The New Gate

Book 16 Side Story Part 1

Oxygen and Hydro, servants of the “Red Alchemist” Hecate, braved the tremors in the “Fifth Daze Garden Romenun”.

“Aaah! Our precious prototypes!”

“This place shouldn’t shake even a bit during normal earthquakes…!”

The whole building shook violently, first vertically, then horizontally. This continued for a good while, at an irregular pace.

Not only the medicine prototypes on the desks but also tubes, dishes, balances, and other tools came crashing on the floor.

The racks were specially reinforced, so their contents were still safe at least.

Tremors that made it difficult to even stand up continued for one whole day.

“That was really violent…”

Oxygen stood back up. Because of the long tremors, his hair was all messy and he had trouble standing straight.

“Agreed. Not only is Romenun built to withstand quakes, but also suppresses tremors. Despite all this, to experience tremors of this scale…I suppose it’s enough for smaller cities to be completely destroyed.”

Hydro reflected on the tremors and went to look outside. From Romenun’s location, it was possible to see the nearest city in the distance.

Using sight boosting skills or items, it could be possible to see the state of the city walls and their surroundings. There was also the need to check the state of the area around Romenun.

“…well well, I did think that something unprecedented happened, but…what is going on here?”

Hydro looked outside the window, then laughed wryly. Afterwards, she shrugged and sighed.

“Ahaha…really, there’s nothing to do but laugh.”

Oxygen stood next to Hydro, carefully avoiding the broken prototypes and materials.

The edges of his lab coat touched the ground, so avoiding them did not mean much, but that wasn’t a concern at the time. He laughed hopelessly, then sighed like Hydro.

The scenery outside the window was completely changed.

The guildhouse itself was still intact, but the various plants that were growing around it were gone. What remained was but a desert wasteland, a ravaged land filled with cracks.

“The vast forest that extended all around the guildhouse is gone, and there’s a lake over there too. But…how could the mountain disappear too? I suppose this is nature’s power.”

Oxygen looked in another direction, then exhaled, impressed.

Romenun was located in a mountain range, about 30 kemel from the nearest city.

No matter where they looked, however, the city was nowhere to be found. The ground level had probably sunk deeply, as Romenun’s position was much lower than before.

“Are you saying that a phenomenon like this was caused naturally? Easy there, Oxygen, did you accidentally inhale a prototype during the tremors? The mountain disappearing is not an illusion.”

“The possibility isn’t zero, right? That was a joke though. Not even our mistress could do something of this scale. The only cause I can think of is the “management” the mistress once told us about. But the scale is completely different this time. This is not just a new dungeon appearing out of nowhere…”

“I’m glad you are still sane. So then…”

Hydro was about to start discussing what they should do next, when she noticed something and stopped mid-sentence.

Oxygen did not say anything about it, and they continued looking at each other for minutes.

After about five minutes passed, they opened their mouths at the same time.

“This is too strange. I cannot find any explanation.”

“This is too strange…a lot stranger than the scenery out there…”

What they noticed was not something external, but something related to their own bodies.

Something so shocking they almost forgot about the violent tremors they just experienced.

“Why can we—”

“Why can we—”

“Why can we talk so normally?”

It was so natural that it took time for them to notice.

The behavior limitation that always accompanied them had disappeared completely.