The New Gate

Since he had some time before Filma and Milt withdrew from the tournament, Shin decided to spend time analyzing items and brainstorming ideas for blacksmithing.

Although he had obtained some items, he still didn’t know what they were used for, and there were tools whose working principles were unclear. He had asked Oxygen and Hydro, the support characters of Hecate (the “Red Magician” and one of the Rokuten), to analyze some of the items.

Leaving Kurikara for a moment, Shin went to the Moon Shrine.

Schnee, Tiera, Sety, Yuzuha, and Kagerou came along, saying they would analyze the items.

“It’s about time we do something about this.”

“But we don’t know how the skills and equipment were controlled.”

The “this” Shin was referring to was the “Submission Collar” that the priest of the church used to control the Saintess and Millie, who was in the orphanage of the Bayreuth Kingdom.

It was implemented in the game event “Marionette of Lamentations,” and had the effect of controlling allies and event NPCs. It seemed that the power was still strong in this world, and even the Chosen Ones could not resist it.

As Sety said, it was unknown how it controlled the target.

It was given to Shin with the intention of researching its structure and effects and creating an item to remove it, but he had yet to succeed. In fact, there was no such item to remove the collar during the game.

As far as analysis with the skill goes, it is just an ordinary collar with the automatic size adjustment skill. Despite that, it has an abnormally high durability, and when worn, it has the effect of controlling the person wearing the collar.

Shin and the others did not quite understand this “controlling the other person” part. From what they saw with the skill, it did not have any magical properties.

“It’s not like it’s wrapped in miasma, and it’s not like it can’t be destroyed if it’s not worn.”

When worn by someone, its already high durability increased even more. This property was also a mystery.

“Why don’t we try wearing it for real? Until now, you’ve always been able to remove it right away with your skill, right Shin?”

Sety said that she would wear it herself and wanted him to check it out.

Shin understood that it might help her learn things that she couldn’t learn when it wasn’t worn, but he didn’t want to use her as a test subject.

Schnee and Tiera were just as reluctant as Shin.

“But Shin wouldn’t give me any strange orders, and I think I’d be able to explain how it felt after you deactivate it.”

Not only would it be possible to deactivate it with certainty, but if she started to act out of control, Shin or Schnee could quickly restrain her. Sety continued, saying that it was because she was so confident that she made this suggestion.

“If Shin is the master, then even I—”

“That’s not okay.”

Sety interrupted Schnee with a firm tone.

“Sis Schnee, that’s absolutely not okay.”

“Sety?”

“Sis Schnee, you’re going to another world with Shin, right? If so, you shouldn’t entrust yourself to something like this. We don’t know what kind of effects it will have when you go there. Someone like me who will stay here is best suited for this.”

Sety, refusing to compromise on this, moved between Schnee and the “Submission Collar”.

“Besides, I think it’s not good that there’s no one other than Shin who can remove it. It’s worse than mental skills.”

“That’s true, but… I get it. It’s not good that there are almost no countermeasures.”

Given Sety’s serious look, Shin reluctantly agreed.

The idea that it posed a greater danger than removable mental skills was the final push.

Schnee couldn’t bring herself to oppose it, given the reason.

One option would be to capture some random thieves and use them as test subjects, but they wouldn’t be willing to cooperate. Even if Shin heard their feedback after the submission was released, he couldn’t easily trust them.

“Well, let’s put it on.”

After discussing and making a list of what to do after putting it on, and checking it one last time, Shin put the materialized “Submission Collar” on Sety.

“How is it?”

“It doesn’t feel much different. But when I try to attack Shin, my body won’t move.”

It didn’t seem to cause any unpleasant sensations. It seemed that she was unable to attack her master, which was one of the things she tried to test. Just as she said, her body was stiff and immobile, and even if she tried to gather magic power to use offensive magic, it didn’t work.

“I’m resisting with all my might, but it’s no good.”

Even when she received an order from Shin, she could slow down her movements a little, but she was unable to refuse the order itself.

On the other hand, she found that if the order and her will were in line with each other, it had an effect similar to a skill that strengthened her abilities. It could be said to have a positive effect, but if that’s the case, it would be much more effective to use normal ability-boosting skills or items.

She went through the test contents in the order of the list. Some of the results were embarrassing or humiliating, so Shin decided to discard the test results as soon as he had an item to remove them.

“This item really is just for ignoring the other person’s will and forcing them to obey.”

Even though it was just one of the events, they had implemented something troublesome… Shin complained to the management, but he also tried to find a way to remove it.

In the game era, the basic rule was to defeat the controlled opponent. However, that didn’t mean killing the opponent. In the game, even if their HP reached 0, they would not die. The closest way would be to beat them down and bring them back to their senses.

However, that method was no longer possible now. In this world, reaching 0 HP meant death.

“The problem is that there is no official item to remove it. If it were an item similar to that, the quickest way would be to seal the power of the title in this card.”

Shin’s removal of the collar was due to the power of a title. It could be used in almost the same way as using a skill.

If this was treated the same as a skill, Shin thought, he could use it as an item to seal and store skills.

This was a card made by dissolving crystal stone in a special solution and then impregnating it with the solution. Its official name was “Sealing Card.”

It had many uses, such as a player who mainly used close-range attacks could infuse it with magic skills as a means of long-range attacks, or a party without a scout could infuse it with skills to see through traps when conquering dungeons.

The rank of the crystal stone used changed the rank and effect of the skill that could be infused.

However, one thing to be careful of was that the effect was one level lower than when used by a player who was capable of using it. For attacking skills, the power and range would change, and for recovery skills, the amount of recovery and the rank of the abnormal conditions that could be removed would change.

The card used this time used the highest rank crystal stone. If this didn’t work, then there was no hope for the idea of ​​infusing the power of titles into cards at the moment.

“It seems like it’s being put in…”

Strictly speaking, it was a different skill, so it was unclear whether it would be successful, but the prepared card emitted the same light as when a skill was sealed inside.

The name of the skill appeared on the front of the card, and a pattern corresponding to the skill appeared on the back.

Shin had thought that the skill name and pattern would not appear because it was based on a title, but contrary to his expectations, a pattern was drawn on the back of the card.

“I can understand why there is no skill name on the front, but what is this on the back…?”

“…To me it looks like someone is reaching out their hand.”

Shin wasn’t sure, so he asked in a questioning tone. Schnee said that it looked like an abstract depiction of someone reaching out their hand towards him.

Tiera and Sety also voiced their own opinions.

“It looks like they’re holding something out to me…?”

“It seems like the way it looks varies depending on the person. To me it looks like someone is reaching out their hand.”

Tiera and Sety also felt differently.

It was not clearly drawn, so it probably depended on the recipient.

After listening to everyone’s opinions and looking at the pattern again, Shin didn’t think it represented anything in particular. If he had to say, it was a pattern that represented wind and water.

“The rest is to see whether it has an effect.”

Even if it was infused into a card, it’s meaningless if it didn’t have an effect. There were multiple “Submission Collars,” so they decided to try it out with Sety wearing it.

“Then I’ll use it.”

Schnee volunteered to use the card. Currently, Shin was the owner of the collar. So, if he used the card, Schnee said, it was unclear whether the owner of the collar freed themselves or was freed by the card’s effect.

“Besides, I don’t have special powers like Tiera, and I’m not a former player like Shin or Milt. Of these, I’m the least likely to have irregularities.”

“That’s right. I’ll leave it to you.”

Schnee pointed the card he handed at Sety’s neck.

“Release.”

Schnee would normally say the name of the skill, but since it wasn’t written, she only spoke the key words.

In response to those words, the card began to glow. The card transformed into tiny particles of light that flew through the air and moved towards Sety’s neck. The particles of light covered the entire card as if they were sticking to the collar.

After a few seconds, the collar crumbled as if it were made of sand. It came off of Sety’s neck and gradually lost its shape as it fell to the ground.

And before it even hit the ground, it vanished as if it had dissolved into air.

“It seems to be a success to me?”

“Let’s try it.”

At first glance, it seemed to have been a success.

To clear up Milt’s doubts, Shin gave the same command as in the previous experiment. However, there was no change in Sety. He gave another command, but it had no effect.

After a series of tests, Shin concluded that Sety had completely escaped the control of the collar. Just to be sure, he also tried to use the power of the ‘Liberator’ title, but it did not activate. He had confirmed that nothing would happen if it was used on someone who would not be affected by the effect, so there was no doubt about it.

“It still doesn’t change the fact that I have to get involved, but at least now someone else can do something about it.”

“Items will remain even after Shin is gone. Have him make lots of them now as a countermeasure against the collar and for research purposes.”

Sety was right, and the lack of a countermeasure—aside from the power of Shin’s title—would not change. However, if it remained as a card, Sety and the others could deal with it. There was also the possibility that new countermeasures could be developed based on the cards.

After Shin is gone – there was no sign of pessimism in Sety’s expression as she spoke.

“Isn’t that the hardest thing for me to do?”

“Shin is the only one who can do it now. Make one for actual combat, one for research, and one for a trump card in case of emergency. I think you should have a thousand made.”

“Don’t say things like they’re for display, for evangelism, or for preservation. And a thousand…”

Shin understood that it was better to have more, since they wouldn’t be able to make them once Shin was gone, but just thinking about the work was making him depressed.

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