CHAPTER 7
Shishiroka’s funeral was a simple affair.
Rapiel acted as the chief mourner.
When Shishiroka was a child, she had been abandoned because of her weak body, and Rapiel had taken her in and raised her.
That was why she dutifully fulfilled the role.
Shishiroka was buried behind Rapiel’s mansion, in a spot that got plenty of sun.
That day, Rapiel drank several bottles of alcohol, something she rarely did, before passing out.
For some reason, I couldn’t sleep and stayed up all night.
And time passed once again.
The training continued.
My progress in Holy Magic continued to advance steadily.
However, the Seed still showed no signs of opening.
I swear, I’m gonna have to beat this damn Seed into submission.
I learned how to conjure weapons of light from Rapiel.
Though what I could create was still too unstable to be called a weapon, I was starting to get the hang of it.
“Harua, are you alright?”
Rapiel asked me one day.
I gave her a bewildered look.
“Alright? What do you mean?”
“I was just wondering if you were overworking yourself lately.”
“You’re the one pushing me, Master Rapiel.”
Was that really something the person who beat me up and healed me every day should be saying?
“Hmm, well, if you say so, then I guess it’s fine.”
“If this is about Shishiroka-sunbaenim, I’m fine. Your grief must be far greater than mine, Master.”
Rapiel had raised Shishiroka since she was a child.
She probably soothed the heartbreak from Bulldog by raising Shishiroka.
Her death must have brought an immense sense of loss to Rapiel.
So I made an effort to be a little more active.
It would be a problem if Rapiel fell into a depression over Shishiroka and neglected my training.
After all, I had decided to become a great Holy Mage.
“...Still, don’t overdo it.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“You have the books Shishiroka used to read, don’t you?”
“Yes, Sunbaenim wrote a lot of notes in them to explain the theories simply. They’ve been a great help.”
Rapiel fell silent for a moment.
Soon after, she raised her hand and gently rested it on my head and shoulder.
“Good. If they’re helping you, then she would be happy too.”
“I’d be grateful if that’s the case.”
Rapiel looked weary.
It seemed the Grace Magic Tower had been dealing with some problems lately.
I occasionally overheard the servants whispering anxiously among themselves.
Rapiel was also being summoned to the tower more frequently because of it.
There wasn't much I could do, so I just continued my training.
It’s not like someone like me could do anything about the Magic Tower’s affairs anyway.
“Harua.”
“Yes?”
“An acquaintance of mine visited Valterion recently.”
Valterion, the capital of the human nation, Gladion.
An old acquaintance of hers, who had been traveling the world for a long time, had apparently paid a visit.
“Like me, this acquaintance has also taken on disciples for a long time. What do you think, would you like to meet one of them? They’re a Transferee, too.”
A Transferee.
Come to think of it, I hadn’t really interacted with any other Transferees since coming to this world.
To be precise, the opportunity never arose.
Transferees were inherently objects of hatred and avoidance.
They had to work desperately just to earn their daily bread.
Could people in that situation really hang out with others, laughing and having a good time?
Leisure is born from abundance.
Those who had nothing had to fight a tearful battle for survival.
My situation had improved a lot recently, but not long ago, I had lived the same life.
A life where just getting by day-to-day was a struggle.
It’s not that I couldn’t understand how the Transferees felt.
I looked at Rapiel.
Her eyes were filled with concern for me.
A master who had recently lost a disciple was now worrying about her other one. Rapiel was one of the few truly good people I had met in this world.
As her unworthy disciple, I couldn’t keep making my master worry forever.
“Yes, please introduce me.”
I didn't know what kind of person it would be, but they were the disciple of Rapiel’s acquaintance.
I just had to treat them reasonably well and it would be fine.
Rapiel’s face brightened.
“They said they were on their way here, so you should be able to meet them soon.”
“I’d better clean myself up, then.”
“Don’t worry. The other side won’t be in a very clean state either.”
Rapiel laughed as if she could already picture it.
At this point, I was getting curious about what kind of person her acquaintance was.

A short while later, just as Rapiel had said, three guests arrived at her mansion.
Leading the group was a man with a long sword at his waist.
He was dressed in a long robe and tattered cloth.
Two large horns protruded from his long, black hair.

An Oegak.
A demi-human race with horns growing from their heads, primarily living in a nation called Wolun.
Until just a few centuries ago, their language was different from that of humans. Though their faces were similar, their culture and way of life were very different.
The size of their horns changed with age.
Horns of that size meant he had long surpassed a human lifespan.
On top of that, the aura flowing from him was anything but ordinary.
This guy… was a monster.
I had seen a fair number of adventurers while sticking by Bulldog’s side.
Among them were monsters known as Hero-class adventurers.
Whenever we saw them, even Bulldog would advise me not to make eye contact.
But right now, I was feeling an aura even more dangerous than those Hero-class adventurers.
It was the same feeling I got when I saw the bishop from the cult that had cut off my limbs.
I quickly averted my gaze, not wanting to meet his eyes.
I had no idea how Rapiel knew someone like that.
Next to him, the man in the center looked like he was from the Middle East. He had short-cropped black hair, dark skin, and thick eyebrows.
Thanks to that, I could immediately tell who the Transferee Rapiel had mentioned was.
Finally, there was a girl, also an Oegak.
Her hair was tied back in a long ponytail, and in a peculiar style, the inside was white and the outside was black, a two-tone look.
Two moderately-sized horns were visible through her hair.
She was beautiful enough to be a celebrity.
“Soun, it’s been a while.”
When she greeted him, the Oegak man named Soun gave a slight nod.
The written language of the Oegak tribe is different from that of humans.
But from my perspective, the Oegak language felt like Chinese characters.
Some Transferees had investigated this and found that upon transfer, the language of this world is perceived according to one's own level of knowledge.
Of course, no one knew exactly how that worked.
It was just accepted as fact.
I wasn’t a linguist, so I wasn’t particularly interested either.
I just figured one side was fantasy, and the other was wuxia.
That was the extent of my understanding.
“Rapiel.”
Soon, Soun’s mouth opened.
“I heard the Grace Magic Tower has been rather noisy lately.”
“Don’t you go swinging your sword around recklessly.”
“I am not such a simple-minded brute.”
Unfortunately, Soun looked very much like a simple-minded brute.
“If you run into trouble, let me know. I owe you a debt.”
“Alright, I will.”
Rapiel gave a short laugh.
I didn't know what their relationship was, but I could feel they had known each other for a long time.
“The reason I came today is because of Black Dawn.”
“Huu, them again.”
Black Dawn.
I’d heard of them during my time as an adventurer.
Transferees have been consistently discriminated against by the savage This-worlders.
Some tried to get along with the locals, but others grew disillusioned with the discrimination and went down a different path.
A terrorist group of Transferees who believed that they, the intellectuals, should put the savage This-worlders under their heel.
That was Black Dawn.
“I heard the problems at the Grace Magic Tower are also related to Black Dawn.”
“...They’re not unrelated.”
It seemed the Grace Magic Tower really was having a lot of trouble lately.
There was nothing I could do even if I heard more, so I tore my gaze away from Soun.
As I did, my eyes met the girl’s.

When she saw me, she smiled brightly. It was a friendly-looking smile.
“It seems our conversation might get a little long. Would you two like to go outside together?” Rapiel asked, looking our way.
She was telling us to leave so the two of them could talk.
My eyes met Rapiel’s.
She gave me a look filled with various meanings.
She was probably telling me to take the opportunity to get to know Soun’s disciples.
It was a request from my master, Rapiel.
I should grant it.
“You two may leave.”
As Soun spoke, the girl and the man answered in unison and headed outside.
I also exchanged a nod with Rapiel and walked out.
Once outside, I turned to look at the two of them.
I was about to say a word.
But I froze.
The girl who had smiled so brightly at me just a moment ago.
Her face, unlike before, had turned completely expressionless.
It was so stark it felt venomous.

“You.”
Soon, the girl’s mouth opened.
Her voice was cold, laced with an icy chill.
“Rapiel-nim told you to get along with us, right?”
“Uh, yeah.”
As soon as I answered, she turned away with a cold attitude.
“I have no intention of getting friendly. So there’s no need for you to try. Just say we got along fine. It’ll be easier for both of us.”

Wow, what a total bitch.
Where did the girl who smiled so kindly a moment ago go?
It seemed she hid her true personality by smiling nicely in situations where she was expected to be friendly.
She walked away without another word.
As I watched her go, my gaze fell on the man who remained.
He slowly stroked his chin.
“Rapiel-nim is one thing, but a cold Aranseol is also sexy.”
So he's just a womanizer.
He had a manly look, practically overflowing with testosterone.
Sohan turned to me and gave a sharp smile.
“My apologies for the late introduction. I’m Sohan. The girl from before is Aranseol.”
Sohan said, then glanced in the direction Aranseol had gone.
“Don’t think too badly of her. It’s because of Shishiroka.”
Sohan and Aranseol knew about Shishiroka.
“What about Shishiroka?”
“That kid… she died in the end, didn’t she? Aranseol was good friends with her.”
So Aranseol was the friend Shishiroka had mentioned.
Sohan showed a look of pity.
Not for Shishiroka, but for Aranseol.
“Aranseol thinks that Rapiel took you in as a replacement for Shishiroka.”
Ah, that explained Aranseol’s attitude earlier.
As someone who was close to Shishiroka, it was understandable she wouldn't be pleased.
“And besides, Aranseol isn’t very fond of Transferees.”
I wasn't curious about why she hated Transferees, so I didn't ask.
I had too many reasons of my own for hating This-worlders.
“But she’s not a bad kid. You don’t need to worry about us too much either.
Our master doesn’t stay in one place for long anyway, so we’ll be leaving soon.”
There was no need for us to try hard to get along.
Those words felt quite comforting.
It was probably Sohan’s way of being considerate.
“You must be having a hard time too, with Shishiroka’s death.”
“I’m fine. It’s not like I knew Shishiroka for that long.”
“What does that matter when someone you know dies? It affects you all the same. No need to pretend.”
He might be a womanizer, but maybe he wasn't a bad guy.
I didn't know about Aranseol, but Sohan seemed like a pretty decent guy.
“Sohan, do you have feelings for Aranseol?”
“I like any pretty woman.”
What a refreshingly honest guy.
“But it’s gotten particularly worse since I came to this world.”
“Your liking for women got worse?”
“You know that No-Nameds can lose a part of their body, right?”
It wasn't just their names that No-Nameds lost; it included parts of their bodies.
A simple example would be losing a finger.
But ‘body part’ didn't just refer to external parts. Sometimes, internal organs could disappear.
In fact, there was a case where a No-Named was found with their brain missing.
That No-Named became a vegetable, unable to do anything.
However, even if a part of the body disappears, you don't die from it.
The function of that body part no longer affects the body, but you are definitely still alive.
Various investigations have been conducted on this, but there haven't been any significant findings yet.
Transferees are a minority compared to This-worlders.
And No-Nameds are an even smaller minority among them.
There was no way a proper investigation could be carried out.
“In my case, it’s highly likely that whatever suppresses my libido is what vanished. At least, that’s what I believe.”
Sohan was a No-Named, just like me.
‘Body part’ also included hormones.
If that kind of hormone had disappeared, Sohan's libido made sense.
“Still, I draw a line. I don’t lay a hand on any woman who doesn’t like me back. The same goes for women who belong to other men.”
I could feel a deep conviction in his eyes.
Was he saying he lived a life of self-control in his own way?
If the hormone that suppresses libido was gone, his condition should be classified as a disorder, like hypersexuality.
That’s some incredible mental fortitude.
“This is the kind of guy I am. So let’s get along while we’re here.”
Sohan grinned.
Was this his way of trying to get friendly?
Yeah, he’s a decent guy.
“Well then, I’m busy, so I’ll be going.”
With that, Sohan left.
Since they told me not to worry about them, it should be fine.
Time to train.
I was thinking just that as I arrived at the training ground.
“...”
Aranseol was at the training ground.
Our eyes met, and Aranseol froze.
She seemed to be checking her sword, preparing to train.
The mansion wasn't small, but we kept running into each other.
“...I was here first.”
Was she telling me, the Transferee, to get lost?

The way she stared at me with an expressionless face showed just how much she disliked me.
Unfortunately, it seemed I wouldn't be able to grant Rapiel's request.
“This is our training ground, isn’t it?”
Fuck that.