「It has been a while, village chief Hiraku.」
A late-middle-aged man in butler clothes bowed before me.
He has gray hair combed in an all back style and facial hair that stretches to the left and right of his face which makes him look dandy.
He is Gou Foguma.
He is the former a.s.sistant to the lord of the castle and now one of the aides of the village chief of Village Four.
He was formerly in his crystal form due to fuel-saving mode but now he greets me with his humanoid body.
「I have never imagined that you look old. I thought you would look younger.」
「There’s a reason for that. If I don’t look aged, I might not be trusted too much.」
Surely. Even if they have the same ability, a late-middle-aged man will surely be chosen instead of a young man.
However, Bell is young…..
「According to our creator, the younger the maid is, the better.」
I see….let’s not ask about that man of culture.
「The others are scheduled to wake up too. I’ll make sure that they’ll give you their respect as soon as they wake up.」
「Got it. How’s Village Four?」
「No problem. Acting village chief Kuzuden is doing his job properly.」
「Good. How about food? Don’t do the impossible okay.」
「Of course, thank you. Is there something new in Big Tree Village?」
「Something new? Something new…..nothing in particular. It’s as usual.」
「As usual?」
「Ah」
「That looks like a big ice mountain…..」
「The children said that they want to play with snow so Raimeiren and Hakuren piled it up.」
There’s a 30-meter high ice mountain on the south side of the village.
「The inner part of the mountain has been hardened so there’s no danger of being buried. There’s also a drainage that will let the melted snow to the river.」
We didn’t oversee anything.
「Really? I guess it really is as usual.」
Yeah, as usual.
「Actually, this time, I didn’t just come to give you my respect but in the sun castle……the building and not the village, we discovered an important magical tool. I came here to report it.」
「Important magical tool?」
「Yes. We don’t know how we should handle it so we will entrust it to village chief.」
「What kind of magical tool is it?」
「A teleportation gate.」
「…….judging from its name, it is a gate where you can teleport?」
「Yes. A teleportation gate is usually a couple and is mutually connected.」
「That seems very convenient.」
「Yes. Though it was widely used in the ancient times, majority of it were destroyed in war or was decommissioned…..it is almost extinct now.」
「Such a waste.」
「Right. It is because of the danger it brought during war.」
Ah, supplies and troops can be easily moved with the help of a teleportation gate.
No, if you set up a teleportation gate in the midst of the enemy country….
What a scary thing to think.
「However, it is such a convenient thing even in the time of peace. Why didn’t they got restored when the war was over?」
「Because it is hard. If one of the couple gate was destroyed, the other one is already useless.」
「You mean, their mutual connection stays even if one was destroyed?」
「According to what has been researched, that was the conclusion.」
「What a sad story.」
「Right. Thus, whether to operate this convenient teleportation gate or not, we will let village chief to decide.」
「Hnn….that is something I can’t decide on immediately. I want to consult everyone first.」
「Understood. As a basic knowledge about a teleportation gate, a gatekeeper is necessary. The purpose is to prevent impudent fellows from using it. Also, like I said earlier, it is a dangerous thing during war so it is normal to have someone to destroy it immediately if something undesirable happened.」
Ah, in short, there’s no safe teleportation gate now.
「Also, we can’t set it up in a moving place like Village Four.」
「Is that so?」
「Yes. If we drop the movement speed of Village Four, it might be possible but….」
「It could have been the best place to set it up.」
「Right. Truly regrettable.」
What a tragedy!
「Now…..please think about it seriously first since reinstallation is considerably difficult. Also, after installation, it will always be up and running…..Ah, I forgot to say the most important thing.」
「Hnn?」
「We discovered three sets of teleportation gates.」
That surely is important.
I consulted everyone about the teleportation gate.
「There was a teleportation gate in our old village. There was always a gatekeeper before it.」
It seems like the previous villages of the high elves and the angels have teleportation gates.
However, they have become an object of art now.
It looks like in all places, teleportation gates have become objects of art.
This means that it is not something rare.
The rare things are the operational ones.
「Though an operational teleportation gate is valuable, you have to set it up first before you can use it…..but it is already a lost technology.」
Loo is on her wit’s end.
「Can’t you resolve that by a.n.a.lyzing it?」
「I want to but I don’t have any confidence….I’m afraid I might break it. Ah, but…..ugh.」
Her inner struggle is overflowing.
Afterwards, there are various discussions.
At first, there’s a suggestion of connecting Big Tree Village to the hot spring.
With that, anyone can go to the hot spring anytime and the gatekeepers will be the ghost knights and the lions.
It has become everyone’s favourite but it did not go through.
There’s an opinion that it will be a waste since the distance is too short.
Hakuren can certainly fly over there in a short amount of time.
If we have to install it, it should be outside the forest of death.
Next suggestions are Shashaato City, Howling Village, Doraim’s nest and the demon king’s castle.
However, there’s a problem.
It was already carefully noted by Gou. Though the teleportation gate is convenient, it can be used by the military.
Therefore, the way it is handled differs for every country.
What kind of rule does the demon king’s kingdom have about it?
Frau and the civil servant girls don’t know since there seemed to be no operational teleportation gate in the demon king’s kingdom.
And as expected, I’m hesitant to install it in secret.
Let’s consult Beezel when he returns.
The next problem….To what extent will the existence of the teleportation gate be disclosed.
If I inform Michael-san about it, the logistics of the village will surely improve.
However, the operation frequency of the lamia transport will steeply decline.
Should I compensate the lamias?
Though I don’t mind increasing the number of visitors of the village, if we became open to the public, the visitors that will come might not necessarily be friendly.
What should we do about that?
Given that problem, it means that we have to carefully choose where we will set up the teleportation gate in the village.
Should it be inside the mansion? Or outside?
Should it be inside the village? Or outside?
Thinking about crime prevention, the further, the better but thinking of convenience, the nearer, the better.
We have a lot of things to consider.
「Isn’t there already a place in Big Tree Village where it can be set up safely?」
「Hnn?」
Since we haven’t thought of that place, Ria had to remind us.
「Isn’t it the best if we install it in the dungeon at the southern part of the village?」
「….ah, indeed.」
Certainly.
It may be the best place to set it up if you have to consider security.
If it will be set up in the inner part of the dungeon, if there’s no resident that will guide you to the short cut door, it will be really hard to find your way out.
There are also instant kill traps there.
Then, does it mean that we need to remodel the dungeon from a training dungeon to a crime prevention dungeon?
「Maa, we don’t need to decide immediately. We can take our time to think.」
When Ann distributes tea, the discussion calms down.
Right.
We don’t have to decide now. We have all our time to think first.
For the time being, the only thing that was decided in today’s discussion is to save a pair for the future.
Loo will have to struggle internally for a while.
「My lord.」
I was called out by Holy.
「What is it?」
「That is, I want to ask for a simple thing….who is that wonderful gentleman?」
「Wonderful gentleman?」
I looked at where Holy was pointing at and saw Gou.
……
「He is not as good as my dead husband but he has a firm character. A deep voice too. I want to start a friendly conversation with him by all means.」
「I’ll introduce you.」
「Thank you very much. Ah, hold a moment….. I have to retouch first.」
Maybe because he looks like a late-middle-aged man that Holy finds him attractive…..
Ooops.
I can’t just conclude everything to love.
She might just want to talk with him for technical exchange.
Yeah.
That might be it.
That’s why, Frau.
Can you stop watching while getting excited?
Ah, Bell.
When did you get here?
Oh, you felt that the atmosphere seems interesting too?
That’s a joke.
Ah, you brought the teleportation gate programming doc.u.ments.
Thank you.
This teleportation gate…..how come I didn’t see it before if it is this big?
Where was it located?
「Have you seen the place where Gou’s body was stored?」
「No….」
I don’t remember going to that place.
「That time, our relationship was still vague. I’m sorry. Next, the sun castle….no, I mean Village Four. If possible, I want to show you around there.」
「Let’s do it.」