Volume 3 Chapter 2 Capture the Gate!
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
Half a month after Puruun entered the Emperor’s Majesty’s harem as a hostage.
From the Demon Empire, 4 engineers from the Gate Research Team, including Reina, arrived in the Duke Yōmo territory of the Zerlant Kingdom and were guided straight to the Royal Capital.
At the royal castle, to honor these 4 individuals, the queen herself welcomed them and arranged a banquet for their reception.
”Your Majesty Queen Asuka. It is an immense honor to have this audience. I, Lieutenant Reina, have come on the orders of His Majesty the Emperor to assist in the restoration of your world’s interdimensional gate. Please allow me to be of service.”
”Lieutenant Reina. No, I shall call you Ms. Reina. We have 2 important citizens of our country who have crossed over and have not been able to return. I humbly request your assistance in ensuring their swift return.”
”Ah, Your Majesty. Please, lift your face. The construction of the interdimensional gate is our cherished aspiration as well. Moreover, knowing that I will once again be able to work alongside Mr. Sistemador, I have been looking forward to the day I can assist.”
”Thank you. I have heard that Ms. Reina was part of the same research team as Sistemador at the military joint research institute. Please help him.”
”Yes. The 3 subordinates accompanying me this time are all very capable. You can count on us.”
”I appreciate your help.”
Reina and the engineers from the Empire stepped back from the queen, but Lord Rainsheyn, who had been watching the exchange, suddenly remarked.
”Your Majesty… I did not confirm it at that moment, but… among Lieutenant Reina’s subordinates… isn’t one of them not human?”
”Oh, so that’s what you think, Chancellor. But our country has many excellent people like Mr. Yuuta and Ms. Akari, so it’s not surprising that there are people like that in our neighboring country.”
”…that’s true”
* * *
The imperial gate research team led by Reina was guided to the “former” gate room in the Royal Palace basement.
And there, the engineers from the kingdom, including Sistemador who had nearly recovered his stamina, were busy working to understand the situation and find solutions.
”Sir Sistemador. It’s been a while.”
”Oh, Reina, it’s been a long time. But I’m glad you could come.”
”Please don’t think so highly of me. Still, this is quite a disaster, isn’t it?”
”We’ve actually cleaned up quite a bit. It seems that the mana which was stabilizing the gate burst, causing the damage. However, the vital gate structure doesn’t seem to be here anymore.”
”So… do we have no choice but to start from scratch?”
”That’s right. But I’ve heard that you all are working on a small, simplified gate. If possible, I was thinking we might be able to combine that knowledge with my experience to find a way… oh? That person over there, they look familiar… they’re a human, right…? Ah!? You are the person who jumped in here through the gate ten years ago! If I remember correctly, your name was Stanford?”
”……”
However, Stanford remained silent.
”Ah, Sir Sistemador. Indeed, this person was introduced as Stanford. Although he isn’t very skilled in our language, he can speak a little. However… it seems there are various reasons behind it, as he doesn’t seem to think highly of this country.”
Reina explained.
”…That would make sense. But for this person to be a gate engineer…”
Reina added more explanation to the suspicious Sistemador.
”It seems that this person has been engaged in research tracking naturally occurring gates in their world.”
”Oh my! Haha… I guess communication isn’t just about being able to talk, but also about being considerate of each other. If he’d known that from the beginning, our country wouldn’t have had to leave him out in the cold…”
”?? Did something happen with him in the past?”
Sistemador says to Reina, who looks puzzled.
”Well, we’ll talk about that later. Anyway, let’s talk about our future plans first.”
* * *
”General Peacock. What on earth is going on? If we provide technical support from our side, won’t it ruin our plans?”
”Well, please calm down, Lord Asunabal. It seems we’ve been outmaneuvered by His Majesty the Emperor this time. Still, I never expected Queen Asuka to audaciously offer direct technical support to our country…”
”Ah. Asuka’s insolence has been known for a long time. But didn’t you say that such an emperor holds little power? What if we simply seize the imperial palace with our military?”
”No, no. That’s going a bit too far… While the emperor himself doesn’t possess much power, he is backed by influential regional lords, and if we recklessly attack, our troops won’t come away unscathed. But please rest assured. We have already taken measures. I assure you, we will definitely outsmart His Majesty the Emperor.”
”Hehe. As expected of a general. I sense you have some plans in mind. Then, for the sake of our mutual goals, let’s hold on just a little longer.”
”Yes. As for you, Lord Asunabal, I kindly ask you to manage that situation with the other country,”
General Peacock said as he took his leave, and Asunabal once again adjusted himself in the chair and puffed on his cigar.
”Hoo. But well… who would have thought that the behind-the-scenes work I was tasked with by the former king would actually be useful now. If this goes well, both Zerlant and Apocalypse will be within my grasp. I’ll make sure that the foolish emperor and queen are blown away without a trace. Hehehe… Hahahahaha!”
* * *
”So, does that mean we can no longer use the magic tools and devices that were being used at the military joint research facility?”
Hearing this while exchanging information with Reina and the others, Sistemador felt disheartened.
”Yes… actually, a little over 3 years ago, there was an accident during an experiment to stabilize a gate that had naturally occurred within the empire, and we lost most of the magical tools and several engineers. With the remaining equipment, we can create a scale of what you refer to as a simple gate.”
”That would take time to prepare, and I can’t predict when the natural occurrence gate will appear. But… I guess there’s no helping it. It seems I’ll have to start over with the magic tools for capturing gates…”
”I will help. So, Sir Sistemador. Regarding when and where the natural occurrence gate could appear, it seems that Stanford was conducting research in that world to predict it, so I’m asking him to think about it a bit more.”
”I see… Thank you for that. Now then… I would like to talk to him directly, if possible.”
”I’ll talk to him.”
”By the way, Reina. During our time at the military joint research institute, I believe you were working on research with your younger sister… but it seems she isn’t here this time.”
”Well, you see… my sister Sheena got caught up in that gate incident…”
”I see… I’m sorry for asking something unnecessary.”
Sistemador said apologetically.
The next day, Reina brought Stanford to Sistemador.
It’s been a while since he used telepathy with a human.
’It’s been a while. I was surprised when you suddenly showed up from the gate beneath the royal castle… what have you been doing since then?’
Sistemador didn’t know much about what happened after Stanford was taken from the gate room.
He had heard that Assistant Claudel had called Yuuta and Akari to ask various questions, but he hadn’t been particularly interested in it at all.
So, here’s the outline that Stanford recounted.
- After being captured in the gate room and undergoing a series of interrogations, he was taken to the Castell Mountains, where the grave of his beloved Cattleya was located, and Stanford was released on the condition that he live there as a gravekeeper.
- Afterwards, he destroyed Cattleya’s grave and Gregory’s grave next to it, and placed some of Cattleya’s bones in an urn, which he carries with him at all times.
- He once thought about dying, but one day Cattleya appeared in his dream and said that she wanted to sleep in her hometown of New Jersey.
- And he made up his mind. he’s going to take these remains back to New Jersey and they’ll be buried there together.
- To do that, he need to pass through the gate again, but considering everything leading up to this point, he was resentful that this country probably wouldn’t let him return easily.
- Just then, he was approached by the demon who are gathering information about humans who have teleported, and since it seemed like Cattleya and he could return to that world, he decided to cooperate with them.
”I see, I can sense an incredible determination…” Sistemador thought.
’So, do you think you can predict the occurrence of the gate?’
”It’s not a hundred percent certain, but… I suspect there might be some kind of regularity or pattern.”
I see… If they can grasp that, it might be possible to predict the occurrence.
But how do they investigate that regularity?
If they had some records of past gate occurrences, maybe.
Ah, there was something like that somewhere… Ah!
Baron Tethyrkan, right!
Baron used to investigate the movements of humans who were teleported through the gate.
And maybe there might be some information about the gates as well!?
Sistemador instinctively stood up, and Reina, who had been observing their exchange, looked at Sistemador in surprise.
But… even if they could predict the occurrences, in order to actually capture them… No, thinking here won’t help him.
Let’s proceed from where they can.
He needs to quickly advise the queen and seek the cooperation of Baron Tethyrkan!
”Reina, thank you. I’m going to meet the queen now. Please take Stanford and head back ahead of me.”
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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