Aozaki Aoko [601-603] (Patreon)

Chapter 601: Family Dinner

Alice had no particular comments about the new Kuonji residence that Aoko built in the demi-plane, but she still chose to stay there for the time being.

No doubt, for Aoko, this silent acceptance meant more than any verbal praise from Alice ever could. After all, she understood Alice's personality far too well.

As long as Alice was willing to stay for a while, it meant Aoko's efforts had been up to par. This second home had become a cozy cat den, approved even by picky Alice.

Thinking of this, a proud smile spread across Aoko's face as she hummed a tune while preparing dinner.

Hisui and Kohaku had just returned home for vacation from Asakami Girls' Academy (Aoko's old middle school). Add in the reward for that freeloading Touko, and a grand dinner was inevitable.

As for the location? The new Kuonji mansion in the demi-plane was perfect. Hisui and Kohaku preferred this place, full of fairies and strange creatures, over Misaki Town.

Aoko wasn't sure if this was ideal for the girls' upbringing, but in magus families, children were always exposed to all sorts of things. Some didn't even use modern tech; hanging out with fairies was hardly a negative trait.

Once dinner was ready, Aoko summoned her invisible servants. They loaded the dishes onto the cart and wheeled them into the dining room, while Aoko took off her apron and chef's hat and let out a small sigh of relief.

With a snap of her fingers, the scene shifted instantly—she moved from the kitchen right into the dining room, where everyone who could make it to the family dinner had already gathered.

Though the Kuonji dining room was luxurious in both style and size, this was still just a family meal, so there weren't too many rules. Some people started digging in as soon as the food arrived.

Among them were Artoria, who was eating with gusto, and Kohaku, whose mouth was covered in icing. Hisui tried to remind them to mind their manners, but it didn't seem to work.

Alice was chatting with Touko, while Gray sat quietly between Artoria and Morgan, sipping juice.

Aoko naturally sat between Touko and Alice, cutting into their conversation. To outsiders, it might look like she was showing off, but everyone here was used to it and didn't think it strange.

"So, how is it?" Aoko asked Touko. "Is this feast enough to pay the salary of the great Third Magician?"

"It's passable," Touko shrugged, scooping up some paella. "Tastes a bit different though. Did you use some weird spices?"

"Got them from Faerûn," Aoko replied. "A lot of the herbs there don't exist on Earth, so it's a rare treat."

"Really? Then I'd better eat more. Yum!"

Touko had zero resistance to rare limited-edition goods—including food. If Aoko hadn't gotten her hands on the holy grail golds, she wouldn't be able to afford Touko's spending habits.

"...Any leads on exploring the new world?" Alice asked quietly after a bite of strawberry mousse.

"Sort of. I've narrowed the area down, but I still need to run some calculations and do a large-scale divination ritual to get the exact coordinates," Aoko replied. "This time, the method's different from before. I'll be piloting a demi-plane out of our home crystal sphere... It's my first attempt, so I need to prepare carefully."

"Is it like the time we went to the Land Between?" Touko wiped her mouth and asked.

"No, this crystal sphere is much farther away than the Land Between," Aoko answered after thinking. "Or rather, 'far' and 'near' become vague concepts outside the crystal sphere, and the farther we go, the stranger the 'mystery' becomes."

"Aoko, are you going to another world for adventure again?" Kohaku asked, eyes shining. "Can Hisui and I come too? We'll behave, promise!"

"Of course!" Aoko replied without hesitation. As the one with highest authority over the demi-plane, she could control who entered or left, so she wasn't worried about the girls running into trouble.

"Really?!" Kohaku was shocked—Aoko and Alice had always been strict about where they could go, hardly ever letting them roam outside safe zones.

Touko didn't care about such things; the Aozaki family had a free-spirited attitude, and the previous Magus didn't bother raising kids at all.

Alice was strict because she herself was raised that way, but Aoko was different. She truly knew how dangerous the Nasuverse was, especially for young girls who knew a little magecraft. Kohaku, as one of the Big Four Victims of the Nasuverse, was especially a concern.

Aoko didn't really believe in worldline correction. She'd already thrown the original story into chaos, but just because she wasn't afraid didn't mean the less experienced kids wouldn't be at risk. Precautions were still necessary.

"This time is different," Aoko said, ruffling the twins' hair. "I've found a special method—we can all go and see the world together!"

"Yay! Thank you, Aoko!" Kohaku was so happy she pounced on Aoko, cuddling her. Aoko found it cute and gave her a gentle hug.

But for some reason, the looks from Hisui and Alice were a little... piercing.

"Sis, that's so rude! And sneaky!" Hisui quickly pulled Kohaku off and started scolding her like a little adult, making Kohaku's eyes go swirly.

Chapter 602: Drilling Experiment

Since this was a family trip, Aoko tried to include as many people as possible.

The clone Irisviel was sent by Touko to Germany to manage the Einzbern Castle. Illya and Caren were both being cared for as daughters by Irisviel.

But while Irisviel was mature in ability, in terms of personality, even young Caren was more mature than she was. Caren's understanding of common sense often surpassed Irisviel's.

Sometimes it was hard to tell who the mother actually was. (

Still, while Caren was reliable, her maturity had some issues—she'd already learned how to tease others at her age and needed some correction.

She often played harmless pranks on Illya, making her mad, but always apologized properly when Irisviel scolded her. The two had a good relationship, like a younger version of Aoko and Touko.

At least Caren wasn't as delightfully wicked as her infamous priest father. There was still hope for her.

Teleporting to Einzbern Castle, Aoko was greeted by Sella and Leysritt.

"Lady Irisviel is teaching Miss Illya and Miss Caren Einzbern alchemy," Sella reported. "Would you like me to take you to them?"

"No rush," Aoko said, shaking her head. "Let's have some tea first. You two are involved in this too, after all."

"Lady Aoko, did you bring those yummy snacks this time?" Leysritt asked, stepping in close—much closer than strictly necessary. Her arms slid around Aoko's, pressing her plush figure against Aoko's side. The soft, pillowy sensation made Aoko's eyebrow twitch; Leysritt's innocent eyes were anything but.

Wow... the Einzbern tech is really something. Do you guys test magi like this on purpose?

"Of course," Aoko replied with a smile, her expression unchanged. "But you'll have to make the tea, alright?"

"Leave it to us!" Leysritt let go and struck a muscle pose, though she looked as soft as ever.

Originally Illya's exclusive maids, Sella and Leysritt had been upgraded by Touko. Their flaws were fixed, their personalities more human.

Sella, the elder, was strict and serious, good at cooking, a master of Einzbern alchemy, and Illya and Caren's etiquette teacher. After her upgrade, she even picked up some bad habits from Irisviel and doted on the girls.

By contrast, Leysritt was more like a friend to Illya and Caren, often helping Caren with her mischief (perhaps with some delightful potential). She was a bit airheaded, a bit sly, and, unlike Sella, was great at using melee weapons and very strong.

After class, the two girls trudged into the dining room for lunch, only to find Aoko there, along with Leysritt, who was happily devouring snacks.

"Ah! Sister Aoko's snacks!" Illya shouted. "Leysritt, how could you start without us?"

"Ohohoho, well, you and Caren still have classes, don't you?" Leysritt said smugly, biting into a snack.

While Illya and Leysritt bickered, Caren and Irisviel had already quietly sat down and started eating cake.

"Mom, Caren, you...!"

Fuming, Illya abandoned the argument and joined the race to eat.

The snack-filled tea party left everyone satisfied, especially the kids. Normally, Sella didn't allow sweets at mealtimes; only when Aoko visited with snacks did she make an exception.

Sella herself loved sweets too... Illya grumbled to herself.

While enjoying snacks, Aoko explained the purpose of her visit. Sella was a bit worried about the safety of interdimensional travel, but accepted after Aoko's assurances.

There was still plenty of time before departure, but the kids were already excited, even focusing better in class. Sella had to admit—things are always two-sided.

Aoko, preparing to take the entire demi-plane to another crystal sphere, decided to do a test run—using the demi-plane's magic ship to pierce the crystal wall.

Synchronizing with the mythal core, she transported the demi-plane through repeated long-range jumps and the Fifth Magic's Redshift ability, reaching the edge of the Nasu Crystal Sphere.

The distance was about from Earth to the Oort Cloud.

After many world crossings, Aoko had studied the Nasuverse: the universe is made up of countless crystal spheres clustered like soap bubbles in the sea of ether.

That's why every planet, system, galaxy, or cluster can have its own physics—sometimes overlapping, sometimes totally different.

So, instead of one big universe, it's a multitude of worlds.

But in the sea of ether, there's no real concept of time or space—it's like sailing through imaginary space. As long as you have the right world parameters, you can go anywhere.

Only the most powerful entities—Ultimate One or planet-eaters—could do this before. But Aoko borrowed technology from the Forgotten Realms to make crystal sphere traversal easier.

But this time, she wasn't going alone or with a couple of people. She was bringing the entire demi-plane, which was far more difficult, even with the mythal core's help.

She needed to drill a hole in the crystal wall.

Chapter 603: Crystal Wall Drilling Test

"So this is the so-called crystal wall..." Touko stood by Aoko, watching as she nervously manipulated the mythal core, blasting the nonexistent wall with magic. "...Turns out our understanding of the universe was pretty shallow."

"After you drill a hole in the crystal wall, will it stay there forever?" Alice voiced her concern.

"Of course not," Aoko answered. "The crystal wall is the embodiment of cosmic law. Even if it gets damaged, it will quickly repair itself after we pass through. These things flow straight from the Root; they're not that easy to break—unless..."

"Unless you use the Fifth Magic to burn an entire crystal sphere to heat death, right?" Touko interjected. "I get it, I get it~"

Aoko shot her a look but didn't argue. Touko was right: the Fifth Magic is all-consuming, bad for the universe on a macro scale.

Crystal spheres in the Nasuverse are somewhat observer effect based. Before Aoko, a semi-outsider, brought in foreign rules, the boundaries were vague—defined more by where rules changed than by fixed borders.

Back then, the crystal wall wasn't tangible, and the local sapient beings hadn't noticed it.

For the natives (including gods), their range usually didn't go beyond the solar system, so the sphere's range was the solar system itself.

Then Aoko arrived, merged with her local counterpart, and made her first interworld trip, making the concept of a physical crystal wall take root in the universe.

In a way, Aoko was doing things as disruptive as Marisbury, at least in terms of impact.

Touko watched as Aoko controlled the mythal core to produce a massive, pitch-black drill, smashing into the previously nonexistent wall in space, wondering what lay beyond.

What exactly is the ether in the sea of ether? Aoko's explanations were too abstract, and even with all her world-hopping, she'd never actually seen it firsthand.

Now, the fragments of the crystal wall looked to Touko like colorless or multi-colored translucent hexagonal tiles. As Aoko's drill worked, more and more fragments appeared, but they quickly evaporated from the physical universe.

The wall's self-repair was fighting against Aoko's destruction, but it was no match for the deliberate might of the Fifth Magician.

In Touko's mind, when Aoko pierced the wall, it was as if she heard "crack"—the sound of glass shattering.

There shouldn't be sound in the vacuum of space, but the sound wasn't an illusion. The concept of boundary-breaking was being transmitted by the rule itself, and her keen mind picked it up.

This was just a sign of her magical prowess.

"So this is the Sea of Ether..."

Aoko used a scrying mirror to observe the hole she'd drilled. Inside, endless amber liquid churned.

If it were a normal magic ship, they'd have to rush through while the hole lasted. But today was just a test, so they didn't enter the ether sea, merely watching the hole slowly close.

The amber liquid churned beyond the opening, but not a drop leaked into their universe—this was the nature of ether.

In occult terms, ether is not water, not earth, not fire, not air, flammable and explosive, but unable to enter the crystal sphere.

If it's matter, ether can't enter the material plane; if you enter it, space and time become completely chaotic.

Its flammable and explosive nature was discovered by bold magi experimenting, but when someone tried to light ether on fire, it didn't explode as expected—a baffling property.

Scholars concluded that ether is not matter but some kind of phenomenon that becomes physical when it enters the material plane.

Magic ships use currents in the ether sea for propulsion. Why are there currents? The answer might be that the ether is constantly exploding.

Thus, some routes between crystal spheres are easy to traverse, others are tough, and ships consume different amounts of energy depending on the route.

"Looks like your experiment worked?" Touko asked.

"It's our experiment," Aoko corrected her. "We're in this together, right?"

"You're right," Touko smiled. "Last time we went to the Land Between, we just blinked and arrived—didn't feel like a journey at all."

"Dimensional teleportation and magic ships work differently, and you can only bring a few people with magic," Aoko explained. "This time, we're using the demi-plane as a magic ship for a proper voyage."

"By the way," Aoko paused, "I've got some details on the new world."

"Is it like the place Touko visited last time?" Alice asked.

"No, if anything, it's like our own Earth," Aoko shook her head. "You could call it a parallel world, set in the near future—maybe a few decades from now?"

"Oh?" Touko raised an eyebrow. "A future Earth where mystery has faded even further?"

"Well... actually, the opposite," Aoko said thoughtfully. "The people there are special. They look like us, but are actually fragments of a great being... Only, at the time I observed, most of them had already died."

"Sounds rough," Touko commented. "Anything worth bringing back?"

"There is." Aoko looked at her seriously, making Touko uneasy.

She remembered—the last time Aoko looked at her like this was when she'd decided to defeat her sister and seize the Aozaki crest. The outcome hadn't been pretty; Aoko was very vengeful.

"That world might be the Third Magician's real stage."