Introductions and Interviews

Part 1: Felmenia and Lefille

On a certain day at his base in the imperial capital, Yakagi Suimei was sitting together with his best friends Shana Reiji and Anou Mizuki. They were all seated on one side of a long table, facing the door to the room and with their backs to the window. It looked like they were preparing to give job interviews.

“Okay... Next person, come on in.”

There wasn’t an ounce of enthusiasm in Suimei’s voice as he called out to someone in the hall, who quickly opened the door and entered. It was Felmenia Stingray, looking somewhat nervous. She stood before the three friends, took a deep breath, and—in an unexpected turn—pulled up her hood and pulled out her staff, which she rarely ever used.

“I’m Felmenia Stingray, sixteen years old! I’m a former court mage of the Kingdom of Astel, and actually a former mage in general! I’m a beginner who’s only just taken my first steps on my magickal journey, but I’m aiming to become a great magician capable of both chanting and fighting!”

“Why do you sound like you’re about to sing and dance for us...?”

Felmenia was so cheerful that it completely detracted from the serious stage she’d set. And, eyeing her with a completely indifferent stare, Suimei didn’t fail to comment on that.

Really, Suimei had no idea how things had come to this in the first place. It was only just the other day that he’d revealed his secret identity as a magician to Reiji. Shortly thereafter Hatsumi had arrived, and now Mizuki was finally back to normal too. Life in another world had simply been one long string of unexpected developments recently, and it was getting hard to keep things straight.

As such, Reiji had suggested that everybody reintroduce themselves. It was a nice, friendly way to make sure everyone was on the same page. Of course, with Mizuki around, things could never be that simple. She’d put her own spin on Reiji’s idea, and suggested they make things a little more interesting than just boring old self-introductions. And that, in a nutshell, was how things had escalated to their current state.

“Was that alright?” asked Felmenia.

After reintroducing herself, Felmenia lowered her hood and looked to the faux committee for feedback. Mizuki spoke up first, giving her a wink and a thumbs up.

“Yeah! Good job, Felmenia-san! That’s exactly what I wanted!”

“Th-Thank you very much, Mizuki-dono. What do you think, Suimei-dono? Reiji-dono?”

“Um, yeah, I think it’s great that you’re so cheerful.”

“No, no, no. It’s all wrong. The cheer doesn’t match your vibe at all. You looked so serious and cool at the first, you really gotta stick with that. Or just go cheery from the start and skip all the edgelord mage stuff.”

“Erk...”

Felmenia looked utterly grief-stricken under the weight of Suimei’s criticism. Reiji couldn’t help noticing, and turned to his best friend.

“Hey, uh, Suimei... aren’t you being a little nitpicky?”

“Hell no. This is serious business for a magician. I’m doing her a favor.”

“Okay, okay! We’ve got more to go, so let’s have the next in line!”

Urged on by Mizuki, who was in all too high spirits about this, Felmenia moved to an empty seat in the room as the door opened once more. As for the next victim on the chopping block...

“I’m Lefille Grakis, a swordswoman from Noshias to the north. I carry the blessing of the Goddess Alshuna, and can use the power of the spirits. I also have full confidence in my skill with the blade. Allow me to demonstrate— HYAH!”

Lefille moved calmly and briskly through her introduction before she whipped out her sword and began swinging it around.

“Wh-Whoa, Lefille-san! We’re indoors here!”

“Oh, sorry. I got a little too into it.”

Seeing Reiji’s panic, Lefille immediately put away her giant blade.

“Lefille-san really is talented with a sword... Oh, ooh! You can also use that sweet red wind, right?!” Mizuki inquired enthusiastically.

“Indeed. You mean Ishaktney’s Red Gale, no?”

With those words from Lefille’s mouth, a sparkling crimson wind whipped through the room even though neither the window nor the door were open.

“Wow! That’s so cool!”

Mizuki was frantically clapping in excitement like she was watching some staged magic show. Meanwhile, a much calmer Reiji turned to Suimei.

“That isn’t magic, is it?”

“Hmm? No, it’s a mystery called telesma. Unlike magicka, it’s not based in theory. It’s something classified alongside mana as a sort of energy―”

“Suimei-kun, that all sounds really complicated, but the point is that it’s amazing, right?”

“Ugh... You’re being really liberal with this, but yes. It’s something that all modern magicians desire, and it would be no exaggeration to say it’s also our natural enemy.”

“Hear that, Reiji-kun, Lady Mizuki? So if you ever wish to chastise Suimei-kun, feel free to let me know. I’d be happy to be of service.”

“Ahaha... Yeah, maybe sometime... Haha...”

“Ooh, ooh! Me! I want to chastise Suimei-kun right here, right now!”

Mizuki still had a rather large chip on her shoulder over Suimei hiding the fact that he was a magician from her, and was accordingly eager to take Lefille up on her offer immediately. Seeing that Lefille was nodding like she was about to agree, Suimei knew he had to get a word in edgewise.

“Oh, Lefille, you left out a tiny little bonus feature of yours. Y’know, becoming tiny and all that.”

“That’s absolutely not relevant!”

And so, with Lefille’s introduction and interview over, the committee moved on to its next victim.

The Magic in This Other World is Too Far Behind! Glossary

Cross Dimension

The space-time manipulation magicka used by Lishbaum, Demon Lord Nakshatra’s right hand and Suimei’s archenemy, a.k.a. the Greed of Ten, Kudrack the Ghosthide. After learning a wide range of spatial manipulation arts from schools like druidism and Chinese Taoism, he began using modern magicka theory to consolidate, adjust, and optimize them.

It’s dreadfully deadly magicka that he can freely wield to do anything from teleport to trap enemies within a barrier by causing phases to slip. One of its most extreme spells, Phase Severance, even creates a vacuum to cut space itself.

The Eastern European War

The gruesome war that began six years ago in Eastern Europe, and the first time that the regulations set in place by the Thousand Nights Association regarding matters such as the mobilization of magicians and the use of mystical armaments in times of war were all broken. It is being called the bloodiest battle in history, and is ongoing even to this day.

Officially, it is known as the Third Eastern European State War. Three years ago, Suimei made the trip there at the request of the Society and fought against a great many of the criminal magicians responsible for the conflict.

Lapis Judaicus

One of the three types of philosopher’s stones, it is a jewel that unleashes a mystical blue light and serves as the core of the Sacrament.

Because of its connection to the source, it is a catalyst that can generate enormous output from but the smallest input. The common theory is that it’s the emerald that warded off evil set in Lucifer’s crown at the time he was banished from heaven. Once it was separated from the crown, it’s said to have lost its vividness.

The Source

Also called the origin, the truth, the zenith, et cetera. It is the place where all material and energy in the world originates, and where it all returns after being consumed. Finding a way to connect to the source has been one of mankind’s grandest pursuits—much ink has been spilled on the matter—for it is said that the source holds the potential to create an endless energy cycle, making it the only way of saving the universe from inevitable heat death.

At least, in theory. Mankind only possesses the means to reproduce the Lapis Judaicus—the only known means of connecting to the source—imperfectly, meaning the universe can’t realistically be saved this way. Fundamentally both similar to and different from the Akashic record that Suimei and other modern magicians are seeking.

According to literature, the source embodies eternal recurrence, so Suimei had his doubts about whether it could actually repulse the übermensch.

Japan’s Five Great Hidden Kings of the Sword

In order to escape the prohibition imposed on martial arts by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, these highly specialized sword schools went into hiding in postwar Japan out of necessity. They are styles designed to cut down evil, protect the country from invaders, and so on—losing them would have been a devastating blow. As such, they have continued to remain secretive even after the prohibition was lifted. To this day, they are unknown to the general public.

In this series, Hatsumi’s Phantom Sword of the Kurikara Dharani is one such school. The remaining four are the Quiet Bower School, the Soaring Ceremonial Law School, the Illusory Fire Twin-Sword Style, and the Inugami School

Suimei’s Magicka

As a modern magician, there’s a great deal of Suimei’s magicka that he cannot use in this world. This was alluded to back in volume 2, and Suimei personally regards it as a serious annoyance.

The reason for the disparity is that this world lacks the stars he calls upon, as well as many of the religious faiths and ideologies his spells are based on. Even a simple difference in environment can have a serious effect on magickal ability. In short, the grandest power Suimei is capable of producing in this world is but a shadow of what he’s capable of in his own world. Unless he can return to the modern world and find a means to overcome this, he’ll never be able to bring his full power to bear in a different world.

For example, the Curse of Stella Maris spell that came up in the web novel is one such problem magicka. Because the star Sirius simply doesn’t exist in this world, it’s impossible to manifest the full extent of its power. Should he actually rectify this problem, people will likely come to think of Suimei as the magician with an atomic bomb in his back pocket.