Chapter 240: Portal Magic (2)

Chapter 240: Portal Magic
(2)

Portal.

There’s
almost no remaining data about it, which serves as both an entrance
and exit to the labyrinth.

Even
Ellie, who was a bookworm at the Temple Library and Academy Grand
Library, lamented that she couldn’t find proper content despite
searching through ancient documents.

But
regardless of the portal’s mystery, it holds an indispensable value
for explorers like me.

‘Because
we can only enter the labyrinth through a portal.’

Explorers
wait eagerly for the day when the portal opens once a week to enter
the labyrinth.

When
entering the labyrinth and moving to the next level, we must also
cross through a portal.

And
to return to the surface, we must cross through a portal.

What
if there were no portal?

Explorers
wouldn’t be able to enter the labyrinth, nor would they be able to
return to the surface.

“How
did Ellie manage to open a portal?”

I
followed Celsia’s guidance as we headed to Ellie’s room to the third
floor of the inner castle, where Royal Magician Ellie’s laboratory
was.

Perhaps
because of Diana’s presence beside me, even the maid didn’t dare to
stop us.

“I’m
ignorant about magic, so I’m not quite sure…”

Rubia
smiled bitterly, seemingly having little knowledge despite being the
granddaughter of an Academy professor.

“But
I do know that she’s been researching without sleep since the day Mr.
Balkan entrusted her to me.”

“Since
a week ago? But how does Rubia know that?”

“Mr.
Balkan told me to take care of Ellie! So I must watch over her until
Mr. Balkan comes to check on her safety! That is the spirit of
noblesse oblige to protect all people! Ohoho!”

I
couldn’t help but feel reassured by this woman who was jumping around
wearing dress armor.

I
expressed my gratitude by patting Rubia’s back vigorously and looked
at Diana.

“Diana,
did you also know that Ellie was researching without sleep?”

“Yes.
Ellie often gets so absorbed that she skips meals…But I didn’t know
she wasn’t sleeping at all…”

The
mystery of humans opening portals was unheard of, except for the
Worshipper of Pride.

Ignorion,
the Worshipper of Pride whom the Royal Vice Captain of Knights called
the Dimensional Duke.

She
had invaded the royal castle’s banquet hall by opening a portal with
the Doomsayer.

—Beautiful…

I
remembered Ellie blankly expressing admiration while looking at the
portal she had opened.

Perhaps
that incomprehensible phenomenon had given Ellie strong inspiration?

By
the time I had thought that far, we arrived at Ellie’s laboratory.

Without
bothering to knock, I flung open the door and entered.

“El…lie?”

My
mouth gaped open as soon as I opened the door.

Inside
the room, black papers densely covered the floor and walls.

No,
those weren’t black papers.

It
was the text written so densely on white papers without any gaps that
made them appear black.

These
black papers densely occupied that room, which was slightly larger
than the first floor’s guest room.

And
among the black papers, there were some white papers with solid lines
drawn on them.

They
weren’t simple solid lines but lines drawn with magical power
contained in the paper.

Those
lines, connected to various papers, seemed to form a single magic
circle and in the center of that magic circle, something black was
flickering.

It
had a color as dark as pitch black, though it was unstably flickering
like waves and small in size, it was clearly.

“A
portal…”

“Hehe.”

A
small laugh came from in front of the small black portal.

Ellie,
who had been hidden behind the portal, poked her head out and looked
at me with a “hehe” laugh.

As
if it were true that she hadn’t eaten or slept at all during that
time, her previously puffy cheeks had slightly hollowed, and dark
circles had formed under her eyes.

Even
her clothes and hair accessories were exactly as they had been when I
saw her at Celsia’s birthday party.

Though
she looked tired and exhausted, her long elf ears were twitching even
more vigorously than when we had our first experience.

“Oppa.”

My
feet moved automatically upon hearing Ellie’s voice.

Seeing
me approach, she giggled and pointed at the portal.

“Remember?
When we first met at the library, you asked me to look into portals.”

“That’s
right.”

“I.
I tried really hard after that too. Reading ancient documents until I
fell asleep, even entering the labyrinth with you because of this,
and after becoming a Royal Magician, I was completely absorbed in
research.”

After
staring intently at the portal for a while, recounting her hardships,
Ellie looked straight into my eyes.

“…Did
I, help you?”

Words
seeking to reaffirm her value.

Even
after becoming a Royal Magician admired by many magicians, even as a
genius who graduated top of her class from the Academy, she still
sought my acknowledgment.

“You’re
the best, Ellie—”

Isn’t
the portal one of the most mysterious things even in the labyrinth
full of all kinds of mysteries?

Being
able to handle it by human hands would surely be the greatest
achievement—

-Smooch.

These
words of praise were swallowed internally as Ellie pounced on my
lips.

I
smiled slightly inside and hugged her tightly.

I
gently accepted Ellie, who came in for a kiss that seemed unfamiliar
after so long, resulting in our lips bumping together.

“Ha,
hawawa…”

“…Heheh.
Oh, Ellie…”

I
could barely hear Rubia’s voice trembling with a red face and Diana’s
faint laugh in that situation.

Right
now, I was focusing all my energy on comforting the girl who craved
my acknowledgment and affection.

***

Together
with Diana, I nursed Ellie, who had fallen into a deep sleep like
fainting after going several days without food and staying up all
night, followed by an intense breeding kiss.

Rubia
made a bewildered expression before hurriedly leaving, saying she
remembered an urgent matter.

Three
or four hours later, Ellie woke up with messy hair and blankly stared
at the disappeared portal.

“It
started twisting tremendously from when we kissed, and eventually
disappeared.”

Hearing
that, Ellie shrugged her shoulders as if it couldn’t be helped.

“Concentration
is the most important thing in magic. The portal must be some kind of
magic or miracle too, so it needs tremendous concentration to
maintain, especially at this incomplete level.”

“…Heheh.
Was the kiss with Balkan good enough to make you lose concentration?”

“Ugh.
Hey, that’s not something a stepmother should say!”

Diana
smiled with narrowed eyes at Ellie’s embarrassed response.

“I’m
always focused when I’m with Balkan because I have to cherish and
remember the time we spend together.”

“Th-that’s
the same for me too…”

Watching
the two engage in playful conversation brought a warm smile to my
heart.

The
sight of mother and daughter chatting amicably, when just a few
months ago they wouldn’t even have a normal conversation, let alone a
harsh one naturally warmed my heart.

Though
I felt a slight chill in my testicles when the mother-daughter
conversation turned to methods of maintaining concentration and
counterattacking during breeding kisses.

After
a moment of casual chat, Ellie continued speaking.

“Even
though I can open a portal, it’s not yet as stable as the labyrinth’s
portals or that Dimensional Duke’s portals, and honestly, I don’t
even know what principle made it work. There will definitely need to
be a lot of trial and error before it becomes usable.”

Hearing
this, it seemed that even Ellie hadn’t perfectly understood and used
the portal magic.

“The
moment I saw the portal that Dimensional Duke’s opened, sparks flew
in my head. Should I call it intuition? I became certain. Though I
don’t know the detailed method, I felt I could roughly replicate
something similar.”

Witnessing
Ignorion opening a portal seemed to have been a revelation to Ellie
in many ways.

It
seemed she could reach the result of opening a portal by roughly
skipping the intermediate process, but that meant there were various
problems with using it right away.

“It
needs dozens of times more magical power than normal magic, or it
can’t be maintained for long…There are some minor issues. The
biggest one is…”

But
putting everything else aside, there was the most troublesome
problem.

“The
portal itself is so unstable that the destination point might be
distorted when entering.”

“You
mean it spits you out at random locations like the labyrinth’s
portals?”

“Yes.
Actually, it’s even worse than that. Like the portal that Dimensional
Duke’s opened, for example, like when they invaded the royal castle,
I still can’t even grasp how to open it precisely at a specific
location.”

It
was slightly disappointing.

If
Ellie could open portals to specific locations?

If
you wanted to go to the 15th floor, open a portal to the 15th floor,
if you wanted to go to the 20th floor, open a portal to the 20th
floor.

You
could even go to the 34th floor, the deepest level of the labyrinth.

Then
we could have headed to the Abyss of the labyrinth at its end.

I
swallowed the rising disappointment and smiled.

“So
what if you can’t quite grasp it yet? We can improve the
disappointing aspects through future experiments.”

Today
was the day Ellie’s efforts shone so it was only right to give plenty
of praise where it was due.

“To
begin with, that person opens portals through blessings, so it can’t
be helped. It’s even more amazing that you reproduced it with magic
after seeing it just once.”

Diana
seemed to share the same thought as she showered Ellie with words of
encouragement.

Ellie’s
lips twitched after receiving our pats.

It
was a look that showed she was extremely happy but felt shy about
openly showing those emotions.

“Hmph.
I-is that so? I should be able to improve it going forward, right?”

Diana
and I took turns patting Ellie’s head at her words.

“Of
course. You’re Ellie, the genius magician.”

“And
Ellie, the Academy’s top graduating magician.”

“And
the youngest Royal Magician Ellie.”

While
some might hear this as putting pressure on her, for Ellie who was
confident in these aspects, they were words that gave her courage.

Ellie
snorted and put her hands on her hips, sticking out her chest to show
her confidence.

“H-hmph.
Then I have no choice! I’ll have to pull another all-nighter.”

“That’s
not allowed. It’s good to be enthusiastic, but right now you need to
take care of your condition first.”

“Balkan
is right. What are you saying when you just fainted?”

“Uu…uuu…I
understand…”

I
couldn’t help but laugh seeing Ellie immediately deflate.

***

After
finishing all business at the royal castle, we headed back to the inn
by carriage.

Ellie
joined us in the returning carriage.

“Being
a Royal Magician doesn’t mean you have to live only in the royal
castle, it’s quite a free position. You must cooperate
unconditionally when the royal family calls, and sometimes go on
business trips to the labyrinth, but they provide research support at
the Academy professor level, and if you want, you can substitute
minor tasks with monster hunting in the labyrinth.”

“You
go on business trips to the labyrinth?”

“I
haven’t gone yet, but I heard seniors take turns going several times
a month.”

I
listened to various stories from Ellie about what Royal Magicians do,
while internally organizing what had happened at the royal castle
this time.

Though
it was a short time, the visit to the royal castle was quite
productive.

I
dealt significant damage to the Doomsayer, among the duo who attacked
Celsia’s birthday party.

I
left a debt with the Queen for saving Celsia and received a jewel
containing a fairy seed, while Diana received a bracelet that
increases strength.

Somehow
I also heard about Zirnier’s circumstances and requested new armor.

Above
all, I learned the identity of Miss Armor Knight, Celsia, shared
intimacy with her, and received a hand mirror that allows us to
communicate.

-Bwoong.

The
bead containing Sloth’s blessing, [Incompetent Magician’s Blessing]
that Celsia had, vibrated.

[Th-that
thing. Hand it over to me! Someone soft like Sloth would only give
weak things, it would be a better choice for you to satisfy my
hunger…]

Bunny
tried to tempt me with various proposals targeting it, but it wasn’t
acceptable.

Between
feeding inefficient materials to improve a weapon’s performance and
strengthening one’s divine power, the latter should obviously take
priority.

By
the time I finished thinking about Ellie’s portal magic experiments
and future tasks, we had arrived at the inn.

As
soon as I opened the carriage door and came out, I saw a black-haired
woman welcoming me with a worried face.

“Master!!!”

-Squeeze!

Denshi
ran over and clung to my body, tightly hugging my upper body.

The
soft and bouncy body of the nearly naked slave woman rubbed against
me sensually, strongly shaking my reason for a moment.

“Why
did you come so late! You said you’d be back in a few days! I waited
so long but you didn’t come! And all I heard were bad news like the
royal castle being attacked!”

“Were
you worried?”

“How
could I not be worried?! Huu…Thank goodness you’re safe…”

“Senior
whines so much. She’s desperate because she couldn’t take care of her
lord.”

“Shut
up!”

I
flicked the collar of Denshi who shouted at Belle’s comment from
behind.

“Kheuk…Huu…”

She
let out a moan of pleasure at the choking sensation.

Who
could treat harshly a woman who worried about them so much?

Though
pulling the collar to its limit to choke her neck might seem a bit
rough from others’ perspective.

At
least in our master-servant relationship, it was reasonable, so there
wasn’t much to be concerned about.

“…What
is this?”

However,
it didn’t seem right in Ellie’s eyes.

Eyes
filled equally with confusion, questioning, hostility, and anger
glared fiercely at Denshi still in my arms, then turned to me.

“…Huh?”

And
that was the same for Denshi too.

“Oppa.
Why is that woman here?”

“Why
is she with Master?”