The New Gate

Book 19: Chapter 1 (7)

After leaving the store, Shin and his group headed straight for the gate.

As they did so, they received a message that the feudal lord wanted to see them, but Berett dismissed the message.

Apparently, word had gotten around that Shin had been promoted to an A-rank adventurer, and that he had headed out into the dangerous waters of Barbatos and returned safely, and so on.

The soldier was reluctant, probably because they had been told to stop Shin and his group from going.

However, when Berett, the Vice-President of the Golden Company, and Schnee revealed their names and said that they had to go to the location as soon as possible, it seemed that they could not ask them to wait.

Shin, too, knew that talking to the feudal lords would take more than a short time. Therefore, he decided to go.

“I know we came out here a bit aggressively, but would there be any problem?”

“Schnee and I have a different connection with feudal lords and other countries, so we can say that we were asked to cooperate with them. In fact, it will not be a problem. Now that the Tsuki no Hokora is gone, the only organization with a reliable connection to Schnee Raizar is our Golden Company. If they get on our bad side… That’s the end for them.”

Even if people went to the Tsuki no Hokora, it was unlikely that they would be able to meet Schnee, but they could ask to pass on a message. If they were lucky, they could talk to her directly. But that was no longer possible.

It was said that the Golden Company was receiving more requests than ever before for an intermediary to contact Schnee.

“You have hardly been active since I joined up with you. Are you okay with that, Schnee?”

“As I told you before, I was working to spread my name because I had a purpose. Now I don’t need to do that anymore.”

“As far as our business, it benefits us a lot when Schnee is active, so we would appreciate it if she could be somewhat active.”

Of course, I don’t want to sit on it and neglect our business, Berett conceded.

“There was the case with the empire. That should be enough activity for the time being.”

Perhaps stimulated by his intuition as a merchant, Berett instantly took notice of Shibaid’s comment.

“Hmm. I think I’m going to hear something interesting.”

He explained the situation, since it was not something to be hidden, and was told that it would be nice to keep it off the record until more information became available.

“Did you say there will be no more monster outbreaks? If the land in the buffer zone becomes available, it would be like expanding the country in real terms. Perhaps the branch office over there is in the process of compiling the information. I must say, High Humans seem very active wherever they go.”

“Isn’t that just another way of saying that I always make a situation worse wherever I go?”

The battle with the demons, the battle with Reforgerer, and so on.

Battles almost became a daily thing.

Shin did not intend to go on a rampage, but it would appear as if there were large-scale battles taking place everywhere he goes.

“I don’t mean to be rude, but I think that’s all right. I think it is highly likely that many of the disturbances in which Shin was involved would not have been resolved without you, or would have caused many casualties. For instance the case of Celciutos and the demon fiasco in Erkunt. You were also involved in the invasion of the monsters and Hinomoto’s sword fight, weren’t you?”

“How did you know?”

Berett even had information on Hinomoto, which was but a small island nation. Shin could not hide his surprise at the breadth of the network.

“Zazie and his team contacted us about Selstooth, and we have a branch office in Erkunt. Hinomoto is also our business partner, but we have no definite information about the monster invasion. It is speculation based on rumors. However, with that much information circulating, it is easy to see that Schnee and you all are involved. Though it seems that the information about Shin was hidden.”

Schnee and the others were not hiding their appearance, so we immediately recognized her, said Berett.

“Especially, I can’t imagine anyone other than Filma flying through the air in particularly revealing armor, burning down her enemies with a greatsword and fire,” he added.

“Oh? I feel like I’m being made fun of.”

“Don’t get me wrong, it’s just distinctive. Even if it wasn’t me, if it’s people under the command of the ‘Rokuten’ seeing that, they would have thought of you.”

Filma was a little bit temperamental, but Berett responded to her without losing his composure.

“Right, Shin too, went for the joke.”

Shibaid said as if he had just remembered.

“No, because it looked like fun. Besides, there were famous players with the same fighting style, you know? Mitya, known as the ‘Sky-Falling Meteor’, was known for her suicidal attacks in large-scale battles.”

High-speed movement by blasting magic power. 

Though it was temporary, the actuality that you can experience something close to flying, which was impossible in THE NEW GATE, was well-known.

There were even players who would fight by charging into enemy lines with their entire bodies covered in magic power-blast equipment and holding large spears like those used on horseback.

Incidentally, Mitya was a player who had mastered this style of play, and her nickname was “Sky-Falling Meteor” because of the way she ignored the enemy’s formation and charged into the main camp.

By the way, she was said to have a 20% chance of making it back safely.

“But, hey! Can’t you deny that the weapon is supposed to be a gimmick?”

“I think that impression has been spread too widely.”

The magic power-blast can enchant weapons as well.

It could be given to the edge of a sword to increase its swinging speed, or to a throwing dagger or spear to increase its power and range, and there were many other ways to use it if you want to make it useful.

However, due to the inability to master the use of the equipment, strange dance-like movements, and flying in the opposite direction happened, and a comedy video was even made on the premise of failure. The impression that the equipment was just a gimmick had become widespread.

“I remember I enchanted the boots to make flying jet boots. I remember I jumped up, but I couldn’t control them and plunged to the ground.”

There were more than a few pieces of equipment and skills that were strong when mastered, but unfavorable due to the fact that few people could master them.

The magic power-blast was easy to use as a gag element due to its visual impact, which probably led to its widespread treatment as a gimmick.

“Schnee!! Shin is picking on me!!”

“Okay okay.”

Shin too, thought he was on the side of the teasing, apologized as Filma hugged Schnee.

Schnee, while soothing Filma, gave Shin a look. The meaning of the look was something like, “You’ve gone too far”.

“Sorry, sorry. It’s useful, really. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have bothered to add it to my equipment.”

Even though it was a game, Shin did not have the taste to joke around by equipping a support character he has worked so hard to develop with a gimmick.

While it was common among blacksmiths to give magic power-blast to weapons, Filma’s “Magic Armor of Hollow Lacquer” was one of the few that succeeded as a piece of armor.

Normally, it would not help Filma make a big jump, but would instead blow her up while spinning wildly. Of course, there was no way to land on her feet, and she’d end up doing a gag-like body landing.

“If it’s that useful, shouldn’t it have been attached to Shin’s armor?”

“It’s not like I didn’t do it. It’s just that I can’t jump straight.”

He couldn’t just jump up and fly like a rocket. The blacksmith who learned to install magic power-blast usually had this thought in their mind, and usually failed in the same way. In order to fly straight, it requires quite fine adjustments;  They had to think of the design of the equipment, the position of the magic power-blast, the adjustment of the output, and so on. The equipment was also unsuited for mass production, so it took materials, money, and time to learn. 

Incidentally, Shin also had the experience of rolling on the ground in a grand manner when he installed magic power-blast on his own “Hades Long Coat”. He had already experienced failure firsthand.

“So I’m a little envious of her. With my current MP, I should be able to do what I call a little bit of flying.”

“Oh, you made it. Can’t you use it?”

“It’s all about the shape of the person wearing it, if I borrowed Filma’s equipment, I’d end up rolling around on the ground.” Shin said.

Even the famous Mitya’s equipment was exclusive to her. Even if she borrowed equipment from other players, she couldn’t perform the same kind of assault.

“If it were easier to adjust, I could have made something like a multi-stage rocket.”

“Rocket?”

Tiera, who didn’t know what a rocket was, tilted her head.

Schnee and the others were wondering what a rocket was as well, and all of them had a question mark over their heads. It wasn’t surprising since rockets didn’t exist in this world.

“It’s a tool that uses a propulsion device like the magic power-blast. Well, even if we could have actually made it, it would have been an error or would have been corrected because space was never implemented.”

Many players had tried to recreate modern-day equipment with fantasy technology, and Shin was convinced that someone had done it.

“In the end, what it all boils down to is Filma’s exclusive equipment.”

“I just don’t get it.”

“Isn’t it fine? Special equipment that others can’t copy is very valuable.”

“When Berett says it, it sounds more like a financial thing than a practical one.”

Both were right, in the sense of being valuable.

The reason it sounded like money was because they knew Berett’s job and his personality.

“Well, it’s time to get off the road. I think we’re done chattering for now.”

After confirming that there were no more carriages or travelers around, Shin turned his course to the nearby woods.

The reason why they were proceeding while talking nonsense was because there were people’s eyes following them immediately after leaving Balmel.

“First, we will teleport to Sigurd, and then we will head north as we discussed.”

Their destination was located at what could be called the northern tip of the continent. They would teleport to Sigurd, which was the northernmost teleport point set up by Shin, and take a horse-drawn carriage going north from there.

When Shin activated teleportation, the view of the surrounding trees changed. Since the teleport point was also set up in a forest, the surrounding scenery was almost similar. 

They could have teleported to Palmirack, 4th Forest Palace guild house, located in the center of Sigurd, from Tsuki no Hokora. However, it was easier to start moving right away by teleporting out of the gate from the beginning rather than hiding and exiting the gate, so they did not teleport into Palmirack. The problem with this method was that they would be leaving the Tsuki no Hokora behind. 

Once they were out of the woods, Shin asked Kagerou to run faster just enough to avoid their carriage from bouncing around. He had already experienced Kagerou fastest speed, which led to either a disastrous or terrible situation inside the carriage.

“I hope nothing strange appears this time.”

Shin murmured as he gripped the reins.

He didn’t want any unnecessary distractions while he was trying to deal with Reed’s momento.

The carriage continued on its way, a cloud of dust billowing up from the road. After searching the surrounding area, Shin spoke to Berett.

“Well, I don’t think anyone will hear us here. Now it’s time for you to tell me why you decided to go with us.”

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