POV: Nanahoshi Shizuka
It has been six years since I was suddenly teleported to this world.
It's strange... it just doesn't feel like that much time has passed.
Perhaps because I have always been busy, whether traveling somewhere, establishing contacts, or trying to find a way to return home.
Each day seemed to bring a new task, a new worry, a new strategy to survive in this world completely different from mine.
After finding myself on the vast plains of the Asura Kingdom during what was called the Teleportation Incident, the first person I crossed paths with was Orsted.
He looked like he came out of a nightmare — golden eyes with slit pupils, a terrifying expression, and an aura so heavy it made you want to flee just to be near him.
But, surprisingly, he was the one who helped me.
With Orsted's help, it took me about a year to learn the common language of this world.
During that time, as I traveled under his protection, I acquired enough knowledge about the Asura Kingdom and the major centers of power in this world.
Eventually, this led me to meet Perugius Dola, one of the Three Heroes who defeated the Demon God Laplace and a living legend of this world.
At that time, my priority was simple: survive. But, being practical, I realized I could use my knowledge of the modern world to improve some things around me.
I introduced small innovations, basic products that would bring me a minimum of comfort — better food preservation methods, more durable clothing, and, of course, soap and shampoo to keep my hair clean.
These mundane things were something that would help many people in this world have a better quality of life, but I was doing it mainly for myself.
Using Orsted's influence as the Dragon God, I managed to convince some Asuran merchants to establish distribution routes for the products I created or perfected.
At first, these efforts were purely personal, but they soon turned into a network of passive income that gave me autonomy and some influence.
All of this also served a greater purpose: to obtain the means to search for my missing friends — and, above all, to try to develop a way to return to Earth.
Orsted was instrumental in my journey. I really owe him a lot.
You might even say he was an easy person to get along with... as long as you ignored his cold personality and certain occasional activities.
He certainly... was a man with many secrets.
Several people we crossed paths with tried to kill him at first sight. And he, in turn, did not hesitate to kill them back.
Sometimes I wondered if he really encountered them by chance... or if he was actually deliberately looking for them.
But I learned to ignore that for the most part. In this hostile and unknown world, he was the one who extended his hand to me first.
He taught me the language, gave me protection, and guided me. One could say that it was because of him that I survived for so long; who knows what fate I would have had if I had been sold as a slave?
So, I closed my eyes to most of the horrors that accompanied him.
It was only once that I chose to interfere in his affairs.
On one of our travels, Orsted seemed to sense an unusual vibration, and we changed course to head toward the source.
We ended up finding a member of the beast race named Rygar.
At first, there was nothing about him that caught much attention, except that he had golden eyes like Orsted.
But something soon made me see him differently: he seemed to recognize me.
It was just a moment, a confused expression on his face.
But it was enough to plant doubt in my heart.
Could he be one of my friends? One of the two who were with me during the accident? Or perhaps one of those who tried to save us from the truck?
There was no way to know for sure, but there were other signs.
Besides me, he was literally the only living being I had seen up to that point who did not feel an irrational fear of Orsted.
Instead of reacting in terror or trying to attack him in an irrational rage like everyone else, he remained calm and tried to restrain his companions.
He recognized Orsted's superior strength, understood the situation with cold logic. Although he also seemed to be extremely cautious with us, that was undeniable.
This only reinforced my suspicion.
Unfortunately, he also knew the name Hitogami.
When that happened, Orsted marked him for death on the spot. I asked once why he was so inflexible about killing these people. His answer was simple, cold, and direct:
"This is the most efficient way to deal with an apostle."
It was always like that. Logical, calculated, and merciless. A side of Orsted that I never fully understood. In truth, I could say that, in a way, I did not understand the Dragon God at all.
But at that moment, for the first time, I asked him to spare someone. I asked him to let Rygar live.
Perhaps it was a mistake, perhaps not. But something about that boy told me he was different.
Despite sparing Rygar after understanding my logic, he did not spare his friend, who seemed to be named Eidar, or Reidar.
Orsted said the reason for killing him was that Reidar had always been an apostle and nothing would change that; once again, I did not fully understand his motives, nothing out of the ordinary here.
After that, Orsted and I continued traveling. We passed through various regions until, using another teleportation circle, he took me to the Magic Triumvirate.
There, I was left at the Ranoa Magic University — one of the most advanced learning centers in this world.
It was there that I began my research on Summoning Magic.
After learning the basics from the best in the world, I had to produce at least some results, and then I could go back and ask more of the Armored Dragon King.
At first, the results were disappointing.
My experiments failed constantly, and I isolated myself from most of the other students and professors; I did not want to relate any more than necessary with these people.
After all, this was not my world, and I would soon leave it.
Moreover, although the magical crystals needed were expensive, my passive income — a result of my commercial network — was enough to finance the studies at the beginning.
Still, the results were almost nil.
It was only with the arrival of Rudeus Greyrat at the Magic University that everything began to change.
Not only did he possess an abnormal magical power, but he also showed genuine interest in my research, since it was related to the Teleportation Incident to some extent.
And more importantly — he was also from Earth.
The discovery was a shock. A wave of relief and despair hit me at the same time. I was not alone. There was another like me here.
And so, the experiments began to succeed, little by little.
And as much as I would not admit it easily, I made some friends...
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POV Rudeus Greyrat
Being nearly killed by the Dragon God as soon as we arrived on the Central Continent was not exactly what I was expecting.
Once again, as soon as I began to feel slightly more confident about my strength, this world proved to me mercilessly that I was still weak.
I could do nothing in the face of true strength.
After gaining the Demon Eye of Foresight, escaping from Atoferatofe, and defeating Paul, who was a North King, I really thought I had become a bit stronger.
Roxy, Ruijerd, and Sylphy all did much better than I did in resisting the Dragon God.
Although they do not seem to see it that way... maybe only because I was the only one who managed to wound him a little.
But I am almost certain he was only testing us. From the beginning of the fight, he did not seem to intend to kill us.
After asking me if I knew Hitogami, I really felt like he was going to kill me at that moment; his killing intent almost suffocated me—but he didn't.
Instead, he fell silent, thinking about something for a while.
Then he asked me if I was afraid of him.
Of course, I said yes.
But he did not seem to believe me.
In any case, he attacked us afterward, testing our strength. And in the middle of the fight, he seemed to have concluded that Sylphy and I were different.
I did not understand exactly why — perhaps because of Chantless Magic?
After the fight, he told me to speak to someone called Silent Seven Stars if we were to go to Ranoa University.
He told me something very important: this so-called Silent was also from Earth. Obviously, only I understood what that meant.
And then, the Dragon God left.
Our group became a bit more somber after that. I could sense that Ruijerd was blaming himself for not being able to protect us. But we continued with our original schedule.
We rescued Sylphy's mother from a noble who was enslaving her and then headed to the Sword Sanctuary to look for my sister, Aisha.
But before we went there, we heard about her at the Magic Triumvirate.
And there, I discovered a truly scary piece of news: my little sister Aisha had become a disciple of Rygar Adoldia, the leader of the Iron Legion.
And worse yet. The Red Wolf had become the Sixth World Power.
In other words, he had ended up surpassing Atoferatofe, becoming the most powerful enemy we had made along the way.
Aisha had stayed with Rygar and his group at the Sword Sanctuary for the last three years and left for Milis months before our arrival; she was quite famous.
Ruijerd and Roxy did not know Rygar. Ruijerd did not even know about the history between us and Rygar. So Sylphy and I told them everything.
Ruijerd, with his usual frankness, incisively pointed out that we were the ones who started a conflict with Rygar.
It was true... but we had our reasons. We were being forced by Larax.
When I said that, Ruijerd retorted that it did not matter to Rygar. That he would not spare us, especially after all the chaos that Sylphy and I caused in Milis.
Rygar would be after our heads. Or, if we stayed away, maybe he would simply ignore us.
In any case, from what we heard about Aisha, she seemed to be doing very well as Rygar's disciple.
And, apparently, she was returning to Milis. She would probably meet Paul... and I had a bad feeling about that.
But even if we decided to return now, it would not be fast enough. We would probably miss each other again.
In any case, we decided to stick to the plan we had already made when we were gathered as a family on the Demon Continent.
Whether we found Aisha or not, Sylphy, Roxy, and I would head to Ranoa and settle down there.
We sent a letter to Paul in Milis and then departed.
Ruijerd separated from us when we arrived at our destination, following his own path. It was a sad farewell; we had really bonded with the Superd over the last three years.
And that is how my school life in this new world began.
Roxy actually ended up becoming a teacher. And Sylphy and I became special students at Ranoa Magic Academy, also known as Ranoa University of Magic.
School life was much better than my past life, without a doubt.
Sylphy and I were excellent mages, and, as students of the Special Class, we ended up having few classmates. Among them was Cliff Grimoire — the self-proclaimed genius and grandson of the former Pope of Milis.
There was also Zanoba Shirone, the third prince of the Kingdom of Shirone, who, for some reason, ended up becoming my disciple after witnessing one of my stone statuettes.
Yes, a statuette. I think I will never understand why he is so fascinated by dolls.
Another peculiar member of our small group was a princess from the Kingdom of Asura named Ariel. Always elegant, with an aura of authority, but also surprisingly approachable.
Beside her was a handsome scoundrel named Luke — the kind who draws glances wherever he goes, a true womanizer. I think I did not like him because he reminded me of Paul.
There was also a mage named Derrick Redbat, the Magical Guardian of the princess; he rarely spoke but was extremely competent.
And of course, there was the mysterious Silent Seven Stars. An enigmatic figure, who never showed her face and almost never spoke, but who apparently... was from Earth.
I ended up discovering a lot about the Teleportation Incident with her, and I also discovered that she was the girl I tried to save from that truck.
This strange and displaced group ended up getting along very well... more than anyone could imagine.
Despite our very different origins, we had an inexplicable synergy.
My school years seemed to be going well. Since the full course at the Magic Academy was seven years, starting at thirteen, Sylphy and I should graduate at twenty.
Of course, there were concerns. The threat of the Iron Legion still hovered in my mind — mainly Aisha's involvement with Rygar.
But it was not like I could do anything immediate about that. Everything had its time.
And in the meantime, I trained, studied, strengthened my skills, and observed the world around me with more attentive eyes.
I had to become stronger, after all, I had some very strong enemies.
Overall, living with Sylphy, with Roxy — who now worked as a teacher at the academy — and with all my new friends, while learning new things at Ranoa University of Magic, may have been one of the best times of my life.
Peace, learning, companionship. For a while, I allowed myself to believe that all this would last.
All right, that seemed too good to be true...
In my first year, I became a mage of level Water King and Saint of Earth and Fire.
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