I went around all the countries in the alliance and informed them of the
stolen Frame Gear parts. That would at least make it clear Brunhild wasn't
responsible in the event that they did try to attack someone using a makeshift
version.
"It's suspicious enough that the location is shrouded in a magical barrier, but
still..." There were way too many places that fit the bill. Castles, forts, and
places that researched applications of magic all had barriers of varying intensity.
I couldn't just search for them, either.
Not just big places employed barriers, either. There were other areas like
royal treasuries and noble bedrooms. The barriers also wildly varied in power,
but even the weaker ones were good enough to nullify basic spells. Even the
weakest versions, the pocket talismans, were good enough to prevent my
paralysis spell.
No matter where they were holding the pieces, I was doomed from the getgo. I had no choice but to actually find the location and see it with my own eyes.
But even then I might not be able to see it if the magical barrier was an
advanced one that also put up a mirage.
Either way, there was no point worrying about it. All I could do was carry on
with my daily life.
"The Hangar has some vehicles in it, right?"
"That's like, totally correct. Our Hangar is equipped with such masterful works
as the Babylon tanks, ultra-speed dirigibles, state-of-the-art drilling machines,
and so on. But they totally gotta run on lots of Ether Liquid and stuff, so that's
pretty lame..." I was speaking to Monica, who was in the middle of making lastminute adjustments to Yae's Frame Gear.
"Couldn't we use them as support units for Sue's Frame Gear or something?
Like... we could attach them on to a Frame Gear base, and combine them."
"I do not believe it could be done without extensive remodeling to the Frame
Gear. Seems like a total waste of resources and stuff. Could we not just build an
extremely large Frame Gear? Why do we need to add detachable
combinations?" Monica tilted her head to the side.
Well, I get what she means, but... Bah, I'll just have to show her. It's too hard
to explain.
I called over Rosetta, and showed both her and Monica a few episodes of the
anime that I'd previously shown Sue.
They didn't seem all that impressed at first. However, their bodies gradually
inched closer toward the projected screen, and their perplexed frowns turned
to fascinated grins. I stared at them, worrying if I hadn't just started something
bad.
Don't think, feel. Follow your heart.
The two of them looked like they'd been struck with a flash of divine
inspiration. They immediately began working on a Frame Gear that could
combine with vehicular parts. They kicked reason to the curb, and went beyond
the impossible.
...Of course, this is my power... Anime doesn't exist in this world... I'll use it to
show people things they could've never imagined... Anime will ensure I build the
greatest Frame Gears!
"So, you're building Sue's Frame Gear next?"
"Yup. It'll take a while though, since we're making a unique system for it. Your
frame'll come right after, Yumina. I promise."
"I don't mind waiting, honestly. Besides, if mine comes last, it'll probably be
the best, right?" She wasn't wrong to think that. If I continued making new
discoveries and improvements, I could probably perfect them with the final
custom Frame Gear.
I was relaxing in my castle with a nice cup of tea. A long-awaited moment of
rest, in fact. Yumina was by my side, sipping from her own cup.
"It's been a while since we've sat like this..."
"Yeah? Well, I've been pretty busy since I founded Brunhild..."
"That's not exactly what I meant. I just meant it's been a while since it was
only the two of us." Yumina gently rested her head against my shoulder.
Mmh... I get it. Even throughout all the time at Reflet and the Belfast
Mansion, we hadn't had many moments of tenderness like this between us.
"Moments like this are rare, so... might I ask you to spoil me a little...?"
"Hm? Spoil, huh...?" Yumina's eyes were closed, but her face was looking up
at me. I knew what she was asking for. I smiled softly and placed both hands on
her shoulders, then pushed my lips up against hers.
After a while, our lips parted. Her face was flushed red, and she hugged me
tight.
"Ehehe... You're all mine today, Touya..." I never thought I'd be in a situation
where I'd be getting used to this kind of thing. I wasn't sure how to feel about
it.
I'd come to another world... I'd gotten myself eight brides-to-be... All of them
younger than me, too... Well, except Leen, who was considerably older.
"Something's changed lately, you know?"
"Hm? What's up?"
"My Mystic Eye. You know how I can see through people's intentions? Well...
recently I've started... feeling different effects..."
"Different... effects? What?"
"Well..." Yumina drew back from me, then gave me a little nod.
"Touya. Let's play rock paper scissors."
"Huh? That was sudden... Is this something to do with the new effects?"
"Yes. Let's play it, slowly." I'd taught the game of rock, paper, scissors to the
others, but I had no idea what she wanted to show me.
"Alright... Rock, paaaperr... scissors!" I lost. Yumina motioned her hand,
starting the next round.
"Rock, paper... scissors!" I lost again. And then again. Repeatedly. No matter
how many times we played... I lost. I didn't remember Yumina being so good at
the game... but it also didn't seem like she was using any kind of practiced
technique. It probably had something to do with the effects she'd mentioned.
"You can... win the game using that new power?"
"It's a little hard to explain, but... Well, how should I put it... I can just... Well, I
just know what you're going to choose."
"Like... mind reading or something?" Is she a telepath now? That's a little
scary! I won't be able to keep anything to myself anymore... If I cheat on her,
she'd totally know right away! Uh... not that I would cheat on her or anything.
Wait, are you reading my mind right now?! I didn't mean it, I swear!
"I can't read minds or anything, no. It's more like... Seeing? I can sort of see
what your hand would look like in a few seconds. It's blurry and vague... but I
can definitely see a little bit into the future."
Whoa... Foresight? That's incredible. Even if it's only a couple of seconds,
that's amazing! Still, why does she have a power like this...? Wait... Could it be
an extension of that thing Karen told me about? She's receiving my love, and I'm
a Demi-God, and she's also family with Karen and Moroha, too... Come to think
of it, that's not the only change I've noticed lately. Sue's become prodigal as a
Frame Gear pilot, Lu's become a way more adept fighter... I mean, it's definitely
a good thing... It's just hard to comprehend!
"Shall we test it a bit?" I put several coins in my right hand and closed a fist.
The aim was to have Yumina guess how many coins there were.
She got it immediately. Every time. I decided to change the experiment by
using [Apport] to subtly transfer the coins from my right hand to my left. She
got it wrong. That confused me a bit, though. I wondered if my use of [Apport]
changed the intended future somehow. Still, I only made that move because I
knew about Yumina's power. If she'd known I'd do it, she would've said there'd
be no coins. But if she'd said there were no coins, I wouldn't have used [Apport]
to move them... In either circumstance, she would've lost.
It seemed like her foresight wasn't quite iron-clad. But I definitely wouldn't
want to know the future if I couldn't change it. Knowing you'll break a bone in
five seconds will hardly do you any good if you can't do anything to avoid it.
It seemed like the future could be changed if someone other than Yumina was
doing the changing. At the very least, it could come in handy if she saw enemy
attacks a little bit in advance. Still, I was pretty sure with how limited it was
right now, it probably wouldn't come in all that handy.
It was currently more like a really strong intuition rather than seeing the
future. It wouldn't be worth getting overconfident about it.
"There's something else, too..."
"Seriously?!" Her eyes weren't in constant use, so I wondered if that was why
they seemed to be developing new skills. In a way they were kind of like her
own personal Null magic.
"Sometimes when I look at you, Touya... I see a very faint golden light
emanating from your body. I also saw the same light coming from your sister
Karen, but a bit stronger. Do you have any idea what that could mean?"
Wait a sec... Can she see the divinity? Not even I can see that! Then again,
Karen said she could see it since it's leaking out of me and stuff, but... Damn.
"Ah... Well... I wouldn't worry about that for now. But please let me know if
you see that light on anyone except me or my sisters." Yumina could end up
being helpful in finding that servile god my sisters were after. Then again, it
probably wouldn't be that easy. Karen and Moroha already said they'd be able
to sense the moment any divine power was used in this world.
Yumina looked at me with suspicious eyes, but eventually she just shrugged
and sighed.
"Very well, then... I don't understand the details, but I'll do as you ask."
"I'm sorry. I promise I'll talk to you about it properly soon."
"Indeed. I'll hold you to that, okay?" Yumina finished talking and rested her
head against my shoulder again.
Geez... even though I said I'll explain it, I don't really know how. 'Oh gee guys,
I forgot to tell you I'm actually a guy from another world and I was killed but the
ACTUAL GOD OF THE UNIVERSE resurrected me here and now I'm a God-in-
training too. That cool?' There was no way that'd work out. I wasn't sure if
they'd even believe something like that.
From what I understood, there was some kind of rebirth spell in this world,
though it was exceptionally rare... That might be easy enough to explain, but...
There was the matter of me being from another world. I'd be very upset if they
considered me an entity like the Phrase.
Plus, there was the fact that I'd be ascending as a God eventually, too... I was
really just scared about how to tell the people close to me about my extremely
unusual circumstances. I didn't know what they might say.
"Ah! No fair, Yumina! You can't monopolize Touya! Aren't we sisters-inarms?" Lu entered the room and saw the two of us. After fussing a little bit, she
sat on my opposite side and hugged up to me much like Yumina was.
"Goodness me... I didn't really monopolize him for very long." Yumina stuck
out her tongue, smiling softly.
I had two beautiful flowers, one in each hand. I began to feel embarrassed. It
wasn't quite as frightening when it was just one-on-one.
"Ohoho, oh my... Are you having a good time with your harem, Master? You
shouldn't forget about me and my sisters, you know?" Cesca walked in after Lu
sat down, bringing her usual sardonic commentary in tow.
"What do you mean by that..."
"You should pat our heads... Or hold our bodies close to yours. Or get some
rope and bind us real tight... Then spank us. Rip our clothes off, ah... Mh... AAnd pour candle wax all over our squirming nude bodies... Mmh!" Cesca's
breath grew ragged. She started to writhe. She was a complete lost cause.
"D-Does Touya like that kind of thing...? Uhm... I-I'm inexperienced, and it's
embarrassing, but if he does, I-I could do it..."
"Y-Yes... Me too... I-It'll be my first time, s-so be a little gentle... But I'd d-do
that..." The two girls by my side blushed deep crimson, muttering absolute
nonsense all the while.
"DAMN IT!!! My tastes aren't like that at all! Don't listen to her!" Leave your
fetish crap outta this, Cesca! I forced the pervy robo-maid out of the room. For
some reason my manhandling just made her breathe even more heavily.
"Mm!!! More, please..."
Quit moaning! Quit it!!!
◇ ◇ ◇
"This is-a one of the Phrases' soundwaves. Here is one of-a the Intermediate
Construct-a sounds, and one of the Upper Construct-a sounds. These-a sounds
can be hard to hear, but they're clear as day before they come out! But if we
use this machine we should-a have no trouble identifying them." Parshe, clad in
her shrine maiden garb, sat in the storehouse flipping through various floating
screens. She'd been doing a lot of research into Phrase wavelengths since the
last battle.
"So we can use this to determine where they'll come out and when, right?"
"Ah... That's-a quite the tall order, but maybe. We can measure the spatial-a
tear, figure out how big it is, and how fast it's widening. We might-a mess up by
a range of about two or three days, but it should-a be close enough." Two or
three days was a fair bit when dealing with enemies like the Phrase, but it still
seemed acceptable enough.
"So we can use this data to create some kind of Phrase-detecting radar,
right?"
"I can-a probably do it, yes. But don't expect-a the range to-a be so good."
Even being able to sense them was a boon, regardless of range restrictions. If
we made multiple radars, we'd be able to cover more ground as well. I decided
to talk to Rosetta about it right away.
She was in the middle of making Sue's Frame Gear, but the radar definitely
took higher priority. If we knew where they were gonna be coming out, we'd be
able to adapt and defend.
I went up to the Workshop to talk to Rosetta about making a Phrase Radar,
but she got angry at me when I brought it up.
"No, sir! I'm just one person, sir! I can't simply do this, then that, and then
this and that at the same time!!!" Let me correct myself. She actually got kinda
furious. Still, it was understandable. We didn't exactly have a surplus of
workers. There was a good deal of minibots, but she could've probably done
with more support.
"Indeed. It seems you've come to me."
"...Indeed I have." In the end, I went to the Rampart to ask Liora for help.
Though it was more of a case of me having no real alternatives. I couldn't ask
the clumsy moron or the book-obsessed moron to help with a delicate matter.
"Very well indeed, then. I did indeed work as Doctor Babylon's assistant for a
good deal of time, so this should not indeed pose a problem." I was right to rely
on the eldest sister of Babylon. She at least had a level head. I wanted her to
ease Rosetta's burden, if only a little bit.
"Where's Noel?"
"She is indeed asleep."
"Surprise, surprise... Oh, Crea made her this boxed lunch. Give it to her, would
you? There's some for you, as well." I passed over two hand-wrapped lunches
to Liora. Liora's was a standard size, but Noel's was about five times the size of
an average person's lunch. Her gluttony was enough to put Yae to shame, after
all.
All Noel did was eat and sleep, so I was surprised she didn't get fat. Though,
that was probably because of the fact that she was a humanoid machine.
"You have our most indeedilous gratitude. We may not require food to
function, but we do indeed appreciate the taste of a well-cooked meal." Liora
gave me a little smile. Liora, Noel, and Fam didn't really come down to the
surface all that often.
On the contrary, I would've preferred if Parshe didn't stray down... Just the
other day, she burned up one of the curtains in the castle hallway. Her
clumsiness was far too much trouble.
I headed back down to Brunhild Castle, where I came across Sakura and
Kougyoku.
Sakura's memories were still completely absent, but it kind of seemed like she
didn't really care all that much.
I'd never lost my memories before, so I couldn't exactly judge, but it struck
me as odd that she didn't seem to be all that interested in who she used to be.
I always had one of the Heavenly Beasts accompany her when she walked
around due to her unknown identity, but I'd recently felt that it probably wasn't
a necessary measure any longer.
"Ah, Grand Duke. I'm glad you're here!"
"Hm? Did you need something?" Sakura rushed over to me. She seemed a
little more panicked than usual. It was definitely rare for her to have anything
other than a neutral expression on her face. She suddenly grabbed my hand and
started running along with me in a certain direction. It was definitely out of
character for her.
"Wh-What's going on?!"
"There's an ill person, my liege."
"Huh?" Kougyoku caught up by flying alongside us. So it seemed like Sakura
was worried about this unwell person.
"We found a collapsed individual on our walk around the castle town. We
brought them to the Silver Moon, but the situation is rather precarious due to
their rare illness."
"What illness?"
"Demoderma. It's a sickness that only afflicts demonkin. Though it doesn't
have a high rate of infection and can only spread through direct contact, we
must keep all demonkin in Brunhild away from the patient. Demoderma causes
several horrible symptoms, and death is certain after about a month." Sakura,
still yanking at my arm, explained the situation.
You sure know a lot about this... Did you read the medical textbooks in our
castle's Library or something? Guess we've got another book maniac like Fam.
Regardless, a sickness that affected demonkin could only mean one thing...
The patient was one of them as well.
"But what does this have to do with me? Shouldn't you just ask Flora?"
"Demoderma counts as an affliction, but it's almost impossible to cure. Still,
that Null magic of yours, [Recovery]... it may be able to, well..."
Now I understood. My [Recovery] spell was made for dealing with afflictions
like poison and paralysis, as well as any abnormal bodily conditions like
blindness or deafness. I even theorized that kidney stones could be removed
with it, too. Cancer was even a possibility, but I didn't know anyone in this
world with it.
Even though I could do all that, I was still incapable of curing the common
cold... I didn't really know why, so I didn't think it affected diseases. But I'd been
informed that it just might work with demoderma.
If that was the case, we needed to hurry up.
I wondered why I wasn't summoned telepathically, though. I was later told by
Kougyoku that Sakura suddenly started dashing toward the castle when she
found out. She must've been too concerned to think.
I opened up a [Gate] right in front of Sakura, and we were at the Silver Moon
in a flash.
Fleur guided us up the stairs and we ended up in the furthest room on the
third floor. There was a girl laying in bed there.
Her body was wrapped in a torn-up cloak, bandages covering almost all of her
skin. Her skin looked like it was originally brown, but it was crusting and flaking
into a reddish-brown mess and falling down on to the bedsheets below her. The
flakes looked thick, and almost metallic. Her silver hair looked completely
disheveled and dirty.
Her face was covered entirely by bandages, but I could tell she was a woman.
Her chest was bound, but her large breasts rose up and down as she gasped
heavy-yet-shallow breaths.
Good lord, she looks awful... Her skin's either peeling off or red and sticky...
"Is she even alive...?"
"Demoderma is a disease that gradually hardens the body. The skin peels off,
becomes thick and coarse, and peels off again... Eventually their entire body
seizes up and becomes so stiff they can't even move. After that comes... death.
There's still time to save her, though. Please, use your magic." At Sakura's
behest, I hurriedly used [Recovery] on the girl.
The girl's skin was wrapped in a soothing light, and her skin quickly peeled
away. I thought something had gone horribly wrong until I noticed her skin
regenerating healthily afterward. Healthy tan flesh peeked out from between
the bandages. It was a complete success.
While I was at it, I cast [Refresh] and revitalized her. And with that, she'd be
able to regain her physical strength.
Fleur removed her bandages and wiped the girl's face down with a wet towel.
She was uncovered, revealing a brown-skinned girl with pointy, knife-like ears.
"A dark elf..."
"Yes..." Sakura nodded. She had ears much like Guildmaster Relisha's.
However, this girl's skin was an oily brown, and she had long silver hair.
"Dark elves count as demonkin? Does that mean Elves are demonkin as well?"
"Hm? No... Elves and dark elves are completely separate races. They look
similar, but are quite different. Elves excel at magic and have fair skin, while
dark elves are more adept at physical techniques and have darker skin."
"Do the species have some kind of deep rivalry or mutual hatred, too?"
"Not to my knowledge..." Seemed I was wrong on that count. Reality was,
after all, quite different from my superficial knowledge of fantasy tales.
The girl was incredibly beautiful, though. I wondered if elves were simply
beautiful as a racial trait. Hmhm... Most interesting...
"A-Ah... I'm about to wipe her body down..."
"Yeah, sure thing. Make sure to get any flakes of hardened skin off her." I
nodded to Fleur. It'd be best to get her looking her best as soon as possible,
after all. However, Fleur didn't move to start her work at all. Instead, she just
kept staring at me for some reason.
Something on my face...?
"Uhm... W-Well, Your Highness... I'll need to strip her down, so..." Fleur's
nervous words finally clicked in my head.
Ah, wait! Don't misunderstand! I just didn't realize! It's not like I'm trying to
peek on her or anything! I swiftly turned a smooth one-eighty and walked the
hell out of that door. There was a rumor going around about me being a lusty
king with eight fiancees, I didn't want to make that any more credible! I left the
Silver Moon, entrusting the dark elf's safety to Fleur and Sakura.
"Good grief..."
"Your Highness!" I turned toward the voice, only to see a band of demonkin
knights charging my way. Samsa the ogre, Lushade the vampire, Lakshy the
alraune, and the two lamias, Mulette and Charette.
"I-Is that girl okay?"
"Yeah, don't worry about it. I cured her disease, so she'll be up and about
soon." It seemed like my voice gave everyone some measure of relief. They all
heaved deep sighs and patted their chests.
Isn't this an overreaction? Is it just because she's a demonkin too?
"Do you guys know her or something?"
"No, she's just a fellow demonkin, that's all. We have to stick together.
Racism and persecution is rife in the lands outside Xenoahs, after all. Besides,
demoderma is a terrible sickness..." Lushade muttered anxiously.
It was a sickness that only affected demonkin... She was probably wearing
those bandages not to obscure her face, but for the sake of other members of
her kind. She'd wrapped herself up to minimize the chances of infecting
another...
"But still, something must've happened for a dark elf to stray from our demon
kingdom..."
"What do you mean?"
"Dark elves, much like vampires, are a species that prides themselves on
longevity. Most of the nobility in Xenoahs are dark elves or vampires, you see."
So that meant the girl in the Silver Moon was probably several decades old. She
only looked to be about twenty, though.
As I muttered in confusion, Lushade told me he was over sixty as well. What
the hell?! Aren't you only twenty-something?! Didn't you say you wanted to join
Brunhild so you could be more independent? Do vampires still live with their
parents at sixty or something? I didn't really understand demonkin all that
much.
From what I understood, noble demonkin suffering from demoderma in
Xenoahs were cared for by humans or demi-humans and basically put under
house arrest until they died a month or so later.
I wonder if that dark elf got the sickness on her journey or something...
Coincidentally, she managed to make it to Brunhild, but she surely would've died
if she hadn't made it here...
Something niggled at the back of my mind, though... Was this really just a
coincidence?
◇ ◇ ◇
"Ooh..."
"So these are ours...?" Yae and Hilde let out happy noises as they looked up at
the two Frame Gears before them.
One of them was large and purple, somewhat resembling a samurai. It was
based on the look of traditional Japanese armor, with a crescent moon on its
helmet. The helmet was like the one worn by Date Masamune, a legendary
warlord from the Sengoku Era. The Frame Gear itself was equipped with a
waist-mounted odachi, and a wakizashi. Both of these traditional Japanese
blades suited Yae's style. There were also thrusters on its legs for increased
mobility.
I'd also fit its magical ability slot with an [Accel] enchantment, allowing
incredible speeds. She'd be able to dash through the battlefield and cut
enemies to ribbons with boundless precision.
What it lacked in defense, it more than made up for in sheer power and
agility. The Phrasium blades would ensure nothing was free from its cutting
force.
This was Yae's very own Frame Gear. I christened her Schwertleite.
Next up was the orange Frame Gear. It was more of a traditional armor-clad
knight, primarily orange but with black decorations. It wielded a huge shield and
a mighty longsword. If Yae's was a Frame Gear built for speed, then Hilde's was
a Frame Gear built for defense.
It had what almost looked like a dorsal fin on its back. The fin would
transform into an enormous broadsword for emergency battles against Upper
Constructs. I used [Modeling] to ensure it could extend to almost triple length.
This was Hilde's personal Frame Gear. I named her Siegrune.
Both girls climbed aboard their Frame Gears and began to test various
functions. They swung their swords, ran around, and basically made sure
everything was operational.
"The reaction speed is far better than it is inside the Knight Baron, it is... It
feels almost as though I am moving my own body, it does."
"The power is far beyond that, too... Now I know I'll be able to fight an Upper
Construct!"
"Don't get ahead of yourselves, now. Remember, the enemy could have all
kinds of stuff up their sleeves. Your greatest weapon is being prepared for the
worst." These new Frame Gears were far from unstoppable. I wanted to make
sure Yae and Hilde's Frame Gears could withstand that energy beam attack I'd
seen twice now, but I wasn't entirely convinced they'd even be capable of
tanking something like that.
We'd been consolidating our data, though. And I was hoping we'd have
enough to make Sue's Frame Gear capable of that defensive feat down the line.
We finished up the field testing for Siegrune and Schwertleite, then headed
back to the castle. After that I met up with Sakura and Kougyoku. We went off
to the Silver Moon to meet the girl again. An employee from the Silver Moon
had dropped by to tell us that the dark elf girl had finally woken up.
We'd been informed that she was fully cured and had no further
abnormalities. She'd even been eating well. I decided I should go see her just to
be certain, though.
I knocked on the door and entered the room to find Fleur sitting on a chair,
and the dark elf girl sitting upright in her bed.
As soon as Fleur introduced us and explained who we were, the dark elf girl
immediately hopped out of bed and bowed her entire body on to the floor.
Hey, hey! That's a little much!
"I have no words to convey to you the gratitude in my heart. Never in my life
did I believe I'd meet one of your station, much less be healed by him. If you
might accept me then I, Spica Frennel, pledge lifelong servitude to your house."
Wait, seriously?! That's way too much! Although I guess I did save your life, so
maybe this is normal...
"Honestly, that's really not necessary... You don't need to worry so much. I'm
just glad you've been cured. If you'd like, I can take you back to Xenoahs." I'd
briefly been there, even if just in the skies. Opening a [Gate] there wouldn't be
a problem.
"No... I... have no place in that country. I was actually hoping to find
employment in this nation. It's difficult for people of my kind to find work in
other nations, which is why I came here." She laughed wryly after speaking. I
wondered if she had a reason not to go home. From what I understood, dark
elves were distinguished nobles in Xenoahs for the most part.
"Work, huh...? What are you good at?"
"Back in Xenoahs, I was a member of the military, and I also performed
private bodyguard work on occasion. If possible, I'd like to find similar work in
Brunhild..."
Bodyguard, eh? That definitely means she's pretty special. Not just anyone
gets to be a bodyguard. She's certainly got the mannerisms of a stoic soldier,
too. But that just makes me more curious about why she doesn't want to go
back. Is she a criminal or something...? Nah, that can't be it.
"Grand Duke... Can we not hire her?"
"Hm? Ah... It's not like she can't join our knight order, but..." It was quite rare
to see Sakura so energized about something. She was the kind of girl who did
things at her own pace, so it made sense she'd have particular interests. Spica
looked over toward me.
"It seems I've asked the impossible, haven't I...?"
"Well, maybe... you could join our knight order as a rookie? We don't really
have anyone who needs guarding right now. The wages won't be great, but
they'd be steady. How about it?"
"I accept. I shall become your strength, Your Highness." Spica stared straight
at me with stoic resolve in her voice. Her eyes too, lit up with confidence and
strength behind them.
"Alrighty then. For now, we'll have you take the basic test. I can't just hire you
on the spot, after all. It's a committee decision."
"Of course. Thank you." She bowed her head once more.
Alright, c'mon... Enough bowing.
"...I'm pleased."
"As am I! Thank you so much, Lady Sakura."
"A-Ah... I'm just Sakura..."
"Hm? But you are a fiancee of the Grand Duke... I could never refer to you so
casually."
Nononononooo. Nope. That's not it . Not a thing of it. No sir. No way, no how.
I know I have a lot, but she isn't one of them!
I explained Sakura's situation, and Spica nodded slowly.
"Forgive me... I was unaware. Memory loss, is it? I'm so sorry, it must be a
painful experience for you."
"Not at all. In fact, this country is rather nice... Many good things happen
here. You'll grow to like it too, Spica. I'm certain of it." Sakura spoke her words
as if they were no big deal. Spica seemed puzzled at first, but her expression
gradually turned into a smile. It almost looked like she was feeling something
personal and precious.
"I was once told something very similar by someone else... Lady Sakura, you
are a wonderful person, thank you... You actually remind me of a girl I once
knew."
"I'm no lady."
"Apologies, but you are an honorable lady who saved my life. Should I forget
the debt of gratitude I owe you, I would tarnish my honor. Even if the honor of
my family is now low as mud, I still—" Spica suddenly closed her mouth. She put
her hand up against it as if she'd said too much.
It sounded to me like something had happened in the demon kingdom to
damage her family name. I neglected to press her for further information,
though.
Her body was in good shape, so I decided to take her to Yumina. The first
thing we'd do was make sure she was decent by having the Mystic Eye appraise
her character.
I opened up a [Gate] and took us to the castle courtyard. Spica had never
traveled like that before, so she looked around in wonder as I completely
ignored her and had Kougyoku call Yumina over.
After a little wait, Yumina showed up. Spica immediately prostrated herself
out of respect. Yumina wasn't just my fiancee, she was also the princess of
Belfast, so I decided not to freak out or anything. It was a standard show of
respect.
"Please raise yourself. You are Spica, yes?"
"I am." Spica stood up and looked directly into Yumina's eyes. After a moment
of silence was shared between the two, Yumina smiled.
"You seem wonderful. I'm certain you're pure of heart enough to represent
Brunhild as a magnificent knight."
"Ah... Thank you?" Spica stood still and gave a confused thanks to Yumina.
She didn't fully understand what had just happened. Either way, she had the
character approval.
"Let's test your abilities next. Follow after me." We exited the courtyard and
headed toward the training grounds.
Everyone was training as usual, working their hardest. The knights who had
been knocked down in their mock battles were stretching and doing cardio.
Wait... Waiiit a second... There are way too many people here! Moroha! You
beat down too many guys again...
Everyone stopped what they were doing when they saw us, but I told them to
continue training and not to mind us, so they did.
Either way, I could feel all the knights looking over toward us. Probably
because of Spica, I guess. Dark elves were rare, and she was particularly
beautiful. I wasn't all that surprised.
"Alrighty then... Hey, Nikola."
"Yes? Need me for something, Your Highness?" I called out to ViceCommander Nikola. He was seated on a nearby bench polishing his halberd.
It was a test for Spica, so I wanted to have him choose the most appropriate
opponent for her.
After he chose the soldier, we headed to the weapon storage shed. Spica
picked up a sword and shield. She balanced them both in her hands and got a
good feel for the weapons, then we headed back.
She and the opponent that Nikola had chosen bowed to one another and
prepared to fight. He was wielding a short spear.
The match began, and Spica found herself on the receiving end of a flurry of
thrusts. She blocked each and every one with her shield and, finding a gap,
jabbed her sword toward her enemy's chest.
Not a single attack had managed to land on her. She smashed her shield
forward against her enemy to stagger him, and then swept her foot against his
legs, knocking him to the ground.
She held her sword down against the throat of her fallen enemy. Victory was
hers.
"The Shieldguard technique, it is."
"Yep, it's Shieldguard." Yae and Hilde began murmuring to each other. They
caught me off-guard. I didn't even know they were nearby!
Shield...guard...? I mean, sure she's guarding, but what's special about that...?
"It is a special technique employed by guardsmen. It is different from
standard swordplay, it is. The focus is on defense and parrying, it is. That, and
preventing the enemies from advancing. It is a technique that prioritizes control
over attack."
"Yeah, it's amazing... She shifts her body to block all the attacks, and
completely renders the hits useless. She totally ruins the enemy's posture and
causes him to stagger. It's a difficult technique to master, for sure."
Hm, so she makes her enemy waste energy and effort. Something like that,
huh...?
So long as she maintained her defenses, she could guide her enemy into a
situation where battle would be favorable for her. After driving her foe into a
corner, she'd have free control over his movements. It was a way of
incapacitating without killing, all without dropping one's guard. Even killing the
enemy would be easy after closing the gap, though.
"So she needs to wield a shield, or..."
"Or her power is diminished, it is. Considerably so." Parrying with a sword was
possible too, but it would be a lot more difficult to control the flow of battle. A
technique built around shields... I had to admit, I was intrigued.
"Sword techniques that make use of shields are uncommon. The Frennels are
one of the demonkin families that have mastered the art. They're one of the
five families that act as advisers to the overlord of Xenoahs." Sakura spoke up
as she watched Spica's success. She sure was well-informed.
"Or at least, that's what I read in a book. The Frennel family is renowned. It
seems she's related to them."
"Ooh, I see. But why would someone from such a noble house come all the
way out here?" There were likely reasons why she couldn't talk about it, so I
didn't want to pry. Regardless, she was definitely a good person at heart,
Yumina had proven that. If she was trying to start a new life in Brunhild, then I
wasn't going to stand in the way of that.
I looked toward Nikola, and he nodded in affirmation. Spica was inducted to
our knight order that very day. Here she'd find a new beginning, and a new life.
◇ ◇ ◇
"Hm... So she's from the Frennel family, is she? Sss..."
"You know them?"
"Naturally. They're one of the five military adviser families of Xenoahs, and
their Shieldguard technique is well-known. Sss..." The two lamia sisters, Mulette
and Charette, were clearing up a little in the castle, so I'd stopped to talk to
them a bit. They were working directly underneath old man Naito. He was in
charge of agriculture and construction, so they handled documents, planning
permission, and blueprinting.
Spica had been on my mind lately, so I decided to ask them a bit about her.
After all, they were demonkin like her.
She was clearly from a prestigious household, and her ability was nothing to
scoff at either. It had me curious about why she'd leave Xenoahs, even if I didn't
want to pry about it directly.
"The Frennel family are direct bodyguards to the royalty of Xenoahs. Sss...
Each member of royal blood, including the overlord, has a member of the
Frennel family attached to them like a personal shadow guardian. At least that's
how the rumors go. Sss..."
"So Spica might've been a bodyguard for one of the royals in Xenoahs?"
"I'm not sure. Sss... As far as I know, male members of the Frennel family are
assigned to male members of the overlord's family. Same for females. But from
what I understand, there are no female members of the royal family right now.
Sss..." Mulette crossed her arms and furrowed her brow, as if she was trying to
think hard. Her tail lightly rapped against the ground.
Wait... That is Mulette, right? Or wait, is that Charette... These two look way
too similar...
Elze and Linze were twins, but they weren't identical. When I asked the two
lamias about being identical twins, they looked at me like I was an idiot and said
their scale patterns were completely different. I didn't notice, though.
"So wait... That means the overlord doesn't have a wife or anything?"
"If I recall correctly, his first and second wives died of sickness. Sss... Each of
them birthed a prince, but no princess. Sss..." That made sense enough. So in
other words, there were no female royals to assign female Frennels to, which
meant that Spica probably hadn't served as a royal bodyguard. That didn't really
answer what she meant when she talked about her family being disgraced,
though...
"Do you know of anything that might've disgraced the Frennel family lately?"
"No clue. Sss... We left Xenoahs long ago, after all. Sss..."
Hmph. My investigation didn't really bear any fruit in the end. Still, that didn't
matter too much. I didn't want to invade her privacy too deeply.
I said goodbye to the lamia sisters and headed to the training grounds. Spica
was there, breathing heavily and dabbing her forehead with a towel.
"Yo."
"Y-Your Highness? Do you require my services?" Spica got up from the bench
and bowed down to me. I really hated dealing with military-minded people like
her. I told her to stand up right away.
"How are things? Settling in okay?"
"I am, thank you. Everyone's been treating me very kindly. They don't care
that I'm demonkin, nor that I'm a woman... It's very refreshing." There were
definitely more female knights in Brunhild's order than there were of other
nations. We had a lot of demi-humans in comparison, too. Not including
Mismede, of course.
"Still, the might of this nation's army is certainly a wonder. I was caught by
surprise."
Well, that's because we work so hard... Kinda like Sparta. They all get worked
to the bone. Frankly, I'd have been surprised if my soldiers weren't especially
strong.
"A-And Lady Moroha's power is, well..." Spica shuddered slightly, as if she
were reliving something unpleasant.
"Ah... So you've already faced her?"
"If I might be honest... she completely shattered my confidence as a soldier.
My Shieldguard technique was entirely useless. It made me realize just how
much I relied on it succeeding..." Moroha wasn't exactly a fair measure of
strength to compare oneself to, though. If humanity treated her as the
standard, then they'd be taking on a challenge they'd never be able to surpass.
Spica bringing up her technique had reminded me of something I'd been told
by Sakura, though. She said that the Frennel family used a unique kind of shield.
"Ah, it's a dome-like shield with a slight curve. There's a sharp protrusion in
the center, too. It's primarily used to stab."
"Hm, I see." I took out some phrasium from [Storage] and promptly used
[Modeling] as well. Let's see here...
Spica was taken aback by my sudden usage of the spell, but quickly regained
her composure.
"Sorry to trouble you, but the curve is a little less steep... And could I trouble
you to make it a little smaller, as well...?"
"Hm..." I made the adjustments as she requested. Then, I used [Gravity] to
reduce its weight, and put on a few generic strengthening enchantments for
good measure as well.
Spica took the completed shield into her hands and lightly dusted her fingers
over it. After that, she took a combat stance and began to thrust and swing it
here and there.
"The shield's crystal-like material means my view isn't obstructed... It's also
exceptionally light and easy to handle. Thank you, it's wonderful."
"That's not all. The material is extremely durable, so it's not likely to ever be
damaged by an enemy weapon. I've also given it an enchantment that slightly
absorbs and counters magical attacks that hit it." I hadn't given Spica a
complete set of standard Brunhild knight equipment, so I took the opportunity
to make her a sword and a suit of armor. I didn't do anything special to those,
though.
"This armor... This blade... If only I had something so powerful back... Back
then..." She muttered something sorrowful. Though I heard her words clearly, I
decided not to pry any deeper on the subject.
"Master." Someone suddenly spoke up behind me. I turned to find Cesca, clad
in her usual maid outfit.
"A priority message has come from Rosetta. The current project is complete."
"Oh, wow. Faster than I expected." I really thought it'd take quite a bit longer
than that. But that was good timing. I'd be able to debut it during the
afternoon's alliance meeting.
I said a brief goodbye to Spica and headed off to Babylon with Cesca.
"Interesting, Touya... This artifact can detect the presence of Phrase activity?"
"Bet your butt it can, Relisha. I call it the Sensor Plate." It was a kind of
liquefied crystal that had been solidified and turned into a black tablet.
The tool could predict how many of the Phrase would appear, exactly what
type they were, approximately what time they'd appear, and their exact
location.
It didn't have much of a broad range, but one was enough to cover Brunhild.
Larger countries like Belfast, Regulus, and Lestia would need multiple to cover
their full territories, though. Even Lihnea would need a little more than
Brunhild's one.
"I'd like to have these installed in every guild in the registered nations. We
can have adventurers handle the lesser types that appear. If any intermediate
ones appear, we'll notify the government and have the Frame Gears deployed.
If an even stronger one appears, we can call on the alliance for aid. Provided
there's enough of them to handle, at least."
"The guild wholeheartedly approves of this plan. We'd like to avoid another
Yulong incident, after all." Guildmaster Relisha smiled as she spoke. She was
seated around the alliance round table with the world leaders.
I sought out the guild's cooperation, because they were prominent in every
nation. That included nations that weren't part of the alliance. Their
information network was also something to be desired.
The current plan was to request cooperation of the government of any nation
we get an alert from, if they weren't in the alliance we'd try to open up fair
diplomacy and convince them our Frame Gears were necessary. Of course, they
could still choose not to believe us. But they'd have a hard time denying the
truth when it stood in their country and made mincemeat out of their citizens.
"Hmph... Wonderful. We'll be able to prepare for them well in advance now."
"That reminds me... Those fragments of the broken ones... Phrasium, was it?
Sounds like a pretty useful resource to have." The Emperor of Regulus gave his
approval as the beastking mused about how to make use of the crystal debris.
Naturally, I'd told the other leaders about what made phrasium so unique.
They'd noticed the material used by our knight order and some of our Frame
Gears anyway, so I had to.
We also decided that the country that 'hosts' the Phrase invasion would
receive eighty percent of the material, and I'd receive the remaining twenty as a
rental fee for the Frame Gears. Obviously I wouldn't get any if they took out the
Phrase without using my power, though.
Phrasium had three qualities that made it especially useful.
It increased in density and hardness directly proportional to how much magic
was poured into it.
It regenerated itself constantly until its magic reserves were depleted.
It could amplify spell power if it was used as a magical catalyst.
That last point was especially interesting. The body of a Phrase acted much
like a spellstone, but had no particular type affinity and was much more
conductive to magical amplification.
The only issue was how much it weighed, and mass producing them. I
couldn't reduce their weight with [Gravity], and I couldn't get them to change
form on the fly with [Modeling], either.
The material could be cut, so that wasn't the issue. The problem was in
reforming it. Still, it seemed like the other nations would be able to make a
scalemail-like armor out of it by combining smaller pieces and looping them
together.
Then again, they'd have to produce a ton of magical power to get it hard
enough. The material also gradually became more resistant to magic, requiring
more magical power poured into it over time. It was a case of diminishing
returns.
Somewhat like an RPG, when you level up. You'd need more experience
points to get to the next level.
I never felt anything like magical resistance, though. My power freely flowed
into anything without me really noticing. To be fair, I'd never filled anything up
to the absolute limit. Though that did make me wonder... Would an item break
if you poured too much magic into it?
"Now then, today's meeting..."
"Excuse me, but I have something to report." Just as I was about to end the
meeting, Doge Audrey raised her hand. I wondered what she wanted.
"I thought I should let you all know. Just a few days ago, Edgar Bowman
escaped from his prison camp. You all know Bowman as the man responsible
for the recent Golem rampage in Roadmare."
Wait, he seriously escaped?!
"It seems as though his escape was orchestrated from the outside. We
haven't yet found his whereabouts, so I thought you all should know in case he
crossed the border."
So wait... He didn't just escape, someone let him out? Who did that...? Well, I
guess it makes sense. Even if he's irritating, he's still known as a genius. He was
probably saved by someone in exchange for his cooperation.
"Run search. Magical Researcher, Edgar Bowman." A map was projected into
the air, but not a single pin fell down with it.
"Search complete. No matches." What...
"Is he dead, or... What does this mean?"
"It could be that he's dead and his corpse isn't recognizable. Or it could mean
he's in a place with a magical barrier. Or he's carrying a portable magic-blocking
charm around." I couldn't exactly voice just how bad of a feeling I had about
this. It wasn't exactly a sense of fear or anxiety... It was more the feeling that
something was definitely about to go wrong.
Like my dead grandpa used to say, "There's nothing more dangerous than a
self-righteous fool."
I couldn't help but feel the same.
◇ ◇ ◇
Just three days after I handed over the detectors to the guild, we had a
reading. It was three lesser constructs, in a port town to the northwest of
Refreese. A group of Refreesian adventurers ended up taking them out.
The lesser constructs were manageable for Red adventurers. Though it'd
probably be a bit of a challenge.
Still, there was a problem in our system. Even if the sensors could detect how
many there were and approximately when they'd come out, there'd have to be
a constant vigil until they emerged due to our tools being imprecise. It was kind
of a pain for the adventurers to hang around the breach zones for so long.
On the other hand, the guild purchased the phrasium from them for a very
high price. The guild then went on to sell the phrasium to merchants from a
certain fledgling nation...
Not anyone could take quests to go and kill the Phrase, either. They were only
given to adventurers that the guild was familiar with and trusted.
It'd be terrible if someone half-assedly accepted the mission and just bailed.
Either way, I was glad to hear that the sensors worked. I didn't anticipate any
issues.
I also delivered some of the sensors to the tribes in the Sea of Trees by using
the Rauli tribe's network. They would receive word from the other tribes via
carrier bird, and then Pam would pass on the message to me through her Gate
Mirror.
It'd be really bad if any of the Phrase came out in the Sea of Trees, but that
would be a problem for another day.
All I could do was hope the damage would be minimal before we could
respond.
That was all there was to it.
"So, what do you guys think?"
"Ohoho... So this was... What did you call it, a trolley?" I was standing in front
of the leaders of the free world, explaining to them the item I had recently
created. I'd spread out a railroad track across a plain in Brunhild, and set the
basic hand-operated trolley atop it.
"Like I said, this thing moves along the rail if two people stand on top of it and
move the handle up and down. It's a transport device, basically."
"I see, I see. It doesn't seem all that complicated. But it isn't able to carry
much in the way of cargo, is it?"
"For now, you're right. But I'm planning on replacing it with something that
can move a lot of cargo, fast. This is just a proof-of-concept to show you how
things can move along this rail." If I just made a steam train immediately,
people would freak out, or I would be held responsible for injuries incurred by
people who didn't know to keep off the tracks. I decided that the best thing to
do was to introduce the railroad itself first. Then, people would realize that
heavy things moved along it, and accidents wouldn't be so bad if it was a simple
trolley.
Cesca and the other gynoids told me that trains actually existed in the ancient
world. So really it was more like bringing back a long-lost technology that was in
this world to begin with, rather than introducing an alien technology. Though
from what I understood, those trains were extremely noisy and powered by
magic.
"Creating a route should be easy enough by flattening the land with earth
magic. We should be able to easily transport ore from the mines with these
rails, too."
"Hm... That's true."
"But there are certain regulations I need you to stick with. Specifically, the
railroad tracks need to be a certain width, no matter what the country. If we
had a single railroad that went from Refreese to Roadmare, it'd be easier to
exchange goods and finances. You wouldn't want to waste time adjusting tracks
and vehicles, right?" Rail width was typically measured as gauges... The most
commonly used width in the world was the standard-gauge track, around onethousand-and-thirty-five millimeters. The one used in Japan was known as the
narrow-gauge, around one-thousand-and-sixty-seven millimeters wide. Bullet
trains used the standard-gauge though, so that was the one I went for in this
world.
My grandpa's job was actually measuring the width of railroads. He often told
me just how important it was. Heat or cold could cause the metal of the rail to
expand or contract. You needed to pay attention to the most subtle of
distortions in the material, or trains could derail pretty badly. He used to tell me
over and over just how important his job was.
"Our country doesn't share borders with your nations, though..." King Cloud
of Lihnea raised his hand. He wasn't wrong. Lihnea was on an isolated island,
and only shared borders with Palouf to the north.
"That's true, but a standardized global rail size will be helpful if you purchase
rail carts or rails from other nations. There's no need to make a unique width
just for your rails."
"Well, that's fair." I also decided that we'd lay out two tracks side by side. One
for one direction, and one for the opposite. This would reduce risk of head-on
collision. After I finished explaining everything, the world leaders went off to
have their usual fun.
They happily went back and forth along a two-hundred meter rail, riding back
and forth on the trolley. Are you children or heads of state...?
The two women present, Doge Audrey and Her Holiness the Pope, didn't
participate though.
Instead, they were carefully examining the blueprints I'd given everyone. They
were already coming up with plans to lay tracks down.
Roadmare and Ramissh were right next to each other, after all. They were
only separated by a large body of water. If they could build a bridge and put a
railway track on it, trade would likely flourish between the two.
Funnily enough, the Beastking of Mismede and the Emperor of Refreese
ended up getting too excited. They made the trolley go way too fast, which
resulted in it crashing even though they tried to apply the brakes. As a result,
they ended up losing control and falling out. I used Healing magic to patch them
up though, so no harm was done. It was actually a good hands-on exercise of
what an accident could be like. I think they learned their lesson.
◇ ◇ ◇
The season would soon turn to spring. The days were getting warmer and
warmer, so winter was behind us.
The warmer season also brought more travelers to Brunhild. The streets of
our castle town gradually became quite busy.
There were many adventurers who came over seeking to conquer our
dungeon, and merchants came along to arm those adventurers too.
I was a little bit worried at first, but it seemed like my country was finally
flourishing.
"Milord."
"Hm? What's up, Tsubaki?" I was suddenly spoken to by a cat sitting atop a
fence. It wasn't one of my summons, though. It was an example of the Takeda
clan's ninjutsu. To be more specific, this ability allowed you to redirect the
location of your voice. The real Tsubaki was likely hiding nearby.
I thought it'd be fine if she just came out and spoke to me directly, but she
was a ninja, so I figured it was just her preferred kind of style.
"I've received some news that you may be interested in hearing. A war has
broken out in Eashen."
"Seriously? How big of a war are we talking here?"
"As you are aware there are eight feudal lords. Chosokabe, Mori, Shimazu,
Oda, Hashiba, Tokugawa, Uesugi, and Date. I have heard that Chosokabe lost to
an allied attack between Oda and Hashiba, and their territory is now forfeit.
After that, the lord of Oda, Oda Nohbunaga, was assassinated. Then, the leader
of Hashiba, Hashiba Hideyooshi, claimed Oda's territory and became the largest
force in Eashen. The Tokugawa house has formed an alliance with Date to resist
him."
Oh...? So the Oda Nohbunaga of this world was killed like the Oda Nobunaga
of my world, huh...? I'm not all that surprised.
"The one who killed Nohbunaga... Was he called Akechi? Did it happen at a
temple in the middle of the night?"
"...Yes, that's correct. A man named Akechi Mitshuhide turned on him at
Honnoji Temple... How do you know this?"
"Ah, just a feeling."
Yup... Eashen wasn't exactly a mirror of my feudal Japan, but there were
some similarities indeed. I hadn't ever heard of an alliance between Date and
Tokugawa.
"So what's up with the Hashiba army?"
"They're forcibly controlling Mori and Shimazu's territories at this point. The
remaining independent powers are Tokugawa, Uesugi, and Date... However..."
"What is it?"
"The Hashiba army is moving eastward inland toward Eashen, but they're
building warships on the western coast. Our scouts believe they are attempting
to build a naval fleet capable of conquering Yulong."
Huh... That's familiar... If I recalled correctly, there was a period in Japanese
history where Hideyoshi attempted to conquer Korea and China... That was real
dangerous for Yulong in their current weakened state, though.
"What's happening in Yulong right now?"
"Succession disputes and bickering in their royal court. Many nobles are
presenting children they claim to be the illegitimate offspring of the former
Heavenly Emperor. It's all fragmented now, similar to how Eashen was some
time ago." As I thought, it'd be bad news if Hashiba invaded Yulong. They
wouldn't be able to take all of it, but I had a feeling they'd be capable of taking
a strong foothold.
But, if I was entirely honest... I didn't really care all that much about Yulong.
Yulong had largely been left alone due to its devastated position. A lot of
people were worried about the Phrase emergence that occurred there.
A large concern was that if another nation moved in and took the territories,
it might suffer a similar fate if the Phrase came back. The countries around
Yulong didn't have the capabilities to repel the crystal invaders, after all.
There were other nations that weren't interested in interfering with Yulong at
all, as well. The Demon Kingdom Xenoahs, and the Kingdom of Horn, showed no
signs of interest in the territory. There was also Hannock, who didn't want
anything to do with Yulong, but I couldn't exactly rule them out either.
Roadmare had no intentions of conquest, it seemed. But, there was definitely
a chance that Felsen or the Nokia Kingdom could be galvanized to move against
Yulong if they saw Hashiba's army invading as well.
In the worst case scenario, war could break out between the three, with
Yulong as the battleground. It also seemed to me like Eashen was far behind
many other countries in terms of national power, too.
"Is there any news out of Felsen or Nokia?"
"Not at this time, no. Felsen is bordered with large nations, like Roadmare to
the west and Lestia to the south, so I doubt they'll make any bold moves." That
made sense enough. I wondered if the Hashiba house was moving their army
because they were aware of that situation... Or maybe they had some kind of
goal in mind.
An island nation wouldn't be able to take full control of a mainland territory,
after all... Their sudden motion was unusual.
"What kind of man is Hideyooshi, anyway?"
"I don't know many details. He got close to Oda after being granted feudal
lord status by the Emperor. But, just after they formed an alliance, conflict
broke out between them. From what I've been told, he's a small man with a
monkey-like face. He also carries a golden gourd. None have seen him but the
people of Hashiba, however."
Nobody's seen him? Weird... Is he that wary about being assassinated? In
Japan's history, Hideyoshi was pretty outspoken and flashy, but I guess this
world's Hideyooshi isn't. I heard the story in a little more detail, and I heard that
he had stuck to Oda like a shadow and stayed largely out of sight before the
betrayal.
I also heard a little more about the Emperor of Eashen. I heard that the
Emperor didn't have the power to reel in the individual feudal lords, but I
wondered if Hideyooshi had been appointed because the Emperor recognized
him or something. If he wasn't strong, he wouldn't have been able to become a
feudal lord, after all.
"What about Ieyahsu?"
"He is busy with Date, and is trying to negotiate with Uesugi. Uesugi has
military might that rivals Takeda... At least, Takeda as it used to be... Ieyahsu
believes an alliance with them will help them repel Hashiba."
Geez, what a pain... I kind of thought Ieyahsu would have unified Eashen with
little resistance.
"What should I do?"
"Wait for the time being. If it looks like Hashiba is going to make a serious
move on either Ieyahsu or Yulong, then update me."
"Understood." The cat on the fence suddenly let out a small yawn, and
Tsubaki's presence was gone.
It seemed like a lot of things had been happening lately. I thought it might be
a good idea to visit the Takeda house and speak with Ieyahsu myself.
I didn't really have any ties to anyone in his territory, but Yae's family lived
smack-bang in the middle, so it was my business.
◇ ◇ ◇
"So, what do you think?"
"Wonderful. Wonderful indeed." Old man Naito was standing next to me. The
two of us were looking at the newly-constructed clock tower.
We erected it in the castle town's main plaza. In other countries, only the elite
had clocks, so they could determine the time by the chimes they heard. But I
decided to build the tower in the square for all to see, because time was
important to keep.
Plus, I'd seen this very clock tower in Brunhild when I saw that future vision
with my fiancees some time ago.
It was kind of like the Big Ben in London. The official name for that tower used
to just be The Clock Tower, but its formal one nowadays is the Elizabeth Tower.
I had found an enormous clock in the storehouse, so I installed it atop the
giant tower. The face of it was enchanted with light magic, which made it glow
even in the darkness. The numbers were written in the ancient language of
Partheno, but it was a similar twelve number system to the one most of the
world used anyway, so it was easily read.
Even if there weren't any chimes, people could tell the time by looking at the
tower. I'd put clock faces on all four sides, after all. The only place you wouldn't
be able to tell the time from was directly beneath.
I wanted this clock tower to be a symbol of my castle town, kind of like how
Big Ben was a symbol of London back on Earth.
"Oh my, what a splendid construct..."
"Oh, Olba. Hey there! Arma, too?"
"It's been a while, Mister Tou— I mean, uh... Your Highness."
"Touya's just fine. It's nice to see you." I turned to greet Olba, the Mismede
merchant, and his daughter Arma. Their foxy ears were idly twitching as they
spoke.
Olba visited Brunhild often, but it was rare for me to see Arma here.
"I've come with a shipment of metal. Arma's school is currently on break, so I
promised her I'd show her your fine nation in person."
"Oh, great!" Olba used my revenue based on sales of stuff like the baseball
gear and my other 'inventions' to pay for steel and other metals. The metals
were then brought to Brunhild as raw materials to make Frame Gears.
"Ah, and about the request you put in earlier..."
"Hm? Did they fall for it?"
"In Felsen, yes."
I see... Felsen... Interesting, interesting...
Frame Gears required rare materials like orichalcum in all of their parts.
Compared to the other raw materials it hardly made up the most, but there was
still quite a lot of it inside a single unit. The amount of orichalcum in one Frame
Gear could produce about ten longswords.
I hypothesized that the first thing the Frame Gear thieves would do was
disassemble the parts they took to learn the structure. Then, they would
attempt to build their own afterward.
That was where Olba came in. I boldly requested him to circulate a large
amount of orichalcum on the rare metal market. But in truth, it was a plot to
find out who would buy such a suspiciously vast amount of the stuff. We set up
a fake company and everything.
Precious metals like orichalcum didn't appear on the market all that often,
after all. Even if it did, it was typically a really high price.
We spread a tactical rumor about an eccentric merchant who only dealt in
orichalcum, as well as several excuses as to why we wouldn't sell smaller
amounts.
People typically only asked for enough to make one sword. Orichalcum was
not only rare, but also difficult to process. We also listed it at a price much
higher than market value, so there weren't many customers who were
interested in what we were selling.
However, that was the trap. Because if someone still wanted to buy it...
They'd be very suspicious.
"The group that bought it is the Lao Workshop. I ran some checks, and we
haven't got any record of such an organization. Once the orichalcum passed
Felsen's borders, I was powerless to investigate further..."
"Why's that?"
"Their country doesn't have a mercantile guild. Everything there is managed
by the Magical Chamber of Commerce and Industry." The Magical Chamber of
Commerce and Industry... Felsen's mages, craftsmen, and merchants were all
managed by that enormous guild-like organization. Olba was powerless to
investigate because it was a domestic organization, and not an international
one like the mercantile guild.
"So you don't know who purchased the orichalcum...?" It was suspicious no
matter how you looked at it. They must have had considerable financial
backing, though...
I had no way of knowing if it was a governmental conspiracy, or just some
individual lunatics. Either way, they were probably the people we were looking
for.
The orichalcum I sold was only genuine at face value, by the way. It was
actually iron that I had weight-adjusted by using [Gravity]. The exterior was
plated with a golden material. Still, I wasn't some kind of crook. I did lodge
several valuable gemstones inside.
I didn't want to give the thieves any actual orichalcum, but I also didn't want
to cheat anyone out of their fair purchase. That being said, they did cheat me in
the first place by stealing my Frame Gear parts... I probably didn't need to
include the gemstones at all, huh?
The only issue was that I didn't know if it was something done by the Felsen
government, or just some splinter group. It was troubling to think about. Felsen
was also the nation that had the most Yulong refugees living in it.
"The Felsen Kingdom is famed for their magical engineering and artifact
research. They're known well enough for the eastern half of the continent to be
known as Lestia's Blade and Felsen's Mysticism." That reminded me, some
strange magic was obscuring the looks of the thieves during the initial hit. Could
that have been the result of Felsen research? It was true they were a highly
advanced nation, but I didn't think they'd be capable of producing a Frame Gear
or anything.
I didn't have any conclusive evidence that implicated Felsen. However, it was
very likely that whoever did steal my stuff was operating out of that country.
"Olba, please let me know if anything unusual comes out of Felsen. I'll be in
your debt."
"No need to be so polite. I'm always happy for an opportunity to earn more
profit, and I think if I asked any more of you I might incur some kind of karmic
penalty."
"Oho? Well, if you must know... I have a special flask that can preserve hot
drinks and soups for extended time periods."
"I'd love to hear more!" I opened up [Storage] and fetched a thermos flask I'd
recently created. It was fairly easy to make if you had someone capable of wind
magic, since it was just a case of making a vacuum inside the flask. It wasn't as
effective as the thermos flasks from home, though.
I drew out a little diagram on the ground while explaining the basics. Naito
also appeared from somewhere and started intently listening to my
explanation. Arma looked fairly bored, though, so I opened up a [Gate] and sent
her to see Yumina.
I gave a few of them to Olba, along with a disassembled one to show him the
basic structure. Old man Naito also asked for one, so I gave him my personal
thermos.
It made sense that he'd want it given the amount of outdoor work he did. I
felt a little guilty for not thinking of him sooner.
After that, I used a [Gate] to move a few of the metal shipments to Babylon's
Workshop. Then, I said goodbye to the two of them. Olba went off to his store
branch in Brunhild. Naito happily walked off with his thermos. He was surveying
a new construction project.
I was about to head back home through a [Gate] before I saw a few familiar
faces in the castle town. I stopped in my tracks and called out to them.
"Howdy there! How are you guys?"
"Huh? A-Ah, Your Highness?!" The young adventurer, Lop, turned to me and
dropped the spear in his hands. His three companions also reacted with similar
surprise. The only one that didn't show much of a reaction was the small white
mouse riding atop one of the girls' heads. She hurriedly stopped, so he almost
fell down off her head, though.
It was the rookie adventurers I'd met on the slaving ship. Lop, Fran, Eon, and
Klaus. The white mouse atop Eon's head was also one of my summons.
"Has the little guy been of help to you?"
"Yes! Snow tells us when magical beasts are on the prowl, and also detects
traps for us!"
"Heh... Not bad, little guy." The white mouse stood atop Eon's head and
twitched his whiskers.
...Did he seriously just rub the back of his head awkwardly...? You really are a
smart mouse.
It seemed like the group had named him Snow. Well, he was a snowmouse, so
that made sense.
"We were promoted to Purple just yesterday, actually!" Fran, the
swordswoman of the group, happily reported her news to me.
That's good! They're advancing pretty quick. Guess they're rookies no more.
Dungeon exploration didn't contribute toward your guild promotions, since it
wasn't a quest. However, discovering new floors, chambers, monsters,
treasures, and hidden rooms and then reporting them to the guild would get
you points towards your next rank.
Guild Ranking went like this: Black -> Purple -> Green -> Blue -> Red -> Silver -
> Gold. It wasn't all that hard to get from Black to Purple, but it was still an
achievement in itself.
"Snow keeps finding hidden passages for us. We've found quite a few
treasure chests now... One even had this inside!" Fran held out a mithril sword.
It was old, but it looked like it was in good shape. It was definitely a valuable
find.
"What are you gonna do with it?"
"Well, we all spoke about it and we decided I'd keep it and use it in battle. We
went to great lengths to find it, after all..."
"You should sell it."
"Huh?" The four of them looked at me blankly, so I explained myself. They
may have risen to Purple from Black, but they were still newbies. Rookie
adventurers swinging around a mithril blade? That could attract attention. The
bad kind. I didn't want them getting accosted by people who were after a quick
cash fix.
"Oh, I see..."
"You should sell it because you might end up being attacked for it. You don't
want to stand out, not yet at least." It was advice based on my own
experiences. It'd be fine if they were strong enough to stand up against the
people who'd come after them... But I wasn't so sure they were quite at that
level yet.
"Aw... I-I like this sword, though..."
"But he raises a fair point. There's a lot of risk in keeping it. We should avoid
endangering ourselves, Fran."
"I guess, Klaus..." Klaus, their bowman, seemed to have a good head on his
shoulders. At least she seemed to understand what he was saying, even if it
made her sad.
"Besides, can't you guys buy decent gear for everyone with the money you
make from selling the sword? It'd be better to have a balanced party."
"...That's true. We all found the sword, so I shouldn't enjoy the spoils alone.
Let's do it! Let's sell it." Fran seemed hesitant, but she finally agreed to follow
my advice.
"Alright, then. I'll buy your sword. I'll pay you a little more than market price,
too. Consider it a graduation gift for your purple status." I figured I'd give them
about twenty golden coins to the kids, since I had withdrawn some cash lately
anyway.
But then I kind of started to worry about them being attacked and robbed of
the cash. Plus, the idea of giving roughly two million yen to a bunch of thirteenyear-old kids didn't sit too well with me.
"...Or, if you give me the mithril sword, I could make you kids some new gear,
just for you. How about that? What do you choose?"
"Seriously?! The gear, the gear!" Hook, line, and sinker. I felt a little bit guilty,
in all honesty. Almost like I'd swindled the kids out of a mithril blade.
I decided to craft something worthy of twenty golden coins.
I went to the Silver Moon's backyard and opened up [Storage] to take out a
bunch of raw materials. Then, I began using [Modeling].
I made an armor and spear set for Lop, light armor and a sword for Fran,
leather armor and a bow for Klaus, and a robe-and-staff ensemble for Eon.
I wanted to use mithril for the metal armor, but it didn't end up being viable. I
ended up using reinforced steel instead. I also adjusted the weight of their
clothing using [Gravity]. Outwardly it wouldn't look very different to normal
armor. A person would only know about the enchantments on the gear if they
wore it.
I coated the bladed edges of the sword and spear with thin phrasium. With
that, their weapons would handle a little better, and cut a lot better.
I also enchanted Klaus' bow, so it applied [Accel] to any arrows it fired. Any
arrows fired from it would be a lot more powerful. I also made a bowstring out
of thread-like phrasium, and a bow that could actually handle it. For his leather
armor, I weaved it with dragonscale for added protection. I put strips of leather
in front of it, though. Outwardly, it just looked like normal leather armor.
Eon's cane was tipped with what appeared to be red and yellow spellstones.
Her primary aptitudes were fire and light, but it was actually a cunning disguise.
The spellstones were pure phrasium, colored yellow and red. It would allow her
magical attacks to become much more powerful. I even weaved some phrasium
into her robe as well, just to reinforce her a little. It wasn't visible, though.
I completed the fairly plain-looking gear, and then I explained the special
qualities of each to them. Initially, they looked a little disappointed at the
seemingly shoddy stuff, but they soon perked up after they realized just how
powerful the equipment I'd given them was.
"Now listen up. You can't tell another soul about this stuff, alright? It's one-ofa-kind. Nothing like these exist anywhere else. If the time comes for you guys to
finally sell them, then sell them to Olba Strand's company." I knew for sure it'd
be worth more than twenty gold. The Strand Company had the finest appraisers
around, after all.
The four of them thanked me, much to my chagrin, as I handed them enough
dragon meat to feed four people. Suddenly, the bell rang on the clock tower. It
had just turned noon.
I told them to pass the meat over to Micah, asked her to treat them to a
home-cooked meal, and then left in a hurry.
Lunch was waiting for me back at the castle, after all.