“What...the hell?” Having discovered the state of the modern world, I couldn’t hide my surprise.
It was now the morning after I’d pulled an all-nighter, and the rays from the sun of the new world I was in greeted me. Overall, there were two big changes that the world had gone through. First, there was the fact that the world had undergone a technological revolution. No complaints there.
The culture of this world was booming thanks to advancements in the manufacturing of magic stones. The mana within them could be converted to a number of different kinds of energy, depending on the way that they were used. A great example would be the so-called “Light Bulb” that Lilith had explained to me yesterday.
Extracting the energy from magecraft stones had led to all sorts of industrial innovations, which resulted in incredible improvements to the quality of life of the general populace. Honestly, though, if you asked me, it wasn’t necessary to try and automate every last bit of magecraft. In fact, it made me laugh. This was a perfect segue into the second big change, and also the thing that surprised me most.
“I can’t believe it... How is the level of modern mages so low?”
The book of spells I was reading was a great example. The sentences within were unnecessarily long, colorful, and bordered on rambling. Even worse, the spells depicted in its pages were things that any child would’ve known back in my day.
Sadly, this was still one of the better books. There were books that boldly presented incorrect magecraft compositions while completely butchering their introduction and explanations. Hey, Mr. Author, did you actually test out any of these compositions? It’d take me forever to go over everything that they’d gotten wrong.
There were so many aspects missing that if anyone followed these instructions, there was a hundred percent chance that the result would literally explode in their face. As an expert in the field, I could guarantee that.
I jumped out of my chair to stretch before moving to the door. It might be good to air out the room a little... Oh? To my surprise, there was some bread left outside on a plate, with a note resting on top.
Dear Master Abel,
I have prepared your breakfast and lunch. I will return in the evening after I finish work for the day. Please use the house as you wish.
Sincerely, Lilith
She’d most likely left this note so as to avoid interrupting me while I was focused on reading. How considerate. Work, huh? Now that I thought about it, Lilith had to have been making a living one way or another all this time. I was a little curious about what kind of job she could do in this village full of humans.
“Damn... I’m starting to feel sleepy.”
I’d been yawning nonstop since a little while ago. Pulling an all-nighter probably wasn’t easy for a body as young as this. I ultimately decided to find a good stopping place in the book I was reading and sleep for a bit. I took the bread that Lilith had so kindly prepared for me and began chomping down on it while reading.
Not too long after, I heard the door open. Hm? Apparently someone had entered, and judging from their presence and air around them, it obviously wasn’t Lilith. Whoever they were, they seemed to be filled with energy. They were so loud that I could hear them approaching the library all the way until they loudly pounded on the door.
“Pardon!” A kid with dirty blond hair who looked to be around the same age as me barged into the library. Aren’t you supposed to wait for a response before letting yourself in? “Oho! So you’re Lilith’s little brother?”
Uh, no, I’m not. Apparently, this kid was an acquaintance of Lilith’s. From what I could tell, he was a normal human, but his appearance made it obvious he wasn’t a commoner. His hair was neatly combed and he was wearing flashy clothes. He had a red jacket with a pattern on it that bordered on annoying. Underneath that was a shirt with flowers embroidered on the collar.
The dots connected. He had to be a little rich boy—a noble. If I had to guess, he was probably from the family who lived in the huge house next door. Good grief. What was this kid even doing here?