'Oh, there's snow on the ground...'

　When I woke up in the morning and opened the window to ventilate the room, the world outside was white.

　I could see the mountains in the distance, the meadow and the courtyard, all covered in snow.

　When I looked up, I saw that snow was falling steadily from above.

　It had apparently been snowing since last night.

　I picked up a piece of snow that had piled up on the edge of the window, and naturally it was cold.

　But this coldness felt fresh and comfortable.

　I hadn't seen snow in a year. I'm deeply moved by the fact that it's that kind of season again.

　For someone like me who can use ice magic, snow and ice are relatively familiar to me, but natural phenomena are something else.

　When it's a phenomenon of a limited time period, it seems even more precious.

　The snow on the edge of the window is collected and made into a small sphere. If you make another one and put it on top of each other, you will have a small snowman.

　It's cute just to put them in the window like this.

'I don't see any here either,'

　As I was content to lay out the snowman, I heard such an impatient murmur.

　I looked down and saw that Saara seemed to be looking for something in the courtyard.

'What's up, Sarla?'

'Master Alfried. No, it's...well...it's nothing.

　When I called out to her, Saara looked up at me and told an understandable lie.

　No, she clearly didn't look like anything. There seemed to be a fair amount of snow in her hair and clothes, and she must have been outside for a long time.

　However, is it embarrassing to have Saara say that out loud? And it would be quite a volume to have her reach my room from the courtyard.

'Hold on a minute.'

　I was curious to see how Saara was doing, so I wrapped myself in my winter gear and headed to the courtyard.

　Of course, I had a fireball floating around to protect me from the cold.

'So, what's up?'

Um, well, I think I actually dropped the key to the barn...

　I came over to the courtyard and asked him, and he said honestly, as if he thought Saara couldn't be fooled.

Ah, it's hard to find it when there's this much snow on the ground.

　Even though the key is small. Once the snow piled up on top of it, it would be difficult to find it.

　I'm not sure if she's been searching through the snow for a long time or if her hands are biting red.

　It looked painful, so I put a fireball on the floor beside her.

"Here, use this to warm your hands.

Oh, thank you.

　Saara thanked him timidly and put her hand close to the fireball and began to warm it up.

'You should have asked Meena and Mel to help you find it,'

'I'm sorry to ask you to help me in this snow, indeed. You might catch a cold.

　It's true that it's hard to ask even a colleague to look for lost items together in this cold and snow, isn't it?

　So that's why Saara was looking for it alone.

'I'll help you,'

No, I can't have Master Alfried helping me.

What?　You let me help you clean up?

...and that's not the same thing.

　When she dared to say so meanly, Saara said that with a pout of her lips.

　She seems to be aware of the inconsistency in the area where she's telling me to turn my face away and tease her.

　When we were cleaning up, Saara and her friends asked me to psychically float the furniture.

　How is this time different from that?

'It's okay that I'm the one who wants to do it. Besides, with my magic, you'll find what you're looking for in no time at all.

　As I said this, I increased the fireball and moved it to lick the snow.

　In the blink of an eye, the snow piled up by the high temperature of the fireball melted, and the path from the front door to the gate appeared in the blink of an eye.

　Once the snow melts like this, the buried keys should be found quickly.

''..........''

Where is it likely to be?

　I ask Saara, who is looking dumbly at the road with the snow gone.

'I think it's somewhere along the path from the barn to the entrance to the mansion.

Then I'll try to melt some snow along the way.

　I melt with the fireball as I trace my way down the path, which has the faintest trace of Saara's footprints.

　Occasionally there are the slightest leaves and flowers, being careful not to burn them.

　It's a little fun to watch the white pile of snow melt away, like watching the reverse regeneration of ice to water.

　Plus, the way you're painting the ground is like expanding your territory.

　The melted snow, of course, becomes water, but if you walk on it, the earth and water will splash around.

　So, while melting the ice, I use water magic to move the earth and water to the edge.

　This way your shoes and trousers won't get dirty and you'll prevent the road from freezing up. Two birds with one stone.

'Oh, that's the key to the barn, isn't it?

　As I proceeded to melt the snow on the ground in this way, I found what looked like a barn key.

　It had apparently fallen on top of Saara's footprints, and the snow had fallen on top of it, obscuring it from view.

　Hard to find such a small object, given the limited route.

'That's it,'

'Wait. I think the magic might be making me hot, so let's get a little snow to cool me down.

　I wait for Saara to reach out and pick it up immediately.

　This metal key might be hot from the fireball.

　If it's like a hot frying pan, it's a burn if you bypass it and touch it.

''I'm ... sorry.''

　I put a psychic on the key and sent it into the air. I also psychically lifted the snow around it and trapped the key.

　The plan is to trap them in the snow like this to take the heat out of them again.

　Once the key is cooled, I release the snow and lightly touch it with my hand.

'Yeah, looks like it's all good now.'

Thank you.

　I made sure the keys were cool and handed them to her, and Saara thanked me with a deep bow.

It's hard to find a key on a snowy day when you drop it. You might want to put some kind of cloth on them to make them easier to recognize.

'Yes. I will try to do so in the future so that this doesn't happen again.

　If it has a colorful cloth or strap-like object on it, it might be easier to find when you drop it in the winter.

　Well, it might not be worth it if you find out later that you dropped it and it gets buried in the snow, but it will increase your chances of finding it.

'By the way, how did Saara get to the barn?

I had to get my shovel out to plow the snow.

　At the very least, I'll go out of the house, regardless of the snow. To do that, the snow around the front door is in the way, so I need to plow it out to make it easier to walk around.

　But you've melted most of the snow around it to find the keys.

　Maybe I've taken away the significance of Saara taking the shovel out of the barn.

　So I lost my keys and searched for them until my hands were nibbling. When she finally found it with me, that job was done.

　I'm sure Saara is feeling subtly unhappy.

　I feel a little sorry and ask her timidly.

''Well is there any other place you'd like me to melt down?''

'The roof has not yet accumulated much, and there is not much in it. But it might please Lady Elinora if I were to plow the courtyard.

That's the one place where we never plow.

　Because when the snow is gone and we can move comfortably, sister Elinora will be happy to start practicing. And I can see my brother Silvio and I will be taken there.

　There is absolutely no need to dig your own grave.

　Saara chuckled at my clear denial.