Chapter 1

Prologue

"Hey, Great Mage. You have a visitor."

"......"

Ah, I'm not a Great Mage though... Nain couldn't bring himself to snap back at the sarcastic police officer, only twitching his cheeks in frustration.

The man who appeared before Nain after a long time approached him with a grin, seeing him sitting blankly in the holding cell. Spotlessly polished black shoes without a speck of dust came into view. The steady footsteps came to an abrupt halt right in front of Nain.

Unlike his usual appearance of carelessly throwing on comfortable casual clothes or training gear, today the man was dressed quite neatly. Perhaps it felt that way because this was the first time he'd seen the man wearing clothes with his shirt buttons properly fastened.

Even so, a couple of buttons at the top of the crisply ironed gray shirt were undone. Judging by how his bare skin was visible through the gap, he didn't seem to be wearing anything underneath.

'Just one shirt in this weather, isn't he cold?'

As Nain absentmindedly looked the man up and down without much thought, the man tilted his head slightly to meet his eyes. When their gazes met, the man smiled gently, his eyes crinkling.

"It's been a while."

"Ah, yes..."

It wasn't wrong. However, this wasn't a situation where they should be casually exchanging greetings, and since he hadn't wanted to meet the man in this kind of place, Nain responded reluctantly while avoiding his gaze. The man stared at Nain for a moment before letting out a deep sigh and muttering.

"Nain... No matter how desperate you are for money, how could you sell illegal aphrodisiacs to people?"

"...?"

Aphrodisiacs? Illegal? Nain's eyes widened at the absurd accusation. Nain, a conscientious potion maker, looked up at the man with an aggrieved expression.

"That's just an energy recovery potion...!"

A hand suddenly approached without warning and lifted Nain's chin. His cheeks were pressed within the man's grasp. Nain gasped at the sudden contact. Without giving him time to be properly startled, the man tilted his head.

"So it recovers other kinds of energy? The effects are completely different from what you said..."

"N-no way, that can't be... If it's ineffective or has side effects, I offer a 100% refund. I only sell reasonably priced, freshly made medicine. If you take it exactly as I instructed, regardless of gender or age, on the day of battle, you can maintain peak condition with focus and physical state for 24 hours straight..."

While Nain was earnestly explaining, the man lifted the corner of his mouth and chuckled. ...Was he mocking him? Nain, who had been rambling whatever came to mind in his confusion, stopped talking and blinked.

The man's fingers tapped Nain's cheek.

"You know you sound exactly like an internet drug scammer right now?"

"..."

Did he just call me a scammer?

Only then did Nain roughly understand why the man had graced the police station with his presence without any real business. He had come to see him in this state... Nain's expression hardened.

"Do you know what people call the medicine Nain makes?"

"Energy recovery potion."

"They call it 'Vigor Booster.'"

"Who says that? I never gave it such a name!"

Nain bristled. The police officers who had been eavesdropping on their conversation couldn't hold back anymore and snickered. Nain's ears turned red at the laughter coming from all around. The police officers took the man's side and freely teased Nain.

"What on earth did you make so we~ll that everyone's getting all vigorous like this?"

"It's magic, he says~"

"Our Great Mage, indeed."

They mocked him, quoting the words Nain had said with a serious face. Nain's tightly closed lips trembled. While everyone else was having fun, Nain was the only one gripping the bars from inside the cell with an extremely serious expression.

"Nain."

The man let out a deep sigh with a pitying expression. At a glance, his face was full of concern for Nain.

"If you're frustrated, you should've just told me."

"..."

"I might've helped solve that problem with all my might..."

The man joked in a teasing voice, pretending to reach below his collarbone as if about to undo all his shirt buttons. The sound of the police officers' chuckles grew louder. Laughter bloomed throughout the station. Unable to tolerate their mockery any longer, Nain shouted with his face flushed bright red.

"It's not that!"

Nain spoke firmly. He swore, he had never made illegal drugs like narcotics or aphrodisiacs. It was ridiculous to be suddenly dragged in with such absurd charges...

"Nain."

"You know, I really...!"

"So, have you found someone to replace me yet?"

The man whispered, lowering his voice. As expected, he had something else in mind. At that moment, Nain's eyes wavered, and the man let out a small laugh.

"You haven't, have you?"

"..."

"I told you... right now, there's no one but me for you."

He murmured with narrowed eyes.

"Look even now, I'm the only one who rushed here for Nain, aren't I?"

"..."

"Should I help you?"

The sweet voice gnawed at Nain's nerves. Nain couldn't say anything and kept his mouth shut. There were many people watching them around. He felt his face burning from the glances.

The man was quite a celebrity. The kind where just mentioning his name would immediately elicit "Ah, that... that Esper?" Whether in a good or bad sense, it would be difficult not to be curious about someone that a well-known Esper was treating so attentively and considerately.

Perhaps thanks to that, despite the charges sounding quite serious, the police didn't treat Nain like a particularly harmful criminal.

Rather, seeing the man busily coming and going with a large lunchbox, new clothes, a heater, and even a bedding set, they just muttered, "Well, well, no need for a hotel. Must be on vacation."

'Why is he going this far?'

In fact, Nain couldn't understand why he was being so devoted to him. The man clearly wanted something from him. He knew that. But Nain didn't think it was something worth being this attentive about.

Above all, Nain had no desire to get deeply entangled with the man. Though it seemed his thoughts were exactly opposite to Nain's...

"He wasn't as terrifying an Esper as I'd heard."

The middle-aged police officer glanced at the door Ash had left through and muttered to himself.

"To think he'd take such good care of someone like that."

"I know, right? I've changed my opinion of him."

The police officers who had been treating Nain like a lunatic for claiming innocence while talking about magic became very kind to Nain after learning that he and Ash knew each other very well and that Ash was taking care of Nain to the point of pleading for favors. Of course, their treatment of his talk about magic as crazy nonsense didn't change.

"Mr. Mage, you were a dimension wanderer, huh?"

Moreover, they became even more interested after learning from the testimonies of those involved in this incident that Nain was a 'dimension wanderer.'

Dimension wanderer.

In other words, a spatial traveler.

"But do you have money to pay the fine?"

"..."

At someone's question, Nain felt unnecessarily miserable and couldn't say anything. When he pressed his lips tightly together, twitched them, and shook his head dejectedly, the police officers clicked their tongues.

"Can't be helped then. Ask Ash to pay it for you. You two seemed close."

"Yeah, that would work!"

"From what I saw earlier, if Mr. Mage asks, he'd gladly pay."

"Ask for help. Is it really that hard to say just those words?"

The people who knew nothing chattered carelessly. Nain couldn't say anything to that either and just frowned. Naturally, the police officers, unaware of his complicated feelings, passed the time chattering about the man's financial status.

They seemed to have formed quite a good impression of the man in that short time. Compliments about his appearance, praise for his abilities, even talk about his hidden character for taking such good care of a dimension wanderer! While all sorts of random nonsense came out, Nain couldn't add a single word.

He sighed internally in frustration and repeatedly jabbed his thigh with his clenched fist.

'They want me to beg Ash now?'

Nain leaned his head against the wall with a serious expression and let out a sigh. The voice mixed with laughter saying 'Should I help you?' kept circling in his head. Nain shook his head, trying hard to forget the man's voice. If Nain just said one word asking for help, that man would step up and help him. The man was always strangely kind to Nain, and Nain knew that fact well.

But the man being kind to him and this current situation were a bit different. Because Nain had his suspicions.

'I can't ask for help!'

Obviously.

When the one who might have put me in this difficult situation could be that very man!