Dorothy Gale Is a Mage Who Wants to Slack Off (2)
"So, what exactly are these Otherworld monsters?"
"It's literally monsters from another world. It used to be the term for the demon race."
Dorothy gave me a sidelong glance that said you don't even know something this obvious? and answered curtly.
This world has all kinds of races. Beastkin, dragons, demons, elves, humans, and so on. If you count low-level monsters like goblins and orcs as races too, the list gets even longer.
I'd heard that dragons sometimes appear in human form to travel the world, but whether in this world or in the game, actually meeting one was extremely rare. At best you'd receive some advice or face a weakened specimen. Since they basically only existed in the setting, their true nature remained a mystery.
The other races were different, though. Elves and beastkin interacted with humans fairly often, and before the Otherworld invasion—back during the demon invasion—they had miraculously formed an alliance with humanity. Now everyone lived together in relative harmony.
"I didn't bring you here to give you a history lesson, but..."
"Ahahaha... Still, you did drag me out here without warning. Please explain."
It wasn't that Dorothy lacked emotions just because she couldn't show them on her face or laugh. She let out a heavy sigh that practically screamed what a pain and continued.
"The previous invasions from the other side usually involved the demon race crossing over from the demon realm. You know the kind of thing—hero versus Demon King battles, like in the history books."
"Ah... Yeah, I know what you mean."
In truth I had no idea. I'd always assumed those were just legends.
"Anyway, even the demon race eventually had no choice but to join hands with us when the truly twisted Otherworld appeared—not the demon realm."
"The appearance of the Otherworld?"
In the game's later stages, grotesque monsters that seemed like divine creations would show up. I'd simply figured they were Cthulhu-inspired and left it at that.
"Their reason for invading, their goal, where they even come from—everything is unknown. The only thing we know is that some individuals are as weak as goblins while others rival dragons in strength."
"Quite a wide range, then."
"The demon realm was destroyed by them too. Back then, opposition was fierce. People kept asking how we could possibly trust the demon race."
The rest of the story was predictable. To prove their sincerity, the demons burned everything they had fighting the Otherworld invasion. The Demon King himself charged into the front lines, cutting down countless monsters before dying a heroic death. After that, the other races had no choice but to believe them—willingly or otherwise.
That's how this world became a place where multiple races coexist, forming nations and living with all the small and large conflicts that come with it.
"Anyway, history lesson over. You should at least earn some praise from the professor for this."
"Thank you. I'm so honored I don't know what to do with myself."
"...As you can probably tell from listening, I'm extremely sensitive to the flow of mana. Enough to be called an archmage in the making."
Dorothy glanced at me with clear dissatisfaction before finally getting to the main point. She was talking about her Mana Detection skill.
In the game, her ability to sense mana let players detect hidden traps and enemies early, making stealth assassination or evasion playstyles possible. I remembered that people who mained Dorothy were called Assassins because of it.
"In a secluded corner of this academy, I felt a horrific mana flow I'd never experienced before. Normally I'd ask the professors or someone else for help."
"But the fact that you need my help means..."
"Those things don't die easily through normal methods. Honestly... only someone on the headmaster's level could kill them as easily as breathing."
"Uh... I'm still not convinced that's a good reason to bring me along. Won't I be the one dying?"
Dorothy scratched her head awkwardly before speaking again.
"The energy flowing from you, even though you have nothing else. I've never seen natural mana gather to a human so naturally before."
She stared straight at me.
Natural mana gathering to me? Of course I couldn't feel it. Cain's body had the Weakling and Slowpoke debuffs plus a serious handicap when it came to mana manipulation.
"The most effective way to deal with Otherworld monsters is by using natural mana. I figured this out because setting fires near them worked better than magic or swords."
So natural phenomena were more effective. I hadn't known that.
In the game their magic and physical resistance were so ridiculously high that I'd just thought of them as "annoyingly tanky mobs you should avoid." Come to think of it, there had been an event where one of them was destroyed by a torch. So that was foreshadowing?
But since you couldn't use torches in actual combat, players had written it off as nothing but a cinematic scene.
The game really was poorly made...
"Hmm... That's pretty fucked up..."
"Hm? What did you say..."
"Ah, nothing. I just didn't realize natural mana was gathering to me."
"I think that's why you can cast magic without incantations or magic circles... Since you don't seem interested in explaining the principle, I won't pry."
Among mages, asking about each other's casting methods is considered rude. It's a sensitive topic, like patents or salary in my old world. Close friends or master-disciple pairs sometimes share anyway.
"It feels like I've been given a much bigger job than I expected. I'm a little nervous?"
"You said you haven't even had a proper class yet... Now that I think about it, maybe you should just head back~"
What I needed to focus on right now was getting stronger. Like the headmaster said, I had to keep growing if I wanted to survive in this world where my stats were pathetically low.
Spirit-based combat was the only advantage given to someone weak in every other area. The experience gained through steady fighting would definitely help me. Not to mention the vitality I gained from leveling up.
"I have reasons to get stronger. I have no intention of dying yet, so let's give it a try."
"There's something slightly off about how you worded that... If it gets really dangerous, we can call for help."
Dorothy was one of the few survivors of the Otherworld invasion. When people found her, she'd been unconscious with piles of monster corpses surrounding her. Her own potential had to be extraordinary.
The problem was that no one knew what kind of power she'd used to kill monsters that resisted both magic and swords. The headmaster had even built a personal relationship with her for research purposes, so the expectations placed on Dorothy were clearly enormous.
Which meant when she said "call for help," she really meant calling one specific person.
"You mean the headmaster?"
"Well... The headmaster is still a mage at the end of the day. Considering how strong those things are against magic and weapons, it's hard to predict what might happen. She could handle them, sure, but it would be inefficient. In times like this, I believe a unique power like yours tends to be more effective—even if the user is weak as hell."
She said that last part so casually. Fuck. It's not like I wanted to be weak.
"Now that I think about it, why are you trying to handle this secretly, Senior Dorothy?"
"Hmm... I was asked to. It's the condition for attending the academy for free. And they want me to handle it alone whenever possible."
I didn't know exactly what kind of rich benefactor we were dealing with, but I could tell they were insane for entrusting the academy's protection to what amounted to a high-school freshman.
They were clearly connected to the academy, but maybe this wasn't the kind of thing that helped its prestige or reputation? Or perhaps it was to prevent investor anxiety ahead of time? Still, giving a mission like this to a kid who was still so young seemed... excessive.
While I was lost in thought, we left the Acropolis and entered the forest. After finishing her explanation, Dorothy cast a wind spell on me.
When she raised her staff, my body floated up along with it. She rose into the air after me, then pointed expressionlessly toward a distant point I couldn't even see.
"It's over there at the far end. Let's go."
She waved her staff, and I was suddenly sucked forward at an unbelievable speed. Just flailing helplessly in midair was enough to make me nauseous—the velocity was beyond words.
I suddenly remembered Silph, whom I'd unsummoned earlier, and called her out.
Even at that ridiculous speed she kept pace with me, wearing a sullen expression. I smiled apologetically and held out one hand as a peace offering.
[SORRY]
— ...Just this once.
[THANKS A LOT]
She grabbed my finger with her tiny hand, accepting the reconciliation.
Yeah. Thanks, Silph.
No matter how badly you screwed up the starting point of my life and tangled everything up, we've still spent all this time together! The least you could do is accept an apology like this!
—Cain. You're having. Strange. Thoughts.
Um~ No I'm not~ Thanks for accepting my apology~
Silph's senses were sharp. Well, not sharp enough to read my exact thoughts, at least.
As I exchanged mental conversation with Silph—who I hadn't seen in what wasn't actually that long but somehow felt like forever—we soon entered an area that gave off a distinctly chilling sensation.
Eliminate the Otherworld Monster
Aha. So it shows up in the system window like this too.
It had been a while since I'd seen the familiar system interface, and I almost reached out in nostalgia. But Dorothy's warning immediately after forced me to pull my hand back and summon both Silph and Kasa.
"They're already tearing open space and crawling out. Cain. Want to show me what you're capable of?"
"R-right now? What if I actually die?"
I wasn't joking. Fuck. How the hell was I supposed to handle that? Just looking at the black tentacle masses writhing around down there like giant larvae was enough to tell me that getting involved would be a one-way ticket to disaster.
Besides, I hadn't even gotten to enjoy the romantic academy life yet! Were you seriously planning to use me as nothing but a meat shield, Dorothy Gale?!
"...I don't plan on dropping you onto the ground to fight alone, either."
Dorothy moved her staff again, lowering me just enough that I could see the creatures more clearly.
"I'll keep you floating the whole time. Those tentacle-like entities aren't intelligent enough to attack the sky."
"Aha."
Well, fuck. That changed things. Thank you, Dorothy Gale. You're the GOAT of this event.
I hurriedly urged Silph and Kasa to use only enough power that I wouldn't burn through too much life force. Soon wind and flames merged together, and an enormous blaze of incredible heat erupted skyward where the tentacles had been.
Yeah, fuck. It's been a while—let's farm some exp without worrying about dying for once.