Another World Reincarnation Chronicle

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The night streets of Trevel were as bright as day. Illuminated by Mana Stone streetlights placed all around, the area was aglow, with decorated billboards emitting light as if declaring their presence.

I never expected to see such modern streets in this world, so I strolled slowly through the bizarre scenery created by neon signs.

Unlike the outskirts of Trevel, the inner areas were bustling with more wizards. It was easy to differentiate between wizards and commoners. Even though they all dressed similarly, the total amount of mana contained within them varied greatly.

As I watched the many wizards passing by, I frowned. There were plenty of wizards, but they all seemed like empty shells. Even if I managed to get a Mana Stone ring from them, it was clear that the same situation would repeat itself as before.

Just then, I spotted a wizard that caught my attention. The mana within him and the aura of the Mana Stone ring he carried seemed particularly potent compared to other wizards.

I approached the wizard, who wore a tired expression while smoking, standing silently in front of a large sign. He blinked as he glanced at me.

“Excuse me.”

“Me…?”

“Yes.”

“What do you need?”

“You’re a wizard, right?”

“Uh…”

The man’s eyes widened in surprise at my question while he looked around. He then stroked his neck and nodded.

“How did you know?”

“You just look like a wizard.”

In fact, wizards in the Lower Realm didn’t differ much from commoners. They didn’t wear robes like those in the Celestial Realm. The man who responded to me also squinted as if he understood that fact.

“What’s that…?”

His reaction caught me off guard. My appearance was usually enough to attract the favor of others, regardless of gender. It was common for people to nod along even to absurd stories. However, this man was different.

It felt like the white, swirling smoke from the cigarette created a barrier between us. At that moment, the man turned away as if signaling that no further conversation was needed.

I hurriedly followed him, saying, “Hey! Wait! I have something to ask…!”

“Don’t bother me. If you have questions, go find the wizards on duty over there.”

“Ah, no…!”

How could this be? Was he blind and couldn’t see? No, that didn’t make sense—he was walking just fine.

I quickly took a few gold coins out of my pocket. As the golden light reflected off the neon signs, the man’s steps halted.

“First time seeing gold coins, huh?”

“Ah, these are…”

“Who gave them to you?”

“They’re mine…”

“Hmm…”

The male wizard stroked his chin at my answer. Suddenly, his expression turned sour as he reached out his hand toward mine. Startled by his sudden approach, I took a step back, and his hand brushed against nothing but air.

“You, that ring…”

“Ah.”

It suddenly occurred to me that I was wearing a broken Mana Stone ring, one that shattered under my mana’s strain.

“Oh, I see now… Is there really an idiot who hasn’t thought about the ring’s maximum output recently?”

The man began to show a reaction I hadn’t expected. He nodded as if he understood everything and then extended his hand toward me.

“How much gold did you get?”

“Why does that matter…?”

“You need to fix the ring, right? The costs aren’t cheap, so if you’re short, you’ll have to go back and get more.”

Could I actually fix this ring?

What a nice misunderstanding that could be. If there were a place that could repair this ring, maybe they had even better rings available.

Nodding at the words of the male wizard, who was starting to get into speculation, I pulled out some gold coins and handed them to him. Glancing carefully, it seemed I was short on gold. I retrieved another handful of coins and placed them in his hand.

The man’s small hands looked like they struggled to hold all the gold at once. Finally nodding, he gestured for me to follow him.

“Come with me. And tell the kids not to send you next time.”

“Ah, okay.”

He turned his body and began to walk into an alleyway. I followed closely behind. He walked without hesitation, almost as if there were some hidden destination.

I wondered how long it took to reach our destination. After walking through a web of tangled alleys, we arrived in front of a rather filthy building. The sign was coated in a layer of dust, and the shop window was shattered.

I pondered whether they could truly fix a ring here when the man descended a staircase leading down.

Thud—thud—

The slow, fading footsteps disappeared into the blackness.

“Aren’t you coming in?”

“Ah, I’m coming.”

At the bottom of the dark stairs, I encountered a thick iron door inscribed with a blue magic circle. The male wizard sighed as if he was accustomed to this, then knocked on the door.

Bang—bang—

“Oi, old man.”

How many seconds passed after the man called out? The peephole on the thick iron door blinked a few times before the door swung open.

Creeeak—!

The figure that appeared was an old wizard. I couldn’t help but be surprised by his attire. He wore the robes typical of wizards from the Mage Tower in the Celestial Realm.

“You don’t hold anything back from your master, do you…?”

“What master? Can you fix this ring?”

“Fix a ring…?”

The old wizard frowned at the man’s question before moving his gaze to me.

“Is this your child?”

“Do I look like I could have a kid like that? Stop with the nonsense and just take the job.”

“Your way of speaking…”

The old wizard clicked his tongue at the man’s words, shaking his head. He gestured to me, then turned and disappeared inside.

I stepped through the thick iron door alongside the man whose name I didn’t know.

What lay beyond the door was surprisingly clean, unlike my expectations of a dim, dirty place. The lighting was bright, too.

The old wizard sat at a neatly arranged workstation. The table was cluttered with quills, powdered Mana Stones, tweezers, and various tools, with numerous rings emanating strange mana spread across it.

“Got any money?”

In response to the old wizard’s question, the man pulled some gold coins from his pocket and handed them over. The old wizard nodded before extending his hand to me.

“Let me see it.”

I nodded and handed the ring to the old wizard. After receiving the ring, he put on some glasses from his robe and began examining it closely.

“It broke because it couldn’t withstand the output. The magic circle engraved inside remains intact, so it can be fixed quickly…”

The old wizard mumbled to himself and began his work. He secured the ring I handed over to the workstation, sprinkled powdered Mana Stones over it, and began drawing a magic circle on a piece of paper.

“Close the cracks… lock it in place…”

The moment the quill stopped in the old wizard’s hand, the magic circle was complete. Immediately afterward, the old wizard slipped a ring from the clutter around him onto his finger and swept his hand across the ring secured on the table.

“Shubet—Al Haiden.”

Fwoosh—!

At the moment an incomprehensible spell poured from the old wizard’s mouth, bright light poured forth onto the ring secured to the workstation.

“Looks clean…”

As the light faded, the ring reclaimed its original shape. The appearance that had shattered under my mana was nowhere to be found.

The entire repair took just about five minutes. I blinked as I asked the old wizard, “Is it all done?”

“You can recognize it, huh?”

The old wizard replied with a light laugh to my question. He slipped the restored ring onto his finger and released blue mana over it.

The mana output is stable. It seemed the repair was perfect.

“Here, take it.”

As I received the ring, the male wizard standing beside me urged me to leave.

“Now go back.”

However, I couldn’t easily rise from my seat. The magic circles and intricate designs covering one side of the workshop piqued my interest. Of course, I also intended to stay a bit longer in hopes of acquiring a ring with an even higher output.

I stood up and spoke to the male wizard. “Ah, sir. Can you pass this ring to its owner?”

“Do I have to…?”

I nodded to his question, pulling out a number of gold coins from my pocket.

“This is a payment for your trouble… and this is the money to give to the ring’s owner.”

“What’s with all that gold…?”

The man stammered, looking shocked at the gold coins I was producing from my pocket. I frowned, feeling the strange prickle I had sensed before—it was bothering me too much to bear.

When I took the Mana Stone ring from Zephyr, I felt no qualms about it at all. I just took it because I wanted it—back then, it felt like a matter of course.

But time had passed, and it felt different now.

How could I steal someone’s belongings and still have no pang of conscience? It must surely be the influence of the Golden Sword I obtained recently.

It was a sword that even controlled the corpse of a dead dragon. I needed to maintain a strong sense of vigilance. I couldn’t let myself be swallowed up by the emotions attached to a mere sword. I took a deep breath and looked up at the man.

“Will you do me a favor?”

“Uh, um…”

The man was weak to money. After a long moment of hesitating, he nodded and replied.

“Who’s the owner of the ring?”

“He went by the name Zephyr. He was a mediocre wizard working alongside another wizard named Fernando.”

“Fine. It’s not a difficult request, so I’ll do it. But aren’t you coming out?”

“No, I have something else to take care of…”

The male wizard nodded and turned his body. I watched as he walked away, lost in thought.

Why had I asked someone else to do such a favor? If I truly felt bad, I could have just gone to find Zephyr and given him the gold myself. I felt a faint unease lingering within me.

Once I confirmed the man had exited the workshop, I frowned and turned away. Regardless, I had resolved the bothersome matter. Now it was time for me to take care of my business.

Clearing my throat slowly, I addressed the old wizard in the language not of the Lower Realm, but of the Celestial Realm.

“You’re a wizard affiliated with the Red Tower, right…?”

The old wizard’s eyes widened, as if surprised by my question. He stammered in response, “C-Celestial…? How…?”

I retrieved the wizard’s robe that I had kept in my bag. At that moment, Nightmare sprang from the bag. It seemed to have been feeling cramped.

The small, puppy-sized Nightmare excitedly dashed around me.