Give children a little self-destruction shock to their worldview.

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She was somewhat unsure, since the scenes in Mayumi Haga's nightmares changed very quickly, and Hitomi Tono only had a vague impression of them.

If Urzana or anyone else who came from another world with Mayumi Haga were here, they could confirm Hitomi Tono's guess.

However, neither the guardian seniors nor Megaran and Karasu were used to being left behind by Mayumi Haga, so even during the competition, Mayumi Haga would take them with her.

The visitors from another world disappeared behind that door along with Mayumi Haga.

In that case… Tono Hitomi released her grip on the doorknob, took a deep breath, and without consulting anyone, resolutely stepped into the unknown space behind the door.

"Wait...!" Before Kagura Yu could stop her, Tono Hitomi disappeared from sight with a flash of white light.

That's incredibly reckless!

Kagura Yu gritted her teeth.

Putting aside the fact that Hitomi Tono's magic hasn't fully recovered, it would be terrible if there was a trap behind that door!

We can't let this guy go in alone; I have to go with him!

However, it's too late to go in now.

After Hitomi Tono went inside, the spell attached to the door dimmed and clearly lost its effect.

Previously, one could see the otherworldly scene behind the door, but now all that can be seen is the empty backstage corridor and messy equipment.

It's obvious that only one person can pass through this door at a time.

This is bad.

Meanwhile, Hitomi Tono felt her feet slip and began to freefall.

A strong sense of weightlessness gripped her nerves. Before her lay a vast, unfamiliar landscape. Tono Hitomi pierced straight through the clouds, the wind whistling in her ears.

She could see the snow-capped mountains in the distance, the rolling wheat fields at her feet, and looking further into the distance, she could vaguely catch a glimpse of the desolate desert.

"Wa ...

!

"

小世界

The feeling of freefall is just too exciting.

For Hitomi Tono, a magical girl, it's not uncommon to be knocked down from a great height occasionally, but she's usually wearing a magical outfit, so she's not afraid.

Now... "...she's been given a second chance at life..." Because she hadn't fully gotten used to the transformation ring she was using, Tono Hitomi screamed as she fell from the sky, barely managing to transform when she was only a dozen meters from the ground.

Recalling how she had been trembling and fumbling for her ring in mid-air, Hitomi Tono felt like crying.

If Mayumi Haga hadn't reminded her to string the ring into a necklace and wear it around her neck, she probably would have just casually stuffed it into some pocket.

If I had been just two seconds later, I probably would have died here.

Although people around the world generally have high physical fitness, they may not necessarily get injured even if they jump from a building, or even fall directly from a helicopter.

However, Tono Nozomi, as a high school girl with common sense, still did not want to risk her life by trying to survive a fall from a height of 10,000 meters.

Moreover, this place doesn't quite look like the world I'm familiar with.

Tohno Hitomi knew that Mayumi Haga's hometown was vastly different from the world she lived in. Moreover, the place was filled with strangeness. If the protective laws of the children's world did not work here, she might get injured or even die if she was not careful. When she entered Mayumi Haga's mental space last time, Tohno Hitomi had already vaguely figured out the rules here, which were obviously more cruel than the world she had always lived in.

Although, in Mayumi Haga's mind, this point should be called "reality".

Although Hitomi Tono is somewhat oblivious, she is still quite clear-headed when it comes to important matters.

She wouldn't risk her life, and besides, her goal now isn't just to survive.

Now is not the time for leisurely outings; the most urgent task is to find Haga Mayumi immediately.

But where exactly is Mayumi?

Hitomi Tono had no clue.

She landed on a vast grassland that stretched as far as the eye could see, with half of her body covered by dense grass, which limited her view.

In the distance, you can vaguely see two towering mountain peaks that look like they've been cleaved by a river... Ah, I see smoke rising from chimneys.

If there's smoke coming from the chimney, there must be someone over there, right?

Hitomi Tono got up from the ground, brushed off the grass clippings, and decided to go over there to take a look.

This time, unlike the Ink Dream Space created by the Nightmare Monster and the spiritual space of Mayumi Haga, there is no clear guidance.

Fortunately, Hitomi Tono's luck was high enough. If she hadn't landed here, but instead fell into the labyrinthine island area further south, she probably would never have found this place in her entire life.

If Urzana were here, she would immediately recognize that the area where Tono Hitomi was located was the Far East region where Haga Mayumi lived during her childhood.

During her childhood, Mayumi Haga lived with Junko Haga in a secluded village in a valley near the Twin Mountains, a village known to outsiders as the "Land of the Far East".

In other words, as long as you follow this road, Hitomi Tono will be able to find the place where Mayumi Haga lives.

"Speaking of which, isn't this place a little strange?" Tono Hitomi took a couple of steps and suddenly felt something was off.

The world she had seen from high above seemed much wider, but as she approached the ground, it shrank rapidly in an almost imperceptible manner.

world.

This feeling became even more pronounced when she actually began to move across the land.

The grassland that seemed to stretch endlessly before suddenly came to an end after walking on foot for a short while, without even starting to run.

"Strange." Tono Hitomi was puzzled, but this was a good thing for her at the moment.

After all, her magic was significantly suppressed after she came to this small world.

Despite successfully transforming, she was unable to use flight magic freely, which greatly reduced her travel speed.

If things were to be conducted according to real-world proportions, Hitomi Tono wouldn't be able to leave this grassland even after walking for a day and a night, let alone see the smoke rising from the distant mountains from here.

Since magic power cannot be replenished after arriving in this world, Hitomi Tohno deactivated her transformation after landing safely in order to conserve magic power.

She started walking towards the direction of the cooking smoke.

"True bow, true bow.

"A familiar voice called to her ear, and when Mayumi Haga opened her eyes, she was suddenly overwhelmed by a sense of detachment."

It felt like waking up from a long nightmare, drenched in cold sweat and still feeling lingering fear.

The white-haired, golden-eyed girl sat up in bed and turned her gaze to the stranger beside her who was looking at her with concern.

This is... Haga Mayumi opened her mouth, her mind inexplicably going blank, but her body accurately called out the woman's name in front of her: "Hidamari? What time is it?" Strange...

Do I know this person?

Mayumi Haga couldn't find any information about this person in her mind. Although she should have found it strange, her mind forced her to believe that there was nothing wrong with it.

"You're still not up at this hour? Lord Shimha is really something, assigning you so much homework..." The attendant named Xiangyang sighed. This female guard in her thirties always had concern in her eyes when facing the only heir of the village's great shaman, Shimha.

Mayumi Haga was someone they watched grow up.

This child has always been diligent and hardworking, and very well-behaved. After so many years together, the guards have come to regard her as their own daughter.

However, Mayumi Haga's real mother, the only great witch in the world, was excessively harsh on such an obedient child as Mayumi Haga, which was unbearable to watch.

Mayumi Haga had a bit of a headache: "...This is..." The memories in her mind began to conflict with the current scene, but were quickly dissolved by a mysterious force.

Those were the ups and downs, the long and painful ones.

Her memories as the guardian, Mayumi Haga, were swiftly extracted within a few breaths.

Soon, she felt an emptiness in her heart.

"...Simha...I mean, where is Mother now?" She subconsciously called out her name, but then realized it was somewhat impolite and quickly corrected herself.

Yuga Mayumi sat up and was about to get out of bed when she turned to ask Xiangyang, who was sitting next to her.

Run away

"Lord Simha has important business to attend to and cannot meet with you for the time being."

"Xiangyang said, her eyes filled with worry as she looked at Yuga Mayumi.

Mayumi Haga made a "hmm" sound, as if she remembered that Shimha had indeed told her some time ago that she would be away for a long time and would not receive guests, hoping that she could handle the village affairs in her place.

As the only high priest, Shimha held a transcendent position in the village.

As the sole heir of the other party, Mayumi Haga wields considerable influence here.

However, Mayumi Haga had no ambition to become the next Great Shaman.

To be honest, she has absolutely no aptitude for witchcraft; her current status is solely due to her mother being Shimha.

When I was a child, I would get frustrated by these things, frustrated that I hadn't been blessed with even a tiny bit of talent. Now I don't care anymore.

Why is it that you don't care?

Has she resigned herself to her fate, or has she stopped being moved by her distant mother, Shimha?

Mayumi Haga was unaware of this, and she didn't actually care about these things.

She might have agonized over this before, but now she has more important things to do.

Seeing that Mayumi Haga was about to get up and leave, Xiangyang worried that she would have to work hard to complete the lessons that Lord Shimha had assigned her as soon as she got up. He hoped that she could balance work and rest a bit, so he advised her: "Lady Mayumi, you should go and eat something now..." If she remembered correctly, Mayumi Haga hadn't eaten or drunk anything yesterday and had been working on her research day and night.

To her surprise, Mayumi Haga, who usually dawdles and takes forever to eat, said in a natural tone, "I'm going to eat something now."

Xiangyang, come with me. You probably haven't had lunch yet, have you?

“”?

"I didn't expect Mayumi Haga to be so easy to persuade this time. Xiangyang was also stunned for a moment and didn't react for a moment."

"Just grab some dry food, I'm thinking of going for a walk in the mountains."

"Haga Mayumi gave the order in a casual tone.

...It's a bit strange.

Normally, Mayumi Haga would stay inside the house busy with her witchcraft experiments, sometimes for the entire day, and wouldn't come out no matter how much you tried to persuade her.

r8IMA, the sun rose in the west today, and I decided to go out for a walk.

Moreover, they seemed quite energetic and enthusiastic as they took the food and water and headed out of the village.

For safety reasons, as a guard, Xiangyang would definitely have to serve by Yuga Mayumi's side at all times.

Despite Mayumi Haga's repeated insistence that she only wanted to relax alone in the wilderness, Hikaru couldn't agree to her capricious request and insisted on staying by her side.

"..Okay, if I don't let you come along, your mother will definitely blame you again."

"Haga Mayumi readily agreed."

She wasn't one to be harsh on her subordinates, and besides, Xiangyang had been there for her for even longer than her real mother had.

In Mayumi Haga's heart, perhaps Hikari's position was even higher than that of her mother, who was rarely home.

She just wanted to go out for a walk today.

Upon waking up, a surge of intense curiosity welled up within me for some reason.

She suddenly longed to see the outside world, even though she had seen it countless times before, as if she still needed to use her eyes to confirm its existence.

Mayumi Haga remembered that she didn't like going out and hadn't been very interested in adventure before, but after waking up, she felt a curiosity about further places.

What is this world really like?

Once this thought arose, everything in the room became dull and boring, and even the witchcraft books and equipment that Shimha had given her personally became repulsive.

It was as if everything in her accustomed life had become a lock that secretly imprisoned her, keeping her stuck in place and unable to move. This feeling made her extremely uncomfortable.

Screw it.

Haga Mayumi thought.

At least for today, she didn't want to stay in this dark, enclosed room as a good girl anymore; she wanted to go out and see the grasslands.

Bow respectfully.

Yuga Mayumi nodded absentmindedly, her gaze fixed on the horses.

Because she was walking in the sun, the loyal middle-aged guard did not notice his young master's sudden change in interest.

Mayumi Haga wasn't the type to like being followed around. She initially agreed to let Xiangyang follow her only because she thought that Shimha might punish Xiangyang for running away.

But thinking about it carefully, given that Shimha doesn't come back for more than half a year, even if I run away from home for half a year, I might not be caught by Shimha.