Chapter 4
As you opened your eyes, an unfamiliar sight captivated your gaze.
A towering skyscraper reaching for the sky, adorned with colorful LEDs that obscured the stars dotting the moonlit night.
Countless people in peculiar outfits scurried about, while silent four-wheeled carriages passed by without a word.
It left an impression of complexity and chaos.
However, amidst the confusion, there was order.
The sleek black road, whose material you couldn’t discern, was exclusively traveled by those four-wheeled carriages.
Only the white lines drawn upon the black surface were exceptions, with people walking along them.
When the odd-looking streetlights lit up red, everyone stopped.
Blue lights prompted them to walk. It was an intuitive signal to move or not to move.
Assuming all your guesses were correct…
You needed to move right away. Because you were currently standing right in the middle of that intersecting black road,
and the ominous red light was glaring at you.
Bang──! Bang──!
A cacophony of noise erupted. Music is a universal language, and to you, this noise sounded like a threat or a warning. Observing the expressions of those riding in the four-wheeled carriages confirmed your alarm.
So, where were you supposed to go?
You had just plummeted into this strange world out of nowhere.
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“Are you a foreigner? No, come on… even if you’re a foreigner, you should know red light, green light. Red light. Green light. Right? Why are you just standing in the middle of the road… hey Taeshik, what score did you get on the TOEIC?”
“Geez, I can’t do this speech!”
“Then who here can do a speech? I heard you got a TOEIC score! Come on, I don’t know. You should try saying something.”
“Ugh, seriously… Hey, are you okay? Um, here is the police office. And you are a criminal. Because you, you don’t move at beep beep…”
“Hey, what does beep beep mean, you jerk!”
“Then let the section chief take over!”
A fat one and a slim one were bickering back and forth.
Or, upon closer examination, it didn’t seem like a fight. There was no malice in their eyes; it appeared to be somewhat rough communication between friends.
The two were offloading the unexpected dilemma onto each other.
And that dilemma was you.
Your keen intellect deduced that they were some sort of… “security officers.”
The slim one, who seemed lower in rank than the fat one, offered you a piece of paper and a pen.
“What’s your name?”
A name. It’s the foundation of all human relationships.
This was the moment of your monumental first communication with this world.
The paper seemed to expand, filling your vision.
And there was a black rectangle, which appeared to be the area for writing your name.
You picked up the pen and wrote down your name.
‘Yuna Yurensto Violet Iris.’
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“Lord Yuna, was that your name?”
When a familiar voice suddenly pierced her ear, the purplish Master Yuna was not surprised.
You could say she had gotten used to the troublemaker of the magic tower, or perhaps she had simply worn out.
That guy had pulled countless pranks, claiming to observe humans, and now he was curious about her lengthy name, so she provided a detailed answer.
“Yes. I’m the illegitimate child of the Yurensto Count family, and although we’re practically estranged, I’m not erased from the family registry. My father dislikes Yuna Yurensto but wants to keep the daughter of the purplish Master.”
“What about Violet Iris?”
“That’s the surname the royal family gave me when I was recognized as a Master. It takes precedence over the family name, so I’m to be called not ‘Miss Yurensto’ but ‘Miss Violet Iris.'”
“It’s long.”
“Well, I have a nice title, don’t I?”
“I’ve known you for about eight years, and this is the first time I’ve learned your name. I just want to try using it.”
“…Do as you please.”
Yuna turned her head and replied vaguely.
She was not someone skilled in conversation, and when it came to this kind of chat, she wasn’t quite sure what to say.
Then could she just say she would call her that name freely? Embarrassing!
The world reflected in the small Master’s eyes.
It was a mysterious world crafted by a peculiar genius.
This realistic world must be an illusion magic. Though Yuna was experiencing it herself, she couldn’t believe it.
The sounds, the smells, the sensation of the chair beneath her, the guards of the other world chatting loudly in front of her.
If she had never seen the trails built by that guy through illusion magic until now, she would have thought a lunatic wizard had finally developed a teleportation spell. How could this world be an illusion?
There were no words other than ‘terrifying talent’ to describe it.
Upon closer inspection, the language used was different too. The dialogue exchanged among the guards in this other world was something she had never heard anywhere in the continent. Yet the meaning was drilled into her head as if by a hammer.
Could it be that the strange situation wasn’t feeling bizarre due to the techniques of illusion magic called ‘muffling’?
Perhaps it was employing clever ‘cognitive dampening’ to keep her mind from wandering into doubt…
Then, could she escape?
The crux of illusion magic was already predetermined. Whether the user could escape from the magic or not.
If even a trivial illusion was hard to escape, it was good illusion magic; however, if a magnificent and flashy illusion was easy to escape, it was bad illusion magic.
This world was extraordinary enough to go down in history as illusion magic. Now it was a question of whether this magic would end up with the comment: -However, there were these deficiencies in such magic- or not.
Master Yuna of the Magic Tower activated her magic power.
And suddenly, she felt drowsy. She couldn’t quite remember how to control her magic power, and it seemed that magic didn’t even exist in this world. The carefully constructed mana heart didn’t even feel present.
It must be the effect of illusion magic. She concluded that a hypnosis saying, “There is no magic in this world, and you can’t use magic as well,” was being imposed on her.
Although hypnosis could make one feel like something wasn’t there, it couldn’t truly eliminate it.
Though unperceived, there was a mana heart. Though not surfacing, she was a wizard. Even if the basis for her believing she was a wizard was only faith, that was enough.
Because she believed that all the time she had worked hard was not in vain.
A bubble rose from her fingertips.
Within the bubble, images flashed by: dragons flying, holograms named Heart seducing a man, a legion of butlers ruthlessly ravaging the purplish tower.
Like colors mixing on a palette, the images swirled lazily together. It seemed that a black liquid began to fill the sparkling transparent bubble.
The full name, “Exploding Memory Crystal of Violet Iris,” might be aesthetic, but it wasn’t adequate to explain the essence of the magic.
When she showed this technique to the troublemaker of the magic tower, he had called it an ‘information bomb.’
Creak.
A crack appeared on the surface of the bubble. When the rising internal pressure exceeded a critical point, the bubble would explode.
And the condensed information would tear apart this marvelous world constructed by illusion magic.
If the world held strong, Yuna would have to humbly relinquish her position as Master.
“Erelerelelelere.”
“H-hya──AAAH!!”
The tower’s troublemaker ruthlessly licked Master Yuna’s ear.
Her concentration shattered, and the bubble vanished without a trace as if erased with an eraser.
Yuna rolled on the ground, shielding the attacked area with her hands.
And she screamed again at the slick liquid on her fingertips.
“Wh-what the heck are you doing──?!”
“Why would you want to tear apart something you just created? It would have been destroyed if it had burst.”
“Just say it with words!”
“Well, it’s a bit embarrassing to say.”
“You! What you just did is embarrassing!!”
“The test for magic can wait until later. What I wanted to show you today wasn’t the magic itself but this world… my hometown, you see.”
“Hometown?”
“Didn’t I say I’m from another world?”
“No, you didn’t!!”
“Well, it’s not that important… Anyway, I’ll treat you to a full course meal, so let’s go. Earth has developed in many ways, but its food culture is just amazing.”
“………”
Master Yuna of the Purple Tower concluded that it was reasonable to expect meaningful insights into the cuisine of this other world, signaling her salivary glands. Yuna swallowed her saliva.
“L-let’s go.”
“Yes.”
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It was almost ten minutes after starting the business when things almost went horribly wrong.
If that tiny bubble had burst, my illusion magic would have been torn to shreds.
It felt like watching a baseball bat swinging full force over my figure display case!
What on earth was the cost of the reagents and preparations that went into this demonstration?!
The purplish Master… So, purplish Master Yuna Violet something was sometimes fiercely aggressive. Whenever she passed by a demonstration of illusion magic, she would give it a little poke, wondering, “Will it break if I kick it?”
There were about three unfortunate victims each week whose magic was smashed that way.
I had been sweating bullets, trying to think of how to prevent it.
Blocking the spell with magical skills was impossible. No matter how much I claimed to be a magical genius courted by every tower, a genius only rose to become a Master.
If the weak want to overcome the strong, they must do so by striking low.
My neurons came up with the optimal solution: Erelerele.
It would definitely work on a Master who was almost immune to men.
Now that the danger was resolved, it was time to enjoy some fun!
Kimchi, pork belly, kalguksu, and so on.
It was time to show gratitude to the Master who supported my research funds by teaching her about ‘Korean food’…
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