Flying fortress, basement level 15.
Descending the stairs, one immediately comes into a wide entrance hall.
There, that magic circle is set up.
Teleportation magic circle.
However, its form bears no resemblance to the ones in my memory.
Furthermore, it is wonderfully enormous.
It's around 50 meters in diameter, and 1 meter tall.
It is composed of 1-meter-square lithographs, each 10cm tall.
They are stacked 10 high, and those stacks are repeated in 50 rows and columns.
In addition, above it spans a gigantic arch.
The interior of the arch is carved with closely-packed designs, so it is also probably part of the magic circle.
An extremely three-dimensional magic circle.
No, maybe it should be called a magic device.
"Wow… this'll make Cliff feel bitter."
Zanoba let out a voice of admiration.
The magic device is not only large, but is delicately and precisely carved.
At the very least, me and Zanoba aren't able to make anything like it.
It's probably too difficult even for Roxy, who has been researching magic circles recently.
Maybe Cliff… but even Cliff doesn't have this much experience drawing magic circles.
"It's magnificent craftsmanship."
Perugius threw out his chest as if it were his own achievement.
However, I can understand that feeling.
For one's disciple to have created such a device, it's only natural for the one who taught her teleportation magic to feel proud.
Although I'm sure Perugius himself was involved in its construction.
"How is it, Orsted?"
"For it to be something of this magnitude… I'm astonished."
Even Orsted was admiring the magic device.
Using 25000 lithographs, a three-dimensional magic circle.
Even Orsted has never seen anything like it.
Even the Mad Dragon King's automata had at most 50 parts, and the parts themselves were much smaller in size.
Nanahoshi probably combined magic circles with absolutely no thought given to how large it grows.
"Right? Look at that arch."
"Is that also a part of it? It doesn't seem to be attached, though."
"No, it's something else. That's a device for confirming whether it succeeded. You are aware that teleportation leaves traces of mana behind, right?"
"Yeah."
"That changes depending on the type of the teleportation magic circle. By measuring it, we can determine whether the parallel-world teleportation was a success or not."
"… Is such a thing possible?"
"Fufufu, I never thought the day would come when I could teach something to you, who holds such extensive knowledge."
"…… No, that's not true, I've learned a lot of things from you… a lot of things."
"Hn. How pretentious. Even though you acted as if you knew everything from the moment we met."
Perugius and Orsted were having a friendly conversation.
To the Perugius who was proud at having outwitted Orsted, Orsted's voice held hints of nostalgia.
It was also slightly bitter.
"Rudeus."
Nanahoshi turned around, and came over to me.
"To start with, let's send over something simple. After that, by analyzing the teleportation magic circle's characteristic mana remnants, the monitoring magic circle will adjust the magic circle for parallel-world teleportation. After that succeeds, we'll send over a living thing, and finally myself. Is that good?"
"It's good, but please excuse me from another teleportation disaster."
"Don't worry. There's no need to worry about that."
Nanahoshi repeatedly said not to worry.
That actually makes me worry more.
For the record, she did give me a detailed report earlier, but it has way too much information, and I haven't finished scanning it yet.
However, Nanahoshi has performed numerous experiments to ensure that she doesn't cause a teleportation incident.
Me and Sylphy helped with that, as well.
"Are you confident?"
"I am."
Then, I'll believe in you.
You seem to be confident enough.
"Well then, shall we begin?"
"Yes. Then, starting with an apple…"
Nanahoshi probably prepared one ahead of time.
From the basket that was left in the corner of the room, she produced an apple.
Holding the apple, she climbed onto the magic device, trotted to its center, and placed it there.
"Perugius-sama, if you will."
"Uh huh."
Perugius moved to the opposite end of the magic circle.
No, not just Perugius.
His servants moved one by one into evenly-spaced intervals around the magic circle.
Only Sylvaril moved instead to the base of the arch.
"Rudeus goes over here."
At Nanahoshi's instruction, I stood opposite to Perugius.
Right there were two hand-shaped marks that all but said "Place hands here."
"At my signal, insert mana into there. As much as you possibly can."
"Roger that."
As told, I put my hands down.
It's kind of exciting.
I turn my head and look over to Sylphy.
She was staring blankly at the magic circle while whispering with Zanoba.
They also took the bait[1], so they must be interested.
Eris wasn't taking part in the conversation.
She was in her usual pose, looking up at the arch with a seemingly proud expression.
She probably simply likes big things.
The Orsted who's sluggishly standing behind her is…
"Perugius-sama! Please begin!"
"Yeah."
Whoops, I need to concentrate.
Even though I said concentrate, I just need to pour in mana.
In any case, just concentrate.
"… We're starting."
Perugius and his servants simultaneously touched the magic circle.
In the next instant, the edge of the magic circle faintly gave off light.
However, it was only near the edge.
The tiny magic circles around the edge are strongly shining, but the center remains dark.
A failure?
"Rudeus."
"Yes."
As told, I send mana through both hands.
The next instant. My right hand felt as if it was sticking to the magic circle.
I could tell that my mana was being sucked out with frightening vigor.
For some reason it's only my right hand; mana is being sucked from my left hand as well, but it's weak compared to the right hand.
Should it be strong in the left hand, too?
The moment I thought that, the amount being sucked from my left hand explosively increased.
In exchange, the amount being drawn from my right hand diminished.
Right, left, right, left.
The strength at which mana was being drawn out alternated.
Feeling it carefully, the strength at the fingertips and palm differed slightly.
However, rather than mechanical, I could feel as if it were being manually controlled.
The one who is controlling it… is Perugius, huh?
I can't see his face, but it seems like his job wasn't just starting up the magic circle.
And then, the ones assisting him are his servants.
It's not automatic once started but needs to be managed, it's correct to call it a magic device.
The radiance of the magic circle increased.
While changing color from blue, to green, to white, the room was filled with an overwhelming brightness.
It's already too bright to see anything.
Is this the intensity of the magic circle?
I've never seen a magic circle this bright.
No.
I've seen it once before.
That was, during the teleportation incident…
Patsu——[2]