Chapter 4: Apple and Hideout

Chapter 4:
Apple and Hideout

“WELL THEN. What should I do now…?”

The morning light filtered through the trees. As I gnawed on an apple-like fruit, I sat down on the veranda of a dilapidated home nestled in the green. This small, one-story home was practically buried in the overgrown flora surrounding it. Ivy blanketed the rotting walls, and grass grew wild on the roof.

If I ignored the clear signs of deterioration, it was a fine house. I discovered it when I went looking for fruit the previous night. It looked to have been abandoned for quite a long time, so as expected, there were no signs of human life.

I couldn’t help but wonder when a living person had last been in the basin. Various elements of the area appeared to have been planned, from the fine lawn hidden

under the tangled weeds to the selection of edible fruit trees. However, nothing was maintained.

Most prominently, the corpse of the summoner I discovered the previous day had already turned into a skeleton. I didn’t think too deeply about it when I found it; I’d just figured that the repercussion for summoning was having your soul sucked out of your body and your corpse immediately withered into bones.

However…I no longer considered that to be the case. Now that I’d had time to think and observe, I felt certain there had been a time lag between the point when Zairein activated the summoning spell and died and when I was actually summoned. Furthermore, I doubted it could have been simply one or two years…

In any case, I was lucky to find shelter and a food supply in the basin’s fruit trees. Also, this fruit from another world that I was so busy chewing was super delicious. It was roughly the size of an apple, but the amazingly fresh, elegant, sweet-and-sour flavor was reminiscent of a cranberry. It seemed nutritious enough, so I’d probably be using it as my main food source in the meantime.

But, of course, I couldn’t stay cooped up in the basin forever. There was a limit to my supply of cranberry-apples (my name for them).

But, then again…

“I can’t just go through that tunnel to get outside…”

Therein lay the problem. The only connection to the outside world, that tunnel—I believe it was called the “Cave of Beginnings and Ends”—had that terrifying spell Soul Transcription inscribed within it. If I passed through it, I would be killed and possessed by Luvel Zairein, giving birth to the crazed Sorcerer King of Destruction.

Roughly a day had passed since my summoning. According to the stone book, an unstable soul was required for Soul Transcription to activate, so there was a possibility it was now safe for me to pass through that tunnel. However, to actually make that attempt would be literally gambling with my life. It really would be best to consider the tunnel an escape of last resort. In that case, the only other option I could think of was daunting, to say the least.

“I guess I’ll have to find out how to get over the surrounding cliff.” I looked up from the veranda at the auburn cliff towering over the trees. The cliff’s incline looked to be completely vertical. Additionally, there didn’t seem to be any place on it that could serve as a foothold. “It’s totally a wall…”

As I let out a deep sigh, I turned my eyes back to the dilapidated house. Its structure gave off the impression of a simple abode in a foreign countryside. However, on closer inspection, I found the architecture was quite different from any I knew of in my original world. The interior of the building was modest, furnished with the bare minimum. Nevertheless, I spotted several pieces of furniture whose purpose I couldn’t grasp, once again hammering home the message that I was in another world.

The previous night I slept near the entrance, but since the sun had already set at that time, I didn’t get a proper look inside.

“All right, let’s explore a little.”

For the time being, I couldn’t think of anything else to do.

The rooms inside the building were much better illuminated than they seemed from the exterior. The reason for this brightness was the windows, which had glass panes.

It suddenly occurred to me to wonder how technologically advanced this world might be. At the very least, they had the know-how to fashion glass panes for their homes. Then again, was I really looking at glass? For some reason, the transparency seemed low.

Several other rooms awaited me further within. As I investigated them, I discovered a sturdy wooden door.

“Even though the front didn’t have a door, the interior has this fine-looking one… I have nothing to say about this cultural quirk.”

After I so easily infiltrated the building the previous night, I had the feeling the whole place had been designed under the auspice of “freedom of movement.” In support of this theory, the entrance had been left without a door in a way that felt purposeful. Furthermore, the structure of the veranda was open to any wandering visitors. From what I could tell, the only room in the entire house that had a door was this one.

I placed my hand on top of something that resembled a doorknob. For a moment, I felt some kind of resistance, but the door opened easily enough.

“This is…”

It was a library. One side had bookshelves absolutely packed with written material. Magnificent! When I scanned the room, I landed on the fine writing desk at the back. Perhaps not a library, then, but something more like a study?

My eyes ran across the titles of the books lining the wall.

Complete Work of Spells, Analysis of Time Spells, Research on Advanced Summoning Spells, etc.

Amazing. It seemed like every book specialized in magic. On the other hand, there were other eye-catching titles…

Forbidden Spell of the Dead, Blood Sacrifice, Ancient Spells to Summon Evil Gods, etc.

The ludicrous words in these titles had me transfixed.

“Ah, I see now…”

Conclusion: This room belonged to that bastard, Luvel Zairein.

Which meant that, in all likelihood, this dilapidated home was Zairein’s hideout. Come to think of it, that man used the entire basin as a grand stage for his creepy plan and even staked his life on his summoning spell. The preparations alone must have required a substantial amount of time. I should have realized sooner that he would have needed a base of sorts within the basin.

A thick mess of papers with blueprints of magic circles covered the desk in front of me. I took a quick look through them. Nope, couldn’t understand a lick of it.

Next, I grabbed several books off the shelves and flipped through them. The regular old paper books were nicely preserved. No…their condition was, in fact, too good. Considering the decay on the exterior of the building, the interior was miraculously well-preserved, although there were still a few damaged areas inside. Yet this study didn’t show any signs of age. Why was it so unnaturally pristine compared to everything else in the basin? It was almost as if time had stopped within the room…

However, that didn’t truly matter to me at the moment because I had a bigger problem.

“Wh-what is this? I can’t even read it…”

I couldn’t understand a single character in the book. It was probably a concrete explanation of magic, but I could only see it as a line of, uh, lines. Simply put, it looked like it said: “kese pepepe pora nipipupu…&&.”

The content of this tome was probably a little difficult.

But why was this happening? I had been able to read the stone book so easily. From what I could remember, the characters in these books were of the same type. Was my suddenly awakened translation ability acting up?

My head swam. I staggered and my shoulder hit several books, causing them to fall onto the floor with a thud. The fall flipped the books open, revealing their contents. When I glanced down, I noticed something odd.

“Huh? This one’s perfectly legible…”

I picked up the book and examined the title.

Introduction to Spellcrafting I

***

About one hour later, I went out to the garden with the book in hand. I could read this Introduction to Spellcrafting I with relative ease. To be clear, I think it was because the book was aimed at elementary-school children. I was glad I could understand it, yet I also felt oddly conflicted…

I had excavated all twelve volumes of the Introduction to Spellcrafting series from the study. The authors were listed as “Spellcaster Luvel Zairein / Spellcaster Emerly Heilem.” The two names made me suspect the series was a collaboration.

Well, it was to be expected that a section of Zairein’s own works would be mixed in with the thick research books on the rest of his shelves. Yet the subject matter of this Introduction to Spellcrafting series made them stand out from the others even beyond their authorship.

The study’s collection included a number of advanced books also written by Zairein. But as expected, through some error in my ability, I was unable to read them. I could figure out—if barely—the titles, as well as short biographies about the author. That was how I learned Zairein held the title of “Imperial Master Spellcaster” and had taught as a professor at a university for that same art.

So he was an accomplished elite in the spellcaster world… Yet he also wanted to destroy the world from the bottom of his soul. A provoked elite can be a truly terrifying thing.

Anyway, I had been calling these strange phenomena “magic,” “miracle mystery power,” and such. However, since the official name for it in this world was “spellcraft,” I decided to abide by this world’s standards and address it as such.

Now then, I had gone out to the garden to test a matter described in Introduction to Spellcrafting I. Specifically, I couldn’t start casting or crafting any spells until I first performed a certain rite, the purpose of which was “to discern my attributes.”

This world’s magic…no, spells, right? This world’s spells came in variations known as attributes, like Fire and Water. Each attribute’s base “mana conversion rate” also varied. Conversion rate referred to the amount of mana a given spellcaster required to cast a given spell, which meant that the strongest spells were only really accessible to those with efficient conversion. Conversely, if a spellcaster’s conversion rate was low, they could only use wimpy spells no matter how much mana they channeled into them. In other words, degree of talent was determined at birth.

Then again, a person’s aggregate amount of mana was also a huge factor, so talent wasn’t solely reliant on this natural conversion rate. It also meant that a person’s aptitude varied by both attribute and aggregate mana. Therefore, I first had to “discern my attributes” to see which attributes I had aptitude in—i.e., which had the best conversion rate for me—at which point I could expand my expertise within that attribute. That appeared to be the basic learning process of spells.

However, I’d also read something that made me uneasy. It seemed that there were people who couldn’t cast or craft spells at all. Though even with that knowledge haunting me, I had already used something that could be called a spell. I destroyed a gate and a book’s binding with that power. That was why I knew there was no way I could be one of those people. But then again… Now that I think about it, I wonder what attribute that was. Grotesque attribute?

Also, point of order, I was the Sorcerer King of Destruction from another world. A job class like “Sorcerer King” was supposed to use spells, right?

My unease didn’t quite dissipate, but it was time to find out my aptitude with the attributes.

Right, first I think I’ll test my aptitude for the Fire attribute. Fire spells would be super beneficial. I probably wouldn’t have to start a fire from scratch. Above all else, Fire spells were cool.

I ran a tree branch through the dirt to carefully draw the spell circle shown in the introductory book. Ah, right. I’d been saying “magic circle” this whole time, but according to this world’s standards, it had to be called a “spell circle.”

So confusing. Seriously, why…? Jeez, someone should’ve told me earlier. Okay. Focus. First, draw a circle, and, uhh, draw a line here…

This magic circle—I mean spell circle—would allow even an amateur like myself to cast simple spells by supplementing my mana. Hmph. I had read the explanation, but I couldn’t fully wrap my head around it. I think it was similar to training wheels on a bike?

The circle had a comparatively simple design. I copied it while looking at the example, so I was sure I didn’t make a mistake. Also, as this was an introductory book, it said that it was all right if the design came out a little rough.

Okay, now to focus my mind… The construction of the image was important. Imagine creating a spark—

I chanted: “Ignite!”

But nothing happened.

Huh? That’s strange. I tilted my head as I carefully redrew the spell circle. This should be good now.

I once again focused my mind and chanted: “Ignite!”

……

Nothing happened.

“Ignite!”

“Ig-ni-tuh!”

……

Welp, it appeared that I had no aptitude for the Fire attribute. What a somber way to get the news…

All right, on to the next. I would try out the Ice attribute. It would be refreshing during the summer. A cool attribute fit for cool and collected me.

Okay, concentrate… Imagine the moisture in the atmosphere freezing—

“Frost!”

……

Nothing happened again.

“Frost!”

“Frooost!”

“F-R-O-S-T!”

Nothing happened…again.

A sneaking suspicion that I had drawn the spell circle wrong bubbled in the back of my mind. With the introductory book in hand, I carefully, carefully began to redraw…

***

Before I realized it, the sun had begun to set. I was completely exhausted, standing in front of dozens upon dozens of spell circles strewn about the garden. Since I began, I had redrawn the spell circle over and over again, trying to cast spells with the Lightning attribute, Wind attribute, and Fire attribute (I couldn’t give it up).

Each time the spell failed, I redrew the spell circle. That was why I had taken so much time to do so much nothing. However, I was now basically a master of spell circles. I could probably draw a transcendentally beautiful spell circle with my eyes closed.

After all of this, a new suspicion was growing inside of me. Could it be that it wasn’t my lack of talent that was at fault, but rather the author, that bastard Luvel Zairein?

A real possibility! It was true that he possessed a dazzling résumé and was some outstanding professor according to his books. However, we were talking about the incompetent Old Man Bones here. He destroyed himself for the sake of summoning the Sorcerer King of Destruction. It wouldn’t be the weirdest thing in the world if this was a useless book written by a useless dummy.

Hmph. No doubt about it. Yup, I am totally convinced as of…right now. With that conclusion, I decided to test the last attribute before grabbing some fruit to eat. I had been so engrossed in drawing spell circles that I forgot to eat lunch.

I sloppily flipped through the pages of the book. “All that’s left to test is…the Earth attribute.”

Earth, huh? Well, it was a pretty bland attribute. Even if I couldn’t use it, it wouldn’t really damage my heart as much as the others had. I had to keep reminding myself that none of this was due to my lack of talent. It was all that damn Zairein’s fault. There was no way I had no talent… No way…no talent…

Since it was getting annoying redrawing those circles, I stood on top of one of the spell circles that I’d already made and looked over the introductory book in my hand.

Uhhh, let’s see… Imagine packing grains of sand together to the size of my fingertip.

“Create Pebble…”

Instantaneously and with a dreadful roar, the ground in front of me trembled and rose, driving forth a shockwave. Still thundering, the ground bubbled upwards. The surrounding trees were uprooted by the pressure of the riotous earth. They fell one after another like dominoes. It looked like the end of the world.

“Wh-whooooaaa!” Unable to comprehend what was happening, I screamed in terror.

The risen earth disintegrated, dispersed, and whirled like a tornado. The turbulent spinning began to congeal into a mass that grew and grew while rattling eerily. From the corner of my eye, I saw that all the shaking had caused a portion of the hideout’s roof to collapse.

When everything finally settled, an enormous boulder with a diameter of dozens of meters stood in front of me, and the surrounding area was ravaged beyond belief.

I wasn’t sure exactly how long the boulder took to form, but my internal clock told me that I had just experienced several minutes of pure horror.

I know this might sound pathetic, but my legs had almost given out… And it appeared that I had an aptitude for the Earth attribute.