The Transmigrator's Banquet
When would my seed finally bloom?
It was bitter that I still couldn't shake the apprentice holy mage title.
Only by awakening this damned seed would my holy magic show its true power, yet there was no sign of it happening.
—Rattle—
At that moment, I felt a slight sway from the carriage.
But this carriage's movement was nothing like an ordinary one.
Every carriage I'd ridden until now had been a lie compared to this incredibly comfortable ride.
It felt similar to the first time I rode an electric car.
Lapiel had prepared this carriage herself.
She was my guardian now.
Of course I had to inform her about going to the Star Cluster Meeting.
So I sought her out to get permission.
"Aranseol and Sohan are going with you too? That's wonderful. Have a good trip!"
Lapiel actually looked genuinely delighted.
"Does Master dislike having her disciple stuck in the mansion?"
"There you go again with nonsense."
When I showed my disappointment, Lapiel made an exasperated face.
Of course, I knew exactly why she was happy.
She had called Aranseol and Sohan over because she was worried about the emptiness left by Shishiroka's death.
She probably thought two people around my age might help me open up.
And now that I was getting along with them and heading to the meeting together, Lapiel was naturally pleased.
She smiled brightly.
Since she was always buried in work, giving her even a small reason to smile was a good thing.
"While you're there, make sure everyone knows you're my disciple."
"Should I go around shouting that Lapiel is the best master?"
"Try it and see what happens."
Hmm. Then why bother going at all?
"I'll prepare a carriage for you too, so travel safely. Understood?"
When Master tells you to go, you go.
As her disciple, refusing wasn't an option.
The next day, Lapiel prepared the carriage exactly as promised.
She even provided rather luxurious clothes so I wouldn't look shabby.
From the clothes to the carriage, it felt like a mother fussing over her son on his first day of school.
So Lapiel was the mom, huh.
At least her son wouldn't go hungry.
"I'll be back."
"Alright, have a safe trip."
With Lapiel seeing me off, the carriage began to move.
Come to think of it, this was my first time riding a carriage.
Even so, it was just some crude otherworlder's invention.
I figured my rear would be screaming in pain again soon enough.
But moments later, I completely took that thought back.
This carriage was definitely not ordinary.
The wheels rolled smoothly even on unpaved roads, the interior stayed stable, and the seats were absurdly plush.
It surpassed every vehicle I'd ever ridden in my life.
I'd always suffered from terrible motion sickness, so the fact that I wasn't feeling sick at all proved just how comfortable this carriage was.
"This was clearly made with magic."
"You say that like you've just realized something obvious."
Aranseol, sitting beside me, gave me an incredulous look.
Crude otherworlders simply couldn't understand modern sensibilities.
Sohan was already fast asleep in the carriage, snoring loudly again.
Judging by the perfume scent, he'd slept with another woman.
And the scent had changed, which meant the woman had changed too.
What a guy.
Nothing about Sohan surprised me anymore.
What truly amazed me was that magic could create something like this carriage.
I really should have learned magic.
Real magic, not that worthless holy magic that couldn't even save one person.
It was truly sad to possess the talent of a first-rate holy mage.
Before long, the carriage began passing through the suburbs.
A city a little ways from Valterion—basically the otherworld equivalent of Gyeonggi Province.
Perhaps because it was a noble-style luxury carriage, stares followed us the entire way.
Otherworlders gazed blankly at the carriage.
Look at this, you crude otherworlders. This is the difference between you and me.
Be sacrificed to my sense of superiority.
Then Aranseol nudged my arm with her shoulder.
"Harua, your eyes look weird."
"Ah, otherworlders. This is what we call superiority."
"There you go saying strange things again."
"Look out the window. They're all staring up at me like idiots."
"……Aren't they looking at the carriage, not you?"
"It's a matter of status."
"You're not even a noble, though?"
"I am a transmigrator."
Aranseol stared at my smug expression with pity.
"For your information, there are transmigrators mixed in among the onlookers. Transmigrators and otherworlders are the same."
Aranseol was trying to mock me with lies.
All I could see were crude otherworlders.
"Look properly. Especially that guy—he's obviously a transmigrator."
A man in rags was shouting at a shop owner.
The owner glared at him with disgust.
That shop was infamous for discriminating against transmigrators.
"Refusing to compromise with injustice. A fine attitude for a transmigrator."
"Looks like he's stealing bread and running away. Transmigrator crime rates are rising again."
"Facing discrimination head-on. A model transmigrator."
"……When exactly did you become such a transmigrator supremacist?"
I wasn't really a supremacist.
I was just trying to one-up that fucking racist Aranseol.
She looked at me with even more pity.
Had my score with her finally dropped?
Yet soon after, an uncontrollable laugh escaped her lips.
"You keep saying such bizarre things that I end up saying weird stuff too."
Even so, Aranseol wore a relieved expression.
"Still, it's nice not having to hide my true feelings."
She still disliked transmigrators.
But openly showing it wasn't the right thing to do.
Yet in front of me, it was different.
After all, I hated otherworlders too.
She didn't have to worry about revealing her dislike for transmigrators around me.
She was simply doing what otherworlders always did—discriminating against transmigrators.
Maybe that was why.
Aranseol looked comfortable, no longer needing to hide her feelings toward transmigrators.
Ironically, the same was true for me.
In a world where otherworlders vastly outnumbered transmigrators, openly expressing hatred for otherworlders would get you branded as Black Dawn and beaten to death.
So I'd always kept those thoughts to myself.
Our eyes met.
I realized once again just how messed up our relationship was.
Using Sohan's snoring as background music, we bickered until the carriage finally arrived.
A luxurious building that stood out starkly from its surroundings.
Just a few months ago, I wouldn't have even dared to look at it without getting beaten by the guards.
In front of it, the spacious carriage parking area was lined with luxury carriages just like the one I rode in.
Those carriages were the equivalent of Ferraris here.
I could tell what kind of elite gathering the Star Cluster Meeting was.
Looking back, I'd formed quite the connection.
I should thank Bulldog for linking me to this.
It had been a while since I'd visited him.
Work had kept me too busy to even greet him properly.
He'd said he'd invite me to his son's wedding, so maybe Lapiel would hear from him soon.
"Ugh, mmph. Have we arrived?"
Just then, Sohan woke up, swallowing a yawn.
He looked at me and Aranseol and grinned.
"Good morning."
"It's night."
"Details don't matter."
Morning and night meant nothing to him.
"Lord Harua, Lord Sohan, Lady Aranseol, we have arrived."
The coachman knocked and opened the door.
Thanking him for his service, I stepped out.
The building's ornate exterior came into clearer view.
Who owned this place?
Maintaining it couldn't be easy.
Maybe because of the flashy appearance, my commoner instincts kept surfacing.
Honestly, I felt reluctant to go inside.
Suddenly, I wanted to go home.
At that moment, Aranseol firmly wrapped her arm around mine and pulled.
The soft sensation enveloped my entire arm and teased my brain.
Was this some kind of mental magic?
I saw Aranseol's face.
Her lips held a devilish smile.
"You were going on about transmigrator superiority just a moment ago."
She'd noticed my commoner hesitation.
"Let's go in proudly."
This fucking racist.
"Harua, what do you think you're doing?"
At that moment, fire lit up in Sohan's eyes.
He alternated his gaze between me and Aranseol.
Ever the lust-driven Sohan.
Aranseol didn't like him, but feelings were another matter.
If Sohan got jealous seeing us getting along, things would get annoying.
"Sohan."
Before I could make excuses, Sohan wrapped his arm around my other arm.
"We're taking you in immediately."
These bastards.
Dragged along by Aranseol and Sohan, I was pulled inside.
There was no way I could overpower those two muscleheads with strength.
Since it had come to this, I'd have to brag about Lapiel's greatness.
If she didn't want her reputation tarnished, that should solve everything.
The building's interior was just as luxurious as its exterior.
Every item looked like it would cost a fortune if touched.
My body instinctively shrank back.
Harua, calm down.
You weren't born a commoner.
You can't live cowering forever.
I straightened my back proudly.
So what if it was expensive?
If I broke something, our Lapiel-mom would pay for it.
Entrusting the repayment to someone else made me feel much more at ease.
"Welcome to the Star Cluster Meeting."
When we reached the entrance with me being dragged by Aranseol and Sohan, the attendant bowed in greeting.
I escaped their hold and fixed my clothes.
"Mm, thank you."
The attendant looked at me curiously for a moment but said nothing and opened the door.
Aranseol and Sohan wore unimpressed expressions, but I ignored them and walked in confidently.
The interior of the Star Cluster Meeting hall had a glass ceiling.
It was designed so you could look up at the sky, and the roof could apparently be closed again.
Inside, most of the attendees were around my age or younger children.
Made sense, since it was a gathering of disciples from various places.
The average would be those who had just become adults or were even younger, rather than fully grown adults.
"Oh, Aranseol."
"Aranseol, it's been so long!"
The moment Aranseol entered, many disciples greeted her warmly.
She smiled naturally at them.
That smile was the business smile she often wore in front of Lapiel and Soun.
"Yeah. It's been a while for everyone."
Aranseol skillfully accepted their greetings.
Sohan quietly scanned the hall with his eyes.
"Oho."
His face lit up.
He must have spotted a pretty girl.
Always chasing after women.
No wonder Aranseol disliked him even more.
More than that, I could feel unfriendly gazes directed at our group.
The children welcomed Aranseol, but they didn't seem to welcome Sohan.
The reason became clear immediately.
"A new transmigrator?"
"Seems someone has strange hobbies again."
I could feel the whispering stares directed at me.
Most of the people here were crude otherworlders.
That was why Sohan and I, as transmigrators, stood out so much.
Apparently, it was rare for otherworlders to take transmigrators as direct disciples.
Of course, in a world full of transmigrator hatred.
At an event like this, everyone was probably the child of some noble.
Normally, they wouldn't take a transmigrator as a personal disciple.
Lapiel and Soun simply had very unusual tastes.
I'd thought about building some connections, but this seemed difficult.
"Not many familiar faces."
At that moment, Sohan spoke casually.
"Sohan, what do you mean by familiar faces?"
"There are transmigrators like us too. I thought they'd come this time, but it looks like they're not here today."
So that was it.
Apparently, the information Aranseol was supposed to gather was about the transmigrators.
I could see her working hard to collect intel.
I could leave the information gathering to her.
I cleanly gave up on mingling with the other disciples.
Goodwill had to be built from zero.
Building it from negative was nearly impossible.
Especially in such a closed space, the wall between transmigrators and otherworlders would be even thicker.
I didn't have the power to break it down.
Aranseol seemed to know this too, as she gave me an apologetic look during the conversation.
I waved my hand to tell her not to worry.
It wasn't something I hadn't expected.
"Harua, did you see the woman serving food earlier?"
At that moment, Sohan sidled up to me.
His face was sparkling.
The same lustful gaze as always.
Was there a prettier attendant than the disciples?
"Go ahead."
"Good luck."
He gave me a thumbs-up and left.
Meanwhile, I moved to a corner, avoiding people's eyes as much as possible.
Fortunately, the food table wasn't far, so I could serve myself a plate.
I listened to the children's chatter with one ear and let it out the other.
"Hello."
While happily picking out luxurious food, someone spoke to me.
When I turned my gaze, there stood a pretty girl.
She wasn't as beautiful as Aranseol, but she seemed to have quite outstanding looks even among the disciples.
The girl with red hair tied up with a bird-shaped pin appeared to be from the Avian Tribe.
She smiled brightly at me.
"You're Lady Lapiel's disciple, right?"
I hadn't expected an otherworlder to approach me first.
"Ah, yes."
"I heard about it last time. The news that you rescued Aranseol and the people on the airship. The Star Cluster Meeting has been in an uproar because of it today."
No wonder there were so many people around Aranseol.
They all wanted to hear that story and had gathered around her.
"So I came to talk with the other heroes too. Everyone's still a bit hesitant since it's their first time meeting you."
She laughed softly, covering her mouth.
Anyone could see they weren't coming because they didn't welcome transmigrators, yet she phrased it as them being hesitant.
Her head must be full of flowers.
"Ah, your name is—"
"I'm Harua."
"So you're Harua. My name is Babiyen Asteria."
She had a family name.
A noble.
"I heard you became Lady Lapiel's new disciple this time. You've accomplished something truly remarkable."
"It wasn't a big deal."
"No, the rumors even say the cause of the airship crash was a Great Sinner!"
So the story had spread that far.
Rumors really were powerful.
"You're truly amazing. I heard Lady Lapiel's previous disciple had many shortcomings. Lady Lapiel must feel relieved now!"
Babiyen smiled radiantly.
What the hell did this bitch just say?