TMBIPYMEN Chapter 35

The man who summoned Yustar was Gallen Tote.

Short but sturdy in build, he held the role of overseeing members when problems arose near the capital in Yustar's absence. In other words, he was something like Yustar's adjutant.

"What is it, Gallen?"

"There's something you need to check. It was transmitted from Adiak."

Yustar narrowed the space between his eyebrows slightly, like someone pondering a problem.

"Is it urgent?"

"It seems so."

A sigh escaped without him meaning it to. The toes that had been heading toward Laila's room just moments ago suddenly felt heavy, as if weighted with lead.

Either way, he would have to see her, but it would have been better to share an evening meal together...

Yustar, who had been lost in uncharacteristically idle thoughts, suddenly raised his head. His expression was bewildered, as if someone had snapped a taut rubber band against his back.

"Lord Yustar?"

Gallen looked at him with a what's wrong? sort of gaze. He'd observed Yustar for a long time, but this was the first time he'd seen such a dazed expression on his face.

Yustar shook his head.

"No, it's nothing. Somehow things are already going awry from the start."

"What do you mean... going awry?"

"I mean not being able to have dinner together."

For Gallen, it was an increasingly incomprehensible mutter. Yustar slapped both palms against his cheeks, then spoke to Gallen.

"Go and bring Miss Laila Chrysrad. She needs to come with us. She'll be at Amberdew."

Amberdew was the name of the place where Laila was staying—the location of rooms and bedrooms decorated with amber. When Gallen nodded, Yustar immediately moved his steps toward the annex where Cersita headquarters was located.

"I'll go ahead and check. Bring her straight there."

"Understood."

Gallen hurried off toward Amberdew.

Crossing the covered bridge and entering the annex used as Cersita headquarters, Yustar barely acknowledged the members' greetings as he supplied power to the machine used for communication between branches.

As power was fed in, the lower part of the machine trembled faintly with a hum. Soon a heavy sound like the sea boiling all at once emerged, and in the seemingly empty space, a gray hexahedron appeared.

A voice flowed from its edges along with faint light. It was an affectionate voice, somehow steeped in melancholy.

—Your Imperial Highness, I trust you are well. This is Marnak. I cannot express how relieved I was to hear news of your safe return. May the god Cersita bless Your Imperial Highness's steps. The reason I am transmitting this message is because of a sink that has appeared here. Its class is ordinary, about 1 or 2, but regardless of scale, it seems to be exerting very strong influence. I would appreciate if you could come and examine it personally.

Fit—a sound like a thread snapping. At the same time, the light of the hexahedron floating in midair disappeared, and soon the hexahedron itself crumbled to powder and vanished without a trace.

This machine, like the other machines Tentinella used, was a kind of magical device with magic as its source.

'Though mages call them "lumps of scrap metal."'

Yustar smiled inwardly as he cut the machine's power.

"What is it?"

Laila's voice came. Yustar turned his head and showed her a faint smile, then jerked his chin toward a small room the members used as a sort of break room.

"Go change your clothes, Laila. I've prepared something that will fit you perfectly."

Laila did as Yustar instructed without much comment. By now she had adapted somewhat to anything related to Tentinella.

Once she'd learned the rules and methods of movement, it didn't feel so unfamiliar. Even Laila herself was surprised by how quickly she was adapting.

'At least that's fortunate. That I've grown accustomed to this work.'

Laila thought.

She opened the door and went inside, where a spacious table and somewhat cluttered interior greeted her. Perhaps because it was a space used by many people together, it felt more lived-in than anywhere else she'd seen in the palace.

Laila swallowed the vague longing that suddenly washed over her and looked around for the clothes Yustar had mentioned. She saw a uniform neatly folded on a clean chair.

She removed the dress she'd been wearing completely and put on the shirt and trousers in order. Though it had been so awkward at first, whether because of her previous experience wearing them or because of tension, it didn't feel strange at all.

She fumbled a bit when fastening the buckles and buttons, but adjusting the trouser legs to fit properly and hanging various pouches from the leather belt wasn't difficult.

This was thanks to her experience living in Ridgecarse, when she would occasionally wander the mountains wearing a similarly shaped homemade belt during seasons when mushrooms and berries were plentiful.

After finally donning the jacket and straightening the chain ornament attached to the buttons, she stared quietly at her reflection in the mirror.

From the shirt and trousers to even the gloves, there wasn't a single thing that didn't fit her body perfectly. It felt like clothing made solely for Laila—though she didn't know it, that was actually the case.

A satisfied smile rose on Yustar's face when he saw her emerge.

He felt a satisfaction similar to when first showing people something he'd carefully prepared. Though he only thought it inwardly, worried that saying it outright would displease Laila, it was exactly that kind of feeling—nothing more, nothing less.

Feeling Yustar's gaze, Laila touched her nape listlessly. She asked.

"Where do we have to go again?"

"That's right. A message was transmitted from the Fourth Branch, Adiak, near the Elsik region."

From his words, the only things Laila properly understood were "that's right" and "Adiak."

She'd never even heard of a region called Elsik, and the talk of a message being transmitted was even more incomprehensible. But Yustar continued speaking without adding further explanation for her.

"They say the sink's scale isn't large, but I think it would be best if Miss Laila and I go see it together."

Laila blinked for a moment, then nodded with a composed attitude and asked.

"All right. I understand what this is about... But where is Elsik?"

"It's one of the cities in the western part of the kingdom. The largest in that area. It's somewhat far from the capital, but fortunately, movement between branches doesn't require stepping stones. We can move there in one go."

Stepping stones. Laila repeated the word inwardly.

When Yustar had first used a portal with her, they'd had to move to the portal at the First Branch first in order to reach the royal palace. That kind of changing portals once in the middle was apparently called "stepping stones."

Laila asked again. Her tone was like that of a diligent student.

"Does no stepping stones being needed for movement between branches mean that when using simple portals installed externally, you can't move long distances in one go?"

"Correct."

"Why?"

Yustar answered simply.

"It's the difference in concentrated magical power. To explain simply, each of Tentinella's branches is established centered on places where considerable amounts of magical power have gathered. Magical power has a force that attracts itself. Sometimes if the natures are completely different, they repel each other, but... anyway, these are buildings constructed after all those experiments were finished. Therefore, portals at branches can consume large amounts of energy at once. They rarely experience overload."

Laila nodded. In other words, it was a difference in power given from the start.

Yustar's explanation continued.

"But as you said, portals installed externally had to artificially accumulate magical power in order to install the portal in the first place. So if they use too much energy, they overload and break, or explode, or if unlucky, injure the people using the portal. Does that explain it?"

"Yes, thank you."

Laila answered in a somewhat calmer tone. The expression of someone who had steeled their resolve—nothing like the figure trembling with anxiety while sitting on the bed.

"Let's hurry. Gallen?"

"Setting coordinates now."

At Gallen's gesture, a member with short hair sticking out in all directions prepared to activate the portal.

Laila stood close beside Yustar and briefly worried about motion sickness. Motion sickness aside, she really wanted to refuse eating another one of those "oranges."

"But, Yustar."

Laila looked up at him and spoke.

"This time too, like last time... did a monster appear?"

Yustar closed his eyes as if the hum hum hum noise were music and calmly shook his head.

"No, Laila. I think this time it's more your area."

Laila, who immediately understood his words, tilted her head with a subtle expression.

"It's not exactly... that ghosts are my area."

"So to speak. Laila handles ghosts, I handle monsters and various other things. I think we make a pretty good pair, don't you?"

Laila didn't respond to Yustar's words. But if you looked closely, the area above her cheekbones had turned slightly red.

The humming noise grew louder. Laila thought the sound was now penetrating not her ears but her skin.

An invisible wall was closing in from all sides, gathering the sound more and more toward the center, toward a single point...

"It'll probably take about three days to resolve the problem in Elsik."

Miraculously, Yustar's voice came through clearly. Laila quickly grasped hold of her consciousness, which had seemed to be drifting away.

"That long?"

"Actually, three days is the minimum estimate. We need to investigate the sink from the beginning. And we need to figure out what kind of incident it is."

"But last time in Ridgecarse, it didn't take that..."

Laila's words broke off for a moment. The humming noise sounded too loud. She couldn't even tell if her voice was reaching Yustar.

"...long!"

She shouted. Shouted! The sound was too loud. The humming sound... No, the humming sound had disappeared at some point. This, this was like a chorus.

It was like a strange chorus of about three hundred people all making the same sound at once and drawing it out... It was terrible. A chorus of people who sang terribly badly. Covering her ears was useless. It was a sound that burrowed into her skin.

"Yustar! Do something about this sound!"

Unable to bear it any longer, Laila screamed. But before the words were even finished, she realized the noise that had seemed like it would never end had stopped as if it were a lie.

Laila's clear voice struck something and echoed. In that moment, Laila clutched her stomach and dry-heaved.