In Another World With My Smartphone: Volume 11 Premium Read online

  “Oh, right! Those Submission Collars were originally made to tame magic beasts, right?”

  The Magic Beast Knights... It was the name given to a group of knights in Sandora that used Submission Collars to tame and mount magic beasts. Sandora didn’t border any other nation, so they didn’t ostensibly need a big defensive force... However, they were surrounded by dangerous territory, filled with monsters. The desert and the Sea of Trees all had their fair share of powerful creatures, and they often wandered close to Sandora.

  The Magic Beast Knights were charged with wiping out those threats. The only thing was, they were a knight order in name only. In truth, a great many of the riders were just as collared as the monsters they rode into battle. They were slaves. False knights forced to battle.

  Ultimately, Sandora left any dangerous legwork to slaves. National defense was no different.

  “I feel a little bad sending you girls over...”

  “Please do not worry. We will report in every day, and flee if things look bad. The purpose of intelligence operatives is to provide information, after all!” Homura puffed out her chest with pride. I couldn’t quite place it, but a wave of concern and anxiety washed over me when I wondered if they’d actually be alright...

  ◇　◇　◇

  “Ah, Touya lad. You’ve been investigating Sandora lately, right?”

  “Oh, I heard the same!”

  “You two sure have keen ears...” I grumbled quietly as the king of Belfast and the emperor of Regulus spoke up.

  We’d had our regular alliance meeting, and now all the world leaders were chilling out in the playroom.

  The king of Belfast, the beastking of Mismede, the emperor of Regulus, and I were all playing mahjong. The knight king of Lestia and the king of Lihnea were both playing billiards.

  The doge of Roadmare and the emperor of Refreese were being serenaded by Kousuke and treated to various confections by Crea. In the other half of the room, Karen, Moroha, Sousuke, and Karina were quietly discussing matters of the gods with the pope of Ramissh. Suika was completely unconscious on the couch. She had a bottle of sake still clutched in hand.

  “Well, you aren’t the only one with an interest in Sandora. The beastking has been looking into them as well.”

  “There’s a lot about Sandora that worries all of us, frankly...”

  “Such as?” I picked up a tile as I spoke.

  Useless... I discarded it.

  “After Yulong was dissolved, more slavers have been making a home in Sandora. I’ve also been informed of Regulus citizens being taken into the slave trade.”

  “Same here! A buncha bandits have been attacking our village, making off with men, women, and children alike. It must be slavers, you know? Beastmen like us are prized as fighting slaves due to our sturdiness! And the only one that deals with slaves these days is Sandora, so it’s gotta be them...”

  In Mismede’s case, it was a fairly easy country to attack due to its proximity to the Sea of Trees. The unique qualities of beastmen made them valuable items, too.

  “It sure would be nice if someone took care of that troublesome country, you know? Ahaha...”

  “Haha, I know, right? I bet someone like Touya could do it in under a day... Maybe we could help him, haha...”

  “Hahaha... I bet if we used Frame Gears we could totally gain control of their capital city in less than a day, hahaha... Haha... Imagine that.”

  “...You guys are so easy to see through right now that you may as well be windows. You’re trying to joke about it, but you actually want me to take down an entire country for your own convenience, don’t you?!”

  All three men went silent, and they turned away from me.

  Look at me, you bastards!

  “As far as destroying Sandora goes, we weren’t serious. Though, we do want something done about the rampant slavery.”

  I could understand that at least. It seemed more like the slavers intruding on foreign territory was more of an issue than the actual country. That being said, the slavers might have just been obeying what higher-ups in Sandora’s government told them.

  Sandora had no diplomatic relations with any country, Yulong aside. There certainly wouldn’t be any country troubled if we destroyed the place, but... No, that’d cause a problem. Refugees would start flooding into the Kingdom of Ryle, and nobody wanted that.

  “In the end, the trouble boils down to the collars...” I wondered where they were even producing those Submission Collars. Perhaps they had some kind of enchanter working for the government.

  Null Magic wasn’t hereditary, though... Assuming the collars had been around for more than one generation, how could Sandora have kept producing them?

  Then again, the collars still existed even if their wearers died, so it might have just been a matter of smart recycling. But who was the mastermind behind the slavery to begin with? The king, or someone else?

  “Ohohoho... Too bad, Touya. That’s my win.”

  “Gah!” The beastking slapped down his tiles, revealing a winning hand.

  Damn it! How could I have lost so easily...? I sighed slightly as we started a new game. My starting hand was terrible...

  “...Wait, wasn’t Sandora originally founded by someone known as the Slave King?”

  “Yes, that’s right. Back in the old days, Sandora was a fragmented land of squabbling tribes. It was said that a man appeared one day, and led one of the tribes, the Flari Tribe, to unify the others. It was through his efforts that Sandora was created.”

  The story was similar to the founding of Elfrau... A lone man founding a kingdom with people important to him... It reminded me of my own experience, in a way.

  “They say the man was a gladiator slave from a distant land, and that he always walked with the shackles that once imprisoned him on his legs.”

  So that’s why he’s called the Slave King... Did he desert his home country and head to the sands? I shouldn’t have been so surprised that there were slaves back then too.

  “That’s only one side to it. Other stories say he enslaved the tribes that served him.”

  “Mhm... They say he created the Submission Collars himself, even if the mass-produced version was created by another later on.” The beastking and the emperor’s words made me raise my brow. That was another angle, I supposed. I wondered if he actually used the collars to force the tribes to follow and fight for him. Still, I felt like there had to be another side to all of this. I wondered if he found an artifact somewhere that made him strong enough to dominate them, though the truth didn’t really matter.

  Rescuing the current slaves in Sandora from captivity wouldn’t be a big deal... but I wondered what they’d do afterward. Would they run, or would they rise up?

  They probably wouldn’t forgive the people who had shackled them. Even the nobles were products of their circumstances, as they’d have just been brought up to see slaves as less than human. But there was no way the slaves would care about that.

  Hmmmph...

  There was always the possibility of going up to the king and demanding he free the slaves taken from other nations. Though, there was no guarantee he’d actually listen to a demand like that. He had no reason to, after all.

  We could’ve put on some economic pressure, but that was also a no-go situation. They had no diplomatic ties to speak of.

  Slaves weren’t fed well, slaves weren’t treated well, and they didn’t need to rely on outside aid for crops. Two-thirds of Sandora was desert, and the remaining farmland was just used to feed the small elite.

  They didn’t interact with other nations at all. Sandora was completely isolated. I wondered if I should just pull a Commodore Perry, and build a bunch of black ships...

  Hmph... This sucks.

  Destroying Sandora on a whole was a bad idea, but it was beginning to sound a lot easier than just nixing the slave trade.

  “Oh, Touya. That’s my win, now. Read them and weep, ahaha!”

  “Wha—?!”
>
  Goddammit, I can’t keep getting lost in thought! I’m gonna keep losing if I keep on thinking about Sandora... Er, I mean... it’s just not good for me to get so anxious about Sandora! Obviously, politics is more important than a silly a game...

  I decided that the best course of action for the time being was to wait to hear back from the three kunoichi.

  The next day, rain began to fall in Brunhild. The knights decided to take a break from training, instead taking time to study, read, or maintain their weapons.

  I was sitting on a chair and reading a book atop my balcony. It was shielded by a little outcrop of a roof. Suddenly, I heard music coming from the distance. It must have been Sousuke.

  He was playing quite the appropriate melody for a rainy day, but I had the feeling nobody would start singing in it or dancing with his umbrella.

  The rain was pretty strong, though... I wondered how long it’d last. I didn’t want the river to end up overflowing...

  It’d be summer before long, either way. There wasn’t a beach at Brunhild, but we’d be able to enjoy the sea along the dungeon islands.

  People would probably be happy if I hurried along with opening a fishery and public access beach over there. It’d be fairly easy to keep dangerous sea creatures away if I summoned a Leviathan to keep them at bay. That wouldn’t be enough to chase the jellyfish away, though.

  It could be fun if I set it all up with beach houses and food stalls. It’d be like a summer festival... That reminded me, Brunhild didn’t really have any festivals or holidays. Then again, it hadn’t even been a year since the country was founded, so we hadn’t needed an anniversary celebration or anything. New Year’s had come and gone, though.

  There weren’t any Shinto shrines, either... Still, it wasn’t like the festival had to be Japanese-style. I’d kind of need a god to focus on if I was gonna make a shrine, too... Well, not that there’s much to worry about on that front. There was only one god that I truly revered. And I didn’t want to launch a religion about him.

  He probably wouldn’t get mad if I made a little shrine to him, but I felt like I should probably ask permission.

  Hell, there were a lot of gods hanging around the area. Although really they were just lazing around, like that good-for-nothing god of alcohol! I grumbled as I remembered Suika’s nonsense, but then my smartphone started ringing.

  The screen said Sarutobi Homura. That was one of the ninjas. It must’ve meant she’d already made it to Sandora.

  “‘Sup!”

  “A-Ah! Y-Your Highness, is that you?! I-Is it?! P-Please... h-help! The p-people in town, they’re... Th-They’re...!”

  “Calm down. I don’t know what you’re saying.” She sounded like she was panicked. That had me concerned immediately.

  “Th-The people! They... They sparkle, a-and then die! Th-Their b-bodies... Ah... Forgive me, Your Highness. This is Shizuku, I’ve taken the phone.”

  Shizuku’s voice was much more composed than Homura’s. That was a good thing. Homura was so mortified that she was clearly in no position to talk.

  Tsubaki had turned off her smartphone, so that explained why they called me directly. It wasn’t her fault, since she had a meeting.

  “Where are you? What’s going on?”

  “We are in the city of Astal, east of Sandora’s royal capital. We stopped here to stay overnight in an inn before moving on to the capital, but... something unusual has happened.”

  “What’s that?”

  Astal was the second largest city in Sandora, so it would’ve been a huge deal if something bad happened there.

  “The citizens of this city are all dead. Every last one.”

  “What?!” I stood up from my chair in shock.

  All dead? But that’s a massive city! How can they all be dead?!

  “Crystals started sprouting from the bodies of the citizens. It was as though all the moisture in their bodies was sucked up... They dropped dead not long after the crystals appeared on their bodies. The condition has affected everyone in this city...”

  Crystals...? Like... the Phrase? But I’ve never heard of this happening before...

  It had to be some kind of virus. That meant the girls were in danger.

  “Are you guys okay?! Any abnormalities?”

  “We are fine. For now, at least... Nagi has reported feeling unwell...”

  “Get out of the city! Go anywhere but there! Just leave immediately, do you understand? I’ll come to you in an hour or less.”

  “U-Understood!”

  I closed the call. After that, I opened up a map of Astal, projected it into the air, and ran a search for living people. Three dots appeared, heading toward the city’s outskirts. That must’ve been the three girls.

  But it was true... Then there wasn’t a single living soul in that city other than them.

  How... How could they all be dead? Just what the hell happened?

  “No point freaking out about it now, I guess... I better go meet them.”

  I called up Flora in the alchemy lab and had her prepare quarantine procedures. No need to take any chances. I also asked the good-for-nothing child-lover, Tica, to head there on standby as well.

  After all that, I headed through a [Gate] into the sunny sands of Sandora. I was in the part of Sandora I’d traveled to when looking for Babylon.

  The skies were far clearer in the desert than they were in Brunhild. And it was damn hot, too...

  I opened up my map and then invoked [Fly], heading toward the girls.

  Eventually, I passed over the city, and everyone below me was clearly dead. I couldn’t believe my eyes. They were all shriveled and dry, their skin cracked.

  After taking in the sickening sight, I flew faster and faster, attempting to clear the horrific image of malnourished corpses from my mind.

  ◇　◇　◇

  I located the kunoichi trio a little bit out of Astal.

  Right away I made sure to cast [Recovery] on them, then I opened a [Gate] and sent them to the quarantine zone. I asked Flora and Tica to take care of it from there.

  If it turned out to be a viral contagion, then the situation would become far worse. I felt like they’d be alright.

  Moroha and Karina were passing by, so I asked them to come along with me. If it was a virus, it wouldn’t matter to people like us with divinity in our souls.

  I didn’t want to waste any more time, so the three of us set off to Astal on the magic carpet immediately.

  En route, we passed a roving caravan of traders heading in the opposite direction.

  Magic had rendered us invisible, so we didn’t have to worry. They seemed like roving merchants. The map had signified no survivors in the vicinity, so it was likely that these had made a pit stop in Astal before seeing the atrocity and fleeing.

  We carried on until we saw a walled fortress of a city. We’d finally reached Astal, the second largest city of Sandora.

  It had a large wall surrounding it, made out of red mud-brick. But it wouldn’t serve in any defensive measure, as the gates to the city had been left wide open.

  The people in front of the gates were dead. From the look of their armor, they must have been the guardsmen.

  “Good lord...” Their faces were warped in nightmarish anguish and also dried up as if mummified. I could see small protrusions in their skin, bizarre crystalline outcroppings that jutted out from the inside of their bodies.

  I used Brunhild to poke at the crystals, and they dropped off the corpse along with their roots. Then, I picked up one of the crystals to take a look at it and immediately concluded that it was far too fragile for it to be Phrasium. It crumbled away under the slightest bit of pressure.

  “Just what the hell happened here?”

  I muttered to myself as my sisters looked over the corpses with worried expressions on their faces.

  “There’s no way...”

  “This is terrible...”

  The two of them glanced at one another and exchanged a silent
affirmation.

  “Do you know something about this?”

  “Yes, we do. I don’t know how it happened, but the souls of these people have been consumed.”

  “Their souls?” Just what was that supposed to mean? I’d heard of souls exiting the body during comatose states, but I had no idea what they meant.

  “To put it simply, when someone dies their soul will leave their body and come up to our realm. The soul will be cleansed up in the heavenly realm and sent back down to a lower realm where it’ll be housed in a new body. That’s how the cycle of transmigration and rebirth has always gone.”

  “The souls of those that were wicked and cruel require extra purification, and typically their souls are only fit for the bodies of beasts by the time the work is done, but...”

  “The souls of the people here will never rise up to heaven at all. Touya, try to focus your God’s Eye. Invoke your divinity and spread it across your eyes.” I followed Karina’s instructions, focusing my divinity upon my eyes and staring down at the bodies.

  I could see something inside each of the corpses, a tiny little shining orb. I could recognize at a glance that it must’ve been their souls. But as I looked closer, I noticed that these little orbs had holes in them here and there. The light inside was slowly leaking out through the damaged, bitten exterior.

  “Can you see it? They’re just soul food now. Their souls will leak out and disappear forever. They’ll never be born again, they’ll never go anywhere else again. They’ll simply be lost to the cycle of reincarnation. They’ve been completely obliterated on the base level.”

  Completely obliterated...? Gone from this world, and all others... forever? Just thinking about the notion made my heart ache.

  “Couldn’t we find a way to save the souls...?”

  “We could. But it’d take a miracle even for us. We couldn’t do something so leisurely while we’re in this realm. And you can’t either, understand? The burden on your body would be far too great at this point.” My hopes were crushed in an instant. But it wasn’t like I had any to begin with, I had no idea how to bring them back.

  “We need to raze the city. Burn it all to ash. If a soul doesn’t ascend to heaven, it’ll simply leak out in the body and infuse with it. They’ll rise again as the undead, suffering forever. If that happens then they’ll just be shambling Zombies, seeking out the living.” According to Moroha, undead creatures were created when the souls of creatures didn’t move on and instead rooted themselves inside a dead body. Some undead were created by deep-seated feelings of lingering grudge or attachment, but undead with damaged souls had no purpose at all.