Ennette’s heart was pounding in her chest so loudly that she feared the professor walking next to her would hear every beat. While reality had begun to set in, the shock over being stuck here was still alive and well.

Ennette patted her body down and inspected herself as they walked through the halls and courtyards of the Tower. Every detail and sensation brought her just a little closer to acceptance, but watching people fly through the air and casting spells as they passed pulled her right back to where she started.

This cannot be real.

But seeing Maziar nonchalantly following them about ten feet behind, Ennette really wasn’t entirely sure how it couldn’t be a dream.

‘I’ll talk to Olamar later,’ Maziar had said.

That made two names that she knew from The Lady of the Golden Star, both in the kingdom of Varsal. While the book didn’t go into detail, Laria and two of the second male leads—Olamar and Nurlos—had attended the Tower together before they joined forces with Prince Rhaltz to defeat the Dark Magician. It was never mentioned, but was it possible that Maziar had gone to school with them, too?

Could it be that not only was he a traitor to his country, but also a traitor to the very heroes that stopped him?

I guess it would make some things make more sense, Ennette supposed. The book never explained why Maziar was hellbent on destroying the kingdom. It was Rhaltz who was always the one tearing down Maziar’s character while the others just nodded in agreement. Olamar in particular just got drunk instead.

She’d always assumed it was simply Olamar coping with the hypocrisy of him being a desperate mercenary who’d done evil in the past. It also set him up to be a good person despite his greed-motivated occupation—but what if there was more than that?

But that would mean I haven’t just entered the novel, but it would mean I’m living in the novel’s past, Ennette thought, furrowing her brow. She looked to Zerathon, who seemed to be thinking through problems of his own—but hers were more important.

“So let’s say that I already—somehow—understand certain things about the way this world works,” Ennette said to the professor guiding her. “Like, so, I understand all about the dimensions and planes and stuff enough to get the picture, at least, but what about time? How does time work between the planes?”

“Time?” Zerathon considered. “Hm. To be honest, I’m not exactly sure. My field of study is more limited to the creatures of the planes rather than the planes themselves. You’d need a caster with a time or dimensional affinity to answer that query, though I’m not sure one could understand one part without also understanding the other. Why do you ask?”

“Is there anyone here that might know anything about it?”

“Perhaps. Two magicians and one magus with dimensional affinity serve in the Northern Tower, and there’s one magician that specializes in time magic,” Zerathon said. “Dimensional affinity is uncommon enough, but time affinity is even more rare. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a shared affinity for both types of magic. If there is one who’s qualified, you wouldn’t find one outside of the Imperial Tower.”

Ennette hmm-ed and stared at the cobblestone path they walked on. The Imperial Tower only admitted the strongest casters in the kingdom, and only after they earned a title of recognition. There was no way she would ever gain access to anyone there unless something extraordinary occurred.

“What about the Archon here?”

“Lady Izaria is a wizard of many talents,” Zerathon said. “In her years of service, she has acquired multiple affinities, of which she practices mainly light and water magic.”

“Yulda Izaria?” Ennette asked.

“You know the name?”

“Yeah, she’s—” The one who specifically trained Laria to defeat the Dark Magician. “But… there isn’t a student here named Laria, is there?”

“Laria?”

“Laria Carpenter? Or, perhaps, Eldrannan?”

“Eldrannan?” Zerathon raised a brow at that. “As in the Southern Dukedom?”

“Um. Yeah,” Ennette said sheepishly. She’d forgotten that Laria’s existence was a secret even to her own dukedom. If she was really in the story’s past, she’d have to be careful with what she knew.

But Zerathon chuckled. “I assure you, Miss Ennette, if there were any daughter of Duke Eldrannan here, I would know.They had a daughter once, but she was lost to illness.”

“Right…”

It was frustrating knowing enough to navigate the world and the mechanics but not enough to know what she should and should not say. Zerathon seemed trustworthy enough, but who was he? He wasn’t a character she knew, but did that make it okay for her to talk to him about things?

She would be better off waiting to speak with the Archon, who was a confirmed “good guy.” Ennette tried to recall more of the events in the story. It would only do her so much good to know where she was if she didn’t know when she was—and if she could figure that out…

Then what?

Let’s say, for a moment, that I have really transmigrated, she thought. If that were the case and this really wasn't some prolonged dream that she couldn’t wake up from, then she was, for better or worse, stuck.

The gears in her head were turning a lot harder than they usually did as thoughts of how she was supposed to live in this world bubbled up to the surface. She needed things.

Food. A safe place to live. Money.

A new dread filled her.

What was she supposed to do, caught up in a world with nothing but the clothes on her back? The precarious reality struck her anew, along with how much her feet hurt and how tired she was. She had no house. No room. No bed. No family…

Shaking her head, Ennette put that last idea aside. If she thought too hard about it now, she’d be too distraught to deal with her more immediate problems. Who knew how long she’d be here? It could be a day. It could be a month. It could be years.

It was far better for her to think of this as some kind of vacation, or study abroad program, or… adventure.

Ennette’s panic suddenly turned into a great deal of agitation as she looked up.

The sky above was blue and bright, but she had faith that the stars were up there when she cursed them. Them, the Starlight Secretary, and the Universe, too. This was their fault, after all. She wasn’t angry, but she was cross enough.

All right! she told herself. So we are on an adventure… to another planet. Right.

A work-study via transmigration. She’d be home when the contract was done. According to the story, this world and Earth were technically connected via the planes. How possible it would be for her to find a way home could be worked out later.

More importantly, how was she going to feed herself until then?

Transmigration stories were pretty popular in the web novel scene. They had all kinds of main characters, but usually they either had some kind of noble status or protagonist bonus to help them get started. Many, like Ennette, got thrown into novels they’d read and were able to use that information to their advantage.

Protagonist bonuses weren’t real things, and there was no way to know what status benefits she might get from this mess, but information did have its value. If she could find a way to make money, she could invest in trends and businesses that would be successful in the future.

If she managed to make enough, she could reinvest in real estate or a merchant company to take over. She could pay off an information guild, too, and they could help find someone to get her home.

That was how these stories always worked, wasn’t it?

It sounded good, but it would take a lot of work and research in advance to pull it off. She’d need a way to get money in the interim, and she’d need a way to survive long enough, besides. If she were tied to Maziar as a familiar, then would she technically be considered a slave?

Ennette’s head throbbed as her mind ran circles around the countless problems she now faced.

Where should she even begin with Maziar? What advantages could she possibly have in being the familiar of a bloodthirsty chaos magician?

At least Zerathon’s reaction to her arrival made her think the Tower was a reasonable enough place. Maybe she could at least count on food and a roof over her head, even if it was begrudgingly given by her “master.”

Scrunching her nose, Ennette took another side glance at the (definitely not handsome) young man trailing behind her.

Careless, carefree, and, from the looks of things, the underdog of his class, he didn’t seem like a threat. If this was the same Northern Tower where Olamar, Laria, and Nurlos studied together and received their caster certifications, and Laria wasn’t there yet, it was reasonable to assume this was at least four or five years before the start of the novel took place.

While the Tower was organized as a college, it was more like a safe haven for magic users. They were used to taking in strays.

Okay, so where does that leave me? Ennette considered. Other than eternally cringing at the fact I’ve been checking out the villain? Hopefully her brain would work with her to bury that particular mortification.

She could just kill him.

Two birds, one stone, Ennette mused. It would save the world from a lot of trouble, and it sounded like he wasn’t all that powerful right now. Neither was she, but if she had magic and a few years to train for it, maybe she could pull it off.

Could she actually, though? Kill someone? That was a different question. And what if he were only pretending to be powerless, and any attempt to harm him would just end with her death, anyway?

She knew for certain that the Dark Magician didn’t have any familiars in the book, let alone one like her, and that was probably not a good sign of her chances of survival.

The Archon’s Tower loomed above them as they came to the inner courtyard. Maybe the Archon really was her only hope—but what if she didn’t believe Ennette either?

“Are you all right, Miss Ennette?” asked Zerathon, peering at her face with a look of concern. “You’ve turned rather pale. Has the summoning perhaps made you ill?”

“Oh,” Ennette flinched, pushing her hair behind her ear. “I-It’s nothing, it’s just… a lot.”

“Once we get into the central tower, I can get you some water at least.”

“That would be nice,” Ennette said, suddenly realizing how thirsty she was.

And then they came to the doors. Zerathon pressed his hand against a magic circle inscribed on a thick iron bar, and the door creaked open with a horrible grating sound.

Would she find salvation here, or would she really have to face a new reality? Ennette gritted her teeth and prepared herself for the worst as they entered the Archon's Tower.