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

by Gamei Hitsuji

  “Use magic? You bet I can. I am a magician, after all. By the way...”

  What’d you think of my herbal magicka. Nice, huh?

  Suimei followed up on his little comedy show by coldly curving his mouth into a grin and explaining what exactly had made Sebastian so talkative.

  It was herbal magicka. In ancient times, it was used by shamans, and from the Middle Ages to the present, by witches. It was a form of magicka that made use of the mysteries hidden within plants, classified under witchcraft. It used magicka on the aroma from herbs, or mystified the herbs themselves by turning them into talismans. Suimei used the former method. It was a minor trap to bring Sebastian down.

  And then, while still standing up from this theatrical greeting, Suimei began walking alongside the wall. Watching Suimei strut around someone else’s room as if he owned it, Sebastian remembered something he had heard before.

  “A-A mage, you said?! Th-That can’t be! I heard the hero’s world had no magic.”

  “I’m sure you did. The world as they know it certainly doesn’t.”

  “The world... as they know it?”

  “That’s right. But you certainly don’t fucking need to know any more than that.”

  As the darkness in the room seemed to be creeping towards him, a cold shiver ran down Sebastian’s back. Just what was going on? The hero hadn’t known anything of magic, and there was nothing to suggest he’d had magical ability and was just pretending to hide it. He was a man chosen by this world and by its goddess to be a hero. He was overflowing with talent and wisdom, yet he knew nothing of magic. So there was no way that this run-of-the-mill boy knew anything about it either.

  Or was that why Felmenia had believed the story about Suimei’s plans to harm the king so readily? Because she knew he was a mage?

  “...”

  Cold sweat traced its way down Sebastian’s cheek. Was such a thing possible? This defied all expectation. After Suimei enjoyed the sight of Sebastian trembling for a while, with his back up against the wall, he began to coldly weave his words.

  “Nevertheless, thank you. I already figured out most of it from looking into it, but thanks to you, I’m now able to grasp the entire truth. It just means that I was used as an excuse to accomplish your idiotic goal. Oh, and by the way, there’s no point in trying to pretend you’re innocent. His Majesty is already fully aware that you’re really the one pulling the strings.”

  “Th-That’s...”

  When Sebastian tried to say something, Suimei mercilessly cut him off.

  “That thing... The automaton that Stingray set up. You were the one who messed with it, weren’t you?”

  “Wh-What are you tal—”

  “I thought I said that there was no point in trying to play innocent. The one who made the thing was your dear master. Golem manipulation is your forte, isn’t it? Setting up a trick like that was a piece of cake for you, huh?”

  “Ugh...”

  Just how much more did he have in stock? As Suimei continued to fluently stab at all his weak points, Sebastian couldn’t even protest. Suimei then unloaded another blow as he shrugged his shoulders.

  “My my, having it suddenly go for the kill like that was a mighty nasty way of setting her up just because you were pissed. But I bet the one who’s the most pissed off now is the victim who was set to be the punchline of your petty little revenge game, don’t you think? So? Do you have anything to say?”

  “...What do you intend to do with me?”

  “I won’t do a thing. The one to take action should be the one who suffered the most from all this, no?”

  Sebastian kept himself on guard as he questioned Suimei, but Suimei turned around and fired off with questions of his own.

  “Just who are you—”

  Before Sebastian could even finish, the door to his office opened. On the other side was none other than...

  “F-F-Felmenia Stingray?!”

  Yes, standing just beyond that door was the young court mage that Sebastian had brought down over his grudge, Felmenia Stingray. Her beautiful and cold face that could hold any man captive, that even the women of the world would be fascinated by, was twisted with righteous indignation towards him, and a voice tense with rage poured out of her mouth.

  “To think that this was a scheme by a bastard like you...”

  Hearing her hiss those hateful words, Sebastian once more turned his attention to Suimei, who met his gaze with a searing sneer.

  “Our special guest has arrived. Isn’t that quite the clever development?”

  “You bastard...!”

  Sebastian shot daggers at Suimei like he was actually trying to kill him with his glare, but Felmenia was more than happy to interject.

  “You had better come quietly! A bastard like you who would bring others down over your wretched envy doesn’t deserve the title of court mage! I will expose all of your damn scheming before His Majesty the King!”

  “Tch!”

  Felmenia moved in to apprehend Sebastian with her valorous declaration, but he had no intention of letting her take him. He leaped over a desk and made a break for the exit.

  “Out of the way!”

  “Kyah!”

  Felmenia was standing in front of the door and didn’t seem to expect Sebastian’s resistance. It took all her wits just to evade him as he hurled himself past her. By the time she collected herself, he was already fleeing down the corridor.

  “H-Huh?”

  Seeing Felmenia looking around trying to figure out what happened, Suimei put his hand on his head and brought her up to speed.

  “Hey, HEY! What the hell are you doing? He ran off, you know?”

  “M-My apologies. It was just so sudden...”

  “Sudden? Aren’t you a mage? Where’s your magic?”

  “Uh...”

  “Come on...”

  In reply to Felmenia’s boneheaded response, Suimei let out an exasperated sigh. This would have been the perfect time for her not to go with the airhead routine, and Suimei was momentarily stunned this was how things had turned out. But then he quickly shifted gears and began moving.

  “Well, whatever. We’re giving chase.”

  “Alright.”

  With an acknowledgment, Felmenia followed Suimei and they went after Sebastian together. Since he had such a light body, he seemed to be good at running. He was already out of their sight, but he couldn’t hide his presence. As Felmenia ran next to Suimei, she took an unusually meek attitude and called out to him.

  “Um...”

  “What’s up?”

  “My apologies, Suimei-dono. Although I was deceived, I have caused you a considerable amount of trouble... I want to apologize for all my impolite behavior up until now.”

  “Hmm? Ah, there’s no need to really worry about that. It was all settled with our fight anyway, and it was sort of my bad for sneaking around in the shadows to begin with. You’re not at fault for trying to challenge me for that, either... Well, let me put it this way. I’m the same in that I was deceived. I was splendidly duped by that man too, after all.”

  “Be that as it may...”

  Despite Suimei telling her it was okay, she still looked troubled. Was that just her earnest disposition at work? Seeing Felmenia like that, Suimei made a very serious expression.

  “Sorry. I really went too far with you in more ways than one.”

  “N-No! Th-There is nothing for you to apologize for, Suimei! You already pardoned my inexcusable rampage, and now you’ve even gone as far as orchestrating this opportunity for me to apprehend the mastermind. If you apologize on top of that, I really won’t have a leg to stand on.”

  “...”

  In response to Felmenia’s excessively humble attitude, Suimei looked at her like he’d seen something quite surprising. Seeing his expression, Felmenia questioned him in a curious tone.

  “...Is something the matter?”

  “No, I just may have misunderstood you quite a bit.”

  �
�Misunderstood... me?”

  “Yeah. Sorry about that.”

  “...?”

  Suimei apologized as he looked at Felmenia’s curious expression and thought to himself that he hadn’t gotten the right read on her. He never thought she was a bad person, but if this was what she was really like, then the way he’d treated her seemed a bit evil, even if it had been to seal her mouth. Thinking back on it, he may have taken venting his anger too far. Suimei apologized once more and then focused his attention on Sebastian’s presence.

  “Actually, where’s that guy going?”

  “Judging from his current route, it would likely be the north wing, would it not?”

  “...Isn’t that basically a dead end?”

  As Suimei recalled the layout of the north wing and asked for confirmation, Felmenia nodded.

  “Yes, there are no exits there. If there’s anything of note there, it’s...”

  “The room we were summoned to, huh? Ugh.”

  For some reason, Suimei had a bad feeling about this. He grumbled to himself as they ran along.

  ★

  Before long, the two of them arrived in front of the ritual chamber that Sebastian had likely entered. Wary of the ambush that might await them, they burst into the room. Felmenia made a declaration to the man crouching down in the center of the summoning circle.

  “There is no longer anywhere to run, you hear?! Surrender yourself!”

  “...”

  However, Sebastian remained silent. He didn’t react to Felmenia at all. Seeing him quiet like that, Suimei pointed a chilling gaze in his direction as he questioned him.

  “Hey, why’d you run somewhere like this?”

  “Heh... Heh heh heh...”

  “What is so funny?!”

  Hearing Sebastian’s scornful laughter, this time it was Felmenia who yelled back at him. But it hardly got under his skin. He simply countered as if seeing her enraged countenance was a delight to him.

  “Naive... You’re too naive, Stingray. It couldn’t be that you thought that I would escape to this room without any sort of plan, did you?”

  “What?”

  “Hahaha, I am also a court mage! I have the means to break through exactly such a situation! Behold!”

  With that, Sebastian activated the summoning circle. With only a mere mutter, a dark glow came out of the magic circle at his feet, and a boundless dark purple light flooded the rugged stone room. Seeing Sebastian’s barbaric act, Felmenia broke into a panic.

  “Wh-What are you doing?! That’s the summoning circle for calling heroes from other worlds!”

  “It surely is! However, if it is able to summon things from another world, then with some revisions, it can bring more than just heroes!”

  “Wha... Then what are you...”

  She was going to ask what he was trying to call instead, but she realized that wasn’t necessary after seeing his behavior.

  “Isn’t it obvious?! It’ll be a little something to rid me of you brats!”

  “Is all you care about saving your own hide?! You’ve shown your true nature!”

  “Enough of your prattling, you stupid little girl! Getting carried away just because you can use a flicker of magic! Just that would have been fine, but to steal the honor of summoning the hero from me, and then, of all things, to make a fool of me in front of so many people! Pay for the humiliation you brought upon me with your death!”

  “Silence! You are nothing but vulgar trash possessed by fame and fortune...”

  As Sebastian finally articulated the dark plan he’d been nursing, Felmenia spat back at him. Seeing her grimace with disdain, Suimei questioned her in a curious tone.

  “...Hmm? You’re not the only one who can use that thing?”

  “Huh? N-No. In case something were to happen to the mage left in charge of summoning the hero, all of the court mages are taught the summoning spell, with the blessing of the Church of Salvation and the Mage’s Guild. But more importantly, we must stop him from—”

  As Felmenia stepped forward to begin to invoke her magic, Suimei grabbed her.

  “Wait.”

  “What?! Why are you stopping me, Suimei-dono?!”

  Felmenia couldn’t understand why he’d do that, so she asked for clarification. Suimei made an expression like the answer should have gone without saying.

  “Of course I’d stop you in a situation like this. That’s obvious.”

  “What’s obvious about that?! That’s a summoning spell he tampered with! We don’t know what will happen if it’s used!”

  It was true the summoning spell and circle that Sebastian was now using were things he’d altered. And since this didn’t conform to the prescribed use for them, it could be completely unsafe. On top of that, the summoning circle was already taking action. The light emitted by the mana filled with power and grew stronger, and there was scarcely a second to waste.

  Spurred by that sense of urgency, Felmenia was practically screaming. Her desire to act swiftly was perfectly understandable, but Suimei folded his arms as he grimaced with a slight amount of perplexity in his face.

  “No, we can’t stop it. It’s been crackling and snapping for a while now, but that summoning circle seems to have a pretty good protection spell on it. Though it doesn’t seem to have any defenses against what’s coming from the other side, the defensive portion against obstructions from this side seems perfect.”

  The feedback was poor. Suimei had also attempted to obstruct the summoning while nobody was looking, but in the end, he couldn’t stop it.

  “Wha... Not even you can do it, Suimei-dono?!”

  “I’ve got a bone to pick with you phrasing it like that, but even if we were able to stop him, forcing him out the ritual right now... something outrageous is bound to happen, see?”

  “Huh...?”

  Hearing that warning from Suimei, Felmenia was struck by an uneasy premonition. The word “outrageous” wasn’t a particularly strange one, but Felmenia felt ominously about Suimei using it in this situation. There was a terrifying disparity between what she would call outrageous and what he would. Suimei gazed at the pillar of light, which had started isolating its target, and tried to explain.

  “That thing’s using the same summoning circle created to call us to this world, but this is what we call a berserk summoning. It’s like a summoning that jumps over the astral plane, or even dimensions. And when that happens, at the time the summoning wrenches a hole open, something called a repellent force is produced to maintain the hole. If we were to forcefully cut things off here without allowing the summoning to conclude, that repellent force wouldn’t have anywhere to go, and it would come right back here.”

  “...If it returns, what will happen?”

  “Let’s see... Well, the worst-case scenario would be the entire region getting blown away.”

  “N-No way.”

  Suimei’s conjecture left Felmenia at a loss for words. She must have been thinking of what would have happened if Suimei hadn’t held her back moments ago. The potential disaster wasn’t just limited to them or the castle. It could have been a national catastrophe.

  “Well, that’s what it means to wrench open the wall between dimensions. From my perspective, the out-of-date technology behind that hero summoning circle that makes such a thing possible for a single individual is far more outrageous, though...”

  “H-Hahh...”

  Naturally, Felmenia was lost. All Suimei got was a bewildered squeal from her.

  “Well, don’t worry about the summoning. The medium being used is only that old man’s mana. Whatever is hailed over by it will likely conform to that scale. It’ll be fine as long as nothing ridiculous comes through.”

  Suimei paused for a moment before continuing.

  “That said, if the summoning succeeds, we’re still probably looking at a portion of the castle getting smashed to bits.”

  “Th-That can’t be! There are still so many people within the castle...”


  Just as Felmenia was about to say something about the impending crisis, as if interrupting her, the purple pillar of light sealing in the summoning circle grew remarkably stronger.

  “It’s coming!”

  “A-Ah!”

  Felmenia shut her eyes before the surging torrent of light and yelped in startled surprise. Perhaps because she lost her senses for a moment due to the wave of power and light, the next thing she knew, she was being strongly embraced by Suimei’s left arm.

  “Ah...”

  As she looked up, she could see Suimei gazing at something with a cold and indifferent look. The blue sky spread out behind him. It seemed it was just as he’d said. A portion of the castle, including the ritual chamber, had been obliterated. And below her...

  “The power escaped upwards. With this, there shouldn’t be any damage to the rest of the castle other than this room. Also...”

  “Ah?! AAAH!”

  Finding it strange that Felmenia suddenly started to raise a fuss in his arms, Suimei gave her a puzzled look.

  “What’s up?”

  “F-Flying! We’re flying!”

  Smack in the middle of the blue sky staring down at the ground, Felmenia let out a surprised shriek. The two of them were indeed flying right now. Suimei had deployed flight magicka, and was carrying Felmenia with him. A glimmer of mana could be seen scattering from Suimei’s feet. That was the shape of the power that suspended the two of them in midair. Suimei acted like this was nothing, but Felmenia nearly lost her mind at the shock of seeing it.

  “Wh-What?! Just what is this?!”

  Hearing her confusion, Suimei managed to guess what Felmenia was talking about.

  “Ah, I get it. There’s no flight magicka here, right? I thought that learning to fly after gaining the ability to use magicka was pretty much the first thing everyone did, though...”

  “M-More importantly, Suimei-dono...!”

  “I’m telling you it’s fine. We won’t fall, so calm down and hold on tightly.”

  “T-Tightly?! To a gentleman?! I cannot... N-No, I mean—”

  And just as Felmenia was about to plead with Suimei to let her down because she was afraid of heights, a voice rang out from directly below them that was so utterly repulsive that it barely sounded like it could be of this world. It wasn’t a sound that threatened to burst one’s eardrums, but more one that outright assaulted them. Following it, the light around the summoning circle unraveled like a thin veil. And what was revealed was...