The floor I lived on in my apartment was much higher compared to ordinary apartments.
There were only three buildings in total, but those three towers soared as high as typical skyscrapers, offering a full view of Seoul below.
Of course, it wasn’t as if tall buildings didn’t exist in Irellexia.
The height of the mage tower where Dana had been was not exactly low compared to the buildings in this world.
While it was shorter compared to the apartment complexes covering downtown Seoul, it was still almost unimaginably high for a tower carved and built from massive stone blocks.
But even so, when compared to these ultra-high-rise apartments, its peak was far lower.
“So, you’re telling me all these buildings were built without magic?”
Dana said as she looked down at the city below through the window.
Thanks to the sky painted red by the sunset, the view of the city was breathtakingly beautiful.
The light reflecting off the Han River sparkled so brilliantly that no matter how many times I saw it, I never got tired of it.
Honestly, I was experiencing firsthand why homes in such places were so expensive.
Compared to the semi-basement house I lived in as a child… I honestly questioned whether this place could really be in the same city.
“Maybe it’s because there’s no magic… Or no, maybe Irellexia could’ve become like this too if there had been no Demon King.”
“Well, that’s not necessarily true.”
Kalia, who was standing beside Dana and also looking down, replied.
The four party members had been standing side by side in front of the window, gazing outside for quite some time now.
This apartment wasn’t the tallest building in Seoul, nor were we even at the top floor… but we were likely at a height far greater than looking down from the tallest point in any kingdom.
In Irellexia, the only way to reach this kind of height would probably be to climb the World Tree.
“Even with the Demon King, there were decades to centuries of peaceful periods in between.
I don’t think this land was free of war either. But that doesn’t mean they spent hundreds of years building buildings just for people to live in.”
……
Kalia’s words made sense.
This country, too, had suffered a terrible war at one point, where most of its land turned to ruins, and even this building—well, I wasn’t sure exactly, but I doubt it took more than a decade to build.
From what I know, even the tallest building in Seoul took less than ten years.
“The difference is too extreme to blame it solely on the Demon King.”
That was the conclusion Kalia came to.
But I thought Kalia’s conclusion was only half correct. While this world’s scale was undoubtedly ahead, the royal capital was still an impressive city in its own right.
A meticulously planned city, built as humanity’s last bastion, fortified down to the finest detail.
The kingdom continued to implement its well-devised plan gradually, anticipating further growth and expansion over the coming centuries.
The central district, where the royal castle stood, was especially awe-inspiring, with its perfect symmetry and artistic grandeur visible when standing in the middle of the road.
“Shihyun’s probably right. Since they didn’t have magic, they had to go crazy advancing in all sorts of other ways, unlike us, who relied on magical development for everything.”
“But there are still advantages to magic. Things like teleportation gates don’t exist in this world.”
Of course, teleportation had various restrictions, but being able to instantly travel to another region under certain conditions was an enormous advantage. In fact, I thought Irellexia’s logistics system was far superior to this world’s.
The absolute volume might be lower due to reduced production, but the way they rapidly paved paths and established supply routes behind our advances was truly remarkable.
If you compared it to a courier company, it would be like delivering goods directly from the sender to the recipient without any intermediate logistics center, with a well-organized system managing all those complex movements. Admittedly, I didn’t know the specifics, but it was impressive nonetheless.
So, beyond appearances, both worlds clearly had their own pros and cons.
“…But everyone,”
Fia, who had been absentmindedly watching the sunset, suddenly spoke as if something had just come to mind.
“How long are we going to stand here staring outside? We have a lot to discuss with Shihyun, don’t we?”
“……”
At Fia’s words, Kalia, Arna, and Dana flinched.
Then, hesitantly, they turned to face me.
The three of them, when they met my gaze, smiled a little awkwardly.
Right, they still weren’t used to me yet.
…Well, it was understandable. It wasn’t just my appearance that had changed—my gender had completely changed as well. Even I, after being here for quite some time, still found myself startled when I looked in the mirror.
I placed the tray I had been holding onto the table. On the tray were a variety of fruits.
“Alright, let’s sit down and talk. I want to hear how you’ve all been doing.”
When I smiled and gestured toward the living room sofa, they all nodded.
*
Even though there were five people, including me, the living room was so spacious that it didn’t feel crowded at all.
Still, I was glad I had been regularly cleaning the sofa, which was usually almost empty.
Since there was nothing else to do at home, I had kept all the other rooms spotless, so fortunately, there was no need to panic about not having a place to sleep today.
…Well, to be honest, it was more that I had been maintaining the habit of cleaning whenever I noticed something out of place while wandering around at night.
“So, what you’re saying is that when you asked to be turned into a completely unrecognizable form so you wouldn’t hurt anyone, you ended up like this?”
Kalia nodded.
“That’s right. If even my gender changed, no one would recognize me… The goddess definitely fulfilled my request perfectly.”
When I nodded back at Kalia, Dana spoke up next.
“So, how was it? Being a woman? Is it much different from when you were a man?”
At first, it sounded like she was teasing me… but the expression on Dana’s face was nothing but serious. For her, this was a completely new phenomenon she hadn’t experienced before, so it was natural for someone as curious as her to react this way.
“It doesn’t feel as strange as I expected. I guess the hardest part is getting used to being shorter.”
“So you’re saying that the soul can adapt to a body with a completely different appearance without much issue?”
“…Wouldn’t it be faster to ask the goddess about that?”
“That’s definitely a topic worth exploring. After all, the concept of the soul is also important in theology.”
“Oh, that reminds me. There were times in the past when the goddess descended into the bodies of saints. That might mean the soul doesn’t depend much on outward appearances. But in that case, within one’s consciousness…”
Watching Dana immediately dive into another exploration after Fia’s comment, I let out a dry laugh.
Fia, ever diligent, nodded along several times as she listened to Dana.
The two of them used to clash often in the beginning, but… now, there was no trace of that.
Whether it was theology or magic, in the end, digging deep enough led to the essence of humanity itself. In a way, it was inevitable that they would eventually see eye to eye.
“Arna, don’t you have anything to say?”
Kalia asked, stabbing a piece of apple with a fork.
“…Right.”
Arna, who had been lost in thought until then, slowly opened her mouth after Kalia spoke.
“Shihyun.”
“Huh?”
When Arna called my name, I responded cheerfully. She gave me a small smile before asking,
“Did you lie to me?”
“…Huh?”
At Arna’s words, my hand, which had been bringing an apple to my mouth like Kalia, froze mid-air.
Fia and Dana, who had been talking, also fell silent, as if they’d heard her. Kalia, who was about to bite into her apple, slowly lowered her hand again.
“Lie? What do you mean?”
Suddenly faced with the serious gazes of four people, I felt a bit flustered.
“The Prophet said he would return you to your original world. That’s what you told us, right?”
“…Yeah, so?”
I mean, I did come back to the original world.
“But what he actually promised you was to grant your wish. He didn’t specifically say he would send you back to your original world, did he?”
“….”
I closed my mouth.
Uh, um…
Well, technically, that’s true.
“And it feels like there’s something missing in what you said. Was your wish really the only reason your body ended up like that?
Could there have been another reason? Even for a goddess, it wouldn’t have been easy to create a new body and settle your soul into it.”
At this point, Arna’s gaze was so intense that I could almost feel a physical pressure.
“….”
Uh…
I feel like I’m going to get scolded big time by Arna.