Life in Vain: Jobless Reincarnation

Before I could respond to Master Roxy, reality broke down, turning into a black void. Nothingness.

But then something appeared.

A dark crimson orb, pulsating with energy. Broken shards of a magic circle orbiting around it, written in an indecipherable language.

At the same time, a faint silhouette was crouched before it. An old man with a well-trained body. He turned back to look at me, showing a stern and tired expression. After that, he let out a deep sigh and muttered, "Multiverse theory is a bitch. Damned Hitogami."

Hitogami?

The old man stood up, revealing that he was missing his entire lower half. No, that meant that he didn't stand up, but that he raised himself up with an unknown force.

...Who the hell are you?

"Heh. Wouldn't you like to know? But..." He turned back to the orb and said, "This way's a dead end. You have three left after this. Use them well. I won't be here to pull you back next time."

I felt a pain in my chest. Like someone had stabbed me in the heart with a knife and was twisting it around.

But I couldn't move. I couldn't do anything about it. My body froze, as if time for me had come to a stop.

The old man looked at me for a while longer and then shook his head, sighing. "So that's how it could have ended up, huh? If I had picked myself up back then instead of hiding away, maybe-"

Before he could finish talking, crimson light exploded, wiping everything away in red.

And then-

-LIV-

"What a troublesome disciple I have." A nostalgic female voice muttered from nearby. "Hah... But what was Paul thinking hitting you in the head like that? It's a good thing that I was patient enough to wait another day before I quit. It would have been bad if I missed his letter and arrived here too late."

I knew that voice. No, it was one that I could never forget... and one I just heard a bit ago. At least, one that I thought I heard...

"Master... Roxy?"

I tried opening my eyes. But I couldn't see.

"Eh? Rudy?"

I was lying down, so I sat up. And I felt myself sit up. But everything was still dark. Not only that, but I couldn't feel any mana.

"Calm down." A pair of slender hands grabbed my shoulders and gently rested me on my back. "Leave everything to Master."

I took a deep breath and nodded before relaxing. At least, I tried to relax. But...

"What happened?"

It didn't make sense. One moment, I was fighting Dad and that woman... Ghyslaine? One moment I was fighting them, and the next I was suddenly back on Earth seeing my funeral. And after that, I woke up... but it was a year and a half-

I felt a well of panic. "How long?"

"Pardon?"

"How long has it been, Master Roxy?!"

I already lost a year and a half. So much time had already been taken from me. Did I lose more? No, did I lose my sense again?

The accident. Was it because of the accident? Was I... Was I going to have to repeat all of that? Was I going to have to lay down here and not be able to do anything again?

Was I-?!

"From what Zenith told me, it's only been about a week."

Eh?

"Honestly... Both you and your father are so reckless. Him trying to provoke you to get stronger and then you going all out with your mana like that... You *do* know that mana exhaustion is a thing, even for you, right?"

"...Mana exhaustion?"

"Yes."

I calmed down a bit. "You mean I'm like this because I used too much mana?"

"Well, you tell me."

I felt the ground shift... No, since it shifted, I was on a bed. I felt the bed shift, and then after that a delicate hand brushed away the hair on my forehead.

"For your hair to turn silver like this... you must have tried something incredible. Just what did you do, Rudy?"

A stern but patient voice. Just like all those years ago, slightly chastising but also probing to find out more.

I let out a nervous laugh and said, "I... might have tried to directly manipulate elements and break space?"

My memory was a blur near the end there, but I remembered being mad enough to preload a series of scary attacks. And I *was* using mana directly instead of trying to form it with magic circles or incantations, so-

Wait.

"Master Roxy. Um..."

"Yes, Rudy?"

"I have a dumb question."

Roxy sighed and said, "How many times do I have to tell you? There are no dumb questions."

"...But it's going to sound really dumb."

"It's fine. I won't judge you."

"...When you say I've been out for a week, do you mean a week plus a year and a half, or just a week?"

Silence.

I felt a small wave of panic starting up.

And then Roxy sighed. "Paul really did hit you too hard in the head if you're getting those mixed up."

I felt something warm brush my forehead. The familiar sensation of healing magic.

"Hm. There's no internal injuries. Your mana seems a bit unstable, but that's because it's still recovering. There's a build up of mana in your eyes... probably what's stopping you from seeing anything. But I've already started draining it with some magic circles, so you should be able to see in a few days once things go back to normal. Though how did that even happen in the first place? Were you attempting to create artificial Demon Eyes? Or were you just attempting to reinforce your vision? The latter is possible, but the former is risky. If even one thing goes wrong..."

A rambling tangent. Master Roxy getting sidetracked after finding something interesting.

Realizing that and hearing her nostalgic voice, I couldn't help but laugh.

"O-Oh. Sorry, Rudy. Seems like your Master got too used to talking to herself."

I reached up my hand to wave it off... only to accidently brush against something squishy.

Roxy flinched and jumped up.

"A-Ah." I realized what I touched and coughed. "S-Sorry, Master Roxy."

"I-It's fine. You can't see right now, so I'll excuse it. ...You can't see right? How many fingers am I holding up?"

"You're holding up fingers?"

"...Never mind."

The bed shifted again, meaning Roxy was sitting next to me.

I turned to look at her... Well, where I thought she was and said, "Why are you here, Master Roxy? Weren't you going on a trip to improve yourself?"

"Isn't it enough to say that I just wanted to visit my cute disciple?"

"...Did Master get lost and somehow wander back here?"

Master Roxy had always been a bit of an airhead... Even when she was teaching me- No, just now, she had a habit of trailing off into long tangents and ignoring the world around her.

I wouldn't put it past her to accidentally loop around or something.

Roxy cleared her throat. "L-Lost? Me? Of course not. Master just... took a detour around the mountains to explore some magical dungeons."

"Uh-huh."

Roxy poked my forehead and said, "Disrespecting your Master already? Hmph. Seems like you haven't learned much manners since I left."

"Is it disrespect if it's the truth?"

"Maybe I should just call you Rude instead of Rudy."

I laughed.

Roxy laughed as well before saying, "But no. I really did take a detour around the mountains. For a while, I was exploring the dungeons in the Strife Zone to the east. Then I took a job for a few months as a Royal Court Magician in the Shirone Kingdom. I also tutored a prince there for a little bit, but he was an annoying pervert with absolute no manners who thought way too highly of himself when he wasn't even close to my intelligent, polite, calm, and cute disciple. Seriously, stealing my panties, trying to peep on me when I was showering, running up and trying to grope me... Compared to you who pretended to not see anything when you caught me in the hallway that night, he was the worst."

"Um... Master Roxy has had it rough?"

Considering how long she was rambling about that prince, it seemed she had a lot to vent-

"Wait. He tried harassing you?!"

"No, Rudy. We are not going to commit regicide."

"...I wasn't planning to."

"You would. But relax. I already handled it. Well, my new student handled it."

"New student?"

"I'll bring you to meet him sometime. He had a very interesting sort of mana around him. Also some fairly decent talent with earth magic. Not as much as you, but he's decent. He makes up for it with an incredible memory for magic circles though."

"Really now?"

A guy with mana that Master Roxy found interesting, along with a guy who also had an incredible memory for magic circles... That did sound like an interesting person.

Though...

"You never explained why you're here right now, Master Roxy. I think I heard you talking about a letter Dad sent..."

Roxy let out a deep sigh. "Oh. You heard that, huh? Well..."

"Well what?"

"...Your father is plotting a coup against the Notus family and wanted me to be here to make sure your family is safe in the meanwhile."

"WHAT?!"