In a Different World with a Smartphone (LN) - Volume 12 - Chapter 1

Chapter I: The Reverse World 

“It’s so hot...” Right after I settled the business in Sandora, summer had already made its way into Brunhild. 
It wasn’t quite the heat of a scorching desert, but it was still pretty hot in its own way. 
“Blow forth, Wind! Gentle Squall: [Cool Wind]!” I called a calming breeze along the balcony as Leen came along from indoors. Kohaku was sitting by my side. Paula came along with Leen, as was natural. As soon as she walked out on to the terrace, her silver twintails shook in the wind. 
“Slacking off, are we? You’re gonna set a bad example for your subjects at this rate.” 
“Keeping up appearances is a pain at times like this, you know? Hot things are hot, damn it...” I was surprised she was so calm and collected, given that her gothic lolita outfit looked pretty damn warm. As I pondered that, she walked closer to me, and the air began to chill. I figured out her trick, she’d used magic to wrap her body in the cool air. Leen was pretty tolerant of low temperatures, after all, so I wasn’t surprised she had a spell like that on hand. 
“It seems we’ll need to bear with the heat a while longer. Even some of your townspeople have collapsed as a result of heatstroke.” 
“Oh yeah? Guess we better stay hydrated, then.” 
“A lot of people have been going through the portals to the dungeon islands lately. The environment is a lot cooler there. But there are still some magical beasts there, so we should really be careful about letting civilians through...” The islands had a windy breeze, so it was probably a lot more refreshing than the landlocked Brunhild. The nights were extremely unforgiving and cold, though. 
“Anyway, that’s kind of why I came here... We should make a swimming zone on the islands.” 
“Huh?” 
“Lots of people wanted to cool off in the sea. It’d be a good chance to earn some income. Beverages, food, bathing suits, and general fees for teleporting there. It’d be a good chance, right?” 
“Hoho... Sounds good to me.” 
A voice called out from behind us. It was Kousaka. 
“We have a lot of Sandoran immigrants now, right? So it’d be good to make as much money as we possibly can. Well then, Ms. Leen, what did you have in mind?” Leen suddenly pulled out a map and spread it across the table. 
“Well, look here. Here’s a full map of the islands. This particular island doesn’t have a dungeon on it, see? I was thinking of altering its coastline with Earth magic, allowing us to create a big, sandy beach. We’d also set down a special barrier that would ward away dangerous wildlife. On top of that, we’d create a new separate portal that leads there.” 
“Most fascinating... So you suggest we should create a separate portal from the ones that the guild manage?” 
“That’s right. We’ll make the island impossible to access from the other ones, too. That way it can be completely self-sufficient, as well. After that, we’ll see about constructing restaurants, tourist shops, and maybe even accommodation...” 
“Hm... I like this. We could make a decent bit of money.” 
Hey, now! Don’t leave me behind here, you two... Don’t I get a say in this? It’s me who you’re gonna force into building everything, putting down the barrier, and terraforming the landscape, right? Right?! 
“Don’t worry too much. I’ll help you out, it was my idea, after all.” 
Tsk... Sure, but I can’t just leave everything to you and Doc Babylon, Leen... I’ll help, don’t worry. 
“Kohaku... I think I’m gonna be working hard from here on out.” 
“Don’t see this as them taking advantage of you, my liege. See it as them relying on your guidance and protection.” 
I guess you have a point... I was kind of in vacation mode, though... Well, no point whining about it I guess, but I really wanted to enjoy a summer vacation. 
“This ought to do it...” I muttered to myself quietly as I rested my feet against the sand. 
The pure white, gritty sand felt good beneath my feet. I entered the sea, and the sand was washed away... That felt good as well. 
I didn’t want people getting washed away from the shore and attacked by any monsters outside the barrier’s radius, so I set up buoys marking the safe zone. 
The barrier was near-perfect, so there was nothing dangerous inside its effective range. Even kids wouldn’t have an issue swimming around. Accidents were still possible, though, so I decided that stationing a coast guard and medical team at the beach would be wise. 
I had set up a similar beach on a smaller island nearby, as well. That was a private beach for me and immediate family. 
I didn’t think wanting to have some private time was unreasonable. 
“Alright, that’s that. Now all I’ve gotta do is build the portal.” 
“Let’sss leave it be a little longer. It’ss been ssso long ssince I’ve enjoyed the ssea, darling.” 
“Mh... I agree with Kokuyou. We’re aquatic creatures, in the end...” Kokuyou and Sango were swimming in the sea. It looked like they were having a fun time. 
“I know how you feel, but we have stuff to do. You guys can use the private beach whenever, alright? Let’s head back for today.” 
“That’sss a ssshame...” Kokuyou and Sango came up out of the sea. 
Now all I had to do was think about what came after the gate building. I had Fashion King Zanac take charge of bathing suit sales, food stalls were entrusted to Micah from the Silver Moon, and the other general stuff like sandals, beach towels, parasols, beach balls, floats, and so on were all handled by Olba Strand. 
All that came after that was assigning lifeguards. 
Several members of our knight order were talented enough swimmers, so I decided to station them as lifeguards during the summer season. They’d be our lifesavers, after all. 
I also had no issue with the other knights coming to enjoy the beach during their off-duty hours. And with that, the preparations would finally be complete, and we’d be able to go ahead with opening the beach to the public. 
And so, a few days later... 
It was a complete and utter success. Leen and Kousaka’s projections were spot-on, and the beach was packed almost every day. There were so many people, even folks from Regulus and Belfast had shown up. It sounded like word was spreading fast. 
It made sense that they’d come from there, though. They weren’t really spoiled for choice in terms of leisure destinations, and most citizens never got the chance to enjoy the sea. 
Naturally, a place with so many people would result in disputes and spats. Our knights were generally on call to deal with any arguments that broke out between the patrons. I’d ended up increasing their workload a fair bit... I made a mental note to increase their salaries out of my own pocket. 
“Alright, time for me to take it easy...” 
“You’ve been working hard lately, Touya.” I was resting underneath a parasol, trying to get a little bit of relaxation in. Yumina was here too, talking to me as she wore a frilly one-piece swimsuit. 
We were at the private beach, an area of land restricted only to my immediate family. 
Elze, Yae, and Hilde were playing smash the watermelon with Moroha. Linze and Leen were chatting beneath the shade. Lu was making lunch along with Crea, while Sue and Sakura played pass the beach ball with Karen. 
Karina was spearfishing off the coast, while Suika was wasting her time being blackout drunk. I could hear a ukulele being played, so I assumed that was Sousuke’s doing. Kousuke wasn’t here, since he was likely tending to his crops. 
“My, my... We have a young harem master relaxing in the sun, do we? How miserable... You should be doing naughtier things than that.” 
“Zip it.” 
Cesca prattled on as usual while she swilled around a tropical drink in her hand. It wasn’t a typical harem situation! There was another guy here! He just... happened to be out of sight, playing the ukulele elsewhere. 
I invited all the Babylon numbers over, but Rosetta, Doctor Babylon, and Monica were too busy with maintenance. Noel was sleeping, and Liora couldn’t leave her alone. Fam said she didn’t want to leave the library... Flora was stationed in the medical office, so she had work to take care of. As for Parshe and Tica... I didn’t really want that klutz or that kiddy diddler hanging around us on a relaxed day. 
“Whatever happened to your youthful vigor? Shouldn’t you be leering at these bathing-suit-clad ladies? Or perhaps such a thing isn’t necessary... Could it be...?! You have a hidden sense that can see through our clothes?!” 
“Like hell I do!” 
Yumina covered her chest and groin with her hands, turning beet red in the process. 
Didn’t I just say I couldn’t?! Actually... I probably can with my divinity... But I have no intentions of doing that. For now, at least. 
I shooed Cesca away and reassured Yumina. I didn’t want any weird rumors going around about me. What a pain in the ass that’d be... 
“We could’ve invited father over, couldn’t we?” 
“Ah... I mean... I think the other world leaders would probably get jealous if I gave Belfast preferential treatment... They’d want to come, too.” Things were different now, there were a lot more world leaders in my social circle. If I only called over the king of Belfast, then the others would probably complain... It’d only be natural that they’d end up demanding to come over as well. 
There was no way I’d be able to relax if all those guys were running around my private beach. I’d invite them some other time, but in all honesty, I just wanted a little relaxation time to myself. 
“It’s still pretty strange... Until you came along, gathering so many world leaders in co-operation was considered just a pipe dream.” 
“I’m glad they’re getting along, though. Still, not everyone can get along. That’s just how some people are.” The king of Sandora came to mind. 
The situation in Sandora was a little different to the situation in Yulong, since I directly instigated the downfall in this case. Then again, they did shoot first. 
Ultimately, I was a little bit irritated that I ended up doing exactly what the other world leaders wanted me to. At the very least, I could rest easy with the knowledge that I wasn’t going to end up any more infamous as a result of what happened. The freed slaves scattered across the nations and had nothing but good things to say about what had happened. 
My liege, is now a good time?? 
Hm? Kougyoku? What’s up?? 
Kougyoku should’ve been at the castle, so I wondered why she decided to send me a telepathic message. 
Well, you see... It’s related to that mysterious island. One of the barrier-protected capitals, the southern one, is under attack by Behemoths right now.? 
Behemoths? Don’t they have catapults and ballistas to ward them off? ? 
That would work under ordinary circumstances, but the city is being sieged by multiple types of Behemoths.? 
That sounded pretty bad... I figured that the barriers probably had their own limits, and probably wouldn’t last against a sustained assault from multiple ends. 
Ultimately, a defensive barrier was just a really big magical shield, so it would eventually run out of juice and go out. 
It was still different from a conventional shield, though. Regular shields would eventually break if a single point was targeted by something weak for an extended period of time, even if it would take as long as it would for a drop of water to pierce stone. 
That wouldn’t happen to a barrier. Let’s say a barrier had a power level, and this power level was ranked at ten. A person with a power level of nine could attack the shield forever and they would never actually weaken it. Barriers didn’t degrade over time, either. Not even a little bit. 
The issue would be that if something with a power level higher than ten came along and attacked the barrier, then the barrier would collapse. 
If we use this model and say that the shields on the island were set to a power level of ten, then it wouldn’t even matter if the magical beasts on the island could attack with a power level of nine. But... if the creatures attacked at the same time... Let’s say two beasts with a power level of nine attacked the barrier at once. It would create a combined power of eighteen, causing the structural collapse of the barrier. 
I had nothing but conjecture to go on, but it was probable that the combined attacks of multiple Behemoths would be enough to break down the barrier. 
I wondered if they were intelligent enough to coordinate their attacks... It was probably just a case of poor timing, honestly. 
Why is the city being attacked by multiple Behemoths?? 
From what I understand, a Behemoth hunting trip went wrong. They were routed back to the city and it followed. Along the way, they happened to run into two other Behemoths, and those creatures gave pursuit as well.? So it really was just a case of bad timing. The hunters kept running into more Behemoths, and instead of fighting each other, the monsters targeted the humans. I wondered if they were provoked, or just naturally inclined to target people... 
There were three Behemoths, all different types. 
The first was an ape-type, Heavy Kong. 
The second was a pig-type, Grand Boar. 
And the third was an ungulate-type, Power Bison. 
That was it. 
It seemed like the city was targeting them individually. They were trying their best to repel them from the city. Still, it was surely something that would take the sacrifice of many of their soldiers. 
There were also those that believed they should wait it out, and merely let the creatures whale on the barrier until they get tired and leave. That didn’t mean that the barrier would hold, though. If it broke, the people would surely die. 
It was a situation where they had to either kill before they were killed or bolster their defenses and leave it all up to fate. 
And here I was, not entirely sure what to do. If I was planning on making contact with the island, I could see no better time than the present. I wasn’t going to pretend this wasn’t slightly advantageous. If I saved them, they’d owe me. That would come in handy during the negotiation phase. 
The countries on the continent at large hoped for a trade arrangement, so all I had to do was communicate that. Plus, if I removed the barrier around the island, the Behemoths would likely decrease in quantity. 
No matter how I saw it, there wasn’t really a drawback to interfering. 
There are three Behemoths, so I’ll take Elze, Yae, and Hilde... Lu’s Frame Gear is still getting tweaked, so I can’t take her over yet. 
Lu’s Frame Gear was a specialized unit built for guerrilla assault, which meant that we had to make a lot of gear for it to truly take advantage of its versatility. It meant that we had to wait a little longer until it could make its debut. 
“Alright. Guess I should get ready... Well, my break was nice while it lasted.” 
“We can come back any time, don’t worry!” Yumina comforted me as I turned to Elze and the others, who were now tucking into their smashed watermelon. 
Hm, come to think of it... I better call the knight order over, too... If we go in with just three Frame Gears we might find ourselves in trouble. Don’t want the islanders thinking we’re not all that tough, either. 
I didn’t like displaying our power in a flashy manner, but the incident in Sandora showed me that it did have its merits now and then. 
In the end, it was just laying the groundwork for the inevitable peace and trade talks. If they attacked us without a word, we’d easily disable them. 
I seriously hope that the people living on the island are reasonable... 
 
I tapped into the senses of the bird I’d sent to the island and used its sight to generate a [Gate] there. 
The amount of magic required to sustain the portal actually took over five times as much power as it usually would. It was likely the effect of the barrier. It was so bad that if I stopped channeling my magic for even a second, the portal would’ve closed. If we had decided to go to the island on one of our magic-powered vehicles, we’d have probably crashed right into the island upon reaching the effective range. 
“Alright, did it...” I could see the southern city in the distance. It looked like a fortress, almost. It had massive walls, with strategic ballistas installed along several checkpoints around the sides. 
And I could see the three Behemoths surrounding the city as well. 
The ape-like Behemoth, Heavy Kong, was furiously smashing its fists against the barrier. Each strike caused the protective dome to briefly materialize and shimmer in the air. 
The massive pig, Grand Boar, kept running away from the city before turning and charging wildly into the barrier. 
Lastly, the massive Power Bison kept jabbing and thrashing against the barrier with its drill-like horns. 
They were all attacking from different points, but the people inside were focusing their fire on the Grand Boar in particular. 
“Heh... So the barrier only prevents living things from coming in or out? Well, I’m not too surprised...” If the barrier prevented the people from countering, they wouldn’t be able to repel invaders. There were a lot of similarly constructed barriers protecting major cities in other countries as well. 
Still, the ballista fire wasn’t really doing all that much. There were several projectiles stuck in the beast’s body, but most of it was being deflected by its thick hide. Its hide probably had some kind of magically boosted thickness going on... Probably. 
Hmm... I’m not entirely sure how long this thing’s gonna hold up. If this thing has a power level of ten, then my best guess is that the Heavy Kong has a power level of three, Grand Boar is five, and the Power Bison is four... 
That meant that the barrier would be fine so long as only two of the beasts attacked it, but it’d go down if all three attackers connected their blows at once. 
Heavy Kong was attacking constantly, but it seemed unlikely that Grand Boar and Power Bison’s attacks would come in at the same time. I didn’t really want to run the risk, though. 
“Guess we won’t be able to open negotiations before it’s too late at this rate... Let’s just do what we can for now.” I took out my smartphone and called the others back in Brunhild, and then opened up a big [Gate] in the sky. 
Hundreds of Frame Gears began filing out one by one, making the very ground shudder as they landed. 
“Alright. Elze, Heavy Kong is yours, Yae, you go for Grand Boar, and Hilde can take the Power Bison. Everyone else remain on standby. Keep an eye out for any other monsters in the area.” 
“Understood!” The red, purple, and orange Frame Gears all went off toward their respective targets. 
“Alright! Time to bust some heads!” 
“I will do my best, I will!” 
“Onward!” 
Elze and the others reached the monsters and raised their weapons. The Behemoths seemed to notice the new threat, and each took up offensive poses. 
The Heavy Kong began attacking Elze’s Gerhilde. But the scarlet Frame Gear masterfully tanked the strike, launching a reactive cross-counter punch straight toward the ape’s stomach. 
“Get wrecked!” With a resounding crunch, the pile bunker launched from Gerhilde’s wrist and penetrated the Behemoth’s chest. Blood began to pour wildly from the wound as the massive beast fell down, dead. 
Yae began engaging the Grand Boar. She wasted no time, her Schwertleite flying into the creature’s side and slicing it cleanly in two with a single strike. It all happened unreasonably fast. The massive pig simply fell to the ground in two halves, dead. 
As that happened, Hilde’s Siegrune held its own against the Power Bison’s horns. Her shield completely blocked its attack, and she used the moment of recoil as her chance to decapitate the vile creature. 
The battle was over just as soon as it began. The three creatures were dead within a mere minute of meeting the Frame Gears. I was honestly taken aback, as I hadn’t expected this kind of swift turnaround. 
After beating the three Behemoths, the Frame Gears moved back a bit from the city and lined up before the main gate. From behind them, a glimmering white Frame Gear, the Shining Count, stepped forward. 
I stood on the shoulder of the white machine, using my magic to project several sound amplifiers and speakers into the air. Then, I turned on my microphone and began to address the people inside the city. 
“We are members of the Duchy of Brunhild, a sovereign nation located on the continent to the south of your island. We have no hostile intent. We seek an audience with your political representatives. We will wait an hour for your response, thank you.” 
We gave them an hour time limit because we didn’t want them to waste a bunch of time squabbling over who would represent who. 
I didn’t want them thinking it’d just be fine to ignore us because of their barrier, I wanted to actually talk to someone. I did mention we weren’t hostile, but they would probably still be a little bit freaked out by what was going on. 
Ideally, they’d have some kind of mayor or chief they could send, but I could easily see that person being wary of a trap. It was possible they’d just send a messenger out, but that’d be fine. That’d be enough to get the ball rolling, at least. 
“Think they’ll come out?” 
“I’m not actually sure... Well, if these guys don’t come out we’ll just go to another city.” 
I shrugged slightly at Lain’s question. Still, it’d be a pain if we had to go to another city. We already saved this one from Behemoths, so they had the highest chance of being grateful to us. I wouldn’t be too surprised if the natives of the other settlements ended up freaking out and attacking us or something. Ideally, this city would become friends with us, then tell the other cities. 
I called over Kougyoku and asked her what was going on in the city. 
“The town’s in an uproar. They’re looking at us cautiously, and arming their defensive weapons as best they can.” 
“Makes sense...” I didn’t know what they’d agreed on, but it seemed like they were pre-emptively prepping their defenses. Apparently, they hadn’t made a proper decision yet. 
If we did anything weird, they’d probably shoot on reflex, so I decided the best thing to do was just sit tight. It was a little tedious, though. I grumbled a bit as I lay back on the Shining Count’s shoulder and looked up at the sky. 
“Your Highness, their gates are opening.” 
“Oh, seriously?” Lain had been in the Shining Count’s cockpit and keeping an eye out, so the moment she told me of the development I hopped down to the ground. 
A group of horse-riding knights made their way toward us. They were all in full-body armor, and they looked pretty serious. 
Their armor design was pretty wildly different to anything I’d seen before. I figured they probably hadn’t developed much since the time of the ancient civilization. It was possible that they’d just technologically stagnated as they tried to eke out a living on this small landmass. 
I stood in front of the Frame Gears, and the knights stopped around ten meters away from me. Then, a lone knight, who wore a particularly weathered looking robe above his battered plate armor, moved forward. 
He came a little closer and dismounted his horse, continuing his progression on foot. His headgear kind of reminded me of an Ancient Greek, Corinthian helmet. It had a decorative crest on the top and a small T-shaped gap for him to see out of. 
It wasn’t the closed type you might see in anime or other tv shows, so his face was fully exposed for me to see. 
He was a large man and had a serious expression on his face. His eyes were glaring right at me. I couldn’t sense any hostility from him, but I felt that he was anxious. 
“My name is Dyent South, representative of Meridius, the Southern Capital. I am one of the Four High-Brothers, and descendant of Freyend South. Thank you for your assistance against the beasts. Now, who are you, stranger?” 
“I am Mochizuki Touya. Touya’s my given name. I am the grand duke of Brunhild. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Representative Dyent.” His eyes went wide when I introduced myself as royalty, which meant he recognized the title at least... Regardless, he reached out to shake my hand. His attitude became a little more relaxed after I took him up on the gesture. Little by little, we were making progress. 
“Grand Duke, you say? Is it true that you came from a landmass to the south...? Do you mean to say that the world was not destroyed?” 
“I see... It’s just as we thought, then. Your ancestors must have cut off ties with the outside world before Partheno was wiped out. No, the world was not destroyed. There are many nations that exist peacefully even now.” 
I used my smartphone to project a world map. It was full and complete, even including this very island. 
“This is the world as it exists now.” 
“A-Ah...” Dyent looked up at the map with an awestruck expression. 
“This is your island, here. And here is the Duchy of Brunhild. It’s a small country, but these giant warriors... the Frame Gears, are a legacy left behind from Partheno. We’re the only country on the planet that can operate them, and other countries have steered clear of trying to attack us because of that.” 
“Incredible...” I didn’t want him thinking Brunhild wasn’t important just because it was small, so I stretched the truth a little. It was true that Brunhild had never been invaded, but we were also only about a year old. Well, we did have that war with Sandora... but they didn’t invade. It was over in fifteen minutes. 
“I-If I might be honest... we all truly believed that the outside world was gone... that it was devoured by the crystal beasts and now belonged to them.” 
“From what I understand, the ancient civilization was destroyed. But the people managed to rebuild. Here, let’s sit down and talk things through, alright? I’m sure we have a lot to ask each other.” 
“H-Hm... Very well.” 
I pulled a large table and a couple of chairs out of [Storage]. Representative Dyent blinked in surprise at the sudden appearance of the stuff, but he cautiously took a seat. 
 
The first thing I was told was the name of the island. The place was known to its inhabitants as Palerius Island. It was named for the Partheno mage that founded the civilization there. Alerius Palerius, The Sage of Hours. 
He’d come to the island a long time ago, due to its reputation as a dangerous place. It was here he’d discovered a structure that could naturally create barriers. He took the territory and claimed it as his experimentation grounds. His magic was so immense that he had no way of telling what kind of damage it could cause, so an uninhabited mystery island was an ideal location for him to test stuff out. 
He eventually died in Partheno, and the Phrase invasion broke out. His younger brother, who sensed the oncoming danger, evacuated their extended family, many children, friends, and Palerius’ disciples to the island, and then cut it off from the outside world. 
They’d used hidden treasures left behind by Palerius to further strengthen the barrier so the Phrase couldn’t get inside. But that also meant that, while the invaders couldn’t get to them, nobody could leave the island either. 
Palerius’ four main disciples were convinced that the devastation the Phrase brought about would be enough to annihilate the entire world. They firmly believed that everyone outside the island was gone. 
“So you guys were sealed in here, huh?” 
“Somewhat, but it didn’t feel like imprisonment... We thought that the crystal crea— er... the Phrase... had ruined the planet. We believed everything outside had been conquered by them... We thought we were the only ones who were safe. We had expeditions in the past, to the outside world, but every boat just seemed to loop around through the fog and end up back at port.” 
That was likely the effect of one of the barriers. It caused the fog surrounding the island to confuse navigation and bring you back to the start. 
I was filled in on most of the stuff concerning the island, so I decided to broach the actual topic at hand. 
Specifically, I wanted to ask if they intended to interact with the outside world. Also, if they wanted to take down the barrier and reduce the number of Behemoths that developed in the area. 
“Well, the only downside would be that if I take down your barrier, the Phrase could appear on the island now and then...” 
“Ah, actually... I don’t think that would be an issue. These crystal beasts... We’ve seen them on the island before.” 
“Wait, what?!” I asked him what he meant, and he went on to explain that the Phrase had appeared twice over the last two years. Both appearances were minor, some Lesser Constructs poking their heads around. The islanders managed to subdue them. But even so, the people of the island were scared by the sudden appearance of the legendary ancient monsters they were supposed to be hidden from. 
They could defend against an external Phrase invasion, but couldn’t defend against the Phrase manifesting on their island. 
In other words, the Phrase in this world couldn’t reach the island by penetrating the barrier, but they could directly cross through to this world into space that already existed on the island. 
It really made me wonder what kind of use that barrier served to begin with. It couldn’t stop the Phrase entirely, it prevented the people from escaping, it made Behemoths rapidly gestate... The more I learned about it the worse off it seemed. 
“What you say is true... but, well... Please don’t take offense to this, Grand Duke, but we can’t fully accept what it is you’ve told us. We have no way of telling if you’ve brought us truth or lies.” 
That wasn’t really unreasonable. I’d just appeared out of nowhere with a story that undermined the very basis of their existence... As loath I was to admit it, I was highly suspicious here. 
“On top of that, I cannot make a judgment call on behalf of the entire island. I would need to talk with the representatives North, East, and West. I would also need to talk to Lord Central.” 
“Lord Central?” 
“Lord Central Palerius, yes. A direct descendant of Alerius Palerius’ bloodline. The barrier around the island is the legacy of his family, Lord Central is the one that guards The Door.” 
“Uh... The Door?” 
“The Door is a mighty artifact that Alerius constructed during his lifetime. He created it with the hopes that, upon completion, we would be able to use it to migrate to a new world. His four disciples tried as best as they could after he died, but they could never get it to activate.” I immediately thought of my own portal spell from the way he was describing it. I wondered if he planned to escape the island by using this door thing... But if he had started creating it during his lifetime, then that meant he must have started making it before his disciples came to the island... And before the Phrase invasion, even. Something didn’t quite add up. I wondered if his disciples had tried to make something of it but just hadn’t been successful after he died... It was hard to say for sure. 
“Then... could you talk to the other town representatives and this Lord Central? If they refuse us, that’ll be fine. Should that happen we’ll leave the island and never come back, promise. The other countries won’t be able to come here with an intact barrier, either.” 
“...Very well. If you ask my personal opinion, however, I would like to be rid of the barrier. Every day, humanity on this island receives a grim reminder. We live in fear of the Behemoths.” 
“Ah, that reminds me... We’ll go around and take out a bunch of Behemoths while we’re here. We’ll take most of their resources as payment, though. I’m sure you understand.” 
I scheduled to meet up again with Representative Dyent two weeks later and absconded from the island shortly afterward. 
I was pretty satisfied with how things had gone. It didn’t make me feel bad like Sandora had. 
I still wondered who it was that had repaired the boundary of the world all those years ago. Initially, I thought it was the Sage of Hours, but apparently, he had died before that managed to happen. 
It could’ve been his four disciples, but clearly, they had tried their best to keep the island secluded from the rest of the world, so it wouldn’t add up if they’d done it. Ende didn’t even know, either... What a pickle. 
I had no choice but to figure out how to fix the broken seams myself. But I required more finesse and fine-tuning of my own divinity before I could do that. God Almighty told me that it’d require the same level of precision it would take to repair a spiderweb by hand... What a pain in the ass that would be. 
It would probably just be easier to kill all of the Phrase. But even if they vanished, there’d be other negative effects of the world’s boundary having holes in it. The Phrase weren’t the only creatures that could pass through, after all. I didn’t really want a villain-of-the-week situation coming through the dimensional holes all the time. 
I wondered if Central Palerius would be able to teach me anything about how the island barriers worked. 
It wouldn’t be too unreasonable to expect he’d know something. Plus, I was interested in seeing just what Palerius’ legacy was... 
Almost two weeks had passed since my encounter with Representative Dyent. 
I’d been watching them through Kougyoku’s birds, so I was fairly aware of how the situation was developing on their end. 
The Representative from the north seemed hesitant, but he calmed down once central spoke up in favor of meeting us and learning our intentions. They didn’t necessarily believe me, but they wanted to hear it straight from my mouth. 
I was just glad they were willing to listen. Talking was preferable to the alternative. 
I’d spoken to the members of the alliance about my meeting with the people of Palerius. The alliance all seemed fine, but I also made sure that they informed Palouf, Elfrau, Hannock, and any other nations that might be curious. For trade purposes, they had to be aware of how things were going to work. 
I didn’t want any renegade traders going to Palerius and causing havoc. 
“Still... This is old man Palerius’ legacy, huh? I’m pretty curious... Wonder what it is.” 
“Were you friends with him?” 
“Well, kind of. He was a bit of an eccentric. You know that artifact that I used to view you in the future? That was his doing. Well, the theory at least. Old man Palerius’ writings were the basis for a lot of my research.” 
Damn... This freaky doctor thinks he was a weirdo? He must have been off the scale in eccentricity... Apparently, the old man hated doing anything for his country, and he didn’t obey state orders. He simply liked to go off and research with his disciples. 
“Touya, can you take me along to the island with you? I really wanna know what this thing is that he left there.” 
“Uh... I guess? Just don’t do anything weird, okay? The situation’s pretty tenuous as it is.” 
“Oh please, don’t sweat the small stuff. I know the situation well enough not to do anything dumb. How about you have a little faith in your mistress?” 
“I don’t remember allowing you to be my mistress.” 
Babylon and I were in the hangar’s garage area, talking about the situation. Monica suddenly called out from atop an overhead crane. 
“Listen, you two... Can you like, totally get outta here?! I cannot concentrate when you’re prattling on...” 

“Ah, sorry about that. I’ll go check on the vehicles or something...” 
“That’s like, done already and stuff. I’d suggest you look into the vocal magic regulators for Sakura’s Frame Gear. The upload isn’t quite complete yet.” 
“Sounds good to me.” We left the garage and Doctor Babylon clambered up to the cockpit of a stationary Frame Gear in a separate garage nearby. It was cherry blossom-colored with twinges of white mixed in. The Frame Gear was named Rossweisse, and it was Sakura’s support-type unit. 
It had two large trumpet-like horns that extended from the back and rested on each shoulder. They kind of looked like cannons, honestly... It was newly-developed tech that was designed to amplify Sakura’s music. They had offensive purposes too, though; they could amplify sound waves using air pressure... Or something like that, anyway. They could also retract out of the way when they weren’t needed. That would stop the massive things from impeding the Frame Gear’s movement when it was time to run. 
I left that garage and went to another one opposite. This one had a dazzling emerald Frame Gear inside. 
Rosetta was seated in the cockpit, and there was a small legion of mini-bots scuttling around it, helping her with this and that. 
This Frame Gear was Lu’s. It was a high-spec Frame Gear designed for guerrilla operations, Waltraute. 
It was capable of using various different kinds of gear, depending on the situation. It had close-quarters weaponry, long-distance weaponry, heavy weapons, or stuff to help with speed. Naturally, that meant that while it was a jack of all trades, it was master of none. 
It wasn’t as strong as the other Frame Gears, but it was still a Frame Gear. It had the strength to survive in battle against the Phrase, of that I was certain. 
Provided things went alright on the island, we’d be able to test out these Frame Gears by having them kill a couple Behemoths there or something. Either way, we’d be talking with them soon... 
I set off to meet with the Representative, and he was waiting there with a group of armored knights much like last time. 
I, in turn, just like last time, had brought around a hundred Frame Gears with me. 
“Good day, Representative Dyent. Have you spoken to the others?” I already knew the situation on their end thanks to Kougyoku, but I needed to feign ignorance. 
“I have. Everyone wishes to meet you, including Lord Central. We’ve also decided upon how we wish to handle our relationship with you. It may cause you some trouble, but would you kindly come to the Central Temple on the island with us?” 
“The Central Temple? Very well. We can go there with my magic.” 
“Hm?” I opened up a huge [Gate] to swallow up everyone in the area. We came out on a hill close to the temple. Kougyoku’s birds acted as my eyes for a while, so I’d seen the vast majority of the island. Therefore it was easy for me to open up a portal to anywhere on it. 
“Th-This...?” 
“We’re at the Central Temple...?! But how?!” The native knights looked around in confusion. They had seen my portal magic when I brought the Frame Gears over, but they mustn’t have ever expected to experience it themselves. Dyent looked a little unsettled as he ordered a messenger to walk to the temple. The other representatives had already gathered in there, apparently, so there was no issue for us to all go inside and begin negotiations. 
I sent about half of their knights back to the Southern capital with another large [Gate]. I didn’t want their citizens freaking out about their warriors suddenly vanishing or anything, after all. That would’ve been a pain. 
I left behind Lain and the other Brunhild knights and headed toward the Central Temple. I was going there with Doctor Babylon, Yae, and Kohaku. The latter two were ostensibly with me as guards, but I didn’t really need them. 
Doc Babylon rode on top of Kohaku’s back, her baggy white lab coat fluttering in the breeze. You should’ve asked Zanac for a better-fitting outfit... 
Eventually, we made it to the temple, a large cylindrical structure about six stories high. It kind of looked like a straight version of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The one on Earth was a little taller, though. 
Dyent led us up a stairwell and inside the main temple area. It kind of felt like an ancient ruin in terms of atmosphere. It must’ve been built during the ancient civilization’s heyday, around five-thousand years back. 
“This place is in excellent condition, it is.” 
“It’s likely enchanted against age and wear, much like my Babylon installations. Stopping the effects of time on an object wouldn’t have been much trouble for that old man...” Doctor Babylon gave a simple reply to Yae’s bewildered reaction. She raised a fair point. If the Sage of Hours had mastered Space-time magic, there was no reason to assume he wouldn’t be able to easily do something like this. 
We passed a couple of guards and headed up a spiral staircase, then walked down a long corridor. We opened up a large door and came out into a spacious room. It seemed to be a meeting room. 
There were two men and two women seated in the room. They were around a circular table, smack-bang in the middle of the place. There were also a few guards dotted around, too. 
Three of the people seated wore similar armor to Dyent. The people in that clothing consisted of a young man, an old man, and a young woman with red hair. 
They were likely the representatives of the other capital cities. 
The last person was clad in white robes. She leaned against a rough and knobbly wooden cane. Her hair was auburn and wavy, it went down to her waist. My best estimate was that she was in her late twenties. She smiled gently in our general direction. She looked a fair bit older than the other woman present. 
Yae and I entered the room, followed by Kohaku with Doctor Babylon on her back. Everyone looked surprised, but they calmed once no hostility was shown. That was only natural, really. 
The white-clad woman extended her arm toward me after standing up. 
“Good day, Grand Duke of Brunhild. I am Mentor Palerius, descendant of Alerius Palerius. I’m the one who guides the island. Their mentor, if you will.” 
“Nice to meet you. I’m Mochizuki Touya, Grand Duke of Brunhild.” 

I shook her hand firmly. She seemed to be the island’s general representative. Then, three others began to introduce themselves. The old, grey-haired man was the representative of the eastern city, Morgan East. 
The young, brown-haired man was the representative of the northern city, Sagitta North. 
Last but not least, the red-haired woman was the representative of the western city, Millie West. 
Including Dyent South, that made four cardinal directions, which their surnames happened to signify pretty clearly. 
It was possible that they were ancient titles that had slowly morphed into family names. I had no way of telling for sure, though. It was a little bit amusing, since their surnames were in plain English, but I didn’t really pay that any heed. 
I sat down at the table and began to explain to them all exactly what it was that I’d told Dyent. 
I projected the map up into the air and began to explain current affairs, global events, the Phrase invasion, why their island had so many Behemoths, and how to negate their barrier. 
“I told Dyent this already, but you can freely reject what I’m saying here. We’d like to co-operate with you all, but we don’t want to force you into an agreement. If you representatives ask that we withdraw, then we will leave and we won’t come back any time soon.” 
“Can I ask a couple of questions?” Representative Millie raised her hand. I nodded toward her. 
“Should we decide to reject your proposal, will other nations leave our island alone?” 
“Your island’s protective barrier is extremely powerful. The only reason we’ve been able to make contact with you at all is due to qualities unique to the Duchy of Brunhild. There’s no reason for you to expect any other visitors.” 
“And if we accept your proposal, if the barrier comes down... might we be at risk of invasion from other nations?” 
“They’d need a fairly large fleet of ships to even try taking this island, honestly... Let’s assume that a country did wage war on your island and invade. I don’t believe they’d be able to penetrate the barriers protecting your major cities. The Behemoth presence on your island would also make a land invasion difficult. I can’t say for certain, but I don’t believe you’d be at any immediate risk.” There’d be fewer Behemoths after the collapse of the barrier, but it would still take the efforts of a traitor from within to take out the defenses of this island. 
That was just hypothetical, though. I didn’t believe the island had much in terms of worth. There wasn’t much in the way of farmland, and there was almost no productive capability going on either. They had mines, and such, but not enough to justify waging war. 
It was true that Behemoths were valuable, dead or alive, but fighting them would incur considerable losses. 
There was no nation around that had enough national power or naval power to invade the island to begin with. Well, it was possible Yulong might have tried it, but they were gone. Still, if they were around and they had tried it, it would’ve just been an excuse to trash them. 
I didn’t know much about Xenoahs, but I felt like they’d try to mop up Yulong territory first if they wanted to expand. 
Still, if the island truly had so little worth, I could understand people being confused about why I was reaching out to them. In truth, I just wanted to connect with them and find out more. It was ultimately up to the islanders whether or not they wanted to reach out to the world, though. I was of the belief that such a unique culture could offer a lot to the world, and vice versa. 
Plus, it’d be good for the people who were currently living in fear of Behemoths that roamed around freely. 
“Grand Duke, I’ve heard you’ll exterminate several Behemoths on our island if we remove the barrier. Is that true?” Morgan, the eastern representative, lobbed a question my way. I looked out the window shutters to my left. There was a Frame Gear standing by there, I began to speak as my gaze remained on it. 
“We fight against the Phrase with our Frame Gears. In terms of fighting, Behemoths make good target practice for the newer models. We’ll also take the carcasses back to Brunhild with us when we’re done, but we’d happily give you a cut. That’s because we’re asking you to allow us to hunt on your land...” Morgan began to think to himself as he slumped down in his seat. This time, it was Mentor Central who raised her hand. 
“Grand Duke, you spoke of removing the barrier around this island, but I must ask... Just how do you intend to do that? The barrier erected by Sage Alerius covers the entire island. There is an artifact in the basement of this temple that controls it, but the artifact itself is surrounded by several impenetrable barriers of its own...” I had expected as much. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a small magical tool. It somewhat resembled a syringe. 
“This is an artifact that can nullify the effects of other artifacts. To be blunt, it can completely negate those smaller barriers protecting the basement artifact. If we use this item, we can completely strip the barrier around the island, and it’ll never return. This item can only be used once, though.” I put the Initializer on the table, and everyone seated craned their necks to look a little closer at it. 
I took it back, then held it out to Mentor Central. 
“You can have this. Whether or not it’s used is down to you.” I understood their apprehension. They still believed the barrier to be the only thing keeping them safe. It was only natural that they’d need time to think about it, they probably needed time to process what I’d told them. 
Mentor Central silently gazed at the item in her hand. 
“Hypothetically... could you use your abilities to emigrate only those who want to leave the island, Grand Duke? Would there be a nation out there that would accept migrants from this place?” That was interesting, I wasn’t sure if they’d ask that. What Mentor Palerius was suggesting was a situation in which the barrier was maintained, but those that wanted to leave could still choose to do so. 
“I could do that, yes. And I’m fairly sure there’d be nations willing to accept them... But I don’t suggest taking that approach. The people you send out there would have to start their lives again with nothing.” The threat of Behemoths would be gone, but they’d have a hard time adjusting to life off the island. They’d have no contacts out there, nor would they know what skills they’d need. It’d be even harder if they brought families. 
“Whatever you suggest to me is irrelevant, now. You have the Initializer tool. Whatever is decided will be your decision. You can choose to bring the barrier down, or you can choose to keep it up. We will respect your choice in the end. Please think it over.” 
“...Thank you. We will deliberate on this subject once more, I believe!” Mentor Central bowed her head to me. 
I decided it would be best to leave it there for the day. If they wanted to remove the barrier, we’d help them. If they didn’t, we’d leave them alone. Even if they decided to do it dozens of years down the line, that was their choice. But if they waited that long, I probably wouldn’t be able to help them as easily. 
Doc Babylon suddenly tugged at my sleeve. 
Oh, right. I totally forgot. 
“Actually, I wanted to ask you guys something.” 
“What is it? We’ll answer if it’s at all possible.” 
“The Sage of Hours, Alerius Palerius... I understand he left something behind? Something known as the Door? I’d like to see it, if possible.” 
“The Door, you say? That won’t be an issue. I will allow you to see it as thanks for granting us that magical tool. It isn’t exactly a state secret, so you should be fine...” Mentor Central smiled in my general direction, but Sagitta North suddenly butted in with a flustered look on his face. 
“Lord Central. There’s quite a risk in bringing an outsider to see Lord Alerius’ legacy, don’t you think...? If it were to be destroyed...” 
“We barely understand it ourselves, don’t be silly. It’s a five-thousand-year-old artifact. What would they have to gain by destroying it? In fact, I feel as though the grand duke may even have some insight as to what the Door does.” 
Central’s words silenced Sagitta fairly quickly. She was right, though. Doc Babylon and I had a spell called [Analyze], which allowed us to fundamentally understand how stuff worked. I probably wouldn’t be able to wrap my head around something so complex, but I had a feeling Babylon would know what was up. 
“Please, follow me. The Door is at the very top of the temple.” We began ascending the spiral staircase upward. 
I was curious about this Door. It was said to be something that would guide them to a new world, but I was curious to see if it was related to how the world’s barrier was repaired. I had no idea what it could be... 
We finally arrived at the top floor of the temple, it was an open-air atrium with no roof. It was raining outside, but it seemed that there was a barrier preventing any of it from hitting us. 
Several unusual geometric formations and shapes were scrawled into the ground, creating a massive magical circle that I didn’t recognize at all. The lines and formations all converged on one point in the middle of the atrium, that’s where the Door was. 
It certainly looked somewhat like a Door, but it was clearly not a standard one. More specifically, it more resembled a marble arch, except not made of marble. It kind of reminded me of a tinier version of the Arc de Triomphe in France. It was more person-sized. Above the arch was a what shockingly resembled a wattmeter, and elsewhere on the arch was a display unit that resembled a tachometer. 
Is it made of metal? It’s so majestic that I have a hard time believing it’s ancient... I guess it could have a protective enchantment like the rest of this place, though. 
“May I touch it?” 
“By all means.” I got permission from Mentor Central, then reached out to the object. It was cold to the touch, confirming my suspicions of its metallic composition. I could also feel the unusual streams of magical energy flowing through it as well. 
“It looks extremely sturdy, it does...” 
“Yeah... But it’s not mithril or orichalcum. I have no idea what kind of metal this is.” I shrugged towards Yae, who had also taken it upon herself to touch the weird arch. I tapped it a bit with my knuckles. That’s metal, alright. 
“Hmhm... It’s made out of chronium. I’ve never seen such a pure sample, though...” Doc Babylon hopped down from Kohaku and gave it a few caresses. As she spoke, Mentor Central’s eyes went wide. 
“What an incredibly discerning eye... Grand Duke, just who is that girl?” Her response was natural, given that Babylon looked like a literal ten-year-old in an oversized coat. 
“Her name is Doctor Regina Babylon. She’s Brunhild’s primary magitechnician. Would you allow her to analyze the Gate with her Null magic? She’ll likely learn something new about it.” 
“Oh?! A-Ah... Y-Yes, of course!” She was probably more surprised about such a small looking girl being a foremost researcher than anything else. The four representatives behind her were just as bewildered, and they all trained their eyes on Babylon as she began to do her thing. 
She completely ignored their watchful eyes and laid both hands upon the Door. Her own eyes closed as she focused her magical power. 
“[Analyze].” She began trying to process the information in her head. Or at least, that’s what I assumed she was doing from all the muttering and mumbling that was now going on. 
I tried to use [Analyze] as well, but it took only a few seconds for me to give up trying to wrap my head around what I was seeing. I understood a few things, like how it was built and what it was made of, but that was about the extent. Ultimately my knowledge wasn’t specialized enough. I couldn’t make good use of the information. It was like having a regular old person see the schematics for an electrical appliance. 
“I certainly don’t recognize the magical formulas here. It goes without saying that it’s an incredible device, however. From what I understand here, it functions similarly to a [Gate], in that it functions as a space-time transfer device... I’m somewhat confused by the lack of co-ordinates, though. Or rather, I simply can’t sense the coordinates for the destination at all. The amount of magical power required to turn it on is also obscene, which effectively means...” 
I stopped listening to the rambling doctor and turned to ask Mentor Central a question. 
“Alerius Palerius left this behind, right?” 
“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 this 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. 
.?? ????? ?????? ??? .??? ,???? ??? ??????? 
“...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?” 
......?????? ???????? ???? ????? ????? ??’? ???????? ,?????????? ??? ????? 
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. 
I saw Yae bowing deeply in front of the Door, and Doc Babylon was frantically examining it. The representatives of the island were nervously watching them from afar. 
“I’m home.” 
“T-Touya-dono?! It is you, it is!” Yae scrambled to her feet, yelled with joy, and began squeezing me tight. 
Oof... That was almost Sue-tier... 
“I-I was so worried about you, I was... K-Kohaku vanished, she did. And then the call did not connect! I-I thought, sniff... I thought you had returned to your old wooorld, I did... Waaaaaah!” 

 

I’m sorry I worried you... I gently brushed Yae’s hair with my hand. She was sniffling and crying. 
“Hey now... There’s no way I’d abandon you... Hey, would I?” 
“Sniff... Y-You’re right...” 
“Hey, lovebirds. Sorry to break up a nice thing, but she wasn’t the only one who was concerned.” Doctor Babylon was glaring at me, fire in her eyes. 
“My bad. Sorry for the trouble.” 
“...That apology felt a little different to the one you were giving Yae just now. Did you really have to speak so monotone? Well, whatever. What kind of place did the Door take you to?” 
“Oh, right...” Mentor started to approach from the stairs. I had no idea what to tell them. 
Hmm... What should I say... 
“Another world...? The Door truly led to such a place?” 
Doctor Babylon went wide-eyed and shocked, so did Central and the four representatives. 
Ultimately, I decided to tell them the truth. It didn’t matter that much, since there was nobody but me who could activate it. Whether or not they believed me was a different matter, though. 
“I guess you could call it a Reverse World. It’s similar to this world, but has a few differences.” I’d taken a photo of Mr. Sancho’s map with my smartphone. I then used [Drawing] to create a printout. 
“So this is what Alerius Palerius meant when he was referring to the new world...” Dyent muttered quietly to himself. He was likely correct. Though, more accurately, it was Alerius’ disciples who attempted to use the Door to reach a new world and escape the Phrase. 
But none of them, not even all of them combined, were as talented as the original sage. They were unable to finish it, and that was why their descendants were trapped on the island. 
“So now you guys have even more options. You could stay on the island and continue your struggle against the Behemoths. You could remove the barrier and join with the outside world... You could mix up both, and send out those who would like to leave while keeping closed off from the world. Or, as a final option, you could pass through the Door to the new world instead.” The room went completely silent. I continued talking. 
“Let me make one thing clear, though. If you go to the new world, you can’t come back. I was lucky to return, but that was a one-off. You won’t get the same chance. The people on the other side don’t speak the same language, and I don’t know anything about their geopolitical affairs. If you guys come to a decision, I’d like to hear it soon enough.” 
It was a world with weird creatures in the wilderness, so it wasn’t exactly safe like modern-day Japan or anything. That being said, it was probably safer than this world. There wasn’t a Phrase threat to contend with over there, at least. 
“We can’t make a decision right now... May we consider it over the next few days?” 
“Alright, that’s fine. We aren’t in a rush or anything, just take care to consider all the factors.” 
I nodded toward Mentor Central after I said that. Their choice would have wide-reaching ramifications, so I understood why they needed time. A proper discussion was only natural. 
I decided that the best thing I could do for the time being was go home. I was totally pooped. 
 
I returned to Brunhild, only to be accosted by everyone. I understood they were scared, but they didn’t need to squeeze so tightly... 
I summoned Kohaku and the other beasts and apologized for having them suddenly vanish. They were pretty shocked by what had happened. 
I also summoned Snow, the little rodent that belonged to Lop and his friends. 
“Sorry about this... Go back to your buddies, okay?” I sent Snow back with a little apology note, and he quickly ran off into the darkness. 
Hrmph... I don’t want this to happen again, so... maybe I should prepare some kind of reserve tank with my magic in it? If I can make some kind of mana battery that stores my magic, it should work as a reserve if I ever go out of range again... 
“So that Door took you to another world...? Given the Phrase, and your own story about where you come from, I understand, but... it’s still strange...” Yumina, clad in white pajamas, rolled around on my bed as she muttered. 
It wasn’t just her, either. All my other fiancees had invaded my room and were making my bed their new nest. They said they wanted to punish me for making them scared, so they’d all be sleeping with me... Not in that way, of course. It wasn’t time. 
The bed was a specially-made item for such situations like this, so it was extra big. Big enough for ten people to sit on it, at least. Even with the addition of the stuffed bear, there was plenty of space left. 
To be honest, the bed was way too big, in my opinion. That was why I usually slept on a smaller bed by its side, most nights. 
“Hey Touya, how was it on the other side?” Sue, wearing her own cute little yellow pajama ensemble, clung to my back, and asked a question. She was pretty stressed about the ordeal, so she was allowed to stay over tonight. 
“Mmm... I didn’t stay very long. I didn’t see much. I wanted to get home as soon as possible because I knew you’d all be worried.” 
“You were right, we were all worried.” 
“Extremely worried...” Linze and Sakura stared a hole into me with their eyes. I’d already apologized a ton, so I wished they wouldn’t blame me so much. 
“When Kohaku disappeared, I felt as though my heart was going to give out, I did.” 
“Me too! I didn’t know what to do when Yae called saying you were gone.” 
“We’re just glad to have you home safe.” 
Yae, Elze, and Hilde all expressed their fears as well. It wasn’t like I was responsible, though... 
“I’m confused, Touya... You managed to return to our world safely, but... Didn’t you say you couldn’t cast [Gate] at all?” 
“Ah... Well, Lu, uhm... about that...” 
“...What are you hiding from us?” 
I was hesitant to answer Lu’s question, and Leen had zeroed in almost immediately. 
Hrmm... Should I seriously tell them? I mean... It’s not like I’m not allowed to tell them, and frankly not telling them might just cause more trouble. 
I decided to tell them my biggest secret. All about how I came to this world, all about god, and all about what I was going to become. They thought I was joking at first, but gradually their expressions softened as I continued talking. They sighed slightly and looked at me with puzzled expressions on their faces. 
“I don’t even know where to begin here...” Elze looked shocked. 
“So you’re telling me that... not only are you from another world, Darling... but you’re also a god? Why do you never cease to surprise me...?” 
“This... honestly explains quite a lot...” Lu nodded to Leen, accepting my story entirely. I was a little surprised by how readily they were accepting it. 
“Then, does that mean your sisters are...” 
“Gods, yes. They’re not allowed to use their divinity down here, but they are from the divine pantheon.” 
“...This country really is rather crazy, isn’t it? I wonder if we’ll ever be defeated at this rate...” Leen let out yet another sigh. 
“Well, it doesn’t matter what Touya is. He’s still our husband at the end of the day!” Yumina put it bluntly, and the rest of the girls nodded in agreement. I was pretty amazed by my fiancees. They had a lot of guts to just accept it like that. 
I was embarrassed, even though it was nice to be accepted, so I curled up into my bed and tried to sleep. 
Yumina and the others were giggling amongst themselves, but I pretended not to hear. Sleepytime was calling. 
I was going to visit the gods after I woke up, to express my gratitude to them for rescuing me. I wondered what gift would be best to bring... 
According to Karen, I’d be able to use the Spatial Translocation ability if I focused my divinity, but I couldn’t do it just yet. Using it would allow me to jump to other worlds, apparently. Still, I wanted to get some kind of magic tank or reserve before even making another attempt. 
I began to ponder those things as sleep claimed me, and the darkness set in across the corners of my vision.