But of course, Xavier, being the person—no, lover—that he was, would immediately worry about his soft and delicate wife.

Yes, soft and delicate.

Huh? But—

VERY SOFT.

VERY DELICATE.

"..."

Now others would likely look at him with immense disbelief. To most of the universe, Luca’s image had long since stopped being a useless flower vase and had somehow evolved into one that now occupied a very confusing category somewhere between a miraculous fairy and a natural disaster.

At this point, if there was anything to worry about, it was probably his opponent. In fact, in this particular case, even the ailment ought to be concerned about having to contend with Luca.

The things people said about him sounded completely unhinged.

The problem was that anyone trying to dispute them quickly ran into a rather unfortunate obstacle.

Where were the lies?

"..."

"..."

But all that didn’t matter to the Imperial Crown Prince.

In his eyes, his wife was a whole different category altogether, and if he sneezed, then it better be viewed as an Imperial emergency.

He was more than aware of Luca’s capabilities and bill of health, but that also meant understanding that such symptoms would only appear if his wife had overworked himself again.

So who in their right mind wouldn’t worry?

But what do you know? The little chipmunk said something else instead.

"I’m fine!" he reassured quickly. "Someone probably just remembered me."

Or was talking about him.

Or maybe both.

Luca was just about to elaborate when a flashing prompt abruptly appeared before them.

Ding!

"Host! I have an urgent report from your brother!"

Now that had the dungeon owner halting everything.

"My brother?"

"Host! According to your brother, the mecha prototype has been burnt!"

"..."

"!"

"What? Burnt?!"

At this, the little system elaborated a little too much.

"TOASTED."

"CHARRED."

"THOROUGHLY COOKED."

D-29 sounded increasingly dramatic with every update.

Naturally, Xavier’s expression immediately sharpened.

"Did the workshop burn down?"

"No, Permanent Benefactor!" D-29 replied at once.

"There are no signs of fire, chemical or biological terrorism, structural damage, explosions, instability, other emergencies, or upcoming threats!"

"Huh?"

"Then if so, what happened?"

"The mecha prototype appears black."

"..."

"..."

That was it?

D-29 flashed another prompt.

"VERY BLACK."

"Oh no!"

Luca immediately reacted.

Then, just as Xavier somewhat expected, the first major thing out of his mouth wasn’t concern for the mecha.

"What about my brother?"

The dungeon owner looked genuinely worried and would’ve immediately rushed back had he not heard that there were no signs of danger.

"Is my brother okay?"

"Yes, Host!"

D-29 responded immediately.

Even now, there are no abnormal readings within the workshop and no signs of emotional collapse exceeding acceptable parameters! Furthermore, his handler has successfully extracted him from the workshop, and he is currently undergoing psychological recovery with a milkshake!

The system paused.

Then helpfully added:

"Host’s brother remains highly vocal."

"Oh, then that’s good."

Luca visibly relaxed. It was always a good sign when his brother still had enough energy to express his opinions quite strongly.

"Provided my brother’s okay, then it’s fine."

"Fine?" Xavier repeated, knowing just how much effort had already gone into building this mecha.

But the little mechanic simply nodded without hesitation.

"We can always rebuild the mecha."

The statement would’ve probably caused several mechanics to faint had they been present.

Meanwhile, Luca was already rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"But I wonder what happened?"

A prototype that had supposedly turned black for no apparent reason was certainly strange.

After a moment of thought, he finally instructed D-29, "Please tell my brother to stay away from the workshop. Better yet, please warn everyone to avoid the area until we return."

"Understood, Host!"

Truthfully, Luca wanted to return immediately.

The problem was that they were in the middle of loading goods into the bridge’s vending system, and he still wasn’t entirely certain how the bridge would react if they suddenly abandoned an unfinished transaction.

Thankfully, D-29’s report indicated there was no ongoing danger or life-threatening emergency.

So after giving it some thought, Luca decided they should finish loading the goods they already had out before returning.

And how fortunate others were with the decision he made.

Because unbeknownst to the dungeon owner, elsewhere beyond the bridge, there were people who had been eagerly waiting for the next market day.

People who had been gate camping.

People who had been counting each minute.

And people who practically cried when the timer had gone out, and the bridge didn’t react as they imagined it would.

Because, in truth, eager wasn’t quite the right word. Instead, desperate would have been far more accurate.

Someone stared at the silent, unmoving gate before quietly muttering, "What do you think? Was that just a one-time thing?"

The question had barely left their mouth when another immediately jabbed them in the side.

"Shush it, will you."

"But it’s been like this for a while now."

The second speaker glanced toward a nearby figure whose eyes were already red with worry.

"Seriously. Not now."

At that, the earlier gossiper finally realized their mistake and lowered their head.

Then someone clicked their tongue.

Instantly, the surrounding whispers died.

"If you’re not interested in waiting, then you’re free to leave."

"Ah, no. I’m sorry."

The earlier speaker immediately straightened.

"I’ll wait."

And so they did.

Quietly.

Anxiously.

Alongside everyone else gathered around the gate.

Deep down, they knew it wasn’t fair to assume anything.

It wasn’t fair to expect the other side to return.

Yet it was difficult not to feel worried when they had effectively pinned their future survival on this opportunity.

Back when trading first became possible, they hadn’t even bothered to pursue it as consistently and as tenaciously as they could have. Not that they didn’t show up for it, but between defending themselves and searching for resources to sell, they were honestly just too swamped to do it.

Worse, at that time they hadn’t yet realized the extent of their shortcomings or the truth about their unfortunate situation.

Back then, they genuinely believed they didn’t need much from elsewhere.

So when they were forced to choose where to allocate their limited manpower, they had eventually chose to give up the gate.

But now, said beings have realized their grave miscalculations and vowed to proceed differently this time around.

If only they’d be given a second chance, then they’d choose wisely this time around.

So please...

Please, someone just sell them something!

Surprisingly, the same prayer, albeit in different forms, was being repeated across three separate locations.

And perhaps they prayed hard enough.

Because after what had felt like an agonizingly long wait, the ground suddenly began to tremble.

"!"

"Hey—"

Then, as if answering the desperate pleas of countless hearts, a brilliant pillar of light erupted from the gate once more.

"!!!"