Chapter 123

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Where am I? And who am I?

‘System, System, come in. Over.’

Are you broken or something…? Where the hell did you drop me, you little—!

‘An update? That’s a thing?’

I glared at the still-unresponsive system and let out a long sigh.

This is bad. If I don’t get back right away, Lycian’s going to worry….

No—he might not stop at worrying.

He might lose his mind trying to find me.

And if he goes on a rampage…!

I’m screwed. This is seriously bad.

‘Wait—can I still use telepathy with Ninabel from here?’

I called for the spirit in my mind over and over, but no answer came.

Maybe the distance was too great. Or maybe it was something else.

As I bit down on my lip in rising anxiety, something I’d completely forgotten flashed through my mind.

‘Before I fell into the past, the two of them were with me in the subspace workshop!’

So then…?

I hurriedly opened the secret door and stepped into the subspace.

I checked the workshop. Searched the farm from end to end. But neither Lycian nor Ninabel was anywhere to be found.

‘I thought so…. When I opened the subspace in the past, they weren’t there either.’

The moment I fell into the past, they must have been forced out of the subspace.

‘Then they’re probably in the Imperial Palace right now.’

Isn’t there any way to contact them?

When I stepped back out of the subspace, the system displayed a completion message.

‘T-Teleport?!’

Don’t tell me… I can move to any location in the world just by selecting it…?

Holy shit.

That’s insanely overpowered!

‘But 100,000 Reputation…?’

…Wait, how much Reputation do I even have right now…?

…Not even close!

“Waaah.”

I plopped down in the middle of the field and fake-cried.

Maybe if I did this, the system would throw me a bone….

“…!”

This bastard—only useless when I actually need help…!

‘I hate you!’

Whether I resented it or not, the system simply said its piece.

Oh, I see. So once I find those mines, I get to keep them all?

Is this the Muriel Becomes a Land Tycoon Project now?

‘I don’t need land! Just tell me where the hell I am!’

At once, an enormous map unfolded in midair.

‘Wh-why is it so huge?’

It was nothing less than a full world map—vast lands and seas laid out in their entirety.

First, my location… the Altera continent.

‘Thank goodness. At least I didn’t get dropped onto some other continent….’

I let out a breath of relief and examined the map more carefully.

To the north of Altera, beyond the snow-capped mountains, lay the ‘Land of Eternal Frost,’ locked in winter year-round.

‘And to the south….’

The Philome Empire, part of the Sehera continent.

Between them was a large island—Cornello, the neutral nation.

The country currently governed by my older sister Deborah’s adoptive mother.

‘And the other continents….’

Far across the eastern sea from Altera lay another distant land—

Aran. The nations of Aran and Altera rarely interacted.

Though Aran seemed to trade occasionally with the countries of Sehera.

There was one more continent visible on the map, but no matter how many times I tapped it, it only displayed [Unknown].

‘Uncharted territory?’

They say somewhere in the world there’s land where no humans live—only monsters swarming thick as flies… maybe that was it.

‘Anyway, where exactly am I right now?’

I zoomed in slowly around the mint-colored dot.

Place names written in the common tongue began to appear one by one.

‘Roblet Kingdom… Vintzheim?’

This is Vintzheim?

You’ve got to be kidding me. Why?

‘System, have you lost your mind? Why would you drop me here of all places?!’

At my furious protest, the system displayed a sweating emoticon and hurriedly offered an excuse.

‘Awakening?’

What is that ominous word supposed to mean…?

What is Raul awakening into? Does that trash-tier regretful male lead even have that kind of potential?

‘Was there anything like this in the original story?’

I racked my brain, but… nothing came to mind.

It bothered me, but I decided to follow the system’s advice for now.

‘Somewhere I can get help….’

Still zoomed in, I carefully examined the area around the mint dot.

And then I spotted it—

‘There!’

The Second Magic Tower!

Magic Towers were usually built in regions with strong currents of mana, and Vintzheim was one of them.

Rumor had it the Master of the Second Magic Tower was a reclusive loner… but since he was acquainted with Dante, surely he’d help me.

…Probably.

‘L-Let’s just go! Move!’

The Second Magic Tower wasn’t far from here. On foot, maybe fifteen minutes.

I marked it with a red dot. A thin red line immediately appeared in my field of vision.

Like Ariadne’s thread, it showed me the way.

‘Whoa. This feature’s insane.’

As I admired it, the system practically preened. Show-off.

Anyway, having suddenly become a lost child, I followed the red thread for quite a while.

About ten minutes passed….

‘That must be it!’

A tall gray tower, rising high into the sky, came into view in the distance.

‘Just a little farther…!’

I was exhausted and starving, but I kept walking without rest.

And finally—

“I made it~!”

Like a mountaineer who’d reached the summit, I threw both arms into the air and shouted.

As I basked in my triumph, I felt a stare fixed on me.

The moment I turned my head, my eyes locked with a white owl perched on a stand.

“…….”

“…….”

Wh-what? It’s not like a person caught me, but this is so embarrassing…!

Why does it feel like the owl is judging me?

‘Must be my imagination….’

I awkwardly lowered my arms and straightened my clothes when a clear, ringing voice came from the owl’s direction.

“Welcome to the Second Magic Tower! Please present your invitation!”

“Y-You can talk?!”

“Is this your first time seeing a talking owl?”

Not my first time… I’d seen one before. Dante’s crow, Nigel.

‘There’s another bird besides Nigel that can speak human language?!’

“This owl is a mage’s familiar! Conversing in human language is trivial!”

“I-I see…!”

I wasn’t entirely sure what that meant, but it definitely seemed to be an owl imbued with mana.

“Do you have an invitation?”

The white owl asked again. Blinking rapidly, I shook my head.

“No invitation? Then identification?”

“Identification….”

The ID Muriel once carried had been confiscated by the Winterberg family when she was exiled to the contaminated zone.

But at the Grastea Empire’s Imperial Palace, Lycian had made me a new one.

So officially, my nationality was now the Grastea Empire.

“Here….”

I pulled the ID from my inventory and held it out. The owl’s bright yellow eyes widened into perfect circles.

“Did you use a transfer spell?”

“N-No. It’s my innate ability.”

“Innate ability?!”

Flapping its wings in astonishment, the owl inspected the ID I’d handed over.

After examining it quite thoroughly, it spoke.

“Lady Muriel, there’s no surname listed. Is that intentional? Or an error?”

“Ah—I forgot to add it!”

The ID had been made before I received my name from Ortemius. I hurried to explain.

“My surname is ‘Charites.’ Muriel Charites.”

“Charites…? …Wait, then could you possibly be…?”

The owl looked me up and down. Its eyes grew even wider.

“Good heavens! Are you the famed Purifier? Now that I look, you do have emerald hair! And green irises! Your features match perfectly! Come to think of it, I’ve heard the name ‘Muriel’ before!”

The owl fluttered its wings in a flustered commotion.

I was used to this kind of reaction whenever someone realized I was a Purifier, so I simply smiled and nodded.

“That’s right. I’m that Purifier….”

“My apologies! A Purifier is, of course, most welcome! The Master of the Second Magic Tower will surely receive you warmly! …However!”

However?

The owl hesitated, glancing at me awkwardly.

“At present, there is… a guest whom the Purifier may not be particularly pleased to see….”

“…Who?”

A bad feeling crept up my spine.

Don’t tell me—

“His Grace, Duke Raul Winterberg.”