Heroine On Strike

Those words continued to linger in her mind. She was disappointed because she realized it was the novel that made her end up here. Then she was curious about how Clara came to read the novel. She initially thought that the novel had been translated all over the world, so it wasn’t much of a deal. But she never imagined an existence from a completely different world. Of course, it wasn’t surprising to find out there were other worlds when she was dragged into a book.

‘Well, at least I’m less guilty now. Let’s celebrate. Haha.’

She tried to think that it wasn’t a big deal, but something seemed stuck within her and didn’t go away. Because of that, Ella allowed Clara to blabber away at her leisure. The more her story unfolded, the clearer her story became. It was different from Earth and different from here, the Redeemed. In some sense. Clara’s world was much more fascinating than here, where magicians and knights exist.

A world where a real wizard, not some trickster like here, lives. Spirits in their perfect shape roam the street without needing an elementalist, and ghosts can beg to have their wish fulfilled.

It was an unbelievable story, and it all came down to praising the princess, who looked like a 17-year old girl when she had lived for 3,000 years and made it all possible. Clara bragging about her homeworld was endless.

“Who could’ve thought this world was so undeveloped? The only way to communicate with others over a long distance is by mail? Oh, I’m sorry, Ella, for talking down on the world you were born to.”

Clara apologized without looking sorry for even a bit as she watched Ella’s expression.

‘You want me to be uncomfortable over that? Well, sorry, but I’m a woman from Earth in the 21st century!’

Ella confidently held her chin up, over exaggerating, so that she wouldn’t be surprised for even a bit. Compared to Earth, where people could see each other’s faces in real-time while talking over the phone, the civilization here was very undeveloped.

‘I came to love this world, but it is what it is. Although it’s true, it’s lacking. It isn’t savage.’

While she looked like she was smiling with a confident nod, Ella’s eyes were shaken severely by Clara’s additional comment, “There’s nothing we can do about the lack of skilled magicians here. All they can do is trick people with their petty magic. There’s no way they can create magic items that allow a video call.”

“Video call?”

Ella was shocked by the world Clara spoke of. It even made her think that maybe she was actually from Earth but was lying. However, that doubt disappeared like magic, as Clara continued, “You don’t even know what it means, do you? Well, I understand. It’s hard to find such useless magicians here. A video call is a method of communication created by the cooperative work of ancient spirits and magicians. It connects town to town, so we can talk to each other while looking at each other’s faces no matter how far apart we are. Our princess asked the spirit of wind to…”

‘They did what to make a video call? A spirit? Magic? What is she talking about?’

It was something that she couldn’t comprehend even when she heard it. Unlike the video call that Ella was familiar with, it seemed that it allowed communication between towns. However, that was enough to explain how different her world was. It was just so different that it confused her.

Clara seemed satisfied by looking at Ella’s confusion and smiled, “If only we had that here, we could’ve talked to anyone at the Academy by looking at their faces. If we had that, then we would have met in a completely different situation. I would never have gotten a chance. At least I need to thank this savage world for that.”

Ella felt uncomfortable by Clara’s emphasis on the word “savage.” She knew that she wasn’t from this world, but she didn’t like to hear the word. It felt angry and revolting. She thought maybe it was the will of Luciella, but it wasn’t. It was her own feelings, which were also Ranhee’s.

Ella then realized why she was mad. She didn’t try to hide her anger as she asked Clara, “You speak of this world as savage all too confidently.”

“Of course. Why would I not?”

Clara looked even more confident. She almost seemed to think that this world and Ella were savage. It was easy to know how she thought of this world without asking. It was difficult to realize how she was able to get close to Cladis with such an attitude.

“Is it? Do you not like His Highness? Wasn’t he your first love? How can you say the world where your loved one lives is savage?”

Ella didn’t like to hear her say this world was savage, where her family, who she came to love, lives. She liked the world where the people she learned to love were living in, so it felt like Clara was downgrading the world. This world felt like a much better place than a creepy world where ghosts walk around asking for their wishes to be fulfilled.

‘Who cares about some spirit not walking around on the street?’

Clara then looked back at Ella with a puzzled look and corrected her misunderstanding coldly, “Who said the Crown Prince was my first love? I’m his first love, but he’s not my first love.”

“What?”