"Gah... humans are kind of a bummer in this world."
Hazelle let out a weary sigh as she entered a small clearing.
"Not that they were much better in my old one, I guess."
After nearly three days of wandering through endless trees, she'd finally found somewhere safe enough to stop for the night. The sun had already begun sinking below the horizon, painting the sky in warm shades of orange and crimson. She could have pushed on a little farther, but traveling through an unfamiliar forest after dark sounded like a fantastic way to become something's dinner.
"Please stop reminding me..." she muttered, pressing a hand against her abdomen as it growled in protest. "Three straight days of berries... I would do anything for something else right now. A fish, a squirrel, anything but berries..."
"Manifest."
A familiar warmth spread through her fingertips. With a soft shimmer, a flint and steel appeared in her hands. She smiled despite herself.
"It really does come in handy sometimes."
A few minutes later, a crackling campfire pushed back the evening chill. Kalia plopped down beside the flames with a satisfied groan, stretching her aching legs toward the comforting warmth.
"This has to be a Tuesday..."
A laugh escaped her lips. It was an old joke from her previous life—one that only her coworkers would have understood. The kind of joke that only became funnier because it made absolutely no sense to anyone else.
Then her smile slowly faded.
"...Wait."
Her eyes narrowed.
"It was Thursday when I died... I've been here twelve days..."
Friday...
Saturday...
Sunday...
One by one, she counted the days in her head.
"...Monday..."
Silence.
"It really is Tuesday... Goddamn it, why is it always Tuesdays?!"
A cold mist rolled silently through the trees, and the warmth of the fire vanished almost instantly.
"...Curious."
The unfamiliar voice came from directly beside her.
"You could have killed every one of those humans with little effort... and yet you didn't. Why is that?"
Hazelle instinctively leapt a few paces away.
"Manifest!"
Steel flashed in the light of the fire as a longsword appeared in her grasp. Standing only a few feet away was a young woman. She looked frail—almost sickly. White bandages wrapped around her head, obscuring one eye, while loose strands of hair peeked out beneath the cloth.
"I..." Kalia hesitated for a second. "Why should I tell you? Were you sent by Rivara to hunt me down?"
"No, no. Just a bit curious, is all. You clearly have the power and chose not to use it. Something rarely seen among your kind."
"It's Kalia... Kalia Waywrenn."
The bandaged girl smiled faintly, glancing back over one shoulder.
"I'll remember that name. Until next time, Kalia."
Then, with the faintest curl of mist, she vanished.
Kalia flopped backward onto the ground beside the fire with all the elegance of a sack of potatoes.
"What the hell was that about?"
She paused for a minute before pointing accusingly at the sky.
"You know what... I am done. You win, Tuesday."
A long sigh escaped her lips. "I'll figure it out tomorrow."
The warmth of the fire wrapped around her once more. Within minutes, exhaustion claimed her.
"Please... go back to bed, Mister Sun..."
Kalia groaned into the morning air, shielding her eyes with an arm. The brilliant blue sky offered no sympathy whatsoever.
A loud growl echoed from her stomach.
"Oh, don't start."
Another growl answered.
"Yeah, yeah. Stop complaining."
She sighed dramatically, glaring back and forth between the blazing sun overhead and her own stomach.
"Honestly, both of you can leave me alone."
Unfortunately, neither seemed interested in listening.
With another defeated groan, Kalia forced herself upright. She knew she needed to keep moving. The farther she was from the Empire, the safer she was.
"First things first..."
Her stomach rumbled again.
"...Food. Can't make it very far on an empty stomach."
She headed off to the nearby stream and waded in.
"It's worth a shot, if nothing else."
Kalia watched the fish dart around her feet. Instead of manifesting a spear or net, she decided to test what her new body could do.
"If this doesn't work, I can always just conjure up a net or spear."
"Gotcha!"
Kalia's hand flashed through the water. Before she even realized what she'd done, several fish were flopping on the bank.
"Seriously? That was easy. This should be enough, though. That fire is calling my name. Warmth and a decent meal at last."
She was soaking wet, and a chilly breeze bit at her skin, making her shiver. At least the skies were clear and the morning sun was shining in full force.
"Mmmm... this is where it's at."
Kalia stretched her hands toward the roaring campfire while several fish roasted over the flames.
"Oohh, it's done! Time to eat!"
She eagerly grabbed one of the skewers and immediately burned her lips on the first bite.
"Ow... I know better... I am a thirty-two-year-old woman, after all."
She sighed, shaking her head at her own stupidity.
Taking another, more cautious bite, she discovered just how bland unseasoned fish actually was.
"They make it look so good in the shows, though..."
"I would kill for pancakes... or some bacon right now. Or a cup of coffee."
Her heart sank. She might never have another cup again. As far as she could tell, coffee didn't exist in this world. She hadn't realized how much she'd miss something so ordinary.
"It's always Tuesday..."
She laughed quietly to herself, remembering the second half of the joke.
She needed to get moving while it was still early. There was a lot of ground to cover if she wanted to reach the border of Kel'asa.
Kneeling down, Kalia spread her map across the ground, silently thanking herself for grabbing it before leaving the inn.
"That village is here... and the river is here... so I should be right about..."
She traced the route as best she could.
"Provided I didn't get turned around, the main road out of Orenna should be just on the other side of this river. I could stick to the forests, but that would take me an extra two days, and who knows what I could run into out there."
She had no intention of picking fights, whether with monsters or wild animals. She still needed time to understand her newfound powers, and using them recklessly could easily prove fatal. Traveling the road would be a risk, but it was the faster option.
"Ugh... Maybe I'll get lucky and there won't be too many travelers. But since when have I been lucky after coming to this world?"
She huffed before suddenly slapping both cheeks.
"Complaining gets you nowhere. Off you go, Hazelle... I mean, Kalia."
Choosing to embrace her new identity had been surprisingly easy. Manifest would have fit her favorite MMO character perfectly. Kalia Waywrenn had been her pride and joy—a level eighty tinkerer, Commander of the Collective, slayer of elder dragons, bane of the Fallen God. She'd spent years building that character, one quest at a time.
Chuckling to herself, she set off down the road at a brisk pace, the matter settled.
Much to Kalia's surprise, the roads remained fairly empty for nearly two full days. She crossed paths with only a handful of travelers, and thankfully, they had either been too frightened or too preoccupied to approach a lone demon walking the highway.
Which had become something of a problem.
"Humans are such a pain... I just want to know how far the border is... but nooo. Scary demon girl is scary, so they just run off..."
Every time she approached someone, they hurried past with their eyes fixed on the road. Some gripped their weapons. Others made the sign of a blessing.
She had even offered to pay them.
"I will never understand why people have to be like this."
With a sigh, she plopped down beside the road for a short break.
"That aside..."
A low rumbling reached her ears. Another wagon was approaching from behind, and it was moving fast.
"I guess Orenna isn't going to let me leave so easily..."
With another sigh, Kalia slipped into the thick underbrush, hiding herself from view.
"Why can't they just leave me the hell alone? If anything, I did them a favor by getting rid of those animals. Whatever... maybe they won't see me and just keep moving."
Even so, she quietly readied the Chime as the cart drew closer, just to be safe.
"Stop, stop, stop!" the girl shouted, yanking on the reins. "After spending days riding up and down this road, I finally find someone who'd seen her... and now she's gone. I could have sworn there was someone here just a second ago."
The girl pouted.
"All I wanted was to see that spell again..." She sighed dramatically. "It was fantastic. I've never seen anything like it before. I've studied magic for centuries, and even then, I was completely defenseless against it. If only she was still around here somewhere..."
She slowly turned toward the bushes.
"...Perhaps in these bushes."
She's bluffing. There's no way she can see me... right? Maybe if I stay quiet, she'll just leave.
"Yup!" Astra chirped, poking her head through the leaves with a triumphant grin. "I could feel your mana!"
"Well... sorta," she added under her breath.
"So, who are you, little Miss Stalker?"
"Stalker? That was rude... I'm not a stalker. My name's Astra, Researcher of Lost Magics! Nice to meet you!"
Astra smiled widely, exposing two small fangs.
"I'm Kalia Waywrenn. What do you want with me?" she asked sternly.
"Can you show me that spell?" Astra said, cutting to the point.
"Spell?" Kalia frowned. "What spell?"
"You know, the one that made that mob collapse in the village. Like I said, it even got me. I had come to fight the rumored demon and had all of my best protection magic active. No one has ever done that before."
"Oh... that one. I'm not sure I can do it again," Kalia lied.
Astra didn't seem interested in fighting, but appearances had nearly gotten Kalia killed once already.
"Pleeease! Just once, and I will leave you alone. Promise!" Astra pleaded, flashing her fangs with another smile.
This girl is ridiculously cute, Kalia thought, her mind drifting to the harem anime she used to watch. I mean... she checks every box.
Kalia wasn't sure she could trust this girl, but she seemed so earnest, and that smile was dangerous...
Besides, this girl has a cart, and if I play my cards right, no more walking!
Kalia paused for a moment, weighing her options.
"Fine, but I have two conditions."
"Really? Of course! Anything! Just show me!"
"First, tell no one that you met me," Kalia commanded sternly.
"Yep, yep! No problem. And...?"
"Give me a ride to the border of Kel'asa in your cart."
Kalia lowered her gaze, twirling her tail between her fingers. Asking a stranger for a ride felt shameless.
"You got it. I was gonna head to Tuugo after I found you anyway."
"Tuugo?" Kalia inquired, vaguely recalling where she had seen that name before.
"You don't know? It's the capital of Kel'asa. I have some business to take care of there."
Success! No more walking!
Kalia could have cheered.
This demoness has officially upgraded to first-class travel!
"Okay! Now the spell!" Astra asked excitedly.
"Yeah, yeah. Slow down."
Kalia brought the image into her mind and held it there.
"Manifest," she whispered.
A sword appeared in her hand with a slight glow.
"This is—"
Kalia didn't get to finish before Astra chimed in.
"Incredible..." Astra breathed, nearly speechless. "It just came out of nowhere!"
"Huh?" Kalia was confused by the reaction.
"How did you do that? You just made that appear out of nothing?!"
Should I really tell her everything? Astra doesn't seem like a threat, but... No. If she wanted to capture me, she could have done so already.
"Oh, that's my ability. It's called Manifest. I can create things from my memory and make them real."
"Oh, wonderful, wonderful! In all of my years of study, I have never come across such magic."
Astra was close to exploding with excitement. She examined the sword with all the enthusiasm of a scientist discovering an entirely new field of study.
"It feels like steel, weighs about as much as you would expect it to, it's as sharp as any sword I've ever seen..." The girl licked the flat of the blade. "It even tastes like a sword!"
Tastes? I'm just gonna ignore that one...
"It really isn't all that amazing, though. It does have pretty severe limitations."
Kalia silently cursed herself.
She'd just admitted it had limitations.
"I mean, almost any weapon or tool you could think of, really. As long as I know how it works and I can picture it clearly."
A poor choice of words, Kalia realized.
"You can do that from memory alone? What else can you make? Show me! Show me!"
Astra took it as an open invitation to begin requesting every object that popped into her head.
"Make a sword! Now do three daggers and a shield! How about a mace and a cooking pot!"
Astra fired off ever more difficult requests as Kalia produced the desired results.
And just like that, I am Astra's test subject.
"Satisfied?" Kalia was growing tired of the rapid-fire questions.
"Almost!" Astra exclaimed.
"What else could you possibly want to see?" Kalia grumbled, annoyed and exhausted from manifesting so many things at once.
"You still never showed me that spell."
"Oh, that."
Kalia manifested the bell into her hand.
"That's the one! The bell. How does it work?"
"The Chime of Dusk is a magic item I created. As you saw, it can render people completely paralyzed when I ring it without causing them any actual harm."
"Hmm, I guess that isn't entirely impossible. Magic isn't usually that precise, though. Using magic of that level on such a specific target should have fried the target's nerves completely. How did you come up with this?"
Astra closely inspected the Chime with a dubious eye.
"I don't sense any magic coming from this. It's just a bell."
"I—uh..." Kalia stumbled for a good excuse. "...Well, the idea just came to me one day."
"Wow! How did you manage to overcome the mana input limitations on such a small object?" Astra questioned enthusiastically.
"I, umm, well... hehe?"
Kalia laughed nervously. She couldn't answer any of the questions. She barely even knew what Astra was talking about.
"Not willing to tell me your secrets, I see. That's fine. I'll figure it out eventually." Astra hopped into the driver's seat. "Well, a deal is a deal. We should get going. The road ahead can be dangerous at night. This is a popular trade route, and bandits are not uncommon."
"Thanks for the ride, Astra."
"No, thank you for showing me such wonderful magic, Master!"
Master...?
Kalia sighed inwardly.
Yep. I've watched enough anime to know I'm not talking her out of this.
The pair had only been traveling for a couple of hours when evening began to settle over the countryside. The sky was turning dark as clouds rolled in, bringing with them a sudden and unnaturally ferocious storm.
"We need to find a place to camp, Master!" Astra yelled.
"Huh?"
Kalia couldn't really hear anything. The wind was howling with more fervor than any regular storm should have been able to produce.
"Camp!" Astra shouted again, pointing toward the roadside as she pulled the cart to a stop.
Kalia could only nod, having no idea what Astra had actually said.
"Phew!" Astra exclaimed, climbing into the covered section of her cart beside Kalia.
Rain hammered against the canvas overhead while the wind rocked the wagon hard enough to make the wooden frame creak.
"Seems like this storm won't be letting up anytime soon. Let's just rest here for the night."
"I guess I should thank you again. I would've been caught in this mess if you hadn't shown up."
Kalia meant it. She was genuinely grateful Astra had found her when she did.
"Hehe! You're welcome, Master!" Astra beamed with delight.
"Astra, can I ask you something?" Kalia asked sheepishly, suddenly feeling embarrassed.
"Sure. Ask away!"
Astra was still beaming with a seemingly endless amount of energy.
"Why are you being nice to a demon?" Kalia asked nervously, stroking her tail. "At best I have been tolerated up until now."
"Why? Because you are my new master, of course! I wanna learn everything I can about Manifest. I've never heard of anyone being able to conjure weapons or magic tools before."
"Master? Uh, no. Pass. Sorry," Kalia stammered.
"What?! But why?" Astra gasped, shocked to be turned down so readily.
"Why would you want to be my student? I'm not fit to teach anyone anyway."
"Master, you showed me something that I have no record of. Manifest should not exist in this world."
Astra adopted a serious, almost businesslike tone.
"I have studied magic for over five hundred years, and I have never come across anything like what you showed me back there. Your Manifest power breaks one of the most basic rules of magic. Mana cannot create physical matter without some kind of base material, let alone complex objects like an axe or cooking pot. Earth mages manipulate the stone already around them. Ice mages draw water from the air. They don't create it."
Her eyes practically gleamed.
"You are the single greatest research topic in the world. There has to be a mechanism that makes it work, and I intend on spending my entire life trying to find it."
"You didn't really answer my question, though. You do know I am a demon, right? You saw the heads of the men I killed, no? Aren't you worried I might do the same thing to you after we get to Kel'asa and I don't need you anymore?"
Kalia's face darkened as she remembered the events of that night.
"Kalia is Kalia, Master. Demon or not, I can tell you aren't evil. Those villagers would not have survived if you were, regular humans wouldn't stand a chance against a demon. Defending yourself and attacking innocent people aren't the same thing."
Without warning, the wind roared louder than before.
The wagon lurched as the canvas cover strained against its ropes, threatening to rip away.
"Master! Grab that rope! We have to hold the cover down!" Astra shouted.
"Right!"
Kalia threw her weight against the rope, muscles straining as another violent gust tried to rip it from her hands.
"This isn't normal... this wind is..."
Astra's expression suddenly darkened.
"Something isn't right here."
She continued to gaze into the night as if looking for something.
"I knew it..."
"Astra, what is it? Is something wrong?"
"Master! Get down!"
Astra threw herself at Kalia.
The next instant, another colossal blast of wind tore the roof off the wagon.
Wood exploded into a cascade of splinters around them.
"Astra...?"
Kalia blinked in stunned silence, her ears still ringing.
"Th-Thanks... you saved—"
She froze.
A thin trail of blood slipped from the corner of Astra's mouth.
"S-sure thing, Master..." Astra coughed weakly. "A-are you hurt?"
"Astra? Hey, Astra! Can you hear me? Astraaa!"
Kalia turned Astra onto her side.
Her breath caught in her chest.
A jagged piece of wood had buried itself deep into Astra's shoulder.
Before Kalia could even react, another blast of air slammed against the wagon.
"Damn it!"
Kalia threw herself over Astra just as the wooden frame exploded.
"Gahh..."
Kalia gritted her teeth against the pain searing into her back.
Shallow... It'll heal... Astra won't.
"Gwarorooorrr!!!"
A piercing roar reverberated through her head, so overwhelming that her vision blurred.
"Ugh... what the hell was that...?"
Kalia's question was quickly answered as a large swirling mass appeared amid the rain.
The creature looked to be made entirely out of wind—a living tornado.
"Gworooorroor!!"
The thing roared again, dazing Kalia before unleashing another blast of wind aimed directly at them.
"Manifest!"
The command rang out over the howling storm.
A brilliant flash of silver erupted around Kalia as countless steel plates materialized from thin air, locking together with a deafening clang.
The creature's blast slammed into the newly formed barrier.
The impact shook the earth beneath their feet.
Wind screamed against steel, but not a single crack appeared across the dome's polished surface.
"...It worked."
Kalia let out the breath she'd been holding as she carefully lowered Astra onto the ground beside her.
"...But I can't keep this up forever."
She leaned against the inside of the steel shell, breathing heavily. Just maintaining the dome felt like someone was siphoning the life out of her.
It wasn't simply a wall of metal.
This was The Locked Case—one of the defensive relics stored within her Personal Armory.
An absolute defense.
A fortress that could withstand almost anything.
Unfortunately, absolute defense came with an equally absolute cost.
Kalia could feel her mana draining away by the second.
I can't keep this up forever....
It was easily the largest object she'd manifested since arriving in this world and manifesting items from her Armory clearly came at a staggering price.
At this rate, she'd collapse long before the creature outside gave up.
"So what exactly am I supposed to use against a living tornado?"
Running wasn't an option. She was going to have to carry Astra, and the moment the barrier disappeared, that thing would tear them apart in an instant.
Swords and axes are useless...
Silence filled the dome, broken only by the constant roar of the storm outside.
"...Wait." An idea surfaced.
Kalia's eyes widened.
"...That might actually work."
"It's better than standing here until I run out of energy."
She pushed herself back to her feet.
"...Manifest."
The steel dome shimmered before dissolving into countless motes of light.
The violent winds kicked up small stones that bit into her exposed skin. Standing alone before the raging elemental, Kalia held nothing more than a large glass bottle sealed with a simple cork.
The swirling creature let out another deafening roar.
"GWOOOOOOORRRRR!!"
Kalia smirked. "You really are a noisy one."
She pulled the cork free with a sharp pop.
"Why don't you calm down in here for a while?"
The moment she pointed the bottle toward the creature, the air itself twisted. A powerful suction burst from the mouth of the vial.
The wind elemental resisted, its massive body thrashing violently as the invisible force began pulling it apart. Its roar grew even louder. Fragments of swirling wind stretched toward the bottle like strands of smoke.
The creature fought desperately against the pull.
Unfortunately for it...
Its opponent wasn't trying to overpower it.
Haela's Well.
One of the more utilitarian tools hidden inside her Personal Armory.
Designed to collect loose mana from the environment and store it indefinitely, it functioned as a reusable reservoir of magical energy—not a weapon.
The creature's struggles became weaker with each passing second. Its massive body steadily unraveled into spiraling streams of azure light before disappearing into the bottle.
"No matter how much you struggle..." Kalia tightened her grip. "...the result isn't changing."
With one final, furious roar, the last remnants of the storm elemental were swallowed by the vial.
She pressed the cork firmly back into place.
Kalia stared at the bottle for another moment before letting out a long, exhausted breath.
"...Well."
A tired smile crept onto her face.
"A win is a win, I guess."
"M-Master?" Astra said, trying to sit up.
"Astra, lie down! You're seriously injured."
Kalia rushed to her side.
"You never cease to amaze me, huh, Master?" Astra mumbled, fumbling with the pouches on her belt until she produced a small, tightly rolled scroll. "My last one..."
Astra let out a small sigh before reciting the incantation inscribed upon the scroll.
"Ceteica Rondour."
The parchment ignited in her hand, crumbling into glowing ash.
Miraculously, the splinter of wood in her shoulder slowly slid out and fell to the ground while a faint blue light mended the damage to her body.
Within seconds, the wound had completely vanished.
"You really saved me back there, Master. I thought I was dead for sure." Astra groaned, stretching her previously shattered shoulder.
"What was that just now? Your wounds are completely healed!"
Kalia was certainly impressed. The healing magic she had seen so far in this world was only good enough to fix minor wounds and ailments. Astra's injuries would have been serious even by her old world's medical standards and fatal by this world's.
"Ceteica Rondour? It was a disposable spell scroll. A near-perfect healing spell. I stumbled across it in some dusty old library few years ago." Astra sighed. "I'm sad to have used it, though. I never figured out how to replicate it. Such a waste."
"Waste? You could have died."
Kalia was slightly annoyed by Astra's lack of self-preservation.
"So, Master, what next? The cart is wrecked, so that's out, and the storm hasn't let up any. I think there's a village not too far away, or we could camp here and try to wait it out."
Astra had already completely forgotten the near-death experience and was planning the next step.
"Nothing fazes you, does it, Astra? And please stop calling me Master. It feels weird..."
"So that means you won't take me as your student, then, will you...?"
Astra pouted, the rejection hitting her like an arrow.
"I said the Master stuff has to stop," Kalia repeated, fighting back a grin.
For someone who called herself a genius, that joke flew right over her head.
She chuckled quietly. Somehow, she'd grown far more fond of Astra than she'd expected. The girl's boundless curiosity was exhausting... but also strangely endearing. She couldn't remember the last time someone had been so genuinely excited to learn from her.
"Wait... So..."
The gears finally began to turn.
"Oh!!! You mean it! You're gonna let me be your student?!"
Astra's mood brightened instantly, returning to her usual self.
"Why the sudden change of heart?"
"I... don't really know." Kalia rubbed the back of her neck. "I guess I just can't think of a good enough reason to say no."
She smiled faintly.
"But I do have one condition."
Astra straightened immediately.
"Anything!"
"Just call me Kalia. Not Teacher. Not Master. Just Kalia. Okay?"
"Yes, Master Lia!" Astra nodded enthusiastically, somehow managing to fail the one condition she'd been given.
Kalia sighed. "...Master Lia isn't so bad, I guess."
The words had barely left her mouth when the world tilted beneath her feet.
Her vision blurred.
...Huh?
The exhaustion she'd been holding at bay finally caught up with her.
Her knees buckled, and darkness swallowed her whole.
"Master Lia?!" Astra lunged forward to catch her. "Hey! Wake up!"