The air in the cavern was thick with the scent of ozone and melting snow. Lencar stood amidst the steam, his expression unreadable as he looked down at Neige, who was trembling on the ground, and Baro, who was still trying to pull himself out of the rock wall Lencar had buried him in.
He was about to finish the encounter when a familiar ripple moved through the air. Through his Ki sensing, he felt three distinct presences approaching the cave entrance at high speed. One was a chaotic, loud energy—Asta. The second was sharp and jagged like glass—Gauche. The third was a heavy, seasoned weight that felt like an old, sturdy tree—the nun.
Lencar turned his head just as the shadows at the entrance broke.
"MARIE!"
The roar echoed through the cave as Gauche Adlai skidded into the chamber, his eyes wild. Behind him, Asta and Sister Theresa rushed in, their breath coming in ragged gasps.
The scene was a mess of shattered ice and scorched stone, but Gauche didn't care about the architecture. His gaze locked onto Marie. He saw her huddled there, her small frame shaking, and then he saw the red, angry slap marks on her pale cheeks.
In a split second, the air turned freezing—not from Neige's magic, but from Gauche's pure killing intent. He blurred across the room, appearing inches from Lencar. His mirror-eye glowed with a violent, pulsating red light as several mirror shards materialized in the air, pointed directly at Lencar's throat.
"You," Gauche hissed, his voice trembling with a rage so deep it sounded like a growl. "Was it you? Did you lay a hand on her? I'll tear your soul out and reflect it into a thousand pieces."
Lencar didn't move. He didn't even raise his hands to defend himself. He just looked Gauche in the eye with a calm, steady gaze. "If I were the one who hurt her, she wouldn't be sitting there waiting for you. Use your head, Magic Knight."
"LENCAR?!"
Asta's voice cracked like a whip through the tension. He ran forward, waving his arms frantically between Gauche and Lencar. "Wait, Gauche! Stop! That's Lencar! He's a friend! He's the guy who runs the restaurant in the Capital!"
Asta skidded to a halt, looking Lencar up and down in total disbelief. "Lencar, what are you even doing here?! Aren't you supposed to be back at the Scarlet Hearth baking bread or doing that 'business management' stuff? How did you end up in a cave in the middle of a blizzard?"
Lencar gave a short, polite nod. "I wanted to come visit the children today, Asta. But when I reached the village, I found the church in a panic and the kids missing. I couldn't just sit there and do nothing while Rebecca was crying, so I came to find them."
Sister Theresa stepped forward, her eyes narrowing as she took in the sight of the defeated kidnappers and the residual heat in the air. "So you're the one," she said, her voice filled with a mix of suspicion and respect. "Marco told me a young man saved him and left a fire snake to guard him. That was you?"
"It was," Lencar replied. "I'm a friend of Rebecca's. I couldn't let anything happen to her family."
Theresa exhaled, her grip on her staff loosening slightly. "Then we owe you a great debt, young man. Most civilians would have run the other way."
Lencar didn't linger on the praise. He turned his attention back to Neige and Baro, who were trying to crawl toward a side tunnel. "Those two are the culprits," he said, his voice turning cold. "They've been kidnapping these children to drain their magic for some kind of black-market deal. Their goals were purely predatory."
He looked at the children, who were still sitting in a glazed, hollow-eyed trance. "Asta, listen to me. They're under a magical spell—a deep trance to keep them docile during the mana extraction. Your sword is the only thing that can break it without causing mental trauma. Use the flat of your blade and tap them gently on the forehead. The Anti-Magic will snap them out of it."
"Got it! Leave it to me!" Asta didn't waste a second. He moved through the group of children, moving with a surprising, clumsy tenderness as he tapped each one with the Demon-Slayer sword.
One by one, the light returned to the children's eyes. As the fog cleared, the reality of the cold, dark cave hit them all at once. The silence of the cavern was suddenly shattered by the sound of sobbing. The children began to cry, clinging to each other as they realized how close they had come to something terrible. Marie threw herself into a stunned Gauche's arms, her tears soaking into his cloak.
Lencar looked at Asta and Gauche. "You two are the Magic Knights. You're the ones with the authority here. Arrest those two and make sure they're sent to the Capital for sentencing. They don't deserve any more of my time."
The cave was still freezing, the damp stone pulling the warmth from the children's bodies. Lencar raised his hands, his grimoire flipping open to a mid-point.
"Flame Magic... Wind Magic..." he whispered.
He didn't call out a spell name, but a soft, golden radiance began to flow from his palms. He merged the heat of his fire with a gentle, circulating breeze, creating a localized pocket of warmth that wrapped around the children like a thick blanket. Their shivering stopped, and their frantic crying began to settle into quiet sniffles as the artificial hearth calmed their nerves.
"It's time to go home," Lencar said. His voice was soft, but it carried a weight of authority that made the children look up at him in awe.
"But... we're so tired," one of the boys whimpered. "It's so far back to the church."
Lencar looked at the exit, then back at the kids. He decided he was done being a "ghost" for today. He needed to get them home fast.
"I'll provide the transportation," Lencar said. He stepped into the center of the cave, and his mana flared—not with the violent intensity of combat, but with a massive, structured power that made Sister Theresa's eyes widen in shock.
"Flame Creation Magic: Swallowing Python."
The ground groaned as twenty enormous, glowing serpents of pure golden flame erupted from the floor. They were magnificent—twenty feet long each, with broad, flat backs and bodies that radiated a comforting, steady heat. They didn't hiss or bite; they moved with a gentle, floating grace, lowering their heads to the ground so the children could reach them.
"Each of you, find a seat," Lencar commanded. "These pythons are bound to my will. They will carry you straight back to the church. They will keep you warm, they will keep you safe, and they will not let you fall."
Asta, Gauche, and Sister Theresa watched in stunned silence as the children, now laughing through their tears, climbed onto the backs of the shimmering fire-beasts. The cave was filled with a brilliant, golden light that made the ice look like diamonds.
"Go," Lencar whispered.
With a collective surge of heat, the twenty pythons rose into the air, spiraling out of the cave entrance like a river of molten gold, carrying the children toward the moonlight and safety.
Lencar stood in the center of the now-quiet cave, the light of his own magic reflecting in his dark eyes. He didn't look at the knights. He just watched the last of the fire snakes disappear into the night, knowing that while the children were safe, the shadows in this kingdom were only getting longer.