Once we had transported the Teleportation Gate to the Great Tree Dungeon, Gou and Bell set to work on the installation.
Despite the name, the Teleportation Gate was more of a device than a physical door.
As for what it actually looked like...
A stone circle?
Was it truly as simple as arranging large and small stones into a ring?
Ah, looking closer at the stones, I noticed characters carved into their surfaces.
I see. You arrange them in a specific sequence and then set the activation stone to finish... That makes sense.
...
Which part of this did Lu want to dismantle exactly?
Each individual stone looked like... well, just a normal stone.
Only the final activation stone appeared to be man-made.
Ah, it must be this.
I see, I see.
...
I decided to ask Lu, who was watching the installation by my side.
"Is that final stone the part you wanted to dismantle?"
"That’s right. That device is said to contain every secret of the Teleportation Gate! Oh, I want to investigate it so badly. I want to try all sorts of things... but no one has ever succeeded before."
My wife was a bit of a mad scientist.
I already knew that, though.
"Village Head, as requested, I have set it up to the point just before activation."
"Good work."
The Teleportation Gate was a paired device. While one side required a stone circle like this, the other side was much simpler. It consisted of a stone similar to the activation stone, and you could teleport to wherever that stone was placed.
In other words, if I activated it now, I would simply be moved to a spot about five meters to the right of the gate. Re-installing the circle seemed like a massive hassle, so I wouldn't do anything wasteful.
"Was only one installation sufficient?"
I had brought all three sets just in case, but I only had one installed for now. I didn't know what might happen, after all. The remaining sets were stored securely in the storehouse in the basement of the Village Head’s Mansion. I took pride in knowing that even Urza and the kittens couldn't find a way to tamper with them there.
"Let's call it a day for now. Sorry for the trouble."
"Not at all. Please call for us when you are ready to activate it or install the others."
Gou and Bell bowed in unison. Then, remembering they were in a dungeon, they remained where they were to stand guard.
"I haven't activated the traps yet, so you'll be fine."
"We won't let our guard down. If you'll excuse us..."
"Understood. Lu, make sure you're back by dinner."
"Okaaay!"
Leaving Lu behind to investigate the gate, I left the Great Tree Dungeon with Gou and Bell, guided by one of Zabuton's children.
Gou went straight to the mansion to have tea with Holly. They were having a lively conversation about child-rearing. On a side note, hadn't Holly started looking younger lately? Maybe it was makeup? Women truly are incredible.
Meanwhile, the kittens were keeping the lonely Bell company.
"Whoaaa...!"
Bell let out a little cry of delight every time the kittens moved. I understood the feeling. Leaving Bell and the kittens alone so as not to disturb them, I returned to my room.
I found Kuro sleeping on his back in my room; he scrambled to his feet and trotted over the moment he saw me. No, you could have stayed asleep, really.
When I sat in my floor chair, Kuro rested his chin on my lap. I stroked his head as I fell into thought.
The Teleportation Gate.
Lu had spoken as if the man-made activation stone was the most important component, but that was actually just for fixing the coordinates. The truly vital parts were the large and small stones arranged beneath it.
The stones were useless individually, but they gained meaning once they were arranged the way Gou and Bell had done. In simpler terms, each stone acted as a word, and the specific arrangement formed a coherent sentence.
The crucial part was that the stone circle and the coordinate stone had the same number carved into them. According to Gou and Bell, if there was an emergency, removing that coordinate stone would make the gate unusable. Apparently, there were many such broken gates throughout the world.
However... couldn't those be fixed just by reactivating them? The method for reactivation was written right there on the stones. Furthermore, as long as you had the stones and the coordinate stone, you could probably just re-carve the numbers and reuse them.
Heck, I might even be able to make them myself.
...
Well, maybe it wasn't that simple.
Kuro lifted his head from my lap and rolled onto his back a short distance away.
Hm? What's wrong?
Ah, it was Yuki's turn. There, there.
I had assumed Gou and Bell knew these details since they installed the gate so smoothly, but it turned out they were just precisely reproducing the layout of an existing gate. They didn't actually understand the meaning of the characters carved into the stones.
For some reason, I could read them.
That was why I was able to piece together how the gate worked.
As for why I could read them... only one thing came to mind.
It was the Beginner's Pack I received from God. I hadn't struggled with conversation or reading and writing since I arrived here, so it was likely thanks to that.
However, I wondered about being able to read things written in code. Wasn't that a bit too convenient? I felt a little guilty toward the people who had worked so hard to invent the ciphers.
I had one major thing to consider: whether or not to tell Lu.
If I told her, would Teleportation Gates start to spread? The Demon King, Beezel, and Progenitor-san had all warned me that these gates were difficult to manage. It might be an exaggeration, but if gates became common, the world could change drastically.
And would that be because of me? I couldn't take that kind of responsibility. Honestly, I didn't want to.
As long as this village, its residents, and the people I cared about didn't fall into extreme misfortune, that was enough for me. I didn't have the slightest desire to change the world.
I decided that the truth about the characters on the Teleportation Gate should remain a secret kept in my heart.
Hm? Yuki, is it the belly after the head? I don't mind, but shouldn't you yield to Kuroichi? He's waiting his turn. Just for a little bit, then.
Lu didn't return even when it was time for dinner. She was so happy while investigating, forming hypotheses and agonizing over her desire to dismantle the thing.
It was no use. I couldn't just stand by and watch her pour all that effort in the wrong direction.
I told her about the characters on the Teleportation Gate.
"Wait, these are ancient characters. You can actually read them?"
"For some reason, I can."
"...Wait just a minute."
Lu hurried to her room and brought back various stone tablets, crystals, and gems.
"These too?"
They were covered in similar characters.
"Let's see... this stone tablet is a written apology regarding an extramarital affair. This crystal is a list of names—a graduation roster for Glaible Academy. And this gem... it's just an allowance ledger."
Upon hearing my answer, Lu collapsed on the spot.
"To think the treasures I've cherished for all these years were..."
I'm sorry. I'm really sorry.
But I got it. If you ignored the text, the stone tablet looked solemn, and the crystals and gems were mysterious items with shifting patterns. They certainly looked like they would be something important.
Yeah, I was sorry.
Eh? She had a history of failing to decipher these? Well, they were mostly personal names, so deciphering them would be nearly impossible. Especially since they were in code with rather convoluted rules.
I really did wonder why I could read them. It was a mystery.
Afterward, we went back to the Teleportation Gate, and I explained the characters carved into the stone circle one by one. I spent the rest of the evening assisting Lu with her research.
As it turned out, while Lu wanted to reproduce the Teleportation Gate, she had no intention of making it widespread.
That was a relief.