The Magic in this Other World is Too Far Behind! Volume 1

by Gamei Hitsuji

  “FUWAH?! Wh-Wh-What are you doing?!”

  “That’s enough. Just keep still... Hup.”

  Suimei ignored her protests and got her back on her feet. Once she was standing again, he even fixed the disheveled portions of her robes.

  “Ah...”

  “There. Are you alright?”

  Felmenia was still in a daze and had no answer for him. She simply stared blankly, and Suimei couldn’t help noticing the dirt she had on her face. It was most unladylike; she must have collected it rolling around on the floor. Even though she’d been furious with him just moments ago, he felt sorry for her now and took pity on her. He retrieved his handkerchief from his pocket and began wiping the dirt off of Felmenia’s face.

  Seriously, how troublesome...

  And when he did...

  “Ah... Huh...?”

  Looking like she still barely understood what was going on, Felmenia’s eyes darted around as if she were assessing the situation.

  “AAAAAAAAAAAH!”

  She then shrieked.

  “Whoa, now what...?”

  Suimei jumped back in surprise. Felmenia was glaring at him, her face bright red.

  “Wh-Wh-Wh-what are you doing, you bastard?!”

  “What am I doing? You can tell without asking, can’t you?”

  “Not that! I mean, I mean... Why are you doing that kind of...”

  “You looked like you needed a hand.”

  “I-I didn’t really need any help, you bastard! I was ready to take you down, I’ll have you know! But then my face...”

  “This and that are two different things. Besides, letting you walk around like that would have been a waste of your cute face. I at least had to wipe the dirt off.”

  “?!”

  The moment Suimei casually said those words, Felmenia suddenly straightened out like a rod had been jammed down her back and went completely stiff.

  “Hmm? What’s wrong?”

  “C-Cute...”

  “Come again?”

  “Saying I’m cute is a little...”

  “Hellooooo?”

  Before Suimei knew it, Felmenia had gone somewhere else. He waved his hand in front of her vacant eyes, and it took a good few moments before she snapped back to reality.

  “Huh? Eek! Th-Th-That’s enough! I have business to attend to, so if you’ll excuse me...!”

  Felmenia’s face went from bright red to deep crimson. It really wasn’t going too far to compare her face to an apple or tomato. However, after storming off a ways, she came to a stop and turned around with tremendous zeal.

  “I-I will w-w-withdraw what I said earlier!”

  “Whazzat?”

  “About calling a bastard like you foolish! A-A-A-A-And you can get to your stupid room by following this passage around the bend, and... Argh, after that, just catch someone else and ask them! But remember this, Suimei Yakagi! One day, I will repay this disgrace a million times over, you hear?! Don’t forget! Don’t you dare forget— FUGYAH?!”

  Though she was standing still, she was flailing her arms so violently as she yelled that she pitched forward like a fish on a hook. Indeed, Felmenia fell over once more. It seemed tripping was her signature move.

  “What the hell’s going on...?”

  While watching her unsteadily pick herself up and dash down the hallway, Suimei muttered to himself. Felmenia, however, was still screaming her lungs out even as she disappeared into the distance. His image of Felmenia Stingray, a cool girl with a just and resolute heart, was shattered. In the back of his mind, he now filed her away under the klutz category.

  “...Whatever. It’s about time I get going.”

  And with that, Suimei’s quest for his room resumed.

  ★

  Aside from his unexpected encounter with Felmenia, Suimei managed to safely return to his room from the ritual chamber without any fuss. But he didn’t have long to catch his breath.

  “Hmm...”

  Suimei detected the sound of footsteps and the presence of mana approaching his room. After his last run-in, Suimei was thinking of just relaxing in his room for the time being, but this put him on edge. He focused his mind and shifted his attention to the approaching presence.

  It was likely a visitor to his room. Whoever it was was headed straight towards his door with no hesitation. Concentrating on their mana presence, Suimei could break it down into three wavelengths he recognized. It was his friend who had been growing more powerful by the day, Reiji, and two other people. One of them, enamored with him and serving as his advisor around the clock, was Titania. The other was Mizuki, who clung to Reiji even more than before thanks to Titania.

  The moment he sensed them, Suimei gathered the books and magickal items on his desk and used magicka to cloak them without leaving a single trace.

  After the incident in the audience chamber, the people of the castle believed that Suimei had locked himself away in his room and was merely sulking in his bed. Felmenia had demonstrated she was under that impression too, and of course Reiji and the others were no exception.

  If Suimei came into contact with people, the possibility of his identity being discovered would only increase. To prevent that, he’d pretended to seclude himself and made sure not to interact with anyone when it wasn’t strictly necessary. He’d gone to such lengths all to conceal the fact that he was a magician.

  As a guest of the castle, all his meals were brought to his room. The only times he left his room were to check on Reiji and Mizuki, to go to the castle’s library, or to investigate the ritual chamber, and those activities were all conducted in secret. Apart from that and going to use the bathroom, he stayed in his room.

  That would reduce the chances of him being found out. He didn’t want to be taken advantage of by those who would have their eyes on his power, and he was still resistant to the idea of Reiji and Mizuki learning his secret. In addition to that, hiding in his room gave him the privacy and the free time to study and investigate things.

  But for every day he spent locked away in his room, the people of the castle thought less of him. Whether it was for his cowardice in refusing the mission with the hero, his pettiness in locking himself up in his room, or his uncouthness for the scene he caused in the audience chamber, no one had anything nice to say about him. Other than the king and Titania, the entire castle staff was quick with a vicious word about his behavior.

  To Suimei, this was all a cover, so he didn’t really care what they thought. In fact, the less they wanted to do with him, the better. Contemplating that, Suimei slipped into his bed like he was sulking. A few moments later, he heard a reserved knock at the door and Reiji’s voice.

  “Morning, Suimei. Are you up?”

  “...Yeah, come in.”

  “Sorry to intrude.”

  “Pardon me. I’m coming in too.”

  Waiting until they entered the room, Suimei slowly got out of the bed. Waiting for everyone to take their seats like usual, Suimei struck up a conversation with Reiji.

  “So? What happened today?”

  “Oh? Th-That’s awfully sudden of you, Suimei.”

  “The atmosphere around you is a little different from usual today. You’re getting restless, aren’t you?”

  “Ahaha, so you can tell?”

  “Well, yeah.”

  Reiji laughed as if to hide his embarrassment, and Suimei replied with a nod. When Reiji entered the room, Suimei had noticed something was off. Though Reiji looked fine, he was anxious. It was as if both something good and something questionable had happened—that kind of feeling. Reiji put on a brave smile as he began explaining.

  “I learned body enhancement magic today. Wanna see?”

  “Yeah? Show me.”

  So was that it? Reiji was just excited that he’d learned some new magic? Suimei could relate to that pretty well. Weaving together new magicka and then putting it to use for the first time was a thrill like no other.

  Reiji began stretching his joints and loose
ning up his muscles. This was body strengthening magic. If it wasn’t used together with magic to stabilize the body, it could be dangerous. Such preparations were a serious matter.

  “Here I go.”

  With that, Reiji spread his mana throughout his entire body. The spell took shape in the blink of an eye, and he activated the stabilizing magic without a chant.

  “Burn Boost!”

  Reiji then spoke the name of his true spell, and flames born from those words coiled around his body. Thanks to his invocation, Reiji’s physical abilities had been enhanced. Right now, his body was overflowing with an intense power on top of the strength he’d been granted by the hero summoning.

  “Oooh!”

  Yakagi Suimei, a magician at heart, couldn’t help admiring Reiji’s performance. His use of magic just now was splendid. From the optimization of the mana to the way he’d prepared the spell, right down to the details of its activation, it was a grand display. To sum it up in one word, it was masterful. Of course, it wasn’t a particularly complicated or high-level spell, but for someone who had only been studying magic for two weeks, his exemplary demonstration of the basics was truly praiseworthy. Suimei found no fault in it.

  He’d cast body enhancement magic with a fire attribute, so in addition to improving his physical abilities overall, it granted him an explosive increase in strength. In a similar fashion, using the wind attribute would have dramatically increased his speed, the water attribute his agility, and the earth attribute his constitution. While Suimei thought about Reiji’s body enhancement and began to analyze the potential effects of other attributes, Titania drew nearer to Reiji with an entranced look in her eyes.

  “That’s Reiji-sama for you. Truly exquisite...”

  “Ahaha, thank you, Tia.”

  Reiji thanked Titania, who was cheerfully smiling at him. He was apparently close enough with her now to have a nickname for her. Hearing it, Mizuki looked at Titania with a somewhat sulky expression.

  “Hey, Tia, aren’t you a little too close?”

  “Is that a problem, Mizuki? You’re usually the one who’s this close, so surely you can manage to share a little with me.”

  “Wh-What? I’m never that close!”

  “That’s simply not true, Mizuki. You’re always unnecessarily close to Reiji-sama. It’s unfair.”

  Even though Reiji’s body enhancement was supposed to be the star of the show, the girls were apparently more concerned about his attention. Sparks were flying between them as they glared at each other. Suimei had had more than enough of it already.

  “Guys like you should just... I mean... That’s some pretty cool magic, huh, Reiji?”

  “Hmm? Oh, yeah. Sure is, isn’t it? It’s pretty easy to use too, so I quite like it.”

  “Yeah. It looks good. Surprisingly, it doesn’t give off any evil or ominous vibes, either.”

  That was what Suimei honestly thought. If nothing else, it got high marks for style. Fire was wrapped around Reiji’s body like a coiled dragon. It was quite cool. It had impact, and that was worth something. It could go a long way towards intimidating and overcoming an opponent. With magic, looks were a surprisingly important matter.

  Mizuki finally interjected her part too, but she turned to Reiji instead of Suimei, the boy she’d come to visit.

  “I-I’m also able to do it now!”

  “I see. You really are working hard too, aren’t you, Mizuki?”

  “Huh? Oh, yeah...”

  Mizuki nearly seemed startled that Suimei was the one who replied to her. Because of her quarrel with Titania, it seemed that Mizuki was solely focused on Reiji and had completely forgotten Suimei was even there. Really, she’d wanted Reiji to praise her, and to use that as ammunition to antagonize Titania. At any rate, the friend who was watching them from the sidelines was half ready to kill Reiji, and half charmed by the amusement of it all.

  “Heh...”

  “Wh-What is it, Suimei-kun?”

  “Nothing. Give it your best.”

  “Mm! I won’t lose!”

  Just who was it she was determined not to lose against, exactly? If anyone had been listening in on their conversation, they would have probably assumed she meant the Demon Lord, but that was the wrong answer. And Suimei only fanned the flames by cheering her on. But then he turned his attention back to Reiji.

  “So, what else?”

  “Huh? Well, all sorts of stuff...”

  Reiji gave an evasive answer. Something had clearly happened, but he was apparently reluctant to talk about it. Whatever it was was likely the cause for his strange state of agitation today.

  “What is the matter, Reiji-sama?”

  “Huh? Oh, nothing...”

  “Princess, did something strange happen?”

  “Nothing strange, no. But we did witness something beyond amazing from Reiji-sama.”

  Titania spoke in both excitement and happiness. Suimei didn’t think that she was lying, but if what she said was true, why was Reiji trying to brush it off?

  “So what was it?”

  “Th-That’s, um...”

  Reiji tried to shoot down Suimei’s question, but Titania paid no mind to his hesitant answer. As if she was proud of something she herself had accomplished, she explained what happened in a boastful tone.

  “You see, today, specialists from every branch of the Mage’s Guild affiliated with the Kingdom of Astel came to have magic bouts with Reiji-sama.”

  “Hmm, the Mage’s Guild, huh?”

  The Mage’s Guild. That was something Suimei had yet to investigate thoroughly, but if he remembered correctly, it was more or less a coalition of most of the country’s mages.

  “Indeed. We’ve consulted with them about this for quite some time, and everyone managed to gather for the event today.”

  “Is that strange?”

  “Yes. They’re all dignitaries and they keep quite busy. Normally they’d be running all around the country performing their various duties.”

  That did make it sound like it would be hard to get them all in one place at the same time. But Suimei was more interested in what she’d said about “specialists from every branch,” so he decided to ask her more about that.

  “So what do you mean by ‘specialists?’”

  “They are the most skilled mages in the eight schools of fire, water, wind, earth, lightning, wood, light, and darkness. Each one of them is talented enough to go toe to toe with the court mages, and they have each been granted the honorary title of elemental emperor for their talents. The emperor of the school of fire is known as the Flame Emperor, the emperor of the school of light is the Brilliant Emperor, and so on.”

  Really?

  The word “emperor” was supposed to imply something exceptionally exalted, and there were eight of them? Even in modern Japan, that title was exclusively reserved for the most esteemed man in the country. Suimei wondered if something was being lost in translation there since the language Titania was speaking was being magically translated in his head, but be that as it may, it still left him a bit puzzled.

  “Suimei-sama, is something that matter?”

  “Ah, no, it’s nothing. So, what was the result of the bouts?”

  “Naturally, Reiji-sama won.”

  Titania puffed out her chest with pride as if she’d been the real victor. But then she said something that really got Suimei’s attention.

  “And on that occasion, Reiji-sama was given his own title by the master of the Mage’s Guild.”

  “A title?”

  A title was an honorary name used to celebrate the achievements or characteristics of the person it was bestowed upon. Naturally, they were an indispensable part of a fantasy world. Reiji, however, tried to change the topic in a somewhat awkward tone.

  “D-Do we have to talk about that?”

  Apparently finding Reiji’s discomfort amusing, Mizuki let out a stifled laugh.

  “Pfft...”

  “What’s up, Mizuki?”

&
nbsp; “Heehee, nothing. Just wait ’til you hear it.”

  “Oh yeah? So, Your Highness, what was the title given to Reiji by the guild master?”

  “Listen, Suimei, that’s—”

  “The guild master bestowed Reiji-sama, the miraculous prodigy who controls all attributes, with the title of Attribute Master!”

  Titania thrust a triumphant fist in the air and passionately declared Reiji’s title. The room completely froze for an instant. But when Suimei couldn’t take it anymore, he burst into hearty laughter.

  “Pffffft!”

  “What...? Suimei-sama!”

  “A-Attribute Master? Haha. Ah crap, I can’t, pfft... Aha... AHAHAHAHA!”

  Titania was utterly shocked at Suimei’s sudden fit of laughter. She looked around in a fluster, but Reiji had his face planted in both hands as he shook his head, looking utterly disappointed it had come to this. Mizuki, on the other hand, was fondly looking at Reiji’s blushing face like they were talking about her favorite food. After letting Suimei have a good laugh, Reiji finally spoke up in a pout.

  “...Look, that’s why I didn’t want to say it.”

  “I... I don’t understand. Receiving a title is a great honor for a mage, so why is Suimei-sama...?”

  Titania just couldn’t get her head around Suimei’s reaction. She looked dumbfounded, but she had no way of knowing that standards for what was considered cool could differ between worlds. Mizuki already knew, but that was exactly why Reiji wanted to avoid bringing this up altogether in front of Suimei.

  “Seriously? Attribute Master? Oh crap, guys! Look out, it’s Reiji the Attribute Master! Pffffft! What kind of guild master would pick a title like that? One with no style, that’s for sure! Absolutely none! Oh god, my sides... Pfft! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

  “Suimei, I’m begging you... don’t say it.”

  Reiji sounded utterly disheartened, but the rest of their conversation that day was in high spirits at his expense.

  ★

  A few days later, Court Mage Felmenia Stingray was on her way to lessons with the hero and his good friend Mizuki Anou to teach them the ways of magic.

  “To think I would become the hero’s instructor...”

  Felmenia’s inner thoughts escaped her lips as she walked down the hall. What was swirling around within her chest at the moment was a mixture of delight and exaltation. After all, out of the dozens of court mages, Felmenia—the youngest among them—had been charged with the responsibility of teaching magic to the boy who would save their world. That’s right, Felmenia was the hero’s magic instructor. To a mage of this world, there could be no greater honor. She could hardly contain herself.