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I was forced into Masha’s house under the guise of an invitation. The hand that dragged me to ask what the hell had happened and wanted to listen to me properly was quite brutal.
The first thing that caught my eye as soon as I opened the door was the cute interior decoration adorning the entrance. Dried flowers hung on the far wall, and the wallpaper and furniture were more neat than fancy.
I heard that house prices were expensive in the capital, but it’s quite spacious after all. She must have worked hard and earned quite a lot.
“I’m sorry, isn’t the house a bit dirty?”
“Well…”
Although such a large house was so messy that I couldn’t even step on it, and because of that, I had to stand in front of the house for a while. It’s unavoidable that a busy worker’s house is a mess.
While I waited outside, Masha quickly finished cleaning around the house. Then she yelled at me as she tossed the unorganized fabrics and clothes into the corner.
“Ei! Sit on the couch.”
“Alright, excuse me.”
I was just blankly there for a while, yet before I knew it, the house was quite tidy and we had a space to walk around. As I sat down on the sofa, Masha quickly served me a drink and sat across from me.
The warm yellow tea smelled sweet. As I looked at the flower-patterned teacup and moistened my neck with the tea, Masha, who had straightened her posture and sat down, opened her mouth.
“So. Continue what you were talking about.”
“How far have I been talking?”
I think I was talking gibberish because I wasn’t in a good mood. As I muttered that, I put the teacup down on the table.
When the warmth from the teacup disappeared, I belatedly realized that my hands were cold. I pretended to be carefree, but I guess I was nervous without realizing it.
Otherwise, it could’ve been because I was so surprised by the fact that it had been 10 years since it happened.
“From the day you first moved to this dimension as a dimension shifter, to the fact that you don’t die.”
“Ah, yeah.”
It was more strange than I thought to hear something that had been a secret for so long from someone else’s mouth. Although now wasn’t the time to talk about the details of my feelings.
Still, when there’s a situation where I have no choice but to speak, the story seems to come out easily. I told Masha everything I could.
That I neither grow old nor die, how long I have lived, how I died, and how long it takes to come back to life depending on where and how I die. I brought out everything I’ve been through and will experience in the future.
When I finally told her that it was the first time it took 10 years for me to come back to life, Masha’s reaction after hearing my story was this.
“I can’t believe it.”
“Yeah, I understand.”
“But I have no choice but to believe it. Or because there are so many things that can’t be explained… Somehow you sometimes talk like an old woman.”
“Did you understand because of that?”
“You will be like, if you live a long time every day, if you live a long time.”
Did I? Looking back, I think I did.
I’ll have to change my way of talking. As I sipped tea for a while, Masha sighed as she rested her chin on her hand.
“No wonder your lover was going crazy.”
Wait, wait. I almost dropped the teacup in surprise.
Right before the tea poured out, I set the cup upright and opened my mouth, unable to hide my urgency.
“You heard the news about Dante?”
“Of course. What a celebrity he is. It’s been a bit quiet lately, but in the past, it often appeared in newspapers. The crazy Master of the Magic Tower! They say so.”
Hmm?
“Are we talking about the same person now?”
“Yes, your handsome sweetheart. The crazy Master of the Magic Tower who has been crazy for 10 years now.”
“I think the former is correct, but I don’t know what the latter one is saying. I guess my ears are wrong. Crazy what?”
“Master of the Magic… Wait, do you perhaps not know that?”
That shocked expression is the one I want to make right now. However, my facial muscles are so indifferent that I don’t often get to make dramatic expressions like that.
I asked quietly, pretending to be calm.
“Dante is what?”
“The Master of the Magic Tower.”
“Oh…”
There was nothing I could do but exclaim. I don’t know exactly about the position of the Master of the Magic Tower, but it sounded unusual.
I think I heard the same thing the other day when I heard the gossip that the Magic Tower is the place where people with magical talents go to challenge their limits.
Did he not hide the fact that he was a genius because he became the owner of such a place…
At this point, a gossip about the Master of the Magic Tower I heard once came to mind. The cold-blooded, ignorant genius, who is rumored to make his subordinates suffer because he doesn’t work, is Dante?
My husband’s job that I didn’t know aboutㅡI don’t know if I can call it a jobㅡis really, really new for me. It’s so new that I want to touch my forehead. My husband is the Master of the Magic Tower.
However, before I could express my surprise, I had to correct Masha.
“He is my husband, not my lover.”
“Huh?”
“We got married.”
“What?!”
Masha jumped up and asked back. I seemed to have said that I got married in the last letter I wrote, yet since there was such an uproar in the village, of course the letter couldn’t be delivered properly.
I sipped tea again, avoiding her gaze.
***
And the next day.
Warm sunlight was coming in through the window. A nice 3 o’clock in the afternoon to lean on a comfortable sofa with a properly cooled tea in front of you.
In this golden hour, I was receiving a gaze from Masha as if she was seeing all the strangest things.
Yesterday evening passed and this afternoon did too, yet even as time passed, Masha’s interrogation remained the same. Rather than she didn’t understand what I was saying, she seemed to not want to understand.
“But you said he’s your husband, not your lover?”
“That’s right.”
“Then you’re married, right?”
“Yep.”
“But don’t you know your husband’s job?”
I rolled my eyes.
“It’s surely possible that I don’t know.”
“You didn’t even ask what kind of work your husband does? No, just what the hell you… No, forget it. The nagging is enough here.”
I’ve been nagged for 3 hours, and now I’m finally getting a voice saying, “Let’s stop here.”
“I had said that it’s because I could’ve known even without asking him, right. He draws a magic circle on the wall, uses magic all the time to create something, and all the books he sees have strange characters, so I roughly thought he was a magician. But, um, I didn’t know he was the Master of the Magic Tower.”
“It’s surprising if it’s to the extent of saying that you guys are really in a married relationship. The grass in my front yard and the next door Amy’s frog might know each other better than you couple.”
“It’s a bit strange as I’m actually talking about it.”
Masha gave me a look of confusion. It’s the 10th expression she has made since she started talking to me.
“Alright, then… Finally, let me ask you just one last question. Your husband, that crazy Master of the Magic Tower, does he know that you don’t die? What I mean is that even if you die, you’ll revive.”
At those words, I sighed.
“He goes crazy because he doesn’t know, you know.”
Don’t make that face again. I’m going crazy too.
***
D7.
The sky was blue enough to make one’s eyes hurt, and the weather seemed as if the whole world sang of peace and happiness.
It was a day that should only be filled with bright and lively laughter, yet even on such a day, there were places where warmth couldn’t reach.
It was an infinitely dark and gloomy place, as if all the darkness that had escaped the light existed there. A space so cold that even the sunlight that occasionally came in through the window disappeared.
A man stood there, stepping on a puddle of blood.
In the broken and collapsed space, the only place that remained intact was the ground he was standing on. The walls were heavily dug, the pillars stood precariously as if they were about to collapse, and the traces of conflict were everywhere.
The lighting, which had been boasting of its majesty with splendid branches until just now, swayed dangerously from side to side, then eventually lost its shape and completely collapsed. The magic stones that formed the lighting made a loud noise as they hit the ground.
Broken pieces soon rolled across the ground, dirtying the area, yet the man didn’t care. Rather, he stepped over the wreckage with an expressionless face and even took a few more steps.
Blood smeared on the ground with every step he took. A river of blood flowed inside the ruins, and soon reached the people inside.
At first glance, there were countless human figures there. However, no one spoke until the blood flowed and soaked them.
No, it would be more appropriate to say that they couldn’t open their mouths. They were all on the verge of dying.
It was the end of those who rushed into the person who has surpassed human limits, trusting only one side.
The only living man in the room walked up to the window and stood there, trampling on the disastrous scenery.
The blood-soaked hood cast a shadow over his face. Every time the hood swayed in the wind, only the purple eyes that sank into the darkness briefly revealed that shapely light.
Looking outside, which seemed to be a completely different world, he slowly opened his mouth.
“Ei.”
He lowered his head, avoiding the sunlight, as if he was suppressing his emotions. All he spat was a short name, yet it contained uncontrollable tremors and deep sadness.
After a long silence, the voice resounded hollowly again.
“I miss you.”
…However, as it has been for a long time, no answer came.