The Pop-Up Toaster

At the chime of a little bell, a brown object shot into the air. Its trajectory sent it high into the bright sunlight that streamed in through the window, until the door opened and it was deftly snatched from flight by a young man.That’s a knight of the Beast Hunters for you, Dahlia thought as he dashed to her side. His reflexes and kinetic vision were second to none. As he stood there clutching a well-toasted slice of white bread in his right hand, his beautiful face was a picture of puzzlement.

“Just out of curiosity, Dahlia, is there a reason you’re making a magical bread flinger?”

“Well, um, you see...”

Dahlia began to perspire slightly as she struggled to work out how to explain herself. All she’d wanted to do was try to recreate the pop-up toaster she remembered from her past life. However, she couldn’t tell him that, for that would reveal her biggest secret: Dahlia was a woman from another world reincarnated. She’d once lived in a country known as Japan, where she’d worked for a domestic appliance manufacturer. She had worked, she had overworked, and eventually, she’d worked herself to death.

Dahlia Rossetti was the name she’d been bestowed with when she was reborn here, in the kingdom of Ordine. This world that abounded with monsters and magic would have seemed like mere fantasy to her former self.

Her profession was now in magical toolmaking. It was an occupation undertaken by craftspeople who used crystals and monster materials to create magical tools of every description. In workshops throughout the kingdom, one might find magical lanterns with fire crystals to produce constant, reliable light, dryers powered by a combination of air and fire crystals, as well as accessories like rings and bangles that could nullify poison and aid in battles against fearsome monsters. Dahlia’s workshop was situated on the first floor of a stone tower—nicknamed the Green Tower for the vines that wrapped its exterior.

“I was trying to make this thing called a pop-up toaster.”

“Pop-up toaster?”

The dark-haired young man cocking his head at her in bemusement was named Volfred Scalfarotto. He was one of the kingdom’s royal knights, and he was a member of the Order of Beast Hunters. He was tall and lean, with glossy ebony hair and flawless skin. Of all his strikingly beautiful features, perhaps the most bewitching of all were his long, almond-shaped eyes, centered with golden irises. However, the man himself was not fond of his looks. Over the years, the