In Another World With My Smartphone: Volume 8 Read online

  If you misuse something powerful, you may fall victim to it in the end. That was the lesson I took from that incident.

  With great power comes great responsibility. If you don’t recognize that, you may already be dead.

  Chapter III: The Dungeon’s Conspiracy

  “Alright, this is the rest of what you’re owed for the Dragon carcasses.” Relisha passed a bag over to me, and I promptly opened it up. There were roughly twelve bags, and each had a hundred royal gold coins inside. It brought my total up to a tidy sum of one thousand and two hundred. There was really no point in comparing it to the currency of my old world, but it was about twelve billion yen in total. Not too shabby at all.

  Royal gold coins were rarely used in regular transactions. Instead, they were mostly found in matters of national trade or business takeovers. That was because losing one would be disastrous.

  I’d received this much solely for the corpses of the Dragons that had attacked Brunhild. The ones from Dragoness Island were still being kept in [Storage]. There were around a three hundred and fifty of them in total.

  I didn’t want to sell them all because it could’ve had disastrous effects on the economy if I suddenly forced the guild to buy them all up. I knew they’d be able to profit from them, too.

  I decided I didn’t want this many dead Dragon parts circulating around the world at once, so I left it at that for the time being.

  “Rumors are already beginning to spread, you know? They’re whispering that Brunhild’s knight order massacred an army of rogue Dragons.”

  “It’s a pretty unbelievable story, though. I wonder if people’ll end up going along with it.”

  “Me too. I was there, I saw you all do it... and even I can’t believe it. But there’s no doubt, word of this country’s strength is spreading like wildfire. I’m certain that anyone with ill intent might reconsider their options, now.” And that was just what I had wanted. I didn’t want a repeat of the Yulong incident, after all.

  There were still a bunch of Yulongese people prattling on and on about how I was the great summoner of the Phrase, and how I had orchestrated the destruction of their nation. They keep saying stuff like “Brunhild must atone for their sins” and so on. It was annoying, frankly. I had no intentions of paying reparations.

  It was also officially declared that I had assassinated the new heavenly emperor. There was a succession crisis in Yulong right now due to several people vying for the title, claiming they were the illegitimate children of the guy that died. One thing was for sure, Yulong was on its way out.

  Ordinarily a nation would receive foreign aid or relief efforts after a crisis, but... Yulong didn’t get anything like that. Nobody wanted to associate themselves with a nation of scoundrels and liars. To me, they were simply reaping what they sowed. I couldn’t muster up a single damn.

  I dropped the money into [Storage] and left the guild. I wondered how much money to give out to each soldier as a bonus. I decided that I’d be generous. They’d earned it, after all. As I mulled over the specifics, I walked over to the dungeon portals and checked in with the spy that Tsubaki had installed at the nearby market.

  “Yo.”

  “Aha. Welcome, dear customer. I’ve a bargain for you today.”

  Hm? Something happen? As he spoke up, I began inspecting the goods.

  “Several people have died recently.”

  “...Oh. Well, that sucks but... I guess it’s a real risk when you go adventuring. Were they killed by magical beasts or something?”

  “That’s how it seems, at least. They simply didn’t return... They were all low-ranked adventurers, so it stands to reason that they overestimated themselves and died as a result.” Probably got cocky and dug too deep. People are greedy. They should really prioritize their safety a little more, geez... It’s smarter to pay attention to your own situation rather than put yourself at risk.

  “There is something a little strange about it, though. Their bodies have yet to be found. Only their guild cards have been recovered.”

  “Huh? I know that slimes melt down organic material, but what about their armor and stuff?”

  “Ah, no... Well, perhaps you aren’t familiar, but... there are those amongst the adventuring community who are... somewhat like hyenas.” What? There are people that loot their fellow man’s corpse? I mean, it’s a pretty scummy thing to do, but I guess it’s not awful...

  It was considered common etiquette to hand items belonging to the deceased over to the guild. They’d then be able to pass those things on to the dead guy’s next of kin. Still, it wasn’t an enforced rule or anything. It was just a matter of good manners.

  It reminded me of a story I’d heard from one of the guilds. Once there was a rookie adventurer who had used his enormous savings to buy himself an incredible set of armor. He was so pleased with it that he took every opportunity he could to brag to his peers about it. Several days later... the man’s body was found in a dungeon. His expensive armor was nowhere to be found.

  The situation was rather interesting. Was the armor stripped from his body after a monster killed him? Or was he murdered in cold blood by another adventurer who had set his sights on the man’s treasure? No way to know.

  Regardless, these dead adventurers were just regular rookies, so it was unlikely they’d been targeted and killed for any good reason.

  “How many died?”

  “We’ve found ten guild cards so far. Nothing else has been recovered, so we can’t say for sure.” Geez... Ten people died? My mood had soured a little. I decided it might be wise to create a safe zone on the top level that monsters couldn’t access, or maybe some teleportation circles in the rookie areas so they could easily get back outside.

  I said my goodbyes to the spy, and headed toward the portals.

  I saw a group of youngsters heading toward the gate to Amaterasu. They were handing their copper over to the clerk. They looked to be around twelve or thirteen years old. In total they were a party of four. Two boys, two girls.

  One of the boys was clad in scale mail, and he wielded a spear. The other young lad was wearing leather armor, and he had a bow on his back.

  One of the girls looked like a novice mage. She was wearing robes and had a little magic rod. The other wielded an iron sword and wore leather armor much like the boy’s. They looked like archetypal newbies going off to adventure.

  The four of them passed through the Amaterasu portal and were off to the dungeon in a flash.

  Now, in all honesty... I was a little worried about the kids due to the story I’d just been told.

  Should I follow them...? No, stalking’s bad business... But I’d rather kids didn’t go out there unprepared... Maybe I could set up an adventuring school or something... Yeah, that could work, I think. I could hire former adventurers to give kids survival tips. Still, how should I run it? I don’t think we should charge a fee to enroll... Maybe they can pay back student debt after graduating? We could co-operate with the guild to track the quests and cards of students, or something...

  I decided to ask Relisha about it later on. She’d probably have better input.

  “Hm, Touya?” I turned toward the voice to find Leen as the source. Paula was toddling after her. She was wearing her typical Gothic lolita outfit, and strolled along beneath the shade of her parasol.

  “Oh, Leen. What brings you here?”

  “I was just doing a little window shopping. Sniffing around for bargains, you know? And yourself?”

  “Ah, well... I was thinking of making some modifications to the dungeon. I’m gonna install a safe zone that monsters can’t enter, so people can get some rest.”

  “Heh... That sounds quite interesting. I’ll tag along with you, then.” Leen grabbed me by the arm without even asking.

  Hmph... You sure have been more aggressive in your approach lately... Are you that desperate to marry me?

  I was a little embarrassed since she looked around the same size as Yumina and a couple of the
others... To a bystander, I probably looked like a doting elder brother.

  We headed over to the toll booth. Leen took out a single copper coin from her pocket and handed it over to the worker. Her name was then written down on a small logbook.

  Even if you weren’t a member of the guild, you could still pay to pass through the gate. The only difference was that your name was manually recorded in the logbook. The guild card certainly made the process simpler, though.

  I also paid a copper coin and put my name down. I didn’t want to stand out too much by flashing my card around. I put down ‘Takeda Shingen’ as my name. There wasn’t a rule against using a false name, after all. I decided that Takeda Shingen would be the fake name I’d use for stuff like this in the future.

  We passed through the portal, and the dazzling sun bore down on us. Compared to the wintery Brunhild, the island was a tropical paradise.

  I looked around uneasily, but I saw no sign of the rookies from before. I assumed they’d already gone into the dungeon.

  Leen and I, along with Paula, strolled through the entrance. My faithful fairy friend put away her parasol and cast [Light Orb] in front of us.

  “Shall we go down to the third floor?” If I recalled correctly, Amaterasu Dungeon had been scouted out to six floors at that point. I pulled up my map app and headed toward the first set of stairs.

  “...Why, and how exactly, do you have this territory already mapped out on that contraption...?”

  “...I’m just not going to answer. I really have nothing to say about it.”

  Leen muttered as she stared at the projected map. It wasn’t like I expected the place to be fully mapped out for me or anything. It just wound up like that, really.

  We made it to the stairs without any issue, then descended to the second level floor. We ran into the odd magical beast or monster, but I took care of them fairly easily. We eventually made it to the third floor, but it took us a decent while.

  “I think I wanna make a rest area around here. It’ll be a safe space where the adventurers can rest up a little bit. Just gotta find a suitable spot...” I brought up the map again to look for a good location. I’d also set the map to display any other adventurers who were in here, since I didn’t want to get in their way. Plus, they might have ended up getting in my way, too.

  “Isn’t this spot fine? It’s about midway between the stairs that lead up and down.” Leen pointed at a fairly broad room with a few sprawling paths leading to and from it. It’d certainly make a good rest spot for any weary parties, and it was out-of-the-way enough to avoid if you wanted to. It seemed just fine to me.

  We carried on to our destination, killing more beasts that came our way. The enemies were more annoying than anything else. Having an item like a ‘repel’ from those handheld games certainly would’ve come in handy.

  We reached our destination and began looking around. I wanted to investigate the room for traps or hidden dangers before securing it properly.

  I used [Enchant] and [Program] to monster-proof the room. Hostile creatures wouldn’t be able to enter at all. Then, I began to inscribe letters on the wall. It was a fairly basic message, just detailing that magical beasts and monsters couldn’t appear in the room, so it was a safe space to relax.

  I decided to add my signature too, since I didn’t want them thinking it was a trap.

  “Signed by Mochizuki Touya... grand duke of Brunhild.” I hoped it was enough to make them feel safe. Thinking about it reminded me that I hadn’t seen those rookies anywhere. Then again, they were beginners, so they were probably just walking around the first floor.

  I remembered their faces, so I decided I’d run a little search just in case. Uhh... let’s see... Display the regular adventurers with a blue icon, and display the particular newbies I’m thinking of with a green icon...

  Huh... That’s odd. They’re on floor two already? And wait... there’s more than four in the room. Huh, three more adventurers? Maybe they teamed up or something... Wait, something doesn’t seem right here. What’s with those movements? Are they in the middle of a battle with monsters or something?

  “There are seven, no? Why are they struggling so much?”

  “Well, those four kids were totally amateurs. They felt like kids who had basically walked right out of a farm and picked up some weapons.” I briefly considered that they might not be especially weak. After all, they could have just been up against a lot of enemies. Even Kobolds and Goblins could be deadly if you encountered more than ten of them at a time.

  Let’s see... Highlight monsters and magical beasts... There we... Wait... There aren’t any monsters in that room? Then... what the hell? It’s not faulty, since I can see the indicators for monsters in other rooms... So, wait... No way...

  “...What does this mean?”

  “...The other three adventurers... They’re the ones attacking those kids.”

  There was trouble afoot.

  ◇　◇　◇

  We reached the second floor just in time to see the young boy with the spear being blasted into a wall. The archer and female mage were collapsed on the ground in a heap. Though the boy with the spear and the girl with the sword were clearly injured, they were still standing and defending their friends.

  “Don’t rough ‘em up too much, retard. They’re merchandise.”

  “Shut the fuck up, asshole. We’re only in this situation because your deadbeat ass forgot the paralysis poison.”

  “Whatever, you two! Just do it quick, yeah? If any monsters show up it’ll— Bauuggguuugh!!!” The obese man’s commentary was cut short by a swift kick delivered to his face. My attack had sent him bouncing across the room like a rubber ball, where he landed in front of his comrades.

  “Whuh— Who the hell are you?!”

  “That’s my line, asshole! Who are you guys?” One of them was fat, one of them was bald, and the other was lanky. They couldn’t have looked like a more suspicious sort.

  The tub of lard scrambled to his feet, wiping his nose. I was surprised that he’d absorbed the impact, honestly... Seemed like obesity had its perks.

  “Good grief... Seems we made it just in time.” Leen arrived alongside Paula. Immediately, lechery manifested on the faces of the three men. The lanky asshole started sauntering over toward me, weapon drawn.

  Not long after, the other two started approaching as well. They probably saw Brunhild on my waist and assumed it was just a dagger. They were looking at Leen instead of me, though. Looked almost as if they were trying to appraise her worth.

  “Mm... Sexy little thing, aren’t you? Lucky us, eh boys? Hey, brat. If you care about your life, then shove off and leave the bitch here.”

  “...Huh?” Not long after, the other two started approaching as well.

  “You deaf, kid? We said beat it. Leave the little girl behind, and me and my boys will have a bit of fun with her! Scram, idiot! You wanna die?!” I slowly walked over to the lanky moron, then let out a little sigh. Then, in a single swift motion, I brought my leg down upon his foot. Crunch. His bones splintered, and he was down for the count.

  “GAUAUUUUUUGH!!!” The man screamed, clutching his smashed leg as he rolled around on the ground. His eyes welled up with tears, dribble and spit ran down his chin, and obviously his nose was a mess of snot. Shut the hell up. I kicked him in the side of the face.

  “Ghuuuheeek!!!”

  You think I’d leave Leen with bastards like you? Don’t delude yourself, dumbasses. Don’t be so goddamn pathetic. I’ll kill you.

  “Y-You piece of shit! Stop this at once!”

  “We’re Blue adventures, fuckboy! Think you can win against us?!”

  “You talk tough, but you’re not rough enough to throw down with the best of them. Vultures like you probably ranked up by stealing spoils from others, am I right? There’s no way in hell a Blue adventurer would be as shitty as you. Don’t you dare disrespect the name of the guild, you little bitch.” I lashed out a kick, cracking one of the fat bastard
’s kneecaps. He collapsed under his own weight and fell on his face.

  “Muggghuh... Mh-My lh-leg... Nnnghahhh!!!”

  “E-Eek!” The baldy turned and ran, but it was futile. I pulled out Brunhild, aimed at his back, and pulled the trigger.

  “Guh!” He took a paralysis bullet directly, then fell forward. Some adventurer, I thought. What a coward. Blue rank? More like blue stank.

  “...That was more than a little extreme, Touya. You can color me several shades of surprised,” Leen muttered quietly as she looked at the fallen men.

  “Ah... Forgive me. I got mad when they said that stuff about you.” It had been a while since I’d been that angry. The last time was when I was dealing with the idiotic prince from Lihnea. In all honesty, I had thought that my patience had gotten a little better, but it seemed I was still on far too short a fuse.

  “Hmm... I’m a little bit happy you got so furious on my behalf...” Leen grinned a little bit at me.

  Ugh. That’s embarrassing... I turned away from Leen to hide my face. Then, I remembered the injured newbies.

  “You guys good?”

  “Y-Yes, we’re okay... A little injured, but I’m fine... Klaus and Eon are in a worse state, though...” The boy with the spear motioned to his collapsed friends. They looked like they were just out cold, but I cast [Cure Heal] and [Refresh] on them all just to be on the safe side. The two on the ground then regained consciousness.