"—A magical device?"
Priscilla, who had been resting with her eyes closed in the garden, listened to the guard's report. She swallowed the words "throw it away" that had been about to leave her lips and instead waved her hand.
"Bring it here."
The guard handed her the tablet. She examined the rectangular object with a slight frown. From the front, it was completely black; the back and sides were silver-white, made of some unknown material that felt like polished marble to the touch.
She tried enveloping it with mana, but nothing happened. She then pressed the raised button on the side—still no response. Her irritation began to rise, and she barely suppressed the urge to smash it. Turning to a maid, she ordered, "Go fetch Al."
"Yes, Your Highness."
The maid quickly ran off and returned with Al. He approached while yawning, muttering complaints.
"Princess, what is it this time? I finally just fell asleep and you—… whoa! A tablet?!"
The moment Al saw the object in Priscilla's hands, all traces of sleepiness vanished. His eyes widened inside his helmet.
"Princess, where did you—?!"
"So it is called a 'tablet'? It seems that man did not deceive me. It truly is a magical device from beyond the Great Waterfall."
As she spoke, Priscilla casually tossed the tablet toward Al.
"I grant you the honor of explaining its function to me."
"Whoa!" Al hurriedly caught it. "Princess, this thing is extremely fragile. If it falls and breaks, it won't work anymore."
As he spoke, he pressed the button on the front of the tablet. When nothing happened, he tried the side button instead. A moment later, the screen lit up.
"!"
Priscilla was startled by the sudden glow, then frowned in displeasure.
"I pressed that button earlier. Why did it not emit light?"
"You wouldn't know, Princess—you have to hold the button down," Al explained. "Was this given to you by Lillian? That guy is incredible… bringing something like this here… But how does he even charge it?"
"What are you muttering about?" Priscilla strode over and snatched the tablet back. Looking at the glowing screen and the unfamiliar characters displayed on it, she hesitated slightly. "What kind of writing's is this?"
"Hmm… that's one of the languages from beyond the 'great waterfall'," Al said, scratching his head. "If it's this language, then that guy is probably asian."
"What asian?"
"Uh… that's not important," Al replied. "This is a great thing—you can do lots of fun stuff with it. Play games, watch videos, chat with people—ah, wait, there's a lock screen password."
"What is a lock screen password?"
"It means you have to enter the correct code before you can use the tablet… and only the owner knows that code."
Priscilla raised an eyebrow. "So I cannot use it?"
"Don't look at me like that, Princess—I can't use it either. Without the password, all its functions are locked. It's just a glowing brick."
At that moment, the guard who had delivered the tablet—still standing nearby—spoke up at the right time.
"Your Highness, Al-sama—the one who delivered this magical device, Lillian, is still waiting outside the mansion gates."
Priscilla immediately understood and let out a cold snort.
"So he assumed that I would allow him entry simply because I wished to use this? Foolish!"
She raised her arm as if to throw the tablet away. Yet after holding the pose for a moment, she slowly lowered her hand.
"…Let him in! If this magical device proves to be uninteresting, he will never again be allowed to set foot near my residence!"
"Yes, Your Highness!"
The guard departed at once. Beside her, Al rubbed his hands together excitedly. In truth, Priscilla had noticed her knight's enthusiasm and judged the device to be highly valuable—that was why she chose to admit Lillian. Otherwise, she would have smashed it to pieces already.
Not long after, Lillian arrived under the guard's escort. The moment Al saw him, he rushed forward eagerly.
"Brother, how did you bring a tablet here? Were you playing with it when you got summoned?"
"Something like that," Lillian replied. Then, looking toward Priscilla—who still wore a stern expression—he added, "The password is 143297."
Since the written language and numerical system of this world differed from Arabic numerals, Al stepped in to help unlock the screen.
Almost immediately afterward, Priscilla tapped one of the tablet's built-in music applications. The next moment, gentle instrumental music flowed from the device. She let out a small cry of surprise and nearly threw it away.
"This… it can perform music?"
"Yes. That's one of its functions," Lillian explained. "Though it only contains a few demonstration tracks that come with the system."
After purchasing these tablets, Lillian had mainly filled them with scientific and technical materials. The music, films, and games were all default content—he had not installed anything extra, so the available applications were limited. As for the more important data, they were stored within encrypted folders that would be difficult for her to discover.
Even so, within just a few minutes Priscilla began tapping endlessly at the screen. She soon discovered a simple game that instantly brought a smile to her face—a matching puzzle game.
Although the tablet's remaining lifespan was limited, it could still run such simple games for a year or two without issue. As for difficulty, there was essentially none. Tablet interfaces were designed to be foolproof—some children could skillfully play games before even learning to speak. This was the brilliance of their design: allowing people of all ages—even a girl from another world—to become easily captivated by such devices.
"Princess, press that one—the four pieces are connected," Al suggested.
"I can see that myself. I do not need your instruction!"
"…" After being scolded, Al no longer dared to offer advice. Instead, he moved beside Lillian and asked curiously,
"Brother, I see the battery's still over sixty percent… You haven't been using it since coming here, have you? There's nowhere in this world to charge it."
"This will do," Lillian said, producing a portable solar charger and handing it to him.
Al examined it for a while before staring at Lillian with a complicated expression.
"Brother… you really don't seem like someone who was suddenly summoned here."
"That's right," Lillian answered calmly. "Before being summoned, I dreamed continuously for a week. In those dreams, someone said they would take me to another world. I happen to believe in such strange phenomena, so I made preparations in advance… I didn't expect to actually be brought here."
"…" Al did not know how to respond. Lillian's expression did not seem deceitful—but if it were merely a prepared explanation, he had no way to tell.
After some time, Priscilla seemed to clear a stage in the game and laughed in delight. Realizing herself, she quickly looked up and noticed both Al and Lillian watching her.
"Ahem…" She adjusted her expression, returning to her usual air of disdain. "The person who created this magical device must be terribly bored."
"…"
Seeing her return to her usual demeanor, Lillian knew their relationship had softened somewhat. Taking the opportunity, he stated his purpose.
"I would like to learn magic related to curses."
"Curses?" The clearly sinister nature of such magic aroused her displeasure. "What do you intend to do?"
"A friend of mine may be suffering from such a problem. It seems he has been cursed."
"In that case, simply bring him here," Priscilla said. "I will have someone treat him."
"No. That person is not in this world."
Since Priscilla already understood the concept of other worlds, Lillian spoke frankly without concern.
"I want to learn this type of magic—and then find a way to return to the world I came from."
"Go to the other side of the Great Waterfall?" Priscilla glanced at Al, then spoke after a brief pause. "I have never heard of anyone capable of passing through that place. According to rumor, only the Divine Dragon can cross the Great Waterfall and reach the opposite shore. You would only be wasting your efforts."
Lillian said nothing. After watching him for a moment, Priscilla continued, "Since you insist on clinging to this foolish notion, I suppose I could arrange for a mage knowledgeable in this field to instruct you. However, do not assume that I would help you without reason. My condition is this—you must teach me everything about how to use this device."
She waved the tablet in her hand. Lillian immediately agreed.
Soon afterward, Priscilla temporarily departed, leaving only Lillian and Al behind. Once she had gone, Al spoke.
"Brother, that friend of yours who's been 'cursed'… he doesn't happen to have cancer or some other terminal illness, does he?"
"…"
"You're planning to use the magic of this world to cure incurable diseases from our world?"
Al believed that Lillian, like himself, had come from Earth, so such an interpretation came naturally to him. Seeing Lillian remain silent, he took it as confirmation.
"I hate to discourage you… but I don't think it'll work." He patted Lillian's shoulder. "Sure, the tablet from our world can function here—but whether the magic here can function in our world… Brother, our world doesn't have 'mana' in its atmosphere."
"Is that so?"
"If it did, someone would've researched and developed magic long ago, right? And I'm not talking about things like Harry Potter—I mean in the real world. There's nothing like that. Those legends are probably all fake. Besides, the princess isn't wrong. Coming here is easy. Leaving… who knows when that'll ever be possible." He chuckled. "You're pretty lucky, brother. You haven't been here long, have you? I wasn't nearly so fortunate. I didn't land at a decent 'spawn point,' so I ended up losing this arm… Heh. I've waited eighteen years, and I'm still stuck living honestly in this world."
Indeed, among transmigrators, Al's situation was particularly miserable—he began with a hell-level start as a sword slave, disfigured and missing an arm. Few could be more unfortunate. Yet he also possessed something extraordinary; beneath his carefree attitude, he had grasped certain crucial secrets of this world.
"Let me give you a piece of advice, brother," Al said. "Live well, and don't go running into dangerous places. Never assume that just because we're transmigrators we're the 'protagonists' of the world. That kind of thinking comes with a terrible price… heh. That's experience speaking."