Ch.235Side Story: Midterm Replacement Exam – 2

“I was wondering who would be accompanying me…”

“Yeah, me too. I was wondering who would be going together…”

An awkward smile returned. The identity of the person who said they would participate in the Gate subjugation was none other than Karna.

We exchanged greetings awkwardly. It had been quite a while since we’d met like this, which contributed to the uncomfortable atmosphere.

“How’s the Royal Guard? Are you busy?”

“Same as usual. Busy and tough. It wasn’t normally this hectic without breaks, but recently these Gates have appeared, and we’ve been running around closing them.”

The Royal Guard is a knightly order directly under the Emperor, and their primary duty is naturally to protect the imperial palace. However, lately, they’ve had to venture outside more and more.

When the undead stirred due to the Elder Lich, they were deployed to the front lines to stop them. Then they had to split their hard-earned rest time searching for the Sword Saint, and now this Gate crisis had erupted.

No matter how loyal, honorable, and skilled the Royal Guard might be, it was about time they started feeling mentally fatigued.

“Actually, the Gate assigned to you was originally supposed to be handled by us. Makes me feel a bit sorry.”

“Not really? You’re human too, you need rest. Besides, if they’re assigning it as a test substitute, it can’t be that difficult.”

“You’re probably the only one who could say that about a Gate assigned to the Royal Guard.”

I know that. After losing the Demon Lord as their central figure, the demon race entered into a civil war to determine who was strongest, as they always did. Since we formed an alliance with the Succubi, the front lines were mostly stabilized.

In other words, forces that would have been deployed against the demons could be diverted to Gate subjugation. Even so, if it reached the level of requiring the Royal Guard, it couldn’t be an ordinary Gate.

‘It also means the professors have that much faith in my abilities.’

Professors at Bellium Academy typically have connections with the Magic Tower or the Mages’ Association. Those people are crazy about me, so naturally, they’d significantly overestimate my abilities.

“We’re fine. Loyalty itself is honorable and glorious. Everyone became a Royal Guard with that level of determination.”

If that’s how he feels, I have nothing more to say. I stood in front of the dimensional door and entered the coordinates. Karna approached from the side.

“But I was a bit surprised. I didn’t expect you to say you’d depart right after receiving the map. You said you finished preparations after just one day of rest and were waiting for your companion?”

“It’s better to finish quickly, right? What’s the point of dragging it out and wasting time?”

Since the concept of Gates came from Earth, the Gates in this world naturally had dungeon breaks too.

I had selected Gates with at least a month remaining to be safe, but just as calculations were going wrong for unknown reasons on Earth, the same could happen here.

“Where are we going first? From the coordinates, it looks like the southeast.”

“I’m planning to start with the Gate near the sea.”

I finished entering the coordinates. The dimensional door rotated clockwise, creating a hole in the shape of a hollow circle. We passed through it.

“Ugh.”

Bright sunlight greeted us first. I instinctively frowned and brought my hand to my forehead, the sunlight was that intense. I narrowed my eyes to observe the surroundings.

An emerald sea stretched out into the distance, and golden sand covered the ground beneath our feet. The grains were so fine that our shoes sank deeply. I could already feel sand getting inside.

The sea was incredibly clear. Partly due to my good eyesight, but I could clearly see fish swimming leisurely far below. The size and strength of the waves were also moderate.

Palm trees lined the forest a little distance from the beach. They were even full of fruit, with some rolling on the ground, suggesting they were very ripe.

True to being a candidate for a school trip destination, the beach had a strong resort feel. It made me excited to see what the other candidate locations might be like.

“Wow…”

Karna seemed to share my impression, letting out a soft exclamation of admiration as soon as we crossed through the dimensional door.

“Is this your first time in a place like this?”

“Yes. The Royal Guard doesn’t have connections to places like this. We do get vacations occasionally, but… you know how I’ve been living. I gave up almost all my vacations. After resting for so long, it didn’t feel right to rest more.”

A bitter smile appeared on his face. No one would think that way except him.

“Anyway… I don’t see the Gate? I heard it was in the middle of the sea.”

As if deliberately trying to change the subject, Karna exaggeratedly looked around.

“Didn’t they explain it to you?”

“I only received a written location report. They said I just needed to observe, so it wasn’t necessary. They told me to ask you if I really needed to know.”

Well, Karna’s role was to accompany and verify. He didn’t need to fight inside with me but just wait outside and confirm the clearance, so he didn’t really need an explanation.

From the way they put it, it seemed they intended this test assignment as a sort of vacation for him.

“It’s over there. We just need to walk about 250 meters.”

Karna’s expression hardened when he saw where I was pointing.

“…You mean under the sea?”

“Of course. It’s an underwater Gate. Want to come in with me?”

“C-come in? Into the sea?”

“If you don’t want to, you can stay here. Wait while getting a sand bath or something.”

“N-no, I’ll come. I didn’t bring a swimsuit though.”

“Would you have come if you had?”

I walked toward the sea with a smirk. Karna followed hesitantly. When the incoming waves started to wet our shoes, I turned around.

“You’ll be able to breathe, but you can’t avoid getting wet. Bear with the discomfort for a bit. We can dry off when we get back to land.”

“I can breathe? Underwater?”

Karna’s eyes widened. This was Earth magic, so his reaction was understandable. When the underwater Gate that spat out Leviathan appeared, mage-type hunters worldwide racked their brains to perfect this spell.

If the magic of the First World was close to omnipotent, and this world’s magic focused on destructive aspects, Earth’s magic had developed extensively in utility aspects.

Not by choice, but because the low mana concentration made destructive magic only moderately powerful.

“Here you go.”

I put a magical device I had brought on Karna’s wrist. After casting the spell linked to the device, a blue gauge filled up on the display.

“That blue is the remaining amount. I’ll keep track of time, and the subjugation should finish within the duration, but just in case, tell me to recast it if it falls below half. The duration is two and a half hours, so you can consider one hour as the halfway point.”

“Okay, got it. Thanks.”

I cast the underwater breathing spell on myself, linked it to the magical device, and walked further into the sea. A cold sensation gradually rose from my toes.

Finally, when my head was completely submerged, a completely different landscape unfolded. The sea viewed from underwater was on another level compared to viewing it from above.

Sunlight from the sky scattered as it hit the water’s surface, beautifully illuminating the vast coral reefs, and fish swam in all directions.

Without exaggeration, the water was so clear and clean that one could see for kilometers. Karna’s eyes sparkled as he looked around.

—If this place is chosen as the trip destination, we might be able to come in like this.

When I transmitted my voice through magic, Karna’s eyes sparkled even more. How many chances would one get to experience something like this in life?

Other mages were no exception. As soon as I taught the underwater breathing spell to the Mages’ Association, the Tower Masters collectively took vacations, making their subordinates groan in frustration.

But such appreciation didn’t last long. As we walked deeper, the sparkling emerald color disappeared, and a dark navy-blue sea began to unfold.

Thanks to illumination magic, there was no problem walking, but the atmosphere changed completely. Karna trembled and stuck close to me.

—It’s over there.

Just before the sunlight completely disappeared, a blue-glowing Gate appeared in the distance. The Gate, glowing blue alone in the dark blue sea, had quite an eerie appearance.

Karna was even more affected. His fingers gripped my clothes tightly as if they were a lifeline.

—You’re coming in with me, right?

Nod, nod, nod—Karna nodded his head at lightning speed.

—I hope there’s air inside the Gate…

My voice trailed off. I had spotted something crawling from the other side of the Gate. Seeing it, Karna let out a squeak of terror.

“K-Kraken?!”

‘…Isn’t that just an octopus?’

While Karna jumped in alarm claiming a Kraken had appeared, to me it looked like nothing more than a very large octopus. I examined it carefully, wondering if I had missed something.

Still the same. There were no monster characteristics like grotesquely transformed body parts or chimera-like fusion with other creatures. It really seemed like an ordinary octopus.

‘An octopus…’

Whether it was a real octopus the size of a 25-ton dump truck or a magical beast hiding its true form, I couldn’t let my guard down. But if it was the octopus I knew, there was something I really wanted to try.

‘Maybe I’ll tear off just one leg.’