Cui Ciyou rubbed his nose awkwardly, then hurriedly turned around and explained to Roxy in the Human Common Tongue used throughout this world, "Sorry, sorry, Roxy."
"That was careless of me. This is Miss Nanahoshi Shizuka."
"She... comes from the same very, very distant homeland as I do. I got carried away and forgot to switch languages."
Then he turned back and said to Nanahoshi Shizuka in Chinese, "This is Roxy, my wife, and an outstanding Great Magician. To make things easier, let's use the language here."
Nanahoshi Shizuka fell silent for a moment, then nodded gently.
"...All right."
Speaking in this world's language, her voice seemed a little colder and more distant.
At last, the awkward atmosphere eased. The three of them found a few dust-covered chairs, cleared a small space in the cluttered laboratory, and sat facing one another.
"Miss Nanahoshi," Cui Ciyou began. He had decided to resolve the greatest doubt in his mind. "If you don't mind, could you tell us what happened when you first arrived in this world?"
There was Nanahoshi Shizuka's life trajectory in the "script"-or rather, in his memories of this world's "original story" from his previous life.
Under the normal course of the "plot," his arrival in this world and the great battle that had erupted between him and the Dragon God Orsted were themselves enormous "variables."
Like a boulder thrown into a still lake, those variables should have set off a series of chain reactions, sending the entire world's "plot" veering into the unknown.
The most obvious change should have been the early outbreak of the displacement incident.
That had been caused by his arrival in this world.
Another direct consequence of that battle was that the Dragon God Orsted himself had been caught up in the random displacement and