C176
—"Terence?"
I blinked, unable to believe that the person I had missed so much had suddenly appeared before my eyes.
"Ethel, Ethel!"
Terence, who had his eyes fixed on me, repeatedly uttered my name and then hugged me tightly.
Familiar arms. A familiar voice. A familiar scent.
It really was Terence. It's hard to believe, but the person hugging me right now was definitely Terence.
For some reason, my heart began to beat strongly. I looked at him and opened my mouth with a trembling voice.
"H-How...?"
My words, which meant to ask how he got here, were drowned out by someone's commotion.
"It worked!"
With a tinkling sound, a parrot flew over Terence.
"Oh, my God. This is a miracle. I can't believe this was really possible."
I addressed the parrot muttering to himself.
"...Kais?"
It was the alter ego of Kais, the wizard nicknamed the Eccentric Inventor.
"Ah! Hello, Viscountess Lucibiu. It's been quite a while since I saw you. No, it hasn't been that long, has it?"
The visibly excited parrot waved frantically.
"That's right. Long time no see. But what worked?"
"Of course it's His Highness's teleportation! A miracle achieved with a half-built warp gate!"
"...I beg your pardon?"
"I felt really embarrassed when His Highness suddenly burst in and ordered to be transported to monster territory."
I heard Kais blurting out words in a daze.
"No matter how much I tried to explain that warp gates don't work on that principle, he wouldn't listen. He said, 'I'm sure you can figure it out!' An extremely terrifying pressure disguised as encouragement..."
"No, wait a moment."
After interrupting him, I asked a legitimate question.
"How is that possible? The warp gate is unfinished. Moreover, there's no gate here."
The warp gate was originally an invention that connected two places that were physically distant through a magical door.
Naturally, gates were supposed to be located both at the departure point and the destination.
It wasn't strange that there would be a gate where Terence started from.
Although warp gates have not yet become common, there is a prototype in the laboratory of inventor Kais.
However, even after rubbing my eyes and searching, I didn't see any object that could be called a gate at this destination, and there was no way it could have existed according to common sense.
"Oh, about that."
Kais kindly responded to my questions.
"Indeed, the movement itself is possible even if there's no gate at the destination. The problem is that the failure rate is extremely high."
"What?"
"In short, a warp gate is a device that creates a shortcut that transcends space."
The parrot proudly spread its wings.
"It would be perfect if there were gates both at the departure point and the destination. However, even if you just stay at the destination, you can take a shortcut."
I roughly understood what it meant.
"So, did they take that shortcut?"
"That's right. Exiting is the problem. So His Royal Highness crossed through space and exited."
"Crossed through?"
"He can't exit through the normal gate, so he had no choice but to break through it."
It was a natural tone of voice.
"For that, I did a little work. Being able to influence the passage created by the warp gate. As a reference, I found the movement coordinates through it."
Kais's wing pointed to the pocket watch lying on the ground.
I had been holding it a moment ago, but when Terence suddenly appeared, I dropped it.
"His Highness's watch and that watch are magically connected. Through it, we were able to determine the vizcountess's location."
"So the reason the watch hands were spinning as they pleased before was because..."
"Yes, it was because of the teleportation."
"Well. I finally understand something. I just want to ask you one thing."
"What is it?"
"What happens if you move like that and fail?"
"You die."
It was a very simple and clear answer.
"I've never observed it with my own eyes, but in theory, you have no choice but to die."
"...So, what were the chances of Terence failing?"
"Still hoping for the best, about 70%?"
"......"
I looked at Terence.
He had been holding me in his arms since he appeared here.
"Why did you do something so reckless?!"
I tried to push him away, but he stood firm.
So, I had to speak to Kais in this rather embarrassing way.
"Terence?"
"......"
"Hey Terence? Please step away for a moment."
At those words, Terence, who had been silent for a long time with his face buried in my neck, opened his mouth.
"I don't want to."
"What?"
"I won't listen to you for a while. Didn't Ethel not listen to me when I told her to take my hand?"
Are you talking about the moment when I left the imperial palace with Liena and used the divine beast to push Terence, who was chasing me, through the air?
Indeed, Terence's face, still looking at me from a distance with wide-open eyes, appeared before my eyes.
"Terence, that was..."
"I know. The fact that it was the best option for you at that time."
The voice that tickled my ears lowered.
"—That's why I'm angry with myself."
He raised his head and made eye contact with me.
"If only I were stronger. If I had been strong enough to break the barrier between us at once and defeat the monster and Liena."
His eyes were filled with joy as he looked at me, but at the same time, there was a shadow of self-destruction.
"You wouldn't have made that decision."
A calloused hand caressed my cheek.
I impulsively grabbed his hand.
"It's not Terence's fault."
The words came out before specific thoughts.
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