The green smoke from earlier had aroused a suspicion that had plagued his mind for quite some time, and he had willfully ignored it because of its absurdness. But it only seemed to get more and more probable as the conversation went on. So far, all the questions he had posed were simply thrown out the window and disregarded as a figure of speech, as if it just simply didn’t exist.

"Sir. May I ask a question?"

"Sure. Ask away."

"Does magic exist?"

This question was a straight and easy way to either confirm or deny the proposition which was floating restlessly inside of his head.

The man fingered his beard.

“Young man, it seems there are many things that I don’t know that you seem to. I know you’re from another kingdom, but because of my lack of education I ask that you explain what it is you mean by the word ‘magic’. Then I can answer.”

Touji now placed his hands over his face.

-Perfect. Now all I need to do is explain to him something that doesn’t exist. Not a difficult task. Here it goes.

He took a deep breath then exhaled a small portion of the air from his lungs while laying his hands back on the table.

“So magic is an art practiced which generally involves spells, rituals or charms to gain some sort of supernatural effect.” Touji was quite proud of his wiki definition. He crossed his arms nodding his head in self-approval.

“I’m not sure if it’s the same thing, but that sounds similar to what Arcs use.”

“Arcs?”

“It seems to me that you're thinking of something similar. Arclight is what we call it. It might take a while to fully explain it, but the gist of it is that it’s a sort of energy that can be harnessed through different strings of words or ‘spells’ as you say. The people who specialize in it are called arcs.”

"But this arclighty stuff. It exists?"

"Why do you ask? Were you born yesterday?"

"Quite possibly. Actually, make that today."

The man laughed historically.

Touji sat in silence not finding the joke quite as funny. Arclight was probably this world's equivalent to mana.

"Another question. Can any of you do any of this arclight stuff?"

All their heads turned to faced Claria who was setting the table while quite obviously eavesdropping on their conversation.

Once she had noticed all the unwanted attention, she blushed quite vigorously and immediately dropped her head till it faced the floor.

"She's shy about it, but we sent her to a school in the village nearby and there she learned a few tricks."

"It’s not tricks, and you didn't need the shy part." She replied while pouting in the corner of the room.

"Please! Can I see it?" Touji pleaded earnestly.

"Huh! A-a sure. I can try."

She closed her eyes and folded her hands together while mumbling to herself a single word. Then she opened her hands revealing a bright orange orb, barely the size of a pebble, floating in-between her hands. It gave off a golden light, enough to create shadows which danced to and fro across the walls as it flickered.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"What is that?" Touji asked, leaning forward to get a closer look.

"It's a nuin spell. It just creates a little bit of light, that's all."

"What's it made out of?"

"It’s a bit of condensed heat. Nothing special. It's a subclass of fire arclight though."

"I see. Beautiful."

The girl once again blushed.

"No wait, I didn't mean you. I meant the orb-no, wait. That's not what I meant to say. You. Pretty, too. There, everyone happy?" A slight slip of the tough could result in a disastrous outcome. Touji knew this all to well.

The girl quickly blew out the orb and the light vanished with it. The sound of crickets were heard from outside the window.

His comments had quite obviously embarrassed and perhaps shocked a few people. He had started to feel like he had said something which could no longer be undone.

“Well, now that I’ve successfully ruined the mood, I’m now going to take a short breath of fresh air. Allow me to excuse myself.” He confidently marched out the door. After a short minute, his head reappeared.

“Do you people know what a toilet is? Cause I really don’t want to have to explain that to you.”

He was directed to an outhouse round the back of the building. As he entered the unsophisticated restroom, he noticed that the sun was starting to set behind him. He could feel the temperature decrease and the light outside beginning too dim.

Shutting the door behind him he closed his eyes and leaned his back against it.

“So, I’ve been isekai'ed.” Touji wasn’t going to pretend otherwise. For Touji, it wasn’t that big of a leap to have come to that conclusion. He had asked for proof, and that’s what he got. He wasn’t an otaku, but some of his friends were, and he was quite familiar with the ‘other world’ concept. There was very little room for doubt in his mind for whether it was possible or not at this point.

“Why?!! Why me?” He whispered harshly, as he banged the door with his fist.

“Oh. I guess I should be thanking whoever did this, right? That’s the normal response, right?! Well go to hell with that. I’m not your average Neet with no life, no family, no friends, no achievements. I should be happy you took it all away. I should be happy to start again. Screw off! I had a life. Go isekai some other bastard. I don’t care.”

Touji buried his face in his hands.

-But why me? I had so many things I needed to do. So many people who I don’t want to leave.

He banged the door again and again. He couldn’t come to terms with this change. What was he supposed to do? Just forget his old life, the people who he loved and spent time with? Just so he could remake his already content way of life? And if it followed the same patterns, Touji knew he would be asked to save a world he couldn’t care less about. All he could possibly think about, was getting safely home. But was that even possible now? No, it had to be. No matter what he would make it back.

A source of light appeared in the corner of his eye. Nailed to the wall beside him, lay a small blue lamp which had quite suddenly flickered on. As it did, he could see the dark dust in the air which had been interfering with his vision ever since he had entered this world, slowly get sucked into the center of the lamp.

As he paused to inspect the device, he felt the door shake as a light knock rattled its hinges. Touji slowly opened it to find the pink haired girl staring at him from the entrance with a worried expression.

"Are you ok?" Claria asked.

"Yeah, for the most part.”

-How long has she been there? This is a little embarrassing.

“Look, I'm so sorry for all these questions, but I was wondering what this lamp is powered by? There seems to be no flame. Just straight light."

-That’s right. Change the subject. Good boy, Touji.

The girl peered around the door at the blue crystal object projecting from the wall.

"Oh, those! They’re called Aposs. They naturally attract arclight or black light from their surroundings and turn it into light. The arclight entering the crystals causes the glow."

"I don’t really get it, but that’s kinda cool. Is arclight that black stuff in the air?"

The girl's head tilted.

"There is no black stuff in the air. And besides, arclight is invisible."

-Heh?!

"Let's go back inside. Dinner is ready."

"Ok."

-She’s nice, he thought to himself.

They went back inside the house and joined the rest of the family round the dinner table.

Two young men sat on either side, characterized by their bright scarlet hair (apparently the girl’s brother and the other a relative) smoking handmade pipes emitting a light-colored smoke that smelled faintly of mint. As he walked in, they stood up and bowed to him.

"Arosai. Milo. This young man is our guest." The mom interjected.

"Welcome, Mr. Naegi." They both announced in unison.

"Would you like some tea?" Claria asked.

"I'll pass for now." Touji sat down nervously not knowing what to say. The prospect of being in another world was unsettling to the point that he had lost his appetite.

As they all sat down to eat a little girl, probably the age of ten, ran in from the kitchen and jumped onto her father's lap crying.

"Oh, hello sweetie, what’s wrong."

"I fell." She sobbed, tears balling from her tiny eyes.

"Quick let me patch you up." Odja began inspecting her leg for any bruises or cuts.

The little girl turned her head towards Touji quite curiously. Touji smiled back wryly, but she hid her face behind her father's arm.

"Chylum, make sure to be polite."

"Yes, sir." She answered.

There were no injuries on the child’s body, but Odja wrapped a white handkerchief around her leg, magically curing all her infirmities.

"All fixed. Now hurry and sit down."

The girl slid off her dads lap and sat at the table next to him.

-Well, I guess all little sisters are alike, Touji thought to himself.