A road known as the Village Five Road existed.
It stretched southwest from Village Five, eventually connecting to Shashato City. Prior to the installation of the teleportation gate in Village Five, this had been the sole connection to the outside world, earning it significant importance. Even now, expansion and maintenance continued, as the volume of traffic remained high.
There was also another route.
The Village Five New Road ran south from the village before turning toward Shashato. This one was still under construction. While the path used for transporting materials was already open, it would be a while before the general public was allowed through.
Some might wonder if a new road was even necessary when the original already existed. I had wondered the same thing. However, relying on a single road meant that any disruption would have a massive impact. When I was told they wanted a bypass for emergencies, I could only nod in agreement.
In truth, the existing gate and the original road were currently overwhelmed by the sheer scale of logistics passing through them, leading to constant congestion. The residents had been clamoring for a solution. Thus, the Village Five New Road was born. Furthermore, the route for the new road had been selected with a focus on logistical efficiency, meaning it would likely provide a slightly faster trip to Shashato City than the old road.
Naturally, this meant travelers would likely flock to the new route, potentially leaving the original road abandoned. We had a plan for that, however: the railway—or rather, the wooden railway plan.
I was considering laying a railway or a wooden track along the Village Five Road. I wasn't certain how things would develop in the long run, but I liked the idea of separating traffic: people could take the New Road, while goods moved via the wooden railway on the old road.
The New Road was scheduled to open soon, but the railway remained in the planning stages. In fact, the project for a new wooden track within Village Five itself currently held a higher priority. There were so many similar names for these projects; I really needed to organize them properly at some point.
Now, regarding the teleportation gates.
Generally speaking, the gates currently open to the public connected the Royal Capital to Shashato City and Village Five, passing through several villages and towns along the way. These gates had forged a strong economic link between the capital and the local hubs, leading to massive development. I didn't know the specifics, but apparently, the growth was significant. Miyo, who was stationed in Shashato, had said as much.
Those gates were Lu’s creations. As long as she had the materials, she could mass-produce them. However, if gates were installed everywhere, national borders and defensive front lines would become meaningless. To avoid needlessly provoking neighboring countries, we officially claimed that the gates were relics discovered in ancient ruins. This led the public to believe that installing new ones was a difficult, if not impossible, feat.
Or so we thought, until the Demon King told me it was fine to increase their number. He wanted to use them to further stimulate the economy within the Demon Kingdom.
I wondered if there would be repercussions regarding international relations. Was it strange to hold back on using something useful just to appease people we weren't even at war with? I supposed that was one way to look at it.
The primary concern was the leakage of technology, but Lu was the only one capable of building them. Even if a foreign power managed to get their hands on an actual unit, it was estimated that current human civilizations would take centuries to reverse-engineer it. Thus, there was no immediate threat.
That didn't mean we could start popping them up everywhere overnight, though. Such a move would bring economic chaos rather than growth. The plan was to install them gradually over many years.
Despite that long-term policy, the Demon King came to me with an urgent request for a specific route. He wanted a gate connecting a fortress west of the Royal Capital to the Six Dragon God Kingdom, the new territory Tiselle had established. Since the Demon Kingdom was entrusting its foreign negotiations to Tiselle's new nation, they needed to be in constant contact. The Demon King argued that spending days on travel was unacceptable.
"It will also stop those dragons from flying over every time they need to send a message," he added.
I pointed out that people would probably get used to seeing dragons eventually, but he countered that some residents had weak hearts. I see. As expected of the Demon King, he was always thinking of his subjects.
The decision to place the gate in a fortress rather than the capital city was a defensive precaution for the worst-case scenario. While the frequency of use wouldn't be particularly high, he requested two sets of gates—one for departure and one for return—to keep the flow one-way.
Once word got out that new gates were possible, Yoko and Miyo immediately petitioned for more between Village Five and Shashato City. There was already a gate on the north side of Shashato, so they wanted one on the east side as well. They also requested a one-way pair for each direction. Even with the New Road under construction, it simply couldn't compete with the instantaneous travel of a teleportation gate. We began preparing for both projects.
On a different note, there were the private gates.
The gates restricted to those associated with the Village of the Great Tree connected the village dungeon to the hot springs and Village Five. Recently, a connection had been established between Village Five and the basement of Fairy Fairi, the confectionery shop at the foothills.
Furthermore, there was a secret gate connecting Village Five to the basement of Alfred’s house on the Royal Capital Academy grounds. In truth, the connection to Alfred’s house had existed for a while. It was installed almost immediately after Alfred and the others moved to the Academy.
Lu had been incredibly worried about Alfred going so far away. She wanted to be able to check on him, and more importantly, she wanted him to have a way to escape and return home instantly if anything went wrong. She had installed it in total secrecy. The only ones aware of its existence were Asa, Earth, and Mettora, who had accompanied the children to the Academy. Even Alfred, Urza, and Tiselle were kept in the dark. Lu felt that if they knew they could go home whenever they wanted, the entire point of them leaving the nest to gain independence would be lost.
It was one thing to keep it from me, but keeping it secret from the Demon King and the Academy Director was a bit much. Ultimately, Lu revealed the gate's existence to me as a way to solve Gratz's problem, and we decided to grant him permission to use it.
As for Gratz’s issue... lately, he had been neglecting his duties because he wanted to spend more time with his wife, Ronana. The Demon King, Beezel, and even the Deputy Chief of Staff who gave the lecture the other day were so worried they came to me for help. I thought the matter had been settled when Ronana started staying at Yoko’s mansion in Village Five, but I was wrong.
When I looked into it, the culprit turned out to be the traffic congestion at the public teleportation gates between Shashato and Village Five. Even though his time with Ronana was being eaten away by the delays, Gratz refused to sacrifice his domestic life to catch up on work. He had even been prepared to resign his commission.
The Demon King and the others couldn't afford to lose him and were at their wits' end. That was where the secret gate to the Academy came in. Since it wasn't open to the public, it was effectively Gratz’s private expressway. With this, Gratz could see Ronana just by stepping into his home at the Academy.
Gratz was overjoyed, as was Ronana. I was glad for them. Still, I gave Lu a light scolding for installing the gate without consulting me. I understood that she did it out of love for Alfred, but still.
She told me she had always intended to reveal it by saying, "I suspected something like this might happen," as if she had planned for this specific crisis. I could appreciate the sentiment, but I was just glad we didn't actually run into a disaster that forced her hand.
As an aside, Yoko gave me a thorough scolding for not telling her about the gate in the confectionery shop's basement. I had no defense there; I was sorry.
By the way, hadn't there been a limit to the distance Lu’s gates could cover? I recalled her calling them "short-distance teleportation gates" for that reason. When I asked, she admitted she had solved the distance issue almost immediately. She simply hadn't gone public with it because she knew how dangerous the technology would be considered by foreign powers.
Did the Demon King know? He hadn't been told explicitly, but he seemed to have realized the truth. That explained why he hadn't even blinked when she told him about the gate at the Academy. He really was a sharp one.
A few days later, we made a slight adjustment.
The gate Lu had hidden from the children wasn't in the most convenient location for daily commuting, and it would be a nuisance if Gratz were constantly trekking through the basement of a student's house. As a solution, a private residence for Gratz was built on the Academy grounds under the guise of being "housing for a student's family," and the gate was moved there.
To serve as gatekeepers, several of Zabuton's children were dispatched to Gratz’s new home.