Chương 51: Chapter 13 Knowledge Worth More Than Gold(Part 4)

Seth stared into the camera one final time.

"There are two Gates ahead of me." His voice was calm now. Far calmer than before.

"I chose wrong once already because I couldn't read the writing." He pointed toward the distant portals.

"To those who come after me..." A bitter smile crossed his face.

"It may already be too late for this advice." He laughed weakly.

"Watch the archives."

"The First's archives." His expression became serious.

"Your odds of survival change depending on what you know." He took a breath.

"If you meet the First..." The camera shook slightly.

"Learn from her."

"Whatever she is..." He looked away toward the Gates.

"I don't know."

"All I know is this." You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. His voice carried absolute certainty.

"She knows more about the Gates than anyone else." The statement made several people in the dojo glance toward me. I ignored them. Seth continued.

"I'm going in." He pointed toward one of the portals.

"The one with the writing I still can't understand." A small laugh escaped him.

"If I'm wrong..." His smile faded.

"... then whoever finds this camera..." A pause.

"Tell people about me." Another pause.

"Tell them Seth Hamilton was here." The footage ended. The next image showed the outside world. Then the recording stopped. Silence filled the dojo. I rubbed my forehead. That mistake was mine. During the broadcast, I had never properly addressed the language issue. Nor had I instructed Chiyoda to issue warnings afterward. For Japanese people, the system language wasn't a problem. For everyone else? It was a disaster waiting to happen. Japanese used multiple writing systems. Thousands of characters.

Nuances layered upon nuances. Even mastering ordinary conversation required years of study. Yet inside the Gate, every menu. Every sign. Every instruction. Was written in Japanese. Seth had somehow managed to choose a Class successfully despite that obstacle. Even assuming random chance, that meant he had survived a one-in-three gamble. Pure luck. Nothing else. I turned toward Chiyoda.

"Please relay a message through the Special Hazard Response Task Force." He blinked.

"To whom?"

"Everyone." The answer came immediately.

"Every government." The room fell silent. I pointed toward the phone still displaying Seth's final frame.

"Inform them that the Gate's internal language is standardized."

"Standardized?"

"In Japanese." Chiyoda frowned.

"That's a significant claim."

"It is."

"And your evidence?" I stared at him. Evidence? The answer seemed obvious. Who had entered first? Who had negotiated with Sots? Who had been forced to navigate the system before anyone else? Foreign governments couldn't possibly know those details. But if they had watched the broadcasts... If they had followed events from the beginning... Then the conclusion was straightforward. I folded my arms.

"The First requested it." Several people blinked. I continued.

"I can only use the languages I understand." The explanation was simple.

"When I negotiated with Sots, the Gate's language and written text were configured in Japanese." The room fell completely silent. Akamine stared. Mochida stared. Even Chiyoda needed several seconds to process what I had just said. Finally he adjusted his glasses. Slowly.

"... You're telling me that the language of an extraterrestrial dimensional structure..." He paused.

"... is Japanese because you asked for it?"

"When you phrase it like that, it sounds ridiculous."

"Because it is ridiculous."

"Fair point." I shrugged. The Gate itself was ridiculous. Magic was ridiculous. Classes were ridiculous. Compared to all of that, choosing a language hardly seemed unusual. Chiyoda sighed deeply. Then he opened his notebook.

"I'll include it in the report."

"Good."

"The foreign ministries are going to hate this."

"Even better." Akamine laughed. Mochida buried her face in her hands. And somewhere beyond Earth, perhaps Sots was laughing too. Because despite all the impossible discoveries. Despite monsters. Magic. Classes. And worlds hidden beneath the Gate. The greatest obstacle humanity had encountered so far... Was Japanese.