family, old Master Sauros, learned that Rudeus, only a few years old, had single-handedly intercepted and eliminated the kidnappers outside the city with near-miraculous magic and rescued the young lady, his eyes filled with tears of gratitude.
"Good! That's Paul's son for you! And the tutor I picked out myself!!"
Old Master Sauros laughed heartily in the lord's hall, his voice making the chandelier shake wildly.
In front of all the guards and servants, he gave Rudeus the highest praise and rewarded him with precious magical materials and a large number of gold coins.
Beside him, Ghislaine lowered her proud beastly head to Rudeus, her face full of awe and gratitude.
But of course, the matter was not yet fully resolved.
Rudeus told Philip there might be a traitor in the mansion. Philip seemed to have suspected something too and had already begun investigating.
Near dawn, they caught the culprit as he tried to flee out of guilt.
So it was him after all-the butler, Thomas!
He was given an appropriate punishment, and only then did the matter come to an end.
After that day, the sounds of roaring and books being torn apart were never heard again in the study of the Roа mansion.
In their place was a red-haired young lady who, though still proud, sat obediently in her chair, looking at Rudeus with admiration as she learned arithmetic stroke by stroke-though she might only have been pretending to study it hard.
Everything was moving in a better direction.