The Nerd Next Door Turned Out To Be The Magic Tower Master - Chapter 105

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Special Side Story 6. Guaranteed Future (2)
Beyond the quick flicker of bewilderment and confusion came an emotion that crashed down like a tidal wave: fear.
[I still don’t quite understand why it had to be me. But in any case, Soltis—or Charles, as I knew him—definitely brought me to This World. Waking up so suddenly in a strange body, a strange world… it was utterly disorienting.]
Was he in the same situation? Certainly, it was disorienting. But whether his body had changed or his surroundings had transformed, only one thing mattered.
Whether Cecilia had come to this place with him. That was all.
If he’d had Magical Power, he could have found her whereabouts in an instant. Unfortunately, in This World, he felt not a trace of it.
Restless, he’d wandered the room until finally he ventured outside.
The prison-like building was unfamiliar, but its structure wasn’t difficult to navigate. He sketched out its layout in his mind and found the entrance without trouble.
At the Entrance Hall, a full-length mirror let him examine himself. His appearance and height were nearly the same as before, so it didn’t seem to be someone else’s body. Only his eyes were no longer red, and his hair appeared slightly shorter than before.
‘At this rate, I think people should recognize me right away…’
But would Cecilia?
Of course, no matter how different her appearance was from his memory, he was confident he’d recognize her at once. Yet the unease wouldn’t fade, because in this vast sea of a world, he had no idea how to find her.
At worst, there was a possibility she didn’t exist in This World at all—but he chose not to consider that scenario.
If the god who’d dragged him here had any conscience, he wouldn’t have abandoned him alone in this place.
Lost in thought, he took the left path that led to a main street. After passing through a colorful brick-lined lane, a street exploded into view, blazing with flickering screens everywhere.
Pedestrians were far more numerous here, and they all wore clothes he’d never seen before.
Of course, his own clothing wasn’t much different from theirs. Yet for some reason, people’s gazes lingered on him for far longer than was comfortable. Not seemed to—did.
He ignored the flood of stares with composure and searched through the crowd for just one person.
After walking for some time, as he approached a street lined with food vendors whose aromas hung thick in the air, he felt a vibration somewhere on his body.
The source was a Rectangular Device he pulled from his back pocket. He absently pressed on some gleaming part of it, and the vibration stopped. Then a woman’s voice began coming through the device.
“My family dinner just ended, so where are you? You said you’d pick me up on time, but you haven’t called! You’re not getting picked up on the street again, are you? If you are, I’ll scold you.”
“…”
“Actually, it’s not your fault for being handsome. Is that too unreasonable? Anyway, where are you? If you haven’t left yet, I’ll come get you.”
“…”
“Hello?”
Though the voice was slightly flustered in a way that differed from what he knew, he instinctively recognized it. He had to meet the owner of this voice immediately.
‘If I could look into her eyes, I could be certain.’
In his impatience, he was about to say something when—
“Hello? Did the call drop? Oh! You’re already here?”
A tap on his shoulder. He turned to find a neat-featured woman standing right before him.
The moment he met her eyes past her shoulder-length straight hair—those copper-toned irises with their lighter pigmentation—he knew for certain. The woman before him was the wife he’d searched so desperately for.
“…Cecilia.”
“Wow, it’s been ages since I heard that name.”
She opened her eyes wide and let out a small laugh. Yet Lien found himself unable to speak, overwhelmed by surprise and joy.
‘So this is really what you look like.’
Nothing like the face he could have drawn with his eyes closed, yet somehow distinctly hers. Especially those eyes—soft yet conveying quiet strength.
He’d only just begun to take in this appearance he’d fallen for in an instant when a middle-aged woman and a young man approached from behind her.
“Goodness, you could have at least told me your boyfriend was coming! Then I would’ve dressed more neatly.”
“It’s not like it’s our first meeting. And you look lovely right now.”
“Wow, hello there. Every time I see you, I’m amazed. Honestly, I still can’t understand why someone like you is dating my relative. You’re not being coerced, are you?”
“Want to die?”
‘Are these the family members she missed so much?’
He didn’t need anyone to explain. Both the middle-aged woman and the young man resembled her clearly.
He’d thought that meeting anyone she loved so dearly—even if they were family—would feel unpleasant.
But watching that clear laughter spill out again and again, he finally understood it wasn’t true at all.
Caught in an unfamiliar emotion, he was simply staring at them when her mother reached out and clasped his hand.
“Goodness, this girl. She earned her degree and should have some sense of propriety by now!”
“It’s called living young, Mom.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. She didn’t use to be quite like this, but at some point she became like a child again. She’s still a scatterbrain, but please look after her. If she misbehaves, tell me right away. I’ll give her a real scolding.”
She’d merely patted the back of his hand a couple of times before letting go, yet the warmth lingered like an afterimage for quite some time.
Moreover, perhaps because she bore a subtle resemblance to Cecilia, he felt no aversion to this stranger at all.
In the end, he could only nod.
“Well, let me go inside first!”
She complained about his taciturnity as she linked her arm through his and led him forward.
From the direction they walked, it seemed they were heading back to that space he’d burst out from.
As they walked side by side down an unfamiliar street, Lien carefully pieced together the strange situation.
Cecilia seemed familiar with the street, and with him too. If that were so, it seemed they’d moved to This World quite some time ago, but…
‘Why do I have no memory of it?’
Perhaps his thoughts ran too deep. Noticing his unusual silence, she tilted her head.
“You’re being unusually quiet today. Usually when we meet, you whine about how much you’ve missed me?”
“I have a question.”
“Huh? That’s strange, isn’t it? You corrected your speech pattern too, but just now you used that name—the one you always said you preferred not to use. Don’t tell me you hit your head on the way home?”
She simply cupped her own cheeks in both hands, examining them. Yet even so small a gesture set his heart racing wildly.
Though her appearance had changed, everything she did, everything she said—it was unmistakably the being he had loved.
He fought back the urge to pull her close and asked the one thing that mattered.
“Are you happy?”
The question came from nowhere, strange enough to raise suspicion. But the woman, blinking softly, soon declared with a faint smile.
“Of course I am. The people I love are here beside me.”
“.……”
“And you’re always there with me, in the place closest to my heart.”
So this is what it means to be filled with such completeness, when the person you love finds happiness.
In that moment of sudden understanding, he finally knew with certainty: the future he was meant to walk toward was right here.
And the reason his memories and Cecilia’s began differently was surely…….
‘A test to seize this future with my own hands.’
Correct. The possibility has been proven—now the achievement is yours to claim.
A young voice cut in, having waited for this very moment. The instant the words ended, the world around him began to distort.
When he regained his senses, he stood in the familiar corridor. The cat he had met was gone.
Then.
“Lien? What are you doing standing there?”
He spun around at the familiar voice. Cecilia, just arrived home, was regarding him with a bewildered expression.
Perhaps it was the weight of what he had just experienced—something no magic could explain. As he stared at her, dazed, Cecilia approached him first.
“You’re being strange today. Usually you’d whine about how much you missed me the moment we met.”
His muddled thoughts cleared in that instant. At her familiar words, the tension finally left him, and he drew her into his arms just as he always did.
“I missed you.”
Looking back, it had been only the briefest of dreams, yet disappointment did not grip him. If it was not impossible, then he was certain he would succeed someday.
And so one day, he would bring her to her world with his own hands.
And of course, he would be there beside her then as well.
Holding fast to this one unchanging truth, he stepped forward gladly toward the Guaranteed Future.
<Special Side Story Complete>

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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