“Are you okay?” Aleius glanced at him curiously. “You’ve been staring at the sky for a while now, it's not like you to get hung up on your thoughts.”

Baltar shook his head slowly; his face was oddly serious, but it soon reverted to his playful smile. “I’m hungry, are you coming?”

Aleius knew he was going to bother those noblewomen and there was no stopping him short of tying him to the carriage floor.

“Shoo, shoo.” He waved with his hands, “go get killed see if I care.”

“Just what I wanted to hear!” He skipped away smiling.

Aleius watched him leave, but he couldn’t help but feel curious about what he was thinking about, Baltar rarely got lost in his own mind like that, it was odd.

Baltar approached the white carriage with the three young ladies sitting outside of it drinking tea.

The eyes of nearby passengers all gazed over at him as he approached.

“Is he insane?”

“We’re about to watch a man die.”

The onlookers mumbled as they looked at him, it was as if he was committing suicide.

The air grew colder as he drew near, they were obviously warping the mana in the air to suit themselves, making him think they might be from a colder climate or just liked to show off.

He reached their little camp, and the servant cooking the stew shook her head at him fervently trying to shoo him off. However, he just looked past her towards the three beauties sitting together on their cushioned chairs.

Up close they were even prettier than he had thought, young, with pale skin and raven hair, with silver jewelry embedded with sapphire stones that matched their outfits.

“Hello.” Baltar smiled at the trio charmingly his golden eyes softening.

Neither of the trio even registered that he had spoken.

‘They are as cold as the air they surrounded themselves with.’ he smiled wider.

One of their servants spoke to him, “I’m sorry sir, but the students of the Blue Lotus Academy require privacy.”

Baltar looked at the old servant in front of him whose brown eyes pleaded with him to leave, but he ignored him walking past.

“I won’t be long.”

He walked directly in front of the first of the trio, who finally peered up at him with blue eyes and long eyelashes, she had a pretty face, porcelain skin, and an unamused facial expression.

“Begone.”

Her voice was cold and commanding.

The other two hearing her speak also looked up from their tea.

“Hmph, another cocky young master come to try his luck. Another fool.” The second woman said. She looked slightly younger than the first girl, her face slightly rounder, but she shared the same blue eyes.

“Maybe we should consider ourselves cursed, attracting nothing but fools. What is this the fourth one this week?” The first one said.

The middle girl chuckled her pale white hand covering her mouth, “Maybe you should work on your presence if you wish to be noticed by us. I do not feel a thing, which I am sure is not the first time you have heard that.”

‘…’

At first, Baltar was not offended, actually, he kind of enjoyed their vile tongues it was a nice contrast to the graceful and noble mage-woman façade, but that last one was a low blow.

His eyebrows raised, intrigued.

If he released the seal to show the full presence of the Golden Phoenix, they would probably instantly die.

To him, any presence that has not been cultivated for thousands of years in immortal realms was not even worth talking about.

“Look sister, I bet he’s thinking about how he could ‘polish these crude gems’ and tame our wild attitudes.”

The older one frowned, “Like that matters. All men like him want is a pretty face.”

He didn’t disagree, but he didn’t know what to think about their relentless double team.

“Now, now. Be nice.” The third woman finally spoke after staring at his face for a while.

The other two shifted their eyes over.

“Meress, you cannot be serious.”

She chuckled playfully, “No I’m kidding, but he is handsome.”

“Meress is your name then, I’m Baltar it’s my pleasure.” He interjected unfazed.

Meress was just like the two other sisters in appearance, with deep blue eyes, long black hair, and pale features.

‘Maybe they were all sisters?’

“Who said you could speak?” The air grew colder, and he could feel the mortal mana around him being controlled.

Meress seemed charmed by him as she smiled in reply to his introduction.

The other two, however…

“It seems this annoyance will need some more motivation.”

“Mm, agreed, most “young masters” start throwing insults and are red in the face by this point. For that, I will give him one point.”

‘Oh, I am gaining points… I wonder what they're good for.’

Even with the drop in the temperature his smile never left his face. The servants knew better and started moving away.

The first young mage flicked her wrist and ice appeared around Baltar’s feet encasing them in ice.

His eyebrows shot up, but he smiled, laughing inwardly.

‘So weak… I have been standing here for a good minute now and she has been pulling on the mana the entire time. It took her so long to get the mana in the air ready to be used, I could have countered her spell ages ago.’

Aleius, watched on from the cart shaking his head and laughing, his long canines out on display.

“Why did your friend go over there? You didn’t warn em?” The old man seemed worried.

“I did but there was no stopping him.” He shrugged at the old man who walked off, spitting into the grass.

The scent of fog and morning dew had been growing closer for a while now, he could smell it drifting in from the road.

“I wonder what an Oracle wants with us.” He rubbed his chin.

The ice encroached up Baltar’s legs and waist onto his chest, he was half an ice block but still, he looked unperturbed.

“Meress, perhaps you could negotiate with your sisters here in ending this spell? You are not proving anything by threatening me.”

Baltar’s easy-going attitude in this situation agitated the three magewomen.

“Uhm. I do not know. What do you think, Oliviess?”

The older of the three frowned, “He is bluffing, or insanely stupid. He is no mage, so I will have to go with the latter.”

“Just give up little man.” The younger one chuckled. “You are not fooling anyone.”

Oliviess pointed her slender finger towards his face. “After you freeze solid, I’ll carve out that pretty face of yours, how does that sound?”

“Then you admit that I’m attractive?” Baltar gazed into her eyes suggestively.

She snapped her eyes away scoffing.

She flicked her wrist again and a small sheet of ice blanketed his mouth.

“I’m also jealous of his hair.” Meress watched him slowly being frozen with longing in her eyes.

‘Are these the three sadist sisters or something?’ He was confused.

Baltar’s blood was much hotter than the average mage, and that was before it was ignited. After ignition, it was hotter than the eternal sun itself.

He could feel the cold on his skin, but he had yet to meet a frost that could get underneath, this novice frost mage was nothing, she did not provide even the slightest chill.

“Merl, you said you liked wild hair colors on men, what do you think of his?”

“Do not say my name in front of him. He might remember it, or even worse repeat it.”

“It’s okay, he is basically frozen solid,” Oliviess replied smirking at her soon-to-be ice sculpture.

She was right, the ice had gone to his neck and was slowly rising.

It was cute in a twisted kind of way, it reminded him of his time in Sylannia, Kyoko’s realm. Before she warmed up to him, she tended to let her sadistic tendencies out in similar ways.

It brought back fond memories.

He didn’t blame the three sisters; pretty women always attracted the foolish and the overconfident.

‘Then what does that make me?’ he wondered for a moment, as the ice reached his lower lips.

He was curious about how far this could go.

‘Is everyone in this camp just going to watch me get tortured? Where are those White Blades? I know Aleius said they would turn a blind eye, but this is plain injustice.’

He needed to rethink the power dynamic of this realm.

Another carriage pulled next to the blue lotus. It was similar in design but remarkably smaller, and strangely it was not pulled by a horse but an Ice Pegasus, which looked odd on the ground as it would normally soar high in the skies.

That corner of the waypoint was a stark contrast to the rest of the travelers. Many could not keep their eyes from wandering towards the grandiose carriages and the white ice Pegasus whose ice blue mane glittered with snowflakes. It was larger than an average horse and much more capable as a fantastical creature as it could channel ice mana through its body making it quite formidable.

The door of the carriage opened, and immortal mana exuded into the camp; suffocating everyone. It was powerful mana that had no place in this realm, at least in its current state.

A mature woman dressed in a fine blue and purple patterned robe stepped out. Her beautiful face was scrunched up in a frown. she took a deep breath as she exited the carriage.

Instantly her face seemed to perk back up as if a weight was lifted from her chest.

‘That is my cue'

Aleius stood up and began walking toward the group.

The mature woman gazed over at the three young girls sitting together with servants by their side.

Her eyes were a violet color, and her gaze was cold, calm, and collected. Her hair was pure white as the snow itself, which exuded an air of maturity and experience. However, her pale skin and pink lips gave her a youthful appeal.

“Oliviess, have you and your sisters eaten?” Her voice was crisp, clear, and commanding.

“Yes, Milady,” Oliviess spoke softly not daring to even raise her head.

“And what’s this?” She nodded towards the human-sized ice sculpture.

“Just some common noble, Headmistress.” Oliviess shook her head. “It seems the common people never learn to stay amongst the other commoners.”

The headmistress scanned her eyes around the camp, her eyes falling on the manaless commoners, who all forbid themselves to even look in their direction.

She saw the fear in everyone’s faces, even the White Blades patrolling the area looked away.

She moved towards the statue, which caused the trio to shift uncomfortably. She peered into the man’s face, and what she saw confused her. For someone who has been through as much as her that rarely happened.

The man’s face was handsome, to say the least, he had a cocky smile across his lips that deserved to be slapped, and he held absolutely zero magic presence. However, his eyes were frozen open and the color of those irises … She could not look away, they were like a golden dawn, the sun on the horizon at the start of a beautiful morning.

‘Peculiar.’ She thought.

“Mistress, if I may ask a question,” Merl spoke her head still lowered.

“Speak.”

“May I know why we have stopped for the night? The servants said the horses could keep riding.”

The mature woman answered, still gazing into the sculpture’s eyes.

“The Oracle has delivered to me a mission of utmost importance.”

The trio looked up. Rarely did their headmistress give them any information, especially when it came from the Oracle it was strictly forbidden.

“I am to find two individuals at this waypoint.”

She reached into her robe sleeve and pulled out a parchment that had a vague description.

Tall, white hair like hers, deep blue eyes, and wider than normal shoulders.

“One of those individuals would be me I assume.”

She was startled by a voice close behind her.

A man stood a head taller than herself in her heeled shoes. His eyes were a misty blue pool that poured into her violet eyes.

“Oh, excuse me.” She retreated backward, before regaining her composure. She viewed her notes and confirmed he matched the description.

His face was handsome, and he had an intelligent look that made him mysterious, his torso was a triangular shape with nice, refined shoulders.

She was too old to believe in love at first sight, but she felt a lust she had not felt since she was a schoolgirl.

If it weren’t for his formable magical presence, she would have him sent back to the academy with her.

Focusing her eyes, she delved into his magical presence.

It was unending, mana coiled and swirled together in his body. He was obviously holding it back, but it was close to her own.

She smirked.

It had been quite a while since she had met someone stronger than herself.

“I’m Asha, Headmaster of Blue Lotus Academy.”

She presented her hand for him to take, and he didn’t hesitate.

“I am Aleius, and that ice sculpture there is Baltar. It is our pleasure.”

‘Baltar?’

She quickly checked her notes, the second individual had no description only a name.

Baltar.

“Release him, Oliviess.”

The young disciple did not question she swirled the mana around her and slowly the ice broke apart.

“Ah, had a change of heart then, Oliviess?” the man said as the frosted shards dropped from his body.

Oliviess kept her head low and did not speak.

He turned to the mature woman before him, she was quite pretty, fashionable with a white jade hairpin in her hair and a sizable bosom to boot.

“Oh, do not mind me I was just introducing myself to your students. Headmistress Asha, was it? I am Baltar.”

He grabbed her hand and kissed it.

‘No wonder they froze him in ice.’

“Of course.” She spoke, her voice was pleasant.

The trio sitting together sighed, they worried he would make trouble for them after what happened but surprisingly, he did not seem bothered at all. He moved on like nothing happened at all.

Enthralled by their headmistress’s beauty no doubt. Men like him were real pigs.

“Why are you seeking us out on this late night,” Baltar said playfully.

Aleius smiled and moved next to him.

“I think what he means is. How can we help you, miss Asha?”

She glanced between them.

‘Peculiar is right.’

Their manners were feigned and forced, especially the auburn-haired Baltar. She could feel derisory in his lazy smile, it reeked of arrogance.

But she had a task to follow, handsome or not, she would look into wiping that smile from his face later.

The powerless should know their place after all.

“If you two would come this way the Oracle wishes to speak with you.”

Nodding they followed her back into the small white carriage.

After they left, the three girls did not move for a while. Their servants were also stunned until the soup pot boiled over causing them to curse.

Merl was the first to break the silence. “That was almost a disaster. Oliviess, if he decided to get back at us, what would Headmistress have done?”

Oliviess did not answer. She did not even want to think about it, knowing how imperious the headmaster was.

“Let us… just not think about it.” She said slowly.