The Rosenhart family’s grand conference room.
A heavy silence pressed down on the air.
The stillness filling the chamber was so sharp that even the breathing of the vassals gathered there seemed cautious.
“Lord Rosenhart. There was no flaw in the summoning circle. I state this upon all the honor I have built over the course of my life.”
It was Professor Lifedimer who cut through the surface of that silence.
His dry yet conviction-filled tone sliced through the cold air of the conference room and scattered.
Seated at the head of the table, the family head Rosenhart had his eyes firmly closed.
Only the deep furrow carved between his brows hinted that he was now wandering through an abyss of confusion and anguish.
“Then explain it! How is it that not a demonic beast from another realm, but a human manifested upon the summoning circle!”
When someone who could no longer hold back burst out with a shout, the suppressed anxiety came pouring out as if a dam had broken.
“A human as a summoned beast? In all my life, I’ve never heard of anything so bizarre! Is this not blatant human rights abuse!”
“If word of this reaches His Imperial Majesty’s ears… the Empire’s special-grade summoners will surely descend upon us. The family’s honor will…”
The renowned summoners who had long served as vassals poured out their anxieties at Professor Lifedimer.
The louder their complaints grew, the colder the professor’s gaze sank.
“Yes. Have you forgotten that I am one of those ‘special-grade summoners’?”
At the professor’s icy rebuke, the air in the conference room froze for an instant.
Before his glaring stare, the vassals swallowed their coughs and hurriedly averted their eyes.
“Professor. Could you not… draw a highest-grade summoning circle one more time?”
The family head, still without opening his eyes, barely parted his heavily sunken lips.
His voice carried the desperation of a man willing to grasp at even a straw.
“It is physically impossible. The rarest and most essential material in completing a highest-grade summoning circle is none other than ‘time.’ From the pitch-black new moon, to the thin arc of the crescent moon, through the waxing first quarter until it reaches the full moon. Then through the waning last quarter and the dark moon, until it returns once more to the new moon. Over that long cycle, mana must be layered upon mana. However, the academy entrance exam is next week…”
As the professor’s calm explanation continued, the complexions of those present turned ashen.
“My lord, then we must devise a fallback plan! Even if we have to use a high-grade summoning circle, should we not bring along at least one proper summoned beast?”
“Precisely! Setting aside whether the summoned one is human or not, to enter the academy, Lady Yustia must have at least something by her side that can be called a summoned beast!”
“Taking the entrance exam with a human body? Absurd. Could that frail flesh even withstand the test?”
“If Lady Yustia appears with nothing more than a human in tow, far from gaining admission, she will only bring disgrace upon the family name! We will become the laughingstock of the world!”
The vassals’ voices, thick with concern, gradually grew more agitated.
In their minds, a human summoned beast was nothing more than a feeble existence that would be torn apart like paper before the claws of a demonic beast.
“Humans are called the lords of creation because they can handle mana, but with their bare bodies, are they not fragile creatures who cannot even defeat a mid-grade summoned beast—so frail that even a passing gust of wind might endanger them?”
“That would be no different from suicide. Humans are… powerless beings who could never cross even the threshold of the entrance exam.”
***
The room Yustia guided me to somehow looked fragile.
Even the stone floor, which ought to be solid, crumbled like Styrofoam—so would these wooden furnishings really be any different?
Was gravity in this place really different from Earth’s?
Did these people build a civilization on the moon?
Unable to sit in a chair or lie down on the bed, I wandered endlessly around the room.
The sensation of taking a step felt strange.
Suddenly, an image flashed through my mind.
On a black-and-white screen, Neil Armstrong hopped along the surface of the moon, and all at once I understood those movements that had seemed almost frivolously light.
If he had merely pushed off the ground as usual and his body floated up like a feather, of course he couldn’t help but be excited.
The only difference between Armstrong and me was… I had no Earth to return to.
“Still, it is kind of fun…”
I threw myself into the air.
I had only lightly flung myself, yet a sensation of floating against gravity wrapped around my entire body.
When I touched the tip of my finger to the floor and pushed off gently, my body once again rose into the air in an elegant arc.
Once or twice, it was fun. Once or twice…
I’m supposed to live like this for the rest of my life? My head was already starting to spin.
—Knock. Knock.
A knock broke the silence.
“Um… summoned… beast…? sir? I am Yurika, the maid in charge of summoned beasts for the Rosenhart family.”
“Yes?”
The voice coming from beyond the door was smeared all over with awkwardness.
“The young lady told me to take good care of you…”
“Ah, yes. Come in.”
I answered while barely managing to stick my flailing body back to the floor.
“Excuse me!”
A girl in a neat maid uniform entered with stiff steps.
Gripping the tray in both hands, she strode right up in front of me.
Then she set the tray down on the floor with a thud and immediately knelt on one knee before my eyes, bringing herself down to my eye level.
“……?”
Why was she suddenly matching my eye level?
As I blinked in confusion, Yurika raised her index finger with a resolute expression and held it right in front of my nose.
Then, in a gentle yet firm voice, she said,
“Now, wait.”
“……Pardon?”
“Good. You’re going to wait quietly.”
Without even listening to my reply, she reached out with very practiced motions to pat my head.
It was exactly the touch of an animal trainer calming a creature.
“W-wait a second.”
When I hurriedly pulled my head back, Yurika’s hand stopped in midair.
Her eyes wavered, unable to find their bearings.
“You… don’t like being petted?”
She muttered as if she truly could not understand.
Then her eyes soon sparkled as though she had realized something, and she quickly rummaged through her pocket.
What came out in her hand was a piece of jerky.
“Ah! A treat first? There, good. I’ll give you this, so come here.”
“No, excuse me.”
“You don’t have to be scared. I won’t hurt you.”
Yurika tried to coax me while waving the jerky gently.
“Um… could you please treat me like a person? I can speak, you know.”
At my protest, Yurika’s hand flinched to a stop.
Still holding the jerky, she narrowed her eyes and stared intently at me.
It felt as though I could hear the sound of an intense circuit inspection taking place inside her head.
“Ah… well… normally, when meeting a summoned beast for the first time, to build a bond…”
“Hah…”
I slapped a hand to my forehead.
Yurika set down the jerky, took out a notebook, and began writing something down.
“For now, I understand. Summoned beast, sir. If you need anything, please call me.”
“Understood.”
“For now,” huh… It was a phrase still steeped in distrust.
Yurika was about to leave the room when she turned back.
“Um… should I perhaps lay out a potty pad for—”
“I don’t need one!”
***
An unfamiliar place.
The fact that I was not welcome.
The anxiety that if I were cast out, I would have nowhere to return to left me unable to rest properly.
With every step I took, every nerve in my body was stretched taut.
Because I could not let go of that thread of tension, my fatigue had already reached its limit.
“I tried to persuade my father… but I think he’ll question you directly after all.”
“Question me?”
The nuance of that word grated on my ears.
It made me feel like some kind of criminal.
“You don’t need to worry too much. I gave him a general explanation.”
The place Yustia guided me to was a vast dining hall.
“Sit.”
A low, heavy voice reverberated through the space.
So the man sitting over there is Rosenhart, the owner of this grand mansion… right?
I pulled out the chair as carefully as possible and sat down.
I could not even pick up the cutlery right away.
Not only did I not know the etiquette of this place, but the thought that I might break the utensils made me hesitate to reach for them.
‘Hah… I’m starving to death. But I have to read the room.’
My stomach was clamoring with hunger, but on the outside, I merely sat stiffly, pretending to be calm.
It was Rosenhart who first broke the suffocating silence.
“I heard an explanation from my daughter, but I believe it would be clearer to hear it from you directly.”
“Yes. If there is anything you’re curious about, please feel free to ask.”
I tried to answer as politely as possible, but I could not hide the faint tremble at the end of my voice.
“From which dimension did you say you came?”
“Ah… well, I came from a place called Earth… and there, things like magic and summoning don’t exist. So I’m honestly quite bewildered right now.”
Rosenhart’s gaze left me for a moment and moved to the documents placed beside him.
His eyes scanning down the paper were probably coolly comparing the stories I had told Yustia with my testimony now.
“In the history of the Empire—no, in any record of this world—there exists no case of a human manifesting as a summoned beast. That is why confirmation is necessary. Whether you truly belong to the human species, or whether you are a demonic beast from another realm wearing human skin.”
Rosenhart’s gaze swept sharply over my entire body.
Within that persistent stare, distrust and curiosity were strangely intertwined.
“According to the report, you crushed a summoning stone with your bare hand. Are humans from your dimension originally so powerful?”
At his question, I was momentarily at a loss for words.
“No. We can’t even properly break an ordinary stone. It’s just… the physical laws here… how should I put it, they feel too light.”
I carefully raised my hand, clenching and unclenching my fist in the air.
That alien sensation still lingered in my grip.
At my answer, Rosenhart’s eyes narrowed.
He remained silent for a moment, tapping the table with his finger. Tap, tap.
The regular pulse of sound deepened the silence inside the dining hall.
At last, as if having made up his mind, he opened his mouth.
“In that case, shameless as it may be, there is something I would like to ask of you.”
His gaze looked directly into my eyes.
For the first time, it was not the arrogance unique to nobles that I felt from him, but desperation.
“Next week, my daughter must take the entrance exam for a prestigious academy called Eternoah. Until the next full moon rises, and the most perfect celestial alignment is achieved… in other words, until the next time we can summon a highest-grade summoned beast, I would like you to remain by Yustia’s side.”
Rosenhart’s voice carried the weight of a proposal that was difficult to refuse.
He paused briefly and sent me a deep look, as if gauging my reaction.
“During that period, I promise on the name of the Rosenhart family. Not only your food, clothing, and shelter, but anything that might cause you discomfort in this unfamiliar world—we will guarantee you the finest treatment.”
His proposal was tempting.
For someone like me, who would have nowhere to go if I were thrown out right now, his words were no different from a lifeline.
But what shook my heart even more was the promise that followed.
“And above all… your earnest wish to return. I swear that we will mobilize all the family’s resources and magical knowledge to do our utmost so that you may return to your original dimension.”
A weighty trust settled over his solemn voice.
It was an offer I had neither reason nor strength to refuse.