Chapter 90, A Big Gain
I stared at the rippling portal.
The mysterious purple light swayed as though tempting me.
“...That's a portal to another world?”
I had already heard about another worlds several times.
Places where most major factions had established their bases.
According to Arlin, they were the hidden worlds where the headquarters of the Company and the Order were located.
Whenever I heard about another worlds, I had always felt a faint curiosity about them.
But I had thought it was still too early for me to learn more, so I never asked in detail.
I still thought the same now.
According to Arlin, most major factions possessed roughly comparable military strength.
And I had heard that the Order alone possessed five 900-series Mysteries.
That meant most major factions possessed enough strength to rival at least five 900-series Mysteries.
The scale was so absurd that I couldn't even properly imagine it.
It still seemed far too early to investigate another worlds where those major factions gathered.
Maybe once I obtained a proper 900-series Mystery of my own.
Until then, I planned to postpone exploring another worlds.
“Let's check that last.”
Feeling strangely uneasy, I avoided the portal and climbed down below.
The underground area hidden behind the portal contained nothing but an empty crack.
That was all.
We searched the walls.
We examined every gap in the rock.
No matter how thoroughly we looked, there was nothing.
For a secret storage belonging to Dorothy, the President of the Mystery Protection Association, it was extremely strange.
Only after Arlin used detection magic more than a dozen times in the same place did we finally get an answer.
“It doesn't seem like there's any storage here.”
What?
From Dorothy's memories, I was certain her storage should have been somewhere around here.
Yet it wasn't.
I wondered what to do.
Even if we gave up on Dorothy's storage and returned home now, it wasn't like we would suffer a loss.
Still, I felt quite disappointed.
Maybe because after seeing more than a hundred Mysteries earlier, my expectations for what we might gain here had risen too high.
Because of the relationships with major factions, we had left behind every Mystery at the exhibition, including the Eye of Ra.
After going through all that trouble, I wanted to take at least something useful home.
Is there really no way?
As I kept thinking in disappointment, the portal above caught my eye.
At the same moment, a possibility came to mind.
No way.
“Arlin, when you enter a portal to another world, do you arrive at a random location, or at a designated place?”
“That depends on the type of portal. Naturally generated portals send you somewhere random. But if someone deliberately created one...”
Arlin stopped mid-answer and suddenly let out a sound of realization.
She had reached the same possibility I had.
According to Dorothy's memories, there definitely should have been a storage space here.
At the very least, it had to be somewhere nearby.
Yet even after Arlin repeatedly used detection magic, she couldn't find it.
That was extremely strange.
There were two possible explanations.
Either Dorothy's memory had been wrong.
Or the storage was indeed nearby, but located within some abnormal space beyond the reach of Arlin's detection.
And there just happened to be a portal right in front of us.
After asking Arlin, it seemed the second answer was correct.
“It appears... Association President Dorothy connected her storage to a portal leading to another world.”
“So Dorothy's storage is probably on the other side of this portal.”
“Yes. The probability is very high.”
I nodded and took out the book to set a save point.
A secret storage was probably located somewhere safe and hidden, but since it was in another world, I wanted at least some minimal preparation.
I quickly checked the save point.
Then, in case I encountered mental attacks or sealing, I prepared myself to commit suicide immediately if anything felt strange.
I didn't know much about another worlds, but I doubted they were particularly friendly places for me.
So I finished preparing as thoroughly as possible.
“Then let's go in.”
I reached out.
The strange purple light touched my fingertips.
I felt no sensation at all.
But when I opened my eyes afterward, I had been transported into a pitch-black space.
Arlin had moved with me and immediately scanned the surroundings with detection magic.
“For now, I don't sense any living creatures nearby.”
“That's a relief.”
Reassured, I lit a flame.
Crimson fire hovered over my fingertips and illuminated the darkness.
As the shadows retreated, the surroundings came into view.
My companions and I couldn't help but stare in admiration.
It felt as though we had entered a museum.
Or perhaps the mansion of a billionaire who had gathered all of their prized collections in one place.
All kinds of Mysteries were arranged on display stands.
[Scq293, Gold-Producing Spider]
[Scq305, Gourmet]
[Scq202, Tiger That Repays Kindness]
Unlike the exhibition hall, there were no separate themes or descriptions for each section.
That was natural.
This was a storage space, so preserving the objects mattered more than displaying them attractively.
And yet, to me, this storage looked even more beautiful than the exhibition hall.
Partly because so many Mysteries were densely packed into such a small space.
But more than anything, it was because all of these Mysteries were going to become mine.
Every Mystery here belonged to Dorothy's private collection.
That meant they had no connection to other people.
They also weren't bound to Dorothy.
So my companions and I could use them freely without any restrictions.
“There are twenty-one in total. That's quite a large number. Considering the number of Mysteries bound to her and those publicly declared as property of the Mystery Protection Association, this is an enormous personal collection.”
“Major factions usually only have around sixty Mysteries, right? Just how many Mysteries did that woman Dorothy own by herself?”
“Her goal was different, so it isn't that difficult to understand. For most major factions, Mysteries are only tools used to achieve a purpose. For her, collecting Mysteries was the purpose itself.”
We inspected the Mysteries and placed them inside the [Infinite Bag].
There were quite a few useful ones, making this an excellent haul.
Among them, five Mysteries could immediately be used to strengthen our combat power.
Arlin, Lee Yeonhee, and Hwa-ryeon divided them among themselves.
There wasn't really anything suited for me.
Either I already possessed a superior version, or the Mystery simply didn't match my abilities.
It was a little disappointing.
Still, my companions had all become stronger at once, so it was actually something to celebrate.
Thinking that, I thoroughly searched the surroundings.
Then I noticed a part of the wall protruding strangely outward.
I wondered whether it had simply been finished poorly and pressed it lightly with my finger.
The protruding part sank inward.
“...Why did that move?”
Dorothy's storage looked like a cave carved naturally into the earth.
Even the walls were basically solid rock, only slightly smoothed down.
Something sticking out of solid stone shouldn't sink inward just because I pressed it.
Feeling a strong sense of wrongness, I punched the place that had been protruding moments earlier.
The wall shook and cracked.
I punched it again.
This time, the wall shattered completely, and fragments fell to the floor.
Looking more closely, I saw a single sheet of paper hidden among the debris.
A long, white strip of paper fluttered down.
There was nothing unusual about the paper itself.
Only a single word was written on it.
[#Misunderstanding]
The Misunderstanding tag.
Is that the kind of tag I think it is?
Faced with the unexpected discovery, I opened Lucy and checked the most recently added Mysteries.
The final two entries immediately stood out.
Both had numbers beginning with zero.
[Scq013, Another World]
[Scq094, #Misunderstanding]
The fact that Another World itself was registered as a 0-series Mystery was shocking.
But even that couldn't compare to finding another Tag Mystery.
A Tag Mystery.
I had only used one once before, but its power had been greater than almost any Mystery I had ever seen.
If there was one drawback, it was that its effects were difficult to predict.
[When used, adds the #Misunderstanding tag to your story.]
Even Lucy's explanation wasn't something I could immediately understand.
Still, there would probably come a time when it became useful.
I slipped #Misunderstanding into my pocket, then continued searching the area with my companions.
Eventually, we found another room.
Inside were two useless Mysteries and various objects related to the Mystery Protection Association.
There were also plenty of worthless things like trash and notebooks, so it seemed to have been Dorothy's personal office.
And that was where we encountered something completely unexpected.
“...So this is where it was?”
“That probably explains why it kept spitting out those kinds of things.”
“I definitely didn't expect this.”
Sleeping beneath a small wooden desk was a Mimic.
It was the [Swallowing Mimic], the counterpart to the [Spitting Mimic] living at our home.
No wonder our Mimic had been spitting out things like invitations to the exhibition.
Apparently, the Swallowing Mimic had been sitting inside Dorothy's office all along.
“We should take it with us, right?”
“Yes. If we leave it here, it'll just keep making the other one spit out useless things. It would be better to place it somewhere else.”
“But where are we supposed to put this thing?”
We thought about it for a while.
In the end, unable to reach a conclusion, we took the Mimic with us and returned through the portal to False Utopia.
Then I detonated the Flame and committed suicide again.
When I opened my eyes, I was back home in reality.
The Mimic was still in my hands.
Where should I put this thing?
I couldn't decide.
