Chapter 10

"Mr. Nain, I'm sorry, but may I ask you something?"

The man who had just been restraining the fire Esper spoke casually. Nain, who had been unable to hide his troubled expression while staring blankly at the table, finally looked up to meet the man's gaze.

"What is it?"

"I've been curious since earlier, but does magic actually exist in your dimension?"

Instead of answering, Nain glanced at the fire Esper.

'Isn't there one right there, a mage... Why are they asking that?'

Nain tilted his head in puzzlement, wondering why they were asking such a question.

"Magic... of course it exists?"

At his guarded attitude with a rising intonation, the man adopted a gentler approach.

"It's nothing serious, just asking for reference purposes, so you don't need to be on guard. Didn't you bring up something about mages to Flora earlier?"

The woman who controlled fire seemed to be named Flora. When their eyes met, the woman said "That's me" and smiled mischievously. Nain smiled back awkwardly.

"Can you also use magic?"

"..."

At those words, Nain hesitated without immediately answering. His gaze wavered faintly.

"Mr. Nain?"

Ah. Nain, whose mind belatedly returned, smiled awkwardly and answered.

"No. I can't use it."

Though there had been times in childhood when he cried over the absence of a talent that every other royal possessed, that was all in the past. Such words didn't particularly hurt anymore.

Nain was not a mage. But Nain had learned to love himself even without being a mage. It was thanks to the people around him. Despite his lack of magical power, he had grown up receiving sufficient love and naturally acquired methods to overcome his deficiencies.

While previous generations of the royal family had even shed blood over the throne, his much older brothers and close associates had simply cherished Nain unconditionally. The people around him had greatly contributed to Nain, who had been a slow and insensitive child, growing up so properly.

They never brought up his lack of magical power and treated Nain as a cute younger brother, son, and friend - just as he was. Since Nain himself knew this well, he wanted even more to meet the expectations of those who cherished him.

"...I want to go home."

When Nain muttered quietly in a dejected voice, the entire meeting room fell silent. No one dared to offer hasty words of comfort.

The subsequent meeting was entirely about discussing Nain's accommodations. Only now could Nain understand why the room he had thought was a guest room was so small.

Awakener Management Association.

This place, called the Awakener Center for short, was not the mansion of a noble who commanded several mage servants. Rather, it seemed similar to an academic institution where mages gathered to work and conduct research. That would explain why the environment had been so poor.

'All places with communal living are like that.'

Anyway, the dormitory at the Academy where Nain had been enrolled wasn't exactly comfortable either. The soundproofing was terrible too. When the guy in the adjacent dorm room snored at night, he had to cover his ears with a pillow and force himself to sleep, which said it all.

The center director proposed arranging Nain's residence in a nearby place outside the center according to the dimension wanderer management program, then helping him find a job to adapt, but Nain refused.

"Are there any spare jobs here by any chance?"

"What?"

"Even menial work is fine. Cleaning or cooking... I'll work hard at whatever you assign me. I want to stay here and work."

Nain spoke earnestly, yet ambitiously at the same time. If he was going to stay in this dimension even briefly, he wanted to remain in a place closest to the essence of this dimension.

That was why. The cause of Nain falling into this strange place was gates, and this was precisely the place that conducted research on those gates.

Whether he adapted to the environment or prepared to return, he judged there was no place better than here. Though he had sufficient grounds for his judgment, perhaps because Nain didn't explain everything in his head in detail, people seemed somewhat surprised by his decision.

"No, no, even if you go outside, we'll help you adapt sufficiently. This is a place where awakeners actually live and receive training. It's too dangerous for a civilian like you..."

"Couldn't it work somehow? I like it here."

"..."

Not just okay, but he actually liked it. At Nain's words that he wanted to stay at the Awakener Management Center and would do any kind of work, people's expressions became strange. Normally they should have firmly refused, saying it wasn't allowed, but the dimension wanderer persistently clung to his point. He looked absent-minded but was unnecessarily stubborn.

"Well, I don't know. It's unprecedented. We'll consider it once."

Those who had been exchanging glances with each other said they would hold a meeting to reflect Nain's opinion as much as possible and notify him afterward, glossing over their words.

* * *

Most people either revered Espers or conversely found them uncomfortable. This was because they thought of them as completely different beings from themselves.

'Hii, hiik. Monster...!'

Especially dimension wanderers, who couldn't understand the concept of supernatural abilities, often feared Espers who tried to help them and even fainted.

"..."

But the dimension wanderer before them, far from avoiding awakeners... even after the meeting ended, stuck close to the Espers with an innocent face, exploiting their abilities.

"So you smashed this with pure physical strength alone?"

Looking at the thick table cleanly split in half, Nain couldn't hide his excited attitude. The Esper who had smashed the table said indifferently.

"You saw it yourself."

"You didn't even get hurt."

"I'm a physical enhancement type Esper. If I got hurt from something like this, I'd be no different from a civilian."

"What's the possible range of enhancement? Can it be applied to your whole body? Does it not strain your bones? Is there a separate structure for absorbing impact? Ah, then if I hit with a hammer..."

"..."

"I was joking. Can I just touch it?"

His blue eyes sparkled ceaselessly with curiosity. Seeing him chattering excitedly, it was doubtful whether he was the same person who had looked depressed earlier. Watching Nain touch the solid arm while exclaiming in admiration, Flora said.

"First time seeing something like this? You said there were mages or something like that where you're from."

"Ah, yes. There were mages..."

"But?"

"...Actually, that was my major too, so I saw them often. I haven't graduated yet though. I was originally scheduled to graduate next month."

When Nain scratched his cheek embarrassedly while adding this, Flora asked.

"What's your major?"

"Magic Department."

"..."

"Ah, among those, I majored in healing magic and formula studies..."

"What, then mages and everything were just common as dirt!"

Flora, with her problematic personality, muttered irritably and kicked the desk leg with a bang. When Nain blinked in surprise at the loud noise, she brought her head close and stared intently at Nain's face while speaking sarcastically.

"But is this really something to be so amazed about? Who are you trying to fool?"

The woman, who had suddenly hardened her expression, asked in an irritated tone. For some reason, sparks seemed to fly from her eyes too. Nain opened his eyes wide and protested her words.

"It's different! Natural element mages aren't just ordinary mages..."

"What are you talking about?"

"Especially the fire element is considered the hardest to handle, so there was only one person recorded in history."

Nain couldn't take his eyes off the fireball that rounded the Esper's hands, his cheeks flushed red.

"I wasn't teasing you. It's absolutely not like that. I truly, sincerely think you're amazing."

"..."

Flora, who had gotten worked up alone, finally felt a bit embarrassed. Instead of apologizing for getting angry, she made the flames grow larger. Then Nain couldn't hide his excitement as if he would sell his soul.

"Ah, don't touch it. It might not matter to me, but it'll be hot for you."

"It's fascinating."

"...You came from a place with magic and stuff, yet you find this kind of thing fascinating?"

"It's a miracle. This is my first time seeing something like this."

Her expression, weak to compliments, became silly with pleasure. No matter how you looked at it, it didn't seem like false flattery. Though she didn't dislike the blue eyes sparkling with curiosity, she scratched her cheek awkwardly, thinking her ability wasn't worthy of such praise.

"It's a bit embarrassing... It's a pretty common ability here."

And it wasn't such a useful ability, so even with a high grade, the treatment wasn't very good. Perhaps because of that, Flora unknowingly had an inferiority complex.

"That's ridiculous. You're saying such an amazing ability is common?"

When Nain shouted with his eyes wide, Flora's lips twitched. Nain was the first person to praise her ability as amazing. She wondered if it was okay to be this happy over such trivial words. But where in the world would you find someone who disliked praise?

In a center full of awakeners everywhere, it was very rare to be praised for one's abilities. Moreover, this place, the 11th Branch, was crawling with absolute monsters.