Sponsored by: Melody H.A / Adil Z
Vol.2 Intermission - A Love Researcher
Inside a certain room at the magician guild, a young woman was sitting in a chair while reading a book in a solemn atmosphere.
Having finished reading it, the young woman then closed the book very carefully. After that, she placed the book on the desk, closed her eyes, and took a long and deep breath.
"I’m crying...."
Her voice was not that of sadness, but of joy. The young woman sniffled a little, wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, and stared at the book in front of her with a deep emotion.
The title of the book said "Love Magic War Chronicle". It was a very old novel that had been reprinted numerous times and was said to be the most read romance novel of all time.
The young woman had read this novel countless time, to the point she had almost memorized every single word inside it. This time, however, things were a little different since it was the first edition of the book.
The young woman received this book from someone who could be called her teacher after she begged for it. Although it was a first edition, the content itself was no different from the books that had been reprinted so far.
However, for her, reading the first edition of this book with feelings close to faith, had made her emotion running high. The excitement she felt when she read this book for the first time came back to her even more stronger than it did back then. This was the state she was currently in.
The young woman had read a quite number of romance novels. From bestsellers, minor ones, old ones, new ones, and even ones restricted to certain age groups --- she had read almost all of them. Not only did she love to read, but also because she had spent most of her life alone, and had no hobbies other than reading books.
When she was still a kid, she was unable to control her enormous magic power quite well, which resulting a high concentration of magic power leaked out from her body continuously.
Being exposed to magic power much higher that one possessed would cause magic intoxication. Unless you are close to her in the terms of magic power, just by approaching her would make one had a severe dizziness and nausea.
The only people who could get close to the young woman were her family members. Watching her pitiful daughter, the young woman’s mother gave her a copy of "Love Magic War Chronicle" as a present for her fifth birthday.
She fell in love at first sight with the novel. She fell in love with the story of a heroine who overcame hardships to grab her love and dreams.
【Witch】--- the title given to the woman with the most magic power in the human world. The heroine in the story was the Witch. Thus she also wanted to become one like her.
Still in a state of excitement after having just finished reading the novel, she rushed out of her room and declared that she wanted to become the Witch in from of her family members. Everyone was delighted, but her mother's delight was extraordinary as she immediately hugged her tight after hearing the declaration.
Her mother reaction at that time was clearly strange, but she paid it no mind. Later, when she was ten, she found out that her mother was the current Witch and everything finally clicked together.
The one she yearned for was the heroine in the story and not her mother. She was afraid it would hurt her mother, but in the end, she confessed everything to her mother honestly.
Hearing that, her mother only chuckled a little and said that she didn't care. Even if the object of her admiration was not her, she was still happy since her daughter would be following after her steps. Her mother also told her a certain secret afterwards. The heroine in that story was actually modeled after their ancestor.
In order to become the Witch, she began to train her magic power in earnest. Unfortunately, even in the present day, there was no established method to increase one's magic power. However, it was said that your magic power would increase a little after you depleted it.
No effort was spared to chase after her dream. She even continued to use magic during her sleep. Once her magic power had been depleted, she would usually take a break while reading romance novels until it recovered, and started over again. Her magic power was slowly but steadily increasing as she repeated this routine for years.
However, even at the age of fifteen, she was still unable to control her magic power properly. Combined with her increased magic power, it had become impossible for anyone other than her family members to live near her.
That was when her mother introduced a certain person. To her surprise, there was someone other than her mother who could stand normally in front of her without being intoxicated by her magic power at all.
"I will teach you how to control your magica power."
That person said in a very self-important manner to her during that first meeting. Even so, it was not all talk because in less than two months, she was able to control her magic power perfectly. Since then, she started to call that person Master.
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On a certain day, when she was reading Love Magic War Chronicle while waiting for her magic power to recover, her master said;
"Oh, I have the first edition of that book."
Hearing her master words, she immediately sprang up from her seat. She was not a collector. The monetary value of such a rare book didn't even interest her. Her body simply reacted after hearing the first edition of her favorite novel was nearby.
"M-Master, please lend me the book!"
Without any sense of shame, she immediately got down on her knees and begged her master. The master could only sigh exasperatedly.
"I got it, I got it. I will give it to you as a present when you become the Witch."
Her spirit was burning. She was so close in surpassing the current Witch's --- her mother's, in terms of magic power, after all.
In addition to doing her work for the magician guild, she also used magic until her magic power depleted every day. Then, three days ago, she finally surpassed her mother and succeeded the title.
The youngest Witch in history. The Witch who possessed the highest magic power ever. The Witch who preferred romance novels to spell books. And the name of this Witch was Luze.
The first thing Luze did after becoming the Witch was contacting his master to collect the promise.
"Handle it with care."
"Of course! You don't need to tell me." (Luze)
Luze started reading the book after casting multiple state preservation magic on it. Slowly, as if she was chewing one letter at a time, it took her three days to finish it.
Her impression was the best. There was no difference in contents from the previous reprint. However, her believe that the first edition would have somehow brought her closer to the Witch she longed to be, gave her a sense of satisfaction that she had never felt before.
Luze took another deep breath, carefully picked up the book, and when she was about to read the book again from the beginning, a telepathic communication reached her head.
[Come to my office.]
Luze put the book back into her subspace reluctantly, got up from her chair, and stood in front of a life-sized mirror to check her appearance.
Short-cut black hair and brown skin. She was dressed in a black leather jacket, shorts, and a pair of knee-length boots. Except a white shirt was partly visible only through the open chest of the jacket, her outfit was black overall.
These were Luze's favorite clothes, made from the skin of a rare monster called Black Wyvern, which was the first monster she had hunted herself.
After making sure her appearance was in order, Luze grabbed a black ten-gallon hat on her desk, and headed for the mother who had summoned her.
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In front of her mother's office, Luze announced her arrival after knocking on the door.
"Member of the magician guild, rank diamond, Luze." (Luze)
"Get in."
The door was a magic tool. You could open and close the door by pouring a small amount of magic power into it.
The door slid open to the left and to the right. Passing through the door, Luze poured her magic power into the door once again to close it.
In front of Luze, a woman with her legs on a large desk and her hands folded behind her head was sitting in a chair, leaning her back against the backrest cozily.
Thinking that this person was her mother, she couldn't help but wish that she would consider her age a little. However, being the predecessor Witch and the grandmaster of magician guild, she respected her unconditionally.
"I've got a nomination job for you."
Having said that, her mother lowered her legs from the table and fixed her sitting posture. Luze pondered her mother's words for a moment. Certainly, she was an active member of the magician guild with the highest rank --- diamond. However, she couldn't control her magic power properly until three years ago, and never appeared in public.
Luze had completed a number of requests for the magician guild up to now. However, most of them were requests with no direct contact with the clients. Her name should have not been known. Luze couldn’t think of anyone who would nominate her for a job except her family members.
"Is it from my brothers?" (Luze)
Luze has four older brothers. Though not on Luze's level, her brothers possessed considerable amount of magic power and high rank in the magician guild. They didn't get intoxicated by her magic power and could interact with her normally. Luze had never felt lonely because her four brothers really doted on her.
"No, the client is the mayor of Labyrinth City, Sutaro."
Labyrinth City was where the biggest dungeon in the human world --- Abyss Dungeon, located. Speaking of the mayor, he was a man of great influence. He was elected three years ago at the age of twenty-five and caused quite a stir.
Luze wondered why did the mayor of Labyrinth City nominated her for a job. He might have his own personal information network. Even so, she accepted all the requests through the magician guild and never got in contact with the clients directly. No matter what kind of information network he possessed, he should not know about her track record.
One possible source was her brothers. However, considering how overprotective her brothers were, it was very unlikely they would spread information about her to other people.
When Luze was lost in thought, she noticed that her mother was staring at her. She felt uncomfortable, as if she was being probed.
"What!? Is there something on my face?" (Luze)
"No, nothing.... More importantly, you will be going out, so fix your language. No man would take you as his bride as this rate."
"I don't want to hear that from you! I'm like this because of mother and brothers. This is not my fault." (Luze)
Due to her inability to control her magic power, Luze couldn't get close the children of her age, as well as adults with low magic power. The only people he could interact with every day were his family.
The problem was her family members, with her mother at the top, were all foul-mouthed. Growing up in such an environment, it was inevitable that their bad habits rubbed on her.
Luze had learned how to speak and to behave like a fine lady from the romance novels she read. However, she felt embarrassed to actually put it into practice and gave up, saying it was not her style.
"I don't get it. Why did he nominate me? He should not know anything about me." (Luze)
Maybe he heard about me from Master? No, that's impossible. Master is not that kind of person.
Luze was confident that her master would not spread information about her carelessly. After all, for some reason, her master was also kind of dote on her. Despite everything her master said, her master always listened to Luze's requests in the end.
“Beats me. Oh, this job is nominated to the Witch to be precise”
In that case, it's possible to nominate me even if he doesn't know anything about me. The price would be exorbitant, though. The problem is I succeeded the title just three days ago. The magician guild hadn't even made an official announcement yet. Then the answer is simple.
“Hey, are you sure he nominated this job to me, not you, Mother?” (Luze)
"I thought so too, but as if he just remembered it, he also said to send his best regards to my daughter who had become the new Witch a few days ago."
Luze felt a chill ran down her back. Putting aside the information about her becoming the Witch, it was really weird that he even known the time it happened.
"Did you tell anyone outside our family about this?"
“Other than Master, I haven't told anyone else. (Luze)
"That person? Then the information won't leak out from there"
For some reason, Luze was happy that her mother believed in her master without questions.
"I believe in Master, but what makes you think so?" (Luze)
"That person has no interest in such worldly affairs. To that person, whether you are the Witch or not, doesn't worth a thing. That's why I'm sure that person will never tell it to anyone."
Luze felt complicated inside. Her heart tightened as she wondered if she was worthless to his master. Looking at Luze's reaction, her mother got flustered.
"M-My bad, I explained it poorly. What I'm trying to say is whether you are the Witch or not, your value won't change to that person. Of course, that goes for me to. You will always be my precious daughter no matter what."
It's embarrassing to hear such words from mother directly. Come to think of it, when I told Master using telepathy about me becoming the Witch, the reply was only: "You did? Well, do your best."
I paid it no mind because my mind was on the book at that time. However, now I wish Master would have been more pleased. I guess what Mother said was right. Master would never brag about me becoming the Witch to anyone. That still makes me feel somewhat lonely.
"Does someone called Sera ring any bells?"
Suddenly asked by her mother's, Luze thought it was her first time hearing that name. To begin with, she has only a handful of acquaintance.
Three years ago, when she finally was able to control her magic power, Luze started taking on job requests for the magician guild. However, she had never met the clients directly, and mostly handled the requests solo.
Maybe one of my former clients? In any case, I don't know this person.
"Never heard it. Who's that?" (Luze)
"From what Sutaro told me, this woman called Sera asked for you even though she didn’t know your name."
"Who the hell is she? Even if she was one of my former clients, she should not know me." (Luze)
"Hmm, it seems I have to explain it from the beginning. First of all, this time job is to verify the contents of a certain book found in the dungeon."
You couldn’t freely buy or sell anything found in the dungeon. Luze had previously learned this information from an adventurer who was one of the few acquaintances she had.
"This book is said to have been found at the deepest floor of Abyss."
"Abyss!? Do you mean that Abyss Dungeon?" (Luze)
"Yup, that Abyss Dungeon."
Those who lived in the human world, even children, knew about it. Boasting the biggest size in the human world, it was a dungeon where many treasure had been excavated. The adventurers with dreams of becoming rich and famous instantly all gathered there. Luze was not an adventurer, but even she also wanted to visit that place at least once.
However, in its thousands years of history, there was no record of someone having cleared the Abyss Dungeon, to the point "Abyss Conquest" was treated as a synonym for lies.
My acquaintance is also an adventurer with adamantite rank, so there might be a connection there. It’s just I haven't told him about me becoming the Witch. He's an acquaintance that is not close enough to be called a friend, after all.
"It's possible that she had heard about me from somewhere, but that still doesn't explain how did she know about me becoming the Witch." (Luze)
"That's what I thought, too. I asked Sutaro for explanation, but he was only told that it was related to the book and the person herself said she has never met you and didn't even know your name."
"I don't understand it more and more. She has never met me, and even though she didn't even know my name, she said that I related to the book?" (Luze)
Simply put, it’s creepy. I'm interested in the book, but it seems wiser not to receive such a suspicious request.
"I’ve got a bad feeling about this. Can I turn it down?" (Luze)
"Well, I guess it can't be helped. I don't know where this information leaked from, but this might a trap of some kind. It's possible that Sutaro, Sera, and the other verifiers are working together behind the scene to set something up during the verification process."
"There are other people?" (Luze)
"Yeah, Sutaro nominated more than one person for this job. If I remember it correctly, they are Hero, Demon King, Holy Maiden, Professor, and Adventure King."
"Wh-What did you say?" (Luze)
The mother in front of her said something that Luze couldn't ignore.
"I said Sutaro nominated more than one person for this job."
"No, not that. Who are the other people he nominated?" (Luze)
"Oh, they are Hero, Demon King, Holy Maiden, Professor, and Adventure King."
"He will be there...." (Luze)
The Adventure King --- one of Luze's few acquaintances, someone she had worked with only once, and her first crush.
".... accept." (Luze)
"Huh?"
"I said I will accept the request!" (Luze)
Originally, Luze was not the type of girl who could approach her crush actively. At best, she only read about him from the information of high-ranked adventurers delivered from the adventurer guild.
However, this time, whether the timing wad good or bad, Luze who had just spent three days reading her favorite romance novel, felt like going on offensive for once.
"Sure, I don't mind, but what's with the sudden change of mind?"
Luze, who was still going through puberty, could not possibly tell his mother about her love story. If her mother were to find out her reason of participating, she would not only be embarrassed, but she might also have a heart attack.
"I'm just curious about something." (Luze)
It's not a lie. I can't give her the details, but it's absolutely not a lie.
..... got it. I will tell him your intention to participate. Here are the details of the request. Get ready to go to the Labyrinth City."
Luze nodded and left the office, restraining her desire to skip.
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Upon returning to her room, Luze immediately dove into her bed. She nuzzled her face into the pillow and flapped her legs.
It's been a while since I've seen him. That makes me happy more than anything. When we worked together a year ago, I wasn't confident enough in my magic control, so I couldn't even make a modest approach.
However, it's different now. My magic control is perfect, and I'm the Witch. In addition, I have read more than five hundred romance novels since then. I can say with confidence that I've studied enough to turn him around.
I’ve also consulted with Master about how to make a man fall in love with me. Master who has a friend who’s a love expert, told me about their secret method. The method was so outrageous that I felt like fire had erupted from my face at that time.
I still think the same even today, but I guess that method is real because I have read similar things in some novels. I couldn't do the exact same thing, but I could manage it with a little rearranging, perhaps.
Luze had not realized it at that time. That most of the romance novels she read were just work of fiction. That her master was also ignorant of love. That her master's friend was only a self-proclaimed love expert.
Had Luze known one of those facts, she would have thought that method was strange. Had Luze known two of those facts, she would have thought that method was insane. Had Luze realized everything, she would have thought that her master was only joking. However, because Luze didn't know any of them, she believed her master's words without doubts.
"Master, how can I get the attention of a man I like?" (Luze)
"Try nude apron."