"War is coming?" I repeated. "How can you be so sure?"
Was she joking? I couldn't tell.
"I shall continue to train you the same as this time in the future." Aurora pointedly ignored my question. "The difficulties will gradually increase, so I expect you to improve your skills with rapidity."
"I feel like this will be the death of me..." I muttered sullenly.
Aurora didn't reply as she walked out of the room, giggling quietly.
I spent several days learning the contents of the books while I recovered from my near-fatal injuries.
Once I felt I had recovered enough, I asked for Aurora's permission to return to working with her.
"No. Absolutely not." Aurora instantly shot down my request.
"Why?" I asked her. "I recovered plentily enough to start working."
"I want you to wait another week before returning to work." She responded. "I don't know precisely the when war will break out, but I am certain it will be soon. I want you to be at your best when you are working with me."
I sighed heavily.
"I can't protect you all the time, you know?" She said reasonably.
"I suppose that is fair." I muttered.
"Keep learning and eventually you'll be able to pull enough of your weight that I can fight without holding back." She comforted me as she turned to leave.
'Great. I'm useless.' I thought ruefully. 'I suppose being useless away from her would be better than being worse than useless.'
"I can always send you paperwork." Aurora said over her shoulder.
I thought of the mountains of paperwork we had to deal with in the store.
"There's probably a backlog of the stuff." Aurora continued, reaching the door. "I'll send you a lot of it. You won't lack things to do!"
I sighed once more, deciding I needed to work for my pay.
"Glad to see you want to earn your keep!" Aurora laughed, seeing my thought process. "Bye~"
She opened the door and turned to blow me a kiss before she vanished down the corridor.
Seven days later, I returned to the shop with Aurora.
After a long and tedious work day, Aurora dragged me through a grey door that was identical to the door in her mansion.
"Not again!" I exclaimed as she pulled me through.
With her laughter ringing in my ears, I opened my eyes to see a frozen tundra blanketed in white.
The mountains in the distance were blanketed in a layer of white snow that was only broken by distant rivers flowing down the sheer cliffs. Sunlight reflected blindingly off the snow drifts, causing me to squint against the bright glare.
I glanced around my feet and found a familiar backpack.
Grabbing the note that sat on top of the other items in the backpack, I opened it and swore.
"Welcome to the Permafrost!" Next to the words was a silly smiley face that clearly conveyed how Aurora felt about the test. "Your task this time is to survive for a week without fire magic. All the other magic you have learned remains unsealed. Good luck!"
Beneath the words was a hand-drawn picture of Wicky flipping me off.
"Wicky still doesn't like me, eh?" I chuckled slightly before turning to the items in the backpack.
I rifled through it, pulling out a pair of snow boots, a threadbare blanket (that smelled like Aurora, for some reason), a dry log, and enough food for a single meager meal.
I glanced around once more, curious about the kinds of magic creatures that inhabited this frigid landscape.
I figured I'd encounter ice-type creatures, which made me wish desperately for my fire magic back.
After a brief inventory of my spells, items, and current physical condition, I picked a direction and began to set off.
With the heavy backpack slung over my back and the deep drifts of snow, I began to wish for snow shoes.
I paused my steps and used water magic to create spiky, disc-shaped shoe attachments to serve as crude snow shoes.
Moving along at a swifter pace, I searched through the frozen and windy tundra for a shelter or wood, but to no avail.
The drifts were devoid of life and defining features, making it impossible for me to use them as landmarks.
I moved rapidly, using my movements to warm my chilly body.
That proved to be a mistake.
A massive white-furred, ape-like creature exploded from a drift I was ascending, sending me soaring into the snow.
It stood a fearsome eight feet tall with eyes shining with the color of fresh blood, and an expression that screamed 'I'll kill you.'
With a tinnitus-inducing roar, it smashed the snow below it and charged me from a cloud of powdered snow.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck," I swore to myself under my breath as I hurried to leap clear of the infuriated beast. "Why is it so goddamn angry?!"
I pushed my question aside and began manipulating water to collect and freeze around the ape's mouth and nose.
While it clawed at its airways, it began to freeze the water and pull it off in chunks.
"Shit." I muttered, opening more space between myself and the abomination that wanted to kill me.
I tried making a ring of water to freeze around its neck, but it pulled it off with ease before it posed a threat to its life.
So, being reasonable, I targeted another weak spot.
With a sickening schlocking noise, the appendage between its legs was severed.
I winced, feeling slightly guilty.
The creature whimpered pathetically, holding its furred hand against the wound to stem the bleeding.
I decided to put it out of its misery and rammed a huge quantity of water down its mouth, freezing it in place and ending its suffering.
With a massive thud, the creature hit the frigid ground, dead.
I felt my knees shake as my adrenaline faded like morning dew, leaving me to shakily sit down on the snow next to it.
"Aurora deserves a spanking." I muttered to myself before breaking into hysteric laughter.