Prologue

“Ugh…”

I opened my eyes, letting out a groan. The light pouring in through the windows burned my eyes.

When my eyes got used to the light, I surveyed my surroundings.

“… Where… Am I?”

I couldn’t help asking that to myself, and muttered out loud.

Wherever I placed my eyes, things that cannot be present in the modern day society can be seen. I even thought that I was just hallucinating.

However, no matter how I rubbed my tired eyes, the scenery didn’t change. Let’s describe what I saw and judge it calmly.

First, the main attraction was the rectangular wooden table growing from the floor. Yes. It was growing from the floor.

Inspecting carefully, the room itself looks like it was made from a single piece of wood molded into a house.

“……”

No matter how I interpret it, this house is clearly a literal “Tree House”.

To complement it, flowers growing on the walls gave off a faint glow. I doubt if such types of fauna can be found anywhere in the world.

Above the small wooden shelf beside the window was a small white sphere, floating while giving off bright particles of light.

Vines were swirling around the legs of all 4 wooden chairs around the table giving it an exotic feel.

“… Ouch…”

When I tried getting up, a sudden pang of pain made me flinch.

I touched my head only to notice that it was bandaged with a rough textured cloth. I can’t really tell what sort of material the bandage was from as I neither can see it nor remember the material’s texture.

Carefully, I got up and sat on the place where I was lying down earlier.

It seems that I was laid down on a bed.

I checked the bed. It was made from wood of course. A thick piece of leather was covering it, acting as cushion. A wide patchwork of colorful cloths and leather was acting as a blanket.

Despite the many shocking revelations that I am seeing, my mind stayed calm.

Based on the current standings, it seems that I am in a place far away from civilization as the technology was poor.

Or rather, I doubt this place is anywhere in earth. If the ancient city of Atlantis was discovered, I can imagine it to be just as astounding.

However as I felt pain, real pain, earlier, this means that this is not a dream.

I checked my body and noticed that I was still wearing my school’s uniform, albeit without the coat and the inner shirt.

Instead, a white bandage of the similar texture as to that on my head was wrapped on my chest. There was no particular pain coming from my chest though.

Looking around carefully, my coat and shirt were hanging near the window, being swayed by the cool and fresh morning air.

Without wasting a moment, I stood up and immediately wore the white inner-shirt. As it will probably be a bit hot if I also wore the coat, I stopped.

I also wore my shoes that are lying quietly at the foot of the bed. Above the bed, near the shoes, my reading glasses were placed carefully.

I immediately checked it, wiped the glass clean, and wore it promptly.

At the same moment, the door on my far left swung open gently.

There, a girl carrying a wooden bucket full of water stood while staring at me. Her clear and crystal like blue eyes are looking at me with surprise.

“……… eh?”

After a good 5 seconds of staring, she changed her expression into doubt. Her long, chestnut colored hair swung to the side as she tilted her head.

“! Oops!”

Suddenly, someone seems to nudge her from behind making her almost stumble down.

“What are you doing, blocking the door? Are you al–– Aaaah!!!?”

A small girl, a head shorter that the first one, came barging in. Then when she saw my face, she dropped the bucket in her hands and pointed her shaking hands on me.

“T-the half-dead man is alive!!!” She shouted out loud.

I frowned upon hearing her accusation. However, before the displeasure sinks in, I notice something weird.

The small girl was speaking in a language that I have heard for the first time. But for some reason, I understood her words.

She wasn’t speaking in English, Japanese, Chinese, German, French or Spanish. I don’t know such language or dialect, not even the accent and pronunciation of words are familiar.

What’s going on…?

I can’t help but doubt my own eyes and ears.

The blue eyed lady that came in first gently dropped her bucket and dashed to my direction.

Then she held both my shoulders and made me sit down on the bed forcefully but with a gentle touch.

“You should take a proper rest. We did clean and bandaged your injuries but it isn’t fully healed yet. The village’s doctor will visit at noon so until then you should rest.”

She said in a seemingly worried voice, her face switched into a wry smile.

Her voice was like the soft sounds of a wind chime, ringing clearly in my head. Getting influenced by her holy like aura, I reflexively nodded.

“I am Mary. An apprentice Magic Artificer.”

She introduced herself fluently while slightly bowing her head. Her movements were as fluid as the flowing water. I have no idea what the job she said was though.

… Also, the language is clearly different… Well, as long as I understand her words then all is well…

As a man with proper courtesy, I too gave my name.

“I’m…”

Wait… My name?

Seeing my weird pause, Mary’s face suddenly turned worried.

“You seem to have hit your head somewhere before we found you in the middle of the forest last night. Though the bleeding was quite severe, we managed to mend it in time.”

She quickly explains.

Well, if she was telling the truth, then that makes a lot of things to have sense. For why I’m here, why there’s bandages all over me and why my memory is fuzzy.

Wait…

My memory isn’t fuzzy.

I had been thinking straight since the moment I woke up earlier.

Then why can’t I remember my name?

Before I got lost in my train of thoughts, the small girl suddenly popped to the side of my vision.

“I’m Nina. You were quite heavy despite looking so thin. It took me a really serious effort to bring you here.”

“Nina, you were just assisting me in carrying right? And don’t jump at him like that.”

Mary immediately chided her.

I voiced my thoughts but was surprised as the words that came out of my mouth was in the same language as the two.

Still, there’s no use in thinking about that now. I ignored it for the moment.

“I’m weighing around 60 kilos so I’m pretty sure I’m just at the average weight though.”

… Yup. My mind isn’t fuzzy. I can clearly remember my height being 1.78m and that I was 18 years old.

I can even clearly remember my birthday and other important and non-important information about myself.

“… Ki…what?”

Nina asked. Her cute face was full of question marks while her amber colored eyes was staring intently at me.

“I said kilos, as in kilograms.”

I repeated for her once again. Did I not say that clearly?

“What’s that ‘Kilograms’ thing?”

Instead of Nina, Mary asked. She too was looking like she couldn’t understand what I was saying. What’s this? Maybe they use other units?

“… What unit do you use when measuring the weight of objects?”

“… I don’t really get your question…”

She looks doubtful about my question.

With this, I found several proofs to my questions.

This led me to only 3 conclusions for the situation. And the leading conclusion is the one that I can’t just accept as the truth.

“… Looks like this is a different world after all…”

I muttered with a sigh.

Chapter 1: Magic Circles

Nina and Mary busied themselves with preparing breakfast. Nina went out again to fetch a replacement for the water she wasted while Mary was diligently preparing to cook.

I offered to help but got scolded instead.

As I was told to just lie down the bed, I reluctantly accepted their offer. However, being idle sure is inconvenient and an inefficient way of using time.

To effectively pass time, I used it to ask several, or rather, countless questions to them.

After about an hour, I generally got the gist of things.

I’m currently in a world way different from Earth. A world where magic is possible. But the two of them don’t know the name of this world.

I am in a village where both Nina and Mary are indebted to. They said that the name of this village is Mujyara and that it is a small village near the border of Kabir Kingdom.

Most of the populace of this world relied on magic rather than science. As proof, there is no standard units for many forms of measurement. Like weight, pressure, density and others.

At least, they have measurement for volume, length and time. If not, I would surely cry.

After half an hour more, the preparation for breakfast was finished.

Mary helped me eat something that looks like a soup despite my telling her that I can eat by myself.

Luckily, it looks like the food traditions in here was about similar to that of Earth. Looks like I won’t have problems regarding food.

After eating, they started tidying up the table and washed the dishes.

Then, Mary started to take out tools from the drawer on the lower side of the shelf.

What she took out was an extremely large and thick book, several large sheets of paper and a small white box.

“… What’s that for?”

I asked. She quickly answered while arranging all of it above the table.

“Practicing.”

“You mean for your job?”

“Yeah. I am an apprentice Magic Artificer so I need to do this to contribute to the village.”

She continued answering with a smile.

She gently opened the book to where a blue bookmark was placed. I sat on the edge of the bed to watch out of curiosity.

“If you want to observe, you can sit here beside me you know? Just don’t strain yourself.”

She quickly told me. She probably noticed my intent to watch.

I did as told and sat on the chair to her left. There, I could clearly see what she was doing. What caught my attention was the content of the book.

“… Magic Circles?”

I was quite surprised. Based on what Mary explained, it looks like magic circles are required to activate magic.

Also, it can be drawn on any sort of surfaces but it needs to be drawn using special materials.

“The most accessible medium is this. Manadite Chalk. The efficiency of conversion is lower compared to other chalks but it is good for every day magic.”

She said while pointing to the contents of the white box. I peeked inside and saw several chunks of white rocks. Manadite Chalk seemed to be an ore.

“Is that so… By the way, what’s the best medium to use?”

“… Blood. It has the best mana conversion rate and the circles drawn using it can be preserved for long durations.”

There are several terms that didn’t exist in Earth normally but when I thought of this world as a game world, everything she said made perfect sense.

Though this world wasn’t a game. I confirmed it already and made sure of it.

Her swift hands moved fast while drawing a circle with precise actions. She was copying the circle from the book into the large sheet of paper.

After roughly 3 minutes, her hands stopped. The drawing of the circle seems to be done.

To check, she placed her hand on a corner of the magic circle and it gave off a faint light. She then nodded her head with satisfaction.

“Looks like it was a success this time.”

“This time? You mean there are times it ends up as failure?”

“Yes. The drawing of the circle needs to be precise and should be in the same proportions as the one in the book.”

“Are there no drawing tools here? It will surely make your job easier…”

I blurted out what came to my mind. If she had even just a compass and a ruler, then her life would be a hell lot easier. Drawing everything with just your hands alone is unreasonable.

However, she just gave a wry smile in response to my words.

“Drawing tools are expensive. Only master Magic Artificers can afford those.”

Expensive? If you just cut out from a thin piece of wood and shaved the sides, it is a good ruler already.

I suddenly thought of an idea.

“… I’ll make drawing tools for you. In return, please teach me about magic.”

Her eyes turned wide with surprise.

“You can make tools? Are you a craftsman?”

“No. I’m a researcher. My classmates often call me ‘Mad Scientist’ though.”

I said with a wry smile. I also noticed that despite remembering about them, I can’t recall their names.

“Classmates? Scientist?”

“Aah, don’t mind it. Just me talking to myself. So? What do you say?”

I prevented the conversation from derailing and asked directly. She pondered for a while before she answered.

“If passing my knowledge to you is enough to pay for the tools, then I would gladly do so.”

She answered with a refreshing smile.

“However, that is after the village doctor have checked you. Before then, you must behave yourself properly. Is that fine?”

I wanted to say that I’m fine already but thinking that she would not permit me that easily, I just nodded.

“Then in return, I can explain Magic circles to you. Would you be fine with that? You just need to listen.”

“It’s fine. I don’t have anything to do anyway.”

Hearing my answer, she began her explanation.

The one she drew just now was the Magic Circle for «Luminescence». It would give off light when mana was supplied.

Looking closely, it was composed of simple geometric patterns.

A circle that encompassed all other elements. A square inside the big circle and a small circle on the top of the square.

The word light written in lowercase cursive on the middle was conspicuous.

Then, a straight vertical line ran from the top of the big circle to the top of the small circle and from the bottom of the square to the bottom of the big circle.

I noticed some notions and patterns but kept quiet about it. This is the first magic circle I saw (in this world) so drawing conclusions early wasn’t admirable.

When I asked about the word light written in the middle, she once again answered with doubt.

“What are you saying? That line is the core of this magic. Don’t tell me you can read it? You can read?!”

She spoke while pressing closer to me. Honestly, I was slightly taken aback by her pressure.

“N-No, I was just wondering…”

I tried to smooth the conversation but it seems that I failed miserably.

Luckily, Mary noticed how rude her actions were and she quickly sat down with an embarrassed face. She was red up to her ears.

“S-Sorry. I was surprised that you can read the ancient letters. My master told me the meaning of the lines in the middle of the circles but I don’t know how to read them.”

“I-Is that so…”

Then her master can read it too? Or maybe he/she was just taught the meaning by his/her master too...

Honestly, I didn’t have the grasp of the level of literacy in this world. As I haven’t spent that much time here.

“If you want, I can teach you. Do you wish to?”

I tried asking her with a lighthearted tone. Without even a split second passing, her answer came.

“Please teach me how to read it!!!”

I felt a faint headache coming. I shouldn’t have mentioned that.

I shouldn’t have muttered that thing half-heartedly.

Chapter 2: Temporary Name

I watched Mary work the whole time until noon.

Since I was considered as a patient now, the promise of teaching her will be shelved for now. That was until I have fully recovered.

She made about 60 sets of «Luminescence» circles before noon came. It seems that the failure rate was about 1 in 5 tries.

When I asked her why she’s not making anything else, she said that it was because she was told to practice one type of magic circle until she can make it with only 1 mistake in 10 tries.

Looks like she had one hell of a Spartan teacher.

When noon came, a loud sound of a bell echoed in the surroundings. I was startled at first but let it pass after noticing the two of them ignoring it.

Just as the bell sound ended, a knocking sound came from the door.

Nina nimbly jumped towards the door, her chocolate brown hair tied in a twin-tails shook left and right as she moved.

After she dried her hands on the apron-like part of her blue and white dress, she quickly opened the door.

There stood an old lady. Her hair was already white but her face was devoid of any wrinkles. If not for her slightly arched back, I would have thought she was just in her 30’s.

Her clothes, similar to Nina but was green in color, had visible stains of random things. As if a playful kid did a prank and painted on her apron using all the colors he can find.

“Good day Doctor Tessa!”

Nina greeted her in a very lively voice. The old lady just smiled and returned her greeting in a low voice.

“Nina seems to be as energetic as ever. Oh how I wish I had that much energy remaining…”

“Doctor Tessa is much more amazing! Making rounds around the village all day? Even I can’t do that!”

“Haha. It’s my job after all… Is he the one?”

Suddenly the old lady, Doctor Tessa, looked towards my direction. Her pale blue eyes looks sharp but gentle. Her long experience in life could be faintly seen on her piercing gaze.

“You… Where did you come from?”

Right off the bat, just after her short observation, she asked something that was connected to the root of the problem. I really didn’t want to tell them yet as they may think I’m crazy though…

“If I say that I’m not from here, would that be enough?”

I tried answering in a slightly ambiguous way. If she can get the truth from what I said, then she is quite a smart person indeed.

“……”

Her gaze sharpened even more. However, instead of a cold gaze of doubt, it felt more like the scrutinizing gaze of someone who saw something for the first time.

Looks like my words got through properly. What a frightening woman.

“Don’t worry as this wasn’t the first time. Though I doubt if you could return.”

She spoke after placing her small basket above the table.

Just as I had thought, looks like she understood the hidden meaning of my words. She even provided information for me.

In the first place, I don’t really know why but, I don’t feel the slightest inclination to return to my original world.

… Wait? This wasn’t the first time?

It means…

“About a hundred years ago, a similar thing occurred. The said man sought for a way to return but end up dying of old age in this village.”

… Is she reading my mind?

“Just so you know, reading minds is a forbidden magic. Once found, the king’s knights will come and arrest the practitioner.”

She’s an Esper! Or maybe this is the effect of her advanced age?

“… Are you thinking of something rude?”

For some reason, even Mary seemed to have read my thoughts. Am I really that easy to read? Or was the intuition of the women in this world really that sharp?

Before I could even think about it, Doctor Tessa quickly pulled a rolled up magic circle.

“Sit down on the bed, I’ll heal your wounds.”

I obeyed her words and walked a few steps before sitting on the edge of the bed.

Doctor Tessa came near me and pressed the paper containing the magic circle on my chest over my shirt.

Suddenly, a faint green light enveloped my whole body. I could feel some sort of warmth covering my body.

So this is magic…

“I have healed your injuries. For safety, you must not exert yourself too much for the rest of the day. If it is simple strolling, then you can probably go.”

I’m already healed? That quickly? To check, I undid the bandage wrapping around my chest. There’s nothing there except my pale white skin.

I tried to touch the part of my head releasing a pang of pain regularly but couldn’t feel any discomfort.

Magic really was convenient. No question why science got ignored.

“Mary, the payment will be just like always. Is that fine?”

Payment… Do this world already had the concept of money? Probably yes as Mary even said that the drawing tools were expensive.

“Here. Please take it. Is 30 sets alright?”

Mary immediately handed half of the «Luminescence» circles that she made. So this is what they mean.

“Did you already move to «Luminescence»? Looks like you’re progressing quite fast.”

“It is all thanks to everyone that I can study like this. If I don’t give it my all, how else could I ever repay them?”

“You got a point. Nina too can’t work just yet. She’s finally turning 15 this year if I am correct?”

“Yes. Until then, I need to work hard to earn our keep.”

The two of them was talking with a wide smile. Looks like everyone in this village were on friendly terms. Or maybe not… I may need to stroll around later.

“But now it looks like you found someone to support you…”

For some reason, before Doctor Tessa went out of the door, she turned towards me with a grin on her face. I really don’t know why but I shivered slightly under her gaze.

“D-Doctor!!!”

And for some reason, Mary turned red and quickly tried to push her out of the door. Doctor Tessa just laughed lightly on her reactions.

After she got out, the room turned silent. A very unpleasant silence. Nina was sending a cold gaze to me for some reason.

“S-Sorry for that earlier. Doctor Tessa’s words didn’t mean anything so please just forget what she said.”

Mary turned to me with a wry smile. Her face was still with a red tinge, blushing lightly.

“… If you say so…”

I just agreed to her even though I don’t know the reason why. Nina’s gaze turned even colder for some reason though. I don’t get it.

“By the way, can I go out for a stroll?”

I diverted the topic quite abruptly. Mary was a little bit surprised with my question but soon smiled gently.

“Of course. Nina? Can you go and tour him around the village? I still have some things to do so…”

“Okay. Just strolling is fine right? Do I need to introduce him to everyone?”

“That would be great. However, his name…”

Mary turned to me with an uneasy look. She must be thinking about my loss of memory.

“Just introduce me as ‘Nazo’ to everyone. I’ll just correct them when I remember my name.”

I muttered. Also, for some reason, the nick-name ‘Nazo’ came quite natural to me. Was it because I felt mysterious about my loss of memory?

“Nazo huh… It’s a nice name. Then, Nina, please.”

“Leave it to me!”

Nina flexed her right arm and touched her nonexistent biceps. The “Guts” pose, or so if I remember correctly.

Her confidence was admirable but it instead gave me a feeling of unease. Would it really be alright?

Even Mary was smiling wryly. Maybe it’s not alright after all.

Mary quietly walked to my side and leaned to my ears.

“(If she ever got ahead of herself, don’t hold back and reprimand her. Please.)”

She whispered directly to my ear. I could feel her slightly hot breath tickling my earlobes. My heart skipped a beat and I felt my face turning hot for some reason.

“O-Okay. I got it.”

I managed to reply properly. She gave a heartwarming smile right afterwards.

“Un. Then I’ll leave it to you.”

I averted my eyes. For some reason, I can’t face her gaze directly. I wonder what’s wrong with me.

And so, together with Nina, we strolled around the village.

Chapter 3: The Village of Mujyara

I was amazed after going out of the door and couldn’t help but give a moan of admiration.

“Woah…”

The house earlier was actually built within the trunk of a large tree with a diameter of roughly 30 meters. We are placed about 10 to 20 meters above the ground, on the second level.

Houses were made below and above with wooden pathways running around the trunk connecting them.

What’s amazing was that despite all that, it still stood strong and didn’t wither. What a frightening vitality.

I surveyed the surroundings and was surprised just the same.

The surrounding greenery and the hustle and bustle of the residents below made me confirm that this world really is a different world.

“Above us is the house of the Verna’s. They focus on Leather Products so you can visit them if you want to order some leather clothes.”

I snapped back to reality after hearing Nina’s energetic words.

“Below us is the house of Gust’s that focuses on hunting. If you want to learn how to hunt game you can ask them.”

Nina walked downwards on the stairs at one end of the platform. After circling around the tree once, we reached the ground.

“Is there any place you want to go to?”

She asked me in a hurry. Looks like I can decide our destination at least.

“Is there a carpenter or woodworker in here?”

“Yes, of course. They are the Hansel Family. They live about 5 trees away.”

Nina pointed far behind my back. As the trees here were large, easily over a hundred meters, the distance between each tree too was large.

The fifth tree seems to be about a kilometer away. Still, I could clearly see it. As expected from a giant tree.

“Then let’s head there first. I’ll leave choosing the course to you.”

I soon regretted that decision.

Instead of going straight towards there, we zigzagged and greeted everyone we passed by. A good chunk of time was wasted walking around.

After about an hour, I was introduced to almost everyone in the village. Looks like at noon, most of the residents gathered at the center. That was below Mary’s and Nina’s house.

Another hour was wasted walking around and greeting everyone.

The farmers, the fishers, the jeweler, the village chief, the doctor, the seamstress, the butcher and others.

I was introduced to nearly 400 residents. There’s no way to remember them all. After passing the third tree, the number of villagers thinned which made us walk in peace.

“Is there a reason why there’s too few men here?”

I cannot help but wonder. As about 80% of the villagers introduced to me was female.

“The men of each house sometimes gets drafted to be soldiers. However, not even half remains after.”

“… Is that so…”

Looks like there were things like war in this world too. If you included magic to the equation, the tragedy may be even greater that the wars on Earth.

“Are females not allowed to fight?”

“Why are you asking the obvious? Of course we can’t. Do you think we can wield that heavy sword and run around fields full of the stench of smoke and blood?”

She has a point. However, it seems that gender equality is yet to be implemented. Or maybe the king was just a feminist?

“… Thanks to the war, women were slowly losing the luxury of choosing good men as their partners. That’s why this village has this low population.”

She added in a slightly irritated voice.

“… How long is the war going?”

“Hmm? Ignoring the gaps between each battle… Roughly about 300 years?”

300? Don’t they get tired of it?

“What’s the point in killing other humans…? What idiocy…”

I muttered under my breath. However, Nina seems to have heard my murmur.

“What are you talking about? The enemies are demons! They don’t deserve pity!”

She shouted. Her voice full of anger. Is the enemy kingdom that bad?

“They would destroy the villages they passed by! They would kill everyone they lay their eyes to! Even to my parents! They–!”

Noticing that she was ranting, she quickly shut her mouth. Looks like I stepped on a landmine.

“I think it’s better to end this topic here. Alright?”

I tried offering her a lifeboat and she quickly grabbed onto it. She softly nodded her head.

“Looks like we finally arrived.”

After almost 3 hours of walking, we finally arrived. I was starting to think that this level of walking couldn’t be called leisure anymore. I haven’t even walked half a kilometer in my previous daily life and she made me walk for hours on end. Thanks to that, my legs were starting to ache.

“Ohh! What’s this? Did Nina finally get a boyfriend?”

A man in his late twenties greeted us after reaching the fifth tree. His black hair was swept to the back and his beard and moustache was covering almost half of his face.

His skin was of a healthy dark brown, signs of having worked under the hot sun for hours. Still, seeing his white teeth peeking through his smile, you would notice that it wasn’t his natural skin tone.

“T-There’s no way! D-Don’t jump to conclusions!!”

For some reason, Nina got flustered.

“Good afternoon. I’m just a Nobody, freeloading on Nina’s house for the moment. You can call me Nazo.”

I immediately held my hand out to him. The effect of introducing myself to hundreds of villagers. It was almost reflexive now.

“Oh! I’m Orga, this village’s carpenter. If you ever have a job for me, just ask! I would even prioritize you as you are Nina’s boy! Hahahaha!”

“Then maybe I’ll trouble you later on. I’ll be counting on you by then.”

“Of course! Don’t be shy and just come! Hahaha!”

He seemed to be a good guy with a lot of sense of humor. I smiled just like him and let out a small laugh.

“……”

When I turned my head to the side, I saw Nina blushing to her ears with her upturned eyes staring at me full of unease.

“If you make Nina cry, I’ll make sure you pay for it so be prepared! Hahaha!”

“Of course. If ever I did something as idiotic as that, please do so. Hahaha.”

Nina turned her face downwards. I can’t see her expression now. However, her body was trembling slightly. What’s wrong?

After a few hours of talking with Orga, we decided to finally head back home.

Nina’s pace was a little bit faster but I didn’t particularly mind. I’ll be having plenty of rest later so getting tired isn’t a problem.

Just before the sun sets, we reached the tree where Nina’s and Mary’s house were. Looks like sun down here was a bit early. It’s not even 6 PM yet and the sun was already setting.

After we climbed the flight of stairs and reached the landing of the second floor, Nina opened the door and entered. Was knocking not necessary as this was their house?

I followed closely behind her.

“Welcome back. Did you enjoy your stroll?”

Mary spoke while setting a steaming hot bowl of soup on the table. Looks like she already prepared dinner.

“It was very helpful. Maybe I can make your tools for drawing by tomorrow.”

“I’m not particularly in a hurry so please take your time. Oh, on the other hand, how about teaching me how to read the ancient letters by tomorrow?”

I knew this would happen so I decided to make the tools tomorrow. By then, I needed to sort out my memories and finally face this reality.

“… I think I’ll make the tools first. Teaching you would be easier if we have tools.”

“If that’s so, then I’ll be counting on you.”

“……”

“……”

I was getting bothered with Nina’s behavior. She was quiet since the moment we came to Orga’s place. Up until this moment, she was yet to speak a word.

Mary too seemed to have noticed it. She was worriedly looking towards Nina who was silently and mechanically placing food into her mouth. Dinner ended just like that.

Mary, who finally couldn’t bear the situation, spoke up.

“Uhm… Nazo? Can I ask you to fetch water? You know where the well is right?”

Mary gave me two wooden buckets.

“Of course. But it’s a bit dark now so I would need some light.”

“Then take two of this.”

Mary passed two «Luminescence» scrolls to me and told me how to use it briefly. I walked out of the door with a small ball of light floating by the side of my head.

I was surprised on how easy it was to use the scroll. I didn’t know that I could control mana. This was a fresh experience for me.

After about 15 minutes I reached the well. Since it was already dark, there’s nobody using it. I managed to quickly gather water and returned.

After half an hour, as I needed to take breaks on lifting the buckets, I finally reached home. I don’t want to remember how hard it was to climb the stairs.

I knocked on the door and it opened almost instantly.

“Welcome back. Sorry to push this job to you despite being a patient.”

“It’s okay. I know my body better than anyone so if I deemed it impossible, I wouldn’t have done it.”

Of course it was a bluff. I thought my arms would break.

After washing the dishes, we finally decided to sleep.

I insisted on sleeping on the floor though. Of course.

Chapter 4: Manufacturing

Morning came and I woke up.

Despite my mind being fuzzy, I quickly stood up from the floor beside the bed and stretched my body.

“Good morning.”

“G-Good morning.”

Looks like I was the last one to wake up. Mary and Nina greeted me as soon as I stood up.

“Un. Good Morning.”

I returned their greeting with a smile.

“F-Food will be served a few hours later, sorry.”

Mary was acting fidgety all of a sudden.

“It’s okay. I’ll go and head towards Orga’s place then. Later.”

I got out of the door and breathed in fresh morning air. The air of this forest was so fresh that I just stood there breathing for a few seconds.

When I decided to walk down, I heard some soft mutters from inside the door.

“(… Nazo… He really looks cuter when he smiles…)”

“(I told you…)”

Since the voices were too soft, I really couldn’t make out what they said. I just ignored it and walked down the stairs, then jogged towards Orga’s house.

I reached it in less than 15 minutes. As expected, a kilometer was too short a distance for it to take hours to reach. Of course I greeted everyone who greeted me as I ran. I can’t remember their names though.

Names. This was what I realized when I mulled over my memories.

All names of persons I knew of cannot be remembered. Names of pets, animals, objects and places were fine but I couldn’t remember names of humans.

I also tried remembering where I lived at but unsurprisingly enough, I couldn’t remember. Even whether I had parents or not, I couldn’t remember.

Though the cause of me not remembering the names of villagers here was the sudden introduction of over hundreds of residents, it gave me a hint on what I forgot about the previous world.

“Oh! You came! You’re earlier than expected!”

Orga shouted with a loud voice as he saw my figure from afar.

“I just went on a morning jog and decided to stop by. Did you manage to prepare what I asked for yesterday?”

“Of course! It’s all set inside. Wanna start?”

“Please take it easy on me.”

I was led inside the workshop once more.

Just like yesterday, it was a mess… Though cleaning it would probably not do any change.

Atop a small table was the tools and materials I requested.

“Uhmmm… Okay, looks like you managed to gather all of it.”

“Oh! Then we’re finally starting?!”

Orga’s tension was quite high. Probably because I told him that I will be making some drawing tools.

“Okay. Then, let’s start with the ruler.”

I picked one of the wooden planks set on the table. I chose a thin one so that I can easily cut through it.

I learned yesterday that metal processing already existed. However, as it takes a lot of effort, it’s not that widespread.

Though metal tools like saw, chisel, nails and others are available through merchants travelling, the technique for metal processing isn’t spreading.

“First, we’ll need to cut about this long from this plank.”

I indicated a length of about 50 centimeters. I didn’t speak about it though because I already knew that they didn’t use standard units in measuring length.

After cutting it, I was now holding a 50cm by 6cm plank with a thickness of about 5mm.

“Now, we will be using a plane to even out the edges and make it smooth.”

I passed the piece of wood to Orga as I was not that particular on how to properly use a plane. After about 5 minutes, he returned the plank to me. Its edges was already smoothed out.

“As expected of a Carpenter… Next is the last step. Carving the graduation lines.”

I marked a total of 51 long lines exactly a centimeter apart from each other and another 50 smaller line in between each. For ease of manufacture, this is enough.

I once again passed it to Orga and he carved the lines up to the edge just as I instructed. In less than 15 minutes, a ruler was done.

“… Looks good enough.”

“Hahaha! To think it was this easy to make drawing tools! I may be making it big in the capital if I sold these!”

“Just be careful of inflating the supply too much. It may cause large price fluctuations.”

“I don’t really get what you say but I got it! Hahahah!”

I smiled wryly looking at him with an extremely happy face.

“Okay, then let’s move to the next one.”

“Oh! Leave it to me! Hahaha!”

Then, we spent the remaining 30 minutes in making a compass. Orga was laughing loudly as we finished it. He really is full of humor.

With this, Mary’s drawings would surely be much more accurate than before. I smiled to myself while thinking so.

I left Orga for a moment and ran back home. When I arrived, breakfast was already set at the table. A piece of bread with a cup of hot milk. Matched with vegetable salad and what looked like barbecued meat.

The food this time seemed much extravagant compared to the humble soup yesterday.

Of course I didn’t hold back and ate what was served clean.

While I was savoring the aftertaste of the food, Mary and Nina was washing the dishes.

“Oh, by the way, Mary? Can I ask for a portion of you Manadite chalk?”

I remembered something and asked Mary on the spot. She was bewildered with suddenly being talked to without warning but still answered courtly.

“I don’t mind. But may I ask what you’ll use it for?”

I couldn’t tell her that I was planning on making a mechanical pencil as she wouldn’t understand…

“… I’ll try making a writing tool. It’s better than holding the manadite chalk alone if I succeeded.”

“… Not only drawing tools but even writing tools? I can’t even wonder how to thank you enough.”

“It’s for my sake too, as I was asking you to teach me about magic circles.”

After getting permission, I took 2 ores of medium size from the white box and went back to Orga’s place.

When I arrived, what greeted me was the loud and proud laugh of Orga.

“Hahaha! Took you long enough. You’re so slow that I managed to make two more rulers and compasses!”

I peeked at the table and really saw 3 rulers and compasses. I was out for just a little over an hour and he managed to triple the numbers… He really was enthusiastic about this.

“I only need 2 sets each so you can keep the last one for reference.”

“Oh! How generous of you! Hahaha!”

“Consider it as thanks for the help. But still, I have one more thing to ask of you. Is that okay?”

“Oh! Anything you say! Just leave it to me! Hahaha!”

With his assurance, I explained to him what a mechanical pencil was.

I already imagined how it would be without springs so I thought of other materials to replace it. I decided to use thin strips of rubber to act as springs.

Since the tension on the rubber needed to be a bit high, I added a design that prevents the contents from being pulled out.

It took a dozen of minutes just by explaining it.

“… It sounds a bit complicated for a small tool… But don’t worry! I’m sure that I can make it! Hahaha!”

He sounded confident but I’m sure that it would be difficult. There were many parts that were small and there were parts that was originally made of metal or plastic. To only use wood to construct it was a bit hard.

Orga suddenly went inside his house.

After a few minutes, he went back while holding a ton of sheets of paper and a black box. The black box seems to contain charcoal.

Then, without saying anything, he started drawing on the paper using the charcoal.

Looking closely, he was drawing the parts of the mechanical pencil as I had described. I corrected some parts after that and then it became a series of drawing and redrawing.

After an hour, all the parts were drawn in a single piece of paper. The scaling used was about 1:100 with front, side, top and cross-section views.

As I was wondering what he would do with it, he walked to the back of the workroom and pulled out a large machine.

It was a machine made of metal. It looked a little like a photocopying machine with the flapping top cover, the glass cover below it, and the tray on both sides.

Orga placed the piece of paper containing the drawings on top of the glass. Then, he placed a block of wood about 10cm x 10cm x 30cm on the left tray.

He closed the lid and touched what looked like a simple magic circle. The machine gave off a faint sound and the block of wood on the left side slowly entered the machine through a hole.

A minute passed and the churning sound continued. Orga warned me that it will take quite a while to finish but I said to him that I would wait. I am curious as to what this machine was for.

Then, after 30 minutes roughly passed, the churning sound stopped.

On the right tray, something was placed. It was very familiar… Oh! It was the parts of the mechanical pencil!

“This is a fabrication machine passed down to our family. It is basically an heirloom.”

A 3D printer! It was even much advanced than what is on earth. I didn’t think magic can be used like this.

But with this, many ideas started to pour like running water. Not only mechanical pencil, but even many other tools could be made! I drowned in my own world, thinking of all possibilities I could make.

Chapter 5: Magic Lessons

The next day, all the tools that I needed were set.

Rulers, compasses, 45-45-90 triangles, 30-60-90 triangles, mechanical pencil and eraser. If I could only have a protractor then it’s all set.

The manadite chalk was reshaped into a 0.5mm diameter cylinder spanning a total of 10cm length.

Just using the first Manadite alone managed to make 30 of these. Looks like I wouldn’t need to process ores for a while.

When I introduced all the tools to Mary and Nina, they stared at it intently. It seems that it was their first time seeing drawing tools such as these.

I heard that the drawing tools sold at the capital was powered with magic, which made it expensive.

When I told them how to use each, Mary started jumping around saying that with these she would need less time to finish drawing.

It seemed that the mechanical pencil was the one that caught her attention the most. It was easy to hold and she can draw clearly with it, as it was mixed with charcoal that made it easy to see on white paper.

She even conducted a test to see if the efficiency fell but instead discovered that the addition of coal made it much efficient.

Also, probably due to the tool’s influence, even Nina started to have an interest for being a Magic Artificer.

The conclusion? That afternoon, Mary’s students ended up becoming two.

“The first lesson would be on the easiest level of Magic circles. The elements.”

She started the class while showing us a paper with 4 circles drawn. The words fire, water, earth and wind are written clearly in cursive in the middle.

It was basically a square inscribed in a circle with a string of words on the middle representing the element.

These circles were really basic just as she said.

“The fire magic circle is used to call upon a small fire.”

She picked up a small paper set aside with the fire magic circle drawn. After it received mana from Mary, the paper suddenly got lit with fire from the top-left corner. It was burning the paper slowly.

“Next is water magic circle. It is used to call upon a small amount of water. It is effective against fire.”

As she explained, she picked up a paper with the water magic circle. After applying mana, water started to drip from the paper.

The drops of water reached the flame from the other magic circle and it got extinguished.

“Following that is the earth magic circle. It is used to call upon the power of the earth. It is effective against water element.”

When she picked up an earth magic circle and activated it, the paper suddenly turned into sand and fell on top of the water, sipping it dry.

“Last is the wind magic circle. It calls upon a light breeze. It is useful against earth element as it cannot be restrained.”

When she activated the wind magic circle, a gust of wind came and wiped the table clean from the sand.

“Conversely, wind element works to strengthen fire element so you need to be careful.”

She warned us too about the compatible elements.

“What will happen if I write two elements in a single circle?”

I asked. Mary nodded and quickly gave an answer.

“In case of two elements being inscribed, the elements will be reacting with each other. For example, if fire is mixed with wind, when the circle is activated, it will produce a hot breeze of air.”

So there was really that function. This is getting more interesting.

“Can the user stop the magic once it’s started?”

Nina asked innocently while raising her right hand.

“Unfortunately, no. Once the circle is activated, until either the surrounding mana or the supplied mana is used up, it wouldn’t stop.”

There’s even a drawback to using it. The more I hear, the more I want to study it.

“There’s also a method of adding some protection for the user but that is an advanced skill. A newbie like me can only dream of learning it.”

She added with a wry smile.

“Then, let’s get to the next level. This time, it will be emission of elements.”

After saying that, she picked up the ruler beside her and drew lines on top of the elements’ square to the top of the circle and from the bottom of the square to the bottom of the circle.

On the top side of the square, she drew a small circle.

The finalized drawing looked similar to the «Luminescence» magic circle with the only difference being the written core element.

Then, holding the paper with the drawing of the four elements, she applied mana to it.

Immediately after, 4 spheres of different colors were floating around her. One red, one white, one blue and one brown.

“With just a little modification, you can make an element to appear in a condensed form like this.”

After 3 seconds of the end of her words, the spheres vanished as if it was an illusion.

“… However, the mana consumption is a level higher than the basic elements. You should take note of this.”

Assuming that Mary used the same amount of mana on both cases, the provided mana could make a normal elementary scroll last for a minute while it could only last less than 10 seconds if emitted. The efficiency was definitely lower.

The lessons proceeded smoothly until the time for dinner came.

I felt respect for Mary’s skills for the first time. It seems that drawing the Magic Circles weren’t that easy. When I tried, I only made one success over all my dozens of tries.

I felt depressed due to that fact.

After we ate dinner, I continued practicing. I couldn’t accept that I have more failures than successes. I will continue practicing until I can make it a 100% success rate!

Mary even lent me her book of spells. She briefed me with each sections and types of magic and then left me alone.

I got immersed in practicing and reading. The large bundle of papers disappeared like smoke.

Though, I have the habit of losing track of time when focusing on something.

And as expected, when I noticed, the sun was already peeking through the window. I even lost count of the number of «Luminescence» Scrolls that I have used as lighting and as experiment materials.

Still, my efforts didn’t go in vain.

By now, I could draw elementary fire, water and wind magic circles perfectly. Earth magic circles still had about 5% failure rate but I almost got it.

About the event when I almost ended up burning the table, I kept quiet. There were things better left unknown in this world.

“You must be tired from staying up all night. Here’s a glass of hot milk. I’m sorry as the meal will be prepared an hour later.”

Mary came to my side carrying a steaming hot milk.

“Thank you.”

I replied with a short smile. Looks like I was more fatigued than I thought.

I received the hot milk and carefully took a sip.

The sweetness spreading on my mouth and the heat filling my stomach blew away my sleepiness. I heaved a sigh of relief.

“… How is it going? Have you made some progress?”

Mary quickly inquired. She must be curious of how I fared after pulling an all-nighter. Other than the half-burnt table incident, I have no problem in telling her everything though.

“Let’s see… I basically mastered all elementary elements. I also found some patterns and proved some of my theories. All in all, it looks like I did quite well for one night.”

“Wow. So you mastered elements… Which element?”

“Hmm? I mastered all of it.”

“Please stop joking. Learning a single element is the most one can do in one night. Even my master, who is considered a genius, mastered her first element in half a day.”

“No. I’m not lying. See?”

“…”

When I showed her the pile of papers that I had made, she turned quiet. Then, one by one, she checked each circle if they were functioning properly.

It took her over 10 minutes to finish even when using both hands to check. Right after, she limply sat down on the chair as if a puppet that had its strings cut.

“You really did… To think that you could make over 400 magic circles in one night…”

She muttered in a low voice.

“There are circles that looks different though. Still, they seem to work just fine. What are those?”

“Experiments. They are circles that are the byproduct of me proving some theories.”

“Amazing… This may be what master means with ‘working one step ahead’…”

I kind of get what she means. But to me, instead of one step ahead, I felt like working while being three steps behind.

Still, now that she upheld her end of the bargain, it’s now my turn.

“Then this afternoon, our lesson on reading ancient letters will start.”

After my declaration, Mary’s eyes turned wide with surprise. Then, with a really bright smile, she answered.

“Yes!”

I smiled after seeing her innocent reaction.

I felt like I wouldn’t get a wink of sleep for quite a while more.

Chapter 6: Merchant

A week passed and I slowly got used to living here in Mujyara.

Lessons on Magic by Mary and on Ancient Letters (a.k.a. cursive English) by me was the daily routine. Nina would sometimes join but most of the time, she’s out of the house doing other things.

During my lessons, I was once again surprised at how easily Mary learned how to read and write Ancient Letters. She must be smarter than what she claimed. Although she always acted humble and compared herself to her master.

It didn’t even take 4 days for her to memorize the whole 26 cursive lowercase alphabets. I disregarded the uppercase as it wasn’t used on any magic circles but I believe that she could easily master those too.

During breaks, we mostly talk about random things. As I was being treated as someone who lost his memories, they were being considerate and didn’t ask much questions.

During one of our conversations, a certain topic came.

“The merchant is coming?”

While I was reading with a cup of milk, Mary told me.

“Yes. The merchant from the capital comes once every 10 days. And today is the day he will arrive on our village. He’ll arrive around noon I suppose?”

“Hnnnn… What sort of wares is he selling?”

“There’s a lot of variety. From metal tools to porcelain goods. From cheap leather goods up to expensive silk clothes. From simple jewelry up to expensive accessories. It’s better for you to see for yourself.”

Rather than a lone merchant, it feels more like a caravan. All those goods couldn’t possibly be carried by a lone merchant’s carriage.

“Oh! So that’s why everyone seems busy since yesterday.” I mused.

“Fufu. As expected from you. Everyone in the village is preparing their products that is to be sold and the ones to be offered as taxes to the king. As an apprentice, I’ve yet to be included as a working adult so I’m still exempted from taxes.”

“Are taxes collected every time the merchant comes?”

“Unnn. It is collected about twice a year. One is in the middle of spring and one in the middle of fall.”

She shook her head in denial. It seems that taxes are a bit lax. I don’t know about other kingdoms though.

“How about Nina?”

“She’s still underage so she’s exempted.”

“I see… Can I visit the merchant later too?”

“Of course. That’s why I told you about it in the first place.”

I’ve been freeloading on Mary’s and Nina’s home for a week now. I should repay them somehow later.

“… However… I don’t have money…”

When I first came here, I thought that the concept of money didn’t exist yet. However, it seems that I was mistaken. Trading was only done within the range of villagers while they use money when trading with the merchants.

Money was represented in four basic denominations. Stones, copper, silver and gold. The most basic unit was stones, which was basically made of crude iron turned into square coins.

There were variations to sizes and colors too, marking the change in value. The one with the largest value was the white gold.

In conversion: 1 White Gold > 10 Large Gold > 100 Gold > 1,000 Large Silver > 10,000 Silver > 100,000 Large Copper > 1,000,000 Copper > 10,000,000 Stones.

The coins that was most in circulation were silvers, coppers and stones. That was because 2 large coppers were more than enough to last a day’s worth of expenses.

Gold coins mostly circulate around the capital and among the nobles. It wasn’t forbidden for commoners to have gold coins, but it was extremely rare.

I didn’t have plans on leaving the village yet but I am still in need of money. That was because the quantity of the stack of papers were slowly decreasing.

If a piece of paper costs 2 stones, then I basically spent over 3 silvers worth of it. That amount is enough to feed me for a month. I felt really bad when Nina explained the concept of money to me.

A little later, I heard the faint sound similar to a church bell.

“What’s that?”

“You mean that sound? It’s the merchant.”

Mary nonchalantly answered while she practice writing. I was puzzled a little.

“The merchant? What’s that bell sound for then?”

“It has various purposes. One is to call the attention of people. Another is to drive away small animals off the road. And lastly is to prevent them from getting attacked.”

How crafty. That’s like hitting 4-5 birds with one stone.

“To think even bandits exists…”

Well, logically thinking, completely governing such a large piece of land was impossible. Having one or two groups of bandits wasn’t strange. Especially on villages off the border like this one.

“Well, there are bandits, yes. Also, demons.”

Was bandits even considered as demons for them? Poor soul.

When the sound of the bell became louder, Mary and Nina brought me outside to the village’s center.

There are a lot of residents standing idly around it. Some have large crates on their sides, probably containing the goods that will be sold.

After about half an hour of wait, the long caravan of the merchant came into sight.

Rather than a caravan, it looked more like a long train made of wood. Also, it wasn’t being pulled by horses rather it moved using magic.

Really, magic seems so handy in this world.

When 2 minutes more passed, the over 200 meter long caravan stopped after forming a semicircle around the plaza. I’m amazed to see over a dozen carriages linked with each other.

I couldn’t help but imagine how they would manage when turning on sharp corners. Probably, they would rather choose a route without those though.

Soon, a rather fat man with a lot of luxurious looking accessories around his body came up front and spoke. He was undoubtedly the merchant in lead of this parade.

“Under the king’s orders, we have come to do our bid. The products to be collected as taxes, pile them in front of the last carriage. To those who are selling their wares, pile them near the front most carriage.”

He spoke in a very commanding tone. The flab under his chin moves accordingly for every word he said.

After the merchant’s speech, the sides of the other carriages opened, revealing a wide variety of goods.

“We will be staying here for the whole afternoon. Until then, you are free to buy goods from us.”

The fat man said before turning around and walking back to the first carriage.

“Let’s split up here then. I’ll go and check for papers. How about Nina?”

“Me? Maybe I’ll go and check the jewelries. I heard that a new skilled craftsman is presenting his works.”

Mary seems to prioritize the acquisition of paper while Nina intends to go window shopping. What should I do?

“That sounds good. How about Nazo? What will you do?”

“Hmm… Maybe I’ll go around and check everything. Don’t mind me.”

“Are you buying anything? If you are, I can lend you some money.”

“It’s okay, I only plan to look around.”

I can’t possibly ask for more as I am already in debt. After discussing for a short while, the two headed off to different directions. Walking back and forth was inefficient so I decided to start from the first carriage.

“Welcome~!”

A young female attendant greeted me with a wide smile. I felt slightly embarrassed as I won’t be buying anything.

The wares on the first carriage seems to be clothes. They have all assortments for different sizes and colors.

They even have boots, gloves, mantles and hats. The prices of each are ranging from 3 Large Silver to 1 Gold. A bit expensive in my opinion.

Ignoring the smile of the attendant, I walked away and to the next carriage. Similarly, another young female attendant was standing there and greeted me with a smile.

Are all carriages here being attended by such employees? I am starting to feel pressured to buy something out of guilt. What a frightening sales technique.

The second carriage seems to showcase weapons. Staves, scythes, hammers, lances, javelins, swords and shields. Each and every one of it looks strong. However, the price seems to be ranging from 1 Large Gold to 10 White Gold. There’s no way I can buy such things.

While browsing, one of the swords caught my attention. It was a gaudy sword with a large piece of ruby inlaid on the hand guard of the sword. However, what gathered my attention was not that but the magic circles drawn on the bottom of the blade.

“Excuse me. Can I ask what these are for?”

Since the drawn magic circles weren’t that familiar to me, I asked the attendant. She answered with a smile without wasting a second.

“Those are magic circles to enhance the blade. The topmost is for providing extreme sharpness, the middle one is to prevent the blade from chipping and the last is to make the sword feel lighter. They are all inscribed by the best magic artisan within the capital so the level of workmanship is high.”

So there are other jobs that is related to magic circles? Mary didn’t tell me about that. Also, the magic circles used here are fundamentally different.

“… Are there books being sold pertaining these sort of magic circles?”

Due to my curiosity I couldn’t help but ask. The attendant still answered despite my words indicating my intention of not buying anything.

“Of course. Books and papers are sold on the third to the last carriage. I believe that there are books on magic circles there.”

I quickly bowed and gave my thanks then left the carriage. I ran towards the said carriage and hoped that Mary was still there.

Luckily, she was.

After hearing my words, she helped me look for such a book.

My debt increased tenfold in an instant. I convinced myself to pay her back in the not so far off future.

Chapter 7: New Equipment

After going back home, I immediately immersed myself in reading the new book that Mary bought for me.

I was amazed after doing so.

As I had thought, the concept, patterns and theories pertaining it is different from the magic circles that I know.

If the magic circles used by the magic artificers are named “Nature Magic” then these magic circles should be called “Modification Magic”.

If Nature Magic manipulates natural elements and use it to interfere with the laws of nature, Modification Magic on the other hand modifies the medium upon which it was inscribed itself.

After reading up to half of the book, I stopped and started to think.

An idea suddenly came to me.

To realize this idea, I searched for any sort of wearable equipment. Not long after, I found a metal gauntlet. It is good enough for experimenting.

I took a bundle of papers and started drawing some magic circles from my memories and then tried looking at the new book for some specific ones.

It took me over 3 hours just to finish conceptualizing and setting proper protections.

Mary seems to be interested on what I was doing. She was watching silently from one side of the table while passing time through practicing writing. She’s really a diligent student.

After making sure that I got all sides covered, I started drawing it on the back of the gauntlet.

I need to be careful as even a small mistake here could lead to a tragedy.

Due to my increased caution, it took over an hour to finish drawing. After confirming that the circle was working fine, I nodded with satisfaction.

“What are you making?”

Nina suddenly popped on my side and asked.

“This? Just an experiment. Think of it as a cool equipment.”

“Huh? Oh…”

“Never mind that, do you know a wide space near here? I want to test this thing.”

I asked Nina as she looks like she would know one or two interesting places. As expected, my guess was correct.

A few minutes’ walk from the house, there was a small clearing with many stones scattered. If the day was sunny, it may be nice to hold a picnic here.

However, I ignored those details for a moment and wore the gauntlet on my right hand. I could clearly feel the weight of the pure metal equipment.

I flexed my fingers to check the fit. After seeing that everything was clear, I stood in front of a large rock. It was a sturdy looking rock that towers over 3 meters high.

I took a stance in front of the rock. Then, slowly, I applied mana to the magic circle of the gauntlet. I could clearly feel my mana being drained like there’s no tomorrow. Looks like I need to improve the mana efficiency of the circles. Knowing that there’s still room for improvement was good enough.

Afterwards, my clenched fist set by my side started to release a buzzing sound. After waiting for a few seconds, I quickly swung my fist into a straight punch.

A loud banging sound and a blinding flash of light covered the surroundings. I forgot to prepare against that. My eyes lost their function for quite a while. Even my right arm felt a bit numb. Nina and Mary who were watching started shouting and cursing.

“M-My eyes!!!”

“Waah! What happened? A-Are you alright?!”

I rubbed my eyes continuously.

Then, when my vision finally returned, what greeted me was a large charred hole that pierced through the rock in front of me. Arches and flashes of electricity lingers throughout the whole mini tunnel. Looks like some ionic metals got overcharged and conversely started releasing charges.

The damage done by one shot was above the degree I expected. It’s good that I decided to test it far away from other people.

“Wooah! Amazing! How did you do this?!”

Nina, after recovering, started making a commotion. Looks like she got excited after seeing the show. She was busily checking the hole on the rock.

On the other hand, Mary seems to be too shocked that her words got stuck on her mouth. As an apprentice magic artificer, she knows the basic range of capabilities of attack spells.

Based on her understanding, my display of destructive damage can be ranked around heroic strength level.

“… What did you do?”

As expected, she seems to have grasped the basic method that I used. However, she couldn’t guess what I did.

“If I say that I created a small scale thundercloud by manipulating hot and cold air then shot it out by the use of vertical lines indicating emission, you probably wouldn’t understand.”

Hearing my machinegun explanation, she nodded with a bitter smile.

“Then, I’ll simplify it as this: I summoned a lightning bolt using Nature Magic while protecting my hands with Modification magic. Basically, the first experiment can be labelled as a success.”

Her eyes widened with surprise.

“… Summoning lightning is the privilege of the gods. To think that you can summon such a thing…”

“Wait, Mary! Isn’t summoning magic supposed to be a lost magic?!”

Nina suddenly wailed. I have read about summoning magic but didn’t learn its magic circles. I immediately refuted her words before Mary could speak.

“No. What I did wasn’t summoning magic I suppose. It is just the application of natural laws and bending them forcefully. It is probably different from what you think.”

I said while taking off the gauntlets from my hand. Nina still looks unconvinced while Mary seems to have followed the concept that I explained. As expected from an honor student.

We then headed back while Mary and Nina are continuously discussing about my experiment.

We passed by several villagers that got curious when they heard a loud sound nearby. We explained the phenomenon briefly before finally reaching home.

Until the end of our dinner, Mary and Nina kept on questioning me about the magic that I made. Getting a bit fed up, I explained the whole concept and it took 2 hours. Nina fell asleep halfway through though.

I too decided to rest for the day but Mary seem to have something she want to test after hearing my small lecture about scientific phenomenon.

The next morning, what greeted me was Mary, who was slowly getting buried under piles of papers. Looking closely, there’s some large clouds under her eyes. She’s not accustomed to staying up all night it seems.

“… Oh… Nazo… I managed to finish it… In time… Please test it…”

She spoke in a somewhat bubbly kind of way. Her head swaying back and forth as if she would fall any moment.

“O-Ok… What did you make?”

For conversations’ sake, and also in response to her effort, I tried asking.

“… I tried to make a new equipment… I applied the… Protection magic… You used… Earlier…”

She was holding out a set of leather gloves. The pair of gloves had magic circles drawn on the back just like what I did on the gauntlets. The magic circles that she made was pretty complex that it made even me to look twice before noticing her intent.

“… Magic Tools…”

The common leather gloves of yesterday now turned into a several golds worth magic tool. And if my guess is correct, it is loaded with protection magic on the left and attack magic on the right.

“… Ask… Nina… To help… I––”

Before she finished speaking, she finally fell face first on the table. Not long after, a series of soft breathing sound echoed inside the room.

I picked up a blanket and covered her with it. Then, I woke up Nina and went to the same place yesterday to test Mary’s masterpiece.

“Ok… Now, let’s first try the offensive magic…”

I calmed my breathing and stood in front of the same rock yesterday. I held my right hand in front and poured mana to the magic circle of the glove. After the circle released some light, a series of words flashed on my mind.

“… A chant?”

I was bewildered. I thought that all magic in this world relied on circles but I was wrong. Chants also exists. Before the shine of the magic circle faded, I read the chant out loud.

[Severing the world of fallacy through the power of flames! Gather! Converge! Follow the command of the contractor of the seventh gate! «Fireball»!!!]

I was a bit embarrassed after saying those words. However, before I could cower in embarrassment, a large ball of fire appeared in front of me.

Shortly after, it flew towards the rock in front of me.

… I should have made my target a bit farther…

The rock was melted down due to the heat alone. When the fireball crashed on the ground, a large explosion incomparable to yesterday occurred. I was, of course, sent tumbling on the ground by the impact.

When the explosion subsided, what greeted me was a large crater on the ground as if a meteor landed.

“… What a frightening firepower…”

I couldn’t help but mutter under my breath. Soon, Nina came back after being blown away and was similarly shocked with the result.

“IS IT THE ENEMIES?!”

Suddenly, a group of armed men from the village came running towards us. Seeing both me and Nina, their faces turned into confusion.

“Nazo, Nina… What are you doing here?”

Cutting through the crowd, Doctor Tessa asked. I was a bit troubled on how to answer but Nina spoke in my stead.

“We were testing a new magic circle that Mary made and it ended up like this. Amazing right?!”

… Aaah… I was at fault for making her speak. The gazes of all the adults around pricks my heart.

Looks like testing the left gloves would be postponed for later.

Chapter 8: Chant

After telling us to meet at the village Chief’s house when Mary woke up, the adults scattered and went back. We were also forced to return just as I expected.

We had breakfast and waited till noon before Mary woke up. She still seemed to be unsteady on her steps but after telling her of what happened, she said that we need to go as early as possible.

We carefully walked towards the neighboring tree while Nina lent her shoulder to Mary. Halfway through, her breakfast seem to have taken effect and her body slowly started to stabilize. By the time we reached the village Chief’s house, she can already walk by herself.

“Are you sure about this…?”

I cannot help but ask. Depending on how she handles the situation, it may escalate into something that was beyond control.

“It’s my fault to begin with. I’ll make sure that I accept proper punishment if necessary.”

Mary said with a firm expression. She looks determined. She then took a step forward and knocked on the wooden door. A voice saying “come in” was heard not long after.

The three of us entered with the order of Mary, Nina and me. The interior of the village Chief’s house was almost similar to Mary’s and Nina’s house but looks wider due to having only tables and chairs inside.

Instead of a house, it looks more like a meeting room. Several adults were present including the chief himself, Doctor Tessa and Orga the Carpenter. I noticed that even the rich looking merchant, the leader of the caravan, was present. Aren’t they supposed to leave the village yesterday afternoon?

“Sit down…”

The elder spoke, pointing to a chair on the other narrow end of the rectangular table. Without even thinking twice, we let Mary to sit down. Nina and I stood right behind her like bodyguards.

“… Now that everybody is here, let’s begin the meeting. I will be acting as a moderator and will stay neutral all the way. Orga will be acting as another Moderator just like me.”

After confirming the faces of everyone inside, Doctor Tessa Spoke. It seems that she and Orga will not be participating. If this is a court, then her position will be something similar to a judge.

“… Then, first of all, Mary, please tell us about what you made.”

“… Yes.”

With Doctor Tessa’s suggestion, Mary seemed to have tensed up. Despite that, she explained the chain of events one by one from the buying of the book up to my experiment yesterday and the lesson that followed.

Everybody listened carefully and asked questions on several occasions.

“… Then, I applied the same theory to some normal leather gloves. Since drawing the circle will make it easy to erase, I decided to engrave the markings and then fill it up with powdered Manadite Chalk.”

I checked the gloves and noticed that it really was engraved. The Manadite Chalk sticks inside the grooves like cement. By the way, the gloves were still worn by me as it was comfortable and looks cool.

“And then, I passed the glove to Nazo for testing before I fell asleep. That’s all…”

Everyone had a serious face on. The chief nodded his head lightly.

“I basically get what happened. What I want to ask is how you made the power of such a small, singular magic circle reach the level of a multiple chain magic.”

Hearing the question, Mary looked a bit doubtful.

“… That… Actually, my design was to make a fireball about the size of a fist… I really don’t know how it reached that level myself…”

She spoke while sneaking a peek towards my direction. She was probably hoping for some explanations from me. However, before I could cover it up, Nina once again made her mouth run wild.

“It wasn’t something that small though? It was about thiiiiiiiis big and it goes BAAANNG!”

She added with some exaggeratedly large movements included. She probably wanted to interpret how large the fireball was. Based on my memory, it was about two spans wide though…

Due to her words, everyone’s gaze landed on me. Ah, I hate being the center of attention.

“… I don’t remember doing something weird though…”

I said in defense. All I did was apply some mana and chant the spell. I didn’t do anything weird. Un, I’m sure of that.

“… To make sure, let’s test it again.”

I tried to suggest. The adults looked troubled while thinking about it. Then, after a minute of discussing amongst themselves, they came to an agreement.

“Then let’s test it once again. We will head to the training ground outside the village’s boundary. Doctor Tessa would be the one to test the glove.”

Everyone agreed to the chief’s words.

Soon, everyone started moving and boarded a carriage parked beside the chief’s house. Looks like our destination is far enough to require a carriage to move. Or maybe it’s the influence of the big fat merchant that was staying silent since earlier.

After about an hour of travel, we reached a wide plains. It was a rectangular field approximately 4 hectares in area. It was covered with forests on all four sides.

After getting down the carriage, we headed straight to one corner of the field. On Doctor Tessa’s request, I took off the gloves and passed it to her.

She wore both gloves and heard from Mary about how to use it.

“… Okay. Then, I’ll start.”

After making the proper preparations, she stepped forward and took a deep breath.

Slowly, she stretched her right hand forward. Light seems to flow around her whole body and all of it slowly gathers at her hand.

Then, a fireball the size of a fist appeared the moment that the magic circle shined. Weird…

Just like that, the fireball was shot out. It hit the ground about a hundred meters ahead and caused nothing but a small crater. The explosion sound too was a bit lacking. The heat wasn’t even enough to melt the small rocks around the landing area.

Most of all, there was no chant…

Doctor Tessa tried it again and again. The fireball never went above the size of a fist. Nina too had a look of doubt on her face.

“… Just like Mary said, it only produces fireballs of about a fist in size. The mana consumption too was efficient and there’s no feedback from using fire magic. Even my hands weren’t burned. Looks like your concept works fine. Congratulations Mary.”

Doctor Tessa congratulated Mary while returning the gloves. Mary politely said her thanks for the high praise she received.

“… Then what was the cause of the large explosion…?”

Orga asked to nobody in particular. However, everyone turned their gazes to me in unison. Their intention was clear to see.

“… Okay. I’ll test it too…”

I sighed and took the gloves once more from Mary. I don’t know why Doctor Tessa didn’t say the chant. Maybe she was embarrassed to say that out loud? Not that it matters though.

I stood on the same spot as Doctor Tessa earlier and similarly took a deep breath to calm myself.

I raised my hands and stretched it in front. I placed my left hand just above the right hand’s magic circle. Then, I started applying mana.

Unlike Doctor Tessa’s mana, mine didn’t scatter and gather at one point. It feels more like the mana moves along with the blood flow towards the magic circle before it comes out to interfere with the circle.

Since controlling mana is similar to visualizing the flow of an imaginary energy around your body, I don’t get how it scatters about in the surroundings.

Just like last time, after the magic circle lit up, a string of words flowed to my mind. However, this time, I decided to not read the words out.

Sparks gathered in front of my palm. Ohh! Looks like the chant wasn’t really needed!

However, the sparks died out after the light of the circle faded. The spell failed.

I tried again and again but every time, it failed. What’s wrong?

Then, for the last time, I did the same pose and focused my mana. When the string of words appears, I quickly read it out loud. Who cares about looks?

[Severing the world of fallacy through the power of flames! Gather! Converge! Follow the command of the contractor of the seventh gate! «Fireball»!!!]

After finishing the chant, a large fireball of about two spans wide appeared. The heat from it was searing my skin like the summer sun. The fireball quickly flew away. I aimed it at the other end of the field to minimize the damage to us. It will land maybe around the middle of the field.

However, against my wishes, the fireball that I released hit the place I targeted squarely. A loud explosion followed by a wave of hot wind reached us who was more than a kilometer away.

The cliff that I targeted vanished when the smoke cleared up. It now looks like a flat with neither trees nor grass growing. Looks like I messed up badly again.

“… What was that…? Just now…”

The first voice I heard wasn’t the chief’s reprimand nor the doctor’s praise. Rather, it was the voice of Mary speaking in a trance while looking at me.

Suddenly, somebody forcefully grabbed my shoulders and made me turn around. I was surprised to see Mary’s face about a feet away from mine.

“Just now… A chant! That was a chant right?!”

Her tension was a notch higher than earlier.

“… I think so…?”

I answered in an unsure way.

“Where did you learn it?! Can you teach me too!! Please!!!”

“… Eh?”

What’s this? Teach? Isn’t chants supposed to come from the circle itself? Like a part of an equation? However, before I could reply, a voice came from far behind me.

“Hoooh…? When I heard that I can meet my cute little apprentice here in the training grounds, I hurriedly ran to meet her. Only to see some brat trying to snatch my student away? Hmph.”

I turned my head behind and saw an angel. It was an angel. I’m sure of it. Her long, golden blonde hair swinging to the wind was sparkling under the sunlight. Her green colored eyes full of wisdom was staring squarely at me. Her thin, cherry pink lips slowly curled into an alluring smile.

She stopped about a meter away from Mary and placed her right hand on her thin waist.

“M-Master! Welcome back!”

Mary hurriedly greeted her with a bow. Master huh.

Chapter 9: The Master’s Arrival

The angel of golden hair was wearing a sleeveless top that leaves her navel area visible. She was also wearing a sort of jeans with only the left leg reaching to the soles of her shoes and the right side was cut off around the middle of her thigh, revealing a rich amount of flesh.

The angel that descended upon this field seems to be Mary’s master. Everyone looks a bit shocked upon seeing her, especially the village chief.

“B-Blaire… Since when did you return?”

The village chief asked in a stutter. He seem to be a bit nervous but I can’t confirm it visually as my sights are locked on the angel in front of me.

“Marco, it’s been a while. I returned just now. I finished my job a bit earlier than expected so I went home early this time.”

“… I-Is that so…”

“Uhuh. By the way, who’s this brat? He doesn’t look familiar.”

She spoke with her tone a bit lower than before. Her eyes too turned cold instantly. I felt shivers running down my spine. It feels like I’m being stared at by a large predator. Still, for me, she looks like an angel.

“H-He’s Nazo… He arrived at the village a week ago. Y-Your apprentice Mary and her sister Nina found him in the forest in a critical condition… He’s living with them for now…”

The chief’s voice slowly turned into a whisper by the end. The angel in front of me squinted her eyes.

“Is that so… Then… Disappear.”

She raised her hand and posed it like she’s going to flick my forehead. I don’t know why but I followed my instincts and turned away from her fingers.

When she flicked her fingers, a strong shockwave was released. The ground behind me was gouged out as if it was hit by a sharp sword weighing over a ton. When I start to imagine what would happen had I not dodged, my thoughts stopped.

“Hooo… To think you could dodge. You got nice reflex.”

She opened her palm and a small piece of paper flew down. That must be the magic circle that she used. A one-off type. However, that seems to be just a feint.

Before anyone caught up to what happened, the paper dropped to the ground. The angel named Blaire stepped hard on top of it. A strong shockwave was produced with her as the center. It sent everyone off balance.

“Let’s see if you can dodge this.”

Without wasting a moment, she drew another small piece of paper and gripped it hard on her right hand. She then threw it towards my direction.

“Take this!”

The magic circle of the paper she threw was glowing a faint red. I felt danger and reflexively raised my left hand and applied mana to the gloves. Shortly after, an explosion of fire spread around me.

“…?”

However, I wasn’t hurt. Not even one bit. The left gloves seems to have produced a semi-transparent bluish white barrier that prevented the fire to reach me.

When the fire vanished, so did the barrier.

“W-Wha?! How did you survive that?!”

She looked surprised upon seeing me survive unscathed.

“By the power of love.”

I replied half-jokingly. For some reason, I saw Mary blush fiercely after hearing my words.

“Kuh! Then, try this!”

Without giving me a moment to rest, she threw papers to me. This time, there are three pieces. I calmly raised my left hand and activated the magic circle. The thin bluish white barrier earlier appeared again.

The three papers she threw surrounded me on regular intervals and started revolving around me. I can see a line of electricity forming between the papers as the speed of the revolution increased. I felt something is wrong. As insurance, I pulled a paper from my pocked and activated the magic circle I drew on it.

The speed of rotation increased and the size of the electrical arcs increased too. There’s only a few attack magic that will have this sort of effect. If my guess is correct, I am very familiar with this magic.

Just as I predicted, a large bolt of lightning fell from above my head. Anyone hit by that would surely die. It even managed to smash the flimsy barrier that the glove provided.

“…!”

However, her mouth was left agape after seeing me alive despite that. How? I magically created a lightning rod and let the electricity to flow through it and disperse it on the ground.

In simple terms, I created a metal stick about three meters long and stick it upright on the ground. I even laid down the ground just to prevent the electricity to reach me. Who would think that a magic circle that I made as an emergency weapon was to be used like that.

This angel seems like she has no intentions of stopping. I dashed towards her to snatch the initiative.

She snapped from confusion after seeing me move. She drew something from her pocket and did the same forehead flick pose. I was right in front of her when her actions finished.

“!!!”

She flicked her fingers without hesitation. An invisible force was sent out by her flick causing the air to distort. I barely dodged it by twisting my body to the right side as far and as fast as I can.

Without wasting my momentum, I rammed her body while I grabbed her wrists. She fell face up on the ground. Good thing that the ground was covered with grass or else it may have hurt quite a bit.

I kneeled with my knees somewhere beside her stomach area. Both my hands were holding her wrists on the sides of her head. Her gold hair was scattered around beautifully. Even her bountiful chest was pressing slightly against me.

My face was just a few inches away from hers. It was short but I definitely saw her eyes waver after staring at me.

Hmmm… This position…

Suddenly, a naughty thought passed through my head. I laughed inside just thinking on how she would react.

“… If you move, you know what will happen right?”

Her eyes flickered greatly. Her face suddenly turned red and she tried to desperately break through my grasp. I inched my head closer and she suddenly stops. Her eyes opened wide and now even her lips are shaking.

“I warned you.”

I pulled my head even closer. The strength on her hands slowly increases due to her tension. She closes her eyes and turns her head slightly. Perfect.

I pulled even closer until I was about to touch her face. Then, I blew air upon her earlobe gently but forcefully.

“Hyahhh!”

She raised a cute voice and her body violently shook. Then, the force on her hands disappeared. She fainted.

“Phew. I thought I was gonna die back there.”

I sighed while slowly standing.

I noticed that both Mary and Nina are hugging each other, shivering. The village chief was sitting on the ground as if tripping down while backing away. His face pale with large beads of sweat on his forehead. Doctor Tessa was looking at me with stern eyes and Orga was looking at me with his mouth wide open.

The other elders were either hiding far away behind trees or cowering in fear. The fat merchant seems to have returned to the carriage and took shelter there.

“What’s wrong? Why’s everyone acting weird?”

I can’t help but ask. The first one to answer was the only one that is remaining calm within them. Doctor Tessa.

“… Boy… Just so you know… Blaire is a famous man-hater. She has a kill rate of 100% once she decided to eliminate you. And that happens in an instant. This is the first time that someone managed to win against her despite her initiating a surprise attack.”

I shuddered after hearing the truth. This golden haired woman seems to be a devil pretending as an angel.

“… B-By the way… The headcount is…?”

“Exactly 221 when she was last seen here. Probably reaching 225 right now.”

A murderer! Ahhh! I made enemies with the worst kind!

“(… However, it was also the first time that she showed such a feminine side…)”

Doctor Tessa said something under her breath. My mind was too busy to process her words.

Wait. She’s Mary’s master right? Don’t tell me her house is…

Probably noticing my dilemma, Doctor Tessa shook her head.

“Unfortunately, you probably got the right idea… Blaire lives along with Mary and Nina… In the first place, that house belongs to Blaire…”

“NOOOOOOOO!!!”

I lamented. Looks like my choices for the future narrows down to 2. One: to leave the house and move away. Two: to live there despite the possible threat to my life.

Normally, I would choose one. However, I can’t leave Mary and Nina without even repaying my debt. What a headache.

I turned to Mary and Nina. They are now starting to stand up. Looks like they finally recovered.

I met eyes with Mary. She seems startled. She seems troubled on where to look but decided on checking the condition of Blaire near my feet. After determining that she just fainted, she heaved a sigh of relief.

“I wouldn’t just kill anyone you know? I don’t have the slightest inclination to killing.”

I cleared it up before some misunderstandings pop up. Hearing my words, she relaxed a bit. Then, after regaining some of her bearings, she asked.

“… You didn’t… Attack… Her… Right?”

“Hmm? I just pinned her down. I didn’t hit or choke her.”

Hearing my answer, Doctor Tessa sighed. Doctor Tessa was standing around my head area when I was pinning Blaire down. She probably saw what I did unlike Mary and Nina who was located opposite to Doctor Tessa.

“Don’t worry, I guarantee that nothing of that sort happened.”

She said reassuringly to Mary. Mary in turn gave a bigger sigh than earlier.

… I don’t get what they are talking about…

Chapter 10: Visiting the Capital

The case involving the new equipment was put on hold. Everyone gathered there decided to return and rest for the day. In the end, I didn’t even managed to guess why the merchant was there.

After returning, the first thing I did was to study the construct of the magic circle that Mary made.

I got absorbed in my work and didn’t stop until it was already time for dinner. After eating, I resumed my work.

Before the clock struck midnight, I managed to make two more prototypes using the same architecture as what Mary made.

With this, I confirmed that strong magic circles “whispers” their chants to the practitioner himself. No matter how I tried, the protective magic on the left hand glove didn’t give me a chant.

I woke up right as morning came and noticed that I was sleeping against the table.

“Good Morning…”

Nina greeted me despite looking a bit sleepy. Without waiting for a reply, she got out of the house while carrying a bucket. Since I can’t see Mary around, it seems that she too was out to fetch water.

I stood up and stretched for a bit. Then, I noticed that someone was still sleeping on the bed. I felt shivers all over my body. Blaire was sleeping soundly in the middle of the bed.

“……”

No matter how I look at it, she looks like an angel especially when she’s sleeping. Her peaceful expression brings a smile to any onlooker’s face. I don’t think if I’m just being biased because I actually have a thing for older women. I didn’t tell Mary and Nina about that, did I?

Basically, my strike zone stretches from 25 to 30. It’s not broad but I don’t have plans to change my preferences any time soon. I think that she is within my strike zone despite having no proof.

“U-Uuuunnn… Mhhhm…”

She twisted and turned around the bed. I can’t help but stare. She really isn’t lacking of curves. Rather, I should say the she was quite blessed.

“Nazo… Where are you staring at?”

I suddenly heard Mary’s low voice from my side. I didn’t notice that she entered.

“N-Nothing. I was just wondering what to do when she wakes up.”

I muttered an excuse, which is the truth, but is actually just a passing thought in reality. Hearing my words, Mary sighed.

“… Actually, she woke up around sometime before midnight... However, after seeing your figure, she fainted again… I’m afraid that she may be unable to properly wake up as long as you’re present.”

Trauma?! Is it some sort of trauma?! Or maybe phobia? Don’t tell me it is!

“Nnnn…”

As I was having some random thoughts, Blaire got up from bed and rubbed her eyes sleepily. I was focusing on something entirely different. Ho-Ho-Ho.

“Hmm? Uh? Ah?!”

After her vision cleared, she stared at my face and looks like she was surprised. She started shaking terribly and her face turned deep red.

“… Good morning.”

I greeted half reflexively. Shortly after, the round two of our skirmish occurred. But this time, no magic was involved as all her belongings were set aside.

I don’t really know why but when I told her that if she don’t stop, I’ll be forced to pin her down again, she obediently stopped. During the whole duration of breakfast, Mary ignored me though. Why?

After eating, we headed towards the village chief’s house once more to hear their judgement. Blaire also tagged along but was walking far away behind us. She still got a displeased look on her face.

After arriving, we were almost immediately led inside. The same members yesterday were already present despite the time being early in the morning. Are they not busy?

“… After discussing the matter amongst us elders, we decided to let the three of you go to the capital as punishment.”

Doctor Tessa was the one to announce that. Partly because all the men in the room looked tensed after Blaire entered. She was literally standing at the only exit. There’s no saving them if Blaire decided to go on a rampage.

Wait. Capital? … Is that why the merchant is here?

I finally caught a glimpse of the reason why the merchant was here. I think that no matter how this mess ended up, they already decided to send us to the Capital. I don’t know the reason to go there but…

“… We understand. We would gladly accept this punishment. When will the departure be?”

Before I could ask, Mary answered in affirmation. I know that our crimes were a bit light but isn’t this punishment too light? I even doubt if it can actually be called a punishment.

“That’s great. The departure would be anytime today or tomorrow. You may decide.”

“Then how about this afternoon? If we move early, we can reach the border checkpoint before it gets dark. Also, the earlier we move out, the earlier we can return.”

Mary continued the conversation and sealed the deal. After talking about finer details, we finally got out of the village chief’s house. The moment that Blaire left the room, all men heaved a sigh. How pathetic.

After reaching the area near their house, we separated ways. The two seems to have decided what to bring. I don’t have much problem as I don’t have any belongings other than what I was currently wearing.

All I did was collect the magic circles which I made into something that looks like talismans.

As for others, I have the self-made talisman’s belt holder, the pair of leather gloves that I made yesterday and my own shoes that I engraved with special magic circles.

I also made a pair of gloves for Nina which I plan to pass to her later. Since I took advantage of the luxury of having a book as reference, and the fact that it has a chant, I was pretty sure that it was of high quality.

With that, I was all set. However, there’s still a couple of hours before noon which is our gathering time. I decided to pay Orga a visit.

“Ohh! Feels like it’s been a long time after your last visit! Hahaha!”

He greeted heartily as always.

“Well, I’ve been a bit busy lately. How’s your business going?”

“Hahaha! Thanks to your designs, I managed to rake a large profit! The merchant even got amazed by your ‘mechanical pencil’ and plans on buying the rights for manufacturing it. With the earnings I made, I can probably relax for the rest of this year!”

“Well, I’m glad to be of help… By the way, I got some additional requests… Is now a good time?”

“Of course! Leave it to me! Hahaha!”

I wasted time with him talking about several things that I want to have manufactured. As I already made some rough designs, he can just adjust it later.

Most of the conversation was spent on explaining the parts and functions. There were few random chatters mixed in between. Time flew and it was now almost noon.

I left Orga after hearing that my orders would be done after a week. As expected, it will take some time. The payment was just like last time, the rights to the designs. I accepted it heartily.

Since I would be travelling to the Capital, maybe a week was a short wait in comparison.

I arrived back to the trio’s home and saw them standing at the end of the stairs. Some bags were packed on one side. Looks like they too finished packing.

“Let’s go.”

Mary said and boarded a carriage parked in front of their house. Like any carriages, it looks like it was powered with magic too. Was horse pulled carriage not known here? Or maybe they just replaced it after knowing of this convenient application of magic?

No matter which of it was the truth, I don’t care much. One reason is that I got permission to see the magic circles powering the carriage later that day. The other is that I can’t calm down as Blaire also came with us.

“(… Do we really need to let her come along?)”

I asked Mary in a whisper. She acted a bit ticklish but I ignored it for now.

“(Y-Yes. I can’t disobey master’s orders easily so…)”

“(You mean she forced you to make her come along… Right?)”

Mary turned her head away in response. Her silence answered everything.

The actual problem was that in this carriage, there’s only 2 sets of chairs that could fit 2 persons comfortably. Albeit reluctantly, I was made to sit beside Blaire. Mary was sitting across me with Nina beside her. Our knees were almost touching as the space was a little small.

I was starting to get bothered with her occasional peek towards my direction. I couldn’t do anything but focus my attention outside the window and watch the scenery pass by. The occasional worried stare of Mary was the only comfort that I got during the whole trip.

Hours passed with the conversations inside being mostly with only Nina and Mary. Just before the sun had set, we reached the destination.

I quickly got off and looked around. I was immediately convinced that this was a checkpoint as there’s a camping ground just before reaching the gates of the border.

A lot of carriages were stopped and tents were set up in regular intervals. Some even had a bonfire up already despite it not yet being too dark.

“Let’s set up our camp here.”

Upon Mary’s words, we decided to start preparing out tent. We only made a single tent but it was large enough to fit four people with space to spare.

Everything went smoothly.

By that time, I didn’t have the slightest thought about how the view I have of this world would change greatly in just one eventful night.

Intermission 1: Blaire Grandine Goldbell

[Never pay attention to a man weaker than yourself.]

This was the golden rule passed to all the females of our clan. Mainly, it was to prevent the case of their husbands not being able to return after a war. But it was also mainly because the birthrate of males in our clan was too low that we can’t afford to lose them.

However, the females of our clan was strong in essence. In other words, there were not too many men who could marry into our clan. Some males even treated marrying into the clan as an indication of being strong enough to return alive after a war.

Ironically, it was the main cause of the decline of our clan.

Since the number of passable suitors weren’t satisfactory, the bloodline couldn’t propagate continuously. The result, the number of the next generation was always lower than the previous.

When I was born, the remaining members of the clan wasn’t even near a hundred.

Two generations before mine, the clan decided a new rule. Every female of the clan would need to leave after reaching the age of 15. This is to have more interactions with males and to have access to many challengers for suitors.

This plan would make the bloodline continue but it would also scatter the next generation far away from the village.

I too wasn’t an exception to that rule.

When I reached 15, a year before the coming of age, I was permitted to travel far and wide in search for a suitable partner.

There’s only 10 of us in our generation and all of us are females but amongst us, I was treated a genius.

I managed to master all elements before I reached the age of 10. I even managed to create several new applications of magic circles that helped the village greatly. Even in mock battles, I don’t have a record of loss even when against an adult.

I was treated like the jewel of the clan. A perfect representation of the clan’s ideals. That boosted my confidence and made me a star amongst our generation.

I, and the other 9 girls, travelled away from the village. Of course, we were all alone in each of our travels. I was headed north to where the farthest of all the near villages are located.

On the way there, I felt gazes towards me. After checking their presences, it was bandits as I suspected.

The lust lingering in their gazes is something I was accustomed to. As for a 15 years old girl, my body has developed too far. Even the few men in our village couldn’t help but gaze with lust when seeing me.

The bandits blocked my path. They even went as far as threatening me. However, it didn’t even take 5 minutes to eliminate them all. This is the first time I took a fellow human’s life. But I didn’t feel anything. After leaving the mangled corpses of the dozen bandits, I continued my travel.

I reached the village I was headed to after 3 days. Other than the occasional wild animals that attacked, the travel was peaceful.

When I entered the village, the countless gazes I felt was varied.

Lust was of course, but there were even some mixed with fear and awe. Even some females were gazing at me with yearning in their eyes.

I ignored most stares and went to the nearest branch of the Adventurer’s Guild. There, I applied as an adventurer and took requests. This is not only to provide me with earnings but also for me to have access to information on possible candidates as my partner.

Days passed quietly. However, the number of men who looks at me with fear increased. The reason for that is a disappointing truth.

Not even a single man can beat me. Even when I was attacked by a full party of 10 strong men, they all died to my hands. The knights didn’t capture me as it was treated as self defense but still, they were now vigilant towards me.

I was disappointed. And because of that, I decided to head out of the said village and head towards the capital.

During my weeks of travel, the total headcount of the men I killed reached 70. Still, I didn’t feel anything about their deaths. Maybe my heart was slowly turning to stone? I don’t care either way.

When I reached the capital, the same event happened. Many men with lustful gazes approached me with ill intentions but not a single one was left alive. Even after a leading hunting party set their sights on me, the whole party vanished from the earth on the next day.

It took me 4 years to finally reach a conclusion.

[There’s no man stronger than me anywhere.]

When I realized that, I lost all interest towards men. When I see one, only irritation welled up inside of me.

When I reached the age of 20, I decided to leave the capital. There’s nothing for me to earn there anymore.

I headed south from there and started a journey. I plan on finding a suitable village to pass the remaining time of my life.

After a week of travel, I reached a village. It was a unique village where houses were within trees. I learned a bit later that the village was named Mujyara.

When I reached the said village, I thought the same thing would happen. However, to my surprise, the men in here were quite tough.

Even after I retaliated when men approached me with ill intent, none of them died. Yes, they were on the verge of death but still, they survived. I found promise within this village albeit a little.

Therefore, I decided to stay there. I was given a house for myself by the village chief named Marco as an apology to the previous incident. Though it may be my imagination that he was sweating like a fountain when interacting with me.

A year after my stay, a change in my life appeared.

Two girls were left to my care. They were named Mary and Nina. It seems that they were survivors from different settlements that got decimated by demons.

At first, our interaction was a bit awkward. The two didn’t even speak a word for a week.

However, after months, their shattered hearts slowly recovered. It was mostly thanks to the warm welcome they received from the whole village.

Still, to provide living expenses for the three of us, I decided to take jobs as an adventurer again.

Due to that, I leave from time to time. But in respect to that, I taught Mary about Magic Circles. I was aiming to make her a magic artificer too.

And just like that, 2 years passed without much events. Though when my headcount reached over 200, I stopped counting.

Still, this world still has surprises left for me.

That day, I arrived earlier from a commission as it was finished quicker than expected.

However, when I reached home, Mary and Nina were nowhere to be found. I asked the Gust’s if they know where the two girls are. Despite them being blue on their faces, they told me that the two were at the training fields.

I ran fast to greet my cute disciple.

However, what greeted me was an unknown man getting close with Mary.

My irritation quickly went over the top of my head. I quickly spoke to the man. However, to my surprise, instead of lust or fear, all I felt from his gaze was awe. It was the first time that a male had that reaction towards me on the first meeting. Still, my irritation won over.

I can’t remember what I said but when I exploded, I activated my best magic «Air Cutter». Still, with a hair’s breadth, he managed to dodge. He got quite some reflexes but not enough to win against me.

I dropped the now used up magic circle from my hand and swiftly drew a new one from my pocket. I threw it towards the ground silently. Then, I stepped at the falling paper intersecting with the new paper I threw. In response, the ground shook lightly but enough to cause everyone to lose balance, the magic «Earth Shaker».

The man in front of me lost his balance but he still looks composed. I felt irritated that even when he’s pushed this much, he’s still relaxed. I pulled a sure-kill magic «Explosion» from my pocket and threw it towards him. For sure he’s dead with this.

The spell exploded and a large amount of dust and smoke rose. When it cleared, I was shocked. He’s still alive?!

Within my agitated mind, I couldn’t clearly hear my or his words but still, I continued the offense. I pulled one of my trump cards, one of my original magic I called «Lightning Strike». I threw the three pieces of paper and all three of those quickly spun around him.

The look of confusion in his eyes lasted for but a moment and turned to his relaxed gaze shortly after. I don’t know why but I felt a shiver down my back after seeing a glint on the edge of his crystal-like eyewear.

I gritted my teeth in frustration. Me? Being afraid? Don’t screw with me!!!

Together with my thoughts, a large amount of light fell to where the man was standing. Everyone was blinded for a short moment but I was prepared so it didn’t affect me that much.

However, the sight in front of my eyes ran different to my thoughts… How come he’s still standing after that?!

Still, I can’t lose!!! I focused the remaining magic power I had and performed another «Air Cutter». However, this time, instead of backing off and dodging, he ran towards me.

My reaction was delayed for a short moment due to the sudden action he did. Then, after he dodged the invisible wind blades through unknown methods, he rammed straight towards my body.

I fell back as I lost balance. I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth in response the impact of the fall. When I opened my eyes, his face was what blocked my vision. I felt my heart skipped a beat after seeing his face up close.

However, as a proud warrior of the Goldbell clan, I can’t lose here!

However, his next words made me shiver in fear.

“…If you move, you know what will happen right?”

His short words sent my calm mind into a wild rampage. Multiple possibilities ran through my mind. I can’t help but blush at the thoughts that I had. I struggled to break out of his grasp but his position was favorable. I can’t even move my hands.

In response to my actions, he inched his head closer. I unconsciously turned my gaze towards his shiny pink lips. Fear and another foreign emotion ran berserk and made my whole body shake fiercely.

“I warned you.”

He said with a fierce grin. His eyes, through the crystal clear eyepiece, was filled with intense light. I felt my whole body tense up. His head inched even closer.

As I couldn’t control my wildly beating heart anymore, I turned my head to the side and closed my eyes. I shut my lips tightly and braced myself on what’s to come.

A few moments of silence passed. Then…

“*Phew*”

He did something and a warm burst of air violated my right ear. I don’t know why but I felt something other than discomfort. My whole body shivered along with this foreign sensation. And in response, I let out a weird voice.

“Hyahhh!”

It was a somewhat foreign feeling but it didn’t feel wrong. Or rather, I felt relief. My whole body lost its strength and together with it, my consciousness. However, in a corner of my mind, something clicked… For the very first time…

[I lost to a man.]

The words that meant everything to me.

Chapter 11: Demon’s Offensive

After the simple dinner, we were passing our time differently.

Mary and Nina both returned inside the tent early. I noticed it a long time ago but the citizens of this world were all early sleepers. Only a handful were like me who stayed awake after dinner.

I headed towards the carriage with a bundle of Luminescence Scrolls. As I was already given permission, I would be making use of that time efficiently.

I heard that we would be travelling for half a whole day tomorrow. I will instead sleep during that time. Efficiency first.

I don’t know what Blaire was doing but didn’t mind it that much. As long as she’s not attacking me, that’s fine. Actually, there’d something much better but I doubt that could happen.

I removed the covering on the coachman’s chair and saw several metal gears meshed with each other in a complicated manner. The only magic circle drawn was drawn on top of a vertical-axis bevel gear. However, the size was too small to properly make out the lines drawn on it.

“What a bummer…”

Since I can’t read it, I took a clean sheet of paper and a chunk of coal. I laid the paper on top of the mark and passed the coal above it. The lines got passed to the paper. However, I may need some time to decipher it.

Also, since I just etched it, the accuracy may fall. It was risky so I repeated the same process several times while changing the stroke direction until I had a dozen copies of the magic circle.

After finishing, I got out of the carriage and stepped down. I looked towards the sky where a blue moon was shining brightly. The stars that I see weren’t the familiar constellations of Earth. But there were still some similarities.

The tranquil surroundings soothed my tired mind.

“Aaaaah!!!”

Suddenly, I heard a shout. I was startled and quickly turned towards the direction where it came from. However, it was too dark to see anything.

Not long after, the loud sound of the bell continuously ringing echoed and woke up everyone. Everyone got out of their tents with an expression of worry and fear.

“THE DEMONS!!! IT’S THE DEMONS!!!”

Someone shouted.

So the enemy kingdom attacked? They are quite diligent to go on offensive at night. Still, I can’t get used to everyone calling them demons.

Soon, Mary and Nina followed by Blaire came to my location.

“Are you okay?!”

Mary asked worriedly. I smiled and replied. If I act scared now, I’d just be increasing their burdens.

“I’m fine. Do you know the actual situation?”

“… They attacked from the east and west sides. A blockade was immediately formed but the front line is slowly getting pushed back. If we are to escape, we need to either go back or forward.”

Blaire immediately summarized the situation. It hadn’t been that long since the battle started. Was she perhaps acting as scout all this while?

“… What’s the chances of escaping?”

“If we leave now, probably around 50%. It will be much lower if we escape later.”

As she was speaking, several carriages were already running away. Only those too tired to move, too scared to move and can’t decide what to do remained. I silently gripped my fist.

… Wait… There’s another choice!

“Mary! Blaire! Go and support the east side! Nina and I will go and suppress the west side! We will help them!”

“B-But! I-I, I haven’t fought with a demon before! I’m scared!”

“So you want to escape and leave all these people here to die?”

“Of course I don’t want that! However––!”

“Don’t worry. I only told you to act as support. If you deem it too dangerous, escape immediately. In the first place, you got that right?”

I pointed towards the gloves that Mary was wearing. It was the pair of gloves that she herself made. Seeing what I pointed out, her expression immediately turned firmer.

“W-What about me?! I don’t have such equipment!”

Nina spoke in protest. I went to the back of the carriage where our baggage were place and pulled out another pair of gloves.

“Use this. The usage should be familiar to you right?”

Instead of answering, she placed mana on the magic circles making it shine. Good.

“Then, move out!”

As I shouted, both Mary and Nina ran away to their respective directions. Blaire too soon followed but I stopped her.

“Blaire, I have one thing to ask of you.”

She didn’t turn around but she stopped. There’s no helping it.

“I don’t know how the enemy will respond to us… If anything bad happened. I’m counting on you.”

I bowed my head lightly. Hearing my words, she just shrugged her shoulders and ran away. I similarly ran and soon caught up to Nina. Looks like the boots were working properly.

It didn’t take long before we reached the front line. Several soldiers donning full body armors while using shields and swords, lances and axes, were desperately fighting back.

The dark surroundings was a bit of a disadvantage. However, if I get close, that’s not a problem.

I looked for a gap in the line and passed. Nina was a step behind me. After passing, I quickly dashed to the nearest enemy’s silhouette. However, I stopped on my tracks the instant that I saw the enemy’s figure.

Large and bulky. Over two meters in height. Arms long enough to reach the ground. Mouth full of ragged sharp looking teeth. And most of all, red eyes full of the intent to take lives.

“… A… A…”

I was shocked. My mental preparation to take lives of similar human being flew to someplace far away. Only fear remained. The demon noticed my presence and ran towards me. I dodged to the side at the last second.

I poured mana to the boots in panic. Strings of words appeared on my head. I quickly read it out loud, trying to chase away the fear welling up inside me.

[Weaving through the endless sky! Unstoppable might prevails! Gather! Converge! Follow the command of the contractor of the sixth gate! «Blitz»!!!]

After finishing the chant, light poured out from the semi-high cut leather boots. When the light faded, the figure of the boots changed greatly.

Instead of the normal brown color, it was now of a white, slightly glowing, appearance. The low cut now reached up to a bit over my knees, hiding the lower part of my trousers within. The weight of the boots disappeared. Also, I feel that my movements turned lighter.

Honestly, this was the first time that I activated the chant. Normally, the boot’s circle was a passive type that continuously sucks mana to provide increased speed. It was a design that I noticed last night. Actually, I made this boots as precaution for Blaire. Who would have thought that I would use it like this?

The demon attacked the moment the light from the boots faded. It seems that it was afraid of the light.

It swung its long arms in a sweep. I lightly jumped. Still, my jumped easily reached over 3 meters. I was startled and almost missed my landing. I fumbled for a short instant.

Taking this instant, the monster attacked. It raised its arms and swung it down. I can’t dodge. I haven’t regained my balance yet.

Almost out of reflex, I half turned and released an axle kick. When my kick met with the arm, a heavy sound rang before the whole arm of the demon flew away spraying some sort of liquid around.

I got pleased after seeing the destructive capability of my boots. The demon staggered backwards.

Of course, I didn’t miss this chance and attacked with a shining star straight to the monster’s face.

I slightly regretted my decision after seeing how the demon’s head got smashed to a pulp in such close distance. I’m not a fan of gore…

The demon’s body dropped. It’s not moving anymore. I heaved a sigh of relief. After the tension of my first fight was released, amazingly, my knees gave out making me kneel on the ground. The fear I felt earlier started to kick in.

Unfortunately, I don’t have the luxury of time. Another demon saw me and started to attack. This time, I tried dodging lightly. The demon’s arm passed a few inches above my head. I instantly dashed towards the demon’s body and released a spinning kick. The demon’s body got split into two. I jumped back to avoid getting splashed with more blood.

I got absorbed in the fights. I lost count of how many monsters I killed. By the time that I regained my bearings, a mountain of corpses were piled all around me. A chill ran down my spine. Did I do all this? The scene of the aftermath, when seen by a weak hearted person, would surely make him vomit.

I surveyed the surroundings and tried to look for Nina. I couldn’t see her as it was too dark. Instead, I ran back to where the frontline was earlier. I relied on my blurry memory and found them after a minute.

Looks like they are having a hard time. But I guess it was a little easier than earlier as the length of the line halved. I must have wiped out the left flank alone.

Nina was joining in the fight. The gloves that I gave her gives a boost in defense, vitality and strength. A passive type similar to, but a bit stronger than my gloves. I increased the output without increasing the required input. It took about an hour to adjust it. Looks like it was a success.

Noticing that the fight against the demons don’t look too good, I reached through one of my pockets. I picked a piece of paper and held it in my hands.

Time for another experiment.

Chapter 12: Hero’s Treatment

“Nina! Come here for a moment!”

I shouted to Nina who was fighting against a demon 1-on-1. The smile on her face can be seen even from afar. What a sturdy fellow.

“What is it?! Are you giving me more equipment?!”

She joyfully ran back and stood just in front of me. I suddenly had the urge to pat her head but decided not to.

“You can read right?”

“Of course!”

Hearing her confident reply, I passed a small piece of paper to her. Then, I lighted a luminescence scroll to make it easier to read.

“Cut off the glove’s mana supply for a moment. Then, when you applied mana again, read this paper aloud. Ok?”

“I-I’ll try…”

She seemed to be nervous. Oh. I remember that chants were treated as something rare. Well, it’s too late to mind it now. She took a few steps back and cut off the mana supply.

She took a deep breath, calming her slightly trembling body. Not long after, the glow of the glove’s magic circle returned. That same instant, she started reading the paper out loud.

[Cleaving through the endless battlefields! Unfading strength reigns! Gather! Converge! Follow the command of the contractor of the sixth gate! «Panzer»!!!]

The blinding light that was released right after caused me to keep my eyes shut. When I opened my eyes once more, my breath was taken.

“Amazing!!! Look’s cool!!!”

Nina shouted excitedly after seeing how the gloves transformed. Now, instead of the normal brown leather gloves, it turned into what seems like a pair of gauntlets. It looks heavy due to its large appearance, about half a meter wide, but after seeing how Nina tested it by releasing a few jabs quickly, I was relieved.

The appearance was nothing short of breath taking. It was of pure white color and covers her hands up to her elbow. The thickness seems to be about a couple of inches and the shine is reminiscent to porcelain. Matched with the smooth design and sharp looking claws. It looks cool alright.

“Go get them.”

“Alright!!!”

Hearing my urging, she quickly dashed towards the front. Her speed seemed to have dropped. I felt worried for a moment but it seems that it was uncalled for.

In just a single punch, a demon got smashed into a pulp. The person herself didn’t look surprised but everyone except her were. She jumped to the next demon and the same thing occurred.

I remembered her telling me that women cannot fight… Seeing this scene, her words felt like a joke.

Then, on the next demon, she seems to be testing something and released a kick instead. The monster only staggered back. Looks like her power was focused on the gauntlets. She quickly released an uppercut as a follow-up that made the demon’s head to fly away for quite a distance.

She rampaged around the battlefield. When I imagined that the way she fights was similar to how I did mine, a shiver ran down my spine. That’s not funny even as a joke. Though I don’t remember how I fought.

It didn’t even take 15 minutes before the battle ended. The guards cheered loudly in response. Not long after, a similar shout was heard from the other side. Looks like it went well for the other two as well.

We returned to the camp site with Nina being praised by the surrounding soldiers. From the other side, Blaire and Mary looks to be in the same situation as Nina. Since nobody saw how I fought, I was spared from that much attention.

When Nina saw Mary, she quickly ran towards her. Nina looks a bit weird… Ah! I forgot to tell her how to deactivate the transformation! However, I noticed too late and she jumped to hug Mary who looks flabbergasted. Her face soon turned blue. Looks like the power of the gauntlet is still active.

Blaire, seeing the situation, immediately separated the two. Mary knelt to the ground and panted. I hope she didn’t have any broken bones due to that.

When I finally caught up to them, I immediately told Nina how to deactivate it.

[Release!]

After her chant, the gauntlets returned to their former form. Blaire and Mary stood in surprise.

“T-That was a chant just now right?! Nina, where did you learn that?!”

“From Nazo. He taught me a little while ago.”

Nina said proudly. Mary turned her look towards me. Her eyes were shining in anticipation. Before she could even ask, I passed a small piece of paper to her.

“T-This is…?”

She asked doubtfully.

“You remember the fireball that I released yesterday?”

“Of course!”

“Then this is the chant for that. You can try it tomorrow if you want. For now, I just want to rest.”

I said from the bottom of my heart. Not only physically but I am also mentally tired. I also felt lethargic for some reason apart from the fatigue I felt. This must be what Nina and Mary told me about. Mana exhaustion.

I retired inside the carriage as I don’t think Blaire could sleep with me being in close proximity. Still, I could hear their excited voices from the tent.

As a side note, looks like they kept tabs of the number of the demons they killed. By the way, the record holder was of course Blaire with 123 kills then Mary with 109 and Nina with 87.

After they changed topics to some random talks where my name appeared on several occasions, I lost my consciousness and fell asleep.

The moment I woke up, the carriage was already moving. I enjoyed the soft pillow that I was sleeping at. In front of me, I can see both Mary and Nina, leaning against each other and sleeping. From the corner of my vision, I noticed the familiar jeans of someone.

I gulp down saliva noticing what my pillow was. I slowly turned my head upwards and saw Blaire’s face. Hey eyes were closed and her head was hung down listlessly. She seems to be asleep.

Did I fall to her lap? Or maybe… No. That’s not possible.

I immediately sat up and rubbed my sleepy eyes. Looking outside, I was surprised.

“What the hell…”

On both sides of our carriage, soldiers riding horses were guarding us. Noticing me, some soldiers even smiled and waved to me. Some bowed their head deeply. What’s with this treatment?

“Uh… Nnnn…”

“Fuhaaaah….”

Mary and Nina woke up. After looking around for a moment, they greeted me.

“Good afternoon Nazo.”

“Good Afternoon!”

Their greeting woke Blaire up. She rubbed her eyes lightly and turned her head to me.

“Good afternoon.”

She greeted me with a smile… Am I dreaming? I tried pinching my cheeks but since I felt exquisite pain, this means that this is reality. Seeing my reaction, Blaire blushed and turned her head down. Her action urges me to go ahead and hug this cute creature.

Nina suddenly leaned against the window and, towards the soldiers, shouted.

“We’ll be fine after coming this far! Thanks for guarding!”

Mary too waved towards them.

All the guards bowed at the same moment and quickly turned back.

“What was that?”

I asked out of pure curiosity. Having the border’s guards to protect us during our journey isn’t something that could occur that easily.

“They said that they want to do at least this much as thanks to the heroes that saved them.”

Mary said with a smile. Nina sat back beside Mary and smiled proudly. Heroes… Right…

However, due to Mary’s words, the scene last night revived inside my head. The vicious appearance of the enemies. The demons.

“… I thought ‘demons’ was a sort of nickname for soldiers of some enemy kingdom…”

I muttered while feeling depressed.

“Demons gather around villages and they dominate the spaces outside a kingdom’s territory. Wars between other kingdoms stopped due to the appearance of demons. That is about a thousand years ago.”

Blaire explained with a serious face.

“Barriers were placed around villages so the demons couldn’t easily get in. However, there are rare cases like last night where the demons manage to bypass the barrier.”

“… And most of the time, the villages attacked isn’t strong enough to fight back against the demons.”

I think I am starting to understand this world a bit more.

“… So the reason why they wanted to thank us was…”

I muttered but stopped before I finished my words. Instead, Blaire finished my speech.

“… They managed to keep their lives that was supposed to have been lost last night… Who wouldn’t be thankful?”

I heaved another sigh.

I have thought that this world is as peaceful as Earth only with their technology behind…

Looks like I really need to change the way I view this world.

Chapter 12: Summons

I have two main objectives now that I came to the capital. One was to earn money, or maybe to know of a job that will make me earn money. I was starting to feel the need for it as experiments normally costs money. I couldn’t have Mary shoulder the expenses all the time.

And the second was…

“I want to try this one!”

“I think this suits Mary more. What do you think Blaire-nee?”

“Hmmm… Mature clothes looks good but I think cuter ones are better for Mary…”

“Then Nina should try this! It’s cute and full of frills.”

“Eehh? That looks a bit hard to move with…”

The three of them were frolicking around the other side. I was on the men’s section and was searching for suitable clothes. I didn’t have a change of clothes other than the clothes I was wearing when I woke up in this world. A change of clothes is in dire need.

Due to the border guards providing us with compensation money after we eliminated the demons, we got some money to spare. I got one gold and 5 large silvers after we split the money evenly.

Since the three of them had a lot of clothes to choose from, I estimate that they will take their time.

Now then… What troubled me was the efficiency of the expenses. As far as I know, normal clothes ranges from a large copper to 5 silvers. Good quality goods were from 5 silvers to a large silver. And luxury goods were higher than 2 large silvers.

If I would buy two new trousers, a pair of shirts, underwear and other miscellaneous items, I should more or less use around 5 large silvers. Any higher than that would be considered as luxury.

It took me more of less half an hour to finish my shopping.

“Are you done…? Not here…”

I went to the women’s area but noticed that the three of them weren’t present.

When I was about to turn around and head out, the curtains of one of the dressers swung open.

“Tada!! What do you think?!”

Nina jumped out wearing a funky set of clothes. A skimpy, short denim pants matched with a sleeveless white shirt combined with a large brown belt loosely hanging on her tight waist. If she wore a large hat and sunglasses, I may mistake her for a model for some brand clothes.

“It looks good. I almost didn’t notice it was you.”

I tried praising her but didn’t take it too far. She seemed to be embarrassed after hearing my compliment and she ran back towards the dresser.

Next, as if on cue, Mary came out of the other dresser.

“U-Um… D-Does it look… Weird?”

Mary asked while slightly twisting her body. She was wearing a plain white one piece that traces the curves of her body well. The mixture of purity and a little mature appearance makes it an exquisite combination. If you factor in the cuteness of the one wearing it, it’s unbearable to even blink.

“U-Uhn... It’s doesn’t look weird… Rather, it suits you quite well…”

I was lost in trance while staring at her. Conscious of my gaze, she lightly blushed and hung her head. If we’re at home, I may have hugged her out of reflex. Seemingly satisfied, she went back to her dresser.

So first was Nina then Mary, so the next one is…

“Are you expecting something?”

As I was thinking about what will happen next, a voice came from behind.

“Oh, Blaire. So you’re not participating in the fashion show? What a shame…”

I said in disappointment. She quickly turned her head away while slightly blushing.

“I-I’m not into that sort of stuff… But… (If you want… I can show it to you later…)”

“’But’ what?”

I couldn’t clearly hear the latter part as it was basically a whisper, close to a murmur. Instead of answering, Blaire just turned around and quickly walked out of the store. What’s with her?

After Mary and Nina finished paying for the clothes that they bought, we went out of the store.

“What’s with this crowd…?”

However, I was stupefied to see a multitude of pedestrians standing around. Looking carefully, at the center of the circle of crowd was Blaire who was leaning lightly on the side of the carriage… Was that the reason?

Well… Blaire’s beauty IS enough to even call her an angel. I can’t help but sympathize to all the men here who got captivated by her beauty. If I was on their shoes, I may have tried to ask her name at least. Why was it that nobody’s trying to get close?

We weaved through the crowd and reached the clearing at the center. When Blaire saw us, she immediately went inside the carriage. I let the girls to enter first as I was seated near the door. Before I got up, I noticed some bloodstains on the paved road.

“……”

So that’s what it was… I pray for the poor soul who was brave enough to get near her. May he rest in peace…?

The carriage moved forward as the crowd moved to the sides. I don’t know the reason but some men who met eyes with me stared back with a hideous face. A face contorted in negative emotions. Why o why?

“… Fools…”

“W-Where are we heading towards again?”

I tried to change the topic before Blaire exploded. I don’t want to receive her assault in a confined space such as here.

“If I remember correctly, we are to head towards the Merchant’s Guild. The head merchant has summoned for us.”

Mary answered with a smile. After seeing her smile, I suddenly remembered the clothes she showed me a bit earlier. I felt my face getting hot.

“O-Oh, that guy. So he arrived here earlier than us.”

“He was at the border with us, but when the demons attacked, he was one of the first ones to rush ahead.”

So he was one of the forerunners. No wonder.

“Looks like we can finally know the reason why he was there…”

I muttered to myself.

It had only been half a day after we arrived at the Capital. That’s about 2 days after we got attacked by demons at the border. During the whole duration of our travel, we encountered a few demons but our carriage just sped past them.

Based on the coachman’s words, we arrived just on time as scheduled. Which means that the merchant was already expecting us to come today.

All of us didn’t have anything planned in particular so after touring for half a day, where our last stop was the clothes shop earlier, we finally headed towards the Merchant’s guild.

We sped through the wide road. Traffic seems low so I don’t see the need to have a road with a width that can let six carriages travel side by side. However, thinking that this was the capital, maybe it was just a measure to allow soldiers to march quickly in times of war.

I enjoyed looking around, seeing the different materials used to build the houses and establishments around. Some were made with wood, some with rocks, some with clay and some with bricks. It has a wide variety but it doesn’t feel chaotic to the eyes at all.

After about 10 minutes of travelling, we stopped by a large building. It was built with large slabs of stones piled above each other. The majesty of the building was comparable to some Greek buildings like the Parthenon or the Romans’ Colosseum.

The large arched pathway was eye catching but the stained glass over the large windows didn’t lose to it. If an earthquake occurred, how much damage would it inflict to this building alone…? I can’t help but wonder.

After entering, we were immediately greeted by an attendant wearing a uniform resembling a butler’s clothes. We were led to a backroom that was said to be used only for large negotiations or so.

The room was expensive looking too. The red carpet covering the whole floor was soft enough to make me feel my feet digging deep for every step I take. The red sofa was so soft that I sank after testing it once.

There are several paintings and sculptures as well as beautiful and good smelling flowers decorating the whole room.

We waited for a while, looking around listlessly.

After waiting for a little over 10 minutes, a fat man wearing expensive looking clothes entered the room. It was the merchant leader that visited the Village of Mujyara last time.

“You must be Nazo I presume.”

He said with a smile on his face. For some reason, looking at his smile makes me feel repulsed. Looking at the expressions of the other three, it seems that I wasn’t the only one thinking so.

“Yes, that would be me. Do you need anything with me?”

I don’t feel like having a long chat with him. The impression after talking with him in person was worlds different from the impression he shows inside the village.

If I was to say it clearly, he’s acting very disgustingly right now.

“Haha. Well, I don’t mind getting straight to the point but don’t you want to have a little chat first?”

“Nope. I’m a busy man. Time is gold.”

“’Time is gold’ huh… A very fitting saying for a merchant indeed.”

“So? What do you need with me?”

The merchant’s eyes narrowed. I suddenly felt a bit unsettled due to his deliberate action.

“Then I’ll say it. I want you to be my private Magic Engineer.”

Hearing his words, both Mary and Blaire flinched.

“… What’s a magic engineer?” I asked.

“Fumu. A Magic Engineer is the pinnacle of all jobs pertaining magic circles. It uses the concept of both Nature and Modification magic. Also, it delves on the unknown.”

After saying that, he signaled to one of the attendants and someone entered the room carrying an object covered with a white cloth. After removing the cloth, what appeared was an iron gauntlet with a magic circle drawn on it. The first prototype that I made. Why does he have it?

“This gauntlet is an heirloom to our family. It possesses a strength capable of taking out a demon in a single strike. However, the knowledge used to create the magic circle drawn on it was long lost.”

An heirloom? No matter how I look at it, it was the same gauntlet that I made… No… Actually, it was a bit different. For example, the size was a tad bit larger. And one more thing was that… It was drawn using blood.

“So? What do you think after seeing this? Looks familiar right? We have similar tools too if you wish to see more.”

My researcher’s blood started flowing fiercely around my head.

For a moment, I thought that signing a contract with him wasn’t that bad.

Chapter 13: Demon Hunter

“Are you really fine with that?”

Mary asked for the umpteenth time. Ever since we left the merchant’s guild, she had been asking the same question over and over.

“I told you that it’s fine right?”

“But…”

She really didn’t look convinced no matter how I told her.

“In the first place, I can’t just leave you all alone without even repaying your kindness. There’s no way that I would accept such an offer.”

There. I now put it in a very sublime way. How about that?

“If we’re the only thing holding you back, you can just go you know? We don’t mind having lent you our help in the first place…”

… It still didn’t work.

“Why are you pushing me to work under that pig? Do you hate me that much that you want to get rid of me as soon as possible?”

I said in a sulking tone of voice. Mary seem to be disturbed after hearing my words.

“T-There’s no such thing! In fact, I–!!”

“You… What?”

“… N… Nothing…”

She said while blushing wildly up to her ears. Woah, it’s been a long time since she got embarrassed to this degree. What was that she was trying to say?

“In the first place, why are you forcing me to become a magic engineer? Is it really that great of a job?”

Seeing that it will take some time for Mary to recover, I asked Blaire. She just shrugged her shoulders.

“You can say that being a magic engineer is the dream of anyone walking the path of a magic artificer. The me from before probably had the same dream.”

“And now it has changed?”

“Y-Yeah…”

And now… Blaire too blushed up to her ears. Did I ask something that can make her feel embarrassed?

“Well, I basically get what a magic engineer is. Correct me if I’m wrong though.”

I murmured alone as it looks like the two of them won’t be answering for a while.

“First, a magic engineer uses the applications of the magic circles under the two systems.”

“Second, a magic engineer produces a new type of magic by mixing the two prominent systems, creating a brand new system of magic.”

“Last, possibly, the magic engineer applies concepts of science– I mean the concept of the laws of the world and the universe in creating magic circles. Enabling them to make magic that can captivate the competitive heart of scholars around the world.”

“The last one was half-correct but half-wrong too.”

Blaire was the first one to recover and replied to me.

“Yes, they get attention. However, what draws other people wasn’t how complicated the magic circles they made. What draws them is the ability of the said magic to eliminate ranks of demons in a single strike.”

If I recall the output of the prototype gauntlet that I made, it only fell inferior to the chanted spells. And based on Mary’s words, normal fireball was enough to kill a demon in one hit. You can imagine the comparison.

“… Who was the last Magic Engineer?”

“Honestly, I don’t know. However, if you’re asking for the last successful magic engineer, that would be Salfias. He was the magic engineer that invented the paper manufacturing method that made paper available to the public. At the same time, he also made a sword that can slay thousands of demons without even getting chipped or scratched. He was the last magic engineer in history that managed to create a masterpiece.”

“Paper manufacturing method… So about 300 years ago? There’s no successful Magic Engineer after him?”

“None…”

She bitterly answered. Then, her eyes rose and met with mine. A small smile appeared on her face.

“Actually, there is one…”

“Who?!”

“I’m looking at him now.”

“……”

SO it was that scarce. I thought it was a normal job but rather, it looks more like an advanced job after ranking up several times. That is if I compare it using game terms.

“Still, I’m a man who hates working under some unreasonable guy. If I really have the skills to be a magic engineer then I’ll use that talent for myself and those around me.”

I said indignantly. The three of them stared at me with amazement on their faces. Was it really that hard to believe?

“… Looks like we’ve arrived.”

Our carriage stopped and we all came down. What greeted us was a building not inferior to the Merchant’s Guild. They have almost the same design.

Many individuals are coming and going inside the building. Most of them had strong looking weapons hanging on their waist or back.

“… So this is the Adventurer’s guild…”

The Adventurer’s Guild. A guild that offers countless jobs for any individual that wishes to take a look. After asking Mary about where to get a job, she immediately recommended this place.

Despite its name, the adventurer’s guild offers various jobs such as alchemist, herb gatherer, border protector, monster subjugator up to acting as caravan guards. All common jobs that you can think of was being offered there.

I quickly entered inside. A large hall with lots of tables and chairs, full to the brim with people. I almost felt that I went inside a bar on a weekend as the scent of alcohol was drifting around despite it only being slightly past noon.

I ignored the activities around and headed towards the counter where a beautiful woman of around 30 years of age was standing. If she was a bit taller, she may have entered my strike zone.

“Excuse me, I’m looking for a job…”

“May I ask what sort of job are you preferring?”

The woman answered with a smile.

“I don’t have any particular interests so just give me a list of available jobs.”

“… If that is so, then I recommend this…”

She said while pointing at an orb floating on one corner of the counter.

“This is a Job Assignment Orb. Based on the abilities of the person touching it, it will assign a perfect job for him. What do you think?”

What an interesting device. Is it similar to the orb I found on the girls’ house?

“Then that one please.”

“Okay. Then please place your right hand above the orb.”

As instructed, I placed my hand atop the orb. I was surprised when I felt the cold orb. I thought it would be a little bit warmer.

The orb, previously black, now released a bright yellow light. I squinted my eyes a little so as to protect my eyes from it. I can feel mana being drained from me. Then, after about 10 seconds, the light faded.

“Congratulations. The process is done. You may now remove your hands from the orb.”

Is that it? I thought it would be a bit grander.

“The result will be appearing soon so please wait patiently.”

As she said that, I noticed that a small yellow light had remained on the middle of the orb. It seems like it’s still active. After waiting for about 2 minutes, the orb released a flash.

I reflexively closed my eyes. When I opened it once again, a string of letters appeared above the sphere, rotating on an axis vertical to the sphere’s center.

“… What’s that?”

The letters used are a bit different from what I know. I can’t read it. Ignoring my dilemma, the woman on the counter took a small bundle of papers and started scanning it.

Her finger suddenly stopped and she almost fell on her back. She repeatedly checked the words on the orb, the words on the paper and my face. After repeating that for numerous times, she finally spoke.

“U-Umm… T-The job that was given… Was… D-Demon Hunter…”

Why is she stuttering? Don’t tell me that a demon hunter is another rare job?! Don’t mess with me! Fate!

“Demon hunter…”

I murmured loud enough for her to hear. I am currently watching her reactions to determine the significance of the job.

“I-If you would like, I can just assign another job for you! T-There’s no need to force yourself…”

Hmmm… Based on her reaction, this job wasn’t that rare. However, as she looks like she was about to cry, maybe this job has low acceptance rate? Like, nobody want to accept it? Well, no matter what, since the orb determined that this job is the best for me, I’ll just stay with it.

“No, it’s fine. Thanks for the help.”

“A-Are you sure?!”

Woah! That surprised me.

“Y-Yeah. So, the requests for my job is posted on the information board right?”

I asked for confirmation.

“……”

The woman stared at me like looking at a rare creature. Then, with caution in her tone, she slowly spoke.

“There’s no requests for Demon Hunters… Demon Hunters earn their keep by hunting high ranking demons…”

… High ranking demons? What the hell? Were the ones that attacked the border last time low ranking ones?

Looks like I ended up with a troublesome job…

Chapter 14: Greater Demon Hunting

It had been an eventful day.

One thing led to another making me feel tired both mentally and physically. I requested for an inn and asked them to just leave me alone to rest while they tour around the capital.

I tucked in early and closed my eyes. I dispelled the random thoughts in my head and visited the world of dreams…

Based on my senses, I haven’t even slept for an hour, however, my eyes suddenly opened. I don’t know why. When I looked around, darkness covered the surroundings. Is it evening already?

I picked up my glasses and forced my lethargic body to stand up. Then, I slowly treaded towards the hall on the first floor. I checked at the counter and asked for a late dinner. It seems that I have slept for over 6 hours.

I headed towards the dining hall and waited for my dinner. To my surprise, the three girls were there, eating their meals too.

“Nazo, good evening.”

“Come here! Over here!”

“…… G-Good evening…”

Mary, Nina and Blaire called in turn. What caught my attention was the clothes they were wearing. If I am to borrow words from earth, it would be similar to a negligee. Their semi-transparent blouse made it easy to see the tank top beneath it. The sight was very provoking, especially on Blaire’s case. It was explosive.

“… Good evening… What’s with the clothes?”

“This? Blaire chose it! Looks good right?!”

Nina explained as she stood and twirled around once. Since she was wearing a tank top matched with a short pants, surely, the exposure was high. However, in Nina’s case, it didn’t look provocative. Rather, it boosted her lively charms.

“… It looks good alright… I’m asking why you’re all wearing that here…”

I rephrased my question. This time, Mary answered with a smile.

“Since nobody else other than us are currently renting a room in this inn. Also, the staff here are all female. So there’s no problem.”

“… I’m a man you know?”

“But you don’t mind this right?”

“… Well… It’s true that I don’t particularly mind though… Wait… Isn’t that supposed to be the other way around…?”

I really couldn’t guess what’s running on these girl’s minds.

I reluctantly sat down on the vacant chair between Mary and Blaire.

I tried hard, really hard, just to ignore the temptations beside me. Luckily, not long after, my dinner was served.

It was a luxury meal if I may say.

A large slice of steak garnished with many vegetables. A bowl of soup. Something soft looking, probably for dessert, and a glass of wine.

I asked the waitress but it seems that it’s a non-alcoholic wine. When I asked for the “real” wine, both Mary and Nina stopped me. Was there rules against drinking here? When I asked, it seems that alcoholic wine was expensive and that we probably can’t afford it. I nodded in apprehension.

Since we don’t have any particular topic for discussion, I talked to them about the job I got when we went to the adventurer’s guild. I was a bit surprised upon seeing their reactions.

“… Demon… Hunter…”

“Are you really fine? You don’t feel anything weird?”

“I’ll sue that wench for not explaining things thoroughly…”

Mary went into a pondering mood. Her face looks serious while her stare points down to her unfinished plate. Nina voiced some peculiar questions with an extremely worried face. Blaire was murmuring something that sounds dangerous.

Probably noticing my confusion, Mary shook her head and explained.

“Sorry. The Demon Hunter Job is actually a job that is never took by anyone to the point that once they got the job successfully, they will either sue the attendant or angrily ask for a change of jobs.”

… I see. I kind of get now why that attendant suddenly got tense. However, something within Mary’s words was tugging at the corner of my mind.

“… What do you mean by successfully?”

Mary took a grim, serious look and explained.

“… Actually, the Demon Hunter job can only be acquired through the Job Assignment Orb. Also, each job needs a certain amount of mana to be drained from the user. In case of a Demon Hunter, the mana would be equivalent to the mana of a dozen on magicians… Which is naturally unattainable by a single person.”

Don’t tell me…

“That’s why, in some cases, some got their mana completely drained to the point that their vitality was almost depleted. In extremely rarer cases, some even died… Just because they are compatible to the highest job available called Demon Hunter…”

“The hell?! You mean I was doing something dangerous back then?!”

I unconsciously shouted. I was a bit startled to have found out that I almost died… One misstep and I’m…

“The last recorded man to acquire this job was around a decade ago and his conclusion was a comatose so the management probably got a bit loose.”

“… In the first place, it is you who is unbelievable.”

Suddenly, Blaire butted in.

“That orb just took a dozen magician’s worth of mana from yourself you know? How are you even standing after that?”

Now that it was pointed out, I noticed why I got tired suddenly after that event. My mana was drained almost completely, leaving only the bare minimum to maintain my consciousness… Still, mana was a concept that I have yet to fully grasp. There’s no way for me to measure my mana quantity.

“… I honestly don’t know… Maybe my mana pool is just that large?”

“If that’s true, having a large mana pool is an understatement. You have an INSANELY ENORMOUS MANA POOL. I admit that I myself has a larger mana quantity than others but not to that extent.”

Blaire commented offhandedly.

“In my opinion, it’s better to just look for another job… The job bonus may seem good but it’s not worth it. The risk is too great.”

“… Job bonus? You mean like a salary bonus or the like?”

As another vague term was mentioned by Mary, I cannot help but ask back. She just nodded slightly before continuing her words.

“You know the effect of the equipment that you made the last time? It was something similar. In case of Demon Hunter, there are two. One: Increased Strength. Two: Increased Sensitivity to Demons. These two.”

I thought it was like a bonus money for every kill. What a letdown…

“Still, I already decided to take this job. I am not planning on changing it until I tried it first.”

I said these determinedly. The three of them gave worried looks.

“… Well, it’s your life after all. It’s not like we have jurisdiction over your choices.”

Blaire stood up and left her half-finished plate. Walking towards the dining room’s door.

“… Don’t push yourself too much okay?”

Soon Mary followed leaving words showing her worry.

Seeing the two leave, Nina quickened her eating pace and finished her meal before running towards them. Left alone, I ate quietly and slowly before going back to my room and sleeping once more.

I woke up early, feeling great. Looks like my mana was fully recovered.

I took an early breakfast and after leaving a message to the three girls at the counter, I headed out.

The street was already full of pedestrians. Looks like the day starts earlier here in the capital. I quietly walked around gathering information then headed towards and out of the gate. When the guards asked where I’m going, after telling them that I’m a Demon Hunter, they had a worried face while letting me pass. They even wished me good luck.

I walked for about an hour in total. I finally reached a thick forest that was near the capital’s walls.

As I have heard, there seemed to be a Greater Demon somewhere here. My aim was to find out how strong a greater demon is. If possible, I wish to try and successfully hunt one.

The moment I entered the forest, I felt the change in the air. It suddenly felt heavier. Like something will jump out of the bushes on any moment.

“ROOOOAAAARRRR!!!”

Just as I had thought, a demon in the shape of a wild dog jumped out from the bushes. Out of reflex, I applied mana to my right hand and punched it. The head of the dog demon comically flew to the other direction and the limp body fell to the ground.

“… That was a surprise…”

If I wasn’t paying attention to that bush, I may have received some injuries from that. Looks like this is the effect of the Demon Hunter job… Increased sensitivity towards demons, huh…

As a measure against any future surprise attacks, I activated the magic circles on my boots.

[Weaving through the endless sky! Unstoppable might prevails! Gather! Converge! Follow the command of the contractor of the sixth gate! «Blitz»!!!]

After the chant, the boots turned into the cool looking pair of glowing white knee high boots. Looking closely, particles of light was slowly emitted from it. That must be the wasted mana I presume.

With a power-up in tow, I continued my demon hunt.

I met several demons like the dog before and slayed them almost as instant as they appeared.

After a long time of walking, I finally reached the center of the forest. I can feel warning signs from all around me the moment I stepped at the clearing at the center.

I looked up and noticed a weir phenomenon.

“… The sun… is … red?”

The color of the sun was of a bloody red. It’s nowhere near from how it normally looks. Using my gaming knowledge, all I can assume was that either I came into a different dimension while inside the forest, or a certain barrier was placed, making the scenery turn like this.

When I reached the dead center of the clearing, suddenly, the warning signs around me rang loudly. I quickly followed my instincts and jumped to the side. Not long after, on the spot I was at a few moments ago, a thick, sharp, wooden protrusion appeared. If I didn’t jump just now… Never mind.

I quickly regained my bearings and stared at the enemy. On the far side of the clearing, a large hollow tree about 3 meters tall with a pair of large and nasty looking red eyes stood imposingly. It has a ragged crack across the trunk that looks like a wicked smile. Branches on both sides looks like a pair of arms.

“Haha… So… This is… A Greater Demon…”

I can’t help but give a bitter laugh.

Chapter 15: The Reward

I stared at the enemy in front of me. The tree-like demon stared back.

I can feel cold sweat running down my back. My hands were trembling from fear. The madness and strength I can feel coming from this Greater Demon alone is more than a dozen-fold of a normal demon’s strength.

I haven’t tried receiving a blow from a normal demon yet but I know that getting hit by this one will lead to a terrible ending. That’s what my senses are telling me.

When I felt another warning from my mind, I jumped away.

Similar to before, a sharp tipped wooden protrusion appeared. Looking closely, it was the greater demon, the tree demon’s root.

The tree demon attacked continuously making me jump around like a rabbit. Honestly, it slightly makes me feel a bit irritated. However, the attacks never came more than one at a time. Also…

“… Looks like I’m still a bit faster than the enemy’s attacks… The problem is…”

After I figured out the attack pattern of the enemy, I started to fight back.

I dodged the next attack and quickly dashed towards the tree-demon. As expected, once I reached the range of its branches, I was attacked. I dashed to the side to avoid. However, the demon couldn’t turn around quick enough.

“So that’s your weakness…”

I have now found a total of 3 exploits. This was already good enough. I dashed to the tree-demon’s back and let out a spinning kick.

The tree demon was surprised after having been attacked from the back. It let out a loud cry, seemingly in pain. Due to it being slow in turning around, I kept my position standing behind it.

Of course, I didn’t let the chance escape and piled up one attack after another, not giving the enemy a chance to counterattack. After my tenth kick, the trunk suddenly cracked and broke down.

The tree-demon stopped moving and the black colored bark turned into light grey. Looks like it was already defeated. The moment I realized that, the sound of glass being broken resounded in the surroundings.

“What the…”

When I looked up, I noticed that the sky was cracking. Just like glass, the cracks ran wildly and pieces started falling down. Then, when the cracks finally covered the whole sky, it broke with a loud crash.

What was revealed was the normal looking sun hanging up in the sky. The barrier or something seems to have been destroyed together with the greater demon.

“Oh, right! I need to get the proof…”

After asking around earlier, I came to know that there was something like a core inside demons.

The core seems to be the reason how demons can keep their corporeal form in this world. Also, the size and color of the cores vary from demon to demon.

I searched the body of the tree-demon and found a green looking orb deep inside it. It was about the size of a softball. Being made with something like glass in texture, it was a bit hard to hold. I quickly placed it inside my pocket, making it bulge.

The warning sounds didn’t ring on my way back. It seems that there were no more demons here. Or maybe, they disappeared together with the broken barrier. That sounds possible.

When I reached the capital’s gates once again, the sun was almost at the zenith. I greeted the guards casually and entered. I didn’t need to go and stand in line as I properly made preparations and got a permit that allows one to enter and exit easily.

My stomach was already grumbling the moment I reached the Adventurer’s Guild. I quickly headed towards the counter and presented the orb.

“Good noon! Well, if it isn’t Nazo? What may be your business here?”

The lady at the counter quickly noticed me. She’s the one whom I asked for details this morning so she knew my name then. If I recall, her name should be…

“Good noon, miss Brune. I came here to submit this proof of subjugation.”

As I greeted, her attention quickly turned to the large glass ball that I placed above the counter.

“… That’s quite a peculiar core… And is even abnormally large… Wait a moment, okay?”

As it seems that she couldn’t identify the core by appearance, she headed towards the office at the back. After about a minute, she came back while carrying a small contraption. She quietly placed it above the counter as I stared.

It looks like a weighing scale with a bowl shaped part above a white rectangular base. It looks plain but after inspecting, I noticed a magic circle engraved at both sides of the base.

“Thanks for waiting! I will now confirm the core. Please place the core here.”

She quickly spoke while pointing at the bowl shaped part. I did so as she told me to.

Then, a second later, the core floated a little while the device’s magic circles release light particles. The light particles slowly gathered in front of the device and gradually built a figure. About half a minute passed and finally a clear 3D rotating image could be seen. It was a mini version of the tree demon I fought.

“……!”

For some reason, Brune’s face turned pale after seeing the monster’s image. When I asked if there’s something wrong, she asked questions instead while slightly stuttering.

“I-Is this core… That of the Greater demon in the nearby forest…?”

“Yeah. That’s what’s being shown right now right?”

“… D-Did your party subjugate it? I-If I remember correctly, you just asked about it this morning right?”

“I fought it alone though. As I don’t know the degree of danger it possesses. It was frightening at first but I quickly got used to it while fighting.”

After hearing my answer, her face turned even paler. Is she feeling sick or something? Then, once again, she told me to wait and she carefully brought the device together with the core towards the inner office.

A couple of minutes passed but she still hasn’t returned. I quietly spent my time waiting while looking at the few crowds of Adventurers hanging around the interior of the guild. I could feel that the number of gazes towards me was more than this morning despite having less crowd. Was it my imagination?

“Ye’r Nazo?”

A rough voice suddenly came from behind me. When I turned around, a burly man full of scars all around his body and face was standing behind the counter. I was slightly taken aback by his intimidating appearance. Then, I noticed that miss Brune was standing slightly behind the man while holding two brown leather bags.

“… That’s me alright… Is something wrong?”

I asked while forcefully pushing back the goosebumps that I felt. Hearing my answer, he leaned against the counter and scrutinized my appearance up close. He swept his eyes from head to toes. His eyes turned wide when his stare reached my legs.

“… ‘S dat a magic tool…?”

He asked while pointing towards my boots. When I looked towards it, I saw that I forgot to turn it back to normal. It was still on the form of the knee-high silvery-white boots.

“… Yes…” I answered with a small voice.

His sharp eyes squinted into slits as if he was appraising me. It felt a bit uncomfortable but I stood still. A few moment later, he withdrew and motioned towards miss Brune. In turn, she quickly moved and handed me the two brown leathers.

“The first bag is the reward for the posted subjugation request by the city while the second is the payment for you as a Demon Hunter. As for the core, we will be handling it. Thank you for your hard work.”

She quickly explained with a slightly strained smile. I took the bags and peeked inside only to be surprised with the amount inside. I could see a couple of white golds, several large gold and even silvers. It was a large amount enough to make me live comfortably for a year. On the other bag, the amount is only at the range of 2 large golds and tons of silver but still, it’s quite a large sum.

“… Isn’t this some kind of mistake…?”

I skeptically asked. I couldn’t think of a demon being worth this much gold. However, miss Brune quickly shook her head in denial.

“This is the price put up by the city for the successful subjugation of the «Elder Treant». As it was under the assumption of an army taking it out, the prize naturally became this large. So there’s absolutely no mistake.”

Hearing her explanation, I was slightly convinced. If the assumption was that over a hundred will fight it, then each participant would get around 3 golds each at the very least. It only got this big as I, alone, received the prize money intended for over hundreds of participants.

“…”

I stopped speaking as throwing rhetorical questions would just waste time. I thanked miss Brune and quickly went out of the Adventurer’s guild. The Burly man was staring at me all the time until I got out.

“Haaaaa… Now… What should I do…?”

It’s just a little past noon and I suddenly winded up with a lot of money. It may sound good to go around and buy random things but I weirdly felt tired. I better go back to the inn to rest.

I ran down the road with the help of the boots. In less than 10 minutes, I reached the inn. I quickly headed to my room, deactivated and removed the boots, hid the money under my pillow and finally laid down to take a short nap.

After lying down, I noticed that I couldn’t sleep. I am feeling weirdly tired but not sleepy. It also felt a bit different from mana exhaustion. Then, I suddenly noticed.

“… I’m… Shaking?”

My hands were shaking uncontrollably. As if I was left in a freezer, my hands were both cold and shivering. I didn’t even need to think of the reason why.

“… So really… I was that afraid… Hah.”

I placed my arms above my eyes. Then, I reflected upon the battle that I had experienced.

… It was really dangerous. One misstep and I may have died. Not only due to the greater demon but even because of the countless surprise attacks of dog like demons. I may have survived thanks to my boots but upon thinking calmly, if ever the monsters attacked me in groups, I may have been in grave danger.

… I should not let my guard down…

… I… Better… Make more… Equipment…

As the tension left my body, sleep gradually came.

…

“Again…”

I felt my consciousness quickly returning. It hadn’t even been a minute after I fell asleep. I grumbled as I opened my eyes.

“… Huh?”

However, I was not inside the inn anymore.

Chapter 16: The Holy Quest

Where am I?

That’s the first question that popped in my head after seeing my surroundings.

It was a wide room with a white stillness spreading up to the horizons. A white room with visually no end. A plain and empty place.

I looked around and analyzed my situation.

First, I should be inside the inn. Then why am I here? Second, I was sleeping just moments ago. Then why am I standing here when I opened my eyes?

Third, this isn’t a dream… Or so I think… As I can still feel pain after I pinched my cheeks. Fourth, I know not a single place on Earth nor in this world where there exists a room like this.

And last, basing on games, manga, anime and light novels, there should be some sort of event happening right now, or an annoying flag was raised.

Still… Nobody seemed to be within sight.

“Welcome, young one.”

Suddenly, a somewhat soothing female voice came echoing from behind me. When I turned around, I got no choice but use my arms to block my eyes.

Too bright!

“I manifested myself partially but still, as a mortal, you will find it hard to stare at my figure.”

I forced myself and still tried to look at the source of the voice but as if I was staring at the sun, it was hard to keep my eyes open.

Who are you?

I can’t help but ask. Still, no voice came out. The other party seems to have heard what I thought of and slowly answered.

“I am the world. The humans call me the god of Creation or the goddess of Life but I prefer being called by my name, Sapphire.”

A god?

I can’t help but doubt. This was a common scene in most manga and light novels but seeing it firsthand was really unbelievable. It makes me think that the other party was insane.

I don’t believe in gods.

I spoke in a slightly forceful tone. However, in response to my rudeness, the self-proclaimed god giggled lightly.

“It’s fine if you don’t believe in us. I was only here as a representative of the gods. I’m not here to force you to believe that we exist.”

… Somehow, I feel weird…

Following this flow, the main topic would surely come next. And just as I expected, she dropped the bomb.

“Nazo, or should I say, Nanami Kamizo. We request of you to save this world.”

A name. A very familiar name. After I heard that name, some flashes of memory came back to me. It was some short captions of people’s smiling faces. Faces that sent my heart aflutter.

… Is that… Really my name?

“Yes. According to your memories which you yourself can’t remember, that’s your name. Nazo was apparently the pet name your friends gave you.”

Pet name… So that’s why I can remember it faintly?

So I really was sent to another world?

I asked full of hope.

“… No. Actually, you weren’t sent to this world but more accurately, you wandered into this world.”

…… what do you mean…?

“Based on your memory, you were being chased by armed men until you reached a forest area. Then, when you lost your balance, you fell from the cliff…”

… Did I die…?

“No… I don’t think so… The moment you fell, your soul clung to life desperately and caused a certain phenomenon. You were suddenly moved to this world together with your physical body as a result. Also, due to the shock that your ethereal body received, some of your memories got locked, especially the proper names of people, places and things. Then…”

… Then Mary and Nina found me… Right?

“Yes.”

There were still tons of questions within my mind. Also, my memory has yet to return even after I learned my name. It was a bit unsettling but I have no choice for now.

So? What’s that about saving the world?

I faintly remember her words earlier but my mind was a bit muddled so I can’t remember quite well.

“Yes. That is, we wish you to rid the world of the demons that roams freely.”

Can I even do that?

“Of course. If not, we wouldn’t even be asking you here.”

… Is it connected to me coming from another world?

“That may be so but if you think that you are stronger than others just because of that, you are mistaken. Our world works the same as yours. The only difference is that mana here is stronger than there. The stronger the mana, the more abnormalities can be seen. Animals mutate and became monsters that knows nothing but to kill. Bigfoot and such mystic creatures are caused by mana anomalies in your world. Though nobody knows of it.”

… That’s somewhat hard to swallow… But I wasn’t called here to quarrel with her so for now I need to confirm a few things.

You mean, my large mana capacity was like that even in the previous world?

“Yes. Just that since mana there is thin, your mana reserve never recovered above a certain amount. You can say that if you absorb all the present mana in your world then you can fill up your high mana reserve.”

…… Is that so…

“… As to how to save the world. It is simple. All you need to do is to destroy the facilities that are causing most of the mana anomalies in this world. These facilities were built all around the world about 2 thousand years ago and due to some circumstances, it causes mana disturbances up till now. Also, there are strong Cosmology level demons guarding each facility. That’s why nobody up till now managed to destroy even one facility.”

Facilities huh? Let me guess, as the mana anomaly is high, it got warped into something that doesn’t even resemble the facility anymore?

“A correct deduction. As you have thought, they have turned to something that you may call a Dungeon. However, don’t worry as I assure you that you can clear them all. The only problem for you would be the guardians.”

Cosmology level right? If I compare it with the greater demon I fought, how strong is it?

“That is quite vague but let’s just say that a cosmology level is as strong as a thousand greater demons.”

W-Wait! You mean they are monsters thousand times stronger than something that almost took my life?! How the hell would you expect me to fight it?!

“By using your skills. You have a great talent in making magic tools. And we thought that as long as you have the right resources, you will surely be able to create God Class and Myth Level weapons. That is what we Gods decided to provide you with as help. In the form of books of lost knowledge.”

And if I have that, how will I compare to the cosmology level demons?

“Almost equal. If you have a God Class weapon, then you can fight it at the same level as how you fought the greater demon.”

That sounds appealing but… You probably don’t think that I would simply place my life on the line just to have a few books right? What else are you going to offer?

“Pretty perceptive aren’t you? That’s right. As compensation for completing this request or ours, we would fix your memories and also give you the chance to ask for 1 wish. Any wish would be fine as long as it is acceptable. Of course, immortality and such aren’t possible as it will greatly destroy the balance of the world though.”

She seems to be laughing lightly after saying that. Well, I don’t want immortality anyway. I don’t have that much things to do so I am sure that it will be boring. Still, there’s a single wish that popped into my head almost instantly.

…Can you all… Send me back to my world?

A confirmation. I want a solid proof. Since they are gods, or so they say, I think that lying is not in their nature.

“… If that’s what you really want by the time that you finished this quest, we would gladly do so.”

She spoke in a provocative tone of voice filled with the playfulness of a child.

What do you…?

I wanted to ask her for confirmation but suddenly, a strong gust of wind blew and stopped my question mid-sentence.

“Looks like it’s time. Well then, we are expecting great things from you.”

Then, I was suddenly sent flying off into the horizons. I was sent flying with some speed. Suddenly, the scenery turned 90 degrees and now I’m falling. Looking behind me, an endless darkness extends. Then, I suddenly felt my back hitting the hard ground splattering me into pieces.

“GUHAH–!!!”

I stood up from bed. Yes, from bed. Looks like I made it back in one piece. Cold sweat covered my whole body. I once again confirmed my body but looks like I was really alright. I heaved a sigh of relief before finally lying down once more.

Still, I remember how my body scattered and how it felt. Before I noticed it, I was already shaking in fear.

I was trembling uncontrollably. I couldn’t get that disgusting sensation out of my mind. Was that how it feel being smashed into a pulp? What a disturbing sensation…

I couldn’t return to sleep and after I noticed it, there were faint beams of light coming from the window. Looks like I woke up when it was almost morning already.

I quickly stood up and opened the window. I let the cool morning breeze to clear my mind from unnecessary thoughts.

“Haaah… Okay.”

Finally, I managed to regain some composure. Then, I was surprised as I turned around. That was because a tower of books was placed by the foot of my bed without me noticing.

“Is this… The help that the self-proclaimed god said?”

What a lot of books. I checked some titles but all of them looks quite grand. Most books are written in English and Latin while there are some in Japanese. As I knew my name from the self-proclaimed god, I also remembered that I was a Japanese in the original world. I also faintly remember that I have mastered over 10 languages from my world.

… Well then, what should I do from now on?

While thinking that, I slowly got lost in the maze of thoughts.

Chapter 17: Truth

A knocking sound was heard, followed by a voice calling for me. It was without a doubt Mary’s voice.

“Nazo? Are you awake?”

“Haaaah… Yeah…”

A yawn escaped from me as I closed the book I was reading. The cover has “Skill Bestowal and Activation Conditions, A Guide to Engraving” which were all written in English. It was a good read for passing time.

“Can I come in?”

Mary asked after knowing that I’m awake. I pondered for a little and quickly went to the door and unlocked it. After I opened it slightly, I could immediately see Mary wearing casual clothes standing outside.

“What’s wrong? Got something to discuss?”

“… No, just wanted to talk… Is it okay?”

“I was just reading away anyway. Come in.”

I invited her in and told her to sit anywhere she like. She sat down on the bedside. She was silently eyeing the mountain of books that I stacked atop the bed.

“… That’s quite a lot of books… Did you buy them all? It must’ve cost a fortune…”

She said admiringly while picking up one of the closest books. After she opened it, she seem to be surprised. Well, that can’t be helped. The one she picked up was written in Latin after all. There’s no way she would be able to understand it as the only written scripts I have encountered are all written in Japanese. I think that it was the language used within this kingdom. I don’t know about others though.

“Can you… Read this?”

She asked with her hands shaking.

“Well… I can. Though as Latin is one of my weaker languages, I may have a bit difficulties in understanding it.”

“… Nazo… Really, which kingdom are you from? Perhaps you remember?”

I remember that I’m not from any kingdom. Based on her reaction, it seems that Latin is the language of other kingdoms… Wait… This may be the best time to tell them the truth.

Still… It would be better to tell all of them at once. Even if they think that I’m crazy and left me alone, I still have a ton of money to support myself. Yup. This sounds like a good plan.

“Mary? Can you call the other girls? I want to speak to all of you… Pertaining the truth about me…”

Hearing my serious sounding request, she nervously nodded and quickly went out of the door. After waiting for a minute, the three of them came. That was quick.

Mary resumed her previous position and sat down the bedside. Nina slowly took refuge on the only chair in the room while Blaire stood quietly beside the door.

“So? What do you want to talk about?”

Blaire, probably acting as the representative of the three, asked in a serious voice. Their faces looks stiff for some reason.

“Everyone… Sorry to have delayed this moment but I finally think that the time to tell the truth has come.”

The three quietly stared at me. Unease was carefully hidden under their serious atmosphere.

“First of all, I…”

The Tension was rising. It was to the point that cold sweat seem to have appeared on their foreheads.

“Actually, I’m from another world.”

There, I properly dropped the bomb.

The three of them looked stunned for a moment. It looks like it would take some time for my words to reach their heads.

“Also, my real name seems to be Nanami Kamizo. I was a citizen of the country called Japan on my world.”

“Wait! Wait a minute! You mean, you’re not from the Hayes Kingdom?”

Mary quickly asked.

“Nope. If you thought of that because I could read that book, then you’re mistaken. In the first place, I don’t know where this Hayes Kingdom that you’re talking about.”

“T-Then how could you read––?!”

“Calm down, Mary.”

Blaire quickly stopped Mary who seems to have lost her cool. Noticing this herself, she quickly hung her head and remained silent. Then, Blaire took the opportunity to ask.

“Nazo– No, Nanami Kamizo, right?”

“Either way is fine.”

“Then, Nazo. You claim that you came from another world just like from legends. However, believing you is a bit hard. Do you have a proof about this?”

I quickly pondered. The girls being suspicious about my claim was truly deserved. In the first place, not having them treat me like a nutcase was already a miracle. Still, a proof right?

“… I think Doctor Tessa knows about me being someone that came from another world. If you ask her, then she can prove my claim.”

Hearing my words, both Blaire and Mary seem surprised.

“Doctor Tessa… Knows?”

“Yeah. You remember my first time meeting her? The time when she asked me where I came from? She knew the truth by then due to my answer.”

Mary seems to be pondering about something then as if she remembered something, she looks a bit relieved.

“… Is that so… What a relief…”

Scanning the faces of the three, they all seem convinced already.

Determining that it was already the right moment, I jumped towards the main topic why I called them.

“Once more, I have something to tell you. It was about last night and the reason why I got this mountain of books here.”

“… We’re listening…” Blaire quickly answered.

“In my dreams, last night, a self-proclaimed goddess spoke to me.”

“““………”””

“In there, she told me about a truth of this world, how I came to this world and asked a request of me. I couldn’t see her figure but her voice was definitely feminine.”

“““………”””

“She told me to destroy all the facilities that causes the mana distortion in this world. These books are given as support for me to create the best of equipment to fight the guardians of each facility.”

“““………”””

“So I was planning on preparing for this quest.”

“““……… Is your head…? Alright?”””

Hahaha. So they finally couldn’t believe what I said huh. Well, if somebody just said that they met a god, nobody would immediately believe. Or rather, they will look at him like a lunatic spouting nonsense.

“So it really didn’t work huh… Well anyway, what I’m saying is that I want to have a quiet time for a while. I want to read these books and to make much stronger gears or weapons so I ask for you guys to leave me here. I promise to return to the village after a while.”

After I finished speaking, silence fell.

However, as if seeing this as the right instant, Nina slowly stood up from the chair and walked towards me. In her hand was a piece of paper. An envelope.

“… Nazo… This is from Doctor Tessa. She said to give this to you if you ever decided to move on your own.”

“… Thanks……”

I received the letter and after opening it, quickly passed an eye to the contents.

…… Shit. This is bad.

“EVERYONE! WE’LL HEAD BACK TO THE VILLAGE ASAP!!!”

This is bad. Really bad. If what was written in it turns out to be true…

The three quickly snapped to action after my yell. They probably felt the urgency in my shout. On the other hand, I quickly placed all the books inside a magical pouch that was given to me together with the books.

After I finished clearing my things, I ran down and headed to the entrance. The other three were already there with a magic carriage waiting. Without much talking, we quickly boarded the carriage and asked the driver to head to the Travelling Agency, the agency that manages buying, selling and the use of magic carriages.

It took a few minutes for us to reach the said building. I ran towards the counter and bought a magic carriage, making the receptionist hurry.

I paid upfront and quickly ran towards the carriage I bought. I pulled an engraving knife from my pocket and dived under the carriage. There, I could see a magic circle connected to several others. It looks complicated enough.

Still, I don’t have enough time. I quickly cut off the connection of the third and fifth circles and added a new circle joining the two. Then, I carved circles on all the four wheels of the carriage. All this took approximately 5 minutes.

After finishing, I quickly boarded it and activated the magic circles, or rather, the Magic Circuit. Holding the steering wheel, I quickly sped out of the lot and headed to where the three was.

The look surprised but quickly boarded the carriage. After that, we sped down the road while heading towards the gate. Our speed was worlds apart from the normal magic carriage due to the new circle I introduced. Also, the circled that I drew on the wheels and axles were for enhancing the sturdiness of the materials. In other words, we can run as fast as we can without a worry about the carriage.

After a quick stopover at the gate, we then sped towards the village. The speed we were travelling was over 4 times the normal speed of magic carriages. The speed the scenery passes by and the comfort of travel made the three of them stare wide eyed.

“… Where are we going? Back to the village?”

Mary asked with an uneasy voice. Both Blaire and Nina were the same as they look a bit scared.

“…… Yes… If my estimate is correct, we may barely make it back in time…”

I continued to pray that we can make it in time.

However, at the same time, I was thinking of something else.

Is this the working of those Gods?

A doubt had budded inside my heart. I set it aside for a moment as there were much important things to think of. That was precisely, the contents of the letter.

I just hope that I was mistaken…

With that in mind, we continued travelling at high speeds.

Chapter 18: Wind Halberd

The two days travel was covered within 6 hours. It was just a little past noon when we arrived at the border of the village.

However, my premonition proved true.

The border was basically in tatters. There’s many corpses of monsters around with still fresh looking pool of blood. Of course, it was not a one sided slaughter…

“… No… Way…”

Nina muttered, face pale, as we quickly passed through the border. I felt like I ate a bitter bug as we passed by the several bodies lying on the ground. Some were even familiar faces.

Mary, who was the most compassionate amongst us, slowly turned teary eyed. Blaire, who was most of the time acting indifferent looks crestfallen. It was easy to imagine what was going on within their minds now.

The carriage didn’t slow down. I can’t afford to slow down. Even when we saw several bodies of acquaintances, we proceeded forward. Mary was now bawling while Nina was unconsciously leaking large amounts of mana. Blaire was looking at the two with a worried expression.

After about 1 more hour, the village entered our view. At the same time, the shouts of fighters and the clangs of metal swords and shields was heard.

“…! I’ll go!!!”

None of us stopped Nina after she jumped out of the carriage. There’s no way we can stop her. Before she landed, her gloves turned to the activated form. The gigantic white gauntlets.

Mary used the sleeve of her dress to wipe her tears dry and shortly followed. A faint blue barrier appeared before she landed.

“… Blaire, I’m counting on you for the two…”

I can’t stop now but I’m worried about the two girls. So, in this case, I just need to rely on Blaire. Her expression turned firm and then she nodded. She then jumped lightly from the carriage.

Soon, I could hear some explosions and sounds of Nina’s shouts. I hope they don’t push their bodies too hard.

I quickly maneuvered and avoided the large trees and rocks as I took a shortcut. Then, in a few minutes, I finally reached the plaza. There, almost all the villagers were staying while pushing back the demons.

I immediately stopped the carriage and jumped down. I then dashed quickly towards the swarm of demons. It was my first time fighting more than a dozen at once but I don’t have a choice.

Kicking the ground with my powered up boots, I appeared almost instantly beside the nearest demon.

It was the same demon as the last time we were near the border. The gorilla-like vicious demons.

“Haaaah!!!”

With a shout, I let out a short kick. But this was enough to send the over two meter demon flying in two different directions. Its body was split in half from where my kick landed.

The two remains flew towards two different demons. This made them lose their composure which was a big NO during a fight.

I sprinted towards the nearer one and did an axe kick at the same moment that the remains of the previous demon hit. This made the demon smashed into a pulp.

Without time to mull over what I did, I quickly turned to the other demon and let out a spinning kick. I aimed the kick on its head and made it fly towards another demon. The flying head punched a hole on another demon’s body.

Then, I jumped towards the middle of a particularly dense pack of monsters. I landed with my hands and did a tornado kick. The surrounding monsters immediately turned into an unrecognizable mush.

What’s amazing, actually, is that no matter how gore my methods of killing are, the white boots didn’t even sustain a single stain on it. What a convenient tool.

After clearing that cluster, the villagers finally let out a sigh of relief. However, I was still not satisfied.

Therefore, I picked up a few fist-sized stoned and threw them straight up into the air in irregular intervals. Then, I posed to release a kick as I viewed the battlefield.

After determining the most efficient point of attack, I kicked, or more like pushed using my legs, the falling stone towards that direction. The stone flew with amazing speed and cleared all the demons where it passed. Some had an arm cleaved, some had a hole in their gut, and some lost their head. It was a surreal sight.

I repeated this pattern and let loose around a dozen of fist-sized rocks. The result? About a hundred demons were slain and over 200 demons were incapacitated.

With that, I finally went towards the plaza where the villagers were at.

“Nazo! So you lot are back!”

The first to greet me was of course Orga as he was standing at the forefront of the defense line holding a gigantic hammer.

“We hurried back.”

That’s all I said back. No smile came to my face as we were still in the middle of a fight. I cleaved through the crowds and finally saw Doctor Tessa who’s tending to some injured men.

When she saw me, she had doubt pasted on her face.

“… Why?”

That’s the first question she gave out. I felt slightly pissed.

“If you think that a letter can stop me, then you’re mistaken bigtime.”

I said with a deep frown. Doctor Tessa flinched a little before turning her head down in shame. Then, as if determining that there’s no way out for her, she quickly said in a strong voice.

“… I’ll explain everything in detail later. But first, we must ensure the safety of everyone.”

She said with a dignified voice that reverberated throughout the whole plaza. In her eyes, a glint could be seen. She’s not yet giving up despite being in a despairing situation.

I couldn’t help but sigh in resignation. Then, I quickly turned around and walked away.

I first checked the battlefield and noticed that there were thousands of monsters present. No matter how fast I can swing my legs, I would certainly tire out with this number.

Looks like I need to use it now… Though I’m reluctant to do so, there’s no choice…

[Cleaving through countless enemies! The ever bending wind! Gather! Converge! Follow the command of the contractor of the fourth gate! «Windsturm»!!!]

After I chanted those words, from the magic circle covering my right hand glove, blinding light came forth. Then, after the light faded, in my hands, a long and solid halberd which outline couldn’t be seen clearly, was held firmly.

It was the ultimate weapon that I made after reading a few books and playing a little with my gloves’ magic circle. The result was as seen. A strong looking weapon that can send strong gales of wind in a single sweep.

After covering it with my own mana, it finally took shape. It was a long halberd with a wide blade at the end. The stock was about two-and-a-half meters long with the blade about half a meter. Totaling 3 meters in length.

Its color was mainly green with a mix of silver and gold. The intricate carvings on the stock was something worth looking at but I didn’t have time for such luxury at the moment. As a test, I swung it lightly. The nearby monsters got pushed three steps back.

I smiled wryly. Then, turning behind, I warned the defenders.

“Hold the line. Don’t come forward whatever happens. Clear?”

I don’t want to mind friendlies while fighting. Leaving that part out, the defenders, including Orga, nodded firmly. I nodded in response too.

I spun the halberd twice above my head and held it aloft on my right side. I don’t know how but it seems my body knows how to handle long weapons such as spears. But that isn’t of importance now.

“Here I go…”

With a light tap to the ground, I jumped forward. The monsters I passed by were sliced to pieces immediately even without waving my halberd. Looking closely, a series of sharp blades of wind continuously covers my whole immediate surroundings.

When I reached the middle of the enemies after I landed, every monster around me took a step back. It looks like a single jump from me made me travel over a hundred meters at once.

Without giving the demons enough time to recover, I quickly did a roundhouse sweep with the halberd while pouring a large amount of mana to it. The result was as seen. Several blades of wind flew in a straight line slaying any demon they passed through. After a single sweep, all demons within a hundred meters around me died in an instant, the exact numbers reaching half a thousand.

Looks like the farthest the blades could reach was a hundred meters. It was good fortune for me as I could easily avoid friendly fire.

I danced around the battlefield with the halberd as my partner. Every demon I passed by turned into slabs of meat in an instant. It was a little unbelievable but it’s the truth.

In just a few minutes, the number of the monsters dwindled visibly. A mountain of corpses lay down around me. It was to the point that I was already having a hard time moving around due to the multitude of corpses lying around.

I stopped for a moment and scanned the surroundings. The demons were now scattered all around and almost no cluster could be seen. Still, there’s a significant number of them remaining.

… I need to clean this mess up double-time. I don’t think I will last any longer.

The mana consumption of the halberd was far stronger than all of my equipment combined. By now, my mana felt like it was almost reaching the limit. I have the choice of not using it but then the problem would be my stamina.

… What a dilemma.

I then decided to continue using the halberd. Still, I need to somehow gather them to one point… Sounds impossible…

As I was wondering, a loud explosion was heard from my right side. Also, from the left side, several demons came flying. From up front, groans could be heard as the demons got sliced and diced to countless pieces.

There’s no need to think who it was. It’s the three girls.

With their help, the monsters got pushed into a smaller area. Now, it will be a bit easier.

I jumped at the center and once again did a roundhouse sweep. Again, all monsters nearby got slashed in half and died. At the same moment, I felt the effects of mana exhaustion. Still, it’s all good as we finally managed to eliminate all demons in sight.

I fell just like that and visited the world of dreams.

Chapter 19: Celebration

The cool breeze of wind brushed past my whole body.

Through my half open eyes, I could see a familiar ceiling. Golden rays of light passed through the open windows, gently lighting the whole room.

Rubbing my eyes lightly, I sat up.

“Fuhaaaaa…”

I let out a large yawn. My body felt a bit lethargic. Also, it hurts quite a bit. Trying to recall what happened, I furrowed my eyebrows. Even through my muddy consciousness, I remembered what happened clearly. The question was…

“… What happened after I passed out?”

I stood up from bed and stretched my aching limbs. Then, I noticed that I was wearing a different set of clothes than that I last remembered. Even the bloodstains from the demons were nowhere to be seen. Several possibilities quickly passed through my head but I quickly ignored it. Ignorance is bliss. Just thinking of whoever dressed me gives me chills.

While I was almost done with my stretching, I finally noticed the slightly noisy commotion coming from outside the room, or specifically, the plaza.

Since I was wearing nothing but a short pants and a thin white shirt, I changed into a more appropriate attire before heading out. After I set my coat over the usual set of my (now clean) otherworldly uniform, then donning my only pair of glasses, I slowly went outside.

The first thing that I noticed was the extremely long set of tables placed parallel to each other. There’s three of it that spans almost as long as the plaza from end to end. Atop each table, foods of different kinds were arranged neatly. Not to mention meat, there were even fruits, vegetables, exquisite looking cuisines and barrels of wine and juice.

No matter how I looked at it, the people busily running back and forth seemed to be preparing for a festival of some sort. Curious, I went down to observe from a closer distance.

While climbing down, I noticed the surroundings. What puzzled me was that there’s not a single corpse of monsters lying around. There’s not a single sign of those thousands of demons’ corpses anywhere. The amount of cleanup needed wasn’t something that can be done overnight. At least a couple of days of nonstop work is needed.

As I reached the landing at the bottom of the stairs, I was quickly greeted by an ever energetic voice from up front.

“Hey, Nazo! You’re finally awake?! Wait a minute, I’ll call the others!”

Nina quickly exclaimed before taking off at a wondrous speed. I couldn’t help but smile wryly towards her actions. Still, her remarks slightly tugged to a corner of my mind… What did she mean with ‘Finally Awake’?

Not long after, the whole gang was brought back by Nina. Mary was out of breath while Blaire’s breathing was unperturbed. Doctor Tessa was walking slowly behind them.

“Nazo!! What a relief… D-Don’t make us worry that much mou~!”

Mary said with a slight pout. She looks cute like that, just like a squirrel. How long was I out to make them worry this much?

“You look like you don’t know about anything after that huh…”

Blaire muttered after staring at my expression. Then, she slowly added to her words.

“After you passed out, your bodily functions entered an almost suspended state due to mana over exhaustion and fatigue. At the first night, your breathing was almost nonexistent that we even thought you had died. The following days were a bit better but you wouldn’t wake up no matter what we did…”

The expression on her face while explaining was a bit bitter. Nina and Mary by her sides were strongly nodding to verify her words. However, the question I am bothered with the most was still unanswered.

“… What happened to the monster’s corpses?”

To that, the answer came relatively quick as the one who did most of the cleanup was the one beside me, Mary.

“We piled the bodies up and I used the chant enhanced fireball to burn them to ashes. It took us 3 days to completely burn all the remains though… Ah! By the way, you were sleeping for exactly 6 days now.”

I see now… But 6 days… What the hell? How did it became that long? Mana exhaustion was usually recovered after a good night’s sleep. Physical fatigue recovers after 2 days of rest at most. Then how did it become that long?

“Spiritual Fatigue…”

Suddenly, Doctor Tessa who finally reached to where we were, spoke those words.

“… Spiritual Fatigue? What’s that?”

At the unknown term that popped, I couldn’t help but feel concerned. A type of fatigue different from mental and physical ones… What may be its cause?

“Spiritual Fatigue is a special condition common to Magic Swordsmen and Conjurers. It is acquired after using a summoned being for more than what the user can physically support causing his spirit to take the brunt of the strain. For your case, that would be that wind lance you wielded.”

The lance. If I remember clearly, it is the magic circle I added to my gloves right after reading about some books from the self-proclaimed god. It was a book pertaining the lost magic of summoning that I heard days ago.

“What is that lance?”

With a serious face, Doctor Tessa asked. I too wanted to know what that lance was. I also want to know why I know how to wield it that proficiently.

“…… Who knows?”

I couldn’t say anything as it was just a test in my perspective. I didn’t even exactly know what will come out of that circle. Actually, I was surprised upon suddenly seeing a long lance, or rather, halberd, in my hands. If I had a bit more time before that, I may be able to decipher what that halberd really is.

“But… Before that…” I suddenly said, interrupting the flow of conversation.

“What’s with that letter you left with Nina? If not for that letter… Never mind.”

I wanted to know the truth. That letter, and the meaning behind it. And also, about the truth that was hidden from me by this world, and even by the gods.

Upon hearing my question, Doctor Tessa’s face crumpled into a slight frown. Mary and Nina were both looking worriedly towards her. Blaire was just silently listening on one side of the platform. After a few moments of silence, Doctor Tessa finally let out a loud sigh.

“Haaaa… Okay… Tonight, I’ll properly explain everything to you all. But remember, once you heard of this, there’s no turning back. Better prepare your hearts for this.”

Her sharp eyes scanned all our faces and finally stopped on mine. I stared back, relaying my unwavering will to know the truth. As if finally being convinced about something, she nodded her head lightly.

“Tessa…”

Suddenly, an old voice interrupted our conversation. Turning to the culprit, we saw the village chief, wearing somewhat gaudy looking clothes, walking towards us slowly.

“The preparation for the festival is about to finish. We elders should head to the table just about now.”

“Festival?” I can’t help but parrot back those words.

“Ah, you were asleep so you didn’t know right?” Nina asked before continuing.

“5 days ago, we decided to hold a festival to commemorate the successful defense of Mujyara. Of course, it was decided that as the highlight of the event we, the heroes of the battle, would give a speech towards everybody!”

Nina proudly announced. Did they time it exactly when I would wake up? I felt somewhat touched and pissed at the same time. I hate being the center of attention and judging from her words, us four would be giving the speech. I want to just skip out on the festival…

“… I still feel a bit lightheaded so maybe I’ll pass on the festival for now…”

I said an excuse as I quickly headed back up. Luckily, nobody stopped me. All I heard before I started climbing the stairs is the synchronized sigh of the three girls.

“Woah!!”

Suddenly, the feeling of stepping on solid ground was lost and my vision turned towards the sky.

“No skipping~!”

That’s the only thing that the culprit, Nina, said while carrying me above her head like I weighed nothing. The other girls were slightly snickering behind me. Looking closely, she was equipped with her pristine white gauntlets that boosts her strength. I couldn’t recall hearing her chant though…

And like a picked up loot, I was carried that way towards what seemed to be the seat of honor that was right at the middle of the plaza. I was dropped down and made to sit on the one at the middle and the girls took seats beside me. Mary and Nina to both sides and Blaire to Mary’s other side. In front of us, the whole elder council were sitting.

“This is tyranny…”

I muttered sulkily. With a slightly apologetic expression, Mary said that if they didn’t do that, I surely wouldn’t participate in the festival. As a compromise, I was allowed to just sit down and not to give a speech.

Soon, about exactly at noon, the festival started. The elders each gave their speech and thanks to the saviors (us) of the village. After that, the three girls gave their speech just as planned. I was just silently listening to them though.

After their slightly embarrassing speech (which turned to somewhat like an advertisement of my works) the feast started.

Even though it’s just noon, most of the men started drinking with several of the women drinkers. The sound of their loud laughter while exchanging boastful stories set the light mood around.

Some villagers started playing instruments. A lively tune echoed clearly around the plaza. Several kids danced to the music with their family. The smiles on their faces were something priceless.

I, on the other hand, just picked some small parts of the food. A single piece of roasted meat, some sort of soup, salad and fruits. The drinks I took was the lemon like juice that was somewhat popular to the kids.

I ate to my heart’s content while sitting down on my chair. The reluctance to participate was slowly dissipating in my heart.

The celebration continued for quite a while. Some drunkards were already lying face-down on their tables while holding large mugs of beer and wine. Kids were sleeping soundly after playing to their fullest and eating delicious food.

Seeing this scene, nobody would have thought that we had just lost about a couple of dozen of men and women from defending the village. I clenched my fists silently while I strengthened my resolve.

When the sun was almost about to set, a large bonfire was prepared. Looks like the festival would continue until deep into the night.

However, the four of us had other plans.

“Doctor Tessa…”

I muttered silently.

As promised, we paced slowly towards Doctor Tessa’s location. Seeing us coming together, her face turned solemn.

Then, we moved slightly farther away from the bonfire, to where some seats were prepared. Me, Mary and Nina on one side of the table while Blaire and Doctor Tessa on the other.

After the loud cheer of the surrounding villagers when the bonfire was lit, the story began.

Chapter 20: Oracle of the Gods

The heat of the large bonfire in one corner of the plaza not only pushed away the cold night wind, it even sent the spirit of the villagers aflame. The sound of cheers, interweaving with the light and lively music really does show a festive mood.

In a place far enough to not be bothered by the noise and heat, but not far enough to be bothered by the cold, we are seated while facing each other.

Doctor Tessa. The village’s only doctor. Though she was old enough to be around five-times my age, her face still retains a slightly youthful trace.

And now, only solemnity surrounds her.

“… Where should I start…?”

She muttered with a sigh in a small voice. Then, she fixed her stance and stared straight into my eyes.

“Nazo, you already know about the Gods right?”

Upon hearing the sudden question, I wavered. It is not because I know the answer to her question, in fact, I don’t know a thing about the Gods of this world. What bothered me was the hidden hint in her words that “I” have met the “Gods”.

I nodded ever so slightly in response. Doctor Tessa breaks into a small mocking smile after seeing my reaction.

“The mission you received is something very important to this world.”

She spoke fluently. As if knowing about it right from the start. Even though I haven’t told anyone about the mission I was given aside from the girls who didn’t really believed me. All of us were just staring straight at her, listening to every words she says.

“The mission you received is actually a mission given to someone that is destined to become a Hero that will save this world. Though heroes appears only once in every hundreds of years, their mission never changes.”

The other girls nods slightly. Looks like that was common sense to the residents of this world. Still, was she saying that I am a Hero selected by the Gods?

“… The last hero to appear was approximately 60 years ago. He was a man named Yuushiro, son of a farmer and a certain eastern village chief’s daughter. Before him, the last hero was recorder from 280 years ago and the one before that was from 570 years ago…”

There are quite large gaps on the timing of heroes’ appearances... Wait. Then…

“Right. Nazo is surely not a Hero. That is because not even a hundred years passed since the last one’s time.”

She said it in a sharp voice that pierces straight to my soul. So I’m not a hero… I felt relief for a short moment. But then, a question appeared in my mind.

“… If I’m not a Hero then why am I given a mission?”

Right. It was said that heroes are given that mission. The mission of liberating the world from monsters.

To my question, Doctor Tessa only shook her head slightly.

“I don’t know… Originally, heroes are assigned after being given that job from the adventurer’s guild or by the oracles passed from the Gods. And neither of the two happened. So you are certainly not a Hero.”

After taking a deep breath, waiting for us to digest her words, she continued with a grave voice.

“Though, I am sure of one thing. Nazo, you are an Irregular.”

I was shocked from her words for a moment. But then, she continued and explained.

“You are neither summoned by the gods nor the people of this world but instead came through your own will and power. In other words, you are an existence that is out of this world. Though this world isn’t rejecting you, it isn’t accepting you fully too.”

Being neither rejected nor accepted… I don’t know what to think of that… But now that I heard this much from Doctor Tessa, a new question popped. Why does she know this much about me?

“……”

Doctor Tessa silently stood up and paced towards the side of the table with the light from the bonfire against her back.

“Let me introduce myself fully. I am Tessa Evergreen Pendragon the wife of the last hero Arthur Oliver Pendragon. I am an oracle under the Goddess of Life Sapphire, the one whom have spoken to you inside your dreams.”

“““E-Eeeehhh?!”””

The three girls, together with me, muttered in surprise. For me, the part I was confused of was the name. Wasn’t the name of the last Hero supposed to be Yuushiro? Also, an oracle of the goddess that spoke to me? There were too many things that bothers me that I couldn’t think straight anymore…

“The name Arthur Oliver Pendragon was originally a name bestowed by the goddess through me, the hero’s designated oracle. And as most of the time, the hero and the oracle marries each other, just like how we did, I succeeded his bestowed name.”

“S-So Doctor Tessa is actually a great person?!”

Nina shouted as she regained her senses. With a wry, painful smile, Doctor Tessa shook her head.

“Though we were hero and his oracle, we didn’t achieve much. Just like the previous heroes, we couldn’t even reach the nearest dungeon. So I am not that great of a person.”

Slowly, everything made sense. How Doctor Tessa knows my background, how she believed I’m from another world easily, and even that letter.

“Right. That letter is something that the goddess told me to write. Then, I passed it to Nina and gave the conditions that the goddess told me, which is when you decide to go on your own. Though I didn’t think that it would be for that moment…”

She said as if reading my mind. That said letter contains brief but meaningful words. I took out the said letter from my pocket, unfolded it, and read its contents.

Nanami Kamizo,

Right before the sun sets this day, all of the residents will die. Make haste and decide your own path.

That’s what was written on it.

What’s more, it was written in English and in cursive, which was far different from this country’s letters (Japanese).

That, and the fact that the goddess just spoke to me made me think and act at the same time, leading to us making it in time though a little late.

“… Are you satisfied already?”

Doctor Tessa then asked me a question. I just closed my eyes and leaned back on my chair in response.

In summary, she is an oracle of the goddess of life named Sapphire that was the one who spoke to me in my dream. She was also the wife of the late hero 60 years ago. All my questions were answered clearly and satisfactorily.

“I got no more questions.”

That’s all that I said. Doctor Tessa nodded knowingly with a small grin.

After that, the girl group chatted with Doctor Tessa for a while. Then, they headed towards the bonfire upon when I decided to return to their house.

Passing through the lively celebration, I directly went to the tree-house and slowly climbed the stairs. Even after reaching the front door of the girls’ house, the lively atmosphere isn’t toning down at all.

I entered without much thought and was immediately greeted by the dimly lit interior of the room.

With accustomed movements, I picked an unused luminescence scroll from under the wooden drawer and immediately applied mana to it. Of course, I also reactivated the stationary luminescence tools on each corner of the room.

After the room regained a suitable degree of lighting, I sat down on a chair with a plop.

“… Haaaaaa…”

After relaxing my body, a relieved sigh left my mouth. I can’t really help it as the fatigue of the whole affair during the day and the shock from earlier was taking its toll.

I leaned deeply on the chair, letting my tired body to stretch out for a bit.

“……”

Without knowing it, I already was pointed towards a path to follow. I cannot help but give a smirk towards the cunning of the goddess that made this perfect chain of ‘coincidences’ occur.

“… The last thing that I would need would only be a strong motivation and I’m sure to set down this pre-determined path…”

No matter how they pass the problem to me, I wouldn’t just voluntarily place myself in danger. The promised reward of the goddess was somewhat precious to me but still, it’s not worth risking my live over.

“However, it’s true that I need to strengthen my guards a bit…”

No matter what conclusion I had reached, strengthening myself and my allies would take priority. Even if we are just to stay inside the village, we cannot disregard the threat of another demon invasion. I heard that it was considered a miracle to only lose less than a hundred villagers in this attack.

Still, I can’t rule out the possibility of having no casualties if we were only a bit faster…

“… Mary, Nina and even Blaire acted as if unaffected by it in front of me… But several villagers showed signs of grief towards the loss of an acquaintance’s life.”

Given the kindness of the three, there’s no way that they were unaffected by those deaths. Which meant that they were forcing themselves in reality.

“To make a girl unnecessarily give consideration towards me… I’ve fallen quite far.”

I felt pathetic. That was the truth. However, there’s nothing to gain even if I delve on self-blame. Instead, I should focus my attention on more practical things.

Therefore, only one conclusion comes to mind.

“… I need to make much stronger weapons and tools…”

It was a course of action in line of all the possibilities I would face. Whether I stay, march to fight, or support the main fighting force, it was necessary to improve my current set of equipment.

“And to do that…”

I need to read.

I took out the magic pouch from my belongings stacked on one side of the room. Then, I poured its contents on the floor.

The variety of books, from simple magic circle guides to complicated tactical books, scattered like a landslide in front of me. This made me ponder on which one to pick. However, since I already have set my priorities clear, I picked up four books that caught my attention.

[Magic Tools and Spell Engraving]

[Guide to the Gates of Advanced Magic]

[General Purpose Magic Circles: Extended and Extrapolated]

[Introduction to Mythic Level Enchanting]

These four.

Thus, with my resolve renewed, I started reading in preparation for the future…

But it wasn’t that long before my resolve was forcefully changed for me.

Time remaining: 15 days before the fateful encounter.

Intermission 2: Princess Camille and the Royal Decree

Heroes.

Existences that are far beyond common sense.

Possessing strength that surpasses a thousand men.

Possessing wits that surpasses their generation.

Blessed by the gods through their oracles.

This is what the existences called “Heroes” are.

That’s what was taught to every single living human of this world.

Not a single being knows nothing about heroes.

I, too, am no exception.

“Princess, it is time.”

A somewhat rough voice came from the other side of the door after a soft knock.

I closed the book I was reading and tidied myself in front of the mirror. Wavy long blonde hair, willful sky blue eyes, small pink lips surrounded by porcelain white skin. There’s nothing wrong with my visage.

I gracefully walked towards the door where two maids opened it gently. On the other side, a tall man wearing a full body armor was kneeling on one knee. His right arm was placed on his left chest, a sign of courtesy towards royalty.

His semi-long black hair was left alone giving him a wild feel. When matched with his short stubble and his obsidian eyes, he really look like a fine gentleman in his twenties.

“Stand, Bermond.”

I gave a command to him as a royalty would. In response to my words, he bowed lightly and stood up. The knight, Bermond Griel Bloodpact, was the acting war marshal of the kingdom’s cavalry and a master of both the lance and sword.

Despite his age not having passed thirties, he was already considered as the strongest knight in the whole kingdom. As to why a strong knight like him was kneeling in front of me, it was because he was acting as my personal guard.

“Princess Camille, his Majesty the King is already waiting for your arrival.”

He spoke fluently in a deep baritone voice while still looking downwards. I shrugged my shoulders in response and started walking down the hallway. Our pace wasn’t fast enough to be called running but it also wasn’t as leisurely as walking.

At the end of the long corridor, a large imposing double-doors full of relief and engraving came to view. The two guards standing at both sides of the door stood in attention upon seeing me approach.

The large door silently swung open with not as much as a squeak. What greeted me was a long red carpet about two spans wide set from the entrance up to just below a slightly elevated throne. Dozens of fully armored knights stood in attention on both sides of the carpet.

Nobles of different ranks could be seen on the other side of the wall of knights. Various expressions were seen from their faces.

[The third princess, Camille Quaser Kabir has arrived!]

A loud voice that cannot be determined whether male or female announced my arrival. In respect, I walked down the red carpet up to just about far enough to the throne where my voice could be heard. Bermond who was behind me kneeled down a slight distance away.

I too kneeled down in the presence of the King, my father, himself, despite wearing a bubbly and frilly dress.

“At ease.”

My father said in a voice that doesn’t show his age. I bowed lightly and stood up, keeping my head lowered until allowed to.

“Raise your head.”

“Thank you for your kindness.”

I followed as he said and raised my lowered head. However, I kept my sight towards the throne instead of towards my father. Staring at the eyes of the king himself can be punished with death on worst cases.

The solemn silence permeated the whole throne room. I patiently waited upon his next words while anticipating what he’s about to say.

“Camille.”

“Yes, your majesty.”

I can feel his powerful gaze upon me turning sharper by the minute. Then, he finally spoke.

“In accordance to the laws of the kingdom, I hereby decree that you are now an Oracle of the Goddess of War Helen before you are a princess. Do as the Gods’ will.”

“I thank you for your kindness, your Majesty.”

I replied just as I practiced, not giving out what I was feeling inside. His majesty nodded in affirmation towards my answer.

“Marshal Bermond Griel Bloodpact. I hereby raise your rank to General and assign you the mission of protecting Camille. Protect her with your life.”

“As you wish. This life is yours to take, your majesty.”

Bermond replied humbly while still kneeling. The king nodded, satisfied with his answer.

“In three days, the whole kingdom will celebrate this occasion. I’m expecting your attendance as the Oracle of the Goddess of War, Camille.”

“I will not fail your expectations, your majesty.”

I bowed my head once more.

“Very well, you are dismissed.”

At his cue, we both nodded and slowly went out of the throne room.

***

“Is this really fine?”

Bermond suddenly asked.

“… I’m fine. And this is way much better.”

I said without lifting my head from the book I was reading. Having read my intentions, he tried voicing them.

“You mean how you are now away from the power struggle? Even if you are the sixth in line, there are still many nobles pushing for you as a queen you know? Are you really fine with betraying their expectations?”

Irritation suddenly welled inside me. “Expectations”? Don’t tell me something like that. I closed the book I was reading forcefully. Then, I glared at the squarish face of the man in front of me.

“I don’t care if they expect something from me or if I have betrayed that expectation. I am not an Idol that will do nothing but be worshipped. I am who I am and will do what I want to do. Nobody have the rights to command me on what to do. And more so now.”

I put up my most intimidating face but still, this man was unperturbed. My bloodlust probably felt just like a cool breeze to him who have waltzed through over a dozen of battlefields full of the stench of death.

“You may be safe for now. But where you are headed to have much higher threat to your life you know? Also, if you gain too much merits as an Oracle, you may get targeted again by the prince’s factions. It may be much worse than before even.”

He voiced his worries once more. However, it didn’t even manage to shake my decision by an inch.

“I told you, I don’t care. If my life is at danger here or there, then rather than staying still and waiting for it, I prefer fighting through all of it. There’s never been a choice between standing still and moving forward for me as standing still isn’t even an option.”

To my willful answer, Bermond let out a long sigh.

I bet being my personal guard for almost 5 years finally made him to know my quirks. And one of those was that once I decided to do something, I neither fall back nor falter until I achieved it.

I sympathize with his hardships but it was his job so I have literally no say to the matter.

After a short silence, determining that there’s nothing left to say, I returned to the book I was reading.

However, at that moment, a knock came from the door.

“Camille, it is me.”

A low pitched feminine voice echoed from the other side of the door. I signaled towards Bermond and he quickly opened the door.

There stood a female knight. Her long straight blonde hair, similar to mine, was tied into a ponytail so as to not hinder her movements. Her emerald green eyes stared straight towards me.

“Aneue!”

I quickly rand and jumped to her embrace. As expected of a knight, she managed to catch me without even staggering.

This female knight was the commander of the Royal Order of Knights and consequently the first princess of the kingdom, and my half-sister, Evergreen Melody Kabir. As the first princess, she was one who once possessed the strongest backers next to the crown prince but once she decided to be a knight, all her claims to the throne vanished completely.

She was also the only one who wholeheartedly supported my plan on fighting as an Oracle.

“Aneue, it has been so long.”

“Ahh. You really have grown up. The last time I saw you was three years ago right? Time sure flies.”

She said while giving her sweetest smile. I slowly parted from the hug after some time and then properly greeted her on her safe return.

“Welcome back, aneue. I’m glad that you returned safely from your mission.”

“Ahh. I’m back. But as soon as I got back, I heard that you are leaving. Looks like we won’t be meeting anymore after that too. This may be the will of the Gods telling me to be independent at long last.”

She smiled bitterly after saying so. I felt my chest tightening after seeing her lonely expression. Thinking back, just as I treated her as my only ally, she too treated me as her only sister, her only sibling, and pampered me as much as she can.

Honestly, parting from aneue was the hardest part of my decision to act as an oracle. If I could just request for her to be my guard too, then I would gladly do so. But as the captain of the order, she cannot leave her duties that easily. That’s why she can’t come with me.

As we won’t be seeing each other for a long time, we chatted to our heart’s content. During the chat, the topic suddenly shifted after I said the name of the village I was told to go through the oracle of the Gods.

“Mujyara? The one at the south end? I hear it was attacked by demons last week but they managed to defend it successfully. The request for additional sentry for guarding the border reached me too.”

“It was attacked…? How many demons managed to slip past the barrier?”

This is the first time I heard about this. But still, the barrier of the village should still be functioning perfectly…

“Based on the reports, there are 10,000 demons that attacked. Majority of them were just low class demons but there were quite a few middle class demons mixed in too.”

… That’s quite a large army even for demons. Still 10,000? And they still managed to defend the village despite that? If I recall, the population of the village ranges around 500 so they managed to fight an enemy 20 times their number?

“The report also mentioned that the defense of the village was mostly done by four villagers. If I recall correctly, they are 2 girls, 1 woman, and 1 boy. The boy was also the hot topic here at the capital as the latest demon hunter. I think his name is…”

“Nazo… Right?”

“Ahh. That’s right. He was the one who claimed to have dealt with the Elder Treant alone. A man equaling an army. But apparently, he isn’t a Hero… But still, it’s quite rare for you to be this informed.”

I chucked upon seeing aneue’s surprised face. Then, with a slightly impish smile, I told her one thing that I haven’t told to anyone as of yet.

“Actually, the particular man that was mentioned within the oracle I received… Was that man named Nazo.”

I turned my head towards the window, staring at the far end of the blue sky. Smiling towards the future that was yet to come.

However, I didn’t know. That in the far off future, our paths would cross each other through means that I didn’t expect.

It was 13 days then before the fateful event that would lock the future of Nazo and his party.

Impressum

Texte: Seraph Wedd
Bildmaterialien: Creator
Lektorat: Seraph Wedd
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 05.01.2017

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