Blessing from the Goddess and Transfer to Another World! ~No Thanks, I Don’t Need a Special Ability~

Chapter 75 – Subjugation and a Dragon Gate

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Author’s Note: I decreased the frequency of posting chapters, but ended up increasing the number of words per chapter.
…I guess there was no point in decreasing it in the first place.

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Toru’s men rushed over to treat their injured.
There doesn’t seem to be anyone with ‘Recovery Magic’, so they are using healing potions they had stored in the carriage instead.

Meanwhile, we continued to walk towards them, and finally the distance between us reduced to about 20 metres.
The bandits are aware of us, but they don’t seem to care, as they keep running around in a hurry.

“Hear me, bandits who attacked the nearby village! Surrender or die, you choose!”

Sera declared in a clear voice.
Until now, they only occasionally glanced towards us, but it seems that Sera’s declaration left no room to be ignored.

“Shit, it’s just one bothersome thing after another! You guys, kill those noisy bastards!”

Hearing her declaration, now seriously annoyed Sano ordered some of his men, who obediently drew their weapons and approached Sera and Maria.

“Yes, Boss!”

“Leave it to us!”

Looks like after yesterday’s events, they didn’t even try to suggest capturing the women again, and just chose to obediently kill us instead.
They look quite desperate, to be honest.
Then again, knowing Sano’s personality, they just might be the next ones to end up dead, were they to disobey him.
By the way, that s~ guy from yesterday isn’t here.
Did he die or something?

A: Yes.
Later, he was killed by Sano because of his blunder. 

(ED: Not sure about this part, Maria even comments on Sano killing him in the previous chapter.
Maybe the author forgot.)

Ouch… Oh well, I guess it’s one less enemy for us to worry about.

While I was lost in thoughts, one of the bandits approached Maria and Sera.

“Not even gonna respond? Very well, I’ll make this quick then…”

Saying so, Sera swung her greatsword, instantly killing not only the bandit in front of her, but also three extra ones behind him.

“What the hell!?”

“Boss, are you using your Blessing!?”

“Yes, I’m using it! The Blessing is automatic! If there are enemies nearby, they should be weakened without me having to do anything!”

Seeing their companions get easily slaughtered, the bandits who were about to attack us, all stopped in their tracks.
They even started to doubt Sano’s Blessing working correctly for a moment there, before he was able to deny it.

“It’s true that my body is a bit harder to move than usual.
Well, I’m used to not being able to move it like normal, so it’s not a big deal.” (ED: I think she means training with lowered stats)

“It would appear the decrease in stats is by a fixed number, and not by a percentage.
It would make it much more effective against weaker opponents, but conversely it won’t help you much against stronger ones.”

As Maria says, Sano’s Blessing really is a skill for bullying the weak.
Thinking back to Kusakabe’s, it looks like each Blessing is given in consideration of the owner’s personality, strengths and weaknesses.
The ‘Closed Circle [Alienation Area]’s ability to alienate and suppress everyone but allies in one’s vicinity seems just right for the gloomy, detestable Sano.

“What the heck!? Why doesn’t my ‘Closed Circle [Alienation Area]’ work!?”

“It’s a suppression skill, isn’t it? It works, …it’s just that it has very little effect.”

“Yes, it’s nothing for us to worry about.”

“What!? That’s stupid! Even the Heroes were weakened by it! There’s no way some random adventurers can resist it!”

Sano got totally confused, and started screaming at us, completely forgetting to give orders to his men.
You say “even the Heroes”, but one of them (Beastman Hero) is literally standing in front of you right now.

“No, we didn’t resist it or anything.
I’m just saying it doesn’t have much of an effect.”

“Not have much of an effect… Bullshit! My Blessing is… How dare you take me for a fool! I hate it when people look down on me! I’ll kill you!”

Sano, who was already fuming with rage, drew his sword and charged at us.
His target is definitely Sera.
I mean, she didn’t even have to say that much (and it was mostly just stating the facts).
Is he really that easy to taunt…?

Sano’s status does seem to have risen considerably after killing three other Heroes.
Still…

“Die you bitch!”

“I see.
Very well.”

-Smack!

Even with his sword already raised, Sano was no match for Sera, who sent him flying with a single roundhouse kick to the stomach.
His men all just stand there dumbfounded.

“Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!”

Sano kept screaming as he bounced off the ground a couple of times.
I already told Maria and Sera that I want to ask him about some things yesterday, so she held back considerably to keep him alive.
As evidence of that, Sano’s HP is still at 10% …Well, barely alive.

“*retch*, *retch*, *puke*”

“Ah, Boss!?”

“Are you okay!? Quickly, bring him a potion…!”

Sano retched a couple of times, before finally vomiting.
His underlings, who finally managed to catch up with what was going on, rushed to his side.

“Hah, hah, …ugh.”

He tried to stand up while breathing heavily, but his shaking legs gave out, making him collapse again.

“Ugh… You… How dare you…? Do you even know who I am…? I’m a Hero! See!? This is a certificate from the Eludia Kingdom!”

Saying that, he took out some kind of a medal on a string from his pocket.
Oh, did Eludia give him something to prove that he’s a Hero? Did Kusakabe, whom we killed in Estia, also have one?

A: He did.

“If you mess with me, the Eludia Kingdom and the Hero-supporting countries won’t keep quiet about it! Going against the Heroes, who fight the Demon Lord, is the same as going against the world itself!

“A world where a Hero acts like a common bandit.”

“Shut up! I’m a Hero, so I can do what I want!

“And raiding villages is a part of your fight against the Demon Lord?”

“Shut up! I like to watch people die! I’m a Hero, so what does it matter if I kill some random villagers!

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“”Haa…””

Sera and Maria both sighed with resigned faces.
Basically, talking to Sano is a giant waste of time, so let’s just ask what I want to know and wrap this up.

“Who told you you can get stronger by killing other Heroes?”

What I want to know is who told Sano about the ‘Garbage [Blessing’s Remnant]’.
When he talked about killing other Heroes earlier, he said “I had my doubts when I first heard it”, so, in other words, someone must have told him that he can get stronger by killing other Heroes and absorbing the Remnants of their Blessings.

“Huh? Who are you? And what’s with that robe, are you a wizard or something? Hmm, I feel like I’ve heard your voice somewhere before…”

“Just answer my question.
Who told you to kill other Heroes?”

“And why would I tell you…? Wait, how do you even know about that!? Even I only heard it from…! Wait? Who was it again? Why can’t I remember? I remember hearing about it, but I can’t remember who from? What the hell is this!?”

My question must have triggered his memory, however, he can’t seem to recall whom he heard it from.

“Looks like they covered their tracks after all…”

In the end, it did turn out to be a waste of time.
Well, I expected as much.

“That’s all I wanted to hear.
We can dispose of them now.”

“Yes!

“Leave it to me!”

I declared the start of bandit subjugation to Maria and Sera.
I reached for my ‘Soul Blade – Incomplete [Tangerine]’, …and equipped a regular iron sword instead.
A legendary-class item is too good for the likes of Sano. (ED: The ‘tangerine’ thing is a wordplay, and not a double meaning, but I’ll use the same notation for it)

Maria equipped two blades, a longsword and a dagger, while Sera chose a greatsword and a large shield.
Seeing that I picked a regular weapon, the two of them also refrained from using legendary-class items.

“Didn’t you hear me!? Do you want to turn the entire Eludia Kingdom into your enemy!? I might still forgive you if you kneel to me!”

Seeing us draw our weapons, Sano said with a tense face.
Still, my only possible response to that is a sneer…

“No worries.
If Eludia becomes my enemy, I can always just crush them too.”

“You can’t do that to a country!

The only reason I didn’t go after Eludia, which I hate, in the first place, was because of the Heroes.
They have a role to play in defeating the Demon Lord, so, at least for now, I judged that taking down the entire country might delay them somewhat.

But that doesn’t mean I’m going to put up with this.
There’s no reason to forgive Sano who abandoned his mission as a Hero, in order to live a life of pleasure and banditry.
And if it turns Eludia into my enemy, I’ll just attack and destroy them all the same.

“Why not? You say you’re a Hero, right? Then, I’ll at least let you draw your sword before I kill you.”

I declared as I pointed my sword at Sano.

“Huh… W-wait! There’s a treasure! I’ll give you all the treasures I’ve collected! You can kill the rest! Just spare my life!”

“Boss!? You’re betraying us!?”

“If we all work together, we can beat these guys! Let’s fight!”

While begging for his life, Sano managed to antagonise all his underlings.
Well, it’s to be expected if you throw them under the bus like that.

“Shut up! My ‘Closed Circle [Alienation Area]’ doesn’t work on them! That’s right.
How about you join me? Y-you can do whatever you want with the backing of a Hero and the Eludia Kingdom!

And now he’s even trying to buy my favour.
This guy clearly has no spine.
Moreover, “the backing of a Hero and the Eludia Kingdom”?

It’s a double whammy of things I hate! Who would ever fall for that!

“Oh, we’ll get the treasure as well.
Your hideout is in a cave in the woods to the south-east from here, right? Then again, I see no merit in your other offer, so I’d rather just kill you instead.”

“What~? How do you know where our hideout is!? Shit, killing us and robbing us too, who’s the real bandit here…!?”

“Shut up!!! The ownership of the bandits’ treasures passes onto the one who kills them!”

I don’t want to be called that by Sano of all people.
Damn it, I said it myself.
Talking with Sano is a giant waste of time.

“Enough of that… You can begin!”

“”Yes!””

“W-wait…”

“Enough talk, let’s fight!”

Within a minute or so, the bandits had all been wiped out, and Sano’s ‘Closed Circle [Alienation Area]’ barely played any role.
Of course, Sano is also dead, cleanly dissected into an upper and lower half.

Naturally, I also collected the ‘Garbage [Blessing’s Remnant]’ that came out after I killed him.

A: The ‘Garbage [Blessing’s Remnant]’s disassembly and unique skill extraction had been completed successfully.

Oh, that was fast.
It took more than a week for Kusakabe’s ‘Garbage [Blessing’s Remnant]’.

A: All Blessings have a similar makeup, so after completing it once, it’s easy to repeat the process.

I see…

Let’s have a look at the extracted unique skill.
‘Closed Circle [Alienation Area] LV-‘, ‘Eye of Truth LV-‘, ‘Rose Garden [Cage of Thorns] LV-‘, ‘Sky High [Sky Running] LV-‘, …why are there 4 of them!? Oh, perhaps, are they from the three Heroes whom Sano killed?

A: That’s right.
Even if a Hero absorbs a ‘Garbage [Blessing’s Remnant]’, the skill itself won’t disappear.
However, they will not be able to use said skill, since it will be used to strengthen their original Blessing instead.

It’s a pretty roundabout way of doing things… Sano’s Blessing had ‘+3’ in its name, which correlated to its area of effect being increased by 3 metres.
Obviously, I’d rather have multiple unique skills than a small increase in effectiveness of a single one of them.

Let’s take a look at the unique skills I’ve gained this time.

Reduces the strength of all non-allies within a 10 metre radius.

This is Sano’s Blessing.
It’s not really my thing, and I don’t have any use for it in mind, so I’ll pass.
Next!

You can determine whether your target’s statement is true or false.
Judgement depends on what they themselves believe to be true.

This one probably belonged to Tanabe, the disciplinary committee member.
It’s a very useful skill, but it’s not much use for a Hero.
It’s pretty much an interpersonal skill.
And it’s got the downside of lies being treated as truth, if the target believes them to be so. (ED: The full name is actually ‘True Eyes [Eye of Truth]’, but there’s no double meaning here)

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You can make roses grow from the ground.
You can manipulate the roses at will.

Hmm, that one’s owner should be Morimoto, the most beautiful girl in our class (self-proclaimed).
Although it’s limited to roses, it’s basically a skill to manipulate plants.
It looks like they come out of the ground, so you don’t have to worry about running out of ammo, though, at the same time, it’s impossible to use in places where roses can’t grow, like in water or on ice. (ED: What a fitting double meaning for a girl who pretends not to be evil)

Allows the user to create footholds in the air to walk on.
Footholds can only be used by the skill holder.

Talk about a skill that’s hard to use… By elimination, this one must be the teacher’s, Kawasaki’s Blessing.
Maria can do something similar with her ‘Barrier Magic’, and I can just use ‘Nosferatu [Wings of The Immortal]’ to fly, so it’s not much use to me.
Of course, it’s not like it’s completely useless…

While I’m happy to have gained more unique skills, each one of them came from a different Hero, so my feelings on this topic are a bit complicated for the moment.
Still, Kusakabe and Sano aside, I didn’t really care much about the other three getting killed…

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After that, the three of us disposed of the bandits’ bodies, before returning to the village.

Since we safely took care of them, there shouldn’t be any more talk of me talking the village girls as brides, mistresses, handmaidens, slaves or whatever.

“Please take my daughter as your mistress!

“Please take mine as well!”

“I can be your handmaiden! Please take me with you!

“Even a slave is fine! Please take me with you, traveller!

Not long after I informed them about our successful subjugation, I found myself surrounded by a crowd of villagers, yet again.

“There are somehow even more of them…”

Yep, there are even more people asking to become my wives, mistresses, maidservants, and slaves, than before…

“Well, that’s only obvious.
The food shortage in the village still hasn’t been resolved…”

Mio, who’s standing nearby, picked up on my comment.
Come to think of it, the fields have all been ruined by the bandits.

“From the villagers’ point of view, Master is someone who not only can spare enough food for an entire village, but even do outrageous things like effortlessly defeat an entire band of bandits.
And since the future of this village looks pretty bleak, most of them would rather have their daughters marry, or even get enslaved by you, especially given how they’ve likely already picked up on us being your slaves, and could see for themselves how well you treat us.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t have called you ‘Master’ all the time.”

“Pretty much.”

Both Mio and Sera address me as ‘Master’ after all, and people who do that in this world are mostly slaves.

“I didn’t even consider that.
Well, I guess it explains why they are so determined about it…”

“Why not just give in and accept them? If you tell them you’ll only accept slaves, it should dissuade them a bit.”

“Hmm…”

I’m not so far gone as to buy a child from their parents, but if the child sincerely wants to become my slave, that’s a different story.
Well, no one actually wants to become a slave, if you think about it.

“What do I do? They don’t seem hostile towards Jin-sama…”

Maria muttered, conflicted.
A group of village girls and their parents, has gathered around me, but they all look at me with friendly eyes.
She probably doesn’t know how to handle it, since they don’t show any hostility towards me.

“Uh… Even if I limit it to slaves, I think a good number of people will still accept…”

“Master’s followers will increase again~!”

Dora, who’s holding hands with Sakura, said with a smile.
I guess, from her perspective, it’s always better if the number of people in our flock increases…

After that, I told the villagers that I would only accept slaves, but to my surprise, six girls still decided to apply.

Later, when I explained that we won’t actually take them along on our journey, and have them work as maids in a mansion we own, we got one more applicant, when I gave the villagers enough food to last for a while, and restored all the fields with ‘Earth Magic’, we got another two, and when I gave a considerable amount of money to the families of the girls I’ve enslaved (even though I didn’t want to be seen as buying their children), we got yet another one.
Somehow, they keep increasing…

Well, based on what I saw, at least it didn’t look like they were being forced into it by their parents, so it should be fine, right? In the end, we left the Unique Village (official name ignored) with a total of ten new slave girls.

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After entrusting the new slave girls to Lucia as per usual, it was finally time to head for the bandits’ hideout.
Let’s see that treasure I’ve been hearing about.

The cave they used is pretty complex, but they only really used a small portion of it.
They probably never intended it as a full-time base, just, as a temporary one.

“For a bandits’ hideout, it doesn’t smell too bad.”

“That’s true.
They are usually much worse than this.”

Mio and Sera muttered as we entered the cave room the bandits used to store their things.
There’s no smell you would typically expect of a cave inhabited by a few dozen men, and even their things are neatly organised.

By the way, the cave is pitch black, so we used ‘Light Magic’ as a light source.
It would also be acceptable to use a torch to better match the atmosphere, but we didn’t plan on staying long, so we chose the fast and easy option.

“Looks like Sano couldn’t stand the smell, so he kept it clean.”

It definitely is the most uselessly clean bandits’ hideout I’ve visited so far… Sano’s parents are pretty wealthy, so maybe he couldn’t stand a dirty and smelly environment.
And yet, he didn’t mind the corpses.

“…Well, the smell of a band of bandits would probably be too much for your average Japanese person…”

(ED: Apparently, there’s even a thing called ‘smell harassment’ in Japan, where people will actively avoid you if you put on too much perfume, to the point where they will switch tables in a restaurant in order not to sit next to you, not to mention some high class restaurants won’t serve you in the first place, since you’d be interfering with other customers’ enjoyment of their food)

“That’s right… This is much better…”

“It’s not stinky here~!”

We continued talking, as I threw all of the needlessly organised loot into ‘Inventory [Infinite Storage]’.

“If you find something smelly, please leave it to me to keep the smell away with my ‘Barrier Magic’.”

“Maria-chan is so reliable…”

Her ‘Barrier Magic’ sure is convenient.

A: There are no strong smells in this cave, so you can be at ease.

I’m sorry for Maria, but since Alta has already checked, it doesn’t seem like we’ll need her ability this time around.

After that, we went through other rooms and finished collecting all the loot.
Even if I’m not that pressed for money, I won’t say no to collecting some treasures.
And the things of notice this time around were:

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Nothing of note.

…There was nothing interesting at all.
No, I mean, there were various things, but nothing really stood out or was particularly rare.
At best, there was some cash…

Well, I guess this also happens sometimes…

A: There are still some things of note.
Should I report it?

Just as my tension hit rock bottom, a report from Alta suddenly came in.

Basically, I didn’t confirm all the items bandits had stored in the cave, with the ‘Map’, since I wanted to browse through them myself, and if there were any dangerous items or monsters inside, Alta would have warned me about them beforehand.

As such, she must be saying I missed some items.

Preposterous! To even suggest I would miss a treasure!

So, what did I miss…?

A: You didn’t miss anything, you simply didn’t notice.
There are some ruins under this cave.

…What!?

I hurriedly searched the ‘Map’.
It’s true… There really are ruins underneath this cave.
The entrance collapsed, so it looks like they can’t be accessed by normal means any more, but they are certainly there.
I should have looked at the ‘Map’ properly, even if I didn’t want to spoil the treasures for myself.

So, what are these ruins? Are they worth exploring?

A: There’s a Dragon Gate that connects to the Dragon Newts’ Hidden Area, Dora’s home.
It is up to Master to decide whether to go or not.

A ‘Dragon Gate’ and the ‘Dragon Newts’ Hidden Area’ you say? They certainly sound interesting.
Can you tell me more?

A: A Dragon Gate is, simply put, a transfer device that connects to the Dragon Newts’ Hidden Area, a village where Dragon Newts live in hiding.
There are multiple gates scattered throughout the world, which allow for instant travel to and from the hidden area, which is protected by a barrier and can’t be accessed through other means.
You also need a Dragon Newt to accompany you in order to use the gate.

Come to think of it, I haven’t seen any Dragon Newts beside Dora since I came to this world.
I guess it makes sense if they all live in a hidden village somewhere.

So, if we go through the Dragon Gate, we’ll be going to Dora’s home?

“I should probably ask, so, Dora, do you want to go back to your home town?”

“What is ‘home town’~?”

“The place where you used to live.”

“Hmm… Hmm…”

Dora kept tilting her head from side to side, seemingly deep in thought, for a while, before finally clapping her hands and answering.

“Dora doesn’t mind~!”

“It doesn’t matter to you? Even if you don’t see your family ever again?”

“Yes~! Dora’s most beloved person is Master! Dora’s place is on Master’s lap!”

While I’m certainly happy to hear that, at the same time, it kind of makes me feel sorry for Dora’s family.
She doesn’t talk about them often (she only mentioned her grandfather a couple of times), so maybe they weren’t that close to begin with.

“Did you find something interesting, Master?”

“Yeah, there seems to be a facility under this cave that can take you to Dora’s home.”

“Let me see… Oh, a Dragon Gate, it sounds super cool!”

After I answered Sera’s question, Mio also checked the map and got needlessly excited.

“So I thought I’d take Dora to visit her home if she wanted to…”

“And yet, she doesn’t seem to mind one way or another…”

“That’s what she said.”

Then again, it’s not like she said she was against going, so I guess it’s up to me to decide, and to be honest, I’m quite interested…

“Still, Master.
Even if Dora herself doesn’t mind, shouldn’t you at least go let them know she’s fine as her current guardian?”

“That’s right… Her family may also be worried about her…”

Mio and Sakura gave some compelling arguments.
Right now, I’m Dora’s guardian/owned (since she’s pretty much my pet at this point).
I won’t give her back, but I guess it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to let them know she’s safe.

“I guess you’re right.
Then, Dora, how about we use the Dragon Gate and go say hi to your family?”

“Okay~! If Master goes, Dora will follow Master~!”

And with that, our goal of going to the Crimson Empire was postponed, and our next destination was changed to the Dragon Newts’ Hidden Area.
Well, it’s not like we’re in a rush to visit the Crimson Empire, so let’s take a little detour.

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“…and that’s what happened.”

“So, basically, you’re telling me that my job as your guide has been put on hold?”

I told Rogue, whom I asked to act as our guide to Crimson Empire, that there’s been a delay.

“That’s right.
You can all keep working as explorers for the time being.”

“Understood.
That being said, it’s not like we’ve made much progress on the 32nd floor.
What’s the deal with the number of monsters here… Wait ’till I get my hands on whoever’s in charge of this place!”

“Well, that would be me, so…”

Hi, I’m Shindou Jin, the second Master of this Dungeon.
Nice to meet you.

“Ah! I’m sorry! Alta-sama, please, forgive me…”

Looks like her abusive language earned her another punishment from Alta, ending the call.

“Minerva, could you please check up on Rouge for me?”

“Is that Jin-sama!? What happened!? Rouge suddenly collapsed to the floor with froth coming out of her mouth!”

Minerva [Miss Big Boobs], the one with actual common sense in Rouge’s party, explained in a hurry.

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“Oh, she forgot herself and complained to me again, so that’s what she got.”

“Oh Rouge-sama, I told you to be careful about what you say…”

“Well, she has that kind of character, so it can’t be helped.”

“Still, according to Jin-sama’s plans, there is a possibility that Rouge-sama will be put in charge of an entire country, right…?”

If the Emperor of Crimson Empire doesn’t accept my persuasion, I am planning to replace him with Rouge.
…Yeah, it does make me slightly anxious, now that I think about it.

“Well, I’m looking forward to seeing the results of Alta’s training.”

A: It won’t be easy.

No way, something that Alta’s weak against! Is Rouge really that bad?

A: She still doesn’t know how to speak politely, she doesn’t mind her words, and she can’t seem to get her arrogance under control. 

(ED: Alta says here that she still doesn’t know how to use honorifics, which is the absolute basics in Japanese.
They make the difference between “Dear Sir” and “Yo Dude”)

…At worst, we’ll just puppet the current Emperor.

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Since we decided to go to the Dragon Newts’ Hidden Area, we headed for the ruins under the cave, where the Dragon Gate is located.

Aisha decided to return with the carriage.
Although she also seemed interested in meeting the Dragon Newts, she realises she’s pretty much dead weight to us at this point, so she decided to work on recovering her personal strength for the time being.
Perhaps, she is also planning to tame a Dragon Newt in the future…

The passage to the ruins is completely blocked, likely due to a cave in.

“Looks like the entrance to the underground ruins is straight ahead.”

“It’s completely buried.
I don’t think anyone could have found it without the ‘Map’.”

Sera and Maria tapped the wall lightly.
At first glance, it looks like any other soil wall.
Is the reverberation any different? …Not that I would be able to tell, anyway.

“It doesn’t seem that thick.
I should be able to bust through with a single punch.”

“Stop!!! If Master hits it, the cave will collapse!”

Mio hugged me in desperation, in order to stop me.

“I’m just kidding.
I’m not going to do that.”

“I’m afraid Jin-kun really would do that…”

“Yes, I could absolutely see Master do that…”

“Maybe you should work on that a bit, Jin-sama…”

It feels like everyone’s evaluation of me has somehow become ‘a guy who doesn’t think what he’s doing’.
…And the truly sad part is that I can’t really deny it.

“Maybe we can clear it with ‘Earth Magic’… Let me try…”

“Oh, Sakura, I’ll leave it to you.”

The soil wall was quickly dealt with by Sakura’s ‘Earth Magic’.
However we still had to follow the passage downhill, before we could finally reach the actual ruins.

There weren’t any monsters around, so nothing interesting happened on our way down.
Basically, the density of magic power in the cave is pretty thin, so no monsters can spawn inside.
Though, that wouldn’t be the case if a cave happened to be full of magic power…

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The ruins aren’t too complicated.
If anything, they look like a single stone temple.
They must have been abandoned for quite some time.
Some parts have already started to crumble here and there, but you can still see the general outline.
In the centre of the building there’s a huge metal door, and it’s the only part of it that’s still in reasonable condition.

It’s pretty obvious, but, just like in Estia’s dungeon, there’s a relief with an image of a dragon carved into it.
In this pitch black cave, with only ‘Light Magic’ for a light source, it makes quite an impression.
Asked what it is, eight out of ten people would instantly call it a Dragon Gate, with the other two being cynical.

“So this is a Dragon Gate… It looks fake…”

Saying that, I looked at the square-shaped crest with an image of a dragon on the floor in front of the metal gate.

“No way, such a beautiful gate couldn’t possibly be fake…”

“It really is fake, isn’t it?”

“It feels like something Jin-kun would do…”

Yep, the huge gate in front of us is just a big hunk of metal.
Unlike the dragon crest on the floor in front of it, that is.

It’s actually pretty clever, since, given how it’s called a ‘Dragon Gate’, one would imagine it to be a ‘gate’, and not a ‘crest’.
Plus, they get extra points for using such a huge and eye-catching door as a mere misdirection.
Just like Sakura says, I think I could get along with whoever build this.

(ED: There’s actually a wordplay here.
The kanji for ‘gate’ in ‘Dragon Gate’ sounds the same as the kanji for ‘family crest’ in ‘crest/coat of arms’)

“But I think a crest you can stand on is better than a door, when transferring people.”

“Well, if you make it a door type, you have to keep the two spaces connected all the time while it’s open.”

In short, it’s the difference between ‘a transfer of matter’ and ‘connecting two spaces’.
I would expect the latter to be much more difficult.
…Then again, I did get Tokoyo [another little girl] with her ‘Spatial Manipulation’ skill as a new pet just the other day.

“Anywhere Door…” (ED: A Doraemon reference)

“Shut up!”

Mio started saying something stupid again, so I immediately stopped her.

“So, how do we use it to get to the Dragon Newts’ Hidden Area?”

A: Once a Dragon Newt touches the centre of the crest, everyone on top of it will be transferred.

The crest is about 10 metres in diameter, so even if we all stand on top of it, there’s still plenty of room to spare.
The others must have also heard Alta’s explanation, since they got in position without me telling them.

“Everyone on board.
Then, Dora, please.”

“Yes~!”

Dora touched the crest on the floor.
The experience was pretty similar to using ‘Portal’.