According to one theory, the world is an infinite existence.  It isn’t infinite in terms of size, but quantity.  Those worlds are better known as parallel worlds and are adjacent existences to each other.  Regardless of the world used as a reference, all the others will resemble it.

Earth, for example, is populated with people.  A coinciding Earth, on the other hand, is free of humans.  In another example, a police officer on Earth is living an uplifting life.  On another Earth, said police officer is a hardened criminal lurking in the shadows.  In an extreme example, the only difference between two Earths is the roll of a die. 

Events— in other words, “who someone is,” and “what happened,” are the outcomes of various “if’s.”  Everyone who stops to reflect and go, “what if I that happened instead?” has their prayer granted in another world.

Discussions about other worlds require a different method of thinking.  Although, that too can be considered a faulty mindset to adopt.

A flutter of azure sparks bursts into existence on the lawn of a certain manor’s garden.  The true form of the florescent glow floating up into the air is the shine of magical power, magical light.  A line of magical light then slinks across the ground.  It draws a circle filled with countless geometrical patterns. 

The light acts like a stray electrical current, breaking through all obstructions.  Its shine soon glows so strong, day and night can no longer be distinguished.  That illumination weakens over time and then fades to reveal five figures in its place, a sole man and four girls.

The world crossing ritual connects the other world and the Yakagi household’s front yard without any problems and the metastasis magic circle initiates without trouble.  Suimei, Felmenia, Lefille, Liliana, and Hatsumi safely arrive to Suimei’s original world.

Suimei begins across the familiar garden.  It openly conflicts with Japanese architecture.  Instead of being laid out in the back, it’s placed at the front of the house.  In fact, the entirety of the garden was built in a Western style.  A brick path cuts across it.  It’s uneven.  Some are too high while others sink too low.  A garden table and chairs rest on the lawn.  Deep wooden grains are running across them from constant exposure to the sun and rain.  Finally, deeper within along the well-trimmed hedges is a small gazebo.  The ivy coiling around it is corroding the frost grey color into green.

Small plaster dolls along the edge of the garden add life to it.  They appear ready to spring to their feet once night falls.  That said, all of them are capable of moving about regardless of whether night has fallen or not thanks to a built-in mechanism.

Further off to the side is a trap for trespassers.  Even his house has had to deal with a couple incidents. 

Suimei glances back at the majestic Yakagi household.  Through the style of Queen Ann, it carries the fragrance of the Taishou era from the Meiji era.   Medallions warding against evil spirits are decorated everywhere, even reaching up the tower on the roof.

His gaze gets losts on the veranda.  Behind the frosted glass is the vague silhouette of a rocking chair. 

—I’m home.

A relief born from nostalgia spreads across Suimei’s chest.  A clear image of his father, Kazamitsu, sitting in that chair rises to the front of his mind. 

The time is wrong…

When they made the transition from the other world, the sun had still been out.  In his world, in Japan, night has already fallen. 

Anxiety hits Suimei.  While this wasn’t a development he anticipated,

—There’s nothing I can do about it.

He’ll be grateful if the discrepancy arises from nothing more than a time zone difference.  A large time gap would be problematic.  If the other world’s passage of time isn’t synchronized with Earth’s passage of time, then he’ll end up left behind by his own world. 

The consequences from such a problem will be massive.

While Suimei prays deep in his heart that he hasn’t become a real life Urashima Tarou,[1] excited voices perk up behind him.

Liliana, staring at the city from the garden, is the first to burst forward.  Her usual, sleepy, half closed eyes are wide open as she says, “It’s, bright.”

The other two, Felmenia and Lefille, are in agreement.

Night in the other world is almost pitch dark.  What alleviates that darkness is light from the moon and stars along with manmade fire.   In large cities, magical light is utilized, but only in aristocratic districts so that public order can be maintained.  Its use is not widespread.

Suimei’s world is different.  In Japan, light is all over.  It leaks from the homes of people as they live their daily lives, accumulates, and accentuates the city’s figure against the darkness of night.

The Yakagi household is particularly highlighted due to being on a noticeably more elevated location.  As such, the city is easier to take in from there. 

Lefille notices something in the sky and glances upward.  “Suimei-kun, that light is moving…  Is it a star?”

“Hm?  No, that’s an airplane.  It’s a vehicle for transporting people.”

“A vehicle!?  That!?”

Felmenia says, “Su- Suimei-dono?  Is not its elevation quite a distance above us…?”   

“Well, yeah.  The departure and landing zones are far apart, so it travels at about ten thousand meters.”

“Te- ten thousand…”

The three from the other world have no trouble grasping the distance.  Suimei already taught them his units of measurement.

Lefille turns to Hatsumi.  “That too… is a machine?  Something made from what is called precise measurements?”

Hatsumi gives a firm nod.  “Yeah, things made like that are all over this world.”

Soon, those from the other world move on from the light of the city and the airplane to look behind themselves.  Felmenia says, “…Then, this here is Suimei-dono’s residency?”

At Suimei’s nod, the three seeing the house of Suimei’s parents for the first time are left in a daze. 

Felmenia says, “…This house is quite big.”

Lefille says, “It’s big.”

Liliana says, “It’s, very, big.”

Hatsumi’s tone is also laced with a bit of amazement as she says, “It really is.”

Suimei, having lived there since birth, has trouble following their lines of thought.  The territory is plentiful compared to other single houses and the structure itself is for sure wonderful, but it pales in comparison to houses overseas.  In America, even ordinary people are able to live in something as ridiculous as a deca house.  He says, “You think so?”

That Suimei thinks like that is because his work in mystery has him flying to every corner of the world.  The three aren’t wrong to feel shocked. 

Hatsumi releases an exasperated sigh upon seeing Suimei is still the same as ever.  She says, “Doesn’t the average house rarely have a third floor?”

“Oh, yeah.”

Felmenia says, “Excuse me, Suimei-dono?  Per chance, is this house not larger than the one of Duke Hadrias?”

“It would be bigger if you include the garden, but the floor space—”

Lefille’s frowns as Suimei rambles on.  She says, “Suimei-kun, is your household an affluent one?”

Suimei shrugs as he says “Well, the social status of my family is all right.”

Hatsumi pushes him to the side.  “Don’t listen to this liar, Lefille-san.  Pretty much all the land around here is part of Suimei’s house.”

“All the surround land?”

“Yep, my house wouldn’t have been able to be next door if it wasn’t.”

Everyone turns to the neighboring house at Hatsumi’s words.  There they find the house of her parents, the Kuchiba household.  Unlike Suimei’s house, it’s a perfect Japanese styled house.  It even has a dojo as a bonus.  Both the territory and house are large.

Felmenia, Lefille, and Liliana all go wide eyed.  Felmenia says, “So in truth, you are quite wealthy.”

“Mo- money and land are essential for magicians.”

The importance of money and land are utmost for magicians.  For one, economic strength is indispensable for acquiring goods that will be utilized as mediums.  Furthermore, since rituals are majorly affected by topography and feng shui, securing a plot of land is of maximum priority.  To acquire said land, money is necessary.  If samurai can be said to pretend to be full even without eating, then calling this the antithesis wouldn’t be wrong.

Out of nowhere echoes the revving of an engine.  Liliana’s shoulders jump at the sudden roar and she turns towards where it came from.  “What was, that sound?  It appears, to have, gone far away.”

“Yeah, it was probably a bousouzoku,[2] some motorcycle fan.  You can hear that sound pretty often here.  So, it isn’t really something you need to worry that much about?”

Having returned home makes Suimei reflect, the other world was very quiet.  Loud sounds like that barely happened there.  Earth, however, is harassed with noise pollution.  Having gone for so long without hearing such noise, it feels even louder.

As he has such thoughts, Hatsumi releases a deep sigh.

Is she relieved?

Her expression is at ease.  All her tension has been released. 

She say, “…I’ve returned home.”

“Yeah, that really makes it feel like we’re back.  Honestly speaking, I still wasn’t sure to believe any of this.”

Hatsumi puffs out her cheeks and then sighs out all her inexpressible irritation.  “Seriously, nothing like an exploding muffler to really hammer it in.”

She then leans against Suimei’s chest

Suimei says, “Huh…what’s wrong?”

“…I’m so glad.  Returning home, I always, never thought I’d come back.  Thinking I’d never see mother again.  Therefore…”  Hatsumi’s cluttered and incomprehensible words cut off as she’s overcome by emotion.

Suimei gently stroke her head as he says, “You’re right.”  Her golden hair quivers from the happiness and relief of having returned home.

They are not given the opportunity to let that moment sink in.  From within the house comes a sharp presence of magical power. 

Felmenia says, “— —This!”

Liliana says, “— —!”

They both take prompt action and exuberate magical power from all over their selves.  At the same time, their stares are drawn like strings towards where the other magical power originated from.  At no point, however, do they neglect maintaining awareness of their surroundings.

Both consider the possibility that the origin of that magical power is a decoy.  Such is to be expected of spell casters who’ve faced numerous battles.  No, they’re magicians now.

Suimei, on the other hand, as the landlord, scratches his head and sighs.

….Well, I more or less expected this to happen.

That’s when the gentle fragrance of rosewood drifts across the garden.  The act proves that the owner of the unknown magical power is not an enemy.

The magical power weighs down against them and places an oppressive atmosphere over the area.  It’s so powerful, that a deep violet shade can even been seen weaving across the darkness of the sky.

A silhouette emerges against the darkness of the night from the backdoor of Suimei’s house.

Suimei places his hands upon the shoulders of Felmenia and Liliana.  Through it he tells them there is no need for concern.  The silhouette’s outline sharpens as they calm down.  Footsteps can be heard as it comes closer.

The figure soon becomes clear underneath the moonlight.  Appearing before them is a magician[3].  On her head is a crimson ribbon coiled around a silk hat, she holds a stick with an orb attached to its tip, and wears a crisply ironed, tailored, tailcoat.  She is a magician.  Through her clothing, she presents the image of a magician.

Underneath that attire is a young woman who still retains her innocence.  She is around the same height as Felmenia; has long black hair; and beautiful skin that is as firm, smooth, and lustrous as white porcelain.  Her thin eyebrows and nose are accompanied by a pair of gem like eyes which reflect a contrasting radiance of light and dark.

She is expressionless, but her tone seethes with a hidden fury.  “Su~i~me~i~ku~n?”

“Yo, long time no see.”

The young woman with the appearance of a magician before them is, Hydemary Alzbine, Yakagi Suimei’s disciple, assistant, and familiar.

---

T/N: I don’t know about all of you, but when I read that passage at the front of the chapter, my first though was, then, in a parallel world, Suimei messed up the transportation ceremony and everyone died a horrible and painful death.

I am very annoyed that this chapter ended here.  I wanted to see more interaction with Hydemary.  I believe back in the side story when she was first introduced Primo predicted that Suimei would be greeted with a kick to the face by a stuffed toy after returning home.  Actually, I wonder, how many of you are still with me??  This is the third year since I started posting translations.  Not only have we moved sites, but I’m also really slow and sporadic with my posts.  Isekai Mahou has even gone through issues of getting picked up by others while I was working on it.  After all of this, is anyone still here from when I first started??

Now, for those of you wondering, I will to be clear, I want to translate chapter 33 before continuing any further on this volume.  Afterwards, I will be alternating between here and the earlier chapters.  Those translations will fit between all my other translations.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urashima_Tar%C5%8D
[2] Bōsōzoku is a Japanese youth subculture associated with customized motorcycles and motorcycle clubs.
[3] This is written in Kanji

<153. Far, Far Away
155. The Magician, Hydemary Alzbine>