Background?—X, Backworld?—Y, Going Out

"I am from there," Aleron said as he pointed at the sky.

Rias and Roxen followed his finger and looked up, confused.

"Where?" Rias tilted her head.

'She is so cute,' Aleron internally sighed and patted his heart.

"Ahem, you see that star? Yes, I am from there," Aleron said with a big smile.

Roxen stared at Aleron while Rias wryly smiled before pouting, "Stop joking, Ale."

"No, no. I meant… I am from another world," Aleron grinned and put his hand on his head, "I swear on myself. If I lie, then may my arcane source get destroyed."

Rias and Roxen's eyes widened in shock.

"Actually…"Aleron looked around before lowering his voice, "I am here to scout this world. I just arrived here a few days ago."

"W-What…"

Both of them had disbelief in their eyes, but they couldn't help but believe due to the oath Aleron took.

He was really from another world!

"Really?" Rias asked, gulping.

Aleron blinked and nodded twice, "Yes."

As such, both of them digested this fact.

"How is your world? Is it different from this?" Roxen curiously asked.

Aleron grinned and nodded, "Very much different, haha. That's why I am curious about this world."

"Then shall we go and fill in your curiosity?" Rias smiled and stretched her hand.

'Hand holding already?!' 

Aleron stretched his hand, but Rias shook his hand and said with a playful grin, "Welcome to the Ardentia World. I hope you'll like it here."

"Thank you, haha. I hope so too."

…

"So where are we going first?" Aleron asked while looking out of the carriage window at the pedestrians and structures.

The trio was in the closed carriage that entered the city.

"There's one more matter, Ale," Rias said with a rueful smile. "Since your known identity is a normal young man I found in the Falran Kingdom, I have been presented with a condition if I want you as my partner in the trial."

"Oh? What condition?" Aleron curiously asked.

"That is for you to take a position in the top 10…in the Lightdusk Battle Tournament that will start after four months," Rias said with a helpless smile.

"Initially, I was supposed to choose the champion of this tournament since we couldn't find a natural candidate, but even though I found you, they need you to prove your power."

"That's perfectly understandable. Since your Empire's progress depends on this trial, they obviously want a strong partner," Aleron said with a laugh. "I'll work hard and train."

"Mhmm, that's why we are going to the best academy of the Lightdusk Continent," Rias said with a smile. "This academy is the most prestigious and supported by the Big Five of the Lightdusk Continent."

"You can also say that it is the oldest and strongest place intact on this continent," Roxen said with a sharp expression. "The only place on this whole continent which has a direct link to the Goddess Elysia."

'Goddess Elysia?! There's a goddess in this world? Holy…' Aleron was surprised.

"It sounds awesome, haha. When are we reaching there?" 

Rias chuckled and said as she put a lock of her white-purple hair behind her ear, "We'll depart for that tonight. For now, we are going to the Longinus Empire's academy."

"Fine by me," Aleron nodded, his eyes closed and smiling, "I also want to learn knowledge presented in your academy and learn the magic of this world."

"Your world has different magic?" Roxen asked in surprise.

"Eh, not really," Aleron replied with a jolly laugh. "It's just a figure of speech."

"…"

Aleron looked at the duo and cheekily grinned, "But I have some cool magic, you want to see?" 

"I am curious," Rias nodded with shining eyes.

'Damn! I have to create some cool trick since she is showing this expression.'

"Alright, then behold," Aleron grinned and stretched his hand towards Rias, his palm open.

'Time to cook,' Aleron imagined and visualized the effect that he wanted Magilore to take before constructively putting it in his Magic Board—all within two seconds.

Both of them saw mystical energy beautifully gathering at the center of his palm in the form of micro-string patterns before forming a tiny orb on his palm.

"What is this?" Rias asked as she pointed at the tiny orb the size of a pinky fingernail.

"Tap on it."

Rias tapped on it, and it suddenly shattered and released beautiful pinkish-red motes that gathered into a cute and beautiful bird with exotic feathery pinkish wings and ruby eyes.

"T-This…" Roxen was shocked. 

Rias was greatly startled as well, but her eyes immediately filled with mirth and she chuckled as the cute bird rubbed its head on her cheeks.

'Woah, it really worked!' Aleron was excited that his spell really worked. 'Magilore is superb!'

"This bird can take the form of a bangle and protect you with a barrier and healing by responding to your crisis via your thoughts," Aleron grinned. 

'I poured in around 1,000,000 Magilore with extreme healing and defense against physical and magical attacks at the base. That absorption syllabus's part should also work as I intended.'

'Umu. It should protect her properly,' Aleron internally nodded as all the knowledge he learned from Falran Empire became helpful.

Since he had a pool of knowledge, he could also create more Arcane Syllabus based on that and his imagination as a foundation.

Not being aware, Aleron gave a plot-armor-level protective item to Rias while he was completely defenseless.

'Oh yeah, I should also create something like this for myself. I guess I'll brainstorm about it after devouring magic knowledge in this empire, hehe.'

The bird transformed into an aesthetically beautiful bangle after nearing her wrist and bound to her.

"It's beautiful! Thank you so much," Rias said with a broad smile. 'It's so powerful! It seems that he is really hiding his true powers.'

Roxen was also shocked, even feeling palpitation when she tried to check the power of that bird. 'What is that power?! T-This…'

She suddenly had a new worry emerging. '…I hope inviting them here won't lead to anything bad for the Empire.'

The trio talked about various things related to the city and told Aleron about some places they would visit later as time passed. 

And soon, the carriage arrived at the Longinus Empire's prestigious and strongest Academy that nurtured the best of the best found within all territory of the Empire.