<<The Great Sorcerer>>

“Wa, What!! Did you just name yourself as the <<Great Sorcerer>>-dono!?”

“Of course, Savaiv’s Highest Priest-dono. I am the genuine <<Great Sorcerer>> Tiet Zamui themself.”

Inside one of the Savaiv Temple’s parlors. There, Giuseppe and Tina met by chance.

Of course, the one who pulled them together was Tatsumi.

Tatsumi, knowing that Giuseppe had adored the <<Great Sorcerer>> from a small age, had guided the suddenly appearing Tiet Zamui —- Tina Abi Zahui to Savaiv Temple —- Not that they had just talked in the middle of the road (on the way).

“I am a user of <<Heaven>> Magic. Namely, I can control space and time. What do you think, amazing right? Surprised right? Now, show your astonishment without worry.”

Tina relays this while full of confidence.

Hearing this overflowing ego, Tatsumi and Calsedonia without thinking looked at each other and grimaced.

But, Giuseppe was different. His eyes being filled with the light of praise itself, he looked at the legendary Great Sorcerer.

“Nothing less from the <<Great Sorcerer>>-dono! This Giuseppe has been impressed! But…… For what kind of reason has the <<Great Sorcerer>> come to this age?”

“Of course, I have come to meet my successor. I’ve been teleporting to various worlds and times, but when I visited this time period, Ogun…… This person was like my successor in this age, and I’ve heard what Tatsumi-kun here has to say.”

“Hoho, so the <<Great Sorcerer>>’s successor is Son-in-law-dono……Son-in-law-dono. Have you seen someone called Ogun?”

“Ogun…… is it? Ye-ah, I can’t think of anyone……”

“Me too…… I don’t remember anyone by that name.”

Even though Tatsumi was desperately trying to remember someone by the name of Ogun, the name won’t come out.

It was similar for Calsedonia. They were usually together outside of the temple, so even if they had met one of Tina’s subordinates called Ogun, they would probably have met him at the same time.

“Yeah, there’s nothing off with Tatsumi and Calsedonia being unable to remember his name. Either way, given that guy, he won’t name himself. But recently, you guys met a peddler, right? The peddler that sold you guys those magic bags that are swaying at Tatsumi-kun’s waist…… That’s my subordinate Ogun.”

At the <<Great Sorcerer>>’s few words, Tatsumi and Calsedonia open their eyes widely in surprise.

Tatsumi remembers the suspiciously smiling trader’s face.

Nobody would imagine that that traveler is the legendary <<Great Sorcerer>>’s subordinate of this era.

Seeing Tatsumi and Calsedonia who couldn’t even talk because of the shock, Tina smiled for them.

“When I showed my face at his place a few days ago, I heard that he had sold someone those magic bags. I had strictly ordered those bags to be only sold to someone after he ascertained them. He said he had sold them. Seeing that Ogun is like my subordinate. He has a good ascertaining eye. Curiosity welled up in me as to who he had sold those magic bags to see? Furthermore, he had said that the person he sold the bags to had been wearing a similar-looking extraordinary gauntlet. And then it came to me with a ping.”

A few days ago, it was pretty famous that a massive dragon had attacked this royal capital, Levantis.

The young person who defeated the dragon had revived the long-standing sealed legendary weapon of <Heaven>, and using it had defeated the dragon.

Recently in all the bars around, almost everyday folk poets had sung of an epic tale.

“The person who Ogun had sold the magic bags to himself was that dragon-killing hero, or so. This means this person has 2…… No, precisely 3 <Heaven> magic sealing tools, ‘Amaryllis’ and the magic bags. As for the producer of these magic tools, I had wanted to meet them myself.”

“As I thought……So the one who created ’Amaryllis’ and the magic bags was you right?”

“Exactly. It seems you’ve realized too? That I’m not only a user of the <Heaven> magic system but also <Alchemy> too.”

Tina’s smiling gaze faced toward the magic bags on Tatsumi’s waist.

“Those magic bags, without a <Heaven> magic user, they can’t bring out their full power. I’m sure you’ve realized too, but in order to make the black and white magic bags into one you have to be able to use <<Instantaneous Transmission>>.”

Tina said so while making an elegant gesture toward drinking the tea offered to her — the one Calsedonia had been making.

Tina, putting the tea in her mouth one sip at a time, let someone approach using her thin arms slightly.

“………Did it meet your tastes?”

“No no, it’s really like that but…… I had gotten used to the taste of my home country’s tea, and get a bit of discomfort when I drink Jasmine tea like this country’s tea. It’s absolutely not true that the tea Calse-kun had made is bad.”

“Tina-san’s home country……?”

Once again, Tatsumi looks at Tina’s figure.

Both her height and the particulars of her body would, if called a fashion model, would apply to her.

Her face is small, and above her beauty, she gives off a brave impression. Her facial features are somewhat unisex, and if disguised as a man, people would definitely think she’s a man.

Her body build overall was slender, and her nature could possibly be called the opposite of Calsedonia’s in terms of just voluptuous.

And, the point that caught Tatsumi’s interest the most. It was a dark grey pants-type business suit, and sneakers, things that are obviously from the earth.

And, the <Heaven> weapon she was wearing, inscribed ‘Amaryllis’. Giuseppe and the others didn’t know the word Amaryllis, so Tatsumi had thought it wasn’t really like that a bit.

“Tina is……Someone from Earth……right?”

“Exactly. I was born from England, on earth. And Tatsumi-kun is……. From the name, he’s probably Japanese right? From which age of Japanese?”

“Eh? I, I’m from the 21st century Japan but……so, you were an Englishman……”

Tatsumi unknowingly mutters. But, Tina made a deep-looking face.

“Hey, Tatsumi-kun. That Japanese-original expression ‘English’, could you stop it if possible? My home country of the 21st century’s official name is ‘Great Britain and Northern Ireland of the United Kingdom’? It’s tedious to call it that, so I won’t say to, but either way more concrete than ‘England’ or ‘Scotland’ is the good old-age ‘Great England Empire’, or if you want to talk about the four general empires it would be ‘The United Kingdom’, or abbreviating that would be the ‘UK’, if you called it one of those I wouldn’t mind?”

Right now, Japan calls the United Kingdom ‘England’, but that’s not the precise name.

Right now in the island of Great Britain, there are four kingdoms, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, and the North-East part of North Ireland, forming the United Kingdom.

“By the way, the word ‘English’ comes from the Portuguese word ‘England’ meaning ‘English’, but since Japan seems to have changed it, it’s not completely inaccurate. But you can think of this as my dull obsession too.”

Taking a completely different turn from her deep expression, she then broadly smiles.

It seems that the person themself doesn’t take it seriously, but rather that it’s her own obsession from what she says.

“I was born into the start of 19th century England see. During that time, my country was gaining overwhelming economic and military strength from a large increase in industrial-based productivity in order to grasp dominance around the world, forcing the world to open their trades sometimes with military force, incorporating its own international economic self-centered system into the world.” (TL: Give this man a history degree)

While thinking that he remembered this from a world history lesson in a corner of his mind, Tatsumi listened to Tina’s speech.

Perhaps Calsedonia and Giuseppe had an interest in otherworld history, as they were silent just as Tatsumi was.

“Once when I had talked one-sidedly about the modern age of gathering military and economic strength, I had also believed in Occult-based magic and sorcery, and seriously studied it. I can certainly say that I was one of those people.”

For those in 19th century Europe in orthodox Christian schools, there were different denominations of “Orthodox Christian Schools” — varying “Heathenisms” — which were called “Occult”.

However, “the study of mysteries beyond human knowledge hidden from ordinary life and the resulting mystical systems other than orthodox Christianities since the 19th century” came to be understood as occult, and the term psychological principle of “occult” and its use was expanded.

As science developed in later years, the forces that considered themselves to be the leaders of “genuine science” called techniques that differed from their own “occult,” and today the term “occult” is mainly used to describe events that cannot be explained by science.

Incidentally in Japan when a famous newspaper used the name of “The Legendary Ruined Continent”, occult became known to the entire world all at once.

In the age of Europe that Tina was born in, the two terms “Modernization” and “Occult” that are at complete opposites were born at the same age too.

Because science itself was developed, the boundaries between “Scientific” and “Unscientific” were clarified.

“My father’s influence interested in ‘Occult’ from a small age. My father was a heavy occult believer, so we had a lot of suspicious books and such in our house. Though my family was quite wealthy to be able to collect all those books, my study of the occult was the primary factor. Since a young age, I secretly read my father’s book collection, sometimes carrying out sorcery ceremonies hidden in the middle of the night too.”

Though now it’s just a dark past, and Tina grinned.

“Having researched sorcery from a small age, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that my older self thought that everything was supported by sorcery. In that sense, I was a believer in the occult.”

With a faraway nostalgic gaze, Tina then talked about her former self.

That movement was perfectly elegant, enough to be unknowingly fascinated by. A bit ago Tina had called her house wealthy, but it could have been a famous name lined up among the nobles perhaps, so Tatsumi guessed.

“I was performing sorcery ceremonies just as normal in the dead of the night before my twenties on a certain day. And on that day I was transferred to this world. Whether it was a string of miraculous coincidences or my mysterious hidden talent. As for me I had pride that ‘it was the latter!’”

The truth is still unclear, but it’s certain that on that day, she had successfully opened the “door” between Earth and this world.

“For things I had done after I got here…… well, there’s nothing to talk about this late right?”

Tina…… No, Tiet Zamui established many stories that could even be called a legend.

That activity was told about in folk poet’s poems, drama, and even told through nursery tales.

Inside the things told down there was some exaggeration perhaps. It could also become completely fabricated at times.

Even so, the people that don’t know of Tiet Zamui and the second name of <<Great Sorcerer>> and her activities didn’t have bad taste.

“Then, Tatsumi-kun. Now that you’ve listened to this much of my stories, did you experienced anything too?”

Her smile turning from that of smiling the whole time to a serious one, Tina asks Tatsumi.

“Up until now, we could say that us two are the only people that have earned the <Heaven> magic power…… There could be another <Heaven> magic power holder than us that we don’t know of, but let’s put that away for now. At the very least, the only two known <Heaven> magic users are you and me. Before this truth, what do you think?”

Tatsumi looks through Tina’s straightforward gaze.

It was a question that was like a teacher giving a pupil a question, but it was also like an investigator pursuing the truth.

“In order to earn the <Heaven> magic power……don’t you have to……cross past the world?”

“Yeah, that’s what I think too. I believe that this theory is incorrect, but just the two of us as an example is not enough evidence.”

“Certainly if you take the <<Great Sorcerer>>-dono’s hypothesis as fact, not many people have needed to be summoned to this world.”

“It’s just as the Highest Priest says. But I don’t want to summon anybody just to confirm that. Of course, if I thought to do it, ‘I think can do it and ‘I actually can do it is a different problem.”

It would mean forcibly throwing away that summoned person’s life.

Tatsumi wouldn’t hesitate to throw away his previous life, but that was a special case for him.

If it was normal, throwing away one’s life and livelihood and being summoned suddenly to a different world would make them have a fit of anger perhaps.

But, Tatsumi can understand the theory itself, and the authenticity has a good idea.

“Yeah, that’s true. I also had another theory, that everyone on the earth had the <Heaven> system magic, but what do you think?”

“Eh……Whaaaaat!? Everyone on the earth…….you say……?”

“Over there, different from here, people don’t have pretty much any magic power. So that way nobody would notice their own system, but wouldn’t that be too astounding? Though, either one would be difficult to verify.”

While in front of the dumbfounded Tatsumi, Tina added to the end “I also think the first one is correct.”

Certainly, as she says it would be the same for both of the theories, in order to prove it you would have to invite many people to this world over and over.

And, while half of his brain was amazed by the thought, another thought ran past his mind.

“W, what? If that’s so……What about L-san……?”

The thing that ran past his mind. It was the person who came from the same Japan as him, the elf woman’s face.