"Oh, it's connected, it's connected! This is amazing, there isn't even that much of a time lag…"
"Isn't that right? The linkage to the dimensional gate was quite the problem, but it's working well now."
The satisfied voice of the professor is projected from the smartphone's speaker. I can totally see her smug face in my head.
At this moment, I'm at Dracliff Island in the Reverse World, while the professor is staying in Babylon back in the Surface World. Being able to converse across different worlds is by right a pretty big achievement, so I guess I can understand why she would have a smug face. Not that I can see it.
With this, we can take countermeasures when the variants appear in the Reverse World.
After this… It'd be nice if this world also has something like an Adventurer's Guild. It would be a great help if they can cooperate with us.
An organization adept at collecting information… If we can get help from something like that, that would be perfect. Isn't there some group like our Tsubaki-san's clan here somewhere…
Ah, perhaps Est-san, the vice-chief of the Red Cats, would know something like that. They're both underground organizations. I was planning to pass her as well as the chief, Nia-san, smartphones too, so might as well ask.
"I'll be gone for a bit."
"Have a good trip."
"Pi."
"Po."
"Pa."
Mimicking the silver dragon, Shirogane, the Etoile group, wearing maid uniforms, also bows down. The three of them are showing much better movements than before. As expected of humanoid types, seems like their learning abilities are high too.
Let's see, Nia's group…
I searched for them with my smartphone. Oya? They're at neither the abandoned fortress of Strain Kingdom nor the underground hideout in the capital of the Holy Kingdom Alent, but somewhere different. Did they shift their hideout again?
The place is at a spot up north from the abandoned fortress I mentioned earlier. It's still within the same kingdom.
Let's move to the abandoned fortress with [Gate] first. I can use [Teleport] to move directly to the location, but there was the pantsu incident from last time… I don't think it can happen again, but just in case.
Opening the [Gate], I moved to the courtyard of the fortress.
"Wha!"
A man slightly older than me who's in the courtyard raised his voice in shock and drew the sword on his waist. He's a [Red Cats] member, judging from the red bandana on his head.
"Wh, wh-who are you!?"
Seems like he doesn't know me; the other side was asking for my identity with a shaky voice.
"I'm Mochizuki Touya. I just stopped by here on the way to meeting Nia, so don't mind me."
"You, you're the chief's acquaintance?"
"Well, something like that. Is Est-san around here perhaps? Yuni or Yuri would work as well though."
When I said that, the bandana guy rushed into the fortress immediately, and is soon replaced by a ponytail girl, Yuni, rushing out.
"Yo, it's been a w—"
"Touya-san! Perfect timing-ssu! Please lend us your power-ssu!"
Cutting off my greetings, Yuni came pleading to me with a desperate face. What, has something happened?
"The chief and the vice-chief are currently fighting-ssu! Please go save them-ssu!"
"What?"
Fighting? The two of them? Don't tell me, has the kingdom's army came to attack them or something!?
"At the town of Liptos north of here, those golden monsters appeared-ssu! And not just one, but apparently in quite a big group…! There's our chief, and the prince… He's from Panashes Kingdom, but even with two [Crowns], if there's too many of them…!"
Variants!? And in a large group… That is pretty bad.
I took out my smartphone and projected a map of the surroundings while searching for the variants.
Pins dropped down onto the map successively. Their numbers are roughly around a hundred… Fu, thank god. I was worried if a thousands- or even ten thousands-strong group had shown up… Wait, now's not the time to be relaxed about that.
"With these numbers, I think two [Crowns] should be enough…?"
If you're talking about a prince from Panashes Kingdom, I'm pretty sure he's the [Crown] that defeated a group of variants that I've read about before on a newspaper at this side.
"Both the chief's and the prince's [Crown] aren't suited to fight multiple opponents-ssu! And besides, if she's fighting while protecting the townspeople, the chief's Rouge probably can't use its golem skill to the fullest-ssu!"
Rouge. The golem serving Nia, and the red [Crown]. Its abilities were demonic destructive powers and control over flames, I believe. And as compensation, it requires its master to shed blood every time it activates its abilities.
That is indeed not a power suited for combat against multiple enemies. What's more, the more enemies there are the more Nia would have to give her blood to Rouge. In the worst cases, she could die due to excessive blood loss.
Nia wouldn't be fighting at full power in order to not accidentally involve the townspeople… While even if she fought at full power, it carries life-threatening risk for her. It's a difficult situation alright.
"Got it. I'll go help them out."
"Thank you-ssu!"
I can cover this distance with a [Teleport] easily.
I replied half-heartedly to Yuni's thanks and immediately used [Teleport] to transfer myself.
The changed scenery reflecting in my eyes was that of a ruined townscape, with black smoke rising up here and there.
When I transferred to a hill nearby that could overlook the town and surveyed the area, a group of slightly over 100 variants destroying the town entered my eyes. Most of them were lower-class, but a few intermediate-class were mixed in as well.
In this situation, direct combat within the town itself using a Frame Gear would be bad. In that case…
"Reginleiv!"
I called out my personal machine, Reginleiv from [Storage].
I sat myself down in the cockpit and placed my smartphone on the console, before moving Reginleiv up to the skies directly over the town while activating the Fragarachs.
The plate-shaped wing parts on the back of Reginleiv detached themselves and started orbiting around the main frame like satellites.
"Mode change: Dagger."
"Fragarach, switching to Dagger Mode."
The long board-like wing pieces each split into four pieces. Twelve crystal wing pieces became forty-eight daggers in an instant.
"[Gladius]."
The swords glittered. The forty-eight daggers became as meteors, and while reflecting light, pierced into the rampaging variants down below one after another.
Since I don't know the exact location of the cores, I pierced each possible location three times or so. While eliminating the variants, I also paid attention to not cause extra damage to the town.
In no time at all, the lower-class variants were exterminated with [Gladius]. Only the intermediate-class ones are left.
At that moment, one of the intermediate-class, a centipede-type, shot a particle beam made from converging light towards me.
In front of Reginleiv which is trying to dodge it, something flew up after jumping from one of the building's rooftop. A golem? It's a small golem with a blue body.
It looks similar to Nia's Rouge in some ways. Is this the blue [Crown]?
When that blue golem held a hand up against the oncoming beam of light, it bent in a roughly 60-degree angle upwards, and flew off into the sky. What was that? Looks similar to my non- attribute [Reflection]… Is that its golem skill?
It saved me just now… I suppose. Well, honestly speaking I didn't need it but… Oops, now's not the time to be thinking abut random stuff.
I made several crystal blades pierce through the body of the centipede-type that fired at me just now. After I repeated that a few times, it began releasing black smoke while melting down into a gooey mass.
Three intermediate-class left.
"Mode change: Blade."
Four of the floating daggers merged together to form a single longsword. In total, twelve crystal longswords assaulted the three variants left, with four against each one.
*Gakin*! With a sound like that of metals breaking, the three variants were smashed to pieces easily.
As black smoke raised up from the broken variants, they slowly melted down into piles of gooey golden-colored liquids and evaporated away.
Fuu. With this we're done for the moment.
When I turned the external camera downwards, a town that's been mostly reduced to rubble was reflected on the monitor. Seems like the town's been done in quite heavily…
Oh, that's Nia and Est-san over there, isn't it. Seems like they're fine. The two's golems, Rouge and Akagane are there too.
I landed Reginleiv in front of the two who are clearly showing their wariness towards me, and jumped down from the cockpit.
"Touya!? It was you!?"
"Yo. When I went to the fortress to look for you, I got requested by Yuni to help, you see. Glad that you're fine."
"Yeah, we're saved… But, you, where did you get a golem like that?"
"This isn't a golem, it's called Frame Gear… Well, that can wait. Give me a minute."
I need to deal with the fires that's burning here and there first.
"[O rain descend, a pure blessing, Heavenly Rain]."
Rainclouds appeared over my head and began to expand over the town, and before long it started to drizzle.
I moved myself to a spot underneath a nearby roof overhang; and as if waiting for that timing (well, I timed it myself), the rain suddenly increased its force to that of a squall. After a while, the squall stopped, and the sky cleared up as if there never was a rain there in the first place.
"Most of the fire should be extinguished with this."
"Amazing… You can even do something like that…?"
"Exactly like one of those great magicians in the stories…"
While looking up at the clear sky, the two of them let out dumbfounded voices.
The rain-summoning ancient magic [Heavenly Rain]'s range and amount of rainfall depends on the amount of magic power used as well as the caster's control. According to Rin, for an average magician it seems the most they can do is light raining for a few minutes over an area around 2 tatami wide. (Note: around 3.3m^2.)
With that small area of effect, there's not a lot of places that need such a magic. As such, it's not a magic that was used often. If it's just to let out water, a [Waterball] would suffice, too. Still, this magic is useful for things like watering the fields, for example.
"Wait, the magic doesn't matter here! Touya! That! What is that!?"
"I already said earlier that that's not a golem…"
Est-san too looked up towards Reginleiv which is being pointed at by Nia. Rouge and Akagane too were looking up at the vastly larger Reginleiv next to us.
Now then, how do I explain this… I don't intend to trick them or evade their questions, but it's probably gonna be a long talk, so we should probably go back to the fortress first…
"Wonderful!"
Suddenly, a loud voice came from behind us. When I turned around and saw the person who said that, my face unconsciously formed a frown.
As for why, it's that this person embodies the image of a "Prince" to an excessive degree.
A small crown sits on top of his short golden hair that's cut into a bob. A blue-based short mantle, a pair of striped pumpkin pants and white tights on his legs.
If he's a cute-looking young boy then this setup would've passed with flying colors. However, the young man in front of me looks to be close to my age if anything, which adds to the painful imagery. He looks exactly like a prince that jumped out from a fairy tale somewhere.
I suppose he's the prince from Panashes Kingdom. The small blue golem that bent and reflected the variant's particle cannon earlier is beside him, too.
"Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful! That strength, and this beauty! I cannot stop trembling due to my excitement!"
The excited prince continuously sent words of praise towards Reginleiv who's in front of him. He's quite the hyper individual…
"… Who's that?"
"The Crown Prince of Panashes Kingdom, Robert Tell Panashes-sama. Also, the user of the blue [Crown], [Distortion Blau]."
"Just an annoying idiot prince."
Nia spat out those words at the end with a fed-up face. Well, I can get that he's a bit, no, quite abnormal from looking at him.
"Yaa! Are you perhaps the master of that golem there?"
"Rather than master, well, it is mine but…"
The prince, who took his eyes off Reginleiv, walked towards me with large strides. With a full- faced smile on his face, he walks with large motions using his entire body as if forcefully expressing his emotions to others. He's almost like a stage actor from somewhere…
"Is that so! Thank you! I don't know what would've happened if you hadn't rushed here. In place of the townspeople, let me offer you my greatest gratitude! If possible, can I know your name?"
"Mo, Mochizuki Touya…"
"Mochizuki Touya-kun huh. A nice name isn't it! I am the crown prince of Panashes Kingdom, Robert Tell Panashes. I feel like I can get along with you, so please call me casually as Robert! I have few friends for some reason, you see. Everyone is careful around me because I'm a prince, but I would be glad if you can ignore that!"
Prince Robert held my hand with both of his own, and looked straight into my eyes with pupils that seemed to have stars glittering inside them… What is this guy, annoying.
He's not a bad guy, but how do I say it… It's a clear difference in temperature. This guy's too fired up. Isn't the reason why he doesn't have many friends also that? I don't really know much about him yet, but at the very least I definitely can't understand that fashion sense.
"Oi you, let go of Touya's hands. He's my friend, you know."
"Your friends are my friends too! Is there a problem?"
"That's why I said don't get too friendly with me damn it!"
"It's nonsense to try to set a limit on how friendly you get with others, Nia Vermoth. I'd like to deepen my friendship with you as well."
"Don't say disgusting things like that! This idiot prince!"
"The master of the red [Crown] sure is a shy one, eh?"
Nia who's glaring at him with delinquent-like eyes, and Robert who's returning a completely innocent smile to her. Their conversation isn't matching up at all. Leaving the two of them who's arguing (in which Nia is the only one one-sidedly attacking), I called out to Est-san.
"Quite the troublesome prince, isn't he…?"
"I share your opinion. Still, he should calm down soon enough."
"Eh?"
While I was confused by Est-san's reply, Robert who was still in the argument from earlier with Nia suddenly lost power from his body like an electric toy that had its batteries taken out, and with a *Batan!*, fell face-first onto the ground. Wh-what!? What happened!? Don't tell me Nia punched him or something?
As I approached while panicking, I heard a loud snore from the direction of his face. He's sleeping!?
"It's the compensation for the blue [Crown]. What [Blue] controls is [Space Distortion]. Just like how Nia has to offer up her blood, he has to offer up the lucidity of his consciousness, and is forced to go to sleep as a result."
Distorting space…? So that's what bent away the particle cannon from earlier. And, as compensation for that power, the user would lose his consciousness, or rather, be forced to sleep, huh.
"By bending space, this guy can also teleport to other places just like you, Touya. If you ask me whether it's a useful ability or not, however, I can't exactly tell since within an hour of using it, the master will go off into dreamland just like that."
"How long will he stay asleep like that?"
"It depends on how many times he activated its ability before that, I think. By my estimates from the stories I've heard before, this time he should probably stay asleep for around two days? I don't know exactly how long though."
Two whole days? Really, it's indeed questionable whether that's a useful ability or not. If he falls asleep in the middle of a battle, it could even cost him his life, after all. Hm, a sleeping prince instead of a sleeping princess… (Note: talking about the sleeping beauty.)
… Actually, what do we do with him now anyway?
As I thought that, the small golem next to him… Was it [Distortion Blau]? Anyway, it hoisted the prince onto its small shoulders. Ah, so it'll carry him back, huh.
"Prince!"
"Robert-sama!"
From the direction of the ruined town, two knight-looking people, one man and one woman, rushed towards this direction. When I asked Nia, apparently they're the escorts for the prince, and are always seen transferring around together with him.
Well, once he falls asleep like that he can't react to any dangers around him after all. He's a prince of a country, so this much is natural.
Following the two escorts, the blue [Crown], carrying the blue-colored prince sleeping soundly on its back, left us and moved away.
"Still, the [Red], the [Purple], and now the [Blue]… Are there no normal [Crown] contractors?"
"Did you say something?"
"No, nothing."
Thankfully, Nia didn't seem to have caught my small muttering. That was dangerous. Gotta be careful of what I say out loud…
Since Nia and Est are tentatively leaders of a bandit group, they can't stay here for long either. I recovered Reginleiv, then opened a [Gate] to return to the abandoned fortress that served as the [Red Cats]'s headquarters.
-Pixel