The Magic in this Other World is Too Far Behind! Volume 2

by Gamei Hitsuji

  “So, which will it be? We’ll let you pick.”

  “Which one, huh...?”

  There was no reason for Suimei to think about it too hard. It wasn’t like he was hiding his magic like he had been when he first arrived in this world. He’d seen fights between Reiji and the knights at the castle, but watching and participating were two different things. It would make sense to get some experience fighting in this world while he had the chance. Lefille was about to leave anyway, so it would only be the three of them left in the room. In that case, Suimei could quickly bring everything to an end without a fuss. If he handled this correctly, he might be able to do something about the reputation he’d established for himself at the reception desk.

  In that case, this is a great opportunity.

  Little did Suimei know he was about to pour even more oil on the fire himself. Dorothea’s assistance in that regard was wholly unnecessary.

  Suimei finally spoke up and addressed Rikus, who had been glaring at him all this time just waiting for an answer.

  “Well then, while it is a little presumptuous of me... I will take both of you at the same time.”

  “...Oh-ho?”

  “What?!”

  With Suimei’s declaration, Lefille let out a curious inquiry while Dorothea let out a surprised yell. The two men he’d addressed, on the other hand, were obviously quite stirred.

  “Huh?! You want to take both of us on at the same time? Are you serious right now, you punk?”

  “Yeah. I’m not in the habit of making bad jokes.”

  Suimei gave a rather unabashed reply, which only made Rikus’s already bad mood worse.

  “If you had the ability of that woman there, it’d be one thing, but do you really think we’d both fall to a single mage? Don’t get so damn cocky just ’cause you sent one guy flying at the reception desk.”

  As Rikus was channeling all of his anger into words, Enmarph was also silently boiling over and glaring at Suimei. As expected, both men were quite prideful. But there was nothing Suimei could do about that. He could still be considered a child, and here he was boasting before two experienced guild members. Of course they wouldn’t take it well. But the feeling in this case was mutual. Suimei was getting tired of being yelled at. With the increasing tension the air, Dorothea cut in timidly to try and calm the situation.

  “Um, Suimei-san, are you serious about fighting both of them at the same time?”

  “Yeah. That’s what I’d like. After this, I still need to go find a place to stay for the night and somewhere to eat, so I’d like to end this quickly.”

  “Um, that’s not what I meant―”

  Before Dorothea could finish, Rikus’s irritated voice cut her off.

  “Are you that confident you can finish this quickly?”

  “Yeah.”

  “You sure talk big.”

  “Look, this is about the size of it. Just as you both have your pride as guild members, I have pride in the path that I’ve walked up to this point. It isn’t good for your health to be humble all the time, after all.”

  “Brat... Being an idiot who can’t judge their opponents’ abilities will take a merciless bite out of your rank. If you take back your joke now and pick one of us, I’ll forgive you just this once.”

  “I have no intention of doing that. Also, I haven’t done anything that requires your forgiveness.”

  “...Then I don’t wanna hear you whining about how this goes later, you hear?”

  “Thanks for the warning, I guess.”

  As Suimei shrugged his shoulders, Rikus began grinding his teeth and turned towards Enmarph.

  “Tch... Enmarph, we can’t stand for being underestimated by these brats anymore. Let’s hurry up and beat the crap out of him.”

  “...Got it.”

  After confirming the plan with Enmarph, Rikus returned his glare back towards Suimei like he was trying to stare a hole right through his head. The air still bristling with tension, the two men headed to the center of the training grounds.

  “Suimei-kun... Those two are quite skilled fighters, you understand. Is this really alright?”

  “Yeah.”

  “You have confidence you can beat them?”

  “Yes, though I’m afraid my appearance makes it look like that’s unwarranted.”

  Lefille let out a gentle laugh at Suimei’s self-deprecating remark.

  “That’s true.”

  “An immediate agreement? So mean...”

  Lefille responded so quickly that Suimei reflexively rattled off a joking retort. The two of them had a good laugh together.

  “Heehee...”

  “Hahaha.”

  Unexpectedly, she and Suimei got along quite well. As he was casually thinking about how Alshuna’s unfortunate guidance had brought them together...

  “Either way, facing the two of them at the same time lines up with my goals. It’s perfectly fine by me.”

  “I see. In that case, I don’t have any objections.”

  Lefille nodded quietly, then turned towards Dorothea.

  “Excuse me, but would you allow me to observe this fight?”

  “Eh?!”

  Suimei blurted out a strange, surprised noise. Why would she want to observe? This development ran completely counter to Suimei’s plans.

  “Well, I don’t mind... But perhaps we should ask Suimei-san?”

  “Huh...? Well, no, I don’t particularly mind either.”

  “Then why did you gasp like that? Your face was twisted all like, ‘Buwuh?!’ You know? Bu-wuh?!”

  “I just... I just wasn’t expecting that. I was merely surprised.”

  “Yeah? Even so, you’re acting kinda strange...”

  Dorothea cocked her head to the side, and Lefille gave a satisfied nod upon getting permission to stay.

  “I’m glad. I will be intently watching your fight from the sidelines, then.”

  It seemed Lefille was completely intent on staying. Surely her interest as a swordswoman had been piqued by his claim that he could fight against both of them. She was going to watch his fight now, but that didn’t change the rest of his plan. While mumbling to himself in his mind, Suimei followed after the other men to the center of the training ground.

  “Well then, are you ready?”

  At Dorothea’s signal, Rikus pulled his sword silently from its sheath and Enmarph took a stance as he pointed the jewel on his staff towards Suimei. Following their lead, Suimei took out his black gloves—the gloves of discord—and put them on. He then removed his vial of mercury from his pocket. Rikus had no idea what it was and asked out of curiosity.

  “What’s that?”

  “I’m just getting my weapon out.”

  “Huh?”

  Surrounded by curious gazes from all sides, Suimei popped the lid off the vial and began pouring its contents, the indispensable material needed for his alchemy, on the ground. It seemed mercury was a fairly unusual substance in this world, and Lefille knit her brow as she studied its strange, silver brilliance.

  “Silver... water?”

  “It’s mercury. Have you never seen it before?

  “No, this is my first time.”

  Lefille squinted a bit as she stared at it.

  “Is it some kind of drug?”

  “Nope.”

  While Lefille was questioning Suimei, the last drop of mercury fell from the vial onto the floor. When it fell into the puddle with a tiny splash, Suimei concentrated his mana and began his spell.

  “Permutato, coagulato, vis existito.”

  [Transform, coagulate, become power.]

  A small magicka circle formed and began expanding on the ground at the center of the spilled mercury. The circle’s mana was emitting a dark red light. While manipulating his magicka, Suimei could see four people and four surprised faces out of the corner of his eye. It was probable they were surprised he’d formed a magicka circle without having to draw it, just as Felmenia had been.

  “Alchemy...�
��

  Suimei heard Enmarph speak up. It seemed he was at least able to recognize that much. As if urged on by the circle below it, the mercury stretched out like clay and rose up, spread out and moved into Suimei’s hand in the shape of a sword.

  “This, you see, is my weapon.”

  Suimei finished answering Lefille’s question by demonstrating the final product. He now faced his opponents and concentrated entirely on them. He was wearing neither his coat nor suit, but a fight was a fight. Setting the small talk aside for now, Suimei gripped the mercury katana in both hands and took his stance. He saw Rikus looking at him with suspicious eyes.

  “Hey, you... Didn’t you say you were a mage?”

  “Didn’t that look like magic?”

  “A mage using a sword... Actually, can you even use that thing?”

  A familiar question. Felmenia had asked the same thing. It seemed mages and warriors were two mutually exclusive callings in this world. Mages were the rear guard, warriors were the vanguard. They were stuck on those stereotypes. That meant Suimei, who was different from their image of both mages and warriors, was a bundle of surprises to them.

  “Well, to an extent.”

  “Is that so?”

  Suimei grinned at Rikus. There were no more questions to ask at this point. As Rikus spat out his last annoyed words, Dorothea took her chance to herald the beginning of the match and raised her hand.

  “Well then... Begin!”

  The very moment Dorothea said the word, Rikus lunged at Suimei. It was a simple opening move. He started with a strong step and followed up with a splendid diagonal slash. Suimei returned the slash with one of his own.

  “HA!”

  Rikus snorted out a laugh. Anybody who was watching this scene would have judged Suimei’s decision was poor. It was obvious when comparing their physiques, or even just the size of their arms. Suimei would be overpowered and pushed back. Thinking so himself, Rikus was unable to stop his laughter from escaping his mouth, but the next several seconds wouldn’t play out as he imagined.

  In the brief moment where Rikus’s and Suimei’s swords clashed, Suimei suddenly dove forward and to the left. He pressed his arm against his body as his sword was pushed behind him and then raised it over his head. He was now standing behind Rikus to his right with his sword fully brandished above him.

  “What?!”

  Rikus’s stance was all wrong since he’d just gone from a frontal contest of strength to suddenly having his back taken. When he’d yelled out over-enthusiastically and attacked, he threw all of his weight into his sword to strike, but now without a target, he was simply falling forwards. It was the result of Suimei’s technique, which met an incoming diagonal slash with one of his own, warding off the enemy’s blow while breaking their stance.

  At the end of his technique, Suimei immediately turned around. He had no intention of standing around like an idiot and waiting for Rikus to make his next move. Before him now was Rikus’s defenseless, wide-open back. Normally this would be where Suimei cut him down while making a speech about this being the price for letting his opponent get behind him, but he wouldn’t get the chance this time. Behind him, a tiger’s jaws were opening wide.

  “Oh Wind! Thou art the power of eternity who crushes all! Strike the enemy before me with your rage! Wind Fist!”

  “Secundum moenia, expansio localis!”

  [Second rampart, local expansion!]

  Suimei reacted without even mourning the loss of the attack he would no longer get to take on the man in front of him. With the air coiled up into the form of a tyrannical fist flying towards him, he activated his defensive magicka. Specifically, it was the brilliant golden fortress’s second rampart—a shield against spells.

  “Wha?!”

  Suimei couldn’t actually tell whose surprised voice that was. He kept his sword pointed at Rikus, and, opening his stance, raised his left hand out towards Enmarph behind him. With his hand as its origin, the golden magicka circle immediately deployed itself to protect him. The fist of compressed air smashed into his shield and scattered to all sides as smaller whirlwinds. The magicka circle didn’t even creak as everyone took a moment to collect themselves. With a bitter, twisted face at being so embarrassed right at the start of the fight, Rikus got back into his stance and faced Suimei.

  “Tch, using such a weird sword style...”

  “I was taught at a neighborhood dojo.”

  Suimei spoke with complete composure.

  “What?! What was that magic?!”

  Enmarph however, had suddenly gotten lively and began making an uproar. Suimei looked at his surprised face with narrowed his eyes, and skeptically revealed an answer he thought was only obvious.

  “...It’s defensive magicka?”

  “I’m not asking about that! Just now you―”

  “What? Did I do something strange?”

  Enmarph was completely dumbfounded. So much so that he wasn’t able to articulate himself in his surprise. The golden fortress was defensive magicka. It was a magicka Suimei had created to protect himself against all types of attacks. He would even call it his masterpiece. But no matter how you looked at it, it was defensive magicka. The only other thing to be surprised over would be the magicka circle he’d used to deploy it. But Enmarph had already seen that—Suimei had summoned one out of thin air when he manifested his sword too. There was nothing new to yell about.

  “Strange? Everything―”

  As Enmarph was too stimulated to form any coherent thoughts, Dorothea spoke in his stead.

  “But, Suimei-san, that magic you used just now activated without the mediation of any attribute!”

  “That’s because it doesn’t use an attribute. If we’re being honest, isn’t it useless to apply an attribute to defensive magicka?”

  Attributes were simply dead weight when it came to defensive magicka. Fundamentally, to defend against an opponent’s magicka, one would defend against the particular spell, or even defend against the cause of the magicka itself. It was true that applying an attribute would increase its defensive power against magicka of the opposing attribute, but attributing a defensive spell to an element also created a weakness in that it would then easily be overcome by a stronger element. It was more potential risk than reward, so it was generally considered bad practice in Suimei’s world. To Enmarph, however, this was world-breaking.

  “Ridiculous! There’s no way it’s useless! At its very core, magic is something that takes shape only after mediation of an attribute! Magic that can be invoked without the mediation of an attribute is just...”

  “Yeah, what’s that? Mediation of an attribute?”

  No matter what nonsense Enmarph spouted, Suimei was having difficulty grasping the meaning behind his words. Magicka wouldn’t activate without meditation on an attribute? Just what did he mean by that? Attributes were an indicator used to classify magicka into categorical types. It wasn’t some essential power or component used to invoke magicka. It wasn’t, but―

  “Suimei-kun, all magic is a manifestation of power borrowed from the Elements. Without hailing the power of the Elements, there would be no magic. At least, that’s how it’s supposed to be. So how is it that you’re able to use magic in defiance of that?”

  Lefille had a scrutinizing look on her face, but her astute question revealed what Suimei needed to know. He’d finally gotten to the bottom of this apparent mystery.

  “Ah, aha! Of course! Okay, okay, I see. I finally get it now... The magic here isn’t bestowed by the elements. The elements are just used as an intermediary for invocation, and your mages can’t do anything without them.”

  Lefille’s attentiveness had indirectly cleared that up for him, and he now saw exactly what was causing the confusion. At first, Suimei had thought that the magic of this world was nature magicka, just like the kind he could find anywhere back in his world.

  Nature magicka used the power of nature to bring forth magicka, or used magicka to bring forth nat
ural phenomena. He’d seen a strong resemblance to it in the magic of this world, so he’d just assumed they were the same. It was a misunderstanding on his part. Now that he’d gotten a look under the hood, so to speak, it was more like a counterfeit of the nature magicka he knew.

  Suimei recalled the first magicka he saw used in this world, the magicka used to open a door in the castle. The porter had used an element to do it, which had struck Suimei as excessive and odd. After all, even if he’d been using nature magicka, he still should have been able to directly manifest the power to push or pull. That easily would have been enough to open the door. But instead, he’d conjured a breeze to push against the door to move it, which was the height of wastefulness in Suimei’s eyes. At least, that’s what he’d thought at the time. That was only true if he was actually using nature magicka.

  But now he realized that the porter couldn’t use magic at all without the wind, and that was what had made it outwardly similar to nature magicka. The “Elements” that they referred to here weren’t just elemental attributes, they were the eight elemental powers they had to implement to be able to manifest magicka in the first place. This was why all magicka in this world was associated with an attribute.

  “People just kept saying things like ‘the Elements are absolutely necessary’ and whatnot. It was kinda convoluted, so I didn’t get it. I mean, why would you make your magicka more complex and time-intensive to cast like that if you don’t have to? It’s simply bothersome and idiotic.”

  “Wh-What the hell are you saying...?”

  “Nothing, it’s not important. Applying an attribute for the sake of defending is just difficult, is all.”

  It seemed that in this world, the typical chain of mana, spell, defense simply didn’t work or didn’t exist. Instead, they added a step and used mana, spell, Elements, defense, and they were locked in to that chain. This was why chants were so long here, and why these people were always surprised when the chant was omitted.

  My goodness, to think it was like this...