The sky remained overcast as evening fell.
The sun was blocked by dark clouds, leaving the entire sky a dull gray. A biting cold wind swept past, sending involuntary shivers down one's spine.
Fuyuki City, Aozaki Residence.
Hayasaka Ai, dressed in a refreshing maid outfit with a pure white down jacket layered over it, was sweeping away the dust that had settled in the front courtyard. Her golden hair was tied into a youthful and vibrant ponytail, swaying like willow catkins as she moved.
As she cleaned, she could hear the sharp, whip-like cracks and the smooth yet stern reprimands of a young girl coming from the main house.
It sounded like a class was in session.
And indeed, it was.
However, it wasn't an ordinary class—it was a magecraft lesson.
The instructor was a petite girl with white hair and crimson eyes, the nominal older sister of the mansion's owner.
Hayasaka should have been among the students, but today was her shift, leaving her no choice but to finish her cleaning duties first before catching up with the lesson from either the teacher or her classmates.
"Mana, huh…"
Hayasaka looked down at her palm—fair and delicate, hardly the kind that looked strong.
She tentatively activated the Magic Circuits within her body, converting her life force into mana through them and then directing that mana to flow through her limbs.
As she did so, a warm energy spread throughout her body, and she felt as though she had gained inexhaustible strength. The power in her arms seemed to multiply several times over, making her cleaning work far more efficient. In just over ten minutes, she had swept the entire spacious front courtyard clean.
Gazing at her handiwork, a small, proud smile appeared on Hayasaka's face.
"As expected of me. Even when it comes to learning magecraft, I'm at the top of the class."
Among the magecraft lessons taught by Illya, she was the highest achiever.
Not only was she quick-witted, but she also had the strongest physical abilities—and her diligence was second to none.
Just then—
A pitch-black void, leading to who-knows-where, silently opened in the courtyard. Under Hayasaka's watchful gaze, a white-haired, red-eyed young man stepped out of it.
"Ai? Ah, it's been so long!"
The young man who emerged from the void spotted Hayasaka and waved at her with a cheerful smile.
"...Lord Roy?"
Hayasaka stared blankly for a long moment before finally looking at him with disbelief.
"Don't recognize me?"
"No, it's just… you've changed so much, I almost didn't dare to believe it was you…"
Hayasaka scrutinized Roy up and down with an expression of astonishment, her bewildered gaze tinged with confusion.
Though his attire and demeanor were vastly different from when he had left, the most striking change in Hayasaka's eyes was his physique. The tall, robust young man before her was almost unrecognizable compared to the refined, scholarly boy from before.
This wasn't just a matter of how much he had changed—it was a question of how shocking the transformation was.
"I spent quite a while over there, so it's only natural I'd change a lot."
Roy nodded in agreement.
"Quite a while…? But it's only been a few days here."
"A few days? Hmm, seems the flow of time isn't the same between the two places… Anyway, could you gather everyone for me? I've brought back a lot of good things from my trip to give to them."
"Alright, please wait a moment. I'll go call them right away!"
Hayasaka set down the large broom and hurried into the house.
Soon after, cheerful laughter echoed from inside, likely because they knew Roy had returned.
Roy stood in the yard, pulling out his phone and opening a spatial window.
There was an unmarked email on the screen.
[Following human customs, first of all, a pleasant first collaboration.]
[Then, unfortunately, the target world this time holds relatively low value for me. As compensation, the reward I can offer you will also be of a similarly low tier.]
[What reward would you like?]
This was probably a message from the Root—essentially, the mission reward for this task.
But was the world of Asterisk City really of such low value to the Root?
Roy felt slightly puzzled by this.
From his understanding, unique powers like Stregas—special abilities exclusive to certain worlds—should have been considered quite valuable. He had originally assumed that the world of Asterisk City would hold high value for the Root, but contrary to his expectations, it turned out to be the opposite—it was classified as low-tier.
Low, but not extremely low—meaning it had some value, just not much.
"Why is the evaluation so low?"
Roy voiced his question outright.
If this was something the Root was unwilling to answer, Roy naturally had no way to force it. But if it was willing to answer and Roy didn't ask, future transactions might end up being very disadvantageous for him.
The moment he asked, his phone chimed with a notification.
It seemed this wasn't a question the Root was unwilling to answer, as the email provided an explanation.
[The value of a world to me depends on its divergence from my own nature.]
Roy pondered for a moment and began to understand.
Ultimately, according to the Root, what it sought was its own evolution. The key to a world's evolution lay in the rules governing its operation—the more vast and complex those rules, the stronger the Root itself became.
In other words, what it sought from other worlds were operational rules different from its own. The greater the divergence from its own nature, the more it could gain.
As for the world of Asterisk City, while Stregas was indeed a unique power, the fundamental rules governing that world might not differ much from those of the Type-Moon—or rather, the divergence wasn't significant.
With that in mind, Roy could now grasp the criteria for mission rewards.
"As for the reward..."
Roy fell into thought again, his eyes flickering with consideration.
"Can you open a freely traversable gate between two worlds? Specifically, between this world and that one."
Yes, this was the most important thing.
Admittedly, if Roy wanted to enhance his strength, asking the Root for martial arts, skills, or Noble Phantasms would have been the optimal choice. But for Roy, connecting the two worlds held far greater significance—not just because of the resources he needed from that world, but also because there were people there he wanted to bring back.
[Whether a freely traversable gate can be opened depends on the willingness of that world's consciousness.]
As soon as the words appeared, his phone chimed once more.
[If the consciousness of that world possesses strong aggression and initiative, we cannot establish a connection. Only worlds where the world consciousness doesn't manifest externally can offer the reward of opening a freely traversable gate.]
I see.
That makes sense. If the other world has strong aggressive tendencies, connecting the two worlds would only lead to conflict between them. This wouldn't just be detrimental to the Root, but also extremely unfavorable for people like Roy living within the world.
"Is the world consciousness manifesting this time?"
Roy pondered this. Based on his experiences in Asterisk City and his understanding of the original work, the world consciousness of Asterisk City—if such a thing existed—should be the non-manifesting type.
[This one doesn't manifest, but the adjacent consciousness is extremely aggressive.]
Yet the very next moment, the Root gave an answer that completely defied his expectations.