The Magic in this Other World is Too Far Behind! Volume 5 E-Book

Gamei Hitsuji

• Herausgeber: J-Novel Club
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Serie: The Magic in this Other World is Too Far Behind!
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 441

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Beschreibung

After the dramatic events that transpired in the imperial capital, Suimei feels like he’s gotten what he can out of the Empire for now. Following a clue discovered in the book Felmenia brought to him from Astel’s royal library, he sets off on the next leg of his journey with the court mage, spirit swordswoman, and reformed dark magic user in tow. What awaits them in the Saadias Alliance? And what’s this about a third hero? Moreover, what of the dark forces that are now working in the shadows?

Leseprobe

Prologue: The Third Hero

A black sea was once again washing over the horizon. A black sea that was really a swarm of living beings. They were the enemies of humanity, the embodiment of evil devoted to the destruction of anything and everything. They were demons.

The wasteland below of dirt and sparse greenery was trampled by the black power that clad the demons. Like a piece of cloth as it slowly soaked in dye, they seeped ever forward. Standing atop a hill with an unbroken view at the south end of the Norfolk wastelands of the Alliance, the Alliance’s hero, Kuchiba Hatsumi, was observing this situation.

Once in a while, a refreshing, dry breeze would blow in gently from the north, typical for the area. What was carried on the wind, however, was a sensation that felt like it pierced and numbed one’s skin. The reason for it was undoubtedly the demons’ bloodthirst and impatience. It was like a sea breeze of their desperation.

They were left in an unfavorable position after their last battle. They were practically cornered now. After being abandoned by the rest of their forces, the writing was on the wall for them. And so, in order to regain their honor, they were trying to even the score a little by rushing in while gripped by the madness of inevitable death.

Keenly sensing that battle was steadily approaching, Hatsumi looked over her shoulder. Behind her, as if hiding themselves within the forest, were the companions she’d made when she was summoned over, as well as the soldiers of the Alliance. To her right was the martial artist from the Alliance country of Larsheem, Gaius Forvan. To her left was the female mage from the self-governed state, Selphy Fittney. And right behind her, kneeling down like he was calmly meditating, was the swordsman who served as the prince of the Alliance’s sovereign state of Miazen, Weitzer Ryerzen.

These three names were known far and wide across the northern continent, for they were all valorous warriors who possessed skills the people praised. Skills that were already well proven. They had engaged in battle with the demons four times so far. And each and every time, they had entrusted their lives to each other and cooperated perfectly.

After Hatsumi nodded to the three of them as if signaling them, Gaius returned a hearty smile as he struck his chest, Selphy quietly nodded back, and Weitzer stood up with a stalwart air about him. After confirming their determination one last time, Hatsumi leaped off the top of the hill.

She spoke no words to signal the beginning. She said nothing to rally her soldiers like a commander would. There was no need. She simply dashed straight towards the demons, and even without a single word exchanged, her companions followed her. As fellow followers of the sword, their wills were all as one.

Thus, she ran down the hill without even looking behind her. She was plunging downwards head-first. The steeply inclined slope that would normally make anyone uneasy to run along was a mere trifle before her body, blessed by the divine protection from the hero summoning. Darting forward at a tremendous speed, she blazed down the hillside. The companions and soldiers behind her saw her as the vanguard, and followed in her fervor. That was why there was not a single person among them who felt uneasy, anxious, or apprehensive.

While maintaining her speed, she came down at the demon army spread out over the wastelands and cut right into the center of their formation. Taking a surprise assault from an unexpected direction, their reaction was delayed and chaotic.

Kuchiba Hatsumi drew her sword. The weapon in her right hand was something she’d received from a dwarven blacksmith. Made of the materials of legends, it was a rare beauty forged with techniques of fancy and fantasy—an uchigatana. It was a long, mithril sword with a blade nigh 120 centimeters long.

With Hatsumi’s talent in wielding the silver luster of the blade, the demons before her were just like thin sheets of paper. Whether iron or flesh, anything that stood against her was so swiftly and cleanly split in two that it left no grease or blood on her blade.

She just had to swing it. By moving her body, her sword and arm were as one. Once she gave herself over to it, there was no way she would ever lose. And swing her sword was exactly what she did in the midst of the panicked demon army. The demon standing before her was cleaved right in two. And then following the flow of the strike, she rotated her body and sent the head of another demon flying.

Weitzer and Gaius swooped down on the demons on either side of her. The martial artist’s fist and the swordsman’s slash annihilated several of them. Soon, after cutting down all the nearby demons and clearing an opening in the black sea, they raised a battle cry. Though belated, the unit parted to the left and right. The swordsmen cut into the stretched-out flank of the demons. The demons were completely divided. Seeing this happen, magic support came pouring down from the rear.

The mage unit commanded by Selphy was dealing the finishing blow to the divided demons just as planned. Before long, the demons, who’d had their formation completely destroyed, were bitterly crushed according to plan by Hatsumi and her troops. When the initial strike went well, all that was left was to follow through.

Perhaps because the demons’ formation had been destroyed, or perhaps because they weren’t exactly team players to begin with, they no longer cooperated as they fought. The demons lashed out with their own strength. Things quickly devolved into a melee, with each demon fighting for themselves. Such grandstanding while fighting would prove to be a fatal mistake.

All Hatsumi and her companions had left to do from here was to cut out the source of the infection. Unlike the demons, the hero’s team stood firm like a rock. And it didn’t take long for the problem to come to them. A demon whose status was an order of magnitude higher than the others approached Hatsumi. It was the demon general. Holding a sword clad in mana in one hand, it appeared to be a skinny demon swordsman wearing an overcoat. If she remembered correctly, his name was Mauhario. Calling himself the Violent Flickering Wind, he’d allegedly beheaded many of the Alliance’s soldiers with his sword skills.

“Hero of the Alliance!”

The demon’s roaring, thunderous voice—far more than what anyone would expect from his slender frame—washed over them. Shaking the wastelands, it kicked up and blew away the sand in the area. Just at the sound of his voice, the movements of the Alliance soldiers became dull. It must have affected morale. Realizing the strength hidden within this monster, their spirits faltered. The only ones who were unfazed by the demon’s roar were several of the commanders, Hatsumi, and her companions. Mere moments after his shout, Mauhario closed the distance to Hatsumi in a flash. He wasted no time in unleashing a slash accompanied by a devilish storm.

“Take thaaat!”

“Hyaaah!”

Matching him, Hatsumi swung her own sword. As her blade cut through the air, it made a sharp whistling sound and repelled the incoming blow. His attack deflected, Mauhario regained the distance between them in an instant. And then, in the blink of an eye, he snaked around to her left and brought his sword to task.

Raising her mithril sword to defend, the harsh sound of metal clashing against metal rang through the air. Not relenting, the demon who was taller than Hatsumi pushed down on his blade and brought the fight to a deadlock. She only had the muscles of a mere young girl, but she was able to push back against the demon thanks to the power of the blessing from the hero summoning.

“Hero of the Alliance! Today will be the day I defeat you and offer your damn head to Nakshatra-sama!”

“Ugh... Sorry, but I don’t have any intention of dying here.”

Finding his angry roar from close proximity to be rather annoying, Hatsumi slipped past Mauhario’s sword as she pushed it to the side. But then, as she went to slash at him, contrary to her expectations, Mauhario sensed the danger and broke away in the opposite direction.

Mauhario corrected his stance once he’d safely escaped the range of her blade. His movements were terrifyingly fast. So much so that they were almost incomprehensible. This demon swordsman was the type whose primary strength was speed. He always kept out of his enemy’s range. For he could leap in, close the distance, and strike in an instant. It gave him the upper hand. Indeed, it seemed that Hatsumi should be at a disadvantage like this.

Yet she offered not a word of complaint. Slightly opening up her stance, she rotated her left ankle towards her right heel and dropped her posture. Her sword was hidden behind her neck as she held it over her right shoulder. Along with the breeze in the air, she could feel its cold metal against her skin.

She estimated there were about eight meters between her and the demon general who held his sword at the ready. Her sword was just over a meter long. For such a demon who specialized in speed and charging power, this was likely the ideal distance. Seeing her prepared to attack at any moment, a scornful and joyous expression floated up on Mauhario’s face.

He judged that Hatsumi was gambling to launch herself at him, hedging her bets in a game of kill or be killed. The expression that had come over his face revealed his confidence in the outcome of this sort of match. Based on Hatsumi’s estimates, if she held her blade out in front of her, she still had six meters between her and her opponent. It was a distance that her blade could never reach. But this was a trivial problem for her. On the other hand, for the demon general who didn’t know any better, it was a fatal problem.

“DIIIIIIIIIIIE!”

The demon general let out a ferocious and violent scream, an expression of his fighting spirit. It rang through the area like a herald of his killing intent, yet Hatsumi’s heart was as calm as a perfectly still pool. All the sensory information coming to her right now registered as trivial. In that moment, not the demon general’s howl, not the screams of the soldiers, and not her companions’ panicked cries caused a single ripple in her heart.

Then it was time for her to play her hand—The Phantom Sword of the Kurikara Dharani, the Longsword of the Absolute Blade.

In the instant she abruptly opened her eyes wide, she exhaled with purpose and brandished the sword on her shoulder as if she intended to clear away every single demon on the other end of it.

In the distance behind the demon general, there was the rumbling sound of rushing wind. To the tremendous surprise of each and every being present, when Hatsumi swung her sword, the demon general’s lower half tumbled gruesomely over in the blink of an eye. Debris, wind, his upper half, and a smattering of blood were blown jumbled in the opposite direction.

Without even taking a single step forward, Mauhario had tasted defeat. All that was left was silence. At least for a moment. Immediately following that were the cheers of joy raised by the soldiers. They’d witnessed and were celebrating the demon’s defeat. The demons they were fighting, on the other hand, were stunned. Not only were they violently confronted with the reality that someone much stronger than them had been defeated, but first and foremost, they were completely bewildered as to how, exactly, he’d been defeated.

Having yet to actually die, Mauhario looked up at Hatsumi from the ground in surprise.

“Im... possible. The range of your sword... was surely...” he said, blood spewing from his mouth.

It was true the tip of her sword never touched the demon general’s body. But just as Hatsumi had thought, that was a trivial matter. Looking down coldly at the body of the demon general who would never get up again, she flicked her sword as if removing blood from it, and replied to him.

“I thought you were a swordsman yourself. You should know better. A swordsman who can only cut things within their sword’s range is, at best, second rate, no?”

Her cold declaration would send shivers down the spines of all who stood against her. But the true target of it, the demon general, was numb to the sensation. He perished then and there.

Eventually, the skirmish between the demons and humans came to an end. The Alliance claimed victory that day. The cheers of joy from the human swordsmen and mages alike could be heard from a great distance. It was proof that the fighting was over. A particular young man dressed like a knight emerged from the crowd of celebrating soldiers.

It was the prince of the Alliance’s sovereign state of Miazen, one of the Seven Swords, Weitzer Ryerzen. He knelt at Hatsumi’s feet when he reached her.

“Your fighting style is magnificent, Hero-dono.”

“I thought I told you to stop calling me a hero already, Weitzer.”

Kuchiba Hatsumi let out a disconcerted sigh upon hearing the overly serious and stubborn young man’s flattery. However, he paid it no mind and took her hand in an attempt to kiss it. Perhaps it was ceremonious. Hatsumi didn’t frown on the gesture itself, but for some reason, today she also pulled away her hand like it was fleeing. As Weitzer looked up at her, his shrewd expression became slightly disappointed.

“Hero-dono...”

“Like I just said, Weitzer...”

And then, from the opposite direction, Hatsumi’s companion Selphy Fittney called out to them.

“I’m afraid there’s no helping it, Hatsumi. You are, in fact, a hero after all.”

“You too, Selphy...?”

“Even if such a thing bothers you, you cannot change the truth.”

“Ugh...”

As Selphy drew her conclusion in a taciturn tone, Hatsumi let out a groan. Selphy was wearing a pale green robe with the hood pulled over her eyes. She truly looked like a mage. But from under that hood, stifled laughter was beginning to leak out. Hatsumi then noticed that at some point, a large shadow had appeared behind Weitzer.

“So you were rejected again today, huh, prince?”

An awfully lively and loud voice came pouring down on Weitzer. The one standing behind him who looked the part of the brawny muscle-bound giant of the group, Gaius Forvan. He slapped Weitzer’s shoulder with his hand that had an old scar carved into it. Hatsumi thought that even though they were companions, he should hold back a bit when interacting with a prince. But setting that matter aside, it seemed that he’d misinterpreted Weitzer’s flattery. Weitzer looked back at Gaius with a sharp gaze and bitterly narrowed his eyes.

“...It’s not that I was outright rejected.”

“Oh? From what I’ve seen, I think that’s exactly what’s going on.”

“Ugh...”

As Gaius tried to play innocent, Weitzer’s eyes revealed just a little bit of irritation.

“I-It’s not like I hate Weitzer, you know?” Hatsumi defended him. “It’s just that I’m not used to being treated that way. It’s not that I dislike it, per se...”

“I gotta say, you certainly looked like someone who disliked it.”

“Gaius, will you be quiet? Hero-dono, I behave this way because I genuinely respect you...”

“Both of you, don’t go troubling Hatsumi like that.”

Selphy candidly offered an end to the conversation. However, the two men looked like they still had plenty to say. But with dissatisfied expressions, they nodded and acquiesced.

“Well... At any rate, good work everyone.”

Hatsumi changed the subject and voiced her appreciation. She raised her hand to say that no reply was necessary, and her three companions nodded.

“But... it’s surprising that there weren’t as many as we thought there would be.”

Hatsumi furrowed her brow as she spoke. It was Selphy who answered her concern.

“That’s because only one of the three armies of demons showed up this time.”

“As I suspected, the demon army we defeated just now was nothing but a sacrificial pawn.”

Right now, there were three demon armies assaulting the Alliance. They had just defeated one of them, but there were still two remaining armies that were significantly larger than the one they’d just fought.

“It’s fine, isn’t it? Today’s fight bodes well.”

“The enemy you defeated just now was a demon general, Hero-dono. Asking for a greater military accomplishment than that would simply be aiming too high.”

“But...”

“Hatsumi, leave it at that. If you say any more, then we’ll all be left ashamed of what we accomplished before you came along.”

“Yeah. Before you showed up, a single demon army was enough to push back the Alliance army. But as soon as you set foot on the battlefield, not only could we stand up to them, we could drive them back. And today...”

“We crushed one of their three armies and killed one of their generals. All because of your power, Hero-dono.”

“What? All because of that? What about the ones I defeated?”

“The fact that we were able to crush the demon army, that we were able to slay the demon general, and that you were able to defeat the other demons, Gaius, is all thanks to Hero-dono.”

Hearing Weitzer’s curt manner of speaking, Gaius’s eyes flashed fire. Seeing that this was probably going to turn into another fight, Hatsumi let out a sigh and tried to diffuse the situation.

“Weitzer, we only won because we prepared sufficient forces for the battle. That isn’t just all thanks to me, right? Besides, the hard part is yet to come.”

“...That’s right, isn’t it?”

The only one who spoke up in agreement was Selphy. The demons they defeated this time were led by a demon general who was the type that was confident in his own strength. He wasn’t much of a commander, and mostly left his subordinates to their own devices on the battlefield. All in all, that made him a relatively easy opponent to deal with.

When Hatsumi first faced him, she was easily able to get the upper hand. But when demonic reinforcements arrived, it brought the situation back to an equilibrium. The general leading the troops who arrived was one who laid out proper plans, which made the fight much harder. If not for that, the Alliance would have reclaimed its territory much sooner. Seeing the pensive look on Hatsumi’s face as she reflected on the battle, Weitzer spoke to her as if to say such a thing was unnecessary.

“As long as you’re here, Hero-dono, the likes of a demon army is nothing to fear.”

“Yeah. And don’t forget about me.”

Brimming with confidence, Gaius powerfully struck his chest like he always did. This time, not just Weitzer, but Selphy too rolled their eyes at him. In contrast to her comrades’ high spirits, Hatsumi appeared slightly gloomy.

“...Hey, what do you guys think I am?” she asked before remembering an important detail. “Ah, and you can’t say a hero, okay?”

Her three companions exchanged glances with each other, and then each gave their reply.

“The hero part aside, you’re an extraordinarily beautiful swordswoman.”

“As for race, saying you’re a human would suffice.”

After Gaius and Selphy gave their answers, Weitzer put his fist to his heart with an extremely serious expression and looked at Hatsumi.

“You are our princess, Hero-dono.”

“Wha...?! Weitzer, that kind of thing is super embarrassing.”

“Oho? What’s this? It doesn’t sound like you hated him saying it, little princeeeeess!”

“Come on, Gaius!”

Having such embarrassing things said right to her face, Hatsumi’s cheeks turned as red as the setting sun. She then immediately hung her head like she was somehow dispirited.

That wasn’t what she had wanted to hear. Selphy approached and leaned in to look up at her eyes. Eyes that were racked with anxiety.

“Does not having memories make you anxious after all?”

“...Isn’t it obvious? I can only remember my name and the way of the sword, you know... There’s no way I wouldn’t be anxious.”

The hero summoned by the Alliance, Kuchiba Hatsumi, had no memory of her life before appearing in the Alliance. In other words, she had no recollection of her time before being a hero. In short, she had amnesia. She had no idea what she’d done with her life, or what she wanted to do with it in the future. The only two things that remained with her were her name, Kuchiba Hatsumi, and the sword techniques that she used. The anxiety that produced in her made her feel distant. Faraway. Like her feet weren’t touching the ground. Gaius then walked up to her and slapped her shoulder in a friendly manner.

“We’re here for you. Got that?”

“Yes... but...”

“Hero-dono, if you have no memories, then you can just make some together with us.”

“Weitzer...”

Yet even with Weitzer’s kind words and gentle smile, she could not shake her anxiety. Then, as if to make a public announcement, Gaius cupped both his hands around his mouth.

“Oooooh, here we go again! Weitzer’s corny speech is starting!”

Weitzer stood behind him and quietly drew his sword from its sheath. After glancing briefly around at her companions who were still in a celebratory mood after their victory, Hatsumi looked up at the sky.

“...”

She had lost her memories. But every once in a while, she would see something in her dreams that she believed was from her life before she came to this world. The dream was always the same—it was a world full of things that didn’t exist here, and the same person was always there. But when she woke up, the dream was always vague. This only fanned her anxiety more.

There was something she must never forget, something extremely important. That feeling stabbed at her heart like a buried needle.

Chapter 1: To the Saadias Alliance

There was a clue regarding the hero summoning ritual in the Saadias Alliance.

Suimei had discovered this information in the book Felmenia had brought to him from Astel. And so, together with Felmenia, Lefille, and Liliana in tow, he departed the capital city of the Nelferian Empire, Filas Philia, and was now on a journey to the northwest of the continent where the Saadias Alliance was situated. Right now, they were jostling about in what wasn’t technically a horse-drawn carriage headed towards the Alliance from the Empire. The beast that pulled it was a creature with large horns and long fur. That was nearly the size of an elephant. It was known as a cowhorn.

Modern magician Yakagi Suimei was sitting in the corner of the cowhorn-pulled vehicle lecturing Felmenia and Liliana about magicka. He spread out papers he had prepared across the wooden floor of the carriage while Felmenia and Liliana quietly listened to him talk. Such talks were completely over Lefille’s head as she was a complete amateur on the subject matter. As such, she was sitting behind Suimei, humming a song while polishing her sword.

“...And that’s about it for that topic. Shall we move on to the next?”

“Yes.”

“Very... well.”

Receiving assent from both Felmenia and Liliana, Suimei moved on to the next topic.

“Then, what I’ll be talking about from here is liturgical reduction of magicka and its practical use. Liturgy is a technique that takes the complex processes required to use magicka and simplifies them into simple actions and short chants. Moreover, it optimizes these processes and shortens the time it takes to use magicka. It shortens long chants into abbreviated ones, takes chants which are hard to pronounce and changes them into gestures, replaces the need for complex gestures with a chant, and so on.”

After pausing briefly to take a breather, Suimei continued.

“The magicka that I use with most frequency is an easy-to-understand one that uses liturgy: strike magicka. I can manifest its effects by only snapping my fingers.”

“You mean this, right?”

In demonstration, Felmenia snapped her fingers. Following along, Suimei lightly snapped his fingers and sent the paper in his hand flying with a light shock.

“Whenever I’ve used it in this world, people are excessively surprised.”

“In our world, magic is fundamentally something that is invoked by chanting a spell or keyword and requires the aid of the Elements, after all.”

“Without that... using magic so simply and freely... is completely counter to the logic of magic in this world... Anyone would be surprised.”

Having only touched upon magicka that defied conventional wisdom, Liliana was still unused to Suimei’s new theories. She knit her brow and cocked her head to the side. She’d lived believing that chants were absolutely necessary. Being taught that that was immutable common knowledge, of course these people had never come up with something like liturgy.

“Strike magicka. Originally, the effect was manifested after chanting the spell, but reciting the chant was replaced with the action of snapping my fingers. So when I snap my fingers now, it produces the same effect as the version with the chant. It’s the same spell.”

The two girls were hurriedly scribbling down what Suimei was saying. After seeing that they finished writing, Suimei continued his explanation on liturgy.

“By trimming the fat, reducing the information involved, and simplifying the necessary actions, magicka becomes easier to use. Even in a situation where one is unable to speak or their movements are restricted, you can still use magicka. And this part is quite important, but magicka with many processes can also have its activation time reduced.”

“How do you do that, Suimei?”

“For example, say you have a five verse chant to invoke a spell. The time it takes to chant those five verses is the time required to invoke the spell. But say we replace two of those verses with a gesture. That way, when we recite the spell...”

“I see. The time to cast it is reduced by two verses, right?”

“That’s right. That’s the kind of advantage liturgy gives you.”

Hearing this, Felmenia and Liliana both oohed and aahed.

“But Suimei-dono, even if you shorten the time with liturgy, it doesn’t change the entropy, right?”

“Yeah, exactly.”

“What do you mean, Felmenia?”

“Shortening the time it takes to cast a spell using liturgy is different from modern magicka theory where the casting time is shortened by mixing together different magicka systems. The act of chanting is just substituted with something else, which means that, in essence, nothing has really changed about the spell.”

“I see...”

Suimei had previously explained this to Felmenia, and it seemed she’d properly understood it. It wasn’t all that long ago that he’d begun instructing her in the ways of magicka. Her ability to grasp things so quickly made him understand why she was known as a genius mage.

“Well, those are the basics of it, but let’s go back over two thousand years ago in my world. At that time, in the West, it was popular to perform speeches to fascinate the audience and persuade others. This was basically how politics were handled. It became an indispensable technique for those giving the speeches to skillfully control their intonation and so on to convince others they were speaking the truth during their speeches. There was another technique that was also important—do you know what it is?”

“If this concerns speaking, then it would be the ability to memorize the contents of the speech?”

“Yes, you’re on the mark. To be specific, it’s the ability to correctly pull out the memorized contents from one’s head, or mnemonics.”

Magicka and memorization. The two girls were unable to see the connection and were making faces like they didn’t really get it. Observing this, Suimei continued his explanation.

“For example, when you’re trying to memorize something, performing some other movement while doing so can make it easier to remember. When you then perform a similar action later, you remember whatever it was by association. You’re familiar with this, right?”

“Yes. I have heard of this.”

“Not being able to memorize something is usually attributed to having a poor memory, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the brain doesn’t remember it. People are able to learn things even when they are in an unconscious state, right? Simply put, not being able to remember something only means one was unable to pull from their head at the right time. In short, the actions I was talking about before are meant to support the brain and make accessing such information easier.”

After pausing once more, Suimei returned to the original topic.

“And so, mnemonics end up developing as a technique to recall memories and information in a form where they can even be incorporated into magicka. Well, to put it simply, the action helps you remember.”

Felmenia continued from where Suimei left off.

“If we hypothesize that the information stored in one’s head is like magicka, then not just with chanting, but with motion or gestures, one would be able to draw out the information from their head, no?”

“Yeah, that’s the way to think about it.”

Suimei gave a very satisfied nod to Felmenia’s comparison. And the same applied to magicka, too. By performing the same gesture practiced when memorizing a spell, one would be able to invoke it directly later on. But hearing all this, Liliana made a face like she was in pain.

“This all sounds... rather farfetched to me.”

“I’m sure it does. However, in my explanation just now, I rushed from the theory straight to its established result. There was quite a lot of research in between to connect the dots.”

“Hnnngh...”

As Suimei explained further, Liliana groaned like she still wasn’t fully convinced. Certainly what he was telling them, taken to the extreme, meant that magicka could be used just by memorizing it. Liliana was stuck on that. She knew there was no chance of manifesting something just by recalling it.

“It seems that you’re still clinging to the physical part. That materializes due to phenomena using imperceptible mystical energy, mystical vectors, and mystical laws. These are the ‘mysteries’ that we aim to dispel... Don’t worry about it. Once you start touching on it, you’ll begin to understand gradually.”

Persuading Liliana with those words, Suimei brought his lecture to an end.

“So that’s how it is. This arrangement and replacement of mystical actions, the materialization of a magicka circle, Notarikon, Temurah, and Gematria among others, are techniques to produce the ritual oneself and then analogize it. This is called liturgical reduction, or in short, liturgy.”

With that, he asked if the two of them still needed more details.

“Any questions?”

Liliana raised her hand.

“Magicka circles... The ones you use... Where the circle is suddenly drawn... I want to hear about that.”

“Sorry, I’ll save that for another time. It’s better to have a firm understanding of liturgy before moving on to the materialization of a magicka circle.”

“That’s... regrettable.”

Suimei’s response made her sulk. Liliana seemed to be quite interested in the subject.

“Next, I’ve prepared a fill in the blanks test. It has questions on the main points of everything I talked about today except for liturgy.”

As Suimei handed them sheets paper, Felmenia looked at hers with a doubtful face.

“Suimei-dono, I think it is better to learn by practical use, but... In this case, it would mean actually implementing liturgy...”

“That may be so, but we can’t put a whole lot into practical use within this carriage, right? To do that kind of thing, we need a properly prepared location. I prepared this instead because it’s convenient to do here.”

“Well, that is certainly true...”

Felmenia agreed, but she didn’t seem completely satisfied. Just as she said, this test wouldn’t really give them any proper sense for what they were learning.

“I thought you would understand faster if you thoroughly remembered the details of the theory, but... Teaching isn’t easy, huh?”

As if something heavy was sitting atop his head, Suimei hung his head low in a troubled fashion. Because he had never officially taken on students before, he was unused to tutoring. There was more or less a single exception to this, but that person was able to use magicka considerably well beforehand and was more of an assistant who used peculiar magicka. This was the first time he’d taught anyone anything starting from the bare basics. As expected, he couldn’t avoid running into difficulties here and there. Because of this, he was constantly getting feedback from his students along the way.

“All right, I’ll think about something more in the line of practical use, so you guys have a go at this for now.”

“Understood.”

“I feel like using this pure white paper... is a waste though...”

For quite a while now, Suimei had been using white sheets of paper quite liberally. Liliana lifted one up and frowned. In this world, such paper was quite valuable. Unlike his world, this one had yet to have an industrial revolution or two. The machinery to create paper hadn’t been invented yet, and no mass-production lines existed.

Is that also because of magic throwing its weight around...?

In his world, when it came to materials to scribe magic circles on, rather than generic white paper, specially manufactured parchment was judged to be better and more valuable. But in this world dominated by magic culture, it was something of the other way around.

Felmenia and Liliana started their tests in short order. Suimei then spun around on his butt and faced Lefille.

“Taking a short break?”

“We got to a checkpoint. How much longer do you think we’ll be traveling by carriage?”

“The fortress on the national border should be coming into sight soon, so it shouldn’t be much longer.”

“It’s been too long. My ass hurts after sitting on a wooden floor for three days.”

“Suimei-kun, that’s crass.”

As Suimei made a sour face, Lefille put on a smile and flicked him lightly on the forehead.

“Ow, that smarts... Anyways, even though we’re close to the border, why haven’t we seen anything resembling a mountain?”

While rubbing his forehead, Suimei stuck his head out of the carriage and looked towards their destination. Just as he had said, there was no mountain range in the direction they were going. Not even a small hill. In general, most national borders used mountain ranges or other natural markers as boundaries. It was typical to place border fortresses in the valleys that broke up the range. It was a necessity to make it difficult for neighboring countries to invade, but strangely enough, Suimei spied nothing of the sort around. While he basked in the wind and looked about the landscape skeptically, Lefille flashed a refreshing smile as if to tell him he had nothing to worry about.

“Beyond here, there is a large fissure in the earth called ‘The Valley Which Peeks Into Evil.’ It serves as the border between the Empire, the Alliance, and the self-governed state.”

“A fissure?”

“In short, it’s a deep valley carved in the earth. It’s said that it was created when the spirit who formed the counterpart of the Goddess’s servant Ishaktney lost its temper and tore open the earth.”

“I see...”

Suimei’s ears perked up. These kinds of stories tended to spike his inquisitiveness. The image of something the scale of the large belt carved across Africa came to mind.

“At its deepest sections, one is unable to see the bottom at all, so a bridge fortress was built at the shallowest section, serving as the fortress at the national border.”

“...Hmm? Does that mean there’s only a single fortress?”

“The bridge fortress belongs to the Alliance. The Empire’s fortress is basically enclosed within it. That’s what we’ll be seeing.”

Lefille gestured for a paper and pen from Suimei and then began drawing a picture to demonstrate. Across a black line which represented the fissure in the earth, she drew three bridges that connected to a single fortress. And as if to seal the path leading out, the fortress was shaped like a semi-circle around them. After the two of them talked about it briefly, Lefille remembered something and changed the topic.

“Come to think of it, before we departed, we heard a rumor that the victims of the coma incident regained consciousness, right?”

“Oh, that? It would’ve been fine if they were put to sleep a little longer, honestly...”

Suimei made a bitter face since this outcome didn’t please him. He would have preferred they stay unconscious until memories of the incident had faded around town and people put it out of their minds. It would have been fine for the victims to stay out of people’s eyes for a while.

Although, thanks to the people in the city changing their minds about Liliana, this ended up not being an absolute necessity. But still, Suimei thought it would be better if they were still unconscious—just so they couldn’t try anything funny. Meanwhile, Lefille was looking at Suimei like he was a shady character for talking about the victims in a rather reprehensible manner.

“I’m reminded from time to time, but... you’re quite merciless, or rather cruel, aren’t you?”

“Hmm? I’m a magician, you know. I’m not a respectable human being.”

“Nevertheless, I don’t think that’s something you should be saying.”

“Well, that may be so. But it’s not like I’m not selfish, especially after all this. You can tell from when I got Liliana pardoned, right? At the end of the day, I’m the type of person who doesn’t care how some unrelated guy ends up groaning over my actions.”

“Though wouldn’t it just make people angry if you unreasonably hurt them?”

“I know that I’m being inconsistent. And I was more or less reconciled with that before coming to this world. I believe that I’m well aware of what is born from that inconsistency.”

“I see.”

Suimei was gazing at Lefille like he was resigned. Perhaps having grasped his sentiment, Lefille questioned him no further.

“It’s about that time I faced a major setback. That thing I touched on lightly after we defeated Rajas...”

“Indeed, I’m quite interested in it. I’d like you to tell me about it next time without fail.”

“I’ll have to decline. I don’t even wanna think about it myself.”

“Heehee.”

Suimei was quite puzzled to see Lefille let out a light laugh with a smile. He then moved the conversation back to the original topic and away from talk of his weaknesses that he couldn’t possibly continue for his own dignity’s sake.

“Well, the people of the imperial capital woke up to the truth, so Liliana should be fine anyways.”

“Speaking of being fine, I wonder if Reiji-kun and the others are alright...”

Lefille casually shifted the conversation towards their absent friends. They were currently planning to stay in the Empire and had parted ways with Suimei when he left, but...

“Is there something wrong?”

“No, it’s just that they did end up raising a commotion in the imperial capital. I just have misgivings that they might be put at a disadvantage because of it.”

Lefille’s concerns were natural. Suimei had Reiji and the others take a role in resolving the coma incidents—specifically the unreasonable role of stalling Graziella and company. Things had turned out well in the end, but taking into account that they got in the way of a military police investigation and ended up having a scuffle with a princess, it was natural to worry that they might now find themselves in a precarious situation in the Empire. However, Suimei, who was responsible for it in the first place, looked surprisingly unconcerned.

“Suimei-kun?”

“Yeah, that’ll all somehow work out. Before we left, I played my hand after all.”

“Did you do something?”

“Well, yeah. An eentsy-teensy simple something.”

Suimei was pressing and separating his thumb and index finger on one hand while flashing a small, crafty smile like a brat playing a prank.

“I see. If you’ve done something, then there isn’t a problem.”

Hearing that Suimei had dealt with it, Lefille’s concerns were cleared away and she returned a relieved nod to his impish smile. Like that, the two of them amused themselves as they continued chatting for a while before Felmenia raised her hand with great urgency.

“Suimei-dono! I have finished writing my answers!”

“Oh, you’re already done?”

Looking at Felmenia’s eager smile, Suimei drew nearer and collected her test.

“Hmm, hmm... Well, it’s filled in nicely. Liliana, how are you doing?”

“Just... a little more.”

As one would expect, this was still quite difficult for Liliana who only just started studying magicka. While wrinkling her brow and groaning, she was laboriously scribbling away. The sight of her trying so hard was rather charming. Meanwhile, after receiving well over a passing mark from Suimei, Felmenia flashed a grand smile as she started to appeal to him for something.

“Suimei-dono! Suimei-dono!”

“What is it?”

“If you think I have done well, then please praise me!”

“Huh? Wha?”

Suimei was completely bewildered, but Felmenia looked rather expectant. If she had dog ears and a tail, her ears would surely be pointed straight up and her tail would surely be wagging furiously. As he sidled up to her like he was about to tease her, something suddenly yanked on the back of Suimei’s collar vigorously.

“—Gueh!”

An unflattering shriek escaped from Suimei’s mouth. Before he knew what was happening, Lefille had grabbed the back of his collar and was gripping it tightly. Even though he hadn’t actually done anything yet... As Suimei looked at Lefille to imply exactly that, she focused her gaze in Felmenia’s direction.

“Wh-What are you doing, Lefille?! Are you trying to get in my way?!”

“Yes, that’s right. Lady Felmenia, you’re clinging to Suimei-kun a little too much.”

“Th-That’s not particularly...”

Felmenia was at a loss for words. Lefille then continued as if pushing in for an answer.

“You can’t say that you haven’t been. You’ve been sticking to Suimei-kun at every single opportunity, haven’t you?”

“I-It is not like I particularly have an ulterior motive!”

“Even so, it’s not allowed. I can’t overlook it.”

As they talked, their gazes clashed. Suimei winced as he watched all this. Felmenia suddenly began waving her hand around in a panic.

“Just what is wrong with it?! When you were small, did you not also spend a lot of time with Suimei-dono?! Besides, you were having fun with him all to yourself just now!”

“I-I was just casually talking to Suimei-kun about our plans from here on out! It was nothing more or less than that!”

“Same for me!”

“I still object! Right now, your wicked thoughts are completely transparent! Just get away already!”

“I will NOT!”

In the middle of throwing her tantrum, Felmenia made a leap forward. Naturally, she was diving for Suimei rather than Lefille.

“Menia, what’re you—?!”

“What on earth?!”

Suimei was completely flustered as Felmenia clung to him like an unrelenting vise.

“Suimei-dono! Please praise me!”

“Lady Felmenia! You can receive praise without having to do this kind of thing, right?! Stop this disgraceful behavior at once!”

Lefille pulled on the collar she was still holding and tried to tear Suimei away. On the other hand, Suimei, who was now being yanked on and climbed on, tried to mediate between the two of them, but...

“C-Calm down! Both of you, just step ba... Bwuh?!”

With Felmenia clinging to him, her bountiful chest was pressing against him. It was unexpectedly soft and pleasant, and utterly disarming. Once he became conscious of it, Suimei was completely flustered.

“Wait, this is bad! Hey, Menia! This is really bad! Really, extremely bad, so get away quickly!”

This situation was bad for Suimei as a teenage boy. However, being completely ignorant of this, Felmenia looked at him with teary eyes and sniffled.

“Suimei-donooo! Even you want me to get away?”

“Don’t grumble about it! What’s with you?! L-Lefi, help me out here...”

“If Lady Felmenia is going to resort to this, then I can too...”

“Wha?! Lefille-san?! How did it end up like this?!”

Lefille pressed herself up against Suimei’s back with her hands on his shoulders. She was completely glued to him. Being assaulted from both the front and back, the three of them were now all bunched together.

“Wai— Both of you?! This is painful! Painful, I tell you!”

Suimei was no longer able to endure it and yelled out, but the two of them weren’t listening to him at all as they held on to his body like their lives depended on it. Discerning that it was useless to try to talk the two of them down, he quickly resorted to turning to a third party to escape this crisis.

“Liliana! Save me!”

Suimei earnestly appealed to her, but...

“Suimei, this is what people mean... when they say... ‘If you cut somebody, you will wet your own body with blood.’”

“What’s with that?!”

“It’s a proverb... from this world.”

Suimei guessed it meant roughly the same thing as getting one’s just deserts. But that was all Liliana had to say as she otherwise ignored his plea. She was still focused on her test and didn’t even look at him.

“Hey, wait, you’re not gonna save me?!”

“I’m still... busy.”

“No way! Helping me just a little won’t put you out, right?!”

As Suimei kept hounding her, Liliana let out a deliberately loud exasperated sigh. And then...

“Suimei... The moment Lefille returned to her original form... this was inevitable. It... should’ve been obvious. Not being able to deal with it despite that... is squarely your fault.”

“In what way was this obvious?!”

“That part of you... is just like the Colonel...”

In the end, Liliana criticized Suimei as she looked at him with a half-closed eye. Meanwhile, Felmenia and Lefille’s battle was still continuing.

“Suimei-dono!”

“Suimei-kun!”

“I got it! I got it, so both of you calm down a little! If you keep causing a ruckus, it’ll bother the other passengers!”

In the end, Felmenia and Lefille kept at it until they arrived at the fortress on the national border.

★

In the northwest region of the continent, though the temperature was cold enough for it to be winter, there wasn’t the dampness or dryness one would expect of the season. The climate was at a relative equilibrium and the weather was quite calm. However, it was said that dragons lived in the craggy mountains and forests filled with black trees. A great deal of the terrain here was too harsh for people to live in, so compared to other countries, the amount of land untouched by human hands was considerably larger.

After disembarking from the cowhorn-drawn vehicle at the national border, Suimei and his party crossed the bridge, and without any problems, were let through the fortress on the Alliance side. They were now visiting their first town in the first country they came to of the Saadias Alliance. Clouds were scattered about overhead. It wasn’t quite a perfectly clear sky, but it was just as pleasing to the eye and just as pleasant to travel under. The blowing wind was chilly, despite it being the season of this world’s calendar where it should be quite hot, so it was rather relaxing.

The town they found themselves in was quite unlike the imperial capital and the other towns of the Empire where houses were colored based on their district. So without any sort of system to their coloring, the buildings here were vibrant. Even their shapes varied with their triangular, flat, and even gabled roofs. Overall, it gave the town a fun and gentle atmosphere. The space between houses was also quite wide, and there was a generous amount of vegetation planted between them. The flat shaved stone that made up the sidewalks was visible once in a while, but there seemed to be more greenery than stone anywhere you went. It was perhaps because they were only in a remote town far away from the country’s city center, but Suimei’s impression of the Alliance so far was that it gave off more of a pastoral feeling than a fantasy one.

“So this is an Alliance town...”

Looking at the ornaments decorating the buildings all about the town as well as at the people going about their daily lives, Suimei was somewhat enchanted. The Alliance appeared to be different from both Astel and Nelferia in several ways. As if to confirm his impression, Liliana chimed in.

“To be precise... this town is in the Alliance nation of Grafille. The Alliance is unlike Astel, Nelferia, and the self-governed state... in that it’s made up of a collective of five different countries.”

“So this is just part of the Alliance, huh?”

While talking about such things with Liliana, Suimei casually glanced to his side and spotted Felmenia looking around excitedly at their surroundings just like he was. Suimei couldn’t help but call out to his fellow comrade who was entranced by the appearance of the houses and the mana lamps hanging along the roads.

“Feels different to you too, huh, Menia?”

“Ah, yes. This is my first time in the Alliance, so I was just a little curious... At any rate, the Alliance is quite different from Astel and Nelferia, don’t you think?”

Felmenia became somewhat bashful upon realizing her childlike excitement had been exposed. Liliana then stepped in to explain the nature of the nation.

“Since long ago... the Alliance people have strove to live in harmony with nature and the local flora and fauna. So unlike the Empire... they don’t specialize in construction or manufacturing. But the Alliance feels somewhat relaxing... I like it.”

Certainly, it seemed like a place where the people had an appreciation for nature. The same went for Liliana, who stretched her arms out wide to either side and took a deep breath. In fact, everyone here—even the locals—seemed like they were taking it all in and relaxing. Suimei then looked at Lefille. She had a composed appearance that wasn’t all that different from her usual self.

“But it doesn’t seem like it’s your first time here, huh, Lefi?”

“No, it’s not. I recall visiting the Alliance as a child.”

“So it hasn’t really changed since then?”

“Not really. I believe that time flows as it pleases in places like the Alliance, so I don’t think much at all has changed.”

Lefille slightly raised the brim of her wide hat as she spoke. Perhaps she was feeling nostalgic about her first visit to the Alliance. Now that she was back in her adult form, Suimei could once again appreciate the elegance in her bearing and all her gestures. Lefille then lowered her gaze and looked at Liliana.

“But that aside, it seems Lily is quite knowledgeable about the Alliance.”

“To be informed of the state of affairs in neighboring countries... is the duty of the intelligence division. Moreover... I infiltrated it before with the colonel.”

“That is to say... you performed some kind of reconnaissance?”

Liliana gave a nod at Felmenia’s question. It seemed that, thanks to her time in the army, she had quite a lot of worldly knowledge and experience. With Liliana’s magic abilities, there was very little she wasn’t capable of. Despite being rather young, she’d even survived the carnage of battle.

Suimei and the others continued to talk about the Alliance as they walked down the street. Coming around a corner, they could hear some kind of speech being delivered in a loud voice down the stone pavement a ways. When they looked, they could see two men in white religious garments complaining to an audience about the Goddess.

“Oh children of man born in this world! Now is the time to cast aside your faith in Alshuna!”

“Yes! Now that the demons are approaching, not only must we unite in front of the menace closing in before our eyes, but we must also release ourselves from the fetters that bind us!”

The two men in white were both speaking to their audience, artfully alternating between the two of them. They were making grand gestures and had quite a presence. But it seemed there weren’t many people stopping to listen; the crowd gathered at the side of the street was rather sparse. Presumably the lack of enthusiasm was because of the content of their speech. They were selling contempt for the Goddess Alshuna, the deity with the largest following in this world. Most passersby likely thought the whole affair was shady, and wouldn’t give more than a passing glance as they went about their business.

“...What’s with that?”

Suimei stopped and made an odd face as he tilted his head to the side. Following up on that, Felmenia and Lefille also looked at them with a puzzled expression.

“I wonder... It’s the first time I have ever seen such a thing.”

“Same for me. Good grief, to think that they would criticize the Goddess in this kind of public place... Saying such things on the land blessed by the Goddess is simply outrageous.”