Chapter Text
The silver-haired mage lowered her head in shame, but quickly corrected herself.
‘Ah, that’s no good. Shame is an emotion, too.’
It hadn’t been long since she’d been orphaned and subsequently taken under the wing of her Master. Her parents’ deaths, the home they’d lived in all their lives burning to the ground— all of it remained fresh in her mind. Unfortunately, for a mage in training, this was considered to be a fatal flaw.
Candidates with trauma or complicated histories were usually rejected because of the simple teaching all magicians followed— Magicians are to kill all their emotions.
The reasoning was just as simple as the teaching itself: Emotions are unnecessary and foolish, and will inevitably bring about one’s downfall.
As Magicians bore the responsibility for extensive magical power, to be swayed by emotions meant a fate worse than death.
“Remember, my disciple— magicians are the most powerful people this world has ever seen. If even just one particularly strong wizard were to feel intense emotions, what do you suppose might happen?”
The little mage doesn’t respond, thinking deeply. ‘Of course... something as large as the country could be destroyed.’
Although it sounded unlikely, perhaps even nonsensical, this was something a genius magician or a large group of average magicians could achieve, provided that the emotions they felt were intense enough.
Despite the mage’s lack of response, her master didn’t press her any further. It was clear that she understood his meaning, so nothing more needed to be said.
The old wizard adjusted her cloak to ensure it stayed fastened in place. “Do you recall the words I spoke to you the day I took you in as my disciple?”
How could the silver-haired mage forget?
A shiver racked the young girl’s body. The image of her parents’ corpses being carried out of the broken building wouldn’t fade whether she shut her eyes tightly or didn’t dare to blink at all.
It was during a moment like that where the old wizard appeared before her, offering to take her in and raise her as his successor.
Her cold blue eyes gazed into his as he relayed advice— a piece of which his successor would carry with her even when she rose to heights no one had ever imagined.
“To a magician, intelligence and logic is their most sacred possession. Never lose your sanity, Orikasa. Not even for a moment.”
Thud. A series of screams soon sound throughout the room.
“Fuck, what are you doing?!”
“You bitch…!”
Momose blinks, feeling something warm on her skin. Her eyebrows furrow as despair overcomes her, watching outstretched hands reach towards her. Don’t touch me, she thinks, unable to speak. Don’t put your dirty hands on me.
Thud. A fuller, louder sound reverberates through the walls. More voices fill the room, not that Momose can hear them very well anymore — her ears feel clogged. Bits and pieces of their words float in as she sinks into unconsciousness.
“No… We… No, we can’t…”
“…This isn’t our fault! She’s the one who…”
“Momose is… Call the doctor…!”
“I didn't do it! I didn't…!”
“Momo!”
Noisy, Momose thinks. A belated realization sets in that she probably won’t wake up again; and she finds that she’s okay with it.
I wonder what’s next…
Probably nothing. Momo hasn’t dwelled on this subject very much anyway. She remembers cut up words from a long time ago of her mother, stroking her head and telling her stories of the afterlife.
A next life… Momo ponders this, before she is struck by pain. Tears prick her eyes. The most comfort one could offer her would be to deny her another chance. Why should I have to live a painful life again?
Even so, Momo sighs internally. Please…
If nothing more, I wish to be free… in death and life alike.
On January first, Momose Sunohara is pronounced dead. The investigation into the cause of death is still ongoing.
Certainly, that should be the case.
Fingers run over rosy cheeks and then sharply pinch them. “Ow…”
Momose Sunohara stands in front of a small mirror. “This is definitely me, though?”
Save for her attire, Momo looks the same. Something occurs to her, and she sweeps up her hair. Not even a blemish… She recalls the pain reverberating through her head as it was slammed into the wall. Surely an incident that drew so much blood and caused her to pass out would leave some evidence?
But no.
No stitches, no bruise, no nothing…
After she’s finished examining herself in the mirror, she gains some awareness of her situation and looks around. Where… is this…?
The room she stands in is relatively small, but enough for anyone to live in. The walls and floor are all mahogany wood, and the furniture and decorations make it look antique yet homey. A single bed, walls lined with bookshelves wherever space allows, and a small desk are the things she registers immediately. Notably, the designs of the light fixtures and the desk are reminiscent of 18th century styles of furniture, something that one might read about in a novel.
Momo's read many such novels. She had to occupy herself somehow, given the circumstances.
Momo shakes her head, unwilling to dwell on old matters. I guess I should look around.
What must be half an hour goes by as momo scours the room, looking for clues or something of use. So far the ideas that she might be in a hospital of sorts, or confined in some cabin, have occurred to her, but this room doesn’t exactly fit either description.
She notices that the books lined neatly across the bookshelves don’t make much sense, with strange titles in cursive handwriting on the topics of magic and 17th to 18th century history. When Momo opens one up and blows the dust away, she finds slightly weathered pages, filled to the margins with cursive handwriting. These look like relics, she thinks, but aren’t they in unrealistically good condition? Before she puts it away, her eyes stop across a particular phrase.
‘…The Momentous Year of 1750…’
Momo breathes out sharply. How is that possible? She stares at the book blankly. This well-kept thing, a book from the 1700’s? It’s a miracle any of this is even legible, isn’t it?
Shaking her head and returning the book to its place on the shelf (she now finds herself using more care than before), she decides to rummage through the desk. Some scraps of paper with quick notes written on them are all she can discover. Before she can even sigh, the door of the room is thrown open without so much as a warning.
“Momose, let’s get going! How long are we to wait?”
The man standing there seems around her age, with orange hair and strange, outdated attire, mimicking her own. Frozen with indecision, the only thing Momo can say is “…Y-yes.”
The man leaves after she responds, grumbling quietly as goes.
After another moment of hesitation, Momo quickly exits the room and closes it behind her. Her eyes sweep over the plaque beside the door. Room 473. Momose. Something tightens in her throat as she reads her name, handwritten on the paper. The previously unreal situation is now forcing her to accept it as reality.
473. Momose.
The contents of the plaque are quickly memorized. Momo has a feeling she’ll need to return to this room.
The collective sound of footsteps thunders through the hallways. Momo quietly blends into the crowd of people. They all wear the same clothing as she does, with the exception of a few older looking people, whose clothing has moderate variations.
Momo thinks she’ll be okay as long as she follows them wherever they’re going. As long as she doesn’t stick out…
“Momose!”
Several heads turn in the direction of her, as well as the man from before who just called her name. Momo bites her lip. Bastard…
Quickly making her way over to him, she answers, trying not to appear affected. “Yes?”
His eyebrows furrow. “I thought I told you before, to stay close to me. Where are you going so carelessly?”
As if I would know about that. Momo appears apologetic, bowing her head a bit. “I'm sorry…”
Although she thought this would be a satisfactory answer, the man only looks more displeased, as if staring at a stranger. “What’s with you…? No, nevermind. Just hurry up.”
Momo quietly does as she’s told. …Isn’t this just great?
Not even a day in, and someone’s already noticed her strange behavior. How am I supposed to know what the Momo of this world acted like, anyway…?
Momo sighs. She’ll have to look through that room more thoroughly once she returns.
The crowd of people shifts to change shape as they all walk towards a more narrow hallway. Momo doesn’t pay much attention to the fact that she’s been separated from that strange man.
Everyone collectively makes their way into the room and takes their seats in an arc shape before a small platform. The ease in this process makes it seem like they’ve done this many times before. Momo feels even more like an outsider amongst this huge group of people, who all move and act so naturally.
Everyone goes quiet as an older man steps up on the platform. His loud, booming voice makes Momo flinch slightly. “Everyone,” he says, eyes scanning across the crowd. “As you’ve surely heard, the Imperial Family has decided to ignore our warnings and maintain the domains for their own profit.”
A series of bitter whispers and grumbles goes around the room. Momo tries not to look utterly confused. Imperial Family? Domains?
“As such,” the old man continues, causing the crowd to fall quiet within moments, “we will be taking action.” He now gestures to a younger man who has stepped up to stand beside him. The man unrolls a scrolls, clears his throat, and begins to read.
“The High Wizards of the Magic Tower have formally decided to reject imperial rule for the good of mankind. Your esteemed superiors have created a plan to seal the Crow Domain in order to prevent monsters from leaking into our world.”
Silent tension fills the large room. “Due to the fact that the Crow Domain has been exploited until the point of near explosion, it is most dangerous if it remains unsealed.”
The man closes the scroll now, and looks out into the audience. “Now, you. Mages under the Magic Towers’ guidance and protection. Do not forget what you owe them. Do you swear to assist your superiors in these endeavors?”
The room is filled with a resounding “I swear.” Momo can’t bring herself to move her lips in the name of this strange, unknown oath.
“Then,” the older man says, taking over once more. “Meeting adjourned.”
Momo closes the door behind her as she returns to the room from before. Wizards, mages, Imperial Family, and domains. None of these words make any sense to her in the context of this situation.
Shaking her head, she decides to use her time productively. Dwelling on strange things won’t help her, anyway.
She goes through the bookshelves, thoroughly searching the desk, and inspecting the bed, lamps, and other furniture.
After a while of searching, she’s amassed a collection of items that may yield some clues. She begins to go through each textbook, journal, and piece of paper one by one.
A week has passed since Momo found herself in this strange place. The more time she spends here, the more truths she uncovers. Momo pulls up a scrap of paper and lists everything she knows so far, briefly so that it may only be comprehensible to her:
1. I must have died and am now living in a new world, since the existence of magic and monsters is unique to this world.
2. This place is known as ‘the Magic Tower,’ where mages come to learn from wizards and witches and train their magical abilities. Most magicians don’t seem to leave it very often.
3. This body is one that mirrors my own. It seems that the original person living in this body before I died has the same face and name as me. This might be relevant in the future.
Momo nods as everything is listed out properly for her to remember. Moving on, she thinks, starting a new line on the paper, my priorities are the following.
1. Blend in and don’t arouse any suspicion. Try not to deviate from the original Momose’s actions.
2. Gather information about the Magic Tower, its magicians, and the greater world.
3. Only after doing so, create a plan based on the gathered information.
Step 2 is the most crucial. Right now, with limited information, Momo has no idea what her next course of action should be. She's pondered it for days, staying up late at night in bed with the gears in her head working hard.
Should she escape the Magic Tower? That would be a foolish idea, especially at this point in time when she knows so little. The Magic Tower has served as a safe haven and a wonderful source of information, with so many people and books to offer.
Besides, she doesn’t even know what the world beyond the tower looks like.
Where would she go after escaping? Momo doesn’t have any money (not that she even knows what the currency of this world looks like), and the existence of magic in this world brings along its dangers. She remembers the old man’s mention of monsters within the domain. Just like in all the novels she’s read, evil magicians and monsters appear to be prevalent in this place as well.
After dying once, it would be too much to die a second time immediately after stepping outside the tower.
So for now, all Momo can do is wait. Quietly accumulate information. Listen in on gossip. Blend in and make herself unnoticeable. Follow the crowd.
When she knows enough, then she can make her next decision.
Oh, she thinks, eyes falling on the textbook spread on her desk. Possibly the most important thing.
Magic.
Right now, the biggest indicator of momo being a ‘fake’ inhabiting this body is the fact that she can’t use magic. The original body’s position as a higher ranking mage in the Magic Tower suggests that she is somewhat powerful, so as soon as Momo is put into a situation where she needs to use magic but can’t, it’s over for her.
Momo is decently aware of her situation. Magicians aren’t kind people, and I don't know how they would treat me if they find out who I am.
The navy-haired girl pulls the giant stack of magic textbooks closer to her, and lays another one out on the desk, flipping through the pages.
Among her other objectives, learning magic is crucial to her survival.
Another week has passed as momo navigates life through the Magic Tower. She's put in the effort to make a bit of small talk with other mages so as to appear normal, but thankfully, magicians aren’t very friendly in the first place. Isolation is the norm for them.
Momo walks among the crowd as they make their way into the podium room. Whenever the magicians are called by the High Wizards, they obey dutifully. Momo finds it very interesting how well they respond.
She quietly takes her seat and listens as the meeting begins.
“Are all the preparations ready?”
“Yes. The operation is on its scheduled course.”
“Then,” one of the wizards says, projecting his voice to address the rest of the room. “All of you, be ready. In three weeks’ time, we will go to the Dark Forest and seal the Crow Domain.”
“We.” Yeah, right.
During the short while momo’s been here, she’s quickly grasped the general hierarchy. While the wizards have coordinated all the plans and give their dramatic speeches to boost morale, they conveniently leave all the execution to the mages. They remind Momo of the various manipulative politicians in her previous life.
The last syllables of the man’s speech ring throughout the room, and the mages in the audience quickly begin to talk amongst themselves. Momo's ears perk up when the mages sitting next to her begin whispering.
“Hey, what if the Grand Witch shows up to stop us…?”
“Ha, we’re all dead fucking meat if that happens.”
“This isn’t time for jokes. We’ll get imprisoned or executed if we’re caught.”
“Hey, hey, it’s okay! The High Wizards have organized everything so that the Grand Witch doesn’t find out. You trust them, right?”
“Well, yes… Do you really need to ask that?”
“Oi, don’t be so naive. This is a big deal! it’s Yukito Orikasa we’re talking about, you know…”
Grand Witch?
Yukito Orikasa?
Momo feels her blood go cold.
Yukito Orikasa. Yuki, the beautiful silver-haired Grand Witch of the icy Oalia Empire.
This information pops up in Momo’s head before she can even recognize where it came from. She sits in silence for a moment, before almost falling backwards with shock.
Yukito Orikasa is the name of the protagonist in the novel Empire of Ice that I was reading before my death.
Momo blinks and looks around. When had she returned to her room?
I must have spaced out after receiving that shocking information… She flops down onto her bed and stares at the ceiling. I'll have to update my priority list from earlier. This world isn’t just any random magical world.
Momo squeezes her eyes closed and pinches the bridge of her nose. So, in actuality…
Momose Sunohara has reincarnated into the world of a historical fantasy novel she read before her death.
Isn’t this too crazy?
Momo tries to quell the panic rising in her. Pressing the heels of her palms to her eyes, she breathes deeply. Okay. Okay. I finished Empire of Ice several months ago, so let me go over the plot…
Empire of Ice is a european-inspired historical action-packed fantasy web novel that had just recently been adapted into physical form at the time Momo started it. The plot centers around the newly appointed Grand Witch, Yukito Orikasa, and the ordeals she goes through.
At the beginning of the novel, Yuki quells a rebellion from the Magic Tower and further solidifies herself in her new position.
Momo stops here, realization beginning to set in. This is… This is where we are in the plot progression right now.
In under a week, the mages from the Magic Tower will go to seal the Crow Domain in the Dark Forest, and Yuki will appear with the Cavalry. Even though the High Wizards said they had precautions in place, it amounted to nothing, huh…
Momo shivers. She knows very well what happened to all the magicians involved in the rebellion. It was one of the first events in the novel, after all.
If they were lucky, it was life imprisonment. The ones with more involvement, such as the High Wizards, were publicly executed. The real Momose of this world must have been originally involved in this act of rebellion. Then, what happened to her? Was she imprisoned, or was she executed?
Momo sighs. Stressing over things that she can’t double check now is useless, especially when it regards an insignificant fodder character whose name was never even mentioned.
It's best to do what she can right now. Momo pulls out another textbook, skimming through the content. One thing is certain. If I don't change the plot somehow, I might die. But under these circumstances, how can she make a significant change?
As she’s pondering this, the door opens roughly without so much as a knock. Momo's eyebrows furrow as she turns to see the ginger-haired man from earlier standing in the doorway, intent on nagging her as usual. “Do you need an invitation for everything? Or are you trying to starve yourself? The dinner hall’s almost empty. Even if you go now, I doubt you’ll find m—”
“Hey.” Momo says, cutting through his words. “Let me ask you something.”
“Rude bastard,” the man mumbles under his breath. “What is it.”
“Why don’t we just… Halt the plan?”
Golden eyes narrow in displeasure. “Plan…? You mean the High Wizards’ plan to seal the Crow Domain?”
Momo nods slowly. “If we get caught, we’ll all be put to death.”
“Oh, so you’re getting cold feet,” the man sneers, leaning against the doorframe arrogantly. Momo wishes she could slam the door on him. “The High Wizards took care of it, remember? So once we finish sealing the domain and go, anyone who finds out about it will never know who did it.”
How naive, Momo frowns. It’d be obvious, even if by some miracle we aren’t caught. The Magic Tower is one of the only groups in the empire that is outspoken against the Imperial Family. You don’t even need to ponder for a second before the trail leads to this place.
“Ignore that,” the navy-haired girl says with a wave of her hand, annoyance seeping into her voice. “Why do we have to—”
“Momose.”
The man’s cold, hard voice rings throughout the room. “Forget about it. You’re not convincing anyone. Nearly everyone here is so anti-imperialist that they’d die for this cause. If you said something like this in the hallway, there’s not a doubt in my mind that someone would try to kill you.”
He pauses to lick his lips. “So get rid of these foolish thoughts. Next time I see you, you better be back to normal… What’s wrong with you, really…”
With that, the door is promptly shut.
Within the silence, Momo stares blankly at the mirror. Oookay.
So if I try to convince people that we shouldn’t go, I'll get killed, and if I try to desert…
She deliberates over the man’s words. Now that he knows she’s having second thoughts, it’s dangerous to pursue this any further. Faking an injury or disappearing before the mission will only end badly.
But how interesting. I think I understand more about the Magic Tower now.
She hadn’t paid much attention to it while reading Empire of Ice, but it mentioned that the influence of the Imperial Family hadn’t reached the Magic Tower. More accurately, it could have, but didn’t.
Magicians are stubborn, arrogant, and cold people. They harbor contempt for anyone that doesn’t bow down to them, for anyone more powerful than themselves, for anyone that tries to control them. The Imperial Family is all of those things wrapped into one entity.
Knowing the nature of magicians, the Imperial Family likely gave them some space— the guards and knights that roam every inch of the empire were nowhere to be seen near the Magic Tower. Perhaps they thought that being granted this benevolent freedom would make them more amiable, but it had the opposite effect.
With all this freedom of speech and action, magicians became bolder, on the brink of challenging imperial authority as a whole.
And now, Momo muses, they’re about to be put in their place after making the ultimate mistake.
Following their meeting with Yuki and the Cavalry in the forest, the Imperial Army will storm the Magic Tower and imprison everyone. Then, they burn the Magic Tower to the ground.
That's how the empire made a terrifying example out of them. The magenta-eyed girl’s blood goes cold when she imagines herself in that situation.
It seems…
A drastic change of plan is necessary.
Momo spends all her free time studying textbooks and learning magic. The rest of her days, of course, are occupied by the daily classes led by wizards, which she desperately has to catch up in her abilities to be able to understand. Therefore, she takes notes on the lessons in order to come back to them later once she’s reached that level.
It's unavoidable, but many mages she’s never seen before have stopped by her room out of curiosity. Taking actions that deviate from the original Momose’s character bring their consequences, but as expected, no one thinks too much of it since all she’s doing is studying.
“Hey, Momose!”
Momo turns around slowly at the familiar annoying tone. “…You.”
The ginger-haired man scratches the back of his head with furrowed brows. “I have a name, you know!”
I’m sure you do… Not that I know it.
Momo has heard his name on various occasions by now, called out by fellow classmates in the halls. However, strangely enough, she can never remember it. The same oddity applies to all the other mages. Maybe it’s part of the novel’s inner workings. There’s no way the author named all the background characters, so this might be a signifier that their names aren’t important enough to remember.
Because of this, Momo has resigned to calling him ‘Annoying guy’ or ‘Ginger-haired man’ in her head.
He grumbles some more. “…You haven’t been eating properly ever since you started studying like this. Is it because of what I said?”
Momo stares at him. “No. What are you here for?”
The blunt answer riles him up even more, and he quickly walks forward, slamming a tray and lidded clay pot onto her desk. It makes a loud sound, and the desk wobbles at the impact.
“Don’t expect this to happen again! I'm not your delivery man, you bastard…”
Momo stares at him. What a weird guy… Doing things I didn't ask for and getting all worked up by himself… “I don't need it.”
The man’s face goes red in embarrassment of being rejected, and he immediately starts shouting. “So?! I didn’t do it out of the kindness of my heart! I already ate at the normal time, so just eat it or throw it away, I don’t care!”
With that, he stomps out, slamming the door energetically.
Momo sighs and uncovers the pot. The savory aroma of meat floats out, and her mouth waters at the sight of delicious, hot stew and bread. Since I have no choice, I might as well eat. What kind of food am I missing out on, really…?
After eating the soup, Momo’s packed schedule is added to with a new objective. Every afternoon and evening, Momo quickly goes down to the dining hall and grabs a serving of food before returning to her room.
Unfortunately, she soon encounters the annoying guy and the other mages. “Look who decided to come out from their cave. Did the meal I got for you change your mind?”
His haughty voice irritates Momo’s ears. “Why are you acting like you made the food?”
He scowls at her reply. “That's not the point! Idiot, you should have done this from the start…”
Momo shrugs, ignoring him, and begins to walk back to her room, distant yells of frustration in the background.
The past two weeks have been spent non stop studying, and they’ve borne their fruit. Momo has thoroughly mastered her basics— short and long distance magic, intensity control, quantity control, circulating different types of magic throughout her body at once, and so on. Therefore, she’s continued on to more advanced levels, sometimes referencing the lessons she’s recorded from class.
Through her learning, she’s discovered that offensive and defensive magic comes more easily to her than other types. This has its good and bad sides— she can be more capable in battle with her natural talent, but in contrast, her other magic is somewhat underdeveloped.
For now, Momo wants to focus on non-combative magic. After all, it’s the basic expectation for mages of the Magic Tower, and it can also be useful during battle. Controlling elements like wind, fire, water, and earth are the minimum requirement if she wants to progress at all in her training.
Momo stares at the sculptures of ice adorning every inch of her room, and then with a swift wave of her hand, makes them disappear. Turning back to her desk, her eyes catch on the clay pot she’d brought to her room half an hour ago. Despite the lid being closed, she knows something delicious is inside.
Raising the lid, her eyes shine at the sight of a hearty meat dish.
A quick break won’t hurt… I'll get back to practicing in no time.