Goat Antenna

A pitch-black cube several hundred meters on each side appeared near the Royal Capital.

Apparently, it was something called a subspace, and several people, including Edgar, were trapped inside.

It could not be opened from the outside, so I searched the Royal Capital for a way to save Edgar.

—But.

It was apparently something extremely irregular, and no one had any idea.

Not only Sophia, but even Maribel, who seemed knowledgeable about magic, and Cordelia the witch, who was knowledgeable about suspicious sorcery and curses, tilted their heads.

The Royal Capital at dusk.

The town was filled with rumors about the subspace that had suddenly appeared.

Some said, “It’s a sign that the once-in-a-thousand-years Chaos Dragon will be born!” Others said, “It’s the Demon King’s attack!” or “It’s a sign that the world will end!”

Out of anxiety, people were voicing their own theories one after another.

I had returned to the shop.

On the contrary, the shop was thriving.

People driven by anxiety kept visiting nonstop and buying Puchi Elixirs.

Liricia had gone outside and was going around instructing people to form a line.

We had more stock than we could ever use, so I took them out of the wardrobe in the back room and carried them to the counter.

Inside the shop, Teti and Sophia were serving customers together.

The Puchi Elixirs sold as fast as we stacked them up.

Each bottle was fifty thousand gort, but several hundred bottles should have sold already.

Well, if buying them eased people’s anxiety even a little, that was a good thing.

After a while, the wave of people finally died down.

Teti stretched both hands out on the counter and collapsed onto it. Her blond hair spread out softly.

“Aah, it’s finally over. I didn’t even have time to practice spirit magic or write my novel…”

“Teti-chan, thank you for your hard work. I will watch the shop from here.”

“Yeah, I’m going to rest a little. Sophia-san, I’m counting on you~”

Sophia entered behind the counter.

Teti passed through the partition curtain and came to the back of the shop.

While carrying Puchi Elixirs, I gave her some words of appreciation.

“Teti, good work. That was rough.”

“It really was. Even people who probably don’t usually use them were coming to buy some. Is it really that creepy?”

“Want to see it? It looks like this.”

I took out my sub-device and displayed footage of the subspace.

I had been taught how to display images and videos.

Teti peered at it and widened her eyes.

“Whoa, it’s huge! Something like this appeared? No wonder everyone is panicking.”

“The cause is unknown. Apparently, the knight order and the Adventurer Guild are both completely overwhelmed and have no idea what’s going on.”

“Yeah, makes sense. I don’t know either.”

Teti said that while looking at the subspace with interest.

Wanting even the slightest clue, I asked,

“Did the sacred beasts know anything?”

“Ah, apparently not? They said about the same as Liricia-sama? That they felt an evil presence.”

“This is bad. We don’t know how it appeared, and we don’t know what it’s like inside, so we can’t move.”

“There are people trapped inside, right? That’s rough.”

“Well, Kou seems to know the most about it, so we’ll have to rely on Kou somehow… I’ll go ask how the progress is going.”

“Okaaay, see you later.”

With her languid voice at my back, I entered the dungeon.

Then I came to the inner hall where Kou was.

Kou was quietly sending blue light across the surface of the white sphere.

It seemed like she was concentrating on working.

I approached the round sphere and spoke to her.

“How is it, Kou? How are things going?”

“I am perfectly comfortable. I am so round right now that I could even pick up a spare from a split?”

“I asked that badly. Do you think you can contact Edgar?”

“Who knows? I do not know. I have entered tens of thousands of patterns, but I cannot connect.”

“How much longer do you think the rest will take?”

“Three days, three years, three hundred years. I have absolutely no idea.”

“That long!?”

“Yes. The number of worlds is, for example, as countless as the stars.”

“I want to save them as quickly as possible… If we could at least know what it’s like inside, we might find a way to deal with it.”

“Since Edgar-san has his sub-device, it should work if we use direct input instead of automatic connection?”

“I see. Then we have no choice but to keep betting on Kou’s method.”

“I will do my best~”

At that moment, there was a loud bang from the wall side of the hall.

When I looked, Rāna, the white-haired little girl, had just come out of the side private room.

She was stretching with both hands raised and letting out a big yawn. Her small, well-aligned teeth flashed.

“Rāna, were you still sleeping? It’s already evening.”

“Kyah! Evening! Alec!”

Rāna’s blue eyes widened in surprise, and she ran over to me. Her long white hair streamed behind her.

Suddenly, I remembered the ability of the Sacred White Dragon.

It was said to carry the hero on its back and take him anywhere, whether the Demon Realm or another world.

I took out my sub-device, displayed the footage of the subspace, and showed it to Rāna.

“Hey, Rāna. Can you get inside this?”

“Kyah!? Uu, can do!”

“Really!? Then take me there right now!”

Feeling as if a rescue boat had arrived, I asked her eagerly.

However, Rāna wrinkled her tiny brow and shook her head.

“Alec, impossible! Only finger can go. Kyah!”

“Only a finger! That’s the same as not being able to do it!”

Then Rāna made a round ring with her fingers and appealed to me, as if to say it was not her fault.

“Orb! One more! Alec can do! Kyah!”

“You mean if you had one more Jewel Orb, you could take me there. —Guh, to investigate Luktia we need Edgar, and the other places are underwater and inside a monster’s stomach… I can’t do that right away, damn it.”

All I could do was scratch at my head.

However, Kou made the surface of the sphere flash intensely in excitement.

“That will work! Even just a finger will work!”

“Huh, you mean we can pass through!?”

“No! But even if it is only as thick as Rāna-chan’s finger, communication becomes possible!”

“Oh, that’s great! We can ask Edgar what’s going on inside!”

“To be precise, we will make a wired connection! If the poison signal will not fly, then we have no choice but to connect by wire!”

Kou spoke in an excited tone.

I tilted my head.

“Wired? How do we do that?”

“We place the dungeon entrance near the subspace and connect the wire I put out.”

A hole opened on Kou’s surface, and a wire-like cord poked out.

Its tip was rounded to about the size of a thumb.

I did not really understand it, but it seemed like communication equipment.

I placed a hand on my cheek and spoke while thinking.

“There are probably people around the subspace, so it’d be dangerous to get too close. The dungeon’s existence might be exposed.”

“Then connect it from the shop? The wire would get very long, though…”

“Is there anywhere around the Royal Capital with no people? Let’s extend the wire from there.”

“Understood! I will have your wife investigate.”

“Oh, I see. Then I’ll call her.”

“I already contacted her.”

“That was fast. As expected.”

“Yes. Also, the material cost will be rather high? There are some materials missing.”

“Seriously? That’s a problem—no, actually, we just made a lot of money, so it’s fine. What do you need?”

“Copper, aluminum, and a goat. If aluminum does not exist in this world, iron is fine?”

“A goat? A livestock goat?”

“Yes. A goat antenna is cheap but excellent?”

“I don’t really understand, but if it’s necessary, I’ll buy one. Do you need a living goat?”

“Hmm~ As long as the bones and meat can be used, that is okay?”

“Got it. I’ll go to the butcher.”

Getting a live goat would be troublesome, but a slaughtered livestock animal was simple.

After that, Liricia came, so I left in her place.

I went to the butcher and obtained goat meat and bones.

During that time, Liricia searched the map for a place near the subspace where no people were present.

When I entered the shop and went to the back room, Liricia and Rāna greeted me beside the wardrobe.

“Welcome back, Master. Rāna-chan is ready as well.”

“Kyah!”

“You’re quick. This is the goat meat.”

I opened the wardrobe and placed the meat and bones I had bought on the dungeon floor.

They vanished as if sinking into the floor.

The sub-device in my pocket vibrated happily.

I held it to my ear and spoke.

“How is it? Was this good?”

“Yes, this is more than enough. I have now made the wire and antenna too.”

A treasure chest emerged from the dungeon floor.

When I opened it, inside was a rope-like wire coiled around and around, along with a round tip about the size of a thumb.

“How do we use it?”

“Open a hole and put the wire with the antenna attached inside. The poison signal travels better when there are no obstacles, so it would be better to insert it from above rather than from the side.”

“Got it. Let’s try it right away.”

After ending the call, I spoke to Rāna.

“Rāna. Like before, teleport me and take me above the subspace.”

“Kyah!”

Rāna clenched her tiny fist and showed her enthusiasm.

Then she jumped onto my back. It was like giving her a piggyback ride.

Liricia shook her silver hair and looked worried.

“There is no one around a shed for storing farm tools in the middle of the fields. Let us use a passage and come out there.”

“Got it… I hope the people inside are safe.”

“It seems all we can do now is pray.”

“Then let’s go.”

“Yes!”

“Kyah!”

With Rāna on my back, I took Liricia with me and entered the dungeon.