The next day, we all headed off to the guild. I was thinking that maybe I'd be
able to meet with Ende again, but I also thought that it'd be nice to raise our
guild rank to the next tier.
Yumina was Green, one step behind the rest of us, who were Blue. The
ranking system worked in an ascending order; Black, Purple, Green, Blue, Red,
Silver, and then Gold. I wanted to get up to Red, because then I'd be considered
a veteran adventurer.
We had already struck down a Black Dragon, which was the kind of thing that
would've corresponded to a Red Rank deed if we had done it through the
guild's quest board. In short, we definitely had what it took.
Plus, the bigger the jobs, the bigger the payout. I was still unsure about
exactly what it was I wanted to do, but I knew I'd need cash regardless. I was
betrothed now, after all. I had to become more responsible.
Everyone was quite familiar with Kohaku at this point, but it seemed that
Kokuyou and Sango were drawing quite a bit of attention with their swimmingthrough-the-air routine.
«The two of you should've stayed back at home. You're far too conspicuous.»
«Poppycock! Where our good lord goes, I shall follow.»
«Exactly. Bessidess, don't you ssstick out jusst asss much asss we do,
Kohaku?» The three of them spoke through the telepathic link, but I could
clearly hear everything. To be honest, the only reason they were sticking out so
much was because of their floating. It could easily be remedied if they'd just let
me carry them. But, when I offered, they refused.
They said it was a matter of personal pride, and that they couldn't accept
beingcarriedaroundbymeWellitwasn'tahugedealIdecidedthatifanyone
Ende anywhere in the crowd. I wondered if he'd already gone to another town.
While everyone else went to check out the request board, I caught the
attention of the receptionist that I had signed up Ende with yesterday. I figured
I'd ask if he'd done much since then.
"Ah, the boy with the scarf? Yes, he completed a monster hunting quest
yesterday and was paid quite handsomely. He was hunting Lone-Horned
Wolves, I believe." Lone-Horned Wolves, eh... That means he's progressing like a
regular Black Rank should. Heh, that was one of my newbie quests, too...
"Although..." sighed the receptionist.
"Hm? Did something happen?" The receptionist had a clearly forced smile on
her face, but she couldn't hide the glint of trouble in her eyes. I wondered what
Ende had done.
"His hunting quest stipulated that he must bring proof of defeat for five LoneHorned Wolves... but he went a step further than that..."
"...You've gotta bring in a horn as proof, right? How many did he have?"
"Well, I'm not entirely sure, but it was well over fifty."
"Over fifty horns?!" I couldn't contain my surprise. Talk about overkill.
"The request was only for five, so he received the standard payment, but he
sold the other horns at their going market rate. He was certainly proud of
himself." Over fifty... what a guy. Come to think of it, wasn't he unarmed? Guess
he's a mage after all, then... At least that's the only way I can rationalize the
massacre.
...Well, I had no idea and there was no point dwelling on it. It wasn't my style
to butt into other people's business anyway.
I decided to head toward the quest board, and the four girls who were
waiting there.
"So, find anything good?"
"AhTWdidthibt"YiitdtdRdRk
I decided to read the notice anyway.
"Mithril... Golem? What is that, a Golem made of mithril? Located in the
Melicia Mountain Range... and a reward of five platinum coins? Isn't that a little
cheap for a Red quest?"
"It is a tad low, yes, but that's because the foe is a Mithril Golem. Its body is a
very precious material, an extremely valuable one at that. Depending on the
chunks that you manage to salvage, it can sell at an exceptionally high price."
That made sense to me. So in effect, the monster itself was the reward. That
was quite the juicy scoop... But it wasn't like we could accept this quest
anyway... or could we?
"Any adventurer with a B-Rank title or higher is permitted to take this quest,
bypassing rank restrictions?" Title...? Like the Dragon Slayer title I received a
while back? As far as I understand it, there are other titles like Demon Killer and
Griffin Buster.
"Dragon Slayer is an A-Rank title, so that means..."
"Hm? We can take this quest after all?" I tore off the quest form and brought
it to the front desk. Come to think of it, while most of us have it, Yumina doesn't
have the Dragon Slayer title... Are we gonna be able to take this as a group, or
not?
A low rank wasn't necessarily a great indicator of personal skill, anyway. A
veteran soldier with brilliant battle prowess could always just decide to take a
career change and start at the bottom ranks in the adventurer's guild, after all.
Holding a title was an easy way to get recognition independent of your guild
rank.
"No worries, the majority of your party hold the title, so you may take the
quest as a group. Would you like to learn more?"
"Yes, please." The quest was at the base of the Melicia Mountain Range. A
group working out of Stael Mine could no longer continue their excavation
efforts due to a Mithril Golem settling in the middle of their operation.
mithril, so it was both lightweight and sturdy. It seemed as though many miners
had already fallen victim to its rampage.
Golems were viciously territorial, so they wouldn't allow anyone to intrude on
their territory. That was one of the reasons Golems were the preferred method
of defense for mages and their treasure hordes.
"Well, those are the details... You guys wanna take this?" I figured I should
confirm with everyone, but we all unanimously agreed. The part that needed to
be destroyed was the Golem Nucleus. Apparently when that thing was trashed,
the Golem couldn't maintain its form and would die out. It would be pretty hard
to reach the middle of the damn thing though, since Golems were sturdy and
all. A mithril one even more so.
"Couldn't we just make this another sure-win with your [Apport] spell? It
worked last time." Elze brought up an interesting idea as soon as we left the
guild, but it didn't seem feasible to me. Unlike the Phrase, the Golem wouldn't
be transparent, so the nucleus wouldn't be on display. It wouldn't work on the
Golem, that'd be too easy. Linze seemed to have the same idea, and she quickly
shot down her sister's hope.
"A Golem Nucleus is about... this big. [Apport] wouldn't be able to seize
something of that size." Linze held her hands out and mimed the shape of a
volleyball. She was right. [Apport] was a spell that only worked on something
you could grasp in one hand. Things of a large size were off-limits.
Seems we had no choice but to confront it head-on... It definitely wouldn't be
easy. Up until that point, the Phrase had been my toughest foe, but perhaps the
Golem would give it a run for its money. Well, I'd be more than happy fighting a
Golem instead of something that could regenerate itself.
Linze had destructive magic like [Explosion] and [Bubble Bomb], which would
surely come in handy. Yumina had the Earth spell [Rock Crash] as well, and that
could also prove valuable.
Plus, Elze and her damage-bolstering right gauntlet would definitely be able
tokeepthepressureontheenemyTheonlyissueIcouldthinkofwasYaeShe
"Fret not, I will act as a diversion this time, I will." I made a mental note to use
some of the mithril to have a new katana forged for her after we finished the
quest.
"So, how do we get to the Melicia Mountains? We gonna rent a carriage
again? Or maybe we should just buy our own already." Elze rose a fair point.
Traveling by carriage would definitely be the comfiest method, but I had
another idea in mind. After all, I had gone through a lot to obtain this new
mode of transportation.
"We're about to depart. Please remain in your seats until the seatbelt light
has turned off."
"There are no seats. Or seatbelt lights."
"This kind of talk is necessary to the aesthetic. Please learn how to read the
mood, Master." It took a few days, but it was worth having the Hanging Garden
of Babylon move to the skies above Belfast. We'd be able to go anywhere we
wanted in a matter of hours if we flew there on it.
We were currently around two hundred meters up in the air. We weren't
even as high as the Tokyo Tower, but it was just fine due to the general lack of
large structures and mountains in the area. Plus, we had a stealth field up, so
nobody could even see us. The stealth field really was amazing. We didn't even
cast a shadow due to it. I had no idea how that was possible, but just wrote it
off as another application of lost ancient magic.
"Estimated arrival; one hour." Cesca was monitoring the central control panel
in the middle of the garden, and she told me how much longer our ride would
be. The panel was pleasant to look at, as it was simply a large jet-black slate. I
suppose you could call it a monolith. There was a basic map and some language
that I couldn't possibly begin to understand. I assumed that the moving,
blinking light on the map was the garden itself.
I left Cesca and the monolith, then wandered into the garden area to see that
thegirlswereallsittingonablanketItseemedlikeapicnicwasunderway
cheese, but I cocked my head in confusion after taking a bite.
"I-Is something wrong, is there?"
"No... nothing's wrong... It's just, uh, different from usual. It tastes better,
actually."
"I-It does?!" Yae patted her own chest in relief. Weird, though... it has more
salt and pepper in it than Crea usually includes... Wait a second...
"Yae... did you make this?"
"Y-Yes, I did... C-Crea-dono was teaching me, she was... I-I decided that i-if I
was to be your wife, T-Touya-dono... then I should master the kitchen, aalongside mastering the sword..."
I see, that makes sense. Glad I didn't say anything careless, then... I happily
munched down on the sandwich, thanking Yae for her efforts.
"Here. I made this! You should try it."
"Hmm? You made something too, Elze? Sure, I'll give it a go."
"W-Wait, that's..." I reached out for the fried chicken that Elze had offered to
me. Linze tried to mutter something, but it was too late. The fork was already in
my mouth.
"Hh..."
"Well? Tasty, right?"
"Hhhhhhoht! Ugh! Sspischey! Mai thounghe! Hohthohthohthoht!!! Iht
hurthts!" Yumina quickly passed me some water, but it wasn't nearly enough to
help. Linze managed to produce a block of ice about the size of a basketball, so I
rested my tongue on that. Crisis averted.
"I can't believe what you've given me... I can't believe it..." There were tears
flowing down my face, but they sure as hell weren't tears of joy. Just what was
with that spicy chicken?!
"Huh? Is it that hot?" Elze nonchalantly chowed down on the chicken,
"My sister has a... freakish resistance to any kind of spice. When she cooks,
she tends to make the hottest kinds of dishes imaginable... She wasn't
permitted in the kitchen back at home for this reason." Damn it, Linze, why
didn't you speak up sooner? I didn't expect to feel this crippling sense of defeat
before we even reached the Golem...
At that moment, I resolved that Elze would never be allowed to cook in our
household. It was simply too much of a health and safety hazard to let her near
anything to do with cooking.
Ugh... my tongue hurts so much... A-Are my lips swollen, too?!
◇ ◇ ◇
We arrived at the Melicia Mountain range and headed north. Before long, we
came to a halt in the air directly above the Stael Mines. I peered down at the
mining area directly below and opened up a [Gate] to drop us off at the surface.
Cesca was left to hold down the fort on her own at the garden. From the
moment we touched down, we noticed the whole area was wrapped in an
almost eerie silence.
"Do you think everyone abandoned the area?"
"With a Golem roaming about, just about anyone'd do the same. Once those
things take to an area, they tend to wipe out anyone or anything careless
enough to get close. No need to go looking for it, I'm sure it'll come for us
anyway." Yumina and Elze chatted a little while I ran a search on my map for
"Mithril Golem." I found it pretty quickly. It was dead ahead, deep within the
tunnels. In fact, it was heading in our direction.
"Okay, we should be good. Looks like the Golem's willing to bring the fight to
us. I was worried about the possibility of a cave-in, but it looks like we'll be fine.
Once it pops out, should I start throwing it around a bit with [Slip], maybe?"
"That wasss hell..."
"I could go without experiencing that ever again..." My idea seemed to have
touched on a recent point of trauma for both Kokuyou and Sango.
"You tryn'a ssstart sssomethin', fuzzball?"
"Kohaku... I would advise against that. We are not to be trifled with." I had to
take a moment to calm those 3 down, or they'd have been at each other's
throats for the rest of the day.
Still, Kohaku made a valid point. The actual physical damage I could deal with
[Slip] wasn't that great, and I doubted I could beat a Golem relying on that
alone. Even against Kokuyou and Sango, that strategy only worked because the
fight was on a time limit.
So, if I have to come up with something else... then there's something I've
been wanting to try out.
"I've gotta go grab a couple things. I'll be back in a sec." I left these words
behind as I opened up a [Gate] to regroup with Cesca in the garden.
Upon finishing my preparations and returning to the mining area, I found that
the Golem's footsteps had already come within earshot.
"Where the hell'd you run off to?! The damn thing's practically on top of us
already!"
"Sorry, took longer to prepare than I thought." As I apologized to Elze, I ran
over to Linze and Yumina and handed them each 50 rounds of [Explosion]
bullets. I also gave my New Model Army to Yae along with a few bullets. She
wouldn't be doing much in terms of firepower since her sword was useless, so
you could never be too careful.
If things went as planned, then it shouldn't have to come to that anyway, but
the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry, or so it went.
The Golem's thudding footsteps approached in tremors. It was about to take
center stage any minute. I kept close watch on the tunnel entrance, only at that
point noting how huge it was. I began to wonder if that tunnel had been dug by
the Golem itself, rather than the miners. If so, then the Golem could well have
been scraping its head along the ceiling of that trail.
"It's here, it is!" A giant silver body shot off reflections from the sunlight as it
stepped out from within the darkness of the tunnel.
It was like a bunch of boulders all piled on top of each other, except for that
brilliant metallic sheen to the whole thing. It had to be at least 6 meters tall. It
stood on short legs and had large, long arms. Its face was blank and featureless,
save for two small holes for eye sockets. Glowing, sickening red eyes glared at
us from within.
"T-Touya, look!" Yumina pointed at the second Golem that steadily made its
way out from the tunnel, just behind the first one. The second also shone silver
in the sunlight.
Two Mithril Golems? That's not what the information said! Guess this explains
the second set of footsteps, though. Didn't even notice when I checked the map
earlier... The two pins must've been overlapping each other at the time...
They're sticking together like husband and wife! If I'd only zoomed in on them at
the time, I'd have known beforehand that we'd have to deal with a pair of
them... Hell, at this point, I wouldn't be surprised if a little tiny Golem kid came
running out from behind them.
While I stood there thinking stupid things, one of the Golems had picked up a
great big boulder and launched it at us. Damn it, watch out! We all split up and
dodged the incoming boulder. It crashed into the ground with great force,
shattering to pieces and sending rubble in all directions.
"Come forth, Water! Ballistic Bubbles: [Bubble Bomb]!" Linze let loose a
small cloud of bubbles and steered them in the Golem's direction. The moment
the first one made contact, it started a chain of explosions that roared
deafeningly throughout the area.
A mist-like smokescreen was the only evidence the attack had ever happened.
The Golem itself wasn't so much as scratched.
"No effect whatsoever...?" Elemental compatibility probably had a lot to do
with that. I vaguely remembered hearing that Earth-elementals had strong
resistancesagainstWatertypemagic
If we kept fighting like that, we had slim chances of victory. And so, I decided
to put my plan into motion.
"I've got a plan. Everyone, fall back!" Nobody seemed to get what I was
talking about at first, but they fell back like I asked all the same. The Golem
rushed straight for me. Perhaps because it was a Mithril Golem, it moved a lot
faster than I'd normally have expected one to be able to. Still, light as it was for
something of its size, it was still a huge lump of metal.
If this doesn't work, I'll just have to come up with something fast.
"[Accel]!" I activated my acceleration spell and dived straight beneath the
beast's lurched chest. As soon as I found myself within range, I slapped my palm
against the ground and chanted the spell that formed the core of my plan.
"[Gate]!" Both Golems, their onslaught now thwarted by the huge hole
opened beneath their feet, sank through what used to be ground as though it
had suddenly turned to water. My plan had worked.
"T-Touya, did you just...?"
"Yeah, I blasted them off with [Gate]." Yumina asked, and I confirmed her
suspicions. Honestly, I was just glad it had all worked.
"So, where did you send them, then?" In response to Yae's question, I grinned
and pointed straight upward.
"Straight up. Ten thousand meters into the sky."
"What?!" I left the girls to recover from their state of complete confusion,
then confirmed the locations of both Golems on my map. It didn't display how
high they were, but two pins did show up on the map, a little off from where we
were standing. Considering air resistance and momentum and whatnot, it made
sense that they wouldn't just fall down in a straight line. In this case, though, I
was glad for the distance between us, since the last thing we needed was a pair
of Mithril Golems dropping straight down on our heads. There was a mining
town to the south of where we were, but the Golems weren't falling in that
direction, so that was fine.
overkill.
I only remembered the existence of terminal velocity after I'd already
dropped the Golems. Because a falling object faces strong air resistance, it can
only accelerate up to a certain speed and then maintain that. At that point, the
fall distance stops mattering. Everything past that point is unnecessary... I'll just
brush this little blunder aside as me making doubly sure that it worked properly.
With a shrill metallic screech and a thunderous boom, the two hunks of metal
came crashing to the ground slightly west of where we were. I was a little bit
surprised by where they had landed. I hadn't expected them to drop straight
down in front of us, but they'd landed further away than I'd thought.
I activated [Accel] and rushed over to where they'd fallen. Everyone else also
activated the [Accel] in their rings and kept up with my pace.
"Damn, they're still moving?" Both Golems, now covered in dents and cracks,
forced themselves to their feet inside their small craters. That had dealt a lot
less damage than I'd thought. Was mithril really such a light metal? The Golems
resumed their rushing assault on us.
"Come forth, Water! Ballistic Bubbles: [Bubble Bomb]" Linze cast a spell to
halt their advance, and this time, the shockwave from the blasts sent chunks of
metal flying off from the cracked body of the one in front. It was a lot more
effective now. I caught sight of a dull silver ball hidden within the chest of the
first Golem. That was probably its core.
"[Accel Boost]!" Elze coupled her own physical strengthening magic with the
acceleration spell in her ring and shot toward the Golem like a speeding bullet.
Her gauntlet let out a red flash as she crashed her fully-charged punch into the
enemy.
The horrible sound of metal colliding with metal rang out as a chunk of the
Golem's core was blasted off. The Golem fell lifeless to the ground, the force of
its huge frame crashing down sending small tremors through the ground.
Turning my attention to the other Golem, I caught sight of Yae firing several
This other Golem's chest was also blasted apart from the force of the
explosions, just like with the first one. In another similarity to the other, its core
came into plain sight.
"Strike true, Lightning! Hundredspear Thunderclap: [Lightning Javelin]!"
Seeing her chance, Yumina unleashed a number of lightning blasts straight at
the Golem's exposed core. The core was split in half with a sharp shattering
noise. Its power source destroyed, the second Golem also fell limply onto its
back.
Both Golems had ceased moving, and the area had become littered with dust
clouds and shattered chunks of mithril. Once the fight was over, I realized that I
hadn't done anything at all to help at the end there...
"A job well done."
"All I really did was open up a [Gate], that's all..." I couldn't help but return
Kohaku's praise with a forced smile.
Elze took the shattered core from the first Golem, and Yae retrieved the split
core of the second. Each core was roughly the size of a volleyball, and they were
a much duller silver than the rest of the Golem's body.
"We got the proof that we beat them, so that's this quest taken care of." Elze
held up one of the cores with a bright smile. Right, we'd taken care of the quest.
It was the cleanup I had been dreading. Putting their main bodies aside, it
would take all day to go and pick up all the shattered chunks of mithril that had
been sent flying all over the place... Unless I could use [Storage] to sift the
mithril out from amongst all the regular rocks. It was worth a short.
"[Storage]: In ／ mithril." A magic circle spread out beneath my feet, and the
Golem on the ground was perfectly absorbed by my storage spell. I investigated
the ground around where it had collapsed, and not a pebble of mithril was left
on the ground. Another lucky break.
I went over and stored the second Golem's body away, too. The capacity of
[Storage] was largely influenced by the magic of the user, meaning that most
"Alright, let's head home for the day." We can just report in to the guild
tomorrow. We've already retrieved both Golems, cores and all, so there's no
need to rush.
I opened up a [Gate] to the mansion's back garden, and we were immediately
greeted by the sight of Renne practicing on a bicycle and Cecile watching over
her. Renne was wearing a shirt and trousers with suspenders instead of her
usual maid outfit. She was sporting a more boyish look, and from all the dirt she
was covered in, I could only assume she'd been practicing hard on that bike.
Today was Renne's day off, so Cecile must be watching over her in between her
own work.
"Welcome baaack, sir."
"Hey there, Cecile." Renne heard Cecile call out to us, so she spun her bike
around and shot straight at us. Then, she hit the breaks and skidded to a halt in
front of us. Evidently, she had mastered the vehicle already. And faster than the
duke had, at that. Seemed kids really were fast learners.
"Welcome back, bruv!"
"Looks like you've already mastered the bike, eh, Renne?"
"Aye!" She shot me such a beaming smile that I couldn't resist patting her on
the head. Times like that, seeing Renne having so much fun with that bike,
made me really glad I'd decided to build one.
For now, we should go have a bath and wash off all this dust and dirt. Renne
can go in with the other girls. I'll just use the bath when they're done.
"Huh?" We turned to walk into the mansion when Renne shot us a puzzled
look. Was there something the matter?
"Where's Cesca at?"
"... Whoops." Five delayed reactions came to us in perfect harmony.
... Aww, crap. I completely forgot.
◇◇◇
Cesca's smile is scaring me... Usually, she's not one to show much emotion, so
why the hell does she only smile at times like this...?
"Thanks to this experience, I've learned that you have a fetish for leaving girls
by themselves. Sooner or later, this perversion of yours will have you forcing me
to get naked and stay in the park all by myself at night. You will enjoy yourself
as I quiver with fear at the idea of being seen or assaulted. Truly, your tastes are
highly refined, Master."
"None of that ever crossed my mind!"
She's just mad about being left behind! Well, yeah, it's our fault and all, but
it's become a habit of mine to open a [Gate] and go back whenever we're done
hunting.
"Just leave it at that. He clearly feels guilty about it, and if you push it too far,
he might actually leave you, you know?" Leen was sitting in the garden, sipping
at the black tea Cesca had prepared for her.
"Hmph. That would be quite troublesome. Therefore, Master, I will forgive
you if you present me with a set of lewd underwear that suits your tastes."
"Aren't you asking for a bit too much?! I couldn't do that even if the
underwear wasn't lewd!"
"It was a joke." Cesca bowed her head and exited the terrace.
If only there was someone who could do something about that robot girl's
inner workings. Leen looked at Cesca as she continued walking away.
"I have to say, I'm impressed. By her mental abilities, I mean."
"What the hell is so impressive about that perverted mind of hers?!"
"Oh, I'm not referring to her personality. It's more about the way she
expresses her irritation or the flexibility that allows her to crack jokes. She's
almost like a real human. I'm not sure if it's possible to create something like
her with [Program]..."
Hey,youshouldn'tsaythat.Thatlittlestuffedbearinthecorneroftheterrace
"So, what brought you here today?"
"Well, it was about the remaining Babylon teleportation circles... I haven't
located any concrete information so far."
"Hm? You're thinking of searching for them?"
"Hmm? You're not, then?" We were both caught in surprise. Honestly, I
wasn't too enthusiastic about the idea. Cesca alone was too much to handle,
and I had no idea how it would get if I got even more... The doctor herself said
that she didn't care whether I did or didn't find them.
"I can't really think of a reason to search for them..."
"Why?! Don't you want to discover more ancient knowledge or lost
technology?!"
"Nope."
"Ghh, what a dreamless youngster you are!" Well, true, I was a youngster
compared to her. But the doctor said that the power of Babylon wouldn't be
needed in this era.
That being said, we did have to consider the Phrase. If we wanted to be on
the safe side, it might've been a good idea to take everything Babylon had to
offer.
Even so, if we couldn't find the teleportation circles, there was nothing for us
to do.
"Let's think of what to do when we get some new information. If you manage
to locate a teleportation circle, I'll be there to help you out."
"...Make it a promise. If you don't keep it, I'll have you buy lewd underwear
for me, too."
"Please, anything but that!" I pushed my forehead against the table and
begged. If I bought lewd underwear for someone as young-looking as her, my
life would be over in an entirely different way. Hell, I didn't even know if such
underwearexisted.Satisfiedwithmypromise,LeenandPaulareturnedtothe
"Two Mithril Golems... Forgive us. There was an error in our investigation."
The guild's receptionist bowed her head. There was no error in the fact that it
was a Golem hunting quest, but since the goal was to liberate the mines, it
should've specified that we had to defeat two Golems.
"In cases like this, you are paid for both of the monsters and, to make up for
the failure on our part, we double the reward, meaning that you get ten
platinum coins. The points for your guild card are doubled, too, of course."
Well, isn't that nice. Though, I guess it's only fair to do this.
She placed ten platinum coins on the counter and pushed the stamp onto our
cards.
"The points you just received have raised your guild rank. Congratulations."
We took our cards back. Yumina's was blue, while the rest were red.
With this, we're now first class adventurers. Oh? There's something next to
the Dragon Slayer symbol. It's square and seems to display a silhouette
reminiscent of a cracked Golem's head.
"Also, for completing this quest, the guild presents you with the proof that
you defeated a Golem — the title of Golem Buster." I see. So it's a new symbol,
huh? The privilege granted by the Golem Buster title was a 20% off in all shops
sponsored by the guild, but the Dragon Slayer title already gave us 30% off, so it
didn't mean much.
Once we left the guild, Linze and Yumina went to the magic shop, while Elze
went to train with General Leon. I had Kohaku go with Linze and Yumina, while
Sango and Kokuyou joined Elze. That setup allowed me to stay in touch with
them in case something happened. A part of me expected the telepathy
between me and my summons to stop working at greater distances, but
apparently it didn't really matter. There's something wrong with using them as
a replacement for phones, though.
Yae and I made plans to go to a blacksmith. I thought of using the mithril we
got to forge Yae a new sword, but no normal smiths in the area could work with
the time to go to Yae's parents and ask for her hand, but since I only just met
them last time I visited, I was a bit reluctant to go through with it. It wasn't like
the marriage was happening anytime soon, so it was best to save it for later.
Yae herself agreed, so I just left it at that.
Apparently, there was a really good katana smith in the western edge of
Oedo, opposite to where Yae's home was. As the two of us made our way
there, I couldn't help but notice how Yae would occasionally glance at me.
"Hm? Something wrong?"
"Uhh?! Ah, n-nothing, just that... Touya-dono and I are now arranged to be
married... correct?"
"Huh? Y-Yeah. That's right." The way she said that made it seem like we were
promised to each other by our parents, but the meaning was the same.
Honestly, it made me a bit shy.
"I-If that is so, then... W-Well... m-m-may we h-hold hands as we walk, m-may
we...?" Red to her ears, she spoke those words while slightly looking down.
What the hell?! That's really damn cute! Is there a single guy in the world who
could say no to that?! Nay, I say! And I'm no different!
I slowly extended my right hand and grabbed her left.
Ah... Her hand was as soft as it was back when I used [Recall].
She looked up to me, smiled in an oh-so-adorable manner, and gripped my
hand tight. Actions like that always made my heart skip a beat.
I had no idea that walking hand-in-hand with a girl I liked was such bliss... I
could totally understand why couples throughout all worlds just couldn't stop
flirting. Let it be known that there is no sin in this.
We approached the smithy at the western edge of Oedo, ended our short
date, and walked into the very noisy shop.
"Hello? Is anyone here?"
"YYdthi?"Aihlttilkdtt
"I need someone to forge a katana. Is this the right place?"
"A katana? Yes, you're right where you need to be. Wait just a moment.
Sweetheart! You have a customer!" She called out to the forge, which was
deeper inside the building. Oh, so she's the missus.
A thirty-or-so year old man came out to see us. He was clad in monk-like work
clothes and wearing a towel on his head like a bandana. He had a manly beard,
but it did nothing to detract from the fact that he had a very gentle face. He
looks like a friendly mountain man... Not a good comparison, but still.
"A katana, eh? For which one of ya?"
"Ah, for her. I'd like to have it made from mithril..."
"Mithril?! Now ain't that fancy! You the son of some lord or somethin'?" The
smith couldn't hide his surprise. His wife was no different in that regard.
"Nah, we got it from a Mithril Golem we defeated. I decided to make good
use of it and make her a weapon."
"Ah, I see. To down a Mithril Golem... You two are stronger than you look,
ain't ya?" The smith sighed, but he looked decidedly impressed. He then asked
to see Yae's katana and short sword. After taking it in hand, examining and
correcting it while squinting his eyes, he gave us a date.
"It'll be done in a week. That alright with ya?"
"Sounds great. Thanks a lot. So, how much will that be?"
"Cash ain't necessary."
Eh? Pardon? Is he saying it's for free? When you consider the saying 'there's
no such thing as free lunch'... it makes me think there'll be a catch. Some things
sound too good to be true and all beautiful roses have thorns... Nothing is more
expensive than something that's free, as my grandma used to say.
"I don't need money, but could you spare me some of your mithril, instead?
Eashen does have hihi'irokane, but mithril is nearly impossible to get. And
bringingitoverfromthewestcostsanarmandaleg,youknow?"Ah,sothat's
how much I should leave with you."
"I see... For now, just leave enough for me to make the katana and short
sword. When I'm done, you'll pay with as much mithril as you think the work
deserves."
"We'll go with that, then. Have a good day, now!" I'll have to research
mithril's market value before the week ends. I opened my [Storage] and took
out a chunk of mithril about the size of a softball.
"Is this enough?"
"Yep. Bit too much, actually." He took the mithril in hand and shook it up and
down, as if to measure its weight.
"See you next week, then!"
"Thank you very much for your patronage!" The blacksmith's wife waved us
goodbye as we took our leave.
When we arrived at a place with no people, I tried to open a [Gate], but Yae
took hold of the hem of my coat and hesitantly looked up at me.
"U-Umm... c-can it be just the t-two of us... a while longer, can it...?" Her face
turned red as her head drooped low.
Damn it! If we weren't in town, I'd hug her right here and now! I took Yae's
hand in mine, which made her let out a shy smile, and began walking the streets
of Oedo with her.
◇ ◇ ◇
"What is that, sir?" Lapis inquired about the nature of "that," which I had
made through use of [Modeling].
On the object, three blades formed a propeller fan contained within a
protective cage. The fan was attached to a pole that connected to a round base.
It was a staple of the summer season, the great electric fan. I was
disappointed that I hadn't been able to make one out of plastic, but mithril did
thjbllhdthlihtit
Upon Switch Pressed: Spin the fan with the force appropriate to the switch／
End [Program]." I pressed the "Weak" switch on the fan, and it came steadily to
life. The fan rotated gently, sending cool air throughout the room.
"A device for controlling wind, is it? Amazing!"
"Hrmm..." In contrast to Lapis' amazement, I felt kind of let down.
Originally, I had wanted to build a car, but assembling the engine had proved
to be way more than I could handle. Having an example of the object I wanted
to build sitting in front of me was one thing, but I couldn't even fathom what
purpose half the parts served just from photographs and blueprints alone.
I understood the basic principles by which car engines worked, but there were
too many fiddly bits that I just couldn't wrap my head around. It all just made
my head hurt. I wasn't even very good with machines in the first place. I'd
always been more of a bookworm type, actually. That was why I gave up pretty
quickly.
When I realized that I wouldn't have any fuel even if I did somehow create a
functioning engine, my thoughts briefly switched to building a steam engine
instead, but that was another idea that I quickly scrapped.
The next thing to come to mind was a motor. A motor wasn't nearly as
complex as a car engine, and I felt that I could probably build one. That was
when it hit me. I could very likely just use [Program] to achieve the exact same
effect.
To test the idea, I assembled an electric fan without any of the electric parts,
then slapped a simple [Program] onto it. That test was currently cooling the
room quite successfully. I couldn't help but feel that [Program] was way too
overpowered when it came to this stuff.
Was science utterly powerless before the all-encompassing might of magic?
This wasn't something that just anyone could make, but it was something that
anybody with any amount of magic could use. There were no problems in that
regard, but... for some reason, the whole thing had left me feeling kind of
box on wheels into a functioning car. Not alone, at least. With the right
enchantments, I could probably have pulled it off. It would be like an oversized
toy car, though, with no engine noise, no vibration from the motor, no real
contents whatsoever.
The thought drained away all of my motivation, which was why I gave up after
building a non-electric fan. It wasn't like we were in desperate need of a car,
anyhow.
I gave the fan to Lapis and told her to use it as she saw fit. It should've at least
kept working as long as people fed tiny bits of magic into it every now and then.
I looked up at the roof and thought in passing about how a ceiling fan might be
a nice addition to the room.
"Shall we get going, Touya?" Yumina came up to me as I walked out into the
garden from the terrace. Was it that time already?
We were about to depart to meet the king and queen of Belfast, so that I
could tell them that I intended to marry their daughter. Technically, we had
already been engaged this whole time, but I thought it best to let them know I
was serious about it now.
To think that Yumina would win me over in less than a year... Didn't think I'd
fold so quickly, but I've got no regrets.
"Look, I know I said I'm serious about marrying you and everything now, but...
Are they gonna force me to be king at this rate?"
"Hmm... That seems the most likely outcome, yes. It might turn out different
if father or uncle have a son, however."
"What about if Sue took a husband... Couldn't you just make him king
instead?" That was about the only other thing I could think of. Taking the
throne as king after marrying into royal blood seemed perfectly reasonable.
Though really, I'd feel kind of sorry about just forcing all that responsibility on
them in my place.
"That certainly would be one option, if not for one simple fact."
"Well, Sue loves you too, after all. I'd say she's the most likely to become the
fifth."
"...The fifth?"
She said it so casually that it made me pause for a moment. The fifth... No,
that can't be right. That can't be what she's talking about, right?
"Well, it doesn't seem like that will be anytime soon, at any rate. But, say
maybe three, four years down the line? She'll probably approach you about it,
so you should brace yourself for that while you can."
"Nah, I think you're just overthinking it. Sue doesn't have any siblings, right?
I'm sure she just sees me as an older brother or something."
"...It seems I'll need to prepare myself for a lot of this, too..." Yumina sighed,
apparently having given up on some fundamental aspect of my personality.
What? What's the issue here?
"The only other way to find someone else to take the throne would be if we,
you know, had a son together, or something..." Yumina trailed off. She kept
staring at me, which only made her blush with greater intensity.
Damn it, now you're making me turn bright red, too! It's because you started
talking about us having kids all of a sudden!
"Sh-Shall we proceed?"
"Y-Yes. We shall." Barely even holding a conversation anymore, we walked
out into the garden, and I opened up a [Gate] to take us to the castle.
"I see! Well, that's wonderful news! I'm glad to hear that Yumina's won over
your heart. How truly joyous indeed!" The king of Belfast leaned forward and
shot me a great, big, happy smile. Queen Yuel took her daughter's hands in her
own and smiled gently at her.
"You've done well for yourself, Yumina. From now on, you only need to worry
about how best to support Touya as his wife."
"All I need to wait for now is the day I get to see my grandchildren! I imagine
it'll be hard satisfying four wives, but you do your best, you hear me?"
Do my best at what? Do you even realize what you're saying, Your Majesty?
"Look, I'm saying I intend to marry her, not that we're getting married right
away. All of that's on hold until I turn eighteen, at the very least."
"Even if the wedding's still a while off, it's not like that's stopping you from
making me some grandkids! After all, Yumina's already started her— Mhrf?!"
Yumina's fist smashed magnificently into the king's solar plexus, making him
double over. She definitely just used [Accel] against him...
"Father, you don't just casually mention things like that!" Yumina was bright
red and exhaling heavily. Groveling at her feet, his face pale and writhing in
pain, was His Royal Majesty the King of Belfast, the most important man in the
country. You reap what you sow. Even if she is your own daughter, that was
pretty much sexual harassment. Definitely shouldn't be saying those kinds of
things out loud.
"I'm sorry about my husband. He's just so excited to hear the news, you see."
Queen Yuel apologized in her husband's place. It wasn't a bad thing to be
excited, I just felt that he was getting excited about all the wrong things.
"Now really, how should we handle this... There are plenty who know of the
situation already, but it might still be a bit soon to announce this to the public."
"How come?"
"First of all, you'd definitely be targeted by nobles who had thought to marry
into the royal family. On the other end of the scale, you have those who would
try to win your favor early for political reasons or the like. In addition to that,
there are those stubborn few who would stand firmly against the whole thing
unless you showed suitable accomplishments in the name of the country."
None of what she said sounded fun in the least. It all just served to remind me
how marrying a princess was kind of a big deal.
Accomplishments in the name of the country? Basically, they'd want me to
prove that I'd be a beneficial asset to the country before they'd approve of me?
"Let'skeepwordofthistoourselvesforawhilelongerAnnouncingittoo
before the wedding itself." Seems like I'll have to do my best as well if I want to
live up to all of this... I'll become a worthy partner for Yumina.
I left Yumina with her parents and headed in the direction of the training
grounds. I was hoping to catch Elze there, but it seemed my hope was in vain.
She was nowhere to be found. The sounds of mock battles spread out across
the training ground. It was honestly pretty exciting to watch. Sort of reminded
me of the feeling of watching a sports match. There were a lot of knights out
training, as well.
"You there, cur. What are you doing here?" I turned to face the voice, and
found myself looking at a group of young men. There seemed to be about ten of
them. They didn't look too far from my age. Well, maybe one or two of them
were a little older. I couldn't say for sure, really. I wondered if they were
knights, too.
"Yes, mongrel, I meant you. I don't recognize your face. Which house are you
the servant of? You know this training ground is an exclusive area, don't you?
You should really take more care where you wander."
"Oh, no. It's nothing like that. I'm just looking around for a friend of mine. I
thought she was here."
A young man standing at the head of the group, one with short golden-blond
hair, spoke up. He spoke in a haughty, arrogant tone of voice, as if he was
looking down on me for whatever reason. It seemed to me that he had the
wrong impression. I figured the best thing to do would be to correct him and
move on.
"And which friend might this be?"
"Oh, do you think he's referring to that lowborn woman? The one who
accompanies General Leon so often these days." A redheaded boy in the back
answered the blondie's question. That sounded about right. Elze did prefer to
spar with Leon after all.
plastered on his face.
"I see. This one must be trying to join the army too. He's using that girl as a
foot in the door."
"This military won't get anywhere unless someone sets it straight. Frankly, it'd
be better if we didn't allow commoners to serve at all. They have no sense of
chivalry, unlike us proud sons of the noble houses." The group of boy-knights
threw their heads back in raucous laughter. I turned on my heel to leave, as
they were seriously annoying me.
"Actually... could it be that the girl is your woman?"
"And what if she is?" I paused to answer the brown-haired teen, who decided
to yell after me. His shrill laughter was driving me mad with irritation.
"In that case, if you're looking for her, why not look in the general's bed? I'm
sure she's there right about now, moaning like the lowborn dog she is!"
I didn't let him continue his budding tirade. Before Brown-hair knew it, my fist
was in his face. He fell to the ground, clutching at himself. Blood pooled from
his nose, and a few of his teeth were scattered across the floor. I turned and
kicked him hard in the side, just for good measure.
"Ghaugh! Whhuh... what are you doing?!"
"I'm clearly beating the hell out of you. What, do you need me to spell it
out?" Brown-hair was on the floor, rolling in pain as he clutched his side. He still
managed to yell at me, though. I kicked him again. Harder.
If he had just mocked me, I'd have been able to let it go. But I wasn't the kind
of person who could stand around and let the people precious to him be
slandered. It was like my grandpa always said. If you need to beat on someone,
then beat them savagely without hesitation.
"You scum! That's the second son of the distinguished Barrow family! You
dare lay a hand on—"
"Shut it. You're making a racket. Why does his family matter right now? It's
"How dare you!" The young knights quickly surrounded me in a circle. They all
pulled out their blades. I could tell they weren't messing around. They were
clearly set on harming, if not killing, me.
"So you've drawn your swords on me. You understand what that means,
right? The only ones who should aim to kill are those who are prepared to be
killed."
"Silence, commoner!" One of the boys charged at me with a slash, but his
form was poor. Geez, that's almost embarrassingly bad. Have any of these guys
done any actual training?
"Safety Mode." In accordance to my words, Brunhild extended into a
longsword with a dulled, rounded blade. Nothing sharp at all on this bad boy.
This was a new form I'd added to my weapon, for safety purposes. Well...
maybe safety wasn't quite the right term for it. If I decided to swing it at full
power it could definitely crush someone's bones. Anyway, I charged at another
incoming swordsman, wielding Brunhild.
"Gah!" The boy stumbled and collapsed to the ground. Too many openings,
punk. I could beat you blindfolded.
The "knights" watched as their friend was knocked down, and began to
hesitate in their movements. Pathetic.
"Everyone charge in at once! Slash him at the same time!" Blondie barked out
an order. Guess that made him their leader. Still, was he a total moron? What
kind of chump yelled out his strategy before using it?
I decided to attack them before they made their move. Their attacks were so
telegraphed that dodging was trivial. I was easily able to strike three of them in
the belly, the chest, and the arm. They went down like a sack of bricks.
The others saw my motion and began to seize up in fear. They were absurdly
miserable people.
I swung my weapon without putting too much effort into it, and before long
they were all down for the count. All except Blondie. The last man standing.
shows when you abandon your allies and turn your back on the enemy.
"Gun Mode." I returned Brunhild to its gun form, then fired off a bullet. Pow.
"Gwuhh?!" I couldn't be bothered to chase after him, so I just fired a
paralyzing round into his back. Blondie fell to the floor with a crash, then
stopped moving entirely. Guess that's that... Now, where was I?
"Eek!" The only one still conscious was Brown-hair, lying down in a pool of his
own fluids. I couldn't possibly forgive him for saying what he did about Elze.
"Could you leave it at that, please?" I looked up for the source of the sudden
voice, and caught sight of two older knights standing nearby. I recognized one
of them, but the other was an older gentleman with silvery hair. He looked
about forty.
"Lyon...!"
"What's up, Sir Touya. Long time no see." The handsome young gent raised
his hand to me in a wave. It was Lyon, the good knight that had accompanied us
to Mismede. General Leon's son.
"D-Deputy General, sir! Th-This lout came out of nowhere, a-and he... he...!"
Brown-hair pointed at me, seemingly addressing the silver-haired man next to
Lyon. Deputy general?
"...Boy. Do you think my eyes blind to the trouble you and your friends cause
for the townspeople? You think my ears deaf to the concern regarding your
names?" The silver-haired man let out a deep voice, devoid of emotion. He was
staring directly at the brown-haired kid. In response, the boy stiffened up in fear
and fell silent. It seemed this kind of attitude wasn't a new thing for them. So
they definitely were the kind of people who thought they could do whatever
they wanted... I found that kind of person very irritating.
"I understand that your family has been covering for you using their name,
but that won't save you anymore. Now I see you all attack one man in a group,
but lose regardless of your cheap tactics. And your little 'leader' ran away like
an animal upon seeing his friends defeated. Disgusting. Not a single one of you
Belfastian Knights.
"You'll soon be informed of your penalties and expulsions. Tell your
unconscious friends that, as well. And before you get any funny ideas, don't go
thinking about revenge. If you lay a single hand on this man, your noble families
will incur high levels of disgrace. That, I promise you." The deputy general
turned his attention away from Brown-hair and looked at me. Once our eyes
met, he bowed his head.
"I'm truly sorry for these wretches. Please know that their behavior is not
something that represents the Belfastian Knights."
"...Nah, don't worry about that. I went a little overboard, too." Calm down,
Touya. You've really done it this time... You definitely didn't need to knock those
guys out with your sword! There were plenty of other ways you could've
incapacitated them, right? Gah! It's not my fault... When that asshole spoke
badly of Elze I just saw red... I definitely need more training or something.
"Ah, you're much too kind... I'm the deputy general of the Belfastian knight
order, Neil Suleiman."
"Mochizuki Touya. Nice to meet you."
"Oh I'm well aware of who you are, young man. You're quite the celebrity in
my social circles." I had... mixed feelings about that, but I still shook the man's
hand with a smile on my face.
After I apologized to Deputy General Neil, Lyon spoke up about the current
state of the knight order.
It seemed that the knights took charge of protecting the capital, guarding the
citizens of the kingdom, guarding the royal family, and escorting important
individuals. Most were sons from noble families, but usually second or thirdborn, the oldest sons were the successors, and therefore too important to risk
in the field of duty. Apparently those sons only enlisted to boast about their
family and social class, rather than out of any sense of duty.
"I'm the second son of my household, actually. But unlike other noble
for a father... Lyon certainly didn't seem spoiled at all to me, which was
probably a good thing. Neil also explained that he was the second son of a
rather affluent count.
"They're a minority, it's true, but unfortunately there are those who cling to
their heritage like it's all they have. A recruit from an earl's house might refuse
to listen to their viscount-born commander, or a captain might try to suck up to
a newbie just because he's from a better social background. It's a complete
farce, if you ask me." Neil's expression was one of pure, unbridled disgust.
Seemed like there were always troublemakers, no matter where you looked.
"Well, it's definitely curtains for this lot. They're pathetic parasites on our
proud order! Until now they've managed to avoid it through their family
connections, but that won't fly this time. They attacked the man engaged to this
country's princess, after all... They should consider themselves lucky their heads
are still attached to their necks." He must've been watching from the start. I'd
be willing to bet he let it play out just so he could punish them for it... Well, I
beat them up anyway, so it was no big deal.
"That aside... That weapon at your hip, what is it exactly?" Neil pointed a
curious gaze toward Brunhild, my gunblade.
"Oh, this thing? It's my personal weapon. Only I can wield it, and only I can
create it. I can use it for close combat or to take out target from afar.
Depending on its mode, it can become either a shortsword or a longsword, and
it can fire paralyzing shots as well."
"Hmhm... It's a wonderful weapon indeed. Could I bother you to make one for
me? Naturally, I'd pay you top coin for it."
"Sorry, but I don't think that's such a good idea..." I definitely had to be
careful with regards to firearms. They were things that could kill people very
easily. I'd have to be careful to only give them to people I had absolute
confidence in.
"I see... What a shame."
"Seriously?! I'd absolutely love one!" By the time Neil had finished speaking, I
had already cast [Storage] and pulled out an iron ingot. Mithril was sturdy, but
it was far too lightweight to forge a regular weapon out of. Much too light to be
effective. In fact, its lightness really only made it suitable for a thrusting-based
sword like an estoc, or a sword primarily designed for slashing attacks.
"So, Neil, what kind of weapon do you prefer to use?"
"Well, my signature is definitely the spear, but I'm fine with a standard blade,
too." Hmm... that makes two forms, but maybe I should add in a dagger mode
too, just for good measure.
I used [Modeling] to craft a spear that was about two meters long. I based it
on a western-style spear I'd seen in a video game before, but I changed the
blade tip to be more dagger-like. To be blunt, it was more like a dagger with a
really long handle.
I designed the grip itself to be hollow, allowing it to shift mass by filling the
interior as it shortened in its transformation to dagger mode.
Similar to Brunhild, the thick dagger blade could thin out, which would allow
it to extend itself into a one-meter longsword... probably. I enchanted the
sword with [Modeling]. And voila! It was complete.
"Begin [Program]／ Starting Condition: The wielder says 'Spear Mode,
'
'Sword Mode,
' or 'Dagger Mode'／ Action Upon Start: [Modeling] casts upon
the weapon, transforming it into the user-specified form／ End [Program]."
Oh, almost forgot to give it the paralyzing effect. I hastily enchanted the new
product with [Paralyze].
"Begin [Program]／ Starting Condition: The wielder says 'Stun Mode'／
Action Upon Start: Dull the blade of the weapon, and use the [Paralyze] spell
to imbue it with the ability to stun anyone the blade touches／ End
[Program]."
"Uhh, I guess that's about it." I tried to spin the spear around. But, much like
the one from back in Eashen, the balance on it was pretty terrible. I was
dagger blade about 40 centimeters in length. I gave it a few test swings, and it
responded quite nicely. I had a feeling that this form would be the easiest one
to keep it in when carrying it around.
"Sword Mode." The blade expanded this time, becoming a meter-long
shortsword. The handle also extended, allowing it to be gripped by both hands
if necessary. I held it in front of me and gave it a test swing. Yup, not bad at all.
"Spear Mode." It returned to its initial state with no issues. Okay, the
transformation works well enough... Now to test the other part...
"Stun Mode."
"Huh?" I had a ridiculously annoying grin on my face as I tapped Lyon on the
shoulder with the spear tip. In but a moment, he crumpled like a puppet with its
strings cut.
"Hahaugh?!"
"Yup, the paralysis seems to work just fine."
"Hey now..." Neil spoke up. He sounded a little mad, honestly. What? I had to
test it, didn't I? Stun mode dulled the blade, so there was no harm done. Well...
thrusting the spear would probably still hurt. I had set the paralysis to a weak
effect, too, but it would still be about an hour before Lyon was able to get back
up. I didn't want to wait that long, so I dispelled it with [Recovery].
"Hey, what was that for?!"
"Sorry, had to be sure it all worked right." I apologized to the complaining
Lyon as I returned the weapon to blade mode and handed it over to Neil.
"It's hand-crafted, so the balance isn't especially good, but I think it should
handle just fine after you get used to it." Neil took the spear from me, spun it
around, thrust it forward, and did a sweeping strike. His motions were both
clean and swift. Guess I shouldn't have expected anything else from a deputy
general.
He cycled through the different transformations, performing similar clean
"Stun Mode."
"Whoa, whoa, hold on a minute!"
"Heh, I'm just messing around." Neil gave a short chuckle and returned his
weapon to its dagger form. Seemed he had no problem getting the hang of it.
"The paralysis effect in stun mode won't do anything to an enemy with a
protective charm on them, so keep that in mind. Oh, and be careful where you
swing it. Anyone affected won't be getting up for about an hour at least, so it'd
be troublesome if you hit one of your allies."
"Very well, then. Thank you." Neil gazed at his dagger, seeming quite happy
all the while. I was glad to have been of service.
"You sure are lucky to have such a thing, Deputy General."
"Hm? I can make one for you too, Lyon. If you'd like one, I mean."
"Really, Sir Touya?! You really mean it?!" I quickly whipped up another
weapon of similar design and passed it over to Lyon. He started to cycle through
the forms and swung the weapon around a bit. It looked like he was enjoying
himself.
"Truly, this is a splendid job. How much do I owe you?"
"Nah, don't worry about that. Just help me out if those jokers ever give me
trouble again."
"Very well, then. It's a promise." Neil let out a gentle laugh as he spoke. Well,
I'm sure those guys won't be stupid enough to try anything again.
"...You guys were warned about this yesterday!" I was wrong. They were
stupid enough.
The moonlight illuminated the garden outside my home, highlighting around
fifty armed intruders who were now flat out on the ground. Blondie, Brownhair, and Redhead were with them. The rest were fairly large, well-built men.
Probablymercenariesorpersonalsoldiers.
a member of Espion after all, an elite spy that answered directly to the royal
family. Her information was bang on the mark, so I was ready when the mob
swarmed through and spilled into the garden under the cover of night.
They were surprised to see me waiting for them, but it didn't take them long
to try to jump me at once when they realized I was all alone. At that point it was
a simple matter of firing off fifty paralyzing rounds. Honestly, I was extremely
disappointed. Even Lone-Horned Wolves had more impressive movements than
those chumps.
"Did you just completely ignore what Neil told you?" I approached Blondie,
who was practically glued to the ground. I then squatted down and smacked his
shoulder with Brunhild a couple of times. He couldn't move due to the paralysis,
but he was still conscious, so he'd be able to hear my words. That much was
clear by the fear I could see in his eyes.
"Do you even understand your situation? You've got your weapons hanging
right there on your sides. This is clearly a raid, isn't it? So what you've got here
is attempted robbery, attempted assault, most likely attempted murder, right?
Well, not like that matters now."
"Is everything alright now, Touya?" Yumina walked out on to the terrace, and
Blondie's eyes went wide with confusion. Heheh... I'm glad that even a moron
like this guy can recognize Yumina. That's good, it'll make things go much
smoother.
"Well, do you get it now? What you've committed is high treason, an act
against royalty! And because of your idiocy, your noble houses are all going to
come crashing down. Beheadings for all! Good work, guys. Really. You nailed it."
Blondie listened to me until he could bear no more and passed out, frothing
slightly at the mouth. It was just a threat, but... I still couldn't believe he'd
reacted like that.
I asked Tom to take the bicycle and forward a message to the knight order on
my behalf.
"Whatareyougoingtodowiththem?"
stripped of their noble status. Regardless of what happens, these individuals
will never see high status or praise again in their lives." If you asked me, they
got what was coming to them, and their families would too. The fact remained
that their parents knew about their misdeeds and kept protecting them
regardless. Neil even tried to warn them, but they ignored him completely...
They really should never have tried attacking me again. Bunch of morons.
I figured that they'd intended to strike in the night and outnumber us to gain
the upper hand. Then, come morning, they'd pretend what happened was just a
robbery gone wrong or something... It really irritated me to think about,
actually.
They were like petulant kids who couldn't see consequences past their own
actions. Didn't their parents ever teach them any respect? It was probably their
fault for raising such trashy kids. If they'd been better parents, maybe their kids
wouldn't have turned out to be such idiots.
All of the intruders were apprehended when Tom returned with a group of
knights. Good riddance, I thought. Hope I never see you again.
A few days later, some of the noble houses were stripped of their lands and
status. It was a direct decree from the king, apparently.
The knight order was shamed by the incident, and pledged to crack down with
disciplinary measures. From that day onward, social status was irrelevant within
their ranks.
◇ ◇ ◇
"Hm... it didn't turn out 3D after all, then?" I pensively looked over the
projected image. I had expected a three-dimensional image to come up, but it
wasn't to be.
It was the product of a recently acquired Null spell, [Mirage]. To sum it up
briefly, it was a spell that allowed me to conjure illusions.
I had first tested it out by making an illusory version of Kohaku, and it actually
looked like the real thing from every angle I stood at. I was also able to control
too scary. It would've been creepy if one of these peeked at you through a wall,
too.
I was curious about what would happen if I enchanted my smartphone's video
player with [Mirage], so I gave it a shot.
"Hmm... well, it's fine from the front." My phone was now magically
projecting a cartoon into the air in the middle of the room. When I looked at
the projection from the side, it was no good at all, though. Just a flat bit of light.
It seems like enchanting my phone's video app with [Mirage] only served to
turn it into a projector. But still, that was an impressive feat in itself.
"Hmm... so it doesn't scan the whole video and make it a 3D scene or
anything... That's a shame. Guess it's just a regular old projector, then." Just as I
was losing myself in thought, I heard a loud rapping on the door.
"Touya, bruv. I brought you some lun— What the bloody hell is that?!" Renne
came into the room, suddenly stopping in her tracks to stare wide-eyed at the
cartoon suspended in the air. Kohaku came up alongside her, and he too
seemed curiously amazed. Well, I wasn't too surprised by their shock.
"Oi, oi. Bruv, what's that thing?!"
"Oh uh... It's a moving picture show. I'm projecting it into the air with magic."
"Wow...!" I could almost see the stars in Renne's eyes as she gazed at the
hologram. The cartoon on show was an old foreign show about a pair of animals
that chased each other around. It had little to no dialogue, so it was simple
enough to just sit back and enjoy.
Renne sat down on a chair, her eyes transfixed on the cartoon. She'd already
slumped down into the "I'm not moving from this position any time soon"
posture. The episodes were brief, so it wasn't like I minded her taking a little
break from things. I suddenly turned to find Kohaku, slack-jawed and wideeyed, gazing over at the cartoon as well. What a silly tiger.
They seemed to be completely fine with stuff like vacuum cleaners and
refrigerators showing up in the cartoon, but I guess they didn't need to know
Before long, just as the episode was drawing to a close, I heard another knock
at the door. I've got a bad feeling about this...
"Heyyy sir. Have you seeeeen sweet little Renneeee around— Wow! Wooow!
What is thaaat?!" Cecile opened the door and quickly came barging in. Well, this
can only end well. Just as I'd expected, Cecile plonked herself down next to
Renne and began to watch the show.
After the episode finished, it was Kohaku of all people who turned to me with
a pleading expression. It was a face that said "More please." I reluctantly set the
phone to automatically play new episodes when the previous finished, then
went to fix up some lunch. I was fine leaving my smartphone alone, because I'd
applied a [Program] to it that allowed me to recall it to my hand at will. It's a
combined enchantment that makes use of [Gate] and [Apport]. A simple, but
effective anti-theft measure.
Everyone out on the terrace had already started to eat. The lunch of the day
was onion soup, club sandwiches, and a veggie salad with cheese.
I arrived at the table and prepared to eat. Sure looked tasty. First thing I
grabbed was a club sandwich, which I stuffed into my cheeks, savoring the
flavor. It tasted as excellent as it looked. The chicken was juicy, and the tomato
was flavorful. There wasn't much more I could ask for, really.
"What are Renne and Cecile up to?" Lapis pondered the whereabouts of the
two absentees as she poured juice into my glass. I didn't want her to get mad at
them, so I decided I'd have her fall into the same trap that they had succumbed
to.
"They're currently helping me out a bit with my magic. Actually, Lapis, since
you're done here and all... you should head over to my room and see them."
"Hm...?" Lapis headed back inside with a curious look on her face. I knew that
as soon as she laid eyes upon the cartoon, she'd be unable to escape its snare.
"So Touya, what're you doing today?" Elze cut in, talking to me while sipping
her post-meal tea.
going to see your uncle."
"Oh, you can feel free to put off going to see our family, Touya. If our aunt
found out we'd be getting married to the same man as the princess of Belfast
she'd have a heart attack." Elze and Linze hailed from the Refreese Imperium, a
country just west of Belfast. They were raised on a farm by their aunt and uncle
in the village of Saletto, in the eastern part of Refreese. As I understood it, their
real parents died of illness when both of the girls were young...
"Don't be silly, I'll have to talk to them eventually. We'll take some flowers to
the grave of your parents while we're there, too."
"...Th-Thank you, Touya." Linze smiled from across the table, apparently
feeling both timid and happy.
"Now, shall we check up on our lovely maid trio?" After the meal, I took the
others up to the bedroom. As I had expected, all three of the maids were
completely engrossed in the cartoon. Kohaku was curled up in Renne's lap,
purring gently as the action unfolded.
Elze and the others became glued to the screen pretty quickly too. I turned it
off after the episode finished running. It did have to end sometime, after all.
Everyone started to complain, but I quickly diffused the growing storm by
promising to put it back on after dinner that evening. That, thankfully, appeased
them.
It became increasingly clear to me that the people of this world were starved
for entertainment. Indeed, after one reached adulthood, it was a considerably
larger amount of work, and a considerably lesser amount of play. But, in a world
like this one, there were a lot of things that needed to be done in order to
survive, so it might've just been that they simply didn't have time to enjoy
themselves.
After that, I took Yae off with me to Eashen, and we approached the smithy
that we'd visited the last time.
came out from the back of the store, holding a katana in one hand and a short
blade in the other. They were both sheathed in beautiful crimson sheaths.
Yae accepted the weapons, then swiftly unsheathed them. It seemed like she
was eager to look them over. The blade shone a brilliant silver, and I could see a
finely adorned pattern dancing along it.
"It is extremely light... I suppose that is what you would expect from a mithril
weapon, yes." Yae made a few standard swings with the weapon in order to get
a good feel for it, and then she sheathed the blade. She suddenly crouched
down, gathering her center of gravity, and drew the blade from her hip with a
slash. She's fast!
"It flows very well. This is a wonderful blade, it is."
"Thanks a bunch." The smith smiled a bit at Yae's compliment. It seemed that
he was a very talented man after all.
I cast [Storage] and pulled out a hunk of mithril to pay him with. I pulled out
around twice the amount of mithril I had initially given him to forge the
weaponry with. As I moved to hand it over to him, the smith looked at me with
wide-eyed shock.
"Hey, hey... ain't this a little much?"
"Don't worry about it. I might want to use your services again in the future, so
just work as hard as you did this time and we'll get along just fine."
"...Fair enough. Well, if ya really don't mind, I'll be taking it, then."
The smith let out a jovial laugh, his mithril chunk in hand. Yae and I bid him
farewell, then headed off on our way.
Once we got back to the mansion, it was time for dinner. Once we wolfed
down our food, it was holo-vision time. The girls all hurried me into my room,
but I still had enough willpower to limit them to three hours.
I turned out all the lights so the audience could better see the projection. The
drama, because it would be easier for the citizens of the other world to identify
with.
Elze, Linze, Yae, Yumina, Lapis, Cecile, Renne, Cesca, Julio, Crea, and Leim
were all packed into my room. My beastly trio, consisting of Sango, Kokuyou,
and Kohaku, had also decided to attend the screening. I found it almost cute,
like a little cinema. Sadly, Tom and Huck had to stay on guard duty, so they
were unable to attend. I made a mental note to make it up to them both later.
Everyone was completely captivated by what they were watching. I had
always figured that this other world had little in the way of entertainment, but I
never stopped to think about it, really. They probably didn't even have team
sports like soccer or baseball. They certainly didn't have anything like video
games or cartoons, for sure. The knights of Belfast had their mock battles, but
that was more for training purposes than entertainment.
Come to think of it... if they don't have a large sports culture, does that mean
they don't have athletic festivals or sports days, either? The kids in town race
each other sometimes, so they at least know stuff like that as a concept... But I
wonder if they've ever experienced a relay race, or an obstacle course, or a
bread-eating contest! They could even do that game where three guys lift up
another guy and try to knock down the enemy guy. Like a mock cavalry charge...
Actually, the people here could probably organize a real cavalry charge. It'd be
pretty nice if the townspeople could arrange something like that, getting
everyone involved... We could divide the teams into red and white, too...
Before I knew it, I was absorbed in thought, watching over the captivated
audience.
◇ ◇ ◇
"Our economy's been in a real slump lately, yeah... We've lost a lot of visitors
and haven't had many guests to speak of. My dad was trying to get more
business drummed up using shogi as an advertising point, but it didn't really
work out." It had been a while since I last visited Reflet, so I decided to pay the
Silver Moon Inn a visit. When I got there, Micah started counting her woes. I
In order for an inn to profit, a guest has to stay overnight. In order for a guest
to stay overnight, the town has to have some sort of attraction. I guess Reflet
just... wasn't all that interesting, it didn't really have anything to make it stand
out as a tourism hotspot.
Now if this place had a hot spring, that'd be another story entirely.
Maybe we could dig one up...? Nah, pretty sure you need to be in a volcanic
area for a hot spring to even be possible...
"Are there no town events going on any time soon? A festival, maybe?"
"... Nope. What kind of festival do you mean?"
"Uhh, well... I can't really think up a festival on the spot like that. My home
country has the Snow Festival, or Tanabata... How about something like that?"
"It doesn't really snow here... and what's a tan batter?" Nah, this won't work
either. Even if we put on a festival, it'd be a temporary solution. Sure, the place
would be bustling with tourists for a while, but that would only be for one short
period a year. The rest of the time the place would be a regular ghost town...
I decided that the best thing to do to attract customers would be to give the
Silver Moon something only it could have. Really, installing hot springs would be
the ideal in this situation. With that in place, tourists from miles around would
surely flock to the Silver Moon.
Can I make an artificial hot spring if I boil water with magic...? Ah, wait... I'd
have to boil it every day, so that wouldn't be very efficient. It wouldn't really be
much of a hot spring, either... Is there anything else I can do here? Wait... I've
got it! "... A hot spring! I'll make one for you, Micah."
"Wh-What?" Yeah, I can make one. It'll actually be pretty easy to make one!
All I'd have to do is go to a natural hot spring, pull some hot water through with
a [Gate], let it flow through, then drain it out with another [Gate]. No big deal
at all.
"Can you really make one?"
as Micah started to fire herself up, Dolan wandered in. Dolan raised his brow in
excitement upon hearing the mention of a hot spring, and quickly confirmed
the story so far.
"So you're saying you can make us a hot spring by connecting a far-off one to
our little Inn?!"
"Well, yeah. Probably. I can definitely give it a shot." I pulled up my
smartphone and ran a search for "hot springs." There was one on the outskirts
of the Melicia Mountains, in a forested area to the south. I asked Micah, just to
be sure, but she said she'd never heard of a place like that. Seemed like it was a
secluded one that few knew about. That was more than perfect for me.
I used [Gate] to head back to the garden, taking Cesca along with me.
Together, we sailed off in the skies toward the spot on the map.
"Master... you'd really go so far as to take me into a secluded mountain hot
spring, just to see me in the nude...? You know that all you have to do is give
the order and I'd drop my panties like they're hot, right?"
"I don't have any intentions like that! Stop lifting that skirt!" I karate chopped
the robo-brat in a vain attempt to end her sexual harassment. That girl had too
many lewd scenarios in her head, it was troublesome.
Eventually the garden arrived at its destination, I disembarked. Oho, I can
smell it... This is the smell of a hot spring.
I made my way through the bushes and found the natural spring within a
forest glade. The water looked great, it didn't have any grime or impurities in it
at all. I got closer and dipped my hand into the water. Ouch, it's a little hot... but
that's still better than it being lukewarm.
I took a good look around, confirming multiple water sources for the spring. It
seemed that quantity wouldn't be an issue, either.
I decided to install a pipe enchanted with [Gate] connected to another
enchanted set of piping at the Silver Moon. This would allow water to flow from
here to there, and back again. The Silver Moon would become the "space"
than iron, because the mithril wouldn't rust up. Then I created a few pipes
around ten centimeters in diameter, and thirty centimeters in length. Then I set
to work installing the piping in various areas. I used [Modeling] to install the
pipes, so they seamlessly fit together.
"Alright, everything seems ready." I used a [Gate] to return to Reflet... before
promptly remembering that I'd left Cesca behind again.
Quickly, and thankfully, remembering my mistake, I stepped through another
portal and came out in the garden. I reported back to Cesca on my success.
After I made it back to the Silver Moon, I walked around their backyard
looking for a good spot. I dug out a water channel with magic, it was about 30
centimeters deep. It was also about one meter long in total. I reinforced the
waterway with stone to prevent the water from getting all muddy and gross.
Then, using [Storage] again, I pulled out some mithril and began work on the
next pipe. I then crafted an ornate lion's head and fixed it over one end of the
waterway, its mouth serving as the spout. I realized that if I enchanted it with
[Gate] right away, then water would come flying out of it uncontrollably.
To counter that, I used [Program] to set the portal to open or close based on
whether a nearby person gave the keyword "Open" or "Close." That way the
flow of water could easily be controlled. I kept it closed for the time being, and
lodged another mithril pipe slightly higher up on the other side of the little hole
I'd made. The hot water would flow into the spring from the lower pipe, and
then flow out through the higher pipe, heading through a portal back to where
it came from. One would supply the water, the other would work as a drain.
"I think everything should be in order now." I spoke the keyword "Open," and
hot water began to flow out of the lion's mouth. Micah and Dolan looked on
with amazement. "Whoa!"
"Wow! It's really a hot water spout?!" The hot water spilled from the ornate
lion's mouth, and began to fill up the little waterway. When the water level
reachedtheholeontheothersidethedepthremainedlevelThehotwater
I kicked off my footwear and splashed my feet around in the water a bit.
Yowch, a little hot, but it actually feels pretty good. "Whoa... that's amazing..."
"But does our property even have enough space for a big hot springs bath?"
Dolan gazed over at the water with a look of sheer awe on his face, while Micah
pondered a serious issue. Luckily for her, I'd already pondered that for her.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but that plot of land with the two homes on it is
vacant, right? The ones right behind your inn."
"Er, yes it is... but what does that matter?"
"I'll buy it, then."
"What?!" It was the simplest solution, after all. I went off to the estate agency
to check how much the properties were going to cost. The agent told me that
the homes were eight platinum coins apiece. I paid immediately.
I had sold the broken fragments that I'd taken from the Mithril Golem, and
found myself with an absolute wealth of cash as a result. I didn't need to worry
about finances all that much anyway, especially when it was for a good cause.
I purchased the properties, signed the contract, and made my way back to the
Silver Moon.
"Didja seriously buy those places?"
"Yup. Now, want me to renovate it all in one go?" Micah was surprised, but I
still had work to do. I summoned a [Gate] on the flat of the ground and both
homes sank into it. I had just dumped the whole lot back on my floating garden.
With a swoosh, two houses vanished in an instant.
"What?!" The two were stunned. Ignoring their surprise, I continued to take
out the wall that was dividing the property from the Silver Moon in the same
way.
I prepared the rough outline of a bathing area using Earth magic. I spread it
out pretty widely. After that, I applied some of the finer touches using
[Modeling].
"Hm? Ah, yes! Can you divide it?"
"No problemo!" I divided the bath right into two halves. I surrounded them
both with a rock wall, a stone pavement that leads into the washroom, some
tatami mats, a roof and set of pillars made of cypress. Then I set up a dividing
wall between the two pools. I enchanted the divider with [Paralyze]. That was
for a little divine punishment in case any peeping Toms were skulking about.
I finished off the exterior by creating two dressing rooms and erecting long
curtains for the entryways as well.
Finally, I enchanted the upper area of the bath with [Mirage], preventing any
of the hotel guests from peeking down on it. All they would see was an image of
rustling treetops. The people in the baths would see tree canopies as they
looked up, as well. Nobody wants to look over and see people walking about as
they bathe, after all.
All-in-all, it had become a pretty nice Japanese-style bath.
I felt a sense of pride wash over me, nodding in confirmation at my own work.
Then I noticed Dolan and Micah out of the corner of my eye, both were slackjacked and staring.
"G-Goodness... you're just full of surprises, huh..."
"You built it in no time at all..." Well, maybe I overdid it a little. I thought it'd
be a really nice idea, so I just went and did it right away. I made everything right
down to the bucket and stool.
"So wait, can we even use this bath as a business? The land and stuff is yours,
right?"
"I'll lend it to you for the foreseeable future. If the place profits well enough,
I'll let you buy the deed from me. It'll be sixteen platinum coins, though." I held
out the proof of purchase, highlighting the amount the deed was worth. Well,
the title deed was for a household property, and I had gone and replaced it with
an open-air bath... I didn't think too hard about it.
"HmhmnotbadatallNowIcanmakeaprofitfromboththelodgingand
themselves with a wet towel every so often. I was sure that the common folk
would be extremely happy to get such a nice bath on the cheap.
"The bath won't do anything for diseases, but it should treat physical ailments
pretty effectively. Bad eyes, back pain, even poison if you soak in it long
enough. They should all be taken care of."
"The water really does that?" The water really did that. I had used another
[Program] to imbue the springs with [Recovery]. It would cause too much of a
stir if people's injuries were healed right away, so I made the spell infuse with
the water, gradually applying itself over time.
We decided to open up the springs for a test run. I said the "Open" keyword
for both baths, and the water began to flow. As I set everything up, Micah and
Dolan went to get their friends. Today's test run would be free of charge for
them all, of course.
Other than Dolan and myself, the men's bath contained Barral, the owner of
the Eight-Bears Weapon Shop. Simon, the pawnbroker, and Zanac of "Fashion
King Zanac" fame. The ratio of old men to young men is way off in here! As I was
soaking up the water and getting lost in thought, the men brought a table near
the water's edge. Dolan and Barrel then started to play shogi on it. Geez, they're
even playing in a place like this?
On the women's side, other than Micah, Aer and her employees from Parent
were also enjoying the soak. To my surprise, Cesca decided she'd take a dip too.
Is a robo-girl like her gonna be okay in all that water? Well... I'm sure it'll be
fine, that pervy doctor wouldn't make an oversight like that.
"Master, shall I wash your back?"
"Don't say stupid stuff! Just be quiet and enjoy the bath!" I angrily yelled over
the wall at Cesca. How inappropriate does she want to be?! "Now now, don't be
so shy, master..."
"C-Cesca! What are you climbing up there for?!"
"Fhgyh?!" I heard Micah call out for that idiot, then I heard Cesca's muffled
she did mention having biological parts.
"If you try to scale the wall for some peeping, there'll be a world of hurt in it
for you. Just so we're clear." I explained the system to the men who were in the
bath with me, they all nodded their heads in obedience. That said, I never
expected the first offender to come from the female side...
With the pest out of the way, I was free to enjoy the relaxing hot water. Ah...
feels so good.