Arc 27: The Reverse World
Chapter 295: The Dimensional Gate Mark-2 and the Color Red
「This is the Dimensional Gate Mark-2. Despite the name though, the design is still fundamentally the same」(Professor Regina)
At the place where the professor points to is the dimensional gate which was installed in the “Garden” of Babylon. Next to original is the identical copy.
It’s a silver arch-shaped “Gate” resembling a miniature-sized France’s Arc de Triomphe. Just like the original — I suppose it’s appropriate to call it “Mark-1”? — there’s a semi-circular meter at the top portion of the arc.
「Those two dimensional gates are linked by s.p.a.ce-time magic and have the coordinate axis of the other dimension affixed… So umm, it basically means that they’re connected. If you install Mark-2 in the world on the other side, it should be possible for us to come and go as we please」(Professor Regina)
「I see. So I only need to set it up in a safe place on the other side, right?」(Touya)
Since the gate won’t start up unless enormous amounts of magic are poured into it, someone from that side coming over here is hardly worrying. However, it’ll be troublesome in its own way if the gate itself gets destroyed just because no one else can activate it.
Should I place it in the middle of nowhere that’s perfectly isolated and maybe install a magic barrier in the vicinity?
Ah. It’ll be nice if I can get my hands on the golems of that world and order them to guard the dimensional gate.
「With this, we’ll be able to cross over to the other side as well 」(Linzie)
The Professor averts her eyes apologetically from Linzie, who muttered so while looking up at the dimensional gate.
「Aa~… about that. To tell you the truth, the gate isn’t perfectly adjusted just yet. It still has some limitations, a.s.suming that someone wants to go with Touya-kun to the other side this time, ~you see」(Babylon)
「Limitations…? Is it the number of people?」(Yae)
Yae asks the Professor. Is the number of people I can bring with me limited? I want to take everybody with me if possible.
「Rather than the number of people, the limitation is in the total ma.s.s of anyone or anything pa.s.sing through the gate. Umm, converting the weight to our standards, the person aside from Touya-kun has to be almost or less than 50kg …at 48kg, there won’t be any problems」
Several people froze in place due to the professor’s merciless words. Oi…… what should I do…. with this mood?
There’s an accurate weighing scale in the changing room that I’ve made for everyone in the castle, so everyone should be aware of their own weight.
Without inquiring more into it, I’m not very anxious about the professor’s and Suu’s weight, both of which shouldn’t have any problem since their bodies are still that of a little girl. The pet.i.te Yumina, Rin, and Luu are probably safe as well.
Apart from Sakura, who’s expressionlessly tilting her head in puzzlement, the ones whose eyes are being restless are the older girls namely Yae, Hilda, Elzie, and Linze.
Nope, it shouldn’t be strange for 15 to 16-year-old girls to weigh more than 50kg, right? Though I’m not so sure about that either.
I suppose girls in this world are weight-conscious as well, aren’t they…? In comparison to them, young men here don’t seem to mind theirs so much.
「Say, I probably have to find a safe place on the other side first to hide the other end of the dimensional gate, shouldn’t I? It’s kinda scary if once everybody goes to that world right away. Something may happen, and we might not be able to return back here」(Touya)
I say something vital to them, and the older girls start speaking all at the same time as if life has returned to them.
「T-that’s right! We still can’t say for sure that traveling to that world is really safe!」(Yae)
「Yae-san is right! It’s still too early to make that a.s.sumption!」(Linzie)
「That’s right! It’s not like that world will disappear if we don’t hurry!」(Elzie)
「W-well then. It means that all of us going together will have to be saved for another time…」(Hilda)
I somehow understand what they’re thinking about, but I just keep my thoughts to myself. There are matters that no man must intrude upon.
(Black: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°))
Yumina and the others aren’t really objecting on the matter either. It’s probably because they can’t deny that going to the other side is still too early. It’s only Suu who’s a little angry though.
「Well, it’s certainly more reliable to do things that way. Doing fine adjustments after setting it up first is a safer bet」(Babylon)
The professor nods lightly in agreement. Then wouldn’t it have been better if you’ve just said that right from the beginning? Didn’t you just cause unnecessary and excessive tension?
In any case, I settle the matter aside, store the dimensional gate mark-2 inside “Storage”, and start pouring magic power into Mark-1. Although I had poured so much just the other day, it became empty after one transfer.
I think the poor energy consumption is also a characteristic that needs improvement. It does ensure that only I can use this gate, but is that limitation really safe?
When the semicircular board fully opens, a fluctuation occurs inside the gate. A scenery of some wasteland is now being projected.
Mark-2 is still inside my “Storage” and it has yet to be set up. As such, this gate has probably connected to a random location again.
Well, this isn’t a problem since I can transfer to the Holy Capital Allen of Saint Kingdom Arendt using “Gate”.
「I’m off then. I’ll return tomorrow or the day after tomorrow」(Touya)
Considering the deviation of time during the moment of transfer, I can probably find a place to set the gate up in about a day.
「Please don’t do something absurd like you always do, ok?」 (Yumina)
This… I’ve been stabbed by Yumina. No, each time I do something rash, I don’t mean to act like that in the beginning. Perhaps I should say that things just simply turn out that way…
「It’s because Touya-dono is being dragged around by his surroundings」 (Yae)
「He often ends up acting in the spur of the moment」(Hilda)
「Don’t poke your head into anything even if there’s trouble in front of you. You hear me? Do you understand?」(Elzie)
「T-then, I’m off!」(Touya)
Following after Yumina, Yae had come attacking with a final blow alongside Hilda and Elzie, so I just escaped by pa.s.sing through the dimensional gate.
Once I take one more step while experiencing the discomfort of coming through a rubber-like film, I then see the wasteland that I’ve seen from beyond the dimensional gate.
A tall wall of rock can be seen on the opposite side of the rock-filled wasteland. It’s like the American wild west that I’ve seen in the movies. It feels as if a cavalry would appear from somewhere here.
「First of all, I have to determine where I am right now… Wow! I came out a lot further away from Arendt than before」(Touya)
I confirm my location using my map app, and it shows that I’m in the south-eastern side of the Reverse World… If I am to draw a parallel to our world and reverse it, I’m around where the Sandora region is supposed to be. Arendt is located around where Rodomea is, which means I’m considerably far away.
Oh well. I can still go to Arendt using “Gate” even if I’m very far away from the capital.
(Black: For those who made the same mistake as I did, the reverse world is simply a mirror image of the surface world. Meaning only the East and West are reversed. The North and South are still the same. The reverse world is inverse of the surface world only in the y-axis or longitudinally, not the x-axis)
「Now then. What should I do? I can just set-up the dimensional gate in this place since there’s not a soul anywhere around here……」(Touya)
There’s only a vast wasteland as far as the eye can see. There’s not even a trace of human presence nor are there visible roads in the vicinity. Doesn’t this area seem like a place which any human would hardly visit? As far as our requirements are a concern, this place isn’t bad.
Nonetheless, this place isn’t necessarily safe. After all, magic beasts might be wandering about. I had encountered one when I first came to this world. Given that there might be monsters like that double-headed dragon wandering around, there’s the possibility of the gate getting destroyed.
I can make an invisible wall enchanted with “s.h.i.+eld” and disguise the gate as a rock or something with “Mirage”… It should be safe, but I’m really uneasy about this place nevertheless…
The best place to install the gate would be in the bas.e.m.e.nt of a solitary house… probably. The place itself will become a camouflage, making the gate safe to outside forces to some extent.
Have someone stay at that house will be luxurious of us, but that’s just impossible… There’s no way I can just say to anyone from this world that “I came from a neighboring world” and have them cooperate with me.
I can just call upon a summoned beast though… But it’ll disappear once I return to the other side. d.a.m.n it! I should’ve asked the professor to make one more tank for storing my magic power.
「……In the end, should I just go and get myself a golem?」(Touya)
Thus I finally decide on acquiring a golem after giving myself a flimsy reason. According to Sancho-san, the merchant of this world, anyone could buy a golem even if those golems are considerably expensive as long that person has enough money to pay for one.
「With that decided, it’s now time to earn money and gather information, isn’t it?」(Touya)
I don’t have any right now. I had gotten money before by asking Sancho-san to buy a golden ingot from me, but I gambled all of it in a casino.
…… Come to think of it, I have yet to receive the money for the orichalc.u.m and adamantium that I’ve handed over to the chivalrous thieves “Red Cats”.
Last time I saw them, I had helped them escape from the knights and ended up parting ways right away… Since I have no money right now, should I go and get their payment?
「Ummm, “Red Cats”~, umm」(Touya)
I search for their leader, Nia. Right now she’s in a country named the Strain Kingdom. That place, which near the town of Carne, is close to where the group was last time in the Saint Kingdom of Arendt.
She’s not in the town itself though. Although they’re chivalrous, they’re no different from a band of thieves, so they may not want to draw excessive public attention to themselves.
I zoom in on their location, and it appears they’re in the forest. Looks like there’s a thin stone wall-like thing in that place, but… the indicator says “Dwuzu Fort Remains”. They‘re probably using an abandoned fort as a hideout, but I don’t understand the detailed layout of the facilities just by using the map search of my smartphone.
I searched for the other “Red Cats”, but there are not even 30 people altogether. Aren’t there quite few of them right now? Are they in the middle of an operation or something?
Well, it doesn’t matter. For the time being, I should go to them.
“Gate” isn’t usable because the place that I’m going to is somewhere that I’ve never been to before. It may be possible to use “Teleport”, but the destination can’t be determined very accurately since it’s too far away. If I unskillfully teleport to somewhere else, I could end up above some river or inside a house. It’s impossible to do a transition if there’s something in the way because transitioning inside a wall or something similar is also impossible.
In the first place, “Teleport” is a transition magic that’s not suitable for a long distance travel.
However, the location is inside the forest, so it should be fine to some degree, right? I try scanning the surrounding area, but there’s no one else in the vicinity aside from the members of the “Red Cats”. Therefore, teleporting to that place won’t be a problem for me even if I’m seen by someone. Every member of the “Red Cats” already know about my transition magic. Well, let’s do it while practicing “Teleport” at the same time, okay?
The direction is… that way, right? The distance… according to this map is… this much….
「Teleport」(Touya)
The surrounding scenery instantly changes from a wasteland to a forest. Because I had transitioned with a 10-centimeter difference above ground, I lost my footing for a moment there, but I somehow did manage not to fall down.
「Mmm…… So it’s impossible to do it in one go, huh? As expected」(Touya)
Looking at the map, I see that the fort is still a few distances ahead from here since I’ve appeared several kilometers away from it.
It didn’t go as well as I’d predicted. As for how the transition feels like, it closely felt like throwing a wastepaper into a garbage box located several meters in front of someone. Although it might be possible to do a transition accurately if I get used to it, I still can’t do it as of this moment.
Well, it’s fine. The fort is already close to where I am right now. I‘ll just transition inside the fort with the next “Instant Movement 《Teleport》” for sure.
I’m thinking if it’s fine to just suddenly appear inside the fort, but I think it’ll be fine if I teleport right in front of Nia, their leader. I confirm her location with my map app, and it seems she’s in a place that looks like the courtyard of a fort. That area will do fine.
Without thinking very deeply about it, I do an “Instant Movement 《Teleport》” close to Nia.
In hindsight, that was a mistake. Let’s just say that it’s my negligence due to getting used to the transition magic…
「Huh?」(Nia)
The target location isn’t inside the fort courtyard but inside a room. Even though I say that it’s a “room”, it’s not the usual room, but rather, inside a big green tent.
And standing in front of me is Nia, the leader of the chivalrous thieves “Red Cats”.
「………………」(Nia)
Her eyes open very wide in shock and look toward me. Her red twintails are untied and are lowered straight down.
The hand that’s lifting her s.h.i.+rt stops moving and her short pants are laying at her feet. Her lower half only has a small red underwear.
It’s quite obvious that she’s in the middle of changing her clothes…
「Yo-o……u……！」(Nia)
「Ah-no-wait. It’s a misunderstanding. This is an accident ~you see」(Touya)
…I can somehow hear a rumbling sound to a certain extent, as Nia’s face is getting steep bright red in anger and shyness.
It seems this tent was placed inside the courtyard, and she seems to be changing her clothes here. The map search function didn’t display much of the details such as the tent and whatnot.
Looking at Nia who is approaching me with a bright red face and a fiendish smile, I steel myself while looking at her grasping right fist.
「Any last words…? Ahh?」(Nia)
「Ah……」(Touya)
「Ah？」(Nia)
「Red is somewhat flashy, I….. think?」
The moment I said that Nia’s wonderful right straight hook lands on my jaw. Though I could dodge it, it was my resolution as a man to resign myself and accept her punishment. A punch that’s strong enough to cause a brain concussion… Well, I receive that punch and collapse where I’m standing.