GGC
“Shall we head in, then?”
Soyeon said it with her eyes still a little swollen. Her face looked more at ease than the first time I’d heard the news. …Or maybe that was just my own wishful thinking, not wanting to play the villain.
“Don’t we need to prep any weapons or gear?”
Until now we’d always rented weapons and suits. The Association rented them cheap, so every new Keeper did it that way. You could buy your own equipment, sure, but managing it yourself was a pain.
“No. We just go in and come right back out, right?”
“Yeah. That’s all we need.”
“Then we’re fine. There’s nothing special right at the Gate exit.”
If the Gate’s owner said so, it was probably true. I was ready to shrug and move on—until Kayla put the brakes on.
“We should still be careful. You never know what can happen inside a Gate.”
She was right. In my short time as a Keeper I’d already run into two anomalies inside Gates. And here was Kayla—who wasn’t even a Keeper—being more cautious than me. I needed to reflect on that.
“…You’re right. Just because it was fine last time doesn’t mean it’ll be fine this time. So what do we do? Should we rent something from the Association, Senior?”
“Hmm… then we’d have to pick a new day.”
“No need. I’ll help.”
“Huh? How?”
“With magic.”
Kayla closed her eyes and brought her hands together. I could feel mana gathering around them. So this was the power of mana, magic power, and affinity stats?
Blue light bloomed in her palms. When she took my hand, the light flowed over to me, wrapped around my body, and sank in.
“What is this?”
“Enhancement magic. It’ll raise your stamina, strength, agility, and senses for about an hour. Should be enough to hold out for a bit if anything goes wrong.”
I clenched my fist. The strength was completely different. Even without looking I could feel how sharp my senses had become—sharp enough to catch Soyeon’s open-mouthed stare at Kayla.
Magic really was broken. And she could just casually do this?
“Amazing. So this is a real mage.”
Soyeon marveled, then shot me a sidelong glance. I knew that look instantly.
Yeah—it wasn’t the magic that was amazing. It was Kayla.
“Kayla’s incredible, right? I’m one lucky guy.”
“No… that’s… wow…”
Soyeon couldn’t even finish the sentence, looking utterly floored. I knew exactly what that meant.
You’re seriously praising your girlfriend right now? Are you out of your mind? My mental state just crashed. I can’t help you—no, I won’t help you.
…Maybe I’d laid it on a little thick.
“You’re amazing too, Soyeon. You’re the only one among us who can open a Gate. Right now you’re the most important person here.”
“…Whatever.”
She said it like she didn’t need the praise, but she couldn’t hide the way her ears turned red.
…
So why was Kayla staring daggers at me again?
Ah. This was why harems were hard.
“Both of you, put your hands on my shoulders.”
I placed my hand on her left shoulder; Kayla took the right.
“Here we go.”
A flash of blue light swallowed us. When it faded, a different blue—sky blue—greeted us.
We stood in an open grassland that stretched in every direction. A rocky mountain loomed faintly far to the left, looking a little out of place.
But the person who should have been here was missing.
“Senior…”
“It failed.”
Kayla hadn’t come through. So non-Keepers really couldn’t enter?
“The power made it across, though.”
The magic Kayla had cast on me was still active. That wasn’t strange—everything except people came through. She’d known it would last and cast it anyway. She’d probably tested it at places like the Eternal Gate.
“So you really have to be a Keeper?”
“Maybe. But I had a feeling it would work.”
“Why’d you feel that way?”
“Because she’s mine. I figured she’d come along like my clothes or luggage.”
“Huh?”
Soyeon looked at me like I’d lost my mind.
“Is Mustang some kind of object? That’s completely weird.”
“It’s just a figure of speech. Who said she was an object? I meant she fully belongs with me.”
“Then you should’ve said it that way from the start. Calling her clothes or luggage first completely kills any sincerity.”
Okay, the clothes-and-luggage bit had been a little much. That really did sound like treating her as an object… wait.
“Hold on. What if that’s actually it?”
“…What is?”
“She has to be stuck to me, like clothes or luggage. Just now she was holding your shoulder, right?”
“…That’s true.”
“That’s why it failed. She’s mine. She has to be attached to me to come through.”
Discovery of the century. This had to be it.
“Let’s try one more time. I really think it’ll work this time.”
“…Maybe, but even if it succeeds, never say the word ‘object’ out loud again. The person hearing it will get hurt.”
“Yeah. That was too much on my part. Thanks, Soyeon. I’ll fix it.”
Soyeon turned her head away from me. Were her ears a little red, or was I imagining it? And why? What did I do wrong this time?
“…You can say nice things when you want to…”
She muttered it under her breath. Normally I wouldn’t have caught it, but with my senses enhanced I heard every word.
Good. So I didn’t mess up.
“Ahem. So how long do we have to wait?”
“…Ten minutes? That should be enough to leave.”
You couldn’t enter a Gate and immediately exit. There was usually about a ten-minute cooldown. There were always exceptions, but luckily Soyeon fell into the normal range.
“And after we leave? What’s the base cooldown?”
“About an hour. Plus the ten minutes we just spent…”
“So we won’t have to wait too long. Nice.”
Entering a Gate also had a cooldown. The rule of thumb was that you couldn’t re-enter for at least as long as you’d stayed inside, plus a base cooldown that ranged from a few hours to several days. An hour was extremely short.
“How many people can you bring into the Gate?”
“I’ve never tried, but with a one-hour base cooldown, maybe up to ten?”
Generally, the shorter the cooldown, the fewer people and the less volume of goods you could take inside.
“Makes sense. How’s the inside look? Anything special?”
“I haven’t properly surveyed it yet. This is only my second time coming in.”
Surveying cost money—a lot of money. Enough that some people made a living just doing surveys. Most brand-new Keepers’ Gates looked like this. They earned cash in other people’s Gates first, then developed their own.
“Last time I only scouted this grassland. The B-class hunter who came with me said there were no monsters nearby.”
“I feel like there’s something in that rocky mountain.”
“I think so too. I need to save up and survey it properly.”
“I’ll help. Kayla will help too. Magic’s perfect for surveying, right?”
I’d been thinking that ever since I learned she could use magic. If magic could just locate a mithril vein, you’d make a killing.
“I’ll be counting on you then, Senior.”
“No problem. Just make sure the pay’s right.”
“…Wait, you’re charging?”
“Of course. You wouldn’t?”
I had zero intention of actually taking money. But teasing Soyeon was fun, so I kept going. Her expressions were big and easy to read—a different flavor from Kayla.
Ten minutes flew by.
“…I think we can leave now.”
“Great. Let’s go.”
I put my hand on Soyeon’s shoulder.
“Senior, what’s your Gate cooldown like?”
“Me? One week.”
“That’s the Gate that sends Mustang back.”
While explaining about Kayla I’d told Soyeon the related details—including how to send her home.
“Right.”
“Not that one. Your other summon Gate. If what you said is true, couldn’t you summon other people too?”
Huh?
I’d never even considered that angle. Maybe Kayla’s presence had been too overwhelming. She’d already changed my life so much that my thoughts never reached the next step.
But there was no rule that said I could only summon one person. Being able to summon multiple felt more natural, actually.
Ah.
Soyeon had just opened a whole new horizon. The keyword she dropped made my knowledge react and spit out the right answer.
Undetermined.
Usable someday.
“I don’t know the cooldown. But it says I can use it someday.”
“When that time comes, please call me too. And introduce me to the otherworlders.”
“That’s easy enough.”
We already shared the secret. Going from one person to two didn’t change anything.
More otherworlders, though… The thought that it was even possible made my head spin.
…First things first: solve the Kayla-and-Gate problem.
Still, my heart was pounding with the feeling that something else was about to happen.
Even if my skill Summon Gate (SS, Beginner) was still stuck in a cooldown of unknown length.
One hour later.
We finished preparing to enter the Gate again. This time only I put my hand on Soyeon’s shoulder.
Kayla was in my arms.
Just in case, full contact seemed safest. Kayla’s face was as close to expressionless as usual, but to a Kayla expert like me she looked faintly resigned—already convinced it wouldn’t work.
“It’s okay. It’ll work.”
I whispered right against her ear. I felt her flinch through my whole body.
It would work this time, right? Please let it work.
If I slipped into the Gate alone while we were stuck together like this, how crushed would Kayla feel?
So it had to succeed. Absolutely.
“Going again.”
A rush of blue light wrapped around us. And when I crossed into the Gate, warmth was still pressed against my chest.
Kayla’s warmth.
“It worked! It worked, Kayla!”
I spun her around in my arms. Kayla couldn’t hide her joy either—her eyes were smiling. She’d wanted to become a Keeper too.
Now we could enter Gates together. I wouldn’t have to leave her alone in that tiny studio anymore. That fact made me genuinely happy.
“Ahem. That’s enough, you two.”
Soyeon’s voice yanked us out of our private little world. I stopped spinning and stood there a bit awkwardly, but Kayla stepped forward first.
“Thank you, Soyeon. Because of you I learned I can enter Gates too.”
Kayla bowed politely at the waist. I hurriedly followed suit.
“It’s nothing. I didn’t do anything. Please stand up.”
“Didn’t do anything? Just by existing you already did ninety percent of the work.”
The words came out almost on autopilot. Ever since I’d read in some book that praising someone’s existence worked well on people who claimed they’d done nothing, I’d been using it a lot.
“All talk… earlier you called her an obj—mmph.”
I shot upright and clapped a hand over Soyeon’s mouth.
“Soyeon, you really did great. I swear I’ll repay this favor. Definitely.”
“…I’ll be looking forward to it.”
Kayla shot me a slightly puzzled look but didn’t dig deeper. Thank god. The object joke had crossed a line no matter how you sliced it. It could never, ever reach Kayla’s ears.
With that, we finished preparing to contact GGC.
And before a full day had passed, Garam got in touch.
I headed to GGC’s crew house with Kayla. It was also the first time she had ever left the administrative district I lived in.