Chapter 262: News From Afar - Markets and Multiverses (Patreon)

It took us a few hours to decorate our room.

Iselde's had covered her half of the room with natural landscape paintings. Everywhere I looked, I could see lakes, forests, and mountains. I was surprised that a farmer's daughter liked natural landscapes so much, but it created a nice ambience.

As for me, I hadn’t brought any paintings with me. Instead, I had tried something a bit more odd for my decorations. First, I made a quick trip to one of the nearby stores and bought a little aquarium. I didn’t add any fish to it - what I wanted was the water itself. Then, I added a lot of toy boats and fake fish to the water. Finally, I used some wires to make the boats hover in the air, as if they were flying.

It wasn’t perfect, but it still looked a lot like something from the islands. If I squinted, I could pretend that I was still standing on the shore, watching the flying boats go to hunt fish. It made me feel a bit nostalgic for a home I had lost. Still, looking at it made me happy.

“Why did you make the little boats look like they’re flying? Airships don't look like that,” said Iselde, as she studied my aquarium.

I hesitated for a moment. Should I tell Iselde about the Market? I paused… and then shook my head. I didn’t know Iselde as well as I had known Old Mo and Anise. I cared about Iselde and Vance, but I also didn't think it was a good idea to constantly tell people about the Market. I should only tell people I deeply trusted about our true past.

“It’s from a fantasy novel that Anise made me read,” I lied. “I ended up liking it. The story is about a bunch of fishermen who man flying boats and hunt giant fish.”

“Flying boats and giant fish?” Iselde shrugged. “Sounds weird. But I've never been a big fan of fantasy novels either. Anyway, we should go to dinner. The boys should be ready for us by now."

I nodded, and the two of us left for the cafeteria.

We met up with Felix and Vance, before we grabbed our meals and sat down together, just like we had done during prep school.

Iselde and Vance told us about orientation, and I talked about the research team. Felix talked about both of the research teams he had been invited to join. There wasn't any crucial information passed between us - just friends enjoying each other's company.

The next day, we split apart for our classes… and over the course of the next week I started to feel lonely.

I could only see Felix if we met for dinner or when we went to the prosthetics research team. I could only see Iselde when we were in our room together. Vance only appeared in two of my classes, despite us sharing a major. During The rest of my classes, I was surrounded by strangers. I still made some efforts to get to know new people and be social… but it was harder to make new friends than I expected. People in university were busier, and had less time for hanging out. I still found a few people I got along with, but our friendships didn't develop to the level of closeness I was used to. I got a few drinks and played some board game with my classmates, but I wouldn't desperately miss them once I left this world. Due to lack of time and the business of everyone, my friendship with these people was more shallow than my important relationships.

At the very least, the classes themselves were easier. Medical classes focused on the human body and mundane medicines, so I didn’t have to do any alchemy in class. Without my poor talent in binding essence manipulation dragging me down, I had a much easier time.

The days I helped the research team weren't that difficult, either. My job was to heal researchers when they got too enthusiastic and broke something in their body.

That weekend, I left the university dorm room to visit my mother and Anise, and to work at Dr. Trish’s clinic. I also checked in with Dr. Trish's information about my mother. I'd asked her to check in on my mother once a day, to see if she lapsed into a fit or had any other issues. Since I hadn't been able to remove all of the fizz chunks from my mother's brain, I always worried that she would have a stroke or other problems. Luckily, nothing had happened.

The next month at university passed in much the same way. The only notable occurrence was Dr. Trish and Marcus. Three weeks after I entered university, Marcus proposed to Dr. Trish, and she agreed. After that, Dr. Trish started planning her wedding, and had less time to focus on other things. She also asked all of the workers at her clinic if they wanted to come once the wedding began. Since I liked Dr. Trish and Marcus, I was happy to say yes. It would be several more months before the wedding happened, but I was looking forward to it.

A month after I enrolled in the university, I encountered something far more worrying.

“They've left Verne?” I asked, looking at the newspaper Felix had brought me.

“It seems so. The worldstriders are spreading,” said Felix as he frowned with worry. “I was hoping that they would keep beating up Verne.”

“Me too,” I said as I shuddered.

Originally, we had predicted that the worldstriders would rip away a chunk of Verne’s territory, and then settle down for a while. After all, they had just escaped from the pocket dimension. I had hoped they would be weakened, or wouldn't want to expand. And for the past few months, they had seemed pretty content to rampage through Verne and ignore the rest of the world. This had been ideal for us. If the Worldstriders spent a bunch of time rampaging through Verne, they wouldn’t get anywhere near us. They would also give other nations a chance to study their unique biology and invent countermeasures. Then, in a decade, the worldstriders would no longer be a threat. They would either form a small nation or disappear into history textbooks.

Unfortunately, the worldstriders appeared to have realized that time was against them. As a result, they had spread to the east and expanded the war. They had also sent out a few diplomats to other nations, with the explicit goal of pissing everyone off. The worldstrider diplomats had claimed that the mountains of the continent were theirs. Anyone who objected would find themselves at war with the worldstriders.

Almost every country on this continent had at least a few mountain ranges in their territory. Even Enallia, which was mostly a frozen tundra, had a mountain range that encompassed a third of their western border.

“Do you think they’re trying to provoke the rest of the continent?” asked Felix, as we read about the incendiary diplomatic message.

I frowned.

That… made a twisted sort of sense. The worldstriders knew that it was possible to develop countermeasures against them. They had lost the war against the Zelyrians, after all. But after fighting the Vernese, they should also know that they were very hard to hurt right now. What if they wanted to take advantage of this and hamstring anti-worldstrider research? If they crushed all nearby nations, and then assassinated the relevant research personnel... they might be able to stifle any threats to their species in the cradle. It was a very risky way to approach diplomacy, but I could see it working if the stars aligned. If things went really well for the worldstriders, they might even create a new hegemonic empire within a few decades.

When I reached that point in my thoughts, I grew alarmed. I contacted Anise, and then shared my guess with Felix and Anise via friendship bracelet.

<We have to stop that from happening,> Felix said. <It's impossible to know for sure what they're thinking, but it might be possible. Anise, how is your research for anti-worldstrider Zelyrian magic coming along?>

<Poorly,> she said. <I can’t figure out what the Zelyrians used to beat the worldstriders at all. it must exist somewhere in this magic system… but I have no idea what it is.> Anise sounded uncertain of herself.

<Don’t give up. If anyone can find it, it’s you,> I said encouragingly. <I know that you can do it.>

Anise fell silent, until Felix cut back in.

<Well, here’s what I’m thinking. If our nation actually does go to war with the worldstriders, we should find a way to help out. Right now, your extinguish and ability to switch between layers of reality is very useful. Weapons to hurt worldstriders are lacking for most nations, but that won't be true for long. We just need to contain their expansion for a while.> Felix sounded incredibly reluctant. <I'm not enthusiastic about giving up my place in the research teams... but we might need to go hamstring worldstrider expansion.>

<I don't think it's quite that extreme yet,> I said. <Still, the idea of containing the worldstriders makes sense. How about we see what they do next? If the situation keeps escalating, Anise and I can try to find ways to contribute to the battlefield without being noticed. But if the worldstriders slow down, we can just wait for the alchemists of the continent to develop the weapons they need.>

Felix hesitated for a moment. <Are you sure? I could come with you...>

<You should focus on your own keyword abilities, no matter what happens,> said Anise. <I could benefit from this situation, in a twisted way. I need an opportunity to form my keyword abilities. You already have an opportunity right in front of you. Don't throw it away.>

I nodded in agreement.

<All right,> said Felix reluctantly. <We'll wait and see. But if you need my help...>

<We'll keep you in the loop,> I said.

It wasn’t time yet… but if the situation escalated any further, we would be ready.

Author’s Note:

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