OutsiderFan71: Aw, it's been canceled.

  Popcorn5: What has...?

  Hero194: ??

  OutsiderFan71: The Nais lesson.

  Hero194: They're canceling the training sessions already?!

  OutsiderFan71: No, just her lesson specifically.

  OutsiderFan71: They said it's postponed.

  OutsiderFan71: Did something happen?

  RedOwl: Yeah.

  RedOwl: She left with a bunch of really scary guys.

  RedOwl: It was a bit surreal.

  OutsiderFan71: Wait, really?

  ***

  "We started training sessions because of Na?s, right?"

  A couple of Azure Dragon juniors were discussing the recent events.

  "That's not wrong... although, Milio said we have nothing to teach her, so it's not directly for her sake."

  "Yeah, it's for that other girl. Lilac, I think?"

  "Sort of, yeah."

  "But... Na?s and Lilac just... left."

  "Yup. The seniors have some pretty mixed thoughts. They wanted those girls in school... and apparently they got their wish, but it's not in Terra."

  "Not in Terra... well, right, but my point is... why are we still holding the lessons if everyone they're for has left?"

  "Beats me."

  Another junior named Kiri, who'd just been listening in, suddenly spoke up.

  "Oh, oh! So, our main goal is to raise the value of this dungeon. It was just a bonus that it helped the native inhabitants, like... usually, helping the natives boosts the dungeon's value to begin with, and helping beginners get Skills also helps."

  "So it's... for profit?"

  The other juniors stared at Kiri. Unfortunately, the explanation didn't make sense.

  They didn't make any money off of the dungeon. Sure, the government gave a bunch of subsidies, but that didn't even cover all of the expenses.

  It was a loss the guild could afford, and the PR and other benefits probably made up for things in the seniors' eyes anyway, but it was still strictly a loss, financially speaking.

  "Not for profit," Kiri rolled her eyes. "It's in the bottom rung of the national beginner dungeon list. We should try to get it all the way to the top! I mean... we're the Azure Dragons, the best of the best!"

  "Well... the Azure Dragons might be, but... we're just the rookies."

  "You'll stay a rookie forever if you have that mindset!"

  So, despite the reason for the lectures leaving for Naraka on what seemed like a whim, indeed not even all that long after they'd begun...

  The lectures themselves continued in her absence.

  ***

  The portal to Naraka was fairly large compared to the one to the Lost.

  There was a whole huge building around it, somewhat reminiscent of an airport or a shipping warehouse, with tons of roads leading in and out of it.

  Though most of the traffic was just trucks.

  Getting to the portal itself required going through a few security checkpoints, but Zaitenmodi's presence made things go by pretty smoothly.

  I wondered if he could just openly smuggle people into Naraka if he ever wanted.

  Then again... could anyone really stop him anyway?

  Plus, while I wasn't sure how much power he actually had, it still seemed pretty likely that he could shut the whole thing down if he really wanted to.

  Emperors were a frightening thing.

  Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

  The portal itself was quite a bit larger than the Lost's portal, perhaps three times the size.

  It was also remarkably busy. Pallets and crates were constantly being loaded into or out of lanes that ran all the way to the portal.

  The lanes even had multiple levels, sort of like a catwalk, albeit with mechanical conveyer belts leading toward the portal.

  Yet the conveyer belts just brought everything closer to the portal. Small vehicles were used to actually transport the larger and heavier crates through the portal, while people pushed the lighter ones through on handcarts.

  Each lane seemed to have its own direction and purpose.

  It was all very organized, and yet all so very busy that it looked anything but orderly at a glance.

  "This portal isn't used to transport people," Zaitenmodi explained. "We'll be taking the same path that workers use to coordinate things. Laborers, diplomats, businessmen, and self-evidently, even dungeon bosses and emperors all use the same path."

  We had to wait a bit.

  Although there must have been some way to link communication networks across portals, considering that Zaitenmodi and I had exchanged messages using phones connected to a Terran network, while neither of us were actually in Terra...

  Here, it seemed they relied on a more physical approach.

  There was a signal key that either side held at any given time, letting that side send people through the standard worker lane.

  There was an emergency lane which the people without the signal key could go through, but our trip wasn't an emergency. It was a small portion of the portal that got seldom used.

  Besides, though the key was swapped on a need basis in general, the most we'd have to wait was still only fifteen minutes.

  Eventually, someone handed the key to our side, signalling that nobody would be sent through that lane again until it was returned, and we got to walk through.

  Although it was primarily intended for people, we could bring whatever we wanted.

  The other lanes were for trade goods at scale, so trying to send our luggage through them would have been a bit counterproductive.

  It was a good thing there was metal fencing dividing the lanes.

  Each one, save the one we went through, was operating at a demanding level of efficiency.

  I held on to Lilac's hand as we went through the portal facility.

  Though... she seemed a bit less intimidated than I'd expected.

  Well, she was still undeniably shy, but she didn't seem outright fearful.

  I hoped attending whatever proper schooling Zaitenmodi could get us helped her grow even more.

  Of course, being shy as a child isn't necessarily bad, but whether she's to be an immortal like me or even just an adult, it was important to be able to overcome it.

  【Naraka, Rank S Dungeon.】

  ***

  The world on the other side of the portal was immediately different.

  Well, I had a few spoilers in terms of what the people looked like, between Zaitenmodi, his men, and the few Narakans who worked on the Terran side of the portal.

  They were similar to Terrans, but with pointed ears and slightly different facial features. Horns seemed uncommon among them, although one guy even had a tail.

  But it was still a stark visual difference just going from Terrans to Narakans, and yet that was probably the most minute change.

  There were no conveyer belts, but long lines of rollers that cargo was manually pushed along.

  If I had to guess, the average Narakan seemed to be considerably stronger than the average Terran, and they also seemed much more populous.

  After all, where the Terrans relied on machinery to handle large volumes of goods, the Narakans seemed to do a lot more by hand.

  Even the building and building materials were different.

  The Terran side seemed to have more plastics and wood. The crates coming in were often made of wood, for example.

  But the Narakan side had more stone and ceramics, and the crates going out were mostly metal instead.

  Supposedly, Terra's big export to Naraka was wood and other forms of plant matter, and that was sort of visible at a glance.

  'I wonder why though. Is Naraka not arable, like the Lost?'

  Lilac stuck close as we made our way out of the facility.

  It was even bigger on the other side of the portal.

  The same volume of goods seemed to require the extra space in Naraka.

  The reason gradually became clearer and clearer as we went.

  While there was some Narakan machinery, most of it was done by relatively primitive means in comparison.

  Pushing carts by hand was just the start, and not really a problem given how small the portal was in the first place. Well, it was quite large, but it still severely limited the volume of trade, considering it was the only portal between the two worlds.

  But the goods were loaded into comparatively old-fashioned carts and carriages, pulled away from the facility by beasts or sometimes even people.

  Unlike the Terran side, which was closed off from the rest of society by a myriad of complex roads mostly only used by trucks, the Narakan side had a marketplace full of people browsing the imported goods that weren't carried off.

  It was a decidedly chaotic place with a sea of people.

  Nevertheless, it was impossible to be unaware of who Zaitenmodi was, and so his mere presence made it easier to navigate, as everyone made way for him.

  Those unfortunate enough to be along his path even turned to kneel as he passed. It seemed only the merchants and laborers busy working were immune to this ritual, or those simply far enough away from him in the first place.

  It seemed awfully unnecessary at a glance, but perhaps it was in fact very necessary to instill an appropriate amount of awe and loyalty into his people.

  But being the reason for him being there today, I couldn't help but feel a bit bad for indirectly inconveniencing so many people.

  "If either of you want anything you see, simply say so."

  Zaitenmodi spoke up to Lilac and I, and I recognized from my own extra-crisp understanding that he'd used some sort of translation magic so that Lilac could understand him too.

  I wondered if she'd take him up on his offer, but glancing at her, while she was looking at everything in quiet wonder, she seemed very content to hide by my side.

  I didn't see anything I needed, so I wasn't compelled to ask him for anything either.

  ***

  Our destination was apparently a small yet oddly refined building just a short walk past the marketplace.

  The Narakan city streets were more lively and chaotic than the Terran ones, with a whole lot more people, not to mention bright colors.

  Most buildings were made from stones or bricks, but that didn't stop people from painting them all sorts of colors.

  But the intricate designs on this building told me that it had likely been made for particularly wealthy patrons. The other patrons going in certainly didn't seem poor, though rich or poor, everyone stayed out of his path and knelt as he went.

  He spoke in a foreign language to some attendants by the entrance, not even stopping as he led us through.

  But thanks to the ongoing translation magic, I understood what he said anyway, and tried to commit the words to memory in case they were necessary later.

  "I'll handle it myself."

  I wondered precisely what he was going to handle.