"Ciiiiiieeeeeeeeelllllllllllllllll…" I sighed, leaning over my desk, and rolling my head around a bit. I was alone in my office again.

[[Yes, darling?]]

"I'm boooooooorrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeedddd." I rolled right off my desk, out of my chair, and onto the floor. I spread my arms out on the floor in a huff.

I glanced up at the picture of myself and another person up on my desk, before glancing at another picture next to it. Then I let out a long sigh. I was starting to miss my time exploring a new world and experiencing something new. It was fifteen years since that started, almost forty-five years since the world finally came to peace.

[[Hehe. Do you want to go to another world and see some sights? You could even solve some issues I have with it while there.]]

"Hm? A world with issues even to you? Well... That is a big deal then, I guess I could head over there." I put my finger on my cheek and thought about it for a few moments. I knew Ciel was likely just offering me this for my fun, she is stronger than me after all. So she could deal with this herself.

[[Do you not want to for some reason?]]

"That's not what I said! I'd love to go to a new world! What is it like?" I couldn't let her just fix it if I dilly-dallied. I need to be useful sometimes, ya know?

[[It is another version of Earth. This one though has magic. I don't want to tell you much else.]]

"Another Earth? Hm... I should probably go to where the interesting stuff is happening then. I already lived in Japan as a human… So. Can I go somewhere else?"

[[That can easily be arranged.]]

"Reliable Ciel as always, I love you." It was something I only said occasionally, but when I did say it, I am sure my face would turn red if it could.

[[Fufu.]] My manas could never get enough of it either, it always left her sending me a lot of positive emotions.

Still, I had to stand up to look at the portal Ciel had created in front of me, a simple wooden door standing in the middle of space. She seemed to be kinda fast about this. She really wanted me to deal with these issues, whatever they were.

After explaining things to my subordinates (again), I ventured through the door that Ciel had conjured up for me.

As I stepped through, I felt a change in my physical form take place and realized that Ciel was altering it to make it closer to human. It wasn't the first time something like this had been done to help me blend into whatever situation I was throwing myself into for the sake of exploration, much like I'm doing now.

I took a closer look at her handiwork as soon as the transport was finished, and found that I'd been made quite short; even shorter than I usually bump around as. I was dressed in what looked like an early-nineties rich-kid private school uniform, but with some odd badge that I'd never seen before. It was clearly Japanese, and unfortunately a girl's uniform, to fit my appearance, pantsuit style.

Any particular reason you made me look like a kid?

This, honestly, isn't the usual way that I go around when checking out a new world for fun, but there have been times I'd done similar for whatever reason.

[[The plan is to enroll you in one of this world's schools to learn about it, so this appearance was necessary.]]

Oh, so we're going with the school kid thing again? Alrighty then.

Another little change she'd made was my hair color, which was now close to black. My eyes remained unchanged, though, so I guess their appearance didn't stand out enough to pose a problem like my silver-blue hair must've.

Once I'd gotten my bearings on the changes to my body, I decided to actually pay attention to my surroundings. I was inside something, maybe some sort of dresser or wardrobe? Pretty weird place to pop into when traveling between worlds, I have to say. Ciel has some strange tastes sometimes.

Not wanting to continue standing inside this dusty piece of furniture, I pushed the doors open and moved to step out…and immediately fell flat on my face.

Stunned for a moment, I lay there unmoving.

What just happened?

I, again, checked out my body and quickly figured it out. Ciel had gone above and beyond with her modifications, it seems, even more than I'd first noticed. On top of many other human traits, this form seems to have a human sense of balance, which is something completely different from what I was used to. Thus, I lost my balance and fell on my first attempt at walking.

I stood up, brushed myself off, and looked around at the room I found myself in.

It seemed like some sort of shop, although everything was covered in a layer of dust and nobody was to be seen. Strange macabre-looking artifacts and old pieces of furniture filled the space, untouched and undisturbed for who knows how long, based on appearances.

It wasn't exactly a very nice place, so unless I had something further to do inside, I had no intention of sticking around.

"Hello?" I switched to my English, as per the little heads-up messages Ciel was giving me in my vision.

I realized pretty quickly that the few people who were in this shop were not very friendly-looking. Luckily, I don't think they started looking at me until after I fell and ate dust, so they didn't see that before I got back up. "Sorry to intrude... I was just passing through." I didn't really have any clue how to explain myself. This world certainly didn't seem that impressive and the objects here looked pretty background to me.

"That don't sound right, miss. What did you come here to sell? I have another client to talk to first, though." He held up an engraved stick and seemed to do a little light show in the air. After that, he turned back to the pair in front of him.

It was a man with thin, blonde hair, and a boy with short hair that looked much the same. They were probably related. I could just ignore them though, they didn't look very magical. Just some humans with a bit more power inside them than the average one from the Cardinal World, so nothing special.

As they kept talking, while I watched. I slowly came to realize, maybe that light show was supposed to stop me from hearing them.

These fancy guys with their edgy goth theme seemed to think I couldn't hear them at least, they were talking about selling what seemed to be illegal items with me standing right there staring at them.

They were in between me and the door, so it's not like I could escape this awkward situation that easily. So, I just stood there, leaned up against the same wardrobe that I'd stepped out of, my arms crossed and my attention trained on their conversation out of pure curiosity.

The man selling the sketchy stuff to who I assumed was the owner of the shop sure had an arrogant attitude; he reminded me of nobles from outside of Tempest that I'd dealt with many times. People like that are just so difficult to tolerate, so I concluded that avoiding talking to him was for the best.

The boy with him, on the other hand, seemed clearly bothered by my staring, unlike the man who was simply ignoring me. The kid was trying his hardest to do the same, but he just couldn't help but glance in my direction, looking very frustrated. It brought a smirk to my lips, seeing his annoyed reaction, and that only seemed to egg him on even more.

By the time the two men were done talking, the boy had had enough. He marched right up to me, his chin raised in the air to the point of comedy. He sneered as he looked down on me in multiple ways, but I maintained my casual demeanor.

"What are you doing here you filthy foreign brat?" he snarled at me.

"Doin' some sightseeing."

"Oh, yeah? Well, I think you should leave. You are stinking this place up with those muddy clothes of yours."

Muddy? I know I got a bit dirty after falling on the floor, but there's no mud on me.

[[This boy is clearly insulting you, darling, you should smite him immediately.]]

No, no, he's just a dumb, arrogant kid. Plus, you went through the trouble of making these clothes for my trip here, didn't you? I wouldn't want to get them all bloody. I think I can cut him a break.

[[Some cutting and breaking can be arranged if you wish, love.]]

Ciel, you know that's not what I meant by that…

I didn't really have a good response to that phrase, so I just stood there, grinning at the boy. Then, the next thing I knew, the man who I assume is his father steps in.

"Come now, Draco. Don't waste your breath on this commoner," he said to the boy, apparently named Draco (what kind of name even is that?) as he laid a hand on his shoulder.

'Commoner', huh? It's been a long time since I've been called that one.

It was honestly pretty amusing, being insulted right to my face like this. It's not something I get to experience often because of my position back home and all the people that would step up and defend me aggressively if anyone decided to do so. So pretty much how Ciel responded, but with a lot more physicality to it.

"Let us leave. There is no reason for us to remain here further." The man said to the boy like it was an order, and the pompous Draco obeyed. He did shoot me a disgusted glare as they stepped out of the shop, but I just repaid that with one of my patented slime-smiles.

"So, what's it you came for, kid?"

"Oh, nothing really. I was just passing through."

"No, there must be a reason you came here, girl."

"Not really…"

I am wearing girls' clothing, damnit…I don't really feel like correcting him, so I'll just go along with it. Wouldn't be the first time.

The man kept staring at me expectantly, and realizing that this is too much trouble, I decided to just sell him something. I was sure I had a random doodad somewhere in my imaginary space that would be harmless.

Oh…maybe that would work…

It's an old experimental gadget that I made years ago that gave me less-than-satisfying results. Useless for me, and a nuisance to normal people who attempt to use it.

I handed the man what appears to be a normal pair of glasses, the only difference being that the lenses have a slight purple tint to them.

"What are these supposed to be?"

"Just try 'em out and you'll see. They are special magic glasses."

"Awful vague of ya, miss…" he grumbled as he examined them closely with some sort of tool. He shrugged, probably not able to gather any useful info with it, and slipped the glasses onto his face.

As soon as he looked through the glasses, he tightly shut his eyes, wincing, and threw them off.

What a shame…they seem to have the same effect as back in my world…

"Bloody hell! Damn brat! I bet you think this is funny, don't you!"

I didn't bother answering him.

As a little consolation prize for the man being a good sport and trying them on, I left the glasses behind and fled the scene.

So…why did the shopkeep freak out just then? Well, those glasses were an attempt at night-vision goggles but made with magic. Simple enough, right? Yeah, such a device would be useless for anyone with Magic Sense or anything better than that, but I still wanted to try making them. Well, they, unfortunately, turned out to work a little too well, the brightness they bring to your sight is enough to temporarily blind the wearer if they are dependent on their eyes to see, which is the only kind of person that would benefit from them in the first place.

A failure, you could easily conclude, but I held onto them anyway for no real reason. I have many things like that lying around in my Imaginary Space (Ciel nags me about it quite often). Well, at least I got some amusement out of them. That's better than just squirreling them away for eternity, never to be used again.

I walked along the dark alley for some time. It was pretty funny to see people glaring at me, and some of them even threatened me with those funny sticks. I didn't know what they were, but maybe that is just how they used their super weak magic?

Well, once I got out of that dark alley and onto what seemed like more of a crowded main street, the threats and glares pretty much stopped. I did get a few odd looks from some of the crowd, but I chalked that up to my difference in clothes. I wasn't exactly dressed like the rest of them, so it was no wonder I was grabbing a little attention here and there.

Now that I was a little more acclimated, I was starting to realize that the concentration of magicules was super low. Those wands (funny sticks) definitely had the most out of anything I'd seen, the people also looked a lot more colorful as I adjusted to it.

So... Should I get one of those sticks then, Ciel?

A new objective popped up in my vision, all it said was 'get wand,' and nothing more. It explained a lot I guess, western wizards had that trope, right? Instead of staffs, they used twigs… For some reason.

So, I began looking around for a place I could get one, but I was also just considering making one myself. Replicating that kinda thing would be pretty easy. I wanted an authentic experience though. So I instead began tracking down the largest source of magicules I could find.

Eventually, I found myself at the stoop of a weird-looking shop with misted windows. So I got up to the door and waved the large metal knock to see if I might be let inside.

The door, after a few moments of resting still, just crooked open on its own.

"Wow, that is pretty cool." I peeked my head in and glanced around a few times.

"Ello Miss, what brings you to Ollivander's? Here for a wand? You look around the age for one to take a liking to you."

What's that supposed to mean? Take a liking to me?

That's when I realized; from every single box around the room, I could sense an extremely weak will. Much like an aged, tried and true magical weapon, these wands have a mind of their own on some level, but at the same time, this didn't make any sense. They didn't contain nearly enough magicules to warrant that, yet that's just how they were. I guessed it just had to do with this being a different world with different laws of nature. This one seems a lot simpler and less powerful, so a will forming in such a lesser world with so little magic might be more possible.

"You are lookin' at me like I just said that your coat was flying away. Although I suppose with some of the pranksters around here, that could be happening very slowly." He rubbed his chin thoughtfully before reaching over some of the drawers and pulling out a box. "Here, this is the most common core. A simple Dragon Heart String and I got a Unicorn Hair here too, just in case that doesn't suit you."

I tilted my head and stood up to walk over to the man. "What kind of models would have names like that?" Then I stopped realizing that may sound weird. "I'd like anything you have that is plenty sturdy." I walked up to the man's counter and stood directly in front of him.

"Well, what kinds of things do you value in your friends?"

"Well..." I thought back on all my subordinates for a moment, and only one word really came to mind. "Dependability, I suppose."

"Dependability, hm?" The old man nodded and went to his third shelf. "Alright, tell me your favorite thing to do."

"I really like food, I will eat almost anything so long as I know the person cooking it. I especially like cultural foods from all over the world." It was one of my simpler passions and seemed believable for a kid.

"Oh, I see. A bit of a connoisseur then?"

"You could say that."

The old man went to the end of the shelf. "Have you ever used a spell on purpose?" I caught a glimmer of something important in that question.

I didn't quite know what to say, but I didn't think it'd be that unbelievable for a kid to use magic intentionally, at least not among wizards. "A few times yea." It was a massive understatement.

"Ah, impressive, miss." The old man nodded one last time, then moved to a specific box on the shelf, and pulled it out. "Come up here, try this one out."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes yes, no worries about it, right?" The old man had a sly look in his eye now, and to be honest, it got me a little excited. This must be something really special to the people in this world.

So, I walked up to the counter and waited patiently.

The old man just gingerly handed me the box and helped me unwrap it to reveal a finely carved instrument, which is probably how they'd think about it.

To me, it was still just a stick, but a stick with a brain. An acacia stick with unicorn hair in it, seemingly, but still just a stick.

"Go ahead and take it, try it out."

"Okay…" I carefully took the handle of the stick and felt it shake and shiver in my hand. "Is it… scared of me? It seems scared."

"I've... never seen a wand react like that before." The old man patted the wand softly. "Well... You can still try it, I doubt it would cause any harm."

"Okay-"

"Oh, the name's Ollivander, by the way. Just like the shop." Ollivander excitedly told me who he was. He was just a really nice old man it seemed.

"We'll see…" I pointed the wand and flicked it, pushing a tiny amount of magicules through it. In a moment it completely turned to dust in my hands. Just instantly. I think at that point, I came to realize why it was scared of me.

The dust fell to the floor and blew around a bit as the magicules ravenously ate away at any remaining matter the wand had to offer.

Ollivander stared on in complete disbelief and horror for a moment, before softly saying. "Oh my... I've never seen anything like it… You may have been right, young miss." His eyes spoke a true sense of loss as if I had just killed his own child right in front of him.

Don't ask how I know what that looks like.

I nodded and glanced around at the hundreds of boxes that were lining the walls. Every single one of them was shivering with fear; I could both see and feel it.

"Maybe…I should just go. I'll pay for the wand I…broke…and I'll be on my way."

"Perhaps that is for the best." the flustered old man answered.

Based on the scans I did on the populace, I created some currency, which is all coins for whatever reason. Ciel had previously told me the time I jumped to is 1992, so the lack of paper currency around here was kinda mind-baffling, but whatever.

"Here. Keep any extra that's in there. I hope your next customer has a bit more luck than I just did." I said as I handed the kindly old man a sack full of golden coins.

"Wait one moment, young miss. I don't want to see a child leaving without me providing them with something as incredibly important as their first wand. I may not be able to do anything for you today, but, I can take a custom order. If you bring me a wand core material that you have a personal connection with, I just may be able to create a wand that is compatible with you."

"A personal connection?"

"Perhaps something from a magical creature that you have befriended, or possibly the core from a wand that belonged to one of your ancestors. Anything magically derived that favors you would have a better chance of working."

Or something made with my own magical force? Sure, I think I can cook something up for this man to work with.

"I'll do that. Thank you, Mr. Ollivander."

"May I get your name before you go?"

"It's Rimuru. Rimuru Tempest. See ya soon."

With my casual introduction taken care of, I left the shop and found a nice spot to sit.

I realized just how confusing and complicated the street really was along the way. As a bit of a city planner myself, it left me unsatisfied. I knew at least half of these people must have walked several minutes longer just from the complications of the road.

I was determined to create something that would suffice for a wand's materials, though, so I just had to ignore the street layout... I just observed the passersby while I worked since there wasn't much else I could do while in the process.

Why was this? I was about to use something that would demand a great deal of my focus. Time to use some Turn Null without the help of Ciel. Yeah, I'd keep it to the inside of my imaginary space, focusing internally to manipulate the nihilistic energy while doing pretty much nothing from an outsider's perspective. There's no way I'd open that can of worms out in public, let alone in such a weak world. It would collapse reality itself if I slipped up, possibly. So, lots of trouble and clean-up for me to take care of, and that didn't sound like much fun to me.

So, over the next few hours, I worked away, mainly focusing on the coalescence of the Turn Null energy into a workable material. Once I was finished, I was left with what looked to be a thick, black, strand; blacker than any other substance that could possibly exist. It almost looked like a tear in space, but I promise you it was nothing that unstable. It was incredibly stable, actually; that was the main goal when I was crafting it. A massive amount of power stored in an object in a way that I was the only individual who could utilize and/or release it.

Even if Velzard chucked a few universes at it, this little string wouldn't budge, so there's no way that old man Ollivander could screw up while making my wand with it.

And, if anyone else tried using it once it's been incorporated into my custom wand, they'd get the same results as they would from any average wand on the streets. Only I can use its full potential and this, of course, is for the sake of the balance of this world. Sheesh, now I'm sounding like that hot-headed demon…

But, in all seriousness, I couldn't make something like this in good conscious without restricting it from any use by others in some way, even back in the Cardinal World.

Oh, and I should mention that I'd made some pseudo-wooden material for the outer part of the wand too. It was also very black, similar to the core I created, but not to an unsettling degree like with the Null Matter. That was what I dubbed the stuff I made for the core of the wand, and I didn't think this would be the last time I'll create some.

The wood was just wood, but able to withstand massive amounts of magical force. But, its physical durability was within reason because Ollivander still has to work with it. If I'd made it incredibly hard, he wouldn't be able to shape it at all, and then I'd have to do the rest of the work myself. Plus, I can just harden it later after he's done with it.

Immediately after finishing, I returned to Ollivander's shop. He looked surprised when I entered, probably not expecting me to come back so soon.

"I got what you asked for so you can get started on my wand."

I placed the materials on the counter in front of him, wrapped gently in a piece of hellmoth silk for effect.

"That was quick, but I cannot complain. To be honest, I was excited to see what you might bring back with you!"

He sounded absolutely thrilled to be working with the stuff.

"May I ask what these are, exactly? I do not recognize these materials, but I can tell they are very high-quality just by looking at and touching them."

How was he able to notice that? Does he have some sort of appraisal skill?

This world is not under the Voice of the World system, so there's no way that's the case, but maybe he has a more rudimentary ability to analyze and assess magic materials like these that aren't skill-based.

"Uh…Shade-Cloth String and Ebonwood." I just made up some BS names for the materials and gave no further explanation. "And please don't ask me where I got them."

"If you insist…I will get to work right away. This will take me a day or two."

The old man was definitely sparkling with the enthusiasm of a true artisan, which put a smile on my face. Knowing it would be best to just let him get to work in peace, I left the shop a second time.

I knew Ciel would have more in store for me, but what I didn't know until I was suddenly shown a little glowing path on my HUD, I knew these well. They were a pain to follow in games like Fable.

Still, with the new objective, 'Register an ID,' I could have a general idea of what kind of place I was being led to. I just needed to be careful not to bump into anyone unknowingly.

I ended up following the glowing path right up to the front of a glass door, but a really weirdly foggy glass door. It also looked around the same age as Veldora himself. So I tried to pull it open, and it opened surprisingly easily.

It revealed a room that was pitch black but was lined with a row of reception counters, with a very long queue right in the middle. The longest queue I'd ever seen actually, it was so... British.

It took hours and hours of waiting for it to be my turn. Things got so bad that I started playing board games inside my mind with Ciel, and that's never an enjoyable pastime. She always wins no matter what and there's nothing I can do about it, because I feel like if she didn't win, Ciel would be distraught.

So, I lose on purpose.

…

What, you don't believe me? I could win against her if I actually tried! Maybe only once in a hundred or so games, but I could still win!

Playing a losing game will always be better than the boredom of standing in a queue all day anyway.

It wasn't until I was standing right in front of them, that I realized just how damn tall these counters were. They were at least slightly taller than a full-grown adult, and I mean a full-grown British adult.

Who the hell designs these things?! These counters are even more ridiculous than some of the ones I've encountered in the Western Nations!

It was as if they were designed to have you feel looked down on while interacting with the government employee, and after considering that possibility, I came to the conclusion that might actually be the intention behind the height.

I sighed and turned up to the young lady sitting there. "Hello Miss, I'd like to register my ID here…" I got a new objective to take my papers from my coat pocket after I said that. So I abided by Ciel's instructions and reached into them to grab an envelope to hand the lady.

She took them gingerly and began rifling through the papers inside. "Ah, an exchange student from Japan, I see. Your English is excellent, I must say. Did you learn from an American?"

"Uh, yeah. You could say that." I waited a few moments, taking in the story as the Lady narrated my own life here to me more or less. Or, the life I would have had if this identity was real. It honestly did feel like a video game starting cutscene.

"Alright, miss, I'll need you to go aside, there is a door in the back with the tracing room. You'll need to go back there and give them this token, it has your ID information on it." She had to lean down pretty far to hand me the actual token itself, almost falling off the counter in the process.

I took the token and nodded. "Do I come back here afterward?"

"You'll need to wait in the queue again, miss." She used some kind of spell to give me my documents back while giving me the message of doom.

I'm an immortal being, but I might die here.

[[That is an incredibly unrealistic expectation, dear.]]

Well, maybe you should wait in line for me!

[[...]]

I shook my head at my own thoughts, as I turned to walk to the back room of the registration office.

Walking into the scarily thin door, I was presented with an orb on a lower counter, with a slot in the pedestal it was standing on. There was a gruff old man standing next to it.

"Present your token. Place your hand on the orb of dominance. Keep in mind this is a charm, not a curse. Despite the foreboding name of the artifact, you have nothing to be concerned about. It only detects unlawful uses of magic while you are still under the age of majority. Please refrain from using spells deemed improper by the Ministry of Magic outside of classes ordained for their use." The old man sounded like he'd said this about a billion times, and he was clearly acting as a magic battery for the orb. So that must've been a pretty taxing job.

Uh, Ciel? Is this really okay?

[[A being such as yourself could never be detected by such a simple use of magic. Therefore, I will sustain a fake feed of information.]]

With my worries assuaged by Ciel, I stepped up to go through the procedure to comply with the laws of this place.

I gave the man the token I'd been given, before gingerly placing my hand on the orb. I could see a few magicules get pulled into the man's body, then into the orb. After that, they flooded around me and kinda just got caught before they could bounce off by Ciel. Then, they were turned into a little magic marble I doubted these people could see, and placed in my imaginary space.

The man waited a few moments. "It seems to be working, you may go now..."

Now…back to letting my immortal existence waste away waiting in the queue of despair and suffering. The most torturous of tortures, something I bet Ultima would enjoy utilizing in her work.

By the time I finally escaped that hellish line, it was the middle of the night.

What is wrong with this place?! Keeping me up this late when they are under the impression I'm an 11-year-old child! Don't they realize that children need their sleep!?

[[Honey, you are neither a child nor do you require sleep.]]

Yeah, but it's the principle! Those Ministry of Magic people don't know that, yet this still happened!

[[Rimuru, go find somewhere to rest and take advantage of it.]]

Yeah, yeah…I'll stop whining…

I managed to track down an inn to get some shut-eye in. But, strangely enough, it seemed to be a sort of bridge between this Diagon Alley place and normal London. Like, London with no magic whatsoever. Pretty much what I'd expect from my original world, not one with witches and wizards.

The separation was stark, and to be honest, disturbing.

The two societies and cultures were callously segregated; the two groups either not being aware of each other or willingly disregarding their counterpart completely.

As someone who strove for unity and understanding between races as well as carefully crafting a society that embraces everyone, regardless of what their talents are, discovering that magical humans in this world live entirely separate from non-magical ones was a sad sight to see.

The worst part was, I could see flaws in both sides that could be remedied by working with the other. Wizard society seems to be stuck in the past. They have a complete lack of modern tech, but instead have an abundance of magic-based innovations. This still hasn't brought them up to a very high standard of living, though.

The non-magical humans, called muggles (that name sounds like an insult to me), apparently aren't even aware of the wizards' existence. If they were, working with the wizards and witches could lead to so many new inventions that are hybrids of both societies' tech. Tempest thrives on a mix of Earth tech and applied magic, and much of the same could be done here (at least to a limited degree).

They could be centuries ahead of where they are now, and that goes especially for the tech-deprived wizard side of things.

It's sad to see wasted potential like this. Sad enough to get me a bit angry and disgusted.

It made me want to change it.

But, it's not my place to.

I have no right to intervene in a world where I'm simply a visitor. Whether I like the practices here or not, getting involved would be even more egregious than interfering with a foreign country in my world.

If anyone who works under me saw my displeasure, they'd probably do something about this world before I could stop them…better to not have anyone follow me here from home. Ever.

To be honest, learning that fact about this world kinda took the wind out of my sails and dampened my wanderlust that was driving me to explore this new place.

Feeling done with it all, I just plopped hard onto the bed in the room I'd rented and immediately knocked myself out.