A Believing Heart Is Your Magic

Twenty years after Himmel's passing, the Central Lands.

"It's raining again."

Walking through the forest, Frieren suddenly felt a few drops of water land on her head and looked up.

The night sky, which had been filled with stars only moments ago, was now covered in dark clouds. Fortunately, the wetness really was rain. If she had looked up to find a cloudless sky instead, that would have been troubling.

She might even have felt a little sick.

Unhurried, Frieren took out her staff and casually cast a simple deflection spell. The raindrops obediently curved around her and fell into the earth on either side, making soft pattering sounds.

Normally, she would have gone to sleep by now, but with the rain coming down, she would have to find somewhere to shelter before she could end her journey for the day.

"...When am I going to find a spell that can build a house with a campfire right where I'm standing?"

Back when she traveled with Himmel and the others, they had always said they should set aside some money for other uses, just in case. A large portion of it had gone toward lodging.

If such a spell really existed, she would no longer have to sleep out in the elements or ask villagers to put her up. She could save a fortune on rooms and buy more interesting grimoires and magic tools instead.

No, she would still have to watch out for that drunken, meat-eating priest Heiter. Several times before, they had saved plenty of money with magic, only for him to spend it all on booze in the blink of an eye. She had to be careful, very careful...

But at that thought, Frieren suddenly stopped walking.

Though it seemed she no longer had to worry about that.

The rain gradually grew heavier, striking the edges of the area covered by Frieren's spell. She paused for only a moment before continuing deeper into the forest.

Himmel was dead. He had been dead for almost twenty years.

And she didn't know how Heiter was doing now. Perhaps he had already gone to meet the Goddess... No, given the way he was, the Goddess probably wouldn't take him in. He drank so much and spouted nonsense all day long. After dying, he would probably get chased away from the gates of heaven too. Honestly, she had told him long ago to drink less.

But before she had gone much farther, she sensed an immense amount of energy gathering somewhere in the forest.

Frieren instinctively took out her staff again and assumed a fighting stance.

An unknown great demon? A powerful monster? Or... wait, this energy doesn't seem to be mana. But why does it feel so familiar?

Frowning, she adjusted the way she sensed it, trying to make something out amid the surging energy.

Unfortunately, that power seemed to have appeared for only an instant. Now her mana detection couldn't pick up anything unusual at all.

"I'd better go take a look after all."

Deep in the forest, a young man who looked to be in his twenties was drawing something on the ground.

He wore a traveling coat he had gotten from somewhere. The material was nothing special, but a faint elegance still showed in his every movement.

"It's finally finished."

Lorenzo let out a long breath and straightened up, looking with great satisfaction at the diagram, slightly blurred by the rain.

It was an enormous design covering the muddy ground around him, its lines dense and its runes intricate, spreading outward in overlapping layers. The rain appeared to have no effect on the magic circle.

"Now, then..."

Lorenzo walked to the center of the magic circle and revealed the Animusphere Family's Magic Crest on his right hand.

Strictly speaking, the family's crest should have been on his forehead, but he felt its original position was too much of an eyesore, so he had simply moved it to his right hand.

"Moon, guardian of the star; Luna, god of the moon; Earth, cavern of dust; Gaia, mother of the earth; Gods, form of the gods; Animus, my form; Cosmos, form of the cosmos; Anima, Animsphere, the gods are the void."

The seventy-two Magic Circuits in Lorenzo's body began to operate.

The air began to tremble.

The entire space resonated with some distant, magnificent existence. It was an echo from the moon in the distant sky.

Then a pillar of light shot upward.

It rose straight from the center of the magic circle, piercing the canopy and the dark clouds, aimed directly at that distant celestial body.

Pure white light filled the entire forest. Pools of water on the ground reflected it, shining silver-white and turning night into day.

An enormous apparition of a celestial body appeared in the sky.

It was the moon.

The gray-white surface was covered in craters, the marks left by impacts over countless ages clearly visible. It hung there in the night sky, so huge it seemed within reach.

Though this so-called "moon" was already very small compared to other planets, it still occupied the entire sky.

From one end of the horizon to the other.

Its overwhelming presence and the pressure it exerted inspired awe, but it lasted only an instant. The moon's apparition vanished, and the beam of light shooting skyward soon dimmed.

It was as though none of it had ever happened. Only Lorenzo remained, panting heavily in the center of the magic circle.

The Magecraft... succeeded.

The nearby dark clouds had all been dispersed, leaving a wide opening in the sky. The moon hung at its center, and a faint silver light shrouded the forest, making it look especially sacred.

After the ritual ended, Lorenzo sat down by a tree and looked up at the moon.

Come to think of it, it's been over two years since I came to this world.

He wasn't from this world. He was a transmigrator—or, more precisely, he had transmigrated twice.

The first time, he had gone to the Type-Moon world and become a member of the Animusphere Family. He had achieved some success in Magecraft and had been "chosen" as the next Lord of the Department of Astromancy.

Unfortunately, a moment of carelessness during a Magecraft experiment had caused a massive explosion. He had closed his eyes, opened them, and found himself in this world.

Fortunately, this time seemed to be what was called a "physical transmigration." His Magic Crest and Magic Circuits were still intact, and he could still use Magecraft. Moreover, the Mana in this world was abundant. Though converting it into his own Od was somewhat slow, he could replenish his magical energy in the end.

However, he could no longer use the Celestial Magecraft in which the Animusphere Family specialized.

After all, Celestial Magecraft was a rigorous and complex Magecraft built on more than four thousand years of human observation of the stars and calculations of celestial trajectories.

But that entire system simply didn't work in this world.

So if he wanted to use Celestial Magecraft, he had to start observing the heavens from scratch.

Fortunately, according to his observations over the past few years, this world had the same number of important celestial bodies as his previous world. Only their trajectories were slightly different.

Once he had gathered enough observational data, he could use the great Magecraft passed down by the Animusphere Family to reestablish his connection with the celestial bodies.

The most important thing in Magecraft and the like was to "believe." Whether those celestial bodies were actually identical to the ones in his previous world wasn't all that important.

After all, for much of the more than four thousand years during which Celestial Magecraft had developed, the theories used had been wrong, yet the Magecraft had still worked.

Ultimately, the reason came down to one saying:

A believing heart is your magic!

Just then, Lorenzo suddenly sensed a powerful force approaching him.

"Artemis."

A silver hunting bow appeared in Lorenzo's hand at his call. Moonlight flowed over its limbs like water, giving off a faint glow.

He drew the string and took aim in one smooth motion.

Then he saw a creature that looked like a fairy.

It had silver hair, a short stature, and pointed ears. Holding a staff, it was looking at him with a very calm expression.

Why does she look more familiar the longer I look at her?

"Celestial magic. It's been a long time since I last saw it. I didn't expect anyone to actually know how to use it nowadays."

Frieren lowered the staff in her hand and spoke to Lorenzo.

Hearing her voice made her seem even more familiar.

"Are you... Frieren?"

Lorenzo lowered his bow and asked hesitantly.

The elf before him nodded, confirming her identity.

In the more than two years since arriving in this world, Lorenzo had never left the forest. The only sign of human activity nearby was a stone monument he had seen when he first transmigrated, but he couldn't understand anything written on it. So it was fair to say he knew practically nothing about the outside world.

That said, he hadn't spent his days doing nothing.

He had devoted his energy to observing the heavens. Though he could also use some other kinds of Magecraft, only Celestial Magecraft could give him a measure of security in another world.

He had originally planned to go out and look around once he had established a connection with the moon, only to run into Frieren right then.

What a coincidence. Now that he had met Frieren, he could basically be sure which world he had come to.

"So, do you need any help?"

Carrying her small suitcase, Frieren walked up to Lorenzo with a serious expression and spoke to him.

"Huh?"