-69- [ Akabane ]

"————"

This is a world with nothing.

No direction.

No sound.

No gravity.

No sky or earth.

Rozen can only feel himself spinning in this world, as if being drawn into a vortex, completely unable to control himself, and he is spinning so fast that even his consciousness is barely holding on.

"How... How long is this going to go on!?"

Rozen can only shout, but even his voice cannot be transmitted.

In this state, Rozen doesn't even notice that his body is undergoing a change.

Specifically, he is getting smaller.

Obviously, this is the price to pay for using the power of "Miracle" to cross different worlds.

In order to have enough time to train his magic, Rozen naturally cannot choose worlds with slower time flow than Chaldea. Otherwise, he would only have a few days here, and if human history gets incinerated, it would be just a foolish act, not to mention the aging problem.

Therefore, Rozen chooses to open the "Door" to a world with a faster time flow than Chaldea, for example, where ten days pass in another world while only one day has passed in Chaldea. Only then can he achieve his goal.

This is the only thing Rozen can do with "Miracle."

After all, "Miracle" only has the power to open the "Door," and it does not have the function to confirm what kind of world is on the other side of the "Door." Rozen can only do the extent of "confirming the opened object." For example, if the "Door" opens to the soul, then it is a "Door" to the soul. Right now, Rozen has chosen to open the "Door" to a "world with fast time flow."

As for how fast the time flow is on the other side and whether it will cause Rozen to shrink and become a zygote, he has no way of knowing.

In other words, this is a rather risky endeavor.

If Rozen doesn't do this, he'll have to obediently stay in Chaldea, waiting for the next Spiritron Transfer without being able to make any effort.

So, taking this risk is necessary.

"Not to mention, there's an advantage in opening a gate to another world first."

Because, once Rozen travels to a world, the next time he opens the gate to that same world, his body won't be affected.

After going through it once, his body adapts to the different time flow between the two worlds, and there won't be a second change.

In the future, if it becomes impossible to stop the incineration of humanity, and Rozen has to escape with Mash and Roman, it would also require at least one change.

Rather than that, it's better to be prepared in advance.

With this thought in mind, Rozen grits his teeth and endures, allowing himself to be manipulated in the interworld passage, and his body gradually shrinks.

15 years old...

12 years old...

10 years old...

7 years old...

5 years old...

Until the age of three, Rozen continues to get smaller.

If it weren't for his consciousness fading, Rozen would certainly be worried about his shrinking body.

And with this state, Rozen keeps shrinking.

Finally, Rozen becomes a baby.

If this continues, Rozen will eventually have no choice but to revert to the state of a fertilized egg.

Fortunately, fate is on Rozen's side.

At the moment when Rozen turns into a baby, the front suddenly brightens, and a pathway of light appears.

As a baby, Rozen directly enters it.

Thus, Rozen enters a completely new world.

....

An alternate world.

This world is vastly different from Chaldea.

In terms of time, Chaldea has already reached the year 2018, firmly in the 21st century. However, in this world, the industrial revolution seems to be ongoing, and it's still in the early 20th century.

Magic, also known as Majutsu, also exists in this world.

However, unlike Chaldea, there are no Servants or Heroic Spirits. Instead, there is another type of existence - Automatons, also known as Ningyou or Automata.

These are automatons with built-in Magic circuit (Majutsu Kairo), which is not a neural pathway for generating magical energy like in Chaldea. Instead, it's a device similar to a magic circle that can replace the lengthy rituals and processes of spellcasting, enabling direct activation of magic.

Each type of device corresponds to a specific magic, much like the function of a magic circle, where each magic circle is designed for a specific purpose. Both are essentially the same in nature.

Naturally, even with these magic circles, not everyone can use magic through them.

First, magical energy is an essential fuel.

Second, to use magic through the magic circles, one needs to have a thorough understanding of the specific magic and how to utilize it.

However, the existence of Automatons replaces all these requirements. As long as someone infuses magical energy, they will instinctively and skillfully activate the magic, similar to using their own organs.

In this world, the technique of combining magicians and Automatons to perform unprecedentedly fast and precise magic is known as "Automaton Magic".

Those magicians who use this type of magic are called "Puppeteers".

In the far east of this world, in a remote corner of a certain island nation, a ray of light suddenly appeared without any warning, forming a vortex of light particles that kept rotating.

A baby emerged from this ray of light and landed on the ground, hidden among numerous weeds.

The baby seemed as if all its strength had been drained, not crying or making any noise, tightly shutting its eyes, and falling into a deep sleep.

Then...

"Hmm?"

"What's wrong, Master?"

"Nothing, I just found something interesting."

"Interesting? Oh? Whose child is this? How could they be in such a place?"

"I don't know, but it's not hard to guess. To end up in a place like this surrounded by weeds, there's no possibility other than being abandoned."

"That's really pitiful."

"..."

"Master?"

"It's fine. Let's go back."

"What about the baby..."

"....Bring it back."

"Yes."

As the voices faded away, two men appeared in the midst of the grass.

Their appearances were quite different. One was dressed in traditional Japanese clothing, clearly a person of high status, while the other wore casual clothes that resembled that of a bodyguard, indicating he was the former's attendant.

Around these two men, there were several figures following them.

Those figures were Automatons.

The person of high status gazed silently at the baby lying in the weeds. After a moment, he personally squatted down and picked up the baby.

"I can take care of it, Master."

The attendant immediately stepped forward, ready to take the baby, but the person of high status extended his hand, stopping him.

He continued to look at the baby and nodded after a moment.

"Meeting you here might be a kind of fate," he said.

"In that case, from today onwards, I, Akabane Kuukan, shall take you as my third son, ."

"I have two other sons, one named Akabane Tenzen, and the other named Akabane Raishin. One is a few years older than you, and the other was just born, similar to your age."

"So, your name shall be Akabane Narugami."

And so, Rozen came to the other world and received his name in this new Land.

//// About MC's new name, I've researched it a lot and now settled with Narugami cuz I feel like it's the most appropriate. As English is not as flexible as Chinese, I wasn't able to find other alternative for his name. It's either this or Narukami/ Mingshen... it's not perfect and it sounds a lot more cooler in Chinese but hope you guys are ok with it ಠ⁠◡⁠ಠ ////