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

by Gamei Hitsuji

  As one would expect, this time he was left completely drained. Even though he had to grasp the fundamentals behind the demons’ power and also had to diminish their numbers as much as possible, defeating every last one of them may have been somewhat rash. And then in the fight against Rajas, he even used abracadabra.

  Rajas was terrifyingly robust, and a bad match for Suimei’s magicka. In the end, he’d had to play his ultimate ace out of all the holy magicka he could use. However, the fact that he didn’t have even a little bit of mana left now, putting it frankly, was quite stupid of him. And while thinking such things to himself, Suimei looked off into the sky where Rajas vanished.

  “I was pretty lucky, huh...?”

  He really didn’t think that the magicka that would be effective against the demons would be holy magicka. Speaking honestly, it was unexpected. After talking with Lefille about how demons were intrinsically linked to the Evil God, he’d had a hunch, but to think that it actually worked... The fact that darkness was weak to light, or that evil yielded to holiness, may have seemed quite obvious to a layman, but it was something of a blind spot for him as a magician. Overlooking the very basic idea that demons were equated with evil, Suimei had been completely fixated on what was special about this world’s magic. And when the answer came to him in the form of that corpse in the forest, it seemed like it had taken him far too long to put things together.

  In the thought process of a magician, the literal and the physical could be something of a pitfall. So in searching for a conceptual weakness all this time, he’d essentially overthought the problem.

  But all said and done, it was relieving that holy magicka was effective. If he was forced to use magicka that he wasn’t very good with against enemies at Rajas’s level in this world, then he would be at quite a disadvantage.

  It was a mystery arranged from the secret Hebrew art of the Kabbalah, inherited by Gnosticism. In the modern world it was classified as anti-devil, anti-evil spirit type magicka in the Abra-Melin Abraham system of magicka. So it wasn’t just effective against beings that were inherently evil, either. To bring out power one level beyond that, spiritualism was used to manifest half a sacred guardian angel in the world to become possessed by. It took quite a bit of time to use, but unlike the magicka that lost its power if the necessary geography or stars from the other world were not present, there were practically no limitations on where this could be used.

  The heavens existed between the astral plane and the world. It used the pure power that existed in indistinguishable space in the sky―in other words, aetheric. And then from one’s monad, it manifested one’s one and only spirit that was tied to none other—their sacred guardian angel. Precisely because it was a magicka technique born from the user, there was no inconvenience using it in this world.

  It was fortunate that the strongest magicka he could use had been effective. Or perhaps he should just be thankful that the destructive force of his magicka happened to exceed Rajas’s strength. However, the demons’ power was distributed by their Evil God. If there was a demon out there who’d been granted more of it than Rajas, things likely wouldn’t be so simple.

  “...Nakshatra, huh? Well, I don’t have any intention of getting involved with that though.”

  The pinnacle of demonic power was likely Demon Lord Nakshatra. Thinking about it rationally, surely the nuisance of a being that stood atop all the demons possessed more of the Evil God’s power than Rajas. He had no intention of getting involved with the Demon Lord, but in the one in a million chance that he encountered them, they were probably stronger than Rajas and the other demon generals. And in the event that encounter ever took place, it was necessary for him to put some thought into countermeasures. All of it just gave Suimei a headache.

  As Suimei let out a sigh while still breathing roughly, Lefille called out to him from the side.

  “Suimei-kun. Thank you. You really saved me by coming.”

  “No, I got here pretty late. I don’t know if I really deserve your thanks.”

  Suimei gave an honest reply. He couldn’t deny that he hesitated before facing off against the demons. If he’d had his feelings in order from the start, he wouldn’t have been late. And it didn’t even need to be said, but...

  “The people from the trade corps, are they...?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I see.”

  Lefille answered him in a sorrowful tone. He’d had a feeling based on the disastrous scene he came across when he first arrived, but they’d all been annihilated. He couldn’t say much after trying to stop her and giving up on them after finding out the demons were manipulating that adventurer, but they were still people he had spent some time together with. It was still disappointing.

  Now that he thought of it, following Lefille into the forest may have been a crossroads. If he’d been able to convince the people of the trade corps more persuasively, Lefille may have been able to stay together with them, and then maybe it might have been possible to save more of them. Though that was all just looking at it in retrospect...

  “Suimei-kun, it’s better not to worry about it. This might sound strange coming from me, but it isn’t your fault that the people of the trade corps were killed.”

  “It makes me feel better that you say that, but aren’t you the one worrying about it more than me, Lefille?”

  “Th-That’s...”

  As he turned the question around on her, she let out a troubled voice. She then fell into a dejected gloom. In the end, she really was worried about it. There wasn’t any way she wouldn’t be. She was unable to protect them even when she wanted to. Suimei didn’t know if she hadn’t made it in time or if things had just been that bad, but either way, she’d gone through something terribly painful.

  And then Rajas likely took advantage of that. He was good at poking at the weak portions of people’s hearts like that. It was insidious and evil, and it only made things harder on Lefille.

  “Lefille, unlike me, you raced off to save the people of the trade corps without hesitation. Don’t blame yourself so much.”

  “Mm...”

  The scant reply she let out was, as expected, quite weighty. She’d tried so hard and done her best, but standing before the grim results, such words were nothing but mere consolation. Because Lefille knew that, she was still depressed. And because Suimei knew it too, he couldn’t say anything else.

  So for a short while, time passed wordlessly between them. Perhaps they were praying for the dead, or perhaps they were putting their hearts back in order. But emerging from that deep silence, Lefille suddenly opened her mouth.

  “Suimei-kun, you know...”

  “What’s up?”

  “U-Um, thank you.”

  “...Why are you thanking me this time?”

  She’d already conveyed her gratitude. Not knowing why she was piling on more thanks, Suimei was a bit puzzled. Lefille’s voice was elegant, but she sounded somewhat embarrassed as she tried to explain.

  “Um, earlier, when you said you came to save me, I was really happy. That’s why...”

  “O-Oh...”

  “Thank you.”

  “I-Is that right...? Well, you are very much welcome.”

  Having such sincere gratitude shown to him, Suimei let out an out of place polite and strange reply. It was quite embarrassing to have such a thing said to him, but... Now that he thought of it, when he was facing off against Rajas and when he was talking to Lefille, he felt like he’d made nothing but embarrassing declarations.

  Aaaah...

  What he strived for. The Society’s ideal. Proof that he could save her. His father’s wish. That self-centered helping hand. His self-righteousness. All with gusto. He was just that in the moment, and had ended up blurting out some embarrassing things. That was it. He should just forget it all. If he did, everything would be normal. Thinking that, Suimei violently shook his head to the sides. And while he was in the middle of trying to escape from reality, Lefille spoke in a voic
e filled with determination.

  “I was able to summon my courage because of you. Without giving up anymore, I want to continue down my own path as I should. Well, it doesn’t change that fact that I want to get stronger and fight the demons though.”

  It seemed her dispirited heart had made a recovery. And if he’d been able to mitigate some of the despair in her heart, then all was well. And as Suimei stared up into the sky without saying anything, Lefille continued in a curious voice.

  “...What’s wrong?”

  “Hmm? Ah, I just thought that would be good.”

  “I won’t give up anymore. No matter what happens, I’ll show that I can remain standing to the very end. You taught me this.”

  As she declared that embarrassing line with a straight face, Suimei replied in a self-deprecating tone.

  “Please stop. That thing I said was completely secondhand, after all.”

  “Secondhand?”

  “Yeah, I was talked down to by some stupidly strong guy before, you see. And at the time, that’s what he said.”

  That’s right. It wasn’t like he didn’t understand the feeling of being completely denied. After being talked down to by someone strong, he felt like everything in the world was denying him. And as his heart wavered in that predicament, that man who told him that his dream was not anywhere behind him if he turned back appeared. Yes...

  “You met a good person, didn’t you?”

  “Good? That lunatic... Well, I am grateful, but basically, that guy’s an enemy.”

  Lefille likely thought it to be quite the moving tale, and he could hear her quietly pondering the details.

  The man who’d told him that fundamentally only ever laughed at the dreams of others. He would always show up at the most important times, start cheering in the most inappropriate manner, and do nothing but get in the way. If someone he had his eye on were to die, he would probably just think his entertainment was gone. That’s why, that’s why at that time, with those words...

  “...But what he said then may have been serious.”

  “You have all sorts of complications in your own way, don’t you?”

  “Well, yeah.”

  “Heehee...”

  Just what did she find funny? Lefille suddenly began laughing in a reserved manner. Hearing her laugh like that after what he’d told her, he felt like he was being treated like a child and was somewhat dissatisfied, but... even so, after the fight they’d had, he was happy to hear her giggle.

  In any case, the fight was over. It wasn’t all bad. But just as the mood was settling into a comfortable and tranquil atmosphere, something inexplicable happened right next to Suimei.

  Thud.

  “Eeek!”

  He heard what sounded like something falling to the ground accompanied by a charming shriek. It was likely that—no, certainly it came from Lefille, but her voice was unusually high-pitched. It was the first time he’d ever heard her squeal.

  “Oof. Lefille, what’s―”

  Though it was painful to even move, Suimei rotated just his head to look at Lefille, the source of the noise. She was there, of course, but not as he expected. She was quite tiny.

  “What the...?”

  “O-Owow... What’s wrong, Suimei-kun?”

  What he was seeing was so suspicious that he felt the impulse to rub his eyes. But being unwilling to move enough to do so, he just stared.

  Next to him was a little girl that looked like she could be an elementary school child. She had a red ponytail. Slightly sharp eyes. The porcelain complexion of someone in a snowy country. That feeling of a quiet sword that he first felt when he met her. Because her face was still the same, there was no mistaking it was Lefille. That’s why there was no question that Lefille had shrunk into a little girl... Probably.

  But just what was going on? Her clothes were the same too; because her body had shrunk, they were all baggy. Perhaps because she’d fallen over face first, tears were forming in the corners of her eyes and she was rubbing off the dirt from her face. That girl was looking at him and questioning him, but Suimei felt like he should be the one asking the questions.

  “No, actually, what’s wrong with you, Lefille? You’re tiny now, you know?”

  “Tiny...?”

  With that, the tiny Lefille made a puzzled expression that could only be described as cute, and looked down at her own body. And in an instant, her eyes shot wide open as her expression changed to one of shock.

  “Huh? Huh? Wh-What the hell is this?! Just what’s going on, Suimei-kun?!”

  “No, no, no, no. I’m the one who wants to know what the hell is going on here.”

  “My body shrank! It’s tiny! Why? Why? WHY?!”

  “Is this the first time? I mean, sure it is, but...”

  “Of course it is! This has never happened before!”

  Lefille vigorously made that declaration regarding this unusual phenomenon. But other than that, she was completely shaken. This was a new experience for her. And it was strange enough that it would be troublesome even if it was something that happened frequently. She spoke up about her deduction as to what had happened.

  “I-It couldn’t be that during the fight, that damn Rajas cast some evil spell on me...”

  Lefille thought it over out loud while making a grim face. It was an expression that truly showcased her panic. It was perhaps the conclusion her mind was naturally drawn to since she was already cursed, but was a curse to turn someone into a little kid something anybody really went out of their way to cast? Not only that, it would be quite the late curse for it to only take effect after everything had ended. Frankly speaking, it was a ridiculous idea.

  Could it be just some sick joke he’d played in his last moments of struggling? Just to be safe, Suimei examined her, but...

  “No, it doesn’t look like it. There are no traces of curses except for the existing one.”

  “Th-Then why...”

  Lefille’s expression at her wits’ end had become unusually stringent. Just how had it come to this? She seemed to be searching for the root cause deep in her head, but in everything that had happened, was there really anything that could explain this?

  It was true that Lefille wasn’t a normal human in many ways, including the power of spirits, her telesma.

  Thinking on it now, Suimei recalled the abnormal power that Lefille had manifested at the end of the fight. She’d dominated all the air in their surroundings; it was completely different from what he’d seen from her previously. The strength of the power, the range, the variance—it far outclassed what she’d used to blow away the smaller demons. The difference was so stark that it could be said that it was in an entirely different dimension.

  Basing his conjecture on that, he arrived at an answer right away, but...

  No, no matter how you put it, that’s too simple, isn’t it?

  Suimei dismissed the answer that came to mind... but then he recalled his oversight in regards to holy magicka. Because he’d overlooked a simple answer, it took him far too long to arrive at the truth. It meant that, in this other world, he couldn’t automatically discount simple answers.

  “Lefille, hear me out.”

  “... I shrank. Everything did. Every last bit. Aww... Why? Why do I feel like I just lost something important again all at once...? Hic...”

  “Hellooooo?”

  “Huh? Ah, sorry. What’s the matter, Suimei-kun?”

  Using the far too long sleeve on her arm to wipe away her spilling tears, Lefille looked up at Suimei. He then took to explaining his theory.

  “It’s just... I was thinking that maybe your body shrank cause you used too much of the power of the spirits.”

  “Oh...? Why do you think that?”

  “Um, let’s see, well this is entirely conjecture, but your body is likely composed of half human and half incorporeal spirit. So after consuming a large amount of the foundation of the power of the spirits in aetheric and monad, the spirit portion ran out, you see...
”

  “I don’t understand everything you just said, but... In short, are you suggesting this happens after I use too much of my powers? But how could that be? No matter how much of my power I used before, my body never changed. And besides, isn’t it strange for a body to shrink like this? If the power of the spirits ran out, then it should just simply mean that I’m unable to use any more of that power.”

  “Sure, but at any rate, you’re part spirit. Even where I come from, there’s too much that’s inexplicable about them...”

  In Suimei’s world, the very existence of spirits themselves was something from antiquity, and because not many records were left behind, many things about spirits were unknown or obscure.

  But since Lefille was born as a half spirit, in addition to her physical body and astral body, she was sustained by something like a spiritual body. He was suggesting that this had happened because she’d overused that part of her body, so it was only natural that she be a little suspicious of his theory, but...

  “Wait, I get it. Your body is based on a spirit, so it’s fundamentally different from a normal physical body. Your existence itself is the same as a summoned spirit, and it’s the same as when one manifests in reality using a physical body as a projection, so if the foundation of that—the power of the spirits—weakens, then the projection becomes distorted. Ah, yeah, of course. The girl known as Lefille is still here, but because your existence has become distorted, to maintain coherence, the projection just appears smaller. It even has an effect on your physical body in reality.”

  “S-Suimei-kun! I can’t understand what you’re saying with so many difficult words! Explain it in a way that even I would get it!”

  “Hmm? Ah, you’re right, sorry. I’ll explain it later after I sort it out a bit. But for now... isn’t it bad if you jump around in that state?”

  The moment Suimei finished pointing that out, Lefille panicked and immediately tripped on her baggy clothes and boots.