Black Iron Magician

「How is it?」

「It reminds me of our adventurer days. But it’s even better than that time.」

「Deris, you’ve gotten better with your words. Well, I don’t mind it.」

After eating all the meat on the plate, I take a cup of gobu tea to help with the digestion. Being healthy is my current obsession.

「By the way, what did Haru and the others do after that?」

「They took a bath, ate a lot, and collapsed on the bed together. I guess they reached their limits even though they were taking turns. Chinatsu, who would normally be heading off to work for the knight order, collapsed without even having time to think about it.」

「You’ve been making them do that for the past few days? What kind of hell is that…?」

「We are going to send them to hell, right? Then, isn’t it better to let them experience hell in advance?」

What a muscle-brain theory. However, it’s a little frustrating that she’s not wrong. Also, it seems that they have grown rapidly during this short period of time.

「So, how did it go over there?」

「Oh, about Vakala’s trial?」

「No, about the Eldesomething Empire.」

「It’s Elderado Great Empire.」

「The name of the country is not important. Deris, different from the matter of the trial, you had bad feelings about that country, right? I’m just wondering if you were okay going to that country.」

「Well, it was more like a stress reliever for me to be able to harass―― wait, hmm? Did I ever talk about Elderado to you?」

「You didn’t, but as your wife, I somehow understand. Did you notice how your eyebrows go up for a moment every time Elderado is mentioned?」

「…… Seriously?」

「Well, it’s hard to notice if you don’t look at Deris’s face all the time. Let’s see, it’s probably before you meet me… maybe around the time you met Alezel? Isn’t it fine to tell me about it now?」

「Seriously….」

I’m sure it’s mostly intuition, but she’s getting the right answer. This is why women’s intuition is scary. Especially, Nell’s intuition is esper-like.

「Well, it’s not something interesting, so I haven’t told you about――」

「――Deris, it’s a story about you, so it’s not useless even if it’s not interesting. At least for me.」

「…… Okay, I lost. This is the story of when I just transferred to this world.」

It was less than 20 years ago, but I was a teenager, so it was more than ten years ago. I, who probably used to live in Japan, stood in the middle of the wilderness of the Dai continent. I had no memory and only had my clothes on, and I was just standing there without understanding the situation.

「Was it some kind of summoning? Like the one used by Joseph to summon Chinatsu and the others?」

「No, it was a little different. In their case, the summoning was done by a summoner, even though it’s a taboo. In my case, it seems that I was spirited away. Maybe I should say, I accidentally fell into a hole that miraculously opened up? Well, in short, I came to this world by the whim of the world, not by the intention of an evil demon king, a god protecting the world, or anyone else. In addition, perhaps due to such an unorthodox method, I had lost all memory of myself. In a sense, this Deris name is a fake name. I don’t even know my real name.」

「How should I put it, that was unfortunate….」

「Actually, that’s where the real misfortune began.」

I was only a young man who had lost his memory, and I was stunned by a scene I had never seen or heard of. I knew nothing about this world, and I was thrown there without warning. When that happens to a human being, there is only one thing to do. Ask someone for help. At that time, I spotted a group of carriages in the wilderness. I rushed at them at full speed and shouted for help while waving my hands.

「But the guys in the carriages were slave hunters from Elderado, and I was captured easily. They must have found my otherworldly clothes and other small belongings unusual, so they stripped me of all my possessions. I wonder where my clothes and belongings from that time are now….」

「Is that true? Looking at Deris now, I can’t believe it at all.」

「Even I had times when I was inexperienced. I was adapted to this world to some extent when I met Nell. Well, I guess you could say that I am the person I am today because of that bitter experience.」

「Hmm, I see. It’s getting interesting. So, what happened next?」

「Eh, is it interesting? Really…?」

I was caught by the slave hunters and was taken to somewhere with a cloth bag covered head. I was naked, it was really cold, and all I could hear through the cloth was the sound of someone sobbing and the wheels of the wagon running on the ground.

After that, I was allowed to drink only lukewarm water, and we continued to travel by carriage for several days. After moving from place to place, we finally ended up in the imperial capital of Elderado. Moreover, it was the imperial castle. However, it was not above ground, but an underground prison. Even though I was released from the cloth bag, there was hardly any light, only the light from a crude candle at best. At this point, I was in a pretty lethargic state, but when I saw the place I ended up, I was even more disheartened. I mean, that place was clearly not normal.

「The situation was getting worse and worse, huh? Was it still getting worse?」

「Sadly, it was still getting worse. That was exactly the bottom of my life.」

Around this time, Elderado was collecting slaves using illegal means. Some were kidnapped like me, and others were brought in as criminals. There were many purposes, but none of them were good, such as drug experiments, training partners for modified monsters, and the project to enhance humans. I didn’t know what they were going to do to me at the time, but I knew that once I was let out of prison for those purposes, I would never be allowed to come back. In fact, no one ever came back after being let out of prison.

However, maybe it was a blessing in disguise. I gained power, although imperfectly, after being transferred to this world. To be specific, I was level 3. Also, there were quite a few slaves in prison. They were probably used as disposable experimental materials, but it meant that I had some time before my turn came around.

So, at this time, I made a desperate effort to live, which was so unlike me. I asked my dead-eyed prison roommate about the systems of this world, and I trained my abilities with limited information, environment, and time. When pushed to the limit, people can really show their real strength. Thus, I was able to reach level 4 in a few weeks. I might be slow compared to Haru, but I think I did pretty well in that environment. I had no mentor, the food smelled bad, and there are other problems―― but the turning point came. It was the fateful day when I left the prison, not to be used for their goal, but to escape for my freedom.

That day, when my turn finally came around, I pretended to be weak in prison. I ignored everything even when called, acting as if I couldn’t even get up on my own. The moment two Elderado soldiers unlocked the cell and approached me to carry me out was the moment to fight. I succeeded in killing them quickly and with surprisingly calm composure, even though it was my first battle and I was dealing with humans. I’m glad that they were just ordinary soldiers. By that time, my roommate was gone, and no one would ever find out. Borrowing the equipment of the soldier, I escaped the prison in the darkness. ‘Now, this is where the real thing starts,’ I fired myself up.

『…… Well, uh, I-I’m not someone suspicious. I-I’m telling the truth.』

After I fired myself up, I made a blunder that I encountered someone around a corner. However, the one who said that was the other party.