"Are you ready?"
"A-Are we gonna be fine? We won't come out anywhere weird, will we?"
"It'll be fine, relax." I laughed softly toward Elze. She was usually so hotheaded, but she could be surprisingly cautious at times. Still, that was part of
what made her cute.
This time Elze, Yae, and Hilde were coming with me. That was to make up for
the fact that they didn't come last time.
Sue and Sakura were busy, so I promised to take them later.
This time we were going not through the dimensional disruptor, but through
my own divinity.
According to Karen, I needed to be careful to only leap into worlds that I knew
were safe for the people coming with me, or else I ran the risk of putting them
in danger.
"Uhm... Just holding my hand is fine enough, you know..."
"N-No, Touya-dono... I just want to be safe, I do."
"That's right! This is much safer!" Hilde and Yae were tightly clinging to my
left and right sides, while Elze was clinging on to me with a hug from the front.
It was nice, but I still felt a little shy. I decided to quickly take us all to the
Reverse World.
"A-Alright, let's do it." I blushed as I let my own divinity flow through me,
gently enveloping the girls by my side with it as well... Then, we leaped into
space-time itself.
◇ ◇ ◇
We ended up on a hillside, overlooking a forest. There were some mountains
in the distance. There were also a settlement and a few roads nearby, but it
didn't look all that busy. It seemed like we were on some kind of frontier.
"I wanted to warp us to Allen, but I guess I missed my mark a bit..." I checked
my map and found we were quite far from the Allent Theocracy. We were still
within the nation, but nowhere near the capital city, Allen.
"It really doesn't seem like another world out here... Just looks like any other
countryside." Elze gazed along the highway and muttered quietly. I felt the
same way when I was reborn for the first time.
"These worlds run in parallel, so they aren't too different in terms of general
terrain. Anyway... Elluka... Let's see here..." I searched for her on my
smartphone map. She seemed to be north of Allen city.
I decided to stop by the capital using [Gate], and then use [Fly] to get the rest
of the way afterward.
"We haven't had lunch yet. Do you guys wanna stop by in the capital?"
"That sounds good to me, it does. I would like to have something to eat, I
would." Yae and the others seemed to get pretty excited at the prospect of
lunch, so I fired up a [Gate] and took us to the city. Before we settled in at the
Cafe I'd gone to last time, I picked up another newspaper. The headline on the
front page quickly caught my eye.
It said, "Golden Monsters Appear Once More." It looked like the Mutated
Constructs had appeared in the Reverse World again. In Allen City, no less.
Apparently, the battle Gollems and the templar knights of the kingdom
managed to fend them off, but one of the nation's major nobles lost his life in
the conflict. But apparently that man had been planning a revolt against the
current royal family, so most of the citizens took it as some form of divine
retribution.
I was amazed that they'd even surfaced in a city like this, though...
From what I understood, the wicked god's aura was drawn to negative human
emotions, but maybe they were just becoming indiscriminate in what they
attacked.
I also wondered if the Reverse World's boundary was becoming weaker due
to the incoming merge... If that was happening, then I needed to figure things
out fast. I decided that I needed to hurry up and meet with Elluka immediately,
but the girls wanted to take more time with their lunch. That's why I decided to
use [Fly] and blast off alone.
Everyone hated going up there with my [Fly] spell anyway, so it was better for
me to scout ahead and open a portal for them later. I really wished that they'd
just get used to flying, though.
I didn't want to make any kind of undue comment, so I held my tongue and
set off, making sure to cast [Invisible] on myself as I rose into the air. I didn't
want to get seen by any airships or anything like that.
I ended up going pretty far north, floating above the area equivalent to where
the Kingdom of Hannock would be in the regular world.
"She ought to be around here somewhere..." I slowed down, slowly lowering
myself closer to the ground as I started scanning the ground below me.
According to the map marker, she should've been walking around the road I
was nearby.
"Hm... That her?" I saw a figure on the highway in the distance. Two, actually.
A wolf-like creature dragging a fallen woman along by the scruff of her neck.
That was absolutely Fenrir and Elluka.
Elluka herself wasn't moving at all, and Fenrir was just dragging her along the
road. I wondered if she'd been injured. I dispelled my invisibility and headed
over to Fenrir's side.
"Hey, you guys ok?!"
"Hm?! Oh, if it isn't Touya! Are you well?" Fenrir dropped Elluka and turned
around to greet me. His voice was as manly and baritone as ever.
"Forget that, what happened to her?!"
"Hm? Ah. Don't fret. My master simply purchased one too many frivolous
things in town. She neglected to buy food supplies."
"Seriously?!" I stared blankly for a moment until a loud growl from Elluka's
stomach snapped me out of it.
"...Food... Hungryyy..." I pinched the bridge of my nose and heaved a sigh.
Was this moron in front of me seriously someone I was hoping could help me
defend the Reverse World?
"...Are you okay?" Her stomach growled loudly in response as if to say "No, I
am not okay."
I just shook my head.
◇ ◇ ◇
"Ahh... That was good! Man, I haven't eaten in like three days or something.
Was starting to get worried I'd have to go after bugs or frogs or something
gross." I'd pulled a bunch of food, including a few dragon meat skewers, out of
my [Storage]. The amount she ate could have put Yae to shame... But there was
no point worrying about it.
"Why are you here anyway, Touya? Don't get me wrong, I'm glad, but still..."
"I was actually looking for you."
"You were? Needed something Gollem-related?"
"Kind of, I guess... I'm not really sure where I should begin but... I guess we
can start with you looking at this." I handed her the newspaper I'd picked up
earlier and pointed toward the article about the Mutated Construct attack.
Elluka mulled over the words, and Fenrir peeked over to look as well. The wolf
can read, too? That's wild...
"I see... What about it? I know those golden monsters are a hot topic and all,
but what does that have to do with anything?"
"I'll be blunt. Those golden monsters are beings birthed from a wicked god.
They can be considered the scouts for an inevitable takeover plan. Soon enough
they're going to appear all over this world, and wreak havoc on it. This entire
world is in danger, Elluka."
"...Did you hit your head? Do you want me to take you to a doctor?" She
looked at me through those thick glasses almost as if she felt sorry for me.
Fenrir was giving me a similar sympathetic kind of look.
Look, I know how stupid that sounded just now, alright?! Gaaah! Fine, I'll give
you more details then!!
"Look. My actual identity is the grand duke of Brunhild, I rule over a whole
country."
"...You've completely lost your mind."
"...He looks so normal from the outside, this is truly a shame." Please stop
looking at me like that! Auuuugh! I sighed quietly and shook my head, taking a
good few hours to explain the full situation to them. It was far more annoying
than it had to be...
"I see, interesting. Well, it's not like what you're saying isn't theoretically
possible. This talk of invaders from another world, and a different world in
parallel to our own... The whole thing reminds me of Noir's abilities, really."
"Noir?"
"The black crown. It has mastery over time and space. It can pull things
through from other realities, but I never expected to meet someone from such
a place... Although perhaps it's a little different to how Noir does it. I'm not
entirely sure of the chronological specifics..." Another crown? And this black
crown can manipulate space-time? I wonder if Palerius came into contact with
that crown five-thousand years back...
"Either way, you can't expect me to just believe you off the bat. I can hardly
just nod my head and accept that you're from another world. That kind of thing
is unreasonable. You could be attempting to pull some kind of scam, after all."
"Indeed. If you are trying to trick us with such a story, you must be quite the
fool." Even if I can't blame your skepticism, there's no need to be rude... Then
again, I did hardly even manage to convince myself of everything I just said, so it
must be even harder for them to believe it.
The existence of the Phrase would be more than enough to prove what I was
saying, but as luck would have it, they hadn't yet attacked this world. Then
again, I wondered if that'd count as enough proof after all. Elluka would've
probably considered it some new breed of magic beast.
Guess I could just drag her to the regular world and convince her by force...?
Oh, I know...!
"I'll show you both something that doesn't exist in this world. That ought to
do it."
"Hmm? Something that doesn't exist?" I reached into my [Storage] and pulled
out my personal Frame Gear, Reginleif. It landed on the ground with a
tremendous thud.
"WHAAAAAAAAAA?!"
"HUHHHHHH?!" If they were cartoons then their eyes would've popped out
of their heads. They simply stared on in absolute disbelief at the crystal-lined
mech in front of them.
"This here is a Frame Gear. It's a mechanical warrior I created to defend my
homeworld from the Phrase, those otherworldly invaders I mentioned."
"A Frame Gear? You mean it's not a Gollem?"
"It isn't. Unlike Gollems, Frame Gears don't act autonomously. They're
controlled directly by humans."
"A mechanical frame without a mind? Curious... But yes, that's certainly not
like a Gollem. More like a weapon, or a tool."
"Well, we still have sentimental value attached to them. Fighting inside them
makes it feel more like a partnership. I think they at least have that in common
with the Gollems of this world." I got into Reginleif and made it move around a
bit as a demonstration for the two. I got a little too into it and even showed
them the Fragarach moves.
I checked through the monitor to see their reactions, and the two of them
were about as stunned as I expected. Seemed like this had worked as proof
enough that I was something unknown to them.
I hopped out of the cockpit and landed back on the ground, prompting Elluka
to charge right toward me.
"Let me have that thing!"
"Absolutely no way." Elluka pouted at first, then started to sniffle, before
pulling an expression of such despair that you'd think the world was about to
end. I wasn't gonna give up my precious Reginleif that easily.
She threw a little tantrum before finally calming down after Fenrir angrily bit
her on the behind. She was still muttering something angry, though.
Since it seemed like they'd been convinced, I shoved Reginleif back into
[Storage] and began talking to them again.
I basically wanted to know if they had any ways of dealing with the inevitable
influx of Mutated Constructs.
"Hmm... Well, this enemy sounds like it can be defeated by strong Gollems,
but it might still be a challenge. After all, many of the Gollems in this world lack
any combat aptitude at all." That was certainly true. Mr. Sancho's Crab Bus
didn't exactly seem useful for anything except transport, it wasn't like it could
fight if it had to. The three Étoiles I'd obtained didn't seem all that strong,
either.
"Master, would the military-grade Gollems not suffice? They certainly
wouldn't lose in terms of sheer numbers."
"Hm... Numbers are one thing, but a bunch of low-quality Gollems won't
exactly turn the tide."
"Military-grade Gollems? What are those?" I quickly butted in.
"As a general rule in this world, people typically only own one Gollem. That's
mostly because attempting to command multiple Gollems at once causes
crossed wires and signal jams... But the military-grade Gollems, or Soldats, don't
have any such restriction. A single person can easily command an entire squad
of them."
Apparently the Soldats were able to move as a coordinated platoon under the
command of individual commanding Gollems known as Sergents.
So a person could take control of a single Sergent, which would then be able
to control a platoon of Soldats.
That would prevent any crossed wires since he'd only be commanding one
Gollem. That made sense.
"The only issue with that is that all the Soldats are factory models. That
means they lack the unique skills that legacy Gollems would have. Not to
mention the fact that the amount that can be controlled through the Sergent
depends on the individual. I'd say that the average number that can be
controlled per person is about five. There's also the fact that all Soldats in a
single platoon will be deactivated if that platoon's Sergent is destroyed."
"...So what does that mean?"
"I'll be blunt with you. A single legacy Gollem would probably be better than
an entire Soldat platoon."
That was a pain. Ultimately, the situation came down to having a single
person control one strong Gollem with a power level of ten, or a single person
controlling five weak Gollems with a power level of two. That seemed pretty
situationally dependent...
"I have three legacy Gollems under my command, though. I never got
anything like that jamming, or crossed wires."
"Three Legacies? Are they perhaps from the same series?"
"Yeah. They're all Étoiles."
"My... That's quite rare. It's almost hard to believe you gathered three
Gollems from the same production line, given how many creators there were.
It's highly unlikely that there are many others out there with multiple Legacies
under their control."
She had a point. The three of them were sold to me because they wouldn't
boot up properly. It would make sense that rare legacy models would be
snapped up by different people and separated.
"I'd say that if such a situation as you described happens if this world was
attacked en masse... We would have no means of a unified defense." That was
bad news. Even if the crowns were powerful, there'd be a limit to how much
they could fight. Not to mention the trade-offs for using their power.
The other Legacies would probably be able to handle Lesser Mutants, but
Intermediate and Upper Mutated Constructs would be impossible to handle.
But that info wouldn't really help if we had no means of detecting the attack.
As far as I knew the Reverse World didn't have an adventurer's network like the
Guild, so there'd be no place to reliably install Phrase detectors.
"Actually, Touya... I have a question, or rather, a request."
"Hm? I'm not giving you my Frame Gear."
"Tsk." She seemed annoyed by that.
"While I am personally interested in that thing, let me set it aside a moment.
You said you ruled a country in that other world? Something about being a
Duke?"
"Grand Duke."
"So you have more of those Frame Gears, right? And you have the authority
to relocate them?"
"I have hundreds of them, yeah... They belong to me. Nobody else in the
world except my country has them."
That wasn't entirely true, I had given a Dragoon to Ende, but that wasn't
relevant.
Ultimately the Frame Gears belonged to me, rather than Brunhild. I didn't use
the national treasury to develop them, or anything like that. It was all funded
out of my own coffers, usually financed by trade deals with Olba.
"Anyway, I want you to lend the power of those Frame Gears to a small
country not far from here."
"What do you mean?"
"That country is currently suffering an invasion, and they're in a spot of
trouble. I would like you to help me repel the invaders."
Apparently, the country was a small kingdom known as Primula. They were
being invaded by a country called the Triharan Holy Empire. Let's see here...
I projected the world map into the air using my smartphone. The map was the
inverse of how I usually saw it, but Primula's territory seemed to roughly cover
where Xenoahs was in the regular world. Which would make Triharan... This
world's territorial equivalent of Yulong.
Guess they're similar here, too... Doesn't matter if it's the regular world or the
Reverse World, they're the same kind of people. It reminds me of that time
Yulong attacked Hannock.
"What can you tell me about this Holy Empire?"
"It's an extremely authoritarian nation, they have a holy emperor who sits at
the top, but he's basically a puppet. The actual political power lies in their
senate, and they're the ones who ordered this invasion." Even that sounded
similar to Yulong. First an Empire of Heaven, and now a Holy Empire... Geez.
Although in Yulong's case, the emperor held all the power alone.
"Triharan is also one of the few nations that makes use of Soldats in its
military. In terms of sheer numbers of military-grade Gollems, the Holy Empire
only falls behind the Gardio Empire and the Isengard Magitechnocracy."
"Other than those three, there aren't really any other nations that use
Soldats."
That just makes it the weakest Soldat-using nation, then! Ah well, I guess it is
what it is.
Still, I didn't exactly want to interfere. If you considered every time I'd done
that in the past, nothing good usually came of it. Then again, I didn't really need
to worry about my social status in the Reverse World.
"I don't really think it's my place to butt in without at least knowing more
details. I'd be fine with ending a war, but only if I learn more about it."
"Very well. You can talk to the king of Primula and hear the situation from
him, then. There's not much time, though. The battle between the Primula
Knight Order and the Holy Empire's army has begun."
Then there was no time to lose. I didn't want more people to die just because
I was taking it easy. It didn't matter if it was the Reverse World or not.
"Alright, then let's go quick. [Levitation]."
"Wah?!"
"Whoa?!" I took the woman and the wolf floating up into the air with me.
Since I was moving anyway, I decided to bring in Yae and the others once I
made it to Primula.
"We're about to fly up in the air, alright? Don't move too much. It won't be
dangerous, but you might wanna close your eyes. It can be a little scary the first
time."
"Flying?! What?!" I didn't give them a chance to protest before casting [Fly]
and blasting thousands of meters into the air.
It wouldn't take long to reach the destination if I went full-pelt.
My two passengers shrieked in horror as I accelerated toward the Primula
Kingdom. For some reason, they were making horrified expressions and looked
like they were crying. That's when I realized I hadn't actually made windblocking barriers for either of them.
It was a pain to set up on the go, so I just cast [Prison] around them and
quickly set it to prevent wind pressure from passing through, and maintained an
oxygen level similar to that of the ground.
That way I'd be fine to go at my full speed.
Elluka was screaming something at me from inside the [Prison], but I paid her
no heed.
So long as I maintain my speed, it should only take about five minutes to get
there...
Thus, I flew away like a missile, breaking the sound barrier in the process.
◇ ◇ ◇
"...S-Scary... Too scary..."
"Gwuuuh..." Elluka was looking down at the ground while muttering to
herself, while Fenrir was simply flat on the ground, twitching.
Come on, you babies. It wasn't that scary. Just think of it as riding high up in
the sky in a supersonic aircraft made out of glass... Actually, that does sound
scary. Even though I thought I'd saved time by making it to Primula in just five
minutes, they'd been suffering from motion sickness for a full ten.
"...Is this really one of the most renowned Gollem Technologists in the
world?"
"I-I am, I assure you..." Hilde, who I had called through a [Gate] earlier along
with the others, looked over Elluka with a disapproving face. Her doubt was
valid, with those thick glasses, tattered clothing, and grumbly disposition, she
didn't exactly seem like a genius.
"Oohh... He is so fluffy, he is..."
"Are you really a Gollem? You don't look the part at all."
"M-Miss, I need to inform you that I'm a mighty wolf... Please do not treat me
as a house pet..."
"Hm? Are you? Sorry, then." Yae and Elze were frantically petting Fenrir, but
let up when he asked them to stop.
I'd introduced my three fiancees to the duo here, but I wanted them to get up
and get going already.
"C'mon, we gotta go to the castle. The fight started already, didn't it?"
"Ah... You're right... We need to hurry!" Elluka quickly scrambled up and
adjusted the glasses on her face.
Primula's Capital City was known as Primulet, and we weren't too far away
from it.
When we arrived at the city limit, Elluka flashed some kind of card to the
guards there, and they immediately brought us a six-wheeled Gollem carriage.
It seemed like she definitely had connections with the Primula royalty.
We hopped on the Gollem carriage and the knights started taking us along the
road to the castle.
I looked out along the streets and saw people with misery cast over their
faces. It wasn't surprising, they'd probably just found out they were at war.
The first thing I noticed about the castle up-close was that it was far bigger
than the one back in Brunhild. We were greeted by a broad-shouldered,
bearded man decked out in fancy clothing. He came charging at us with a smile
on his face. He was also extremely fat.
It was honestly comical to see a man of his size running as fast as he could.
"Miss Elluka!"
"Ah, Grand Chamberlain Every."
"What a pleasure to see you, it's been too long!" Grand Chamberlain Every
looked to be in his fifties. He stopped for a moment to catch his breath and
then shook hands with both Elluka and Fenrir. Although in Fenrir's case it was
really more of a pawshake.
"Thank you for coming. His Highness will be so pleased to see you. You'll be
able to bring the Primlarge to its fullest potential, no?"
"Elluka... What's the Primlarge?"
"That's this country's royal Gollem. It's a legacy model. I stop by every few
years to run maintenance on it." Every turned his eyes to look at me. I had been
a bit rude by butting in just there.
"Hm? Who is this?"
"He's an assistant of mine. In fact, if things go to plan, he may be able to repel
the Holy Empire's army."
"Wh-Wh-Whaaaat?!" Grand Chamberlain Every's eyes shot open and he
sprawled his arms out wide in a ridiculous pose. He would've put a kabuki actor
to shame with those moves. He was so ridiculously expressive that I had to hold
back my laughter.
"Could you arrange a meeting with the king? Ideally somewhere private... We
have a complicated story to tell him."
"Very well! Please wait a moment!" Every wheezed slightly, then patted his
chest. After that, he took off running back into the castle. Seeing him totter off
like that, I really couldn't help but be reminded of a nursery rhyme character...
He was very much a Humpty Dumpty.
As I thought rude things about the chubby old man, Elluka turned and looked
into my eyes.
"Touya. Do you know why I believed your story?"
"Hm? Isn't it because I showed you my Frame Gear? And something to do
with that black crown you mentioned?" I was curious as to why she'd brought
this up all of a sudden.
"Those were factors, true... But there was another reason. This country. You
see, of all the nations in the world, this country has the oldest history. Fivethousand-and-two-hundred years ago, there was a world war that ravaged this
planet. This country is the only surviving nation that immediately sprouted up
after the war." I remembered hearing about an ancient world war. If I recalled
correctly, it was started by two major superpowers that enveloped the world by
the end. Something about Gollems running wild and ruining everything.
The world slowly came back together from the pieces, despite losing most of
its advanced technology... If that was five-thousand-two-hundred years back,
that meant it happened even longer ago than the Phrase invasion in the world I
came from.
"You see, this nation has a legend. They say that five-thousand or so years
ago, in the ashes of the ruined world... A man appeared. This man spoke a
tongue nobody else understood and wielded magic nobody could comprehend.
He was eventually accepted by one of the small tribes, and with them managed
to conquer and unite the other minor civilizations that sprouted up. He was the
founder of this country. But according to the royal family, he lay on his
deathbed and left us with a series of cryptic dying words. He said 'I am sorry for
keeping this from you... But I actually came from another world.'"
"What?!" Elluka's words shook me.
The first king of this country was from another world? What the hell? That
can't be...
"This country is called Primula, after the tribe from that legend. But the name
of the royal bloodline is something else entirely. The surname of this country's
royal family is Palerius. They're all descended from the first king, a man named
Lerios Palerius."
"Palerius?!"
Alerius Palerius... That was the name of the Sage of Hours, a man who lived in
Partheno long ago. He was a master of space-time manipulation and
successfully hid Palerius island from the world.
But... There's no way he could've used it. Didn't Doctor Babylon say that his
gate didn't work...? No, wait... It was that it just didn't have enough magic
power.
But... Hold on... If the black crown could pull things from the other world, and
maybe visit the other world... Could Palerius have come here? This is too much
to take in.
"Is that name familiar to you?"
"...The Palerius part, at least. That's the name of a space-time mage who lived
in my world five-thousand years ago. But his forename was Alerius, not Lerios.
There's a landmass in the world I'm from named Palerius island, and the
descendants of Alerius live there." If the royal family was really part of the
Palerius Bloodline, then that would be interesting...
At the very least it would mean that the people of this kingdom were distantly
related to Mentor Central from Palerius island. But there was still a discrepancy
in the timeframe. If this bloodline started two-hundred years before the Phrase
invasion in the regular world... Did he somehow travel back in time, or
something?
"...Hold on a little... It might be better if I bring someone from that era over..."
"Do you mean Babylon-dono, do you?"
"Yeah. I think she'd be better here. She might have more to add than we
would." Elluka seemed confused by my exchange with Yae, so she butted in.
"From that era? What do you mean?"
"Sorry, can you just sit tight a moment? I'll be back very soon."
I left a very confused Elluka behind and teleported myself to Babylon in the
regular world with my divinity.
I walked into the Hangar and found several Minibots carrying various tools
and attending to their duties. I saw Monica in one of the open garages, she was
replacing Gerhilde's shoulder armor.
"Hey, Monica. You seen the doc?"
"Hm? She's like... Right over there, and stuff." Monica pointed in a direction,
and that's exactly where Babylon was. She was completely passed out... On the
floor, no less... She looked extremely unsightly.
She had a child's body, so this kind of thing would be cute if I didn't know the
truth about her. "Ufu... Hehee... You got some good panties, missy... Mind if I
see them...? Yeah... Take them off... That's right... Bend over... Ufu... Ahaha..."
She was muttering something decidedly un-cute in her sleep. "Wake up,
dummy. It's an emergency."
"Huh?" I shook the sleeping, grinning creep by the shoulders to wake her up.
She looked at me with half-lidded eyes before reaching out toward me.
"Mm..."
"Gah!" Before I knew it, she grabbed ahold of me and pressed her lips against
my face. She'd scuttled up my body and wrapped her arms and legs around me,
I was practically immobilized by her grip.
Her tiny tongue probed into my mouth, intertwining with my own as she
licked and sucked at me. Wh-What the hell?! Where did you learn this kind of
advanced shit?!
"Hhghh... S-Stop!"
"Whuh?" I broke her away from me and tossed her to the ground. That was...
Seriously dangerous...
"Hm...? Where'd my cute little honey go...?"
"You were asleep, you idiot."
Doctor Babylon looked around in a half-asleep daze. Apparently, she'd been
dreaming about french-kissing a girl... I set all that crap aside and explained the
current situation, then took her to the Reverse World with me.
"Sorry for the wait."
"Huuuuh?!" Elluka and Fenrir weren't too bothered by the fact that I'd
suddenly materialized in front of them, but Grand Chamberlain Every almost
bent ninety degrees backward and threw out his arms in an exaggerated jazzhands gesture. Elze had to hold back her laughter at the sight.
"Don't worry, Every. This man can use teleportation magic."
"A-Ah, I see. Forgive me." His breath was a little ragged, but Every managed
to compose himself. I felt like if he was born on Earth he'd probably be cut out
for making reaction videos.
"Is this child someone from the other world as well, Touya?"
"That's right. She's a doctor named Regina Babylon. She's the creator of the
Frame Gears."
"But she's so young!" Elluka stared at her in stunned silence. That wasn't too
surprising. At first glance, she just looked like a twerp in an oversized outfit.
Doc Babylon already had [Translation] cast on her, so communication would
be simple enough. I decided to introduce the two properly.
"Doc, this is Elluka. She's a renowned Gollem Technologist. This is her Gollem
companion, Fenrir."
"Most interesting. Oh yes... I quite like the sound of you. I'm Regina Babylon,
the pleasure is all mine. I'd quite like to have a discussion with you after all of
this."
"I'm Elluka. Actually, I'd like to have a conversation with you, I'm most curious
about the technologies of your civilization." The two of them shook hands while
attempting to conceal sinister grins on their faces. I wondered what that was all
about...
"Hey, Touya... Why are they both making that face? It's creepy..." Elze picked
up on it too. I couldn't tell if they saw each other as rivals, and were grinning in
a two-faced way... Or perhaps they were happy they'd found a new source of
relatively unknown knowledge. Part of me felt like I'd just mixed two elements
that should never have interacted.
"A-At any rate, now that we're all gathered... We should head to see the
king!" Grand Chamberlain Every, who seemed somewhat shaken by the
atmosphere, ushered us toward the castle.
As we walked down the hallway, I stopped to ask Babylon if she'd heard of
anyone named Lerios Palerius before.
"Lerios... Yeah, he was old man Palerius' second son, I think. He worked to
assist his father, along with his brother. They were pretty into the whole
magitech stuff. From what I understand, he died at a young age and his remains
weren't recovered." But now I knew the truth. He hadn't died at all. He'd been
blown to another world and managed to become royalty there.
As weird as the story was, I actually felt a bit of kinship with the man. My
story was basically the same.
We continued through the hallway until we came to a heavy door with two
guards standing in front of it.
Grand Chamberlain Every walked up toward the door and had it opened for
us. We were checked for weapons, but I had Brunhild in my [Storage], so that
was fine.
Yae and the others also had their weapons in the [Storage] pocket of their
engagement rings, so they were let through without a word as well.
The door opened into a fairly simple room, but that didn't mean it wasn't
pleasant. It looked regal and felt well aged.
There was a man on the opposite side of the room, he stood up from his desk
and walked over toward us.
He looked to be in his forties. He was relatively well-built, but was no
beefcake. He basically had well-defined muscles along his thin frame.
He had short brown hair and a very neat mustache that flowed into a long
beard. He looked like a pretty cool guy. Atop his head was a plain golden crown,
nothing fancy.
That meant he must have been the king of Primula. Which in turn made him a
descendant of Palerius.
"Good day, Elluka. It has been some time."
"That it has, Your Highness." The two of them greeted each other like old
friends and went to shake hands. He wasn't speaking to her like a king would to
a commoner.
The king of Primula looked from Elluka toward me.
"And this is the one you said could halt the Holy Empire?"
"That's right. But more importantly, I think he could decipher the stone tablet
that the first king left behind. He's from the Otherside."
"He's what?!" After hearing Elluka out, the king of Primula audibly gasped. He
looked at me with focused eyes and spoke up.
『Ђтмzт/іоіцо кzттт/аэоці ЂкѓтЎми/іаіоаіі ѕѕтм/оіэц ѕѓЂиик/оэааіа?』
"Huh?" I didn't understand what he was saying, and apparently, that made
the king annoyed. His eyes narrowed and he was about to open his mouth... But
then the same language was suddenly spoken by someone next to me.
"『ѕѓЂмЂ/оэаао ц』. Is that the language that your first king left behind? I'm
afraid that there's practically nobody in my world now who speaks Parthenese."
Doctor Babylon grinned. Oh, that makes sense. I could've spoken it if I used my
translation spell though...
Seemed like it was the right call to bring her with me.
"Aha, I see... Is that what you call it? We only know it as the Bygone Tongue,
and it is passed down in our royal family. You need to learn it to be able to take
the throne, as is tradition."
That was interesting. It was likely that the first king believed that his father
would be able to complete the dimensional disruptor and bring the people of
Palerius island to the Reverse World, so he left the language behind...
I couldn't exactly blame him for holding on to that kind of hope. He must have
been scared.
He probably thought that the world outside Palerius island had been
obliterated by the Phrase, just like the islanders did.
The king of Primula smiled and took a step forward. He extended his hand to
me. He seemed pretty down-to-earth.
"Welcome to my kingdom, friends. Allow me to introduce myself properly, I
am King Ludios Primula Palerius."
"I'm the grand duke of the Duchy of Brunhild, Mochizuki Touya. This is Doctor
Regina Babylon, and these girls are my fiancees, Elze, Yae, and Hilde." I reached
out to shake the man's hand. I couldn't tell if the surprise on the man's face was
because of him learning that I was royalty, him hearing the doctor's name, or
him realizing just how many fiancees I had.
◇ ◇ ◇
"Take a look at this." I used my smartphone to project a video into the air.
"Oho?!"
"What in the world..." We'd drawn the curtains and closed off the room. The
only people in here were me, Elluka, Fenrir, my fiancees, Grand Chamberlain
Every, the prime minister, the king, and the knight captain.
I was showing them a recording of a bunch of crystal monsters fighting
against massive, mechanical knights.
"These monsters are the Phrase. But the golden ones are mutated offshoots
of the species. Right now our world is being invaded by both. For the most part,
we've managed to repel them every time they've attacked." I looked around at
the people in the room. They were staring in disbelief. But frankly, I didn't care
if they believed. I was just here to deliver logic and facts.
"And I know that these monsters have started showing up in your world, too.
Eventually, they'll start pouring through in tens of thousands."
"Are you certain about that?"
"Yes. I'm sorry for delivering such blunt news, but the only thing that could
possibly fend these things off in this world are legacy Gollems." I felt bad for the
people, but I couldn't exactly lie to them. When the two worlds joined as one,
this was inevitable.
"...Then if what you say is true... What do you expect us to do, Grand Duke?"
"I want your country to support my efforts in taking these monsters out. I
want this country to unify with other countries. In my world, the vast majority
of countries have joined together in a league of nations. I'd like to see if the
countries in this world could do something similar..."
"You can't expect us to just be at peace with countries like the Holy Empire!
They're the same as any other invader!" The knight captain smacked his fist
against the table. He was a grizzled looking man in his forties. His red hair was
very apt for such a hothead.
"I know it's difficult to reconcile with enemies. That's why we need to reach a
state of negotiation first."
"I think if the other side is unwilling to listen, this will be fruitless. It'll escalate
to a military conflict no matter what." The abnormally gaunt and thin prime
minister chimed in with his opinion. He felt like he'd completely resigned
himself to fate. I could understand why he felt the way he did.
"Alright, then. All we have to do is show them a little force, right? Then we
can force them to hear us out. How about that?"
"Oho? You mean to crush the Holy Empire, then?"
"No, no. Not that. I don't want to do that, it'd be a major pain in the ass. I'd
have to deal with the fallout." I shook my head at Babylon, who was cackling
like an idiot. The prime minister was startled by my casual words, but quickly
gave me a wry smile.
"It's all well and good to fantasize... But it's not as if you could defeat the Holy
Empire."
"Uhh... I mean, I could. If it's just a country, I could go ahead and wipe them
out no sweat. What I really hate is the fallout afterward, where I'd have to
figure out what to do with the broken nation. I don't really enjoy the idea of
conquering nations and expanding territory, honestly." I shrugged slightly, but
my words left the Primulan people stunned.
That was just how I felt, though. I was having trouble with Brunhild, and that
was a relatively small nation... I didn't want to think about having more
territory. I had to be really careful not to accidentally become royalty in the
Reverse World. "S-So, Grand Duke... You said you could save us from the Holy
Empire, even so?"
"Sure. But the Frame Gears I showed you, those giant knights... They aren't
designed to be used against humans, so I won't deploy them."
"Then how do you intend to stop those savages?!" The knight captain yelled
again. He and the prime minister weren't exactly treating me with respect. Elze
and the others seemed irritated by their behavior, too.
Now that I was having Doctor Babylon talk with them on my behalf, it'd
probably be fine, but their attitudes were a little rude for my liking.
To be fair though, I could understand their doubts. I'd just showed up and say
"What's up fellas I'm royalty from another world!" As I mulled over such things,
the king of Primula reprimanded the knight captain.
He'd gotten a bit mad at the outburst, which was fair. It made a king look bad
if his confidants were out of control.
I tried to steer the conversation back on-topic, so I turned to the king.
"Who's in charge of the Holy Empire's invasion?"
"Er... That would be the second heir. Is that right, Prime Minister Beroah?"
"Quite. The second heir to the Holy Throne. Listin La Triharan."
Oh...? An heir? That's perfect.
"Okay. We'll just kidnap him, then. If we can hold him as a hostage, we can
just force negotiations."
Everyone except Doctor Babylon and my fiancees opened their mouths in
disbelief. They raised their brows and stared at me as if to ask what I was even
suggesting. I knew I was saying we should perform a kidnapping, but it didn't
seem that bad.
"He can freakin' teleport, people! It would be fairly simple for him to warp
into the enemy camp and steal the commander." Doctor Babylon explained it in
concise terms. She was pretty much correct.
It was definitely cowardly, but it was simple enough to work well. I didn't
exactly want to kill all the invading soldiers... No matter what happened, that
imperial commander would end up disgraced, so kidnapping was the path of
least bloodshed.
"If... If you could do such a thing, the Holy Empire may well withdraw..."
"Let me just make one thing clear, though. If I kidnap this second heir for you,
then our only demand will be a ceasefire. I don't want you taking advantage
and asking for ransoms or anything. Obviously, we're not going to hurt or kill
the hostage, either." I wanted to end the war, not trash another country. I
didn't want them using me for selfish ends.
"And what if they invade again after we return him?"
"I'll just pepper some threats in when I return him. I'll say that next time I'll
come for their god-king or something." I had realized at some point that I
sounded much like a villain, but there was no going back at this point.
"...You're certainly forceful, Grand Duke."
"I think it's a better tactic than having any more people die. In the world I'm
from, countries rarely even have conflicts with each other anymore. Like it or
not, this world will have to follow suit as well. Countries that don't co-operate
will end up collapsing." I glared softly toward Prime Minister Beroah. To be fair,
I didn't exactly mean it. I wasn't about to let any but the most irredeemable of
nations fall.
But I also couldn't be everywhere at once. Even if I wanted to save something,
I couldn't always manage it.
"Then... Grand Duke. What do you want us to do after all of this, exactly?"
"Once things have settled, I want you to ally with my country. It's not like we
have any presence here, though. I'm not really sure how you'd feel about an
alliance with a Duchy in another world."
"That's not a problem. I trust you to a degree. My bloodline hails from the
Otherside, after all. I don't doubt that such a place exists based on the
evidence, and the good words Elluka has for you." Hmm... To a degree, huh?
Guess I still don't have their full trust, but it'll do for now. They might believe I'm
a guy from another world, but aren't necessarily convinced I'm a royal.
"Display map. Show the location of the current battle between the Primula
army and the Holy Empire's army."
"Understood." My smartphone projected a map of Primula into the air and
began to zero in on the location.
Reyvan, huh...? Some kind of fortress city? Seems like the Holy Empire's army
is coming in from three directions.
"That seems dangerous, it does."
"Yeah. Seems like they're barely holding the enemy back..." Yae and Hilde
muttered to each other upon seeing the situation. It seemed to be a fortified
location, but I wasn't sure if it'd last much longer against an onslaught of
Soldats.
"Search. Triharan Holy Empire's Second Heir."
"Searching... Twenty-three found."
"That's twenty-two too many..."
"Hrmph..." I grumbled while looking the map over. It meant the search
criteria was too broad. Since it was based on my perception, it identified
twenty-three people I could mistake for the target. An imprecise spell as ever.
"Do you know anything about what this second heir looks like? Or if you had
some kind of image that'd be great. I need to narrow the results."
"Er, well... He's nineteen. He supposedly has a fair and beautiful face. His hair
is blonde, too! Ah, and he has a pale complexion due to being sickly. He should
also be wearing the Imperial Emblem of his family." A blonde hunk, huh... Sure
would be nice if I was born like that. I sighed internally as I asked to see what
the emblem looked like.
It was two swords crossed together above a two-headed lion. I kept that
image in my mind and repeated the search, it provided me with one result.
That meant he must have been the target.
"Alright, I'll be going."
"Oh, take me with you as well." Doctor Babylon suddenly asked to tag.
"And us, too!" Elze piped up as the other girls nodded.
"Uhh... Sure, I guess?" I definitely didn't want to leave everyone sitting
around. Grand Chamberlain Every and the others were obviously still a bit
suspicious, so I didn't want them to be left alone.
It'd be better for my own peace of mind if we were together, anyway.
"Alright... The distance is this much... In this direction... I think... [Teleport]." I
took my companions with me immediately and teleported off. We landed right
in the middle of a tent within the enemy camp.
Since I learned how to use my divinity to travel across worlds, my precision
with [Teleport] had gotten considerably better. I could basically do it perfectly
within a certain distance from me at this point.
A young man stood in front of us, staring in surprise at our sudden
appearance. He seemed to match the description of the second heir, Listin. His
hair was a beautiful blond. He basically looked just like the kind of princely man
you'd see in manga aimed toward women.
There were also two women in the tent with us, they seemed to be maids.
"Wh-Who are you?!"
"Uhh... I guess we're representatives from Primula? Would you be Listin,
Second Heir to the Holy Throne?" The prince immediately drew his sword and
pointed it toward me.
"Intruders! Guards!"
"Yikes... [Prison]." I set up a barrier around us within the tent, sealing off the
outside.
Soldiers rushed toward the tent with their weapons drawn, but found
themselves blocked by an invisible wall within.
"Hiyaah!"
"Oh. Careful, Touya-dono." Listin charged toward me with his sword but Yae
reached out and grabbed the blade, twisting it upward and disarming him. It
pained me to say it, but my fiancees were clearly becoming something more
than human as well.
"Sorry about that, Yae." I grabbed the stunned heir and cast [Paralyze] on
him.
As he slumped to the ground, an older-looking knight yelled from outside the
tent.
"Bastard! What are you planning to do with our venerable heir?! Return Sir
Listin to us at once!"
Oh good, I do have the right person. I'm glad there weren't any mix-ups.
"For the time being, stop your advance into Primula. We'll be keeping ahold
of your precious heir until then. I'll return him only when the Triharan Holy
Empire is completely out of this country. Understand?! You won't ever see him
again if you don't listen to me!" I yelled my demands out toward the men
crowding the tent. The men gnashed and snarled, and directed hateful glances
toward me. I kind of wanted them to stop, because I could sense their sorrow...
It made me feel like the baddie.
"Truly the words of a villain..."
"That is just how Touya-dono is, it is..."
"...It's certainly not chivalrous, but war forces hard decisions... I shall avert my
eyes this once."
"Geez..." C'mon, guys... This isn't that bad, is it? For some reason, the doctor
was grinning down at the fallen heir, as if she knew something we didn't. I'd
cast [Paralyze] on him, so he should've still been conscious. He could clearly see
and feel Babylon prodding and staring at him.
"Oho... Eheh... Aha... Now I see... Ohhh my... This is most interesting."
She was muttering stuff while patting the guy here and there. Since it was
beginning to border on sexual harassment, I dragged her away from him. I
didn't want the other side to think we sexually abused hostages...
"Touya. We should bring these maids with us so they can tend to the hostage.
We can't just leave it all to Primula, after all."
Babylon spoke up. She had a point.
"You two, please come over here. You can help take care of him while he's in
our custody." The two maids nodded and started walking forward. I modified
the [Prison] to let them pass through, and once they got close they pulled out
knives and attempted to stab me in the neck.
I'd expected as much. I calmly dodged their attacks and took them out with
[Paralyze]. I wasn't an idiot, I knew a battlefield was no place for a regular
maid.
"Alright, we'll be taking the heir with us now. If you retreat from Primula, he'll
be returned without any harm done to him."
"Do you mean that?"
"I do. I won't let anyone in Primula touch a hair on his head." The man who
spoke to me was the same older knight from before, I could sense more
intensity behind his feelings than anyone else. I wondered if he knew the heir
more closely, perhaps he was a teacher or something. It didn't matter, since I
was done with all I needed to do.
I used [Teleport] to move the [Prison] and its contents back to the room in
Primula we'd come from.
When we appeared out of nowhere, the Primulan government kicked up a
fuss. They weren't startled by me, but rather by the three paralyzed people on
the ground.
"G-Grand Duke... Are these..."
"Yeah. The Triharan Holy Empire's Second Heir, and two of his maids." As I
explained the situation, I quickly frisked the heir for weapons. I passed his
blade, which had the imperial emblem on it, to the king of Primula. That proved
it was the genuine article.
I had Doctor Babylon frisk the maids, but she started to massage their breasts
halfway through, so I punched her in the head.
"You should be able to hear me. You're in the royal castle of Primula. I'll free
you in a moment, so please don't do anything rash. I'll make sure nobody from
Primula hurts you." The man nodded his head as much as he could when I
spoke to him. Seemed like he understood. I cast [Recovery] on him to undo the
paralysis.
He gradually realized he could move his body again, and he stood up. It was
only then that I realized just how short he was.
"...You aren't from Primula?" The young man surveyed me with frightened,
suspicious eyes. Given that I'd kidnapped him, I could understand his wariness.
"No, I'm not. I'm just a person who wants to end this conflict. That's why I'll
fight the Primulan side if they hurt you, too."
"...I feel the same as you. This conflict is pointless. If humiliating me as a
hostage is what it will take, then I will accept such a fate."
Huh. Didn't expect that... Seems like he's reasonable. As I pondered to myself,
I felt Doctor Babylon tug at my coat. I wondered what she wanted. She very
quietly whispered something into my ear.
Wait... Huh?! No way!
I stared at the man in front of me. What Babylon had told me was true... But
the only question was... Why? "What is it, Touya?"
"Nothing..." Elze was curious, so the doctor went and whispered the same
thing into her ear. Then, she whispered it to Yae and Hilde. The three of them
shot open their eyes in shock. They'd realized the same thing as I.
"Ah... Your Highness. Can you arrange a room for him, please? I'll brief him on
the full situation in private."
"Hm? A-Ah... Of course." The king of Primula was still staring at the sword in
his hands. He must've still been shocked I'd kidnapped someone so important
so easily.
The hostage and his two maids still had [Prison] cast around them, so nobody
could touch them. Once they were made aware of that, they obediently
followed a few knights to their room.
Me, Babylon, and my fiancees also followed them. The Primulan government
needed to discuss how to proceed, and I didn't want any part in that... That's
what I told them, at least... But I actually wanted to check something else.
I entered the hostage's room and expanded the [Prison] to cover the entire
area, blocking any sound from leaking out. I didn't want anyone else to hear
what I was about to say, after all.
"...I'll introduce myself properly, then. I'm the Grand Duke of Brun... Actually,
forget that. I'm Mochizuki Touya. You can just think of me as a wandering mage.
This is Elze, Yae, Hilde, and Doctor Babylon."
"A mage?! That explains all the strange things you did... I see."
"Right... So... Nobody can enter this room right now, or hear what we're
saying. That's why I need to ask you this... Are you... Not an heir after all? Are
you actually... An heiress?" The young man... Or rather, the girl in front of me
stopped in her tracks. It confirmed my suspicions. Just as Doctor Babylon had
told me... She wasn't a guy!