Even early in the morning, Valhalla City, the large city built in front of the Hero Academy, bustled with people from all three nations.

Laneige flinched as she watched the crowded streets. Due to her timid personality, even seeing a large group of people made her feel faint. “I... didn’t know there were this many people.”

Still, I have to go, she thought.

Naturally, she hadn’t officially submitted her withdrawal form to the academy and left through the front gate. In the first place, withdrawing from the Hero Academy was far more difficult than most expected.

A cadet could drop out only after swearing never to participate in hero activities again and wearing several surveillance magic devices. A drop-out cadet was someone who didn’t have an official Hero License but still possessed a soul stigmata. They would spend the rest of their life under strict supervision. After all, heroes acting without a license often fell into illegal work. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

Laneige had ignored all of those complicated procedures, submitted only the letter of withdrawal, and secretly climbed over the school wall. In other words, she had committed “unauthorized withdrawal,” a major offense on the level of assault or theft in the academy’s regulations. In military terms, it was essentially desertion.

The tracking party was going to come soon. Unauthorized withdrawal wasn’t common, so the response wouldn’t be immediate, but it wouldn’t take long for the professors to form a tracking team. She had to run as far as she could before that happened. She couldn’t use the Warp Gate. Her location would be traced instantly through the gate records.

Wandering through the streets with no destination, Laneige replayed yesterday’s memories of her friends gathering out of concern for her. It was a warmth she could never have imagined before meeting Dale.

“Ah!”

She had only been outside the academy for a few hours, yet her heart was already heavy with longing. She thought maybe she should go back right now. Conflict and regret clung to her ankles like weights. However, she squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head.

No. Until I can fully control the Blessing of the Frost, I have to stay far away.

When she had learned about her past life and discovered that she had become the Witch of the Night, slaughtering countless people, Laneige had made up her mind. She couldn’t stay with them. She had to distance herself from Dale and from all of her friends. She knew she was basically a bomb that could go off at any moment. If she ever lost control of her Blessing, many people could die.

“Hehe. If Dale were the only one I knew, I probably wouldn’t have had thoughts like this.”

She had never seen it herself, but Dale carried the Blessing of Resurrection. Even if he died, he would return to life. But what about everyone else? What if she failed to control the power of her Blessing and ended up hurting the people precious to her?

People who are precious to me!

A soft smile touched her lips. Before meeting Dale, she had no one precious in her life. The world had been unbearably cold and suffocating. But then, warm light had kindled in her once-frozen world.

She gained precious people—Sophia, Iris, Yurina, Berald, Professor Baldwin, and others she met during the field trip, like Camilla, Jules, and Albert. She had befriended more people than she ever imagined possible. She lived in a world where no one called her a witch.

It was why she didn’t want to ruin everything. She didn’t want to hurt them with her hands. She didn’t want to extinguish that hard-won warmth with her cold breath.

With heavy steps, Laneige moved forward. “Let’s go.”

***

Hours later, once she had finally left Valhalla City, she considered her next destination. “East is the Republic, west is the Empire, north is the Holy Empire....”

No matter where she went, she wouldn’t escape pursuit. The three nations and the Hero Academy were closely connected.

“Then what’s left is...”

Laneige turned south. At the south of the continent was Gehenna City, the city of demons. It was a place where almost no humans lived, which meant that if her Blessing of the Frost went berserk, there would be fewer casualties.

Recalling what she learned during mentoring class, Laneige headed toward the southern region. The path south was desolate, befitting a place known as the Demonic Realm. Not a single traveler was in sight.

She trudged along, glancing at photos of Dale saved in her Hero Watch. “I miss Dale.”

She sighed, thinking about the photo she never received from Iris. “I really wanted that post-hot-spring picture of him.”

Suddenly, an eerie sound brushed past her ears. Thinking it was a monster, she turned her head. However, what appeared before her wasn’t a monster, but a mysterious figure wearing a half-mask shaped like a wolf.

“W-who are you?” she asked.

Judging from the strong jawline visible beneath the mask, this person was a man.

“Laneige Maram, correct?” the man asked.

She didn’t answer, but the man seemed already certain. His deep, emotionless voice continued, “Come with me. He wants you.”

“He? Who is that?”

It felt as if all emotion had been carved out of his dry, hollow voice.

“You don’t need to know,” replied the man.

Laneige shook her head warily. “I don’t want to.”

He nodded, as if expecting her refusal. “I figured. In that case, we’ll do this the hard way.”

The man drew a massive greatsword from the sheath on his back. His soul stigmata lit up, and aura gathered around the blade.

Laneige’s eyes widened. “Huh?”

Given his suspicious appearance, she had assumed this figure was a demon. But she couldn’t sense even a trace of dark mana, nor any of the telltale signs of a demon. Was he a hero?

“Are you just going to stand there?” asked the man.

“Kghh!”

Her confusion didn’t last long. The wolf-masked man kicked off the ground and charged. He swung the greatsword, which was large enough to require two hands, with terrifying ease, using only one hand. The sword carved through the air with a chilling whistle.

Laneige thrust out her hands with a sharp cry. “Haa!”

She conjured a wall of pure white frost in the air. The greatsword bounced off the wall with a sharp clang. Channeling even more of her Blessing, she fired a volley of snowballs toward the wolf-masked man.

“Freeze!” she shouted.

A violent blizzard roared to life as dozens of snowballs rushed toward him.

“Hmph!”

The man dodged with quick, nimble movements, slipping past the barrage. At the spots where the snowballs landed, the ground instantly froze over, with ice spreading in jagged layers. He tried to sprint away.

Laneige thrust out her hand. “Where do you think you’re going!”

The swirling blizzard sharpened, forming a spear of ice aimed directly at the wolf-masked man. He tried to leap aside the moment he saw it coming, but something unexpected happened.

“Hm?”

The frozen ground, solidified by Laneige’s earlier snowballs, erupted with ice that surged upward, trapping his foot. The spear of ice pierced straight through the man’s abdomen.

A strange glint flickered in his eyes. “Oh? So, this is the Blessing of the Frost.”

He nodded as though he was genuinely impressed. Blood dripped freely from his abdomen, and the flesh around the wound blackened from necrosis.

Yet, he said, “But...”

He grabbed the ice spear embedded in his abdomen and yanked it out with a single pull. “It’s still crude.”

The gaping wound in his stomach sealed up at an alarming speed.

Laneige stared at him in shock. “H-how?”

He hadn’t used healing magic or recovery potions, yet he was healing faster than any spell could manage. Even tissue that had completely died from frostbite was regenerating.

The wolf-masked man’s eyes gleamed with a cold, predatory shine. “Is your little performance over?”

He kicked off the ground, charging toward her. The greatsword wrapped in a blazing aura came swinging straight for Laneige.

She tried to raise another wall of ice to divert his attack, but the blizzard around her surged wildly. “Ah! Aghh!”

The Blessing of the Frost slipped from her control, thrashing like a living storm.

Seeing the chaotic winds tearing around her, the wolf-masked man halted mid-swing. “As I thought. You still can’t control the blessing.”

“Haa! Haa! S-shut... up!”

Laneige bit her lip hard enough to draw blood as she reached toward him again. The raging blizzard condensed into a single point, forming another ice spear.

“Aghhhh!”

However, it shattered instantly.

“Aaaagh!”

The burst of fragments whipped through the air, tearing into her. Blood trickled from the wounds they carved on her body.

Laneige fell to her knees, trembling. “A-ah! Ahh!”

She couldn’t even fight her enemy and was only hurting herself. The self-loathing hit her like a wave, tears rolling down her cheeks.

Pathetic! she said to herself.

The wolf-masked man looked down at her, his voice dry and monotone. “Do you want to control your blessing?”

Without waiting for an answer, he pulled out a green, gleaming mana stone and tossed it toward her. The moment the stone rolled into her hand, a weird phenomenon happened. The blizzard went silent.

Laneige stared wide-eyed at the glowing green mana stone. “Huh? W-what is this?”

It didn’t suppress or cancel the Blessing of the Frost. The moment she held it, she could control the blessing. She could truly control it. The blizzard responded to her will like a well-trained beast. The ice spear she had failed to maintain earlier solidified perfectly in midair. Not just one, but dozens of them.

The man said, “That stone contains his power. With it, you can command your Blessing freely.”

Laneige blankly stared at the mana stone resting in her palm. She was shocked. The Blessing that had tormented her for so long could be controlled so easily and so effortlessly. It was unexpected.

The man’s deep voice brushed against her ear. “Follow me.”

It was emotionless and dry. Yet somehow, it sounded unbearably sweet. “Then your worries will be solved. Simple as that.”

There was no reason to doubt his words. Just holding the mana stone had already given her total control over her Blessing. She looked down at the green mana stone, lips pressed into a thin line.

“Is there even anything to think about? Controlling the Blessing was your goal, wasn’t it?” asked the man.

He was right. She had run away from the academy and even filed a Letter of Withdrawal, all so she could gain control over the Blessing of the Frost. With this mana stone, she would no longer become a witch. She could stay with Dale and her precious friends.

Laneige slowly rose to her feet, the mana stone still in her hand. “You’re right.”

Her hesitation didn’t last long. “I...”

She drew out every ounce of her Blessing’s power. Then, with a crack, she crushed the stone in her palm.

The wolf-masked man’s eyes flew wide in shock. “What?”

The moment the mana stone shattered, her Blessing returned to its wild, uncontrolled state, roaring to life.

In the heart of the raging blizzard, the witch spoke her decision aloud. “I’m... not going with you.”