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

by Gamei Hitsuji

  As she imagined Suimei wandering through Metel, Felmenia put the feelings in her heart into words. It was true that she wanted to be helpful to Suimei, but she also just wanted to see him again.

  It began with what happened in the corridor that fateful day, and led all the way up until his help in the arrest of Sebastian. At first she had been hostile to him, and though she was defeated utterly and completely by him that night, she was now at the point where she fully understood that it was an essential process that she had to go through with him.

  What was completely unexpected to her were the feelings she found herself harboring for him. Indeed, feelings often known as love. That pure emotion born at the limits of fellowship between man and woman was something that always felt far away for her as a court mage. Felmenia had abandoned the idea of it, assuming that it just wasn’t meant for her.

  “Aaah, Suimei-dono...”

  While working, she was reminded of Suimei and let out a languishing sigh.

  What she was reminded of were the few days before he departed. Ever since they had cleared the air between them, their relationship had improved, and she had started to get somewhat(?) clingy with him. He’d kindly talked with her on all sorts of subjects, and even though it was only for a short period of time, he even taught her the foundations of his world’s magicka. She had questions as to why a lethargic and perplexed expression would float up on his face here and there, but that was a mere triviality.

  While Felmenia was stretching out in her chair, her eyes idly passed over the spine of a certain book.

  “Hmm?”

  It was the title of the book that had caught her attention. She stood up, walked to the bookshelf, and took it into her hands.

  “A Study of the Hero Summoning Ritual and the History of the Summoned Heroes...?”

  She then opened it and scanned its contents.

  “This is...”

  Felmenia was surprised at this most serendipitous discovery. What was written inside was all about the hero summoning. It was likely that this information would be useful to Suimei. When she chased after him, she would be sure to take it with her.

  “But if this brings Suimei-dono closer to his goal...”

  What crossed Felmenia’s mind in that moment was a sense of anxiety that she had never felt before. If she delivered this book to him, he would certainly draw one step closer to his goal, and that meant returning to his world that much faster. When he did eventually find the spell he needed, it was almost certain that she would never be able to see him again.

  And if that happened, what would she do with these strange feelings welling up inside her?

  “Tch, no! Don’t think about that, Felmenia! Our first priority is helping Suimei-dono! The rest can wait until after that!”

  Felmenia knew that she was really just choosing to abandon all thought on it. But no matter what she felt, she knew she couldn’t abandon her morals.

  Afterword

  To everyone who picked up The Magic in this Other World is Too Far Behind! on this occasion, as well as those of you who are checking out the afterword, thank you very much. Thanks to all who bought this book, and everyone who checked it out while browsing. I’m happy just to have people picking it up to read.

  This would be my first meeting with those of you who only learned of me after lining up at the book store, but for all of you who have read the web version, I am the one who was active on Syosetsu with the stupid and noncommittal pen name of “Beef from the Nose” Hana kara Gyuniku. Hitsuji Gamei is also a strange pen name, so not that much has really changed. And yes, I am also one of the ones pulled from Syosetsu into the field of light novels... Eh? Rank and file? I can’t hear you, I can’t heeear youuu!

  God, not in my wildest dreams did I think that I would be publishing a book like this. I just thought I’d write something down and make the best of a setting I casually thought of, and wrote on a different platform than usual... I think.

  From getting an award at Syosetsu to the beginning of the convention rush... At that time, I could only think, “wow, is this really happening?” and just went with the flow.

  I started writing this story at the end of July in 2013, and it was first made public at the end of August that same year. After finishing the first stage, as I was pumping myself up for continuing the story on the same site at the end of September that year, the invitation for a publication came.

  I was shocked. Very much so. At all sorts of things. I guess I still am, honestly.

  Ummm, about the story! It’s something like a transported to another world fantasy crossed with a modern fantasy? It’s sort of about a probable concept that hasn’t come up much. I wanted to write a story where the friend caught up in the protagonist’s summoning was actually the stronger one, so then I thought, “Well, how do I make him strong, I wonder?” This is how it turned out. When a magician from Earth touches upon the magic of a fantasy world, just what kind of mystical reaction will occur?

  I’m a chuunibyou. I love chuuni settings, so I wrote about someone who was unable to escape from one—that kind of story. And so I hope everyone who reads it contracts chuunibyou as well. Multiply, my chuunibyou patients! Viva chuunibyou!

  Finally, to the person who put in so much work to get this book published, the chief editor S-san, thank you very much for jabbing at my poor writing all the time. To the one in charge of the illustrations, himesuz-san, thank you very much for the cool and cute cover picture and illustrations. To all the dear readers who read my work on Syosetsu, and all the dear readers who sent me words of support, thank you very much. There are many others that I need to extend my thanks to, but this time around, I think I will put an end to the acknowledgments here. To everyone who’s reading this and thinking “Where’s my thanks?!”—please contact me.

  If I’m still alive by the time volume 2 comes out, let us meet again in the afterword there.

  -Gamei Hitsuji

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  Copyright

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

  by Gamei Hitsuji

  Translated by Hikoki

  Edited by Morgan Dreher

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Copyright © 2014 Gamei Hitsuji

  Illustrations by himesuz

  Cover illustration by himesuz

  All rights reserved.

  Original Japanese edition published in 2014 by OVERLAP, Inc.

  This English edition is published by arrangement with OVERLAP, Inc., Tokyo

  English translation © 2018 J-Novel Club LLC

  All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property.

  J-Novel Club LLC

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  The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.

  Ebook edition 1.0: April 2018