This is a story set in the original world. It's more of an aside or a side story.
It also includes explanations of settings that don't appear in the main story. You don't need to read it if you don't want to.[1]
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The young man works at the castle as a scribe.
His family was of low-ranking nobility, but his father, the head of the family at the time, had unfortunately engaged in corrupt practices, and after a series of events, their house exploded.
This isn't a metaphor. His family's mansion literally exploded with a deafening roar.
It was the work of the current king, said to be the greatest in history, but we'll skip that part.
He was completely uninvolved in the corruption, and in fact, he was the one who reported it, so he escaped harm.
He still thinks fondly of how fortunate he was to have reported it, every time he remembers the collapse of the mansion. And also how fortunate he was to be competent.
Because of his competence, he was taken in by the current prime minister and has been able to continue working at the castle as a scribe.
Under the gentle prime minister, although he was initially subjected to various criticisms from those around him because of his father, he calmly carried out his duties.
Now, he is sprinting through the castle at full speed.
He's not afraid of the accusations hurled at him. He's not afraid of the maids who give him disgusted looks as if he were garbage.
He's not afraid of being reprimanded for not bowing to nobles of much higher rank than himself.
He's practically running a 100-meter dash in under ten seconds. Amazing.
The further he goes, the more knights he pushes aside, and even while being chased, he doesn't slow down, pushing towards his target door.
It doesn't matter that the knights are treating him like a national-level traitor.
"Your Majesty!"
Bang!
He didn't manage to open the door in time and crashed into it face first.
He couldn't go any further, and was about to be apprehended by the knights guarding the door and the knights who had been chasing him.
The knights, unsure how to restrain the young man who was writhing in pain, simply surrounded him and held their weapons at the ready. Footsteps approached from beyond the door, a steady tapping sound.
Hearing a voice from inside telling someone not to open the door, the young man, clutching his throbbing, painful face, sat up.
Just before being restrained, he shouted, his voice echoing as if to reach someone beyond the door:
"Lord Lizel has disappeared!"
BANG!
The door burst open, knocking down two heavily armored knights standing in front of it.
The person who appeared was a young man with a sharp, intelligent face. With his pure silver hair, without a single blemish, he was the true king of this country.
No one would criticize him for being young.
The dignity that emanated from him naturally instilled awe in those around him, a born king who commanded respect and obedience.
"Where is he!"
"In the office—"
Before the young man could finish speaking, his arm was grabbed.
Before he could trace the hand back to the king, the surrounding scenery changed in an instant.
From the king's private chambers to Lizel's office. The young man realized this was teleportation magic in a flash.
It was an experience only the chosen few could have; the magic surrounding him was incredibly powerful. It seemed that the missing Lizel had quite easily requested and used this magic from the king.
However, there was no time to be impressed by his first experience with teleportation magic. The king, striding into the room and heading towards Lizel's desk, shouted in a voice that felt like a blow to the head:
"Liz!"
There was no reply.
The king, who had been silent for a while, trying to sense something, clicked his tongue and looked at the young man.
The young man stood rigidly at attention, awaiting the king's reaction.
"What happened?"
"Nothing happened to me. Lord Lizel, who was sitting there, suddenly disappeared in the middle of our conversation."
"Disappeared?!"
"Yes, disappeared. It felt like he was gone in the blink of an eye."
The king looked at the chair where Lizel had been sitting.
The chair, which looked as if someone had just been sitting in it, showed no signs of having been moved as if someone had stood up.
The young man, immediately after Lizel disappeared, shouted only "Preserve the scene!" and dashed to the king.
He truly lives up to his reputation for competence. This must be his calm side amidst the chaos.
"What about the earrings?"
"Both ears, definitely."
"Then why can't I sense anything?!"
The king irritably ran his hand through his hair, his face showing a hint of anxiety as he gritted his teeth.
The young man had never seen him so upset.
He didn't know about Lizel, but everyone else only knew the king as a free-spirited individual.
In fact, he had even burst into laughter when he blew up the young man's mansion. It was slightly traumatic.
The king angrily yelled "Stay out!" at the guards who arrived a little later, then crossed his arms and plopped down into Lizel's chair.
For a moment, the young man felt a chill, wondering if the king would disappear too, but there was no such sign.
Contrary to the young man's inner relief, the king was in a terrible mood; perhaps he wished he could have disappeared to Lizel's side.
At that moment, there was a knock, and a clear voice, though slightly hoarse with age, was heard.
"Your Majesty, I'm coming in."
"Alright."
Before the young man could open the door, an old man entered the room.
He was one of the king's close advisors. A confidant. Besides him, no one, not even his own father, could treat the king like a child.
Of course, except for Lizel. "They say Prime Minister Lizel has disappeared."
"He apparently vanished suddenly, nowhere to be found."
"Do you have any idea where he might be?"
"The earrings aren't showing any reaction either."
"Is that so?"
He seemed to have regained some composure. The way he pouted his lips was typical of someone his age.
Lizel's earrings were specially made and gifted to him by the King.
One was an earring for storing a magic rifle.
It was a special design that only the greatest transfer magic user in history could create, and of course, Lizel couldn't make something like that himself.
The other earring, imbued with magic, had the King's excessive magical power poured into it to its limit.
The magic, strongly influenced by its owner, has the property of showing a faint reaction when the owner is in danger.
It was intended for Lizel to sense the King's danger, but it can also show a reaction if strongly called upon, which they had tried earlier, but to no avail.
If there's no reaction from the earring, it means he's nowhere in the world.
That's why the King was so anxious.
"Why did Liz have to disappear...?"
"You're using that name again. The Prime Minister would dislike being called that, it sounds like a woman's name."
"That's exactly why I'm calling him that!"
It wasn't for the sake of harassment.
It was because the King was the only one in a position to force something on Lizel that he disliked.
In short, it was childish possessiveness; he wanted to be the only one for Lizel, who had taken care of him since childhood.
"By the way, what was the Prime Minister doing just before?"
"Hmm,"
The young man was indicated with a nod of the chin, and he recalled the conversation that had taken place just before the chaos.
They had been having an incredibly trivial conversation. So trivial that he hesitated to mention it in this situation.
"Speaking of which, there are some tricks to organizing documents, aren't there?"
"The Prime Minister isn't very good at organizing, but do you know any tricks?"
"I'm not good at it, so I'm studying properly. Oh, speaking of organizing, kamaboko—(disappears)"
"What's kamaboko, Prime Minister?" the young man muttered to himself.
"We were talking about tips for organizing documents while tidying up the documents as usual."
"Why does that guy have all that knowledge but can't organize anything?"
For the first time since Lizel's disappearance, a smile appeared on the king's face.
It was a sly smile, but it was definitely a smile, indicating that he hadn't even had the luxury of smiling until now.
In any case, it provided no clues whatsoever.
However, the advisor seemed to remember something, and stroked his magnificent beard, saying, "Hmm."
"Please listen to this as the ramblings of an old man."
"I don't have time to listen to ramblings!"
"Then I won't speak."
"It has something to do with Liz, doesn't it?! Tell me!"
The king, his handsome face contorted in anger, shouted at the advisor, who chuckled.
The young man looked at the advisor with a gaze of respect, impressed by his composure in the face of the king's distress.
He thought the advisor was surprisingly calm considering Lizel's disappearance, but he knew that the advisor didn't dislike Lizel.
As far as the young man knew, the advisor and Lizel were quite close. They probably got along well as fellow intellectuals.
"Are you familiar with the idea that the world has a hidden side?"
"It's not some kind of underworld, is it?"
"That's right. It's the idea that another world exists, a mirror image of this world."
Faced with another far-fetched story, the king frowned deeply.
It was practically a fairy tale. "I've never heard anything like that from Liz."
"I heard it secondhand. The person I heard it from said that their friend's great-great-great-grandfather came from that world. He suddenly crossed the boundary between worlds one day and arrived in this world, which is similar yet completely different..."
"That sounds fishy."
It does sound fishy, but if such a world actually exists, it would explain Lizel's sudden disappearance.
The earring isn't reacting. However, he's certain that Lizel is still alive.
The king gripped the earring in his ear. It was an earring he had forced on Lizel, extracting his magic against his will, pushing him to the brink of collapse, until he was barely conscious and struggling to breathe.
The earring's reaction to a critical situation hasn't changed at all since before he heard about Lizel's disappearance.
"If I pursue that line of inquiry, won't people think I've gone crazy?"
"Oh, well, then you can just forget about it."
"You fool, if there's even the slightest possibility, I'll pursue it."
The king stood up.
If the earring is simply broken and no longer functioning, and he's still in this world, then that's fine.
Lizel will probably come back on his own.
If he's in an allied country, he'll request protection; if he's in an enemy country, he'll make them a vassal state and have them send him back to this country.
The young man could only nod in agreement.
But what if he really is in that other world?
Even then, he won't give up. He can't give up.
For the king, he's the only person he's allowed to stand beside him; for the young man, he's the great benefactor who took him in when he had nowhere else to go; and for the advisor, he's a tea-drinking companion with whom he can exchange knowledge on the same level.
"For now, I'm going to search the entire world thoroughly, so I won't be back for a while."
And for most people, he was the only one who could stop the free-spirited king. While desperately trying to restrain the out-of-control king, many of them were thinking the completely illogical thought, "Oh, if only Lizel were here right now."
[1] Personal Note: while true, these side stories are truly gold and I highly recommend you read them at least once!