“That is correct. My ancestor used this island as his personal testing grounds. This very temple was built solely to house the Door inside of it, but unfortunately, Palerius left the island before he could finish it. His four disciples took over operations afterward, but even they were unable to comple—”
“No, it’s already complete. Pretty sure, actually.” Doctor Babylon completely butted in on Central’s talking, wiping the sweat from her own brow as she finally took her hand off the door.
“We won’t know exactly where it goes unless we start it up, but it has definitely been completed. The formula allowing magic to channel into it is done and everything.”
“...Then why won’t it trigger? We’ve tried for years, generations, to pour magic into it.”
“Ain’t that obvious? The magic your people provided wasn’t enough.”
...Seriously? It wasn’t enough? Are you telling me this door needs more magic than generations upon generations of people? It’s such a small door, though! Wait, don’t tell me the door is a metaphor for the whole island or something, and you actually need to charge up a whole lot more. Is the door just a fake?! An illusion?! Was the real door the friends we made along the way?
“...How can that possibly be? I am a person with incredible magical power compared to the standard individual, and even mine isn’t enough to make this Door do a thing.” Central frowned as she probed the Doc for answers.
“You’re not wrong, you do have a hell of a lot of magic energy going on. Still, your magic is around equivalent to two or three people, I’d wager. It’s not enough. If I wanted to lowball estimate it, I think this door needs the magic of a hundred-thousand people to turn on.”
“Wh—?!”
“Also, that magic would turn the door on for about a split second. There’s no way any normal person could activate it. It would probably take about three-hundred years for a regular person to activate it, provided they exhausted their magic into it every single day.” That was absolutely absurd, this thing had no energy efficiency at all!
Mentor Central and the four representatives were completely taken aback.
Yae, on the other hand, just kind of tilted her head in confusion. She couldn’t quite grasp the scale we were talking about, but she couldn’t use magic to begin with anyways.
“It seems like Palerius’ disciples tried to etch in a magical efficiency formula that would’ve reduced the amount of power needed... but they failed to finish it in time. It would’ve only taken about a hundredth of the time, had they completed that part.”
“Then, you mean to say if that formula is completed, we could open the door in a mere three years?”
“Yeah, that sounds about reasonable.”
Three years... That sounds more reasonable, I guess. I wonder if using three people would make it go faster, like reduce it to one year... Or maybe they could use thirty-six people to have it done in a month!
My idea was shot down. Apparently using magic from multiple people just wouldn’t cut it. That was a shame.
Every human had a different magical wavelength going on... It would be easier to think about it in terms of colors. A canvas painted over a long period of time with the same color would end up looking completely different to a canvas that had a bunch of colors splashed all over it for a short period of time. When it came to devices that required concentrated magic, it was better to have one person take care of it.
“So it’s incomplete, then...”
“Well, it’s still usable. Touya should be able to turn it on right now.”
“Ahaha... We’re really resorting to using me, Doc?”
She flashed a grin in my general direction. I sighed.
“Sorry, I understand that the Grand Duke possesses a great amount of magical energy... It must take a vast amount to bring those giant warriors over, but... how much does he have, exactly?”
“I’m not actually sure. My magical pool runs pretty deep. I have hundreds of summoned creatures active right now and none of them have put much of a dent in it.”
“Wh—?!” Even after summoning Kohaku and the other Heavenly Beasts, and their related creatures, I hadn’t felt like it had gone down much at all. In fact, after my divinity came out, it felt like I had more magic to play with. I was in a league of my own these days, though it felt a little late to say it.
“I believe I may be able to activate this Door, but... I’ll ask you for permission. Would you let me try?”
“Y-Yes, of course. If it would help us understand exactly what Alerius Palerius was preparing all those years ago, then I’d gladly...” Mentor Central gave me permission, so I shrugged and began preparing to turn it on.
Based on how it worked, it seemed to work pretty similarly to my portals. The only issue was I had no idea of the destination.
I didn’t want this thing opening up under the sea or anything... That would be a major pain in the ass.
“I am here to guard you, Touya-dono. I cannot allow you to come to danger, I cannot.”
“It’s me we’re talking about, Yae. If it’s a bad place, I’ll just warp right back. If it’s not too bad, I’ll take care of any trouble there.” Yae didn’t want to let me go, but I persuaded her otherwise. I didn’t want to expose her to any potential dangers on the other side, after all. After that, I set up a protective barrier around the Door. That was a preventative measure in case it led somewhere under the ocean. The barrier would block the flow. Then all I’d need to do is close the Door.
“Alright, let me try this...” I had everyone step back, and then I laid my hands on the Door. My magic began to flow into it, and the mechanisms on the door all began to spring to life. The tachometer started to stir as well. It was as I’d suspected, the meters were to measure the magic channeled into the object. The design had a bit of a retro-chic feel in that regard...
I sped up the transfer rate, and it began to whir and hum tremendously. The tachometer’s reading began to rise rapidly as well. The magical formation on the ground beneath the Door also began to light up.
“Oh, wow!”
“It’s doing it!” Everyone around me seemed surprised by what was happening. I was surprised as well, but for an entirely different reason. Despite the vast quantities of magic I’d channeled into it, it still wasn’t finished. It just kept absorbing. Gradually the entire temple was enveloped in a faint glow of light. The tachometer had hit around eighty percent on its meter.
The space between the arch began to contort and light up. It would only take a little more for the portal to appear. I stepped up my game, pouring even more magic into it.
The tachometer finally reached a full hundred percent. I looked through the arch to see trees and an open sky. The other side didn’t look dangerous, which was a relief.
“Seems like it worked...” I didn’t want the Door to close because my connection to it was severed, so I walked through the frame with my hand still on it.
“Alright, see you guys soon.” I smiled to the others, and then went on through the Door.
This is weird...
The feeling was unusual. It was almost like I was walking through warm molasses, or my entire body was gently pressing itself into yielding rubber.
I didn’t really like the feeling, so I stepped all the way through the Door in one go.
In a flash, I felt the ground beneath my feet. I looked up to see a woodland area.
I turned to look behind me, but there was nothing there. Just as I’d expected, the trip was one-way.
I felt pretty damn exhausted, which was only natural given how much of my magic had been drained. Fortunately, it was already starting to recover.
Now... lemme get my bearings... Am I in the Sea of Trees...? For some reason, I don’t feel like it... Place seems like a regular forest, I guess.
I took out my Smartphone and tried to project the map.
“What the...?”
It refused to open. I wondered if this area had a barrier around it, or if t
his was Alerius Palerius’ doing. The latter wasn’t likely, since he’d never managed to finish the Door during his lifetime. It was still vexing.
I took out my phone and tried to call Yae, but the call refused to connect. I couldn’t contact Kohaku through telepathic means, either. I took that to mean there was some kind of interference barrier blocking me.
My magic was still fine, though. I invoked a little wind as a test and it worked fine. I wondered what that meant. As I pondered to myself, I suddenly heard screaming from the forest. It was accompanied by the sound of falling trees.
What’s going on here?! I ran through the forest until I finally came out on what looked like a large road. There were trees in the area, but they’d all been pulled out at the roots. I was extremely confused.
It was at that moment that I saw a two-headed dinosaur attacking a metallic passenger carriage.
“What...?!” The tyrannosaur-like creature was clearly a species of magical beast that I didn’t recognize at all. Or perhaps a Dragon... I frowned a bit at that.
But then I noticed something that confused me even more than the monster.
To be blunt, the metal carriage... wasn’t exactly a conventional kind of carriage you might find being pulled by horses or anything like that.
Curiously it was more like... a crab? The carriage itself had metal legs jutting from its left and right sides, giving it a crab-like appearance. It didn’t have any pincers, though.
Simply looking at it was freaking me out a little, in all honesty. I’d never seen anything quite like it.
It wasn’t exactly a small carriage, either. It was long enough to be called a bus... That was why I settled on calling it a Crab Bus. Or maybe Crab Wagon would have been apter. It definitely looked like an old-style mechanical device, it had rivets and round screws visible here and there, too... Kind of steampunk, even.
“Is it an artifact, or something?” I muttered quietly in confusion as the two-headed Dragon body-slammed the crab carriage. I heard several screams from within as it made impact. I didn’t have time to sit around and postulate. If I sat by and watched the whole thing, then the people inside would be in a heap of trouble.
“Come forth, Fire! Purgatorial Pillar: [Inferno Fire]!” I produced a magical flaming spiral, and it enveloped the twin-headed beast. It recoiled in pain as I activated [Storage] to produce Blade Mode Brunhild, which I promptly used to lop its head off.
It fell to the ground with a crash, and that was that.
The mechanized crab steadied itself, and several people peeked out of the carriage. They were safe, that was a relief.
One of the people, a man, came over to me with a broad smile on his face. Then, he began talking.
「.ｓｕ ｄｅｖａｓ ｙｌｌａｅｒ ｕｏＹ .ｌａｐ ,ｔａｈｔ ｒｏｆ ｓｋｎａｈＴ」
“...Excuse me?” That was bad. I had no idea what he was saying. I wondered if the common tongue I spoke didn’t exist in this place.
“Do you not speak common?”
「......ｅｒｏｆｅｂ ｅｇａｕｇｎａｌ ｔａｈｔ ｄｒａｅｈ ｒｅｖｅｎ ｅｖ’Ｉ ?ｓｐａｈｒｅｐ ,ｒｅｎｇｉｅｒｏｆ ａ ｕｏｙ ｅｒＡ ?ｈｕＨ」
That was futile. The merchant, a mustachioed older gentleman, let out a confused sigh. Neither of us was getting through to the other.
There was nothing else for it, he couldn’t understand my words, so I had to use other methods.
I began to make a series of gestures to communicate my lack of hostility. I extended my hand out to him, and he took it. We found ourselves in the throes of a firm handshake. I was immensely relieved. Wherever I was, they knew what handshakes were. After all, I needed to touch his hand for my particular spell to take effect.
“[Translation].”
My magic flowed from my body and into his, after a brief moment, it flowed back.
“How’s that, understand me?”
“Ahhh, you speak Allentese, wonderful. I was a little confused, as I thought you’d hit your head or something...” The spell I had just cast was a handy little number. It would melt into the target’s memories, absorb all necessary information on a language, and then pull it back to the caster.
The language I had just learned was called Allentese. I’d never heard of it.
“My name’s Pedro Sancho, I’m a traveling trader. I’m indebted to you, sonny.”
“Please, don’t worry about that. Oh, right. My name is Mochizuki Touya.”
“Towya, huh? Pretty weird name... Where do you come from?” If I wanted to be honest, I’d tell him Earth, but obviously, that wasn’t an option here.
“I was born in Eashen, but I live in Brunhild right now.”
“Eashen? Brunhild? Never heard of them. They frontier villages or something?”
Wait... he hasn’t heard of either of those places? Just where the hell have I wound up...? I sighed quietly, then asked Mr. Sancho a question.
“Uh... This may sound a little weird, but where are we right now? I think I’ve gotten a bit lost.”
“This is a main road that spans east from Allen, the capital. We’re about a day out by carriage.”
“Allen...? It’s a capital? What country is it part of?”
“Which...? Come now, lad. It’s Allen, so obviously it’s the capital of the Allent Theocracy. Here, hold on a sec.” Mr. Sancho went back to his carriage and came back. Then, he passed a small paper into my hands.
“Here’s a map. See right here? The Allent Theocracy. And here’s the capital city, Allen.”
“...What in the world...” I looked at the map with frantic, confused eyes. It was absolutely the map of the world that I knew. It wasn’t all that different from the map I could pull up on my smartphone. There was just one key difference.
On a standard map, Eashen would be located to the far east. But on this map, it was to the far west. Not only that, but it was upside down.
Incredibly enough... The world map I was looking at was... reversed. Flipped, as if held up in front of a mirror.
◇ ◇ ◇
What could this mean...? I guess that Door wasn’t an ordinary portal... Don’t tell me I’ve been sent to another world! It wasn’t unreasonable to suppose that Alerius Palerius could’ve done something like that. Then again, it was only thanks to my near-infinite magic that it actually worked... This was still concerning, though.
“Tohya? You okay?” Mr. Sancho turned to me, wondering why I’d gone silent.
“Ah, yeah. I’m fine. It’s just that I landed a little further from home than I expected...”
“Landed? Oh, tell me, Tohya. Did you use transportation magic or something?”
“Mhm... I did...” I gave a rather curt reply to the concerned merchant. It seemed that this world had magic too, which was a relief.
He offered to take me to the capital, but I politely declined his offer. I needed time to process what was going on. Plus I could use magic to get around faster.
He told me to check out his store if I ever visited the capital, and went on his way in the mysterious crab carriage.
I wondered what to do...
“[Gate].” I tried opening a portal, but it refused to connect.
...What. H-How am I gonna get home? This is bad, this is really bad... They’re gonna start panicking on the other side if they can’t find me...
I began freaking out a little, but then my phone suddenly started to ring. The caller was none other than God Almighty.
A message from above! Literally!
“H-Hello?!”
“Ah, it connected. Hello there, Touya?”
“Hey! I’m a little panicked right now, but I’m okay... What’s up?”
“Ahahaha... I never expected you to go to yet another world on your own. But at least you kept your smartphone. Please hold, I will send someone to come and get you.”
Get me? Before I could even process what was going on, a great flash of light erupted out of thin air. Then, a person
stepped from the blinding blitz.
“Goodness me... You made us worry, you know?”
“Karen...” It was the god of love, my sister Karen. She stood there pouting, hands on her hips.
“It was awful over there, you know?! Little Kohaku suddenly faded into thin air! Nobody could locate you, you weren’t picking up your phone! We thought you could have been hurt! Yae called me on the phone while crying!”
Yikes... I guess my magic got cut off from all my summoned beasts. Obviously, that would’ve scared everyone, too.
“Not I nor the other gods in Brunhild could sense you, you know? That’s why we contacted God Almighty.”
“I’m sorry for the trouble...” Apparently, it had been ten hours since I entered the Door, but it felt to me like it had been less than an hour.
Given that Kohaku had probably evaporated in front of Yae, it made complete sense that she’d be distressed. She probably thought that I was in trouble.
“So, how do I get back?”
“We have an ability called Spatial Translocation, you know? But that would be too much of a toll on you... Let’s head back to the realm of the gods and take it from there.” It sounded a little weird that going to the divine realm took less effort than hopping to my world, but I didn’t question it.
That being said, when you took the world barriers into account it probably was easier for a divine entity to enter a space made only for the divine. Nobody else would be able to go there, after all.
I opened up a [Gate] and stepped through it. I came out right in front of God Almighty.
“Man, I really am sorry about this...”
“Not at all, my lad. This kind of thing happens now and then.”
Hm... I guess? Apparently, it wasn’t too rare across the countless worlds to have people slip through now and then. Apparently, some Gods slipped through to various worlds now and then just to hide around.
“I would love to talk, but I think you should get home quickly. Your family will be quite worried.”
“You’re right. Thanks a lot.” I bowed in apology to god, then opened up a [Gate] again. Come to think of it... Didn’t it get mentioned once that I could open a portal to get back home...? Guess I can’t, after all. Shrugging, I appeared with Karen in the temple on Palerius Island.
In Another World With My Smartphone: Volume 12 Page 4
