Help, I'm in Another World and All the Men Are So Hot! [BL]-Chapter 307: Magical Locks and Modern Convenience

Damien wasn’t surprised.

If the elves had used Theo’s mansion as a reference, it made sense that the second floor would also serve as a private space.

"Wait, ’apparently’? Does that mean you don’t know what the second floor looks like either, Elyon?"

"Indeed. In fact, I had only seen the plans for the first floor as well. This is my first time seeing the actual place."

So even Elyon didn’t know?

That only heightened the tension.

If Damien’s suspicions were correct, and the elves had modeled the mansion after Theo’s estate, then the second floor would likely be more opulent than the first.

He steeled himself.

With a determined resolve, Damien—and judging by their expressions, everyone except Elyon—set foot on the second floor.

"Now then," Elyon said, stopping at the top of the stairs where the hallway split in two. "To the right are the guest rooms, and to the left are your bedroom and office. Which shall we look at first?"

The division of the floor matched Theo’s estate perfectly.

"Let’s start with the guest rooms on the right," Damien said.

Part of him hesitated to see his private quarters just yet.

However, since Augusto and possibly even Theo might stay in the guest rooms, he wanted to check them first.

"Understood. Let’s begin with this room," Elyon said, leading them to a stately door immediately to the right.

The door was adorned with an intricate carving of a sky tree.

The carving seemed to be the work of the same Elder who had sculpted the entrance, as it had a similar atmosphere.

The guest room that Damien entered with Elyon was, at first glance, an ordinary room.

It was much larger than the servants’ quarters and contained a bed along with enough furniture for basic living.

Unlike Damien’s own room, it didn’t have a separate lounge, but it did include a toilet, a bathroom, and a small bedroom for servants.

The layout was essentially a scaled-down version of Theo’s mansion.

While Damien and the others examined the interior of the room, Sebas and Isaac stood by the guest room door, looking at it curiously.

"Is something wrong? Did you notice something odd about the door?" Damien asked.

He felt a little bad and considering the elves had gone through all the effort to build this mansion.

But since they were amateurs when it came to construction, there might be something that needed fixing.

"Well..." Sebas replied, "it’s something that can be easily corrected later, but... Teacher, while it’s understandable for the servants’ quarters downstairs, is there any particular reason why the guest rooms don’t have locks?"

Locks?

Now that Sebas mentioned it, the door lacked a keyhole or any sort of locking mechanism.

"Oh, the locks, huh..."

Elyon’s reaction was slightly awkward.

"To be honest, we elves aren’t very skilled at metalworking. Since we couldn’t figure out how to make proper lock mechanisms, we decided to make all the locks magical instead."

Oh.

Now that Damien thought about it, the doorknob on this door was wooden.

In fact, the doorknob on the front entrance was also made of wood.

Come to think of it, he hadn’t seen any metal objects anywhere in the mansion.

"M-Magical locks, huh. Can humans use those? Some humans have very little or no magical power at all," Isaac asked.

"That won’t be an issue," Elyon reassured him. "The magic is embedded in the door itself. It’s a type of sensing spell, so the person opening or closing the door doesn’t need to cast any magic themselves."

"There’s a spot on the door where there’s no carving, right? If you place your hand there, it reads the shape of your palm and determines whether or not to allow access to the lock. Naturally, there’s a similar spot on the outside of the door, so it can be opened or closed from either side."

Palm recognition?

This was starting to sound like surprisingly modern technology for a fantasy world.

"That’s fine for guests," Isaac asked, "but what about the master key?"

"That would be tied to Damien’s magical power. In essence, your magic overrides all the defense mechanisms of the entire mansion."

"Defense mechanisms?" Damien thought.

That sounded ominous, but it was likely just referring to the locks.

In any case, it seemed that Damien himself was essentially the master key.

It made sense, he supposed, since he was technically the master of the mansion.

While Damien was satisfied with the explanation, Sebas, Isaac, and the other staff members with servant experience all wore troubled expressions.

"Master," Sebas began, "if that’s the case, then there wouldn’t be a master key available when Master Damien is absent. Additionally, this arrangement could create issues during emergencies. It does seem a bit inconvenient."

Ah, good point.

If Damien wasn’t around during a crisis and no one could open the doors, that would indeed be a problem.

"That issue was something I planned to explain later," Elyon interjected. "In the study, there’s a system for granting unlocking permissions. That should be sufficient to address the concern."

So, they had thought of that after all.

While Damien felt reassured, the other staff members still looked unconvinced.

"Even so," Isaac said, "if the master key exists only as a ’person’ rather than a physical object, it could still pose a challenge during emergencies or unexpected situations."

"Hmm... Well," Elyon mused, "it would be some work, but it wouldn’t be impossible to add physical locks later. Originally, the mansion wasn’t designed with the intent of being brought to the human settlement, so we didn’t consider such details. But now that it’s here, feel free to modify it as you see fit."

"Indeed," Sebas agreed. "For now, perhaps we should observe how it functions during actual use and then decide on any adjustments."

New technology always needs to be tested in practice to see how practical it truly is, Damien thought.

Damien found the idea of palm recognition incredibly cool and exciting, personally.