Chapter 6
Chapter 6
Kakayan jolted at the sudden white light, leaping to her feet, violet eyes blinking wildly.
"Holy light—powerful holy magic!"
"To illuminate the entire room in one sweep—such abundant mana."
Staggering. Kakayan wondered if Hero Jiang Li had deliberately gone easy on her during their last lesson. Mana at this level—even a simple fireball—would be dangerously lethal.
...
Jiang Li was silent for a moment. "That's electricity, not mana. The light comes from the ceiling lamp, not my magic."
Kakayan blinked in disbelief, then looked up. An enormous light source was embedded in the ceiling. She had seen glowing objects before but never one this large, and never flush with a ceiling. her mana sense had detected nothing.
staring until her eyes ached, she saw the glow remain unchanged. "How long can this thing shine?"
Kakayan's delicate face darkened in thought. "As long as it isn't turned off," Jiang Li said calmly.
Humans have advanced magic to this degree?
The Witch was stunned. Jiang Li called it a "lamp", meaning it was sustained by electrical magic. Electrical magic was among the most complex. compared to basic fire or water elements, the element of lightning was difficult to synthesize and dangerous to wield. lightning belonged to the sky, fleeting, impossible to capture or store. to learn electrical magic, one had to commune with thunder.
"Humans have reached the sky itself!" she shouted, disbelief flooding her violet eyes. From curiosity to shock to incomprehension, Kakayan's emotions spilled across her face. had she slept too long in the castle? a thousand years?
human knights rode iron steeds. tasted incredible food. even the domain of gods lay within reach. and they used chopsticks! changes beyond her comprehension turned her world upside down.
"Kakayan."
still overwhelmed, Kakayan heard Jiang Li call her name. turned to see him staring at her, expression grave as if hiding something.
"What?" Kakaking furrowed her brow. Hero Jiang Li was looking directly into her eyes. the lamp's white light on his face made his expression even more solemn. the unusual behavior made Kakaking nervous, her mana shrunk like a hawk with wings clipped and feathers plucked. no escape. no resistance. instinctively she hugged her shoulders. Jiang Li... craving her body?
after eating, his true nature revealed?
seeing Kakaking's dazed expression, Jiang Li was torn. how to tell her this place was Earth, not her world? she might never return.
"Kakaking, this... might be hard to accept..."
"Stop right there!" Kakaking raised her hand, retreating.... human marriage rituals involved getting to know each other, exchanging gifts, confirming feelings before embracing. Jiang Li couldn't just feed and then—!
besides, she wasn't full yet. a single instant noodles and that thing called hamburger, and he thought he could conquer her. at least several more meals. and that hamburger thing—she had paid for herself. ruby! valuable ruby!
"This is Earth." Jiang Li said each word deliberately. "You... might not be able to return."
Kakaking's eyelashes trembled. "What do you mean?"
only a buzzing in her head. rain outside the window, wind carrying thousands of leaves scratching the air. disturbing. under the lamp's white glow, sudden dizziness surged. everything today had been strange. she had sensed something bad coming, but hearing Jiang Li confirmed it. hard to accept.
"Why can't I return?"
"Because this is another world, Earth. only humans, no mana, only technology."
"Far from the continent of Aze?" Kakaking blinked, clinging to a thread of hope.
"Not far, another world entirely."
"..." Kakaking sat back in the chair. the air quiet, awkward. Jiang Li could feel Kakaking's complex emotions after the truth. perhaps she had sensed it long ago but ignored it.
rain outside, from drizzle to storm. in the dark night thunder roared, lightning revealing threads of silver descending the sky. Kakaking slightly bent, looking into the wind and rain, knowing nothing about this place. if Jiang Li was right, everything made sense. she had arrived in a new world. no kin, no magic. even the sky's color felt strange. two centuries of knowledge, vanished like bubbles.
... suddenly, an overwhelming suffocating feeling surged, Kakaking buried her head in deep breath. looking at her thin back, Jiang Li stepped forward reaching to pat her head—only to have the hand slapped away crisply.
"You looking down on me?"
Kakaking's eyes flashed. at this moment, her words sharp and decisive. the lamp's light on her face expressionless, cold clear without a trace of emotion.
"..." Jiang Li laughed at himself. after all, a witch centuries old. he had thought she would become gloomy, but he had overestimated. Kakaking was far more mature than he had imagined.
"I want food."
?
"I want food."
Kakayan repeated the words like a parrot.
"...Huh?"
Jiang Li blinked, then spread his hands. "That's it. We just polished off the last two cups of instant noodles."
"Really? How depressing."
At the news of an empty pantry, Kakayan pushed away from the table and padded over to the plush sofa. She kicked off her flip-flops, hopped onto the cushions, and curled into a ball, hiding her face behind her knees.
She knew nothing about Earth. The spells that had once sustained her were useless here; the ambient mana was pitifully thin.
She couldn't bear to think that she might never return to the castle where she used to sleep in. Everything had to be rebuilt from scratch.
Watching Kakayan slump in defeat, Jiang Li felt a pang of regret for telling her the truth so bluntly.
Still, the sooner she realized this was a brand-new world, the better. Here, nothing worked the way it did on the continent of Aze. Human society had its own rules, and if Kakayan wanted to survive, she would have to study—and follow—them.
Thinking it through, Jiang Li could see why she had clung to him so stubbornly. He was the only person she knew.
He remembered his own arrival in the other world: no familiar faces anywhere. That taste of loneliness still stung.
Now that Kakayan had crossed over to Earth in reverse, Jiang Li couldn't help empathizing.
A soft pity stirred in him.
Witch Miss might have done terrible things, but those crimes—and the magic that enabled them—had been left behind on the continent of Aze. Perhaps on Earth she could be a law-abiding citizen.
A good woman.
A good fool.
Fine.
Jiang Li was nothing if not decisive. Once he set his mind on something, he never wavered.
"Ahem."
He walked to the sofa, tapped his chin, cleared his throat theatrically, and spoke.
"The noodles are gone, but Earth has tons of food—every kind a hundred times better than what we just ate. If you want it, money buys it."
"Really?" Kakayan lifted her head, eyes narrowing. "What else is good?"
"Fried chicken, barbecue, cola, fries, hotpot, Haidilao..."
The list grew longer; Kakayan's eyes grew wider.
Jiang Li counted on his fingers, feeling oddly like a stand-up comic reeling off dishes.
When he finished, he glanced at his sole audience member.
Tears were running down Kakayan's face—from the corners of her mouth.
Seriously...
What kind of CPU drools at a grocery list?
He had even brought tissues—only to discover they were needed for saliva, not tears.
"When do we eat?"
Kakayan straightened. Her amethyst pupils still shimmered.
Jiang Li stepped in front of her and extended his hand.
"First we earn money. Once we have money, we feast."
The moment the words left his lips, Kakayan seized his hand. The simplest handshake in history sealed their bargain.
"Deal. We make money, then we buy everything delicious!"