Dragon and Entry
"Uwee... You're so mean... I got abandoned..."
"No. I'm really sorry. The second I saw those guys' faces up front, I completely forgot about everything behind me."
"Hueee..."
"S-sorry. I'm truly sorry. That's why I teleported you here like this, isn't it? I'll give you free time tomorrow too. Here. I'll even give you this black card! Go wild with it! No spending limit!"
"R-really?"
"Of course! Really and truly! Tonight I'll give you free run of the hotel! You can do whatever you want here too!"
"Eh? W-well, if you put it that way..."
Right. I had forgotten something extremely important.
The fact that this trip was not just the two of us.
Of course, we would spend most of our time alone together, but we still had a bodyguard-slash-liaison-slash-homunculus coming along to share a good deal of that time with us.
And that person was Yang Ho-jin, who had completely forgotten what it meant to clock in for work the moment summer vacation started.
Even as we walked into the hotel, I kept feeling like I was forgetting something. It was only after we got into the room that I realized we should have been waiting at the airport for a solid hour or two.
The moment we understood just how badly we had screwed up, I immediately used mana detection to pinpoint Yang Ho-jin's exact location and teleported her straight into our room.
Even so, Yang Ho-jin was still far from over her anger. The one silver lining was that she was nothing like Rhea; she did not have that fiery personality. Being far more introverted and quiet than most people, she simply kept shooting me resentful looks to convey just how displeased she was.
"Do you have any idea how shocked I was? I was told you two would be waiting at the airport, but there was nobody there, you wouldn't pick up the phone, you didn't even respond to my mana voice call, and I didn't have money to get back. I thought I was going to become an orphan in a foreign country."
Yang Ho-jin started grumbling at me while sipping the convenience-store drink Ha-yan had handed her.
Ordinarily I would have fired right back with a "Don't be ridiculous!", but this time neither Ha-yan nor I had a single word of defense. We just kept repeating that we were sorry.
Once we finally managed to smooth things over, we unpacked in the suite on the top floor of the hotel. Looking around, there were so many rooms that there was no need to get Yang Ho-jin a separate one; we simply decided to split them among ourselves. Ha-yan said she preferred it that way anyway.
Although Teacher Yang Ho-jin had hardly shown her face at the company until now, among the homunculi she was second only to Rhea in how close she was with Ha-yan. They ran into each other at school all the time and chatted, so it made sense.
Still, first we needed to discuss the various plans for the following days. There was no way Takanashi would try anything weird in Japan, but no matter where we went, Ha-yan's safety was always my top priority.
"Alright. For this trip, just remember one thing."
At my words, both Ha-yan and Yang Ho-jin looked at me intently.
I told them this:
"We are the top."
The next day.
Having completely shaken off our fatigue in the suite and dressed ourselves neatly, we followed yesterday's secretary's guidance, took a different elevator tucked away in a corner of the hotel, and rode it down underground. Of course, Yang Ho-jin was moving with us this time as well.
The secretary who rode the elevator with us looked us over for a moment, then smiled and spoke.
"Everyone looks wonderful in those outfits. I suppose that's what happens when you're a perfect match."
It was obviously just service talk meant to win our favor, but I did not bother calling it out. I wanted to keep a lower profile this time myself.
"Ahem. Thanks. But why is the secretary still in a suit? I was told today's dress code was completely unified."
Even though she looked older than me in real years, I spoke to her casually without a second thought. The secretary, of course, paid my tone no mind at all.
She answered my question like this:
"I'm not a mage. As an ordinary person I can't wear one, and there's no need for me to."
"...Does this group reveal secrets like that even to ordinary people? You would need magic for that, wouldn't you?"
At Ha-yan's question she nodded and proudly shared her secret.
"Yes, yes. I formed a soul contract. But I don't regret it. Just knowing the secrets of a world no one else knows about is enough to make me grateful. Ah, we've arrived."
It was quite a surprising story. Unless the trust ran extremely deep, no one would talk about magic to an ordinary person. On top of that, a single careless word would leave you a complete idiot thanks to the soul contract.
I glanced at Ha-yan for a moment and thought to myself. Takanashi seemed to trust this secretary as much as the two of us trusted each other—maybe even more.
Guided by the secretary, we stepped out of the elevator and—
"Ehh."
"Tsk. A little..."
"It's small, isn't it?"
—each of us offered a short, rather disappointed review.
What met our eyes the moment we left the elevator was a solitary building standing in a space far smaller than my lair.
Seeing our expressions, the secretary hurriedly spoke up.
"This is hardly everything! This place is only for identity verification. After that you'll have to take a train farther in."
"And because of the identity check, you can't go any farther from here?"
"That's right. From this point on, only people who actually have mana can enter."
The secretary said it with a faintly bitter look.
At her words we each gave our robes a quick once-over and stepped inside the building.
The interior looked very much like a typical subway terminal. The only differences were that everyone inside was wearing robes just like ours, and—
"Ohhh. It's our benefactor! The Archmage himself!"
"Then the one next to him is...? Wow. I'm so jealous. Perfect couple, right?"
"Huh? And next to them... the mana is identical? So that's the homunculus we've only heard rumors about!"
—every single person inside was staring at us with expressions of intense curiosity, envy, or fascination.
I gently took the hand of a slightly embarrassed Ha-yan and walked over to what looked like a reception counter, then asked the person sitting there,
"We're trying to get in. What do we need to do?"
"Ah! Archmage! Goodness. You won't need any of the bothersome procedures, of course. And the person beside you is... ah, Lady Lee Ha-yan. And next to her is the homunculus you informed us about in advance?"
"That's right."
"Then verification is complete. Mana detection makes it immediately clear. Welcome to our headquarters."
Just like at Incheon Airport, there was no need for complicated procedures. Confirming each person's mana with detection finished the identity check right there.
We offered the person a small nod of thanks and headed toward what looked like a subway platform.
"Oh. It's completely just a Japanese subway."
"It's not really just a Japanese subway, though, right?"
"I heard they reclaimed an abandoned line. Apparently that cut construction costs or something."
As the only one who had been here before, I explained the place to Ha-yan and Yang Ho-jin. Meanwhile—
Chiiiik....
—a train rolled into the platform with an eerie sound.
The many people who had been waiting boarded, and we climbed on with the crowd. The inside of the train was just as typical of a Japanese subway as the outside had been.
With another chiiii... the doors closed and the train set off toward the first destination of this Japanese itinerary.
"This stop is Headquarters. Headquarters Station."
"Maybe because there's only one stop, we got here fast."
"Huh? We're already there? It feels like only about ten minutes have passed."
"The train only goes this far. After this there's no real need to ride anything like it anyway."
"Is that so?"
"You two should get off now. Looks like everyone else has already left."
Hearing Yang Ho-jin, we rose from our seats a little late. The train would not be moving again for a while, and there was no point in getting swept up early in a wave of people.
When we stepped outside—
"Whoa. Amazing. There's a space like this underground? Under Osaka, Japan?"
"This place is still on the small side. The Antarctic underground is way bigger. Since people actually live here, it has to hold tens of thousands, so a size like this is inevitable."
"Still, it's incredible, isn't it? Ordinary people up top have no idea a space like this even exists underground. And because it's underground the air is super cool. And it was true that we don't need trains—everyone's just flying around."
"Down here no one has to worry about people staring when they use magic. And honestly, Japan's surface weather is hell."
Both Ha-yan and I knew perfectly well how brutal Japanese summers were.
So why hadn't we complained about the heat at the airport?
Because from the moment we crossed into Japan I had been freely blasting magic without the slightest restraint.
Right now a temperature-control spell was active around the three of us, keeping a perfectly comfortable climate wherever we went, twenty-four hours a day.
Anyway, enough digression.
After getting off the train we looked around the vast underground space and decided to handle the most important matter first. We set off toward roughly the same destination as almost everyone who had gotten off with us.
"There are so many people packed in. All of them are..."
"Right. The examinees for this evaluation. They're from all over the world, so of course there are a lot."
A huge number of people who looked around Ha-yan's age were pouring into the headquarters building, and because of that every staff member working there looked completely overwhelmed.
"Those who have come to register for the evaluation, please line up this way!! This way! The end of the line is over here!!"
"Looks like it's over there. Let's go stand in line too."
"Yeah, yeah. Ah, but does Ho-jin really need to be here?"
"Ah, no... I'll just stay with you. There are so many people I'm going to get drained..."
Teacher Yang Ho-jin did not actually need to stand there and suffer, but for someone born with such an inward personality, a crowd this size seemed like far too great an ordeal.
So we stood in line together, and the people lining up or walking past us began murmuring the moment they saw us.
By now I was basically immune, so I paid it no mind.
Just then a staff member spotted us, hurried over, and spoke to me.
"B-Benefactor, there is no need for you to stand in a line like this. Toward the VIP—"
"No. It's fine. There's no need for that. I'm only here as a guardian anyway."
"Ah. I see. Understood. Please enjoy your time here."
The staff member who had tried to give us special treatment immediately backed down at my firm words and disappeared somewhere else.
Watching the exchange, the surrounding mages murmured,
"As expected..."
"Indeed..."
—and my evaluation score climbed even higher.
"Ugh. That acting was insane."
"Acting? Doing it this way just makes things easier later."
Ha-yan looked a little fed up with my performance, but it could not be helped.
Here the image of me as an Archmage was far stronger than the image of me as Ha-yan's boyfriend.
Accept that kind of favor? No way.
Image management is important, you know.