Warp Gate (2)

On the comm screen Vermouth had sent over with such obvious pride, a shape I knew all too well was taking form.

That shape belonged to this world I had been dropped into—no, to one of the warp navigation methods from the game itself.

The very thing Vermouth had labeled with a provisional name was, in fact, its real name: a Warp Gate, sitting right there on the display.

"Unfortunately we only just succeeded, so I can't really say much about the size yet."

As the minister herself admitted, the Warp Gate was on the small side.

No—honestly, it was very small.

How small? Roughly the size of an adult man's fist, give or take.

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

The instant I saw that gate, I hit pause and one thought slammed into me.

Is this even a technology that can exist right now?

No matter how I turned it over, under the tech tree I knew, the Holy Sevelian Empire shouldn't have met the prerequisites for building a gate yet.

Then, in the next breath, I realized there was no point wasting time on idle speculation.

Hell, I can just dig through the UI.

Of course, wrestling with a UI that had thrown user-friendliness out the airlock was pure torture for my thick skull.

It felt like a full two hours before I finally managed to open the window I wanted—the one that showed whether the prerequisite tech tree for a given technology was complete, though I still had no idea what the damn thing was actually called.

A whole cascade of entries scrolled past.

In short: You guys haven't finished the prerequisite tech yet.

I released the pause at once and fired a single question at Minister Vermouth on the other side of the comm screen.

"How did you do it?"

Seriously, how the hell?

Apparently that was exactly the reaction she'd been hoping for.

"Ohohoho!!! Why, of course—it's the miraculous collaboration between Miss Alina, whom Minister Arto so generously provided, and myself!"

She was practically radiating "praise me more" with her entire body. I nodded along and answered.

"In other words, you worked Miss Alina half to death and successfully extracted every scrap of ancient knowledge rattling around inside her head."

"W-wait··· when you put it like that, what does that make me?"

My follow-up clearly hadn't been in the script; Vermouth deflated on the spot.

Judging by the look on her face, she'd been certain I would just chew her out and refuse to come over again···

"Riel."

"Yes, Minister."

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

"Got it~"

The moment that order dropped, Vermouth's expression lit up like a child who'd just received the birthday present of her dreams.

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

After dumping the rest of the afternoon's work on the office slaves, we headed straight for the headquarters of the Ministry of Technology and Science, where Vermouth was waiting.

The instant we arrived—

"You've finally come, little fleshling."

"Behold the crystallization of the Holy Sevelian Empire's scientific and technological might, and offer your awe!"

—we were immediately subjected to the full force of Alina and Minister Vermouth's grandstanding.

"Minister."

"Yeah."

"This is so annoying. Can I just hit her once?"

"No."

I stopped Riel before she could cross the line at the sight of those smug faces, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠then turned to Vermouth.

"Minister Vermouth, first show us whether that Warp Gate··· actually functions properly."

"Ah, right. I should have demonstrated that before the bragging."

Admitting the slip, Vermouth launched into a brief explanation of the mini Warp Gate.

I privately hoped she would reach for the classic SF-movie analogy—folding a sheet of paper and poking a hole through it—but···

"First of all··· Minister, you already know how hyperspace jump technology—warp navigation—works, yes?"

"Mm."

"Then we'll skip the basic lecture~"

Vermouth, as if romance of that sort was none of her concern, barreled straight into the advanced course.

What is this woman doing?

But pure mad scientists apparently don't read the room. Whether I was screaming internally or not, Vermouth simply gestured toward the core floating in the center—something that looked uncomfortably like a black hole—and continued.

"See here? This is the existing gate core Minister Arto has already seen."

"Hmm."

"I'll show you what happens if we put an object straight into it."

"···."

You're just going to shove it in raw?

I shot her a look loaded with that question. Vermouth nodded as if she understood perfectly and answered with calm confidence.

"Hehehe. Naturally, since it's a 'gate,' if there's an entrance there must be an exit, don't you think?"

"···."

"What goes in must come out··· to doubt such an absolute truth, Minister Arto—really."

Hearing an answer I had never once expected from her, I suddenly saw the image of a smug, cheeky Riel overlapping with Vermouth's face.

"Anyway, enough of the side chatter. Shall we move straight into the test?"

Oblivious to my inner turmoil, Vermouth tossed an eraser toward the core she had just indicated, as if to say ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I was free to look forward to the result.

And right after—

Whoosh! Shhhk!

"Oh."

"How's that?"

The eraser she had thrown vanished through the spatial fissure inside the gate core, disappearing somewhere else entirely.

The moment I witnessed it—

A clean, satisfying reward popped up alongside an event message that certified what I was looking at was the real deal.

Huh. So that's how it authenticates it.

It was a little absurd, but if the system said it was a genuine Warp Gate···

I didn't have any particular thoughts beyond that, so I released the pause and returned to reality.

The first thing I saw was Vermouth looking extremely proud of herself, radiating "you may praise me further" energy.

Normally I would have thrown a tackle to stop her from going off the rails, but—

"···Truly impressive. An astonishing development."

"My."

"Eh?"

My reaction was so different from usual that not only Vermouth herself but Riel beside her both looked startled.

"How strange. Normally by now Minister Arto would be telling ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠me that excessive pride is dangerous and so on."

"···I don't recall ever putting it quite that strongly."

"Yes, that was a joke."

She casually slandered me without missing a beat. I sighed and looked back at the gate cores.

"In any case, the potential of this technology is extremely solid."

"Of course."

"Is there a distance limitation?"

"No? When we tested it with just the core last time, covering the entire territory of our empire was no problem."

Exactly like the tech in the game.

Hearing that, I was convinced the gate Vermouth and Alina had created was the real thing.

"If this reaches practical application, it will become an enormous asset to the Empire."

Vermouth nodded so vigorously it looked like her head might come off.

"That's Minister Arto for you! When I showed this to other people they just told me to stop wasting time and produce new weapons instead!"

I gave a bitter smile inwardly and began flooding my mind with every possible use for a gate of such boundless potential.

Then I realized I was overlooking the most critical problems in the current situation.

"Minister Vermouth."

"Yes?"

"Is this really the final size?"

After all, the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠"gate" was so small that even a single human head would have trouble passing through.

Vermouth answered as if the question itself were obvious.

"The beginning of any revolutionary technology always starts small and builds step by step, you know."

"Hmm."

"Plans that start unnecessarily large from the outset are guaranteed—one hundred percent—to fail!"

"But isn't this far too small? At this scale it could only handle personal parcel delivery at best."

Vermouth tilted her head, looking puzzled.

"Well, as I said, this isn't the 'gate' we planned—it's the gate core that activates and maintains it···?"

"Mmm."

That made enough sense that I nodded.

But the real problem was something else.

"And if we assume that's the 'entrance'··· where is the 'exit'?"

At that, every scrap of Vermouth's earlier confidence evaporated. Her eyes darted away, her body twisted, and her voice trailed off into a timid mumble.

"Actually··· we don't know either."