Quilz Castle was peaceful.
Ranista led the Blue Wolf Knights for field training in the desolate land of the Great Gorge, while my vicious second sister left for an invitation from the Pope.
It was an unusually sunny day at Quilz Castle as if the disappearance of two wicked demons had brought an unexpected peace.
Today, I decided to indulge in the luxuries of the aristocratic life to my heart’s content.
One of the advantages of remembering past lives is the ability to wash away resentment.
My youth was a series of struggles due to the gloomy days of surviving the invasion from another realm.
Not being able to enjoy delicious food was one of the things I was not privileged to indulge in.
Having always consumed tasteless military corn porridge, I always wondered how I managed to live that kind of life.
Even though I was born as the son of a Duke and lived a lavish life, I would always recall my past life in Korea.
Quilz territory had abundant resources in cold regions and forests, providing high-quality ingredients.
Especially the abundant seafood sourced from the coastal city of Bemonia, which was remarkable.
I ordered dishes such as oily saury, steamed crabs, lamb stew, and pickled cabbage from the chef.
“If only there was soju.”
I was the only one in the dining room deliberately chosen to dine during the late lunch hours when the nobles were busy with official duties.
Despite my father’s motto of ‘Eating together,’ another motto coexisted: ‘Don’t endure hunger. If you’re hungry, just eat.’
The spacious Rainberg Duchy allowed even a nobleman like me to have a meal whenever I pleased.
The usual Noble family discussed the state of affairs and practiced martial arts while adhering to etiquette, but Rainberg Duchy didn’t require such formality.
I stimulated my appetite with pickled cabbage and indulged in chewy saury sashimi.
While gochujang (Korean sauce) would have been nice, garlic sauce was not bad either.
I am grateful for knowing the pleasures of this dining experience, which my siblings would never understand.
Finally, the highlight arrived – steamed crabs with butter.
I immediately opened the crab shell, poured the innards onto the rice, and mixed it in a 6:4 ratio.
The rich aroma of butter and the sweet fragrance of rice blended to create an exquisite scent of deliciousness.
It was delicious.
My saliva pooled to the point of flowing.
I scooped a generous spoonful, brought it to my mouth, and was about to savor it when someone interrupted his eating.
“What’s this? Is it tasty?”
Someone effortlessly took my spoon. I swallowed my saliva and watched the disappearing spoon dumbfounded.
The person who took it had just devoured my food, exclaimed its deliciousness, and now proceeded to snatch everything on the plate.
Yet, I couldn’t bring myself to get angry.
It was undoubtedly an empty dining room just moments ago.
Suddenly, like a ghost, she appeared – the woman who was disturbing my lunch.
Even after four years, she had changed a lot, but the nine tails were still there.
The fox’s tail is visible only to me.
In her past life, she was a fox spirit, the queen of demons.
Now, she was the second born of the Rainberg Duchy and a highly esteemed magician in the current Magical Tower.
“Melissa.”
My 14-year-old twin sibling looked so different now.
The eldest, Ranista, became a muscular man that could easily overpower adults, and my third sister, who looked like a monster to me, was seen as a beautiful lady.
I heard Melissa took after our father.
However, apart from her brown hair and eyes, Melissa, my second sister, was quite different from the Rainberg lineage.
Besides her brown hair and eyes, everything about Melissa was big – tall like Ranista, similar in build, basically big in every aspect. Rumor had it that she was a beauty, but it was only natural. She was a nine-tailed fox who could enchant people.
“When did you come down from the Tower?”
No matter how scared I was, I couldn’t show fear in front of her.
I tried to stay composed, despite witnessing a fox that kept grabbing my food.
Since she became a magician, Melissa had rapidly climbed the ranks in the Magical Tower from the age of 14. I never expected Melissa to visit Quilz Castle.
“The tower? It was boring, so I left.”
What on earth were my siblings up to?
I had been well aware of the authority of the magical tower since childhood.
Although it was within the Empire’s territory, it held an independent position and was classified as a separate entity from its territory.
The Magical Tower was considered to be on par with the authority of a Country.
If she had risen to such a high position at a young age in the Magical Tower, she might have the power equivalent to our father’s within a few years.
Not only in the Empire but also in other continents, talented young individuals gathered in the Magical Tower. But now, Melissa had left because she found it boring.
I had never thought she would come to Quilz Castle.
Melissa really chattered nonstop while mixing rice with crab meat the way I prepared them earlier.
“Interesting. Is this the way how you lived in your world before? The quality of cooking in this world is inferior to the level of culture. That sounds fun. How much influence will it have if you collect your cooking knowledge and compile it into a book? Maybe we can Change the Diet of the Noblemen? Maybe the reason why the cooking method is not developed is because of the short history of civilization. This world is already crowded. It’s similar to the demon world, but it’s more individual. Not only the demons, but also the Ain people, and even the winged beast, do not share the characteristics of the individual, but they are mixed up. Strangely, even the human species is divided. But there’s not much of a threat. The magic and the hierarchy are pretty funny, but they’re not long enough for my magic.”
Melissa is talkative.
It’s not just simple chatter, it’s a lot of talk.
It is said that she constantly babbled as soon as she was born.
It’s like there is a six-cylinder motor in her mouth and chatter nonstop, but no one hated her in the Rainberg.
She was talkative but cheerful, and everyone liked her because she was the Duke Rainberg’s only wizard child.
Melissa wasn’t as scary as my other siblings.
If I didn’t know her past life, we might have been close.
The most famous title she had back then was: ‘The woman who beat the world’s greatest creation, the nuclear missiles.’ She detonated them outside in the universe, signaling the destruction of mankind.
I heard Melissa’s words in one ear and out the other.
“What do you think about the circle, which is the standard of magic in this world?”
Then I was asked a question. I answered with a shrug.
“Why are you asking me that?”
What was her purpose?
I was not a magician, so why would she ask me about the standard of Magic in this world?
“Well, you said it with your mouth.”
She replied nonchalantly.
I was thinking about ordering another steamed crab. But Melissa’s continued words suddenly killed my appetite.
“Didn’t you say you come from Polstar, a world of Magic?”
Wait, when did I say I was a Magician?
***
No way.
From the start, Polstar is fiction.
“Polstar’s magic is completely different from the magic of this world. I don’t understand.”
I replied without hesitation.
This time, I didn’t raise my defenses like with Wooshas, but I didn’t think it was a good judgment. The situation is too different.
The premise is that I came from Polstar in the first place. Polstar is a fictional world, from a fictional Korean Cartoon.
Melissa laughed at my answer.
She laughed wide enough to be innocent, but her eyes were subtle, giving off a strange smile.
Melissa is a fox. Not easier to handle than Wooshas.
“So what? Interesting. Tell me more about the magic in Polstar.”
“Do you not know the country of the great wizards, Polstar?”
“I heard it exists. The country of the great wizards.”
This situation is starting to get scary.
Melissa knows that there is no planet Polstar.
Nevertheless, she wants to continue the conversation.
All I could do was to play along for now.
“You can’t ignore Dooly’s magic. I’ve seen it a few times, and it was amazing.”
“Dooly? Strange name. Is he a powerful wizard?”
“An excellent wizard. They say that if a yellow-haired red-nosed guy appears, everyone trembles.”
“What kind of magic did he use?”
“He used magic to strengthen the body. Dooly’s beatings were said to split mountains… well, if you’re curious, I’ll organize and send it to you later.”
“Not interested. I want to hear it now.”
I thought of Dooly and made up stories. Through my ears, the disgusting red-nosed friend from my childhood turned into a great wizard. Most of the story was nonsense and rambling.
“Strengthening the body with magic is not common. It’s useless. No matter how much magic you surround yourself with, you can’t beat trained warriors from the beginning. Have you seen the bodies of Polstarian? Maybe born with the ability to absorb magic?”
I was now confused by Melissa’s serious attitude. It was getting too deep for just teasing.
“Yeah. Polstarian even created a magic tool called ‘Time Cosmos’ that surpasses time. I haven’t seen it, but maybe it’s fiction. Traveling through time, is there such a thing? Haha…”
Melissa, who had been playing along with my nonsense, was now silent. When she looked around at the changed atmosphere, she approached me silently.
Instinctively, I clenched my fist, but I knew it was useless. At a distance close enough to shake hands, she smiled wickedly.
“What magic do you use?”
I knew from the beginning that Melissa was teasing me.
But if I were to say now that I can’t use magic, she would undoubtedly change her attitude and get angry, accusing me of mocking her. It’s a sin to be weak.
If I had just said from the beginning that I couldn’t use magic, why did I pretend to know?
No, anyway, if the fox decided to tease me, it would have ended up like this no matter how I reacted.
“You can’t see my magic here.”
As if waiting, she grabbed my arm and lifted me up.
Her grip was as strong as Ranista’s.
“Let’s go to the garden.”
This is terrible.
