Chapter 57 – Technology Level

"I wish it was the case. Really. Unfortunately, I'm truly coming from another world. Actually, you saved me after I fainted due to the shock of realizing that I wasn't on my planet anymore."

"Even if you say so…"

"Hmm. What about this? How do you estimate the technology level of the outer world?"

"Are you trying to change the topic?"

"Not at all. Just answer the question."

She scowled a little but still responded.

"Well… It seemed strangely outdated. From what I could see, several hundred years in the past compared to here."

"Right. Now, check this."

I took my phone out and started taking a video of her. She looked at me in incomprehension.

"What's this?"

"It's a tool from my world. Okay, that’s good enough."

I stopped recording and came to her side.

"Look at this."

I then started the video I just took and it showed how she just asked her question. Suuru's expression switched from surprise to marvel soon after.

"This is…"

"Yes. I recorded our conversation just now. It's called a video. That should be good enough to convince you, right? My world is a bit more technologically advanced than here. As far as I can tell, the inner world is still far from being able to create something like this. And this little tool doesn't do just that. It has many other functions.

I showed her a few other features, like playing a piece of saved music or taking notes using the integrated keyboard. Maybe that last part unintentionally helped convince her since the characters were completely different from anything she knew.

"You… really come from another world?"

"Sadly, yes."

"What about your mothers and your family?"

"I'll probably never see them again."

"Oh…"

She stayed silent for a few seconds and gave me an apologizing gaze.

"I'm sorry, Tila."

"It's not anyone's fault. Yeah… Not anyone. There's no one I can blame for this. Haha. Just very bad luck."

She stared at me with even more pity before carefully asking.

"How did it happen?"

I shook my head to let the negative thoughts disappear from my mind. I already went through this loop. No need to cry about what happened anymore, especially because there was nothing I could do about it.

"Let's talk while we eat. We have a long discussion in front of us. But first, there's something more I want to say."

"What is it?"

"I can't say I regret lying to you because I still believe that was the right choice at the time. But I still want to apologize for it."

"Is that how you apologize?"

"You don't want me to lie, right?"

"Hmph."

She scowled again for some time but sighed eventually.

"Fine. I'll forgive you this one time. Don't do it again, all right?"

"I'll try my best."

"Can't you just say yes?"

"Haha, who knows what the future has in store for us? Nothing can surprise me anymore."

"Seriously…"

She sighed again but the corners of her mouth were bending upward a little.

Following this, for several hours, I explained everything to her. It became the exact reverse of the situation on my second day here. This time, she was the one in need of information I possessed.

Now that the secret was out, I didn't feel the need to hide anything. Starting from what a gate incident was, I went through topics like who I was, the culture of my world, how there were two genders both in my world and in the outer world, why I was so "high" rank at my age, and what my plans were for the future.

When we finished going through most of the critical topics, I proposed we go to sleep and continue the talk the following day. Now that the tension was gone, we were both tired and sleepy. After agreeing, she hesitated for a moment in front of the bed but still told me to sleep together in the end.

When we woke up, I asked her to take the day off from work. We still had many things to talk about, especially about the future. There were two main topics I wanted to go through now.

First, I wanted to involve her in my business. From my point of view, it was a completely obvious demand. Why would she spend so much effort every day just to barely scrape by when she could just work together with me and earn tons of money? Yet, It wasn’t so apparent to her. It took a bit of time to understand that she wasn't used to the concept of team play and relying on other people. Still, my arguments were too good for her to refuse and she agreed to the idea. This was a huge gain for me simply because Suuru had an ID in the inner world, the single element that blocked me all the while.

Second, and maybe even more important, was about helping her rank up. Increasing ranks was way too important to ignore. Increase in safety, a huge boost in longevity, and better results at anything that involved sel. I now had a small personal theory that the lacking amount of sel inside the domes was an important factor in why the people here were so low in ranks. My plan involved her training in the outer world, where sel concentration was normal, for better effects. I wasn't a metal mage so my advice would be about sel in general but that was still better than nothing, especially because I quickly realized she didn't know much at all.

I talked so much on that day that my throat felt parched. Fortunately, we now had access to as much water as we wanted and I could always moisten it with fresh liquid. I sometimes missed the drinks and sodas from my world, even though I wasn't often allowed to consume them during my apprenticeship. The outer world had fruit juices, though, so I resolved to try them next time.

After taking several breaks during the day for me to rest from talking and Suuru to organize the flood of new knowledge, we eventually finished our discussion in the late afternoon. We now had a basic understanding of each other. Suuru still had trouble internalizing some concepts like gender, having a father, or advanced technologies, but we ended up well aligned on our goals. After tasting the nice food from the outer world, she also seemed enthusiastic about improving her living conditions.

Since there was still some time before the day ended, I decided to immediately start with the lesson on sel.

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