21st Century Archmage

“Yaaaawn!”

After casting Warp from the Bajran Imperial City at the break of dawn, Bebeto and I arrived in the yard of some viscount’s castle. Upon my sudden arrival, there was a bout of initial chaos, but everyone made themselves scarce after recognizing Bebeto and I. It might be a countryside viscount household, but there wasn’t a single person who didn’t know what kind of person I was.

Bebeto and I then flew over the Rual Mountains directly to my mansion. The Grade 2 magic crystal was completely drained by the long-distance Warp, so it was faster to fly over the mountains rather than to wait for the mana to recharge.

“Nothing beats being at home.”

After crossing the mountains, we happily flew through the perfectly uneventful skies of Nerman and arrived at my Nerman mansion. As soon as we touched down, I told Derval to not wake me unless something urgent happened and fell into a dead sleep. I wasn’t all that physically tired, but many psychologically shocking things had taken place, so my soul was fatigued. As a result, by the time I woke up after getting my fill of rest, night had already descended in full force outside.

“Nnnnghhhh!”

Stretching widely, I got up from my bed. As expected of a luxury bed made by dwarven hands, sleeping on it made all my fatigue fly away.

Gruuuumble.

“Alright, I hear you. I’ll feed you.”

After getting plenty of rest, I was hungry. I wasn’t treated poorly in the Garvit Duchy or the Bajran Capital, but nothing satisfied me as much as eating rice after taking a warm shower in my home.

“It’s been a while, shall we throw a grilled pork belly party?”

The territory had rolled along well even without me. I suddenly wanted to have a beer with my hard-working knights.

While entertaining various thoughts, I opened the door to my terrace and walked out.

Shalala, shalala.

The refreshing evening breeze came blowing over right on cue. I filled my lungs to the brim with fresh air full of clean natural energy that couldn’t be bought with any amount of money in the 21st century.

“Nice!!!”

What could this be called but the joy of a homeowner? I remembered how my mom and dad jumped for joy after closing on a house. They were so happy purchasing a house that didn’t have a fountain, a pond, or a garden thousands of square meters large, a house inferior to even Bebeto’s hangar. I was pretty curious as to what kind of expression they would make if they knew I lived in a castle.

“My parents are doing well, right…?”

When my thoughts turned to my parents, I automatically looked into the sky. Painted above me in the sky was a splash of galaxies, unobscured by light pollution. The Big Dipper that could be seen from any location in South Korea wasn’t there, but it felt like the solar system might be somewhere beyond those stars.

“I’m sure Master is taking good care of them.”

I did my best to reassure myself that Master wouldn’t ill-treat my parents after dimensionally teleporting me without warning to the Kallian Continent. Though, to be honest, my parents weren’t ones to be shaken one iota even if I disappeared for several years. When I was a kid, a friend of my grandpa read my fortune and physiognomy and said that I would live a long, long life and was country-governing-president material. My parents resolutely believed in those words. They probably didn’t even know that this son of theirs was in such a faraway place. I could guess that my wily master had employed a smokescreen operation, saying something or another about special education.

“I have to get to the 8th Circle to be able to approach magic related to dimensional teleportation… I wonder when I’ll get there.”

With a little exaggeration, the difference between a 7th and 8th Circle mage was like heaven and earth. I heard that back when Master was rampaging on the Kallian Continent, there were quite a few 7th Circle mages around. Despite that, no empire or magic tower was able to defy Master. And now, the task of reaching the 8th Circle was on my shoulders. It felt like the matters of a remote and far land.

“Hm?”

While I was looking at the stars in the distance, I spotted a bird flying over to my castle under the shine of the moon and stars. The wyverns patrolling the skies approached before quickly turning away and returning to their original positions.

“Narmias!”

To my surprise, a harpy, the king eagle exclusive to the elves, was flying to my terrace. She must have found out that I had returned. My brief melancholy disappeared without a trace.

Kioooooo.

I heard the characteristic cry of a harpy as Narmias reached my terrace in no time at all. Then, in response to Narmias suddenly leaping down from 5 meters in the air out of some sense of urgency, I uttered a cry of surprise.