A sound rang out, and the light disappeared.
No, it didn't disappear completely.
The arch.
Only the arch's light continued to faintly illuminate the surroundings.
And then, directly beneath the arch.
The very center of the magic circle.
The place where the apple was.
Where the apple used to be.
In that place, something bluish-white was remaining.
A bluish-white, particulate something.
The particles lightly floated into the surroundings and slowly disappeared.
"The experiment was a success."
"…"
Nobody answered Sylvaril's words.
Without waiting for a response, she filled something in on a nearby piece of paper.
"From here, we will analyze the mana traces and increase the certainty of parallel-world teleportation. However, the data for that analysis is already gathered, so it will not take much time."
While listening to Nanahoshi's explanation, I removed my hands from the magic circle.
"Rudeus, are you okay?"
When she asked me, I thought back to the mana from earlier.
Only one time. With just one or two activations, the mana drain was that much.[3]
If I were to do that repeatedly, it would certainly suck me dry.
"I'm okay, but doing that repeatedly would be impossible."
"I see… Thank you for your work. I pretty much intend to go at a pace of once every 1 or 2 days. Go rest for today."
Nanahoshi said that and bowed her head, then ran over in Perugius's direction.
While discussing this and that with the research team, she was jotting down notes.
She'll probably consolidate the reports for this experiment and make use of them for the next one.
The parallel-world teleportation system itself is complete.
All that's left is to put the finishing touches on that arch, and while analyzing the mana traces and observations, change the teleported objects to be progressively more Nanahoshi-like.
That will take around one more month.
It's troubling to take that much time while Gisu is moving in the background… but there's no helping it.
This is the result of failing to make Perugius a comrade.[4]