Even now, it was the same. What was so hard about being the one to contact them first...?

KNOCK KNOCK.

At that sound, the door opened and someone stepped inside. It was Jainer.

“Is this a good time?”

“Why? Did something happen?”

“I heard the market finally opened again, so I was thinking we could go out together.”

“The market?”

“We didn’t really get to look around during the festival last time.”

“...Whose fault was that again?”

“So I thought I’d at least take you to a good restaurant. What do you think?”

After a brief moment of consideration, Camilla nodded.

If she just stayed here like this, she felt like she’d keep fixating on the communication orb. It seemed better to go out and at least look around the streets like she hadn’t been able to last time.

“Okay.”

Camilla stood up right away.

*****

“You know the items from the first order already came in, right?”

“Yeah.” 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

She’d heard it directly from Duke Kais Escra. The items had arrived far faster than expected. He seemed quite satisfied with the quick turnaround.

He said he’d get help from the other two ducal houses.

When she’d said the situation on this end was urgent, the Duke of Sorpel had said he’d try to move up the delivery date as much as possible, and that he’d get help from the other two ducal houses as well.

Sure enough, once they were out at the market, there were countless people buying and selling new goods. Everything from thin fabrics to seasonal accessories.

“If we just confirm the third order form, you’ll really go back?”

“I have to.”

“Hm.”

Jainer made a strange expression.

“Why?”

“Because I think I’ll miss you.”

“Who? You?”

“My first little sister is leaving. Shouldn’t I be disappointed?”

What, like the regret of losing a toy? That level of disappointment?

Camilla already knew well how he viewed people, so she let out a dry laugh.

TAP.

“Careful.”

Someone rushing past collided with Camilla. As she staggered, Jainer quickly wrapped an arm around her shoulders to steady her.

“Ah! I’m sorry!”

A man with a pale face bowed his head hurriedly toward Camilla.

“It’s okay.”

“I’m really sorry!”

As if something urgent had happened, the man spat out another apology and hurried away.

“A knight?”

It had only been a light bump, but the force had been strong enough to make her stumble.

“......?”

Camilla was about to move again, then looked at Jainer with a puzzled gaze. He was still staring at the man’s back as it grew more distant.

“Why? Do you know him?”

“...A friend.”

“A friend? Then why didn’t you say anything?”

That man didn’t look like he recognized Jainer, either. He’d seemed frantic—had he not seen his face properly?

“A friend from my first life.”

“Ah....”

Only then did Camilla understand what this was.

“You must’ve been really close.”

With that personality of his, he could’ve just ignored it and walked past. But the way he stared after him with that lingering look—

“We were close. Close enough to trust each other with our backs on the battlefield.”

“Then why....”

No matter that it was a past life—if they’d been that close, why were they nothing now? Normally you’d look for someone like that.

“It’s meaningless.”

The smile at the corner of Jainer’s mouth deepened.

“Even if you get close, once they die, that’s the end.”

“.......”

“Up through my second life, I was very close with that guy. But by the third, it felt empty.”

Mayann!

Who? You know me?

.......

“If they die, I’m the only one who has to remember again. It’s pointless.”

Watching him smile so easily, Camilla couldn’t bring herself to smile back.

She felt like she finally understood, at least a little, why he treated people like toys, like objects.

Because every relationship, every time, became meaningless—

“You must’ve been lonely.”

“...What?”

“I mean you must’ve felt empty.”

Camilla let out a short sigh. Why were there so many people in this world who looked like her, in all the wrong ways?

She, too, when she lived as Sia Lee, never let relationships run deep. She knew too well that once things got deep, the other person would be the first to raise a wall.

So she created distance first, but...

Sometimes that drives you insane with loneliness.

The feeling that you’re cut off from the world, alone. It wasn’t exactly pleasant.

“Let’s go over there.”

But she couldn’t even take a few steps before she had to stop. She couldn’t sense her companion’s presence following her.

When she turned around, Jainer was looking at her with a slightly blank stare.

“What are you doing? Aren’t you coming?”

Only then did he relax the stiffness in his expression and form a faint smile.

“...I want to interfere, too.”

“With what?”

“The order form.”

“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

She frowned at the abruptness, but he only smiled mildly. And just like that, the two of them wandered the market again.

“Huh?”

Not long after, something made Camilla stop.

“Why? Did you find something you like?”

“The smell....”

“The smell?”

At the familiar scent drifting in from somewhere, Camilla swallowed without thinking.

A scent she hadn’t smelled even once since coming to this world.

At Jainer’s question, Camilla stared fixedly at the shop the scent was coming from. It was a small store selling little knickknacks.

Before she realized it, she had stepped inside.

“Welcome.”

An older woman who looked like the owner greeted her warmly.

“Ma’am, do you sell coffee here, by any chance?”

“Coffee?”

What had drawn Camilla in was that distinct aroma—nutty and fragrant—unique to coffee beans.

“This smell.”

“Oh, you mean those black beans?”

When Camilla followed where the owner pointed, she saw a black liquid giving off steam.

It’s coffee!

The color was incredibly dark, but it was unmistakably coffee. She’d been heartsick over and over because she’d been told coffee didn’t exist here.

This unexpected encounter was enough to move her.

“I’m not selling that air freshener, though....”

“Air freshener?”

“Yes. ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ I like it, so sometimes I burn it like that for the scent.”

“You don’t drink it?”

“Drink it? That?”

The owner shook her head hard.

“That stuff is unbelievably bitter. Smelling good doesn’t mean it tastes good. You absolutely must not drink it.”

“Ah....”

Sure enough, it didn’t look like it had been brewed to drink. Ground beans were sitting in hot water with no filter at all.

Just like she said, it looked like she’d poured water purely to enjoy the scent.

“Those beans... I mean, those beans—could I get some too?”

At Camilla’s question, the owner burst into laughter. Jainer, standing behind her, also let out a small snort of amusement.

“Miss, you’re not from Gracia, are you.”

“How did you know?”

“Because you don’t know black beans.”

Camilla tilted her head, and Jainer explained.

“In Gracia, it’s a very common fruit. People don’t eat it, but the wood is hard and doesn’t rot easily, so it’s used a lot as furniture material.”

“Furniture?”

Wasn’t that...? Coffee shouldn’t grow well in a winter this cold. But the scent was absolutely coffee.

“Then they just throw the fruit away?”

“They do.”

“Sometimes there are people like me who roast it and use it as an air freshener.”

As the two of them spoke, Camilla’s lips slowly curled upward.

“Then if I wanted to ‘buy’ that, I could just take it for free, right?”

“Buy it? What would you even do with that?”

What would I do? Drink it, obviously!

Once you develop a taste for that bitter water, you can’t escape.

Laila, I’m bringing you a new menu item!

A whole list of things she needed to do unfurled in her head. She’d need to make a grinder, and a roasting machine too, wouldn’t she?

FWOOOOSH!

And then it happened. Light suddenly spilled out around Camilla, and someone revealed himself.

Unlike Camilla, who flinched, Jainer didn’t react much, as if he already knew who the owner of that light was.

“Miss Camilla!”

It was Count Alton.

“Duke Kais Escra is looking for you!”

At his uncharacteristically urgent look, Camilla’s face tightened slightly as she realized something must have happened.

*****

“Wow....”

“You felt it too, right?”

“The Mana is just...!”

The people who had entered a space so vast they couldn’t see the end of it let out constant exclamations.

Feeling the clean Mana surging into their bodies, none of them could easily close their gaping mouths.

“This is Guardian’s Tower.”

Standing quietly at the very front of those who were staring around in a daze, Ravi spoke.

“Long ago, it was made by the archmage Amiald.”

When new recruits entered the Magic Tower, the first thing done was to bring them here—to Guardian’s Tower.

This time, the one chosen as their escort was Ravi.

It was a duty shoved onto him semi-forcibly by his master, Kador, the deputy head of the Magic Tower, but Ravi followed the order without complaint.

He’d accepted the meaning behind it: stop rotting in a corner and wallowing.

“The mechanism still hasn’t been uncovered, but the Mana spread throughout this place is dense, and cleaner than anywhere else. It’s an enormous help to a mage’s training.”

That was why many people affiliated with the Magic Tower came here periodically to train.

“This place, called the origin of Mana, is only accessible to those affiliated with the Magic Tower.”

At Ravi’s words, pride swelled across the new recruits’ faces. Only now did it truly hit them that they belonged to the Magic Tower, and they felt newly proud of it.

“Teacher!”

A girl who looked about ten shot her hand into the air.

“Call me Senior.”

She was the youngest among the new recruits who had entered the Magic Tower this time, but her talent was the best.

Her natural Mana capacity was enormous, and she was sharp as well.

“Can I start training here today, right away?”

“No. For a while, new recruits have to follow the schedule they’re given.”

“Tch.”

The girl stuck out her lower lip, utterly unconcerned with everyone else watching her.

“Senior, then can I at least go over there?”

But as if nothing had happened, she beamed brightly and made another request.

For a moment, Ravi felt something strange, then answered with a short permission.

“Fine.”

“Yay!”

The girl immediately ran off.

She really resembles someone.

The way her expression changed first, foxlike, the moment she wanted something—she looked exactly like that one.

If Camilla got younger, wouldn’t she look just like that?

Back then, she could barely even speak properly.

Now he couldn’t picture any trace of what she’d been like as a child.

“Senior Ravi! What’s over there?”

“That’s a private training room—”

KWA-RAAANG!

In the middle of walking and answering, an explosion sounded from somewhere.

BANG! KWA-RAAANG!

“Kyaaaah!”

“Aaagh! Wh-what is that?!”

The explosions didn’t stop.

RATTLE RATTLE!

“......!”

“Kyaaaah!”

Then the ceiling collapsed.