Ch.58Gate (2)

# Chapter 58: Gate (2)

On the communication screen that Minister Vermut proudly sent, I could see a familiar form that I recognized.

And that form was something from this world I had possessed.

No, it was an item that had been used in the game as one of the warp navigation methods.

There it was—the shape of a Warp Gate, which was actually its real name despite Minister Vermut calling it a provisional name.

“Unfortunately, since we’ve only just succeeded, I can’t tell you much about its size.”

Of course, as the minister himself pointed out, the Warp Gate was rather small.

No, to be honest, it was “quite” small.

To give you an idea, it was just large enough for an adult man’s fist to barely pass through…?

But what mattered now wasn’t the size of the Warp Gate.

[Pause]

As soon as I saw that gate, I immediately paused and had one thought.

‘Is this technology even possible at this stage?’

No matter how I thought about it, according to the tech tree I knew, the Holy Seveli Empire shouldn’t yet have the conditions to build a gate.

But at that moment, I realized there was no need for such idle thoughts.

‘Wait, I can just check the UI right now.’

——————————

Of course, for my thick skull, handling a UI that had thrown user-friendliness to the dogs was an extremely difficult task.

After what felt like a full two hours, I finally managed to open the UI window I wanted.

The so-called “window that shows whether the prerequisite tech tree for the technology you want to check has been completed, though I don’t know its actual name.”

[Warp Gate Technology]

[Current Status: Development Complete]

[Prerequisite Technology Requirements]

[Warp Gate Core: Complete]

[Hyperspace Jump Navigation Improvement: Complete]

[Achievement of Massive Space Structure Design Capability: Pending (87%)]

[Interstellar Fortress Network Development: Complete]

[Hyperspace Network: Incomplete]

[Spatial Distortion Technology: Incomplete]

[…]

And a bunch of other things appeared.

To summarize, it meant “you haven’t completed the prerequisite technology development.”

[Unpause]

I immediately unpaused and voiced a single question to Minister Vermut on the other side of the communication screen.

“How did you do it?”

‘I mean, seriously, how?’

And perhaps this reaction of mine was exactly what he had been hoping for.

“Ohohoho!!! Of course, it’s a miraculous collaboration between Miss Alina, whom Minister Arto provided, and myself!”

Seeing his posture that seemed to exude “praise me more,” I nodded and replied.

“So, thanks to you thoroughly exploiting our Miss Alina… you succeeded in extracting various ancient knowledge from her mind.”

“No… when you put it that way, what does that make me?”

My response seemed unexpected, as Minister Vermut immediately deflated.

Seeing that reaction, it seemed Minister Vermut had predominantly thought I would just scold him and not come, but…

“Riel.”

“Yes, Minister.”

“Prepare to depart for the Ministry of Technology and Science immediately.”

“Understood.”

Seeing my order that followed, Minister Vermut wore an expression of extreme joy, like a child receiving a birthday present, and said:

“I knew Minister Arto would recognize the value of this new technology!”

————————

After that, having dumped the remaining afternoon work on my office slaves.

We headed straight to the Ministry of Technology and Science headquarters where Minister Vermut was.

And right after arriving at the Ministry of Technology and Science.

“You’ve finally arrived, Mr. Tiny Flesh?”

“Behold and express your awe at the crystallization of the Holy Seveli Empire’s scientific and technological prowess that we’ve created!”

We were immediately subjected to Alina and Minister Vermut’s grand boasting.

“Minister.”

“Yes?”

“They’re so annoying, can I just hit them once?”

“No.”

After stopping Riel, who was unknowingly about to cross a line upon seeing that irritating sight.

“Minister Vermut, let’s first see if that… Warp Gate thing functions properly.”

“Ah, right, I should have shown you that before boasting.”

Acknowledging his mistake, Minister Vermut began to briefly explain about that mini Warp Gate.

Inwardly, I expected the common “analogy” from SF movies—the one where they fold a paper and poke a hole through it—but…

“First of all, Minister, you already know how hyperspace jump-related technology, that is, warp navigation, works, right?”

“Hmm.”

“Then I’ll quickly skip such basic explanations~”

Minister Vermut, as if saying such romance was none of his business, immediately moved on to the advanced course.

‘What is this nonsense?’

But Minister Vermut, being a pure madman, seemed not to understand people’s feelings.

Regardless of my inner screams, Minister Vermut gestured toward a core with a black hole-like object floating in the center and said:

“Now, as you can see here, this is the existing gate core that Minister Arto saw.”

“Hmm.”

“Let me show you what happens when we put an object directly into it.”

“…”

‘You’re just going to put it in like that?’

When I looked at him with eyes full of such doubt, Minister Vermut nodded as if he understood and calmly replied:

“Hehehe, of course, being a ‘gate,’ if there’s an entrance, there must be an exit, right?”

“…”

“If something goes in, something must come out… I can’t believe you’d doubt such an absolute truth, Minister Arto.”

And when I received an answer from Minister Vermut that I couldn’t have anticipated at all…

For a moment, I thought I saw the image of the smug and arrogant Riel overlapping with Minister Vermut.

“Anyway, let’s end the miscellaneous talk here and proceed directly to the test, shall we?”

But Minister Vermut, unaware of my concerns, said to expect something good, then threw an eraser toward the core he had pointed to earlier, and immediately after.

-Whoosh! Swoosh!

“Oh.”

“What do you think?”

The eraser thrown by the minister disappeared somewhere through the spatial rift inside the gate core.

And the moment I witnessed that.

[Pause]

[Event: Warp Gate Development!]

[You have just witnessed the actual demonstration of the first Warp Gate developed in the galaxy.]

[If this technology is put into practical use, it is certain that the entire galaxy will express awe at the technological prowess of the Holy Seveli Empire!]

[The possibility of research agreements with other countries toward the Holy Seveli Empire slightly increases.]

With a very substantial reward, an event message appeared, certifying that what I saw was indeed a real gate.

‘Oh, so it authenticates it this way.’

It was a bit absurd, but anyway, since it confirmed that was a real Warp Gate…

Since I didn’t have any particular thoughts, I just deactivated the pause and returned to reality, but.

What I saw as soon as I unpaused,

Was the sight of Minister Vermut looking very proud, as if saying it was okay to praise him more.

Normally, I would have tackled such a minister’s appearance to prevent him from going out of control, but.

“…This is truly remarkable, an amazing development.”

“Oh my.”

“Eh?”

At my reaction, which differed from usual, not only the person in question, Minister Vermut.

But even Riel beside me showed a surprised reaction.

“How strange, the usual Minister Arto would be telling me by now that excessive pride is forbidden or something.”

“…I don’t recall ever saying it quite like that?”

“No, I’m just joking.”

Seeing him naturally spreading slander, I sighed and looked at the gate cores again, saying:

“Anyway, the potential of this technology is undoubtedly solid.”

“Of course.”

“Is there any limitation on distance?”

“No? When we tested with just the core last time, it worked fine across our empire’s territory.”

‘So it’s just like the technology in the game.’

Hearing that, I realized that the gate created by Minister Vermut and Alina was real.

“If this becomes practical, it will be an enormous power for the empire.”

At these words of mine, Minister Vermut nodded vigorously in agreement.

“That’s Minister Arto for you! When I showed this to others, they told me to stop wasting time and produce new weapons instead!”

At those words, I inwardly smiled bitterly while starting to imagine all sorts of applications for this gate with its infinite possibilities.

But at that moment, I realized I was missing the most important issues in the current situation.

“Minister Vermut.”

“What is it?”

“Is this the final size of this thing?”

After all, the size of that ‘gate’ was so small that even a human head would have difficulty passing through.

Of course, to these words of mine, Minister Vermut calmly replied as if stating the obvious:

“Originally, the beginning of groundbreaking technology starts small like this and progresses step by step.”

“Hmm.”

“Plans that start unnecessarily large from the beginning are destined to fail! 100%!”

“But isn’t that too small? At this rate, it seems only capable of handling simple personal package deliveries.”

To these words of mine, Minister Vermut tilted his head and said with puzzlement:

“Well, as I mentioned, this isn’t the ‘gate’ we planned, but the gate ‘core’ that activates and maintains it…?”

“Hmm.”

Hearing that, I nodded, thinking it was a reasonable point.

But the real problem was elsewhere.

“And assuming that’s the ‘entrance,’ where is the ‘exit’?”

At these words of mine, Minister Vermut, abandoning his confident demeanor from just moments ago.

Avoided eye contact, twisted his body, and spoke timidly, trailing off:

“Actually… we don’t know.”