Chapter 2: Awakening

Opening his eyes, Owen saw a familiar ceiling—it was his own bedroom, and he was lying on his soft bed.

“Ah! Master, you’re awake! Please wait, I’ll go call Steward Ryan right away!”

A middle-aged maid carrying a wooden basin happened to enter and saw Owen awake. She quickly set the basin down and rushed off to notify the castle’s steward.

“Wait…”

The maid left too quickly. Owen had just sat up and raised his hand, but didn’t manage to stop her.

“Never mind.”

Lowering his hand, Owen shifted his gaze to the upper-left corner of his vision. Sure enough, there was a red glowing circle.

Winston, from the dream, had mentioned that the silver orb—Interdimensional Unit No. 3—was now bound to him and could be treated like a “system.” Although Owen didn’t quite understand what a system was, he knew this device allowed him to contact Winston.

Following what Winston had taught him, Owen boldly raised his left hand and tapped the red circle.

A translucent interface—visible only to him—appeared in front of him. It showed just one icon: two green arrows looping around to form a circle.

That was the “transfer” function, which allowed things from the other world to be brought here, though its usage came with complicated restrictions.

It was the only feature he could operate on his own. Winston had said he didn’t expect the third experiment to succeed—after two failed attempts, he hadn’t held much hope—so the system’s functions were extremely basic for now, but would be improved over time.

Still, for Owen, even this was a godsend. Winston had promised to provide seeds suitable for cultivation in Border Town. Owen was full of anticipation—this was an opportunity to change the future of Border Town.

“Looks like this closes it.”

Owen tapped the “X” in the top-right corner to close the main interface.

Ding!

Just then, a notification popped up at the bottom of his vision. It contained unfamiliar characters from the other world, along with a red and a green icon below.

Though he couldn’t read the text, Owen understood—it was Winston trying to contact him.

“I remember… green is accept, red is reject.”

Recalling what he’d learned in the dream, Owen tapped the green icon to accept the connection. The notification disappeared, leaving a red icon in the lower-right corner of his vision, which could be used to disconnect.

[Oh, this is your room? Not bad at all.]

Winston’s voice rang in Owen’s mind—he was clearly using Owen’s eyes to observe the world on this side.

“Is it? The Eisen family was granted a remote territory. Our financial income isn’t much, so there’s not a lot of money to decorate the castle.”

[You can talk to me mentally. No need to speak aloud—it might look suspicious to others,] Winston reminded him.

[Understood. I’ll try to get used to communicating this way.]

This kind of mental communication was new to Owen, and it would take time to adapt.

[Oh! Someone’s coming.]

Owen looked toward the door, and saw an elderly man with graying hair, dressed in a steward’s uniform, hurrying in. Behind him was the maid who had just left.

The man—named Ryan—wore a deeply worried expression, clearly very concerned about Owen’s condition.

“My lord, thank goodness you’ve awakened. Are you feeling alright? Any headaches? How about your body?”

As he spoke, tears welled up in his eyes and streamed down his face, completely ignoring his own dignity.

“I was so worried about you, Master. If something had happened to you too, I wouldn’t be able to face your father, let alone repay the kindness the Eisen family has shown me!”

Seeing Ryan—an old man—crying like that made Owen’s heart ache.

“I made you worry, Ryan. I’m fine. There’s nothing wrong with me—see for yourself.”

As he spoke, Owen swiftly got out of bed and moved his arms and legs to show that he was perfectly well.

“As long as you’re alright, that’s all that matters.” 

Ryan wiped his tears as he spoke.

[Oh no! Look what I’ve done… I really messed things up. I’m so sorry.] 

Winston said, full of self-blame.

[Shut up!]

Owen and Winston had developed a friendly relationship after their conversation in the dream, so this kind of casual exchange didn’t harm their friendship in the slightest.

“Oh, that’s right.”

Suddenly remembering something he needed to confirm, Owen turned to Ryan and asked, 

“How long was I asleep?”

“Actually, not that long—just about half a day. You lost consciousness yesterday afternoon.” 

Ryan replied.

So that’s how it was—Owen felt relieved.

[I told you—time flows differently in dreams than in reality. But you were still in a hurry to leave the dream. You really didn’t believe me, huh?]

Winston sounded a bit resentful about Owen’s earlier decision.

[Sorry, I had to confirm it with my own eyes or I wouldn’t have been at ease. Next time, I’ll stay and chat with you longer.]

[You’d better! I still have a ton of questions for you.]

In the dream, Owen and Winston had talked for what felt like a long time.

When magic in this world was mentioned, Winston had shown great interest and said he wanted to see what it looked like for himself.

Of course, Owen was also very intrigued by the magic-less world Winston described—especially its historical development.

During their conversation, Owen was exposed to many advanced ideas. For instance, Winston had suggested that the feudal aristocratic system was a hindrance to social progress—a very interesting point. Strangely enough, Owen, a noble himself, found himself agreeing.

Just then, Ryan seemed to remember something important and spoke up:

“Master, there’s one more thing I need to tell you.”

“Go ahead,” Owen said.

“Since the incident occurred in the experimental field where you had hired people to clear the land, the farmer in charge of the trial planting is highly suspected. So, your chief knight has imprisoned him in the dungeon under strict guard.”

Oh no! That unlucky farmer…

Owen felt a bit guilty—after all, the man had absolutely nothing to do with what happened. Fortunately, he hadn’t been unconscious for too long. Otherwise, he couldn’t imagine what kind of interrogation the chief knight might have subjected the farmer to.

“Ryan, that farmer is completely innocent. Go release him immediately, then take him to Clive and have him given 20 silver coins.” 

Owen paused, then added. 

“Give him 5 extra silver coins as compensation.”

“As you command, my lord.” 

Ryan said with a hand over his chest, accepting the order.

After Ryan left, Owen quickly freshened up and then went to the dining hall for breakfast. Since he hadn’t eaten the night before, he was starving.

Breakfast consisted of buttered bread, grilled sausages, vegetable salad, and dried meat soup.

Normally, he didn’t find these foods particularly tasty, but with an empty stomach, Owen found them delicious today—so much so that he couldn’t help but eat more than usual.

However, throughout the meal, Winston kept chattering nonstop in his head, which Owen found noisy and annoying.

Just as he finished breakfast, Mapel rushed into the castle—clearly having heard the news that Owen had woken up.

Upon seeing Owen, she immediately knelt on one knee and blamed herself for failing in her duty as a knight and allowing her lord to be harmed. She earnestly asked Owen to punish her.

But Owen had no intention of punishing Mapel. The other party had come from another world, and that silver orb was a completely unknown object from that world—it was impossible to guard against.

However, Mapel was unusually stubborn and insisted that Owen give her a punishment.

As someone who had grown up with her, Owen knew her personality very well. So, he relented and ordered her to complete double the training for the day. Only then did she feel somewhat at ease.

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