Arcade

Upon entering the city, it was as if I had never transferred to a new timeline. There was an extreme sense of familiarity with all the buildings, the only difference being a magical touch. It definitely showed how poor the place I lived was, but that was only in comparison.

To me, my living conditions would have been considered average; however, I almost forgot the massive divide in social class. It also sparked a question about the ratio of nobles there were.

"Hey, Lyra How many nobles are there compared to peasants like me? Being surrounded by them all day makes me think that most people are of noble status."

"I would say there is a 30/70 split between nobles and peasants. You can actually achieve noble status, but you need to have a special kind of magic. However, it's tough nowadays since most forms of magic are said to be discovered, so unless your ancestor discovered a new element, there is no way to become a noble currently."

"Hmm okay."

'Yes! That's my way out of this shitty situation; there is no way I didn't come to this world without unique magic.' Knowing there is a viable way to achieve noble status, I could live without getting harassed.

"Alright, we are here." Lyra stopped in front of what seemed like a magical arcade. I instantly felt excitement as there was a chance for video games; if that were the case, achieving a hassle-free life would be my goal.

The building itself looked quite grand, and the entrance was massive, with people constantly coming in and out. There were guards who so happened to wear suits, which crashed my brain a little as my image of this world was still set exclusively in medieval times.

'The clash of timelines and cultures is hitting hard here; even the clothes people are wearing have a resemblance to my old timeline.' It was certainly a weird feeling, but it was a relief knowing that there were still things I was familiar with.

"Haha, someone is excited." Unable to hide her smile and excitement, Lyra didn't waste any time and entered the arcade. I closely followed Lyra, still holding onto her hand, in fear of randomly getting lost. The city was completely foreign to me, so if I got lost now, there was no way I was making it home.

Scanning the inside of the arcade, I was bewildered by how big it was. I knew that the building was at least a few stories tall, but each floor was occupied by the arcade.

I looked to my sides, and I saw the typical gift store as well as a place to sign up. Further in, I saw some of the games, but there were so many people that it was hard to tell what the games exactly were.

One thing was apparent, and that was the use of magic, so my guess is that many of the minigames involved using magic in one way or another. I still wasn't sure how to control it in small amounts, but I believed I could do it.

"Alright, let's sign you up so you can actually enter the games as well as access some of the machines." Lyra dragged me to a magical tablet extremely reminiscent of a touchscreen and asked me to enter a few details.

Also, I will add a bunch of credits to your account, so unless you come here every day, it should last you a few months." Lyra did a quick wink at me before pulling out a card and holding it to the tablet. Suddenly the 0 on the screen turned into 2000, which I instantly assumed was $2000 worth of credits.

'Shit, I don't know the currency of this world.'

"How much money do you have?" I hoped Lyra would give me a number of some sort, or at least the name of the currency.

Hmm, I don't really know; I just know my limit is about 50 thousand gennite." Lyra casually dropped how rich she was, as anyone who says they don't know and have a limit means it must be a lot.

"And how much do 2000 credits cost? I'm assuming 2000 gennite?" I wanted to get a scale of the inflation of this gennite even though arcade credits are probably not the best choice, but it was something for now.

"It's a little more, but don't worry, I have plenty of money, so don't stress." Lyra pulled out a card that had materialised in front of the tablet and passed it to me.

"I see, thanks." Interesting; it seems the economy is in a similar state to mine. It looks like adjusting to the outside world won't be so hard after all.

"Now, let's have some fun. I have a few games I think you will like." Taking the card, Lyra took the lead once again, going deeper into the arcade.

*

Walking past many machines, it was pretty much a carbon copy of ones I would find in any city. They had the typical gambling games, reaction-based ones, and even basketball, but it was with a magical ball instead. I was beginning to think this was sci-fi rather than a medieval fantasy setting.

'I guess I did switch timelines... I feel like I will be saying this a lot as justification.' I already established that I switched timelines, so it was quite convenient to use it as an explanation, but the saying was already feeling stale.

Lyra, who was walking in front of me, suddenly stopped moving, causing me to walk into the back of her.

"Whoops." Catching my balance, I quickly looked ahead to see where we were.

"This is a magical shoot-out where you and a partner have to take out as many targets as possible." Also, the gloves you have to wear are magical artifacts that will shoot pure mana, which is enough to push back the targets but not enough to hurt anyone." Lyra presented the game as I watched two people who were currently playing.

It was a small box arena with magic-made targets randomly placed around the players. As one appeared, the person aimed their palm at the target and shot out a white ball of something. I guessed it was pure mana, and judging by how quickly it dissipates, Lyra was right when she said it was harmless.

"Did you want to have a go?" Lyra offered her hand as if we were about to go in."

"Wait, don't we have to wait?" The two people in there were not finished unless Lyra was all of a sudden showing her true side!

"No silly, dimensional magic exists, allowing multiple games to be played." Lyra chuckled at my naiveté, but it was a relief to know that Lyra hadn't turned into a snobby noble.

"O-oh, I didn't realise it was used like that." It also blew my mind that dimensional magic had such a casual use, but with magical circles existing, you just need deep enough pockets to hire someone.

"Don't sweat it; this is your first time here after all." Lyra gave me a smile before dragging me to a panel. I presented the arcade card to a small magic tablet reader before a magic circle below us teleported us away.

Appearing in the same arena that the people were playing in, the gloves needed were also by the edge.

"Alright, it starts in 30 seconds, so quick, get ready." Lyra had already rushed over to the artifact and put on the glove. I followed suit, and to my surprise, the glove adjusted its size to my hand, which was quite handy.

'It must be expensive to have clothes like that.' Knowing you would never have to worry about the size of your clothes sounded like a luxury and a very costly thing.

"Saki, make sure you flow your mana into the glove; otherwise, it won't fire. Give it a shot before we start." Lyra herself was already practicing, so it was probably for the best that I did too.

Standing in the middle alongside Lyra, I once again felt the mana within me. This time I was much quicker and didn't need to shut my eyes; it was like I gained the instinct to manipulate mana.

Pushing the energy into my hand, I aimed for the wall and tried to push it into the glove. As I hoped, the artifact activated, shooting a light blast of mana.

"There you go; I knew you would be able to do it." Lyra was quite proud of me, which was a nice feeling, but it also sounded like most people can't even do this.

"You make it sound like not many people can even play this game, haha." I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask, as it would only add to the missing context I have about this world and its people.

"Unless you are not taught how to use mana, then yeah. To put it in simple terms, no offence; despite you being a peasant, there are people who are even lower in class. Just to us nobles, you are all the same, causing people who are normal to be discriminated against."

"Huh, th-"

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