"Well... since the second prince was the one to give the order, I guess they had to go with the punishment..."

It was the red-haired medic who answered his question with an awkward, apologetic-looking shrug.

"...the academy allowed their student to be harmed because of the status of another person..."

The light-blue-haired man took a loud breath and nodded to himself before he turned towards the door with a cold expression.

"Mizoe, where are you going...?"

Miriette asked, looking at his wide back in confusion.

"My lady, I will go have a talk with the teachers about their outrageous misconduct. I still remember where the faculty office is so you don't have to show me the way."

The man turned his head to the side and spoke as the faint cloud of steam escaped his mouth as he spoke...

"But, Mizoe, it's already late, there won't be anyone - ack...!"

Miriette spoke but closed her mouth and took a step back once she caught a glimpse of Mizoe's eyes, glowing with a pale blue light.

"Oh, no, little lady.... for their own good they better be right there discussing how monstrously did they messed up... or I will visit them all and cut them down one by one in their sleep..."

It wasn't just Mizoe's appearance that looked cold - the temperature around him literally dropped below the freezing point.

It got to the point where Miriette and the red-haired medic started shivering as their breaths became visible before Mizoe left the room and closed the door silently after him.

"...oh dear... I felt that this would be my end... Ice mages are unbelievably scary..."

"...eh...?"

The red-haired magician shuddered leaned back on his chair, wiping the nervous sweat from his forehead - and Miriette looked at him surprised.

"But aren't you a fire magician - isn't fire still stronger than ice?"

"...it all depends on your point of view, really..."

The dark-haired girl asked but the red-haired medic shook his head.

"In nature, yes - but the ice magic is the absolute apex of the water magic, which already has very strong magic-defense spells. The ice magic isn't just cold physically, it can literally freeze the flow of mana in the target's body, cutting off the power source of the spell. If you count in that the ones who manage to transform their water mana into the ice variant are almost always extremely strong or even transcendent magicians with a huge amount of mana at their disposal - and that always spells trouble..."

The red-haired medic stopped talking and shuddered once more.

"But Mizoe isn't strong at all..."

Miriette spoke, tilting her head in confusion.

"What? There's no way..."

The red-haired medic was no less confused than her.

"No, I'm serious. His mana level is similar to a very weak earth magician's - Mizoe often jokes that he is the reverse transcendent magician"

Miriette explained, rubbing her hands together to warm up.

"Then... he can't use ice magic?"

The medic raised his brow and asked for confirmation.

"Oh, he definitely can, I saw him using the ice enchantment before and he turned a human skull into a paste with a single hit."

"...!"

The dark-haired girl revealed rather casually, making the red-haired medic fo wide-eyed.

historical

"But how? Ice magic takes a lot of mana to use!"

He called out in disbelief, standing up from his chair.

"I don't know."

Miriette just shrugged her shoulders and looked at the door where Mizoe disappeared.

"He is just that type of guy who shows his real worth in the face of danger."

--------

"...whipping... they sentenced my son to a whipping...!"

Without any hesitation, Mizoe went straight to the faculty office, clenching his trembling fists.

"...!"

"..."

The mare neighed at the light-blue-haired man when he was walking from one building to another but received no reaction whatsoever and kicked the ground, lowering her head in annoyance.

Meanwhile, Mizoe was focusing on the ice mana coiling around his arm, forcing it to stay active.

Soon the furious father was standing in front of the faculty office.

Just as he expected, voices could be heard from the inside.

Mizoe gritted his teeth and raised his fist, winding up for an empowered punch...!

----------

Rokiana Grea Perserios, the blue-haired young female teacher, was sitting by the long table in the faculty office and was staring angrily at the red-haired middle-aged teacher sitting across her.

"We are not going through this again, miss Rokiana!"

"..."

Another teacher spoke up and Rokiana glared at him too.

"But of course! Why would we!? Such an abuse of power is a common thing after all!"

She crossed her arms and mocked him in a disgusted voice.

"I thought that the Aspakeony Academy is impartial towards all of the students, and when a student breaks the rules they will be punished! And correct me if I'm wrong, but hiring a bloody damn torture-master to harm another student sounds exactly like that! NO – it's even worse! That disgrace of a water magician of a brat hasn't just broken the rules! He has vandalized them and then pissed all over their remains!"

Rokiana shouted, slamming her fist against the table, making a few teachers flinch and look away in shame.

"But he is a second prince, you are too inexperienced to properly look at the situation..."

The red-haired middle-aged teacher shook his head impatiently and declared.

"Excuse me!?"

Rokiana made a surprised expression and put both of her hands on the table.

"I'll have you know that in my contract there's a clear statement that I am hired as a teacher because of my knowledge and EXPERIENCE that I am supposed to impart on and share with the students! I can bring it right now if you want to check!"

She stated while standing up and pointing at the door.

"You have the combat experience, but this is politics! It's a completely different battlefield and you know it!"

The red-haired teacher shook his head in annoyance.

"No, it is not! If this was a battlefield I would already have that stinking excuse of a water magician...!"

The discussion was getting heated, the red-haired middle-aged teacher and teacher Rokiana stood up and were glaring at each other room across the table.

But suddenly something happened and made the temperature in the faculty office drop...

Literally.

*BOOOOOOOM*

Just as Rokiana was about to say what kind of punishment would she pick when the door to the office broke.

And it wasn't just broken down...

The door was smashed to pieces and thrown across the room, some large splinters and even whole fragments of the wood got embedded into the opposite wall!

It's worth mentioning that that door wasn't just any old door either.

It was magically enhanced to survive even the very strong spells!

But they just got obliterated in a single punch.

"!!!!!!"

Everyone froze up at the sight and their breaths became visible...

Then, through the door came a tall knight in full armor without a helmet and a short-sword at his waist - his eyes and hair were pale blue and his expression was fearsomely strict and grim, while the powerful ice enchantment on his hand pulsated with a cold light resulting in an overwhelmingly threatening picture...

"Hello."

The knight nodded his head to the petrified teachers.

"My name is Mizoe Auequas, father of Zoemi Auequas, and I wish to inquire why did you allow my son to be tortured to the brink of death - and how are you going to punish the ones responsible for causing harm to my child."

He said in a voice even colder than his magic.