Chapter 44: Motivation Switch

“Please teleport us to the Shirakami Dungeon.”

“Well, sure, but are you already leaving?”

“No, we’re just going to investigate the Shirakami Dungeon briefly and come back soon. When we return, do we just need to be in front of the magic circle?”

“That’ll be fine. Be careful because there are monsters there.”

Tatara-san guided us and teleported us from the entrance management room to the Shirakami Dungeon.

◇

“Where are we going now?”

Mia asked while lightly doing warm-up exercises.

“Nowhere. We have business here,” I replied, pointing at the teleportation magic circle with my finger.

Mia looked at the teleportation magic circle and her face lit up.

“You’re making a teleportation magic circle!”

“Correct! We’ll use it for our own transportation for now. In the future, I’m thinking of placing these circles in key locations worldwide and turning Gonhill Rim into a major logistics hub.”

“That’s amazing! Everyone will be surprised.”

Mia took out paper and a pen from her plush toy’s pocket and sketched the magic circle. It seemed complex and challenging, and she struggled a bit, but she completed it.

“Mia, do you understand how the magic circle works?”

“Yes. When we approach the magic circle wearing the ‘Gonhill Rim Transit Pass,’ we can communicate with the control room. Then, we can operate it from the control room and move back and forth between the entrance management room.”

I nodded and gave her a thumbs-up.

Mia held a copy of the magic circle on paper and used the Deformation skill.

After a while, it glowed faintly, and Mia nodded at me with a smile.

——We moved a little further away.

Alright, there’s no teleportation magic formation nearby here.

I put the transfer magic circle paper that Mia turned into an artifact on the ground.

I aimed my ‘Gonhillrim Pass’ on my right hand towards the teleportation magic circle.

“Takumi, are you coming back soon?”

Alright! I heard Tatara-san’s voice.

Since this voice can only be heard by those who wear the Gonhillrim Pass bracelet, I turn to Mia and make an okay sign with my fingers.

“Tatara-san, could you accompany us for a little experiment?”

“Sure,” Tatara-san replied, so I decided to conduct the experiment.

First, let’s try a stone.

I rolled a stone towards the magic circle on the ground.

“I’ve sent a stone over there. Did it arrive?”

“Hold on a moment. I’ll check it now.”

After a while, Tatara-san informed me, “There was a small stone in the room.”

Mia tried to step onto the magic circle, but I hurriedly stopped her.

“Mia, wait! We’re still testing.”

“Isn’t it already fine?”

“No, it’s not finished at all. For example, what happens if the paper tears when you’re on the magic circle?”

Mia’s face turns blue.

Perhaps she imagined the worst-case scenario.

“Mia, you might have imagined it, but there’s a possibility of the worst-case scenario, like only half of your body being teleported.”

Mia nodded repeatedly.

Since she understood, I continued with the verification process.

During the verification, the following points became clear:

・If the magic circle becomes distorted or dirty, it will fail.

・If the teleportation fails, everything returns to the original location. Partial teleportation doesn’t occur.

It turns out that materials like paper are useless.

According to Mia, the real magic circle had light coming out of the ground.

When a person walks on the magic circle, the light should be obstructed, causing the magic circle to become incomplete. However, teleportation still succeeds with genuine magic circles.

I found it strange but realized that I had been mistaken in my thinking.

The performance of the paper magic circle depends on Mia’s imagination..

Moreover, it was meaningless compared to the real thing.

We’ll see later how to deal with that.

Using the ‘Gonhillrim Pass’ wristbands, we decided to search for the return magic circle.

Since the magic circle moves within the underground third floor of the Shirakami Dungeon, there was no guarantee it would be in the same place as last time.

We managed to find a teleportation magic circle near our current location.

I asked Mia to sketch several additional copies of the magic circle.

Even though it’s such a complicated pattern, she drew each one in about 10 minutes. Mia blushed and her eyes sparkled. It was clear she truly enjoyed drawing. Watching her in that state somehow warmed my heart.

After finishing the sketches of the magic circle, we decided to return to ‘Gonhillrim.’

◇

When we returned to the teleportation room, not only Tatara-san but also the Dwarf King and the master builders were waiting.

“Don’t go off somewhere without permission. We were looking for you.”

I didn’t want to be scolded by them, but I kept it to myself. Their expressions showed anger, but their eyes revealed their relief at our safety.

“Sorry for causing you worry. Actually, this is what we wanted.”

I showed them the paper with the teleportation magic circle that Mia had drawn.

“Mia-sama, did you draw this?”

“As expected of Mia-sama. What do you plan to do with this?”

Mia’s followers approached us. …Their presence was overwhelming.

“Just wait a moment. Can it be possible… that you can do something like that!?”

The Dwarf King, as if he had witnessed something unbelievable, staggered back.

It seemed he had finally realized the value of this.

“Yes. The experiment was successful. Since it tears when it’s made of paper, could you carve this pattern onto something with a sturdy material?”

“If you ask an artisan, they can make it. But my, oh my, you’ve come up with something unbelievable.”

I discussed several ideas with the Dwarf King and the master builders.

I requested that they create as many teleportation magic circles as possible, keeping them portable in size. I also requested that they do not disclose this information until the operation test is over.

There is a possibility that this access control building will become the gateway to the world in the future.

“””””Oooh!”””””

The dwarves rolled up their sleeves and let out a roar.

What’s going on?

Their pupils dilated, and it’s kind of scary.

Mia was also frightened.

“How long has it been since I’ve felt so excited!?”

“I can’t hold back anymore. I want to make anything!”

It seems like their motivation switch has been flipped.

“Oh, that’s right. We also had something to do. The thing we’ve been waiting for is ready. Let’s go see it right away.”

We were almost left behind again, but this time we managed to keep up.

Near the access control building, there was a workshop converted from a house.

The master builders brought out parts from the workshop and started assembling them.

A box with a depth and width of about 10 meters and a height of about 2 meters was completed.

The sides had wide and gentle stairs.

Climbing up the stairs, the center of the box sloped gently inward, and there was a square hole measuring 4 meters on each side in the center.

Upon closer inspection of the central hole, a fabric bag was installed in a way that the opening was wide.

“How about this! For safety, we installed handrails and made the slope angle gentle. And there’s an emergency button. When you press it, the opening of the bag closes.”

……Strange. It’s only been about three hours since we parted.

How is it possible to make such a huge thing?

The dwarves’ latent abilities are truly terrifying.

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