Chapter 43: Transfer Magic Circle

“I understand. Then let’s create something together!”

“That’s the spirit! Just this branch alone has ignited a fire in my heart. It would be quite a spectacle to create an artifact right before our eyes. Wahahahaha!”

The Dwarf king, who had been gloomy until a moment ago, now had a twinkle in his eyes and laughed as if he had come up with a mischievous idea.

“Now, what should we make? Since we don’t have much time, let’s go for something simple. Do any of you have any difficulties in your daily lives that could be solved?”

“Hmm, let me think… I can’t really come up with anything off the top of my head.”

Mia raised her hand.

“Do you have any trouble when forging?”

“Well, there is one thing… Having a disposal facility would be helpful. In this city, every household has an artifact trash bin. Things thrown into it turn into soil or are sorted by materials for reuse.”

So if you throw something into your house’s garbage bin, it gets recycled right in the city. That’s impressive. But then, we don’t really need a disposal facility, do we?

“However, there are issues with the artifact trash bins as well. Items that are deemed unusable for recycling are returned from the bin. Also, objects that are too large to fit in the box cannot be disposed of.”

That’s pretty eco-friendly.

I wonder if things that can’t be reused aren’t allowed to be used in the first place.

Even so, no way… I’m curious, so let’s ask.

“By the way, how do you secure food in this city?”

“We have a massive warehouse. Vegetables and meat are delivered there every day.”

“Do you import them from outside?”

“Not really. They appear there on their own. It’s just my guess, but I think there are facilities like fields and ranches somewhere in the Shirakami Dungeon, similar to this city. The food is then transferred from there. Moreover, the warehouse supplies just the right amount for the city’s residents. When Kukuto and the others left, the amount of food in the warehouse decreased the following day.”

“Does that mean you don’t need to bring anything from outside for your daily life…?”

“You got it. That’s correct. If you live in this city and as long as the artifacts are functioning properly, you can survive without working. Now that I think about it, the ancient people who lived here might have fallen into decay and perished.”

Mia tugged at my sleeve.

“This place is like one of those shelters that appear in sci-fi stories, right? It’s like where humans take refuge when they can’t live on the surface due to nuclear wars.

“Actually, I was thinking the same thing. Maybe the ancient people didn’t want to live here, but rather, they couldn’t leave. If we consider that they could only use things that were reusable, it all adds up.”

The Dwarf king rubbed his chin with his hand and nodded a few times.

“I see. I don’t know what those shelters or sci-fi things are, but the idea of it being a refuge from the surface makes sense. No, it’s highly likely.”

I wanted to continue pondering on this further, but for now, let’s stop. We don’t have much time, and we can save the enjoyment of solving the mystery for later.

“I’m sorry, we got off track. What happens to things that can’t be thrown into the artifact trash bin?”

“We form parties about four times a year and dispose of them on the surface. Some things are toxic, so it’s a life-threatening task to throw them away. That’s why we lose the motivation to create elaborate things that could result in more of those toxic things.”

It takes several hours one way to throw away the trash…that’s tough.

I was curious about where they throw it on the surface, but I decided not to ask.

Then Mia said, “I’ve got an idea! How about using that thing we made in the past?”

“That ‘thing’?”

“Yes, that thing.”

I’m curious about how confident she is, but it’s Mia’s idea. It’s bound to be something amazing.

◇

The Dwarf king seemed to have a clear image of Mia’s idea after hearing it, and things moved swiftly from there.

He called five former master craftsmen Dwarves and showed them the branch that could expand and contract.

Everyone’s eyes widened, and they froze in place.

After that, we are bombarded with a ton of questions.

Deciding that it would be faster to show them how we made it, I used Mia’s “Deformation” skill to make an ordinary branch capable of expanding and contracting.

“It’s a divine miracle!”

I couldn’t help but burst out laughing at the nostalgic line. And even the Dwarf king joined in.

As the master craftsmen started arguing about the order of inspecting the branches, Mia made one for each of them and presented them as gifts.

The master craftsmen’s eyes gleamed with joy as they happily jumped around.

Since then, they started referring to Mia as “Mia-sama”.

“Alright, you guys, quiet down! What we’re about to create is extremely dangerous. If we’re not careful, there might be casualties.”

Hearing the Dwarf King’s voice, the master craftsmen suddenly became serious.

“Kukuto and Marle brought Takumi and Mia here. As you saw just now, we might be able to create something that surpasses not only magical tools but even artifacts of the ancient people. It’s our last chance to reclaim the pride of the Dwarf race. Get fired up! First, we’ll make a prototype. Let’s do it!”

“”””Ohhhhh!””””

The Dwarf king and the master craftsmen dashed out of the reception room and went somewhere.

Mia was dumbfounded, but to me, who felt like I’d been dealing with children, it wasn’t  outside my expectations.

“Um… What should we do?”

“Well, since the Dwarf king will probably find us easily, let’s go out until it’s our turn. Actually, there’s something I want to do.”

◇

——Entrance Management Building, Reception Room –

We are in the reception room of the Entrance Management Building, which serves as the entrance and exit for “Gonhillrim.”

We’re currently having tea with Tatara-san, the entrance management officer, right in front of us, the dwarf who let us into this city.

While talking about Kukuto-san and Marle-san, we became friends.

This Entrance Management Building is a large structure with an area of about 100 square meters.

According to Tatara-san, there are ten entrance management rooms of various sizes and purposes.

An entrance management room is a room where teleportation magic circles are placed.

The room we entered had only one iron door, and that was the only entrance and exit. The other rooms apparently vary in size, with some being large enough to accommodate around 1000 people, while others have huge doors like loading docks that lead directly outside the building.

When someone with a “Gonhillrim Pass” approaches the teleportation magic circle, an alarm rings in the control room to notify them.

From the control room, they can communicate with the person holding the “Gonhillrim Pass.” However, this communication is not through sound but through a mental conversation. It feels like the message is directly transmitted to the brain. Is it something like telepathy?

From this control room, they manage the teleportation between “Gonhillrim” and the Shirakami Dungeon.

Even if the teleportation magic circle falls into the hands of the enemy, they won’t be able to come here unless it is activated and controlled in the control room.

The story I heard from Tatara-san was just as I expected.

With this, it seems we can obtain what we’re after.

I made a request to Tatara-san.

“Please teleport us to the Shirakami Dungeon.”

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