The reputation of the smartphone had increased when they realized that it's a convenient tool as expected.
For the foreign countries, I handed those smartphones to the country rulers and leaders of the east-west alliance. As for Brunhild, I had naturally given them to my fiancees. Besides them, I had also given one to each of the Babylon Numbers, to my sisters Karen-nee-san and Moroha-nee-san, to Tsubaki-san, to all of the former Takeda Heavenly Kings, to the knight commander, to the knight vice commanders, to the butler Raim-san, and to Mika-san from [Silver Moon].
The contact addresses of each person that had received the smartphones basically contained only those they were familiar with. For example, the King of Belfast's number wasn't saved in Mika-san's phone, but she had mine though. At most, her contacts stopped at Knight Commander Rain-san.
Though of course she could register the King of Belfast's number if he told her his number. It would've been bothersome if anyone could thoughtlessly call the country rulers after all.
As a negative effect — though it's something that's just a little trifling — it's kinda regretful that everyone reached the point where they would just be making phone calls and sending emails for every little thing. I believed they were just simply saying that "I just want to make a phone call" or "I just want my mail". They were being merry like any kid as if they'd obtained a new toy. Oh well, I can understand their feelings though. They will probably calm down after a while.
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「This is…surely something great…. It has a higher performance than the artifact we're using for communication. Are you saying that this is for me?」(Rerisha)
「Yup, I gift it to you」(Touya)
I, having explained the general functions of the smartphone, handed one to the guild master Rerisha-san. I came to the guild today on a business.
I was drinking the tea that Rerisha-san had made and served. It's a different kind every time, but it's delicious as usual. Rerisha-san seemed to like black tea. Cans of various tea leaves were forming a line on a shelf after all.
「How is the recent state of the appearances of the Frazes?」(Touya)
「There were two lower class in Hanock Kingdom last week as well… A red ranked adventurer party has defeated them. With this, it will be the third case since the start of this month. I feel like the frequency of their appearances increases little by little」(Rerisha)
Indeed. It probably meant that there's that much increase in rips of the barrier. It's still good that the open parts were small rips separated from one another. If those small rips connected with nearby ones and opened up, they would've become larger rips.
If those rips extended, they might eventually reach the point where the advanced class and ruler-types might be able to go in and out freely all by themselves.
At any rate, what we could do right now was limited. Examples as for what could be done to deal with it were as follows:
１:Annihilate all Frazes.
This is quite severe. I don't know how much is the enemy's war potential. We probably need to be ready for a considerable damage on our side as well.
２:Talk with the Frazes.
It seems only the ruler-types are able to talk, and it's doubtful whether having talks will lead anywhere. The other side is coming with the intent to kill us. Even if there are a few of them, two ruler-type whom I've already encountered have characters that are quite troublesome.
３:Find the [King] core, and send it to another world.
Though this world may survive, it will leave a nasty aftertaste. It's like passing the blame of this calamity onto another world. I also don't know how to do that. It is not like I can… ask Kami-sama as well. Fundamentally, he should have a non-interference policy.
４:Destory the [King]'s core.
End will surely turn into an enemy. In addition to that, will the [King] allow itself to be destroyed silently? It may be bad even if it's also awakened in a strange way.
５:I make and replace the world barrier into a complete one.
How?
Every and each one of them lacked a deciding factor. Realistically speaking, I supposed that I could say that point 1 was moving forward. After that, it would be fine to try 2 as well if I met another ruler-type but…
「That reminds me, there is news from Yuuron saying that a new heavenly emperor appeared just the other day」(Rerisha)
「Again?」(Touya)
Just how many self-declared heavenly emperors has it been so far? A heavenly emperor had shown up in each city making Yuuron similar to a collective state for each city.
「Well, the new heavenly emperor seems serious this time. He has started a war with the other heavenly emperors one by one, bringing them under his banner. Though it seems he's using means that are considerably forceful」(Rerisha)
「Forceful?」(Touya)
「It feels like he's not choosy with the means he uses in order to win. He blows up the palace in the capitals where the other lords live or bribe the subordinates of other parties… The biggest problem is the weapons they call iron machine soldiers」(Rerisha)
「Iron machine soldiers?」(Touya)
I frowned what Rerisha-san had said. Could it be…
「As the name suggests, they are mechanized soldiers made from iron. We're guessing that they may be plagiarized from the technology of the frame gears」(Rerisha)
「So it was like that after all, huh?」(Touya)
I'd thought that the stolen frame gear parts might be used for something else, but this was earlier than I've expected. It seemed they had extensive technological and financial power.
It's an assumption in the end but… assuming that the [Golden Association] was being said as the one who had stolen our frame gear parts, they then made the iron machine soldiers using that technology and brought it to the new heavenly emperor of Yuuron… Something like that, I think? Apparently, the golden association has members from scholars to merchants, so they should be able to cover a wide range of specialties.
No, there's also the possibility that the heavenly emperor himself was a member of that organization. In the first place, it's really doubtful whether he really had descended from the former heavenly emperor.
「What sort of thing is that iron machine soldier? Does it really resemble the frame gear in the long run?」(Touya)
「Let me see. There's a resemblance. Ah, There's a sketch which a member of the guild has drawn. Ummm…Ah, this one here」(Rerisha)
Rerisha-san gave me a piece of paper from the documents on her desk.
「I see… It definitely looks similar」(Touya)
The thing that was drawn in that picture had long hands, short legs and a silhouette that's short but considerably wide. Its neck is also short, having an ill-formed shape overall, but it did have a sense of stability from its toughness. So this is an iron machine soldier.
Certainly, this thing resembles a frame gear. I don't know the extent of its performance though.
「How many of those units have they prepared?」(Touya)
「According to the report of the guild member, there should be at least 100 of them. It seems he attacked the cities of the other heavenly emperors using these machines, and it didn't even become a contest」(Rerisha)
There was no way a normal soldier could do anything to this guy. Nevertheless, they might've been able to knock down a few of them, but not when there was more than 100 of them.
「And, what do you think this heavenly emperor of Yuuron intends to do?」(Touya)
「I guess it would be unifying the country, and building a new dynasty. It seems he may be able to do it if he has those iron machine soldiers」(Rerisha)
This iron machine soldier was definitely strong. Unifying Yuuron shouldn't be a dream any longer.
However, what to do with this? There's no mistake that this technology was stolen from our country. To be frank, it didn't feel good knowing that our technology was used for war. Having said that, I was still hesitant to do an armed intervention. This was an internal discord in a certain sense.
However, if the [Golden Association] organization was behind them, they might be thinking an idea that's good for nothing. Oh well, I could make as many reasons as I'd like for a military intervention though.
「How should I say this? Oh, that's right… They've stolen our frame gear, so it will be fine if I steal theirs, right?」(Touya)
「Eh?」(Rerisha)
Rerisha-san leaked out a surprised voice.
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「And because of that, I intend to steal this [Iron Machine Soldier] from Yuuron」(Touya)
「Hou-hou. It's very much to my liking. Of course, you'll surely let me do [Analysis] on it after you've obtained it, right?」(Regina)
The professor showed an evil grin. She's likely interested in how they'd used her technology.
Conversely, the ones looking at me with amazed eyes were Yumina, Luu, and Hilda, the three genuine born princesses. Sakura was also a princess, but she was brought up on the same level as an ordinary noble. Elzie, Suu, and Rin seemed enthusiastic, and the remaining three consisting of Linzie, Yae, and Sakura seemed slightly bewildered and at a loss on what to do.
「A person who should be a king of a whole country is talking about a dishonorable act like stealing. What's with that thinking?」(Hilda)
「Then, let's say we borrow it for unlimited time. Only without permission though」(Touya)
「Isn't it the same thing?」(Hilda)
Hilda frowned. That's because this girl was an honest one.
「I will pretty much hide my identity. Look!」(Touya)
「This one again?…」(Yae)
Yae sighed as she looked at the silver oni mask I'd taken out. Somehow it had a bad fame. On top of hiding my real identity, it's a wonderful item that let me rage as much as I wanted.
「Assuming you do go to steal those machines, are you going alone?」(Yae)
「No, I'm thinking of taking Tsubaki-san and Kohaku, just in case. It seems having too many people increases the chance of being discovered」(Touya)
「I also want to go. Isn't not good? Touya?」(Suu)
「Not good」(Touya)
「Muu. How mean」(Suu)
I rejected Suu's request. She wouldn't have faced danger as long as she was with me, but there's still an off-chance that she might be placed in danger.
By the way, this plan was a secret from Kousaka-san, because he would've absolutely tried to stop me.
「After all, I'm curious for the reason in doing this. Isn't it just fine to leave a country like that alone?」(Elzie)
「I don���t know when those so-called iron machine soldiers will be turned against the neighboring countries of Yuuron. Ferzen, Hanock, Zenoasu, Rodomea.... We should know the enemy's war potential in case that time comes」(Touya)
「Therefore as I've said, even without Touya-san going…」(Linzie)
「It's my prediction as an individual and not as a country, so it's not like I can ask someone else to do it for me as well」(Touya)
I answered back to the twin sisters Elzie and Linzie, but my true intention was to drag out the real identity of those troublesome tricksters and to also end them in one fell swoop.
There's just one thing I may be worried about.
The thing that the King of Ferzen had talked about the former golden association.
「20 years ago, the golden association tried to revive one of the taboo magics」
I was wondering whether the present golden association was also aiming for the taboo magic that the previous guys had tried to revive?
I had a hunch that them helping the Heavenly Emperor of Yuuron could simply be a stepping stone towards that goal. Well, it was only an intuition right now though.
My intuition usually comes true. … Huh? Is this, by any chance, also an effect of the divinification? Mumuu…. Well, it's alright. It's not something troublesome anyway.
Thinking about it, I don't think they will be able to easily invoke the taboo magic that those guys are trying to revive. Then this means in reverse that the possibility of it being an extremely dangerous magic is high.
If that's really true, then it will be better to strike them now before it's too late. For that, a definite proof will be necessary sooner or later.
This work will most likely become a bit rough.