"Um, Ellen..."
Luna Belle tried to change the subject, hoping to cool down her burning cheeks. "Do... do you have a mirror on you? A small one is fine!"
"A mirror?" Although Ellen had a look of "how bothersome" on her face, she still reached into the pocket of her maid outfit to rummage around. "I do have one... but I basically never use it."
"...I'm guessing Mr. Lycaon required it."
"'Victoria Housekeeping must always pay attention to maintaining a neat appearance while working...' That's what he said..." Ellen sighed, pulled out a small compact mirror with a metal casing, and handed it over. "Here."
Luna Belle took the mirror, her heart pounding violently, her hand trembling slightly. She took a deep breath, and as if making a monumental decision, she suddenly held the mirror up to her face.
The mirror clearly reflected her current appearance. However... "Just as I thought...!"
Luna Belle breathed a sigh of relief, a look of "I knew it" crossing her features. The person in the mirror was not the face she was familiar with at all. It was no longer the shoulder-length black hair she kept for convenience; instead, it had become a sharp, dark blue short haircut. The ends curled up slightly, revealing a hint of playfulness and vitality.
Her eyes were no longer their original black, but had turned into a clear, mysterious dark green, like two bottomless pools of deep spring water. The contours of her face seemed much softer and more delicate, shedding the fatigue of real life and appearing younger and more spirited.
She was all too familiar with this face! This was the very character she had played for ten whole years in Zenless Zone Zero, the one she controlled to traverse the streets of New Eridu and bond with various Agents... the face of Belle!
She raised her hand in disbelief, tremblingly touching her own cheek. The figure in the mirror made the same movement. The sensation from her fingertips was incredibly real. This wasn't a dream, nor was it an illusion.
She, Luna Belle, had not only transmigrated to a strange fantasy world after the explosion, but had even... become the game's protagonist.
"Hey? Belle?" Ellen looked at the lost-in-thought girl and waved her hand in front of her eyes again, her tone filled with confusion. "What are you doing staring at the mirror? You are good-looking, but you don't need to start admiring yourself at a time like this, right?"
"Thanks for the compliment..." Luna Belle sighed, handed the mirror back to Ellen, stood up, and stretched. "Whatever... thinking about this is useless... first, let's figure out how to put away this VCR..."
Just as she was fretting over the heavy CRT television and the VCR—those two "culprits" who were also her "saviors"—a voice so familiar it almost brought her to tears suddenly rang out from the glowing TV screen. The voice was crisp and lively, with a hint of electronic synthesis, yet it was incredibly kind.
"Ding! Detected that Master is currently idle, Fairy is at your service! Searching for suitable popular games to pass the time based on the current environment..."
Both Luna Belle and Ellen were stunned as they looked toward the bulky television. The gacha UI on the screen had disappeared, replaced by a simple blue eye.
"Nurturing game recommendation: Interact with Fairy! Note: The game itself is completely free, only a small amount of electricity is charged~"
"F... Fairy?!" Luna Belle's voice cracked with excitement as she lunged toward the television. "Is it you? Fairy! You came too?! Does this mean you're my system?!"
This sudden surprise dispelled her previous confusion and anxiety. Even though Fairy's entrance and the game recommendation were a bit ridiculous, hearing her voice in this completely strange world was like heavenly music! She waved at the screen and shouted excitedly.
"Fairy! Can you hear me? Do you know what's going on? Where exactly are we? Can we still go back?"
The TV screen flickered, and Fairy's signature lighthearted female voice rang out again. "Received Master's rapid-fire questions. Fairy is analyzing the current environment... Analyzing... Please wait~"
The screen turned into a data storm of mathematical symbols and scrolling analysis bars. A few seconds later, Fairy's voice rang out again, her tone slightly more "serious" than before.
"According to preliminary scanning results, it is confirmed that the current coordinates are far from New Eridu, and are not within any known Hollow range. Current basic physical parameters have significant differences from the database. A high concentration and highly active unknown energy reaction has been detected in the environment, temporarily named 'Mana'."
"This energy constitutes the foundation of this world, permeating the atmosphere, the land, and even biological bodies. Preliminary judgment: Master, you may have encountered an extremely rare cross-world planar transfer phenomenon."
"Mana? Another world? So I really have transmigrated..." Luna Belle muttered to herself. Although she had guessed it, hearing it confirmed by Fairy still felt incredible.
"So..." She was about to ask for more details, but Fairy went silent. Ellen, who had been watching quietly, tilted her head and asked, "Hmm? Belle, is your family's AI assistant... broken?"
As if in response, Fairy's voice rang out again. "Warning! Since Master has not provided Fairy with sufficient power supply, Fairy is now entering power-saving mode! Complex calculations and detailed database searches cannot be supported! Please wait for more functions to be unlocked after charging!"
The screen suddenly went dark, leaving only a faint, flickering power indicator light. Luna Belle looked at this anticlimactic explanation, momentarily speechless, and helplessly held her forehead.
"Dammit... where is there a place to charge you here!" she shouted. "Fairy? Fairy, can you still hear me? Setting everything else aside, this VCR and TV are so big and heavy. Is there any way to put them away?"
Almost instantly, the indicator light flickered rapidly, and Fairy's voice rang out directly in the depths of her mind.
"Master's request detected. Portable storage device activated. To operate, Master, please simply snap your fingers."