In Another World With My Smartphone: Volume 3 Page 16

  “I understand that your family has been covering for you using their name, but that won’t save you anymore. Now I see you all attack one man in a group, but lose regardless of your cheap tactics. And your little ‘leader’ ran away like an animal upon seeing his friends defeated. Disgusting. Not a single one of you are fit to be called knights.” Lyon spoke with a surprising intensity behind his words. I could tell he felt a lot of shame that these boys were calling themselves Belfastian Knights.

  “You’ll soon be informed of your penalties and expulsions. Tell your unconscious friends that, as well. And before you get any funny ideas, don’t go thinking about revenge. If you lay a single hand on this man, your noble families will incur high levels of disgrace. That, I promise you.” The deputy general turned his attention away from Brown-hair and looked at me. Once our eyes met, he bowed his head.

  “I’m truly sorry for these wretches. Please know that their behavior is not something that represents the Belfastian Knights.”

  “...Nah, don’t worry about that. I went a little overboard, too.” Calm down, Touya. You’ve really done it this time... You definitely didn’t need to knock those guys out with your sword! There were plenty of other ways you could’ve incapacitated them, right? Gah! It’s not my fault... When that asshole spoke badly of Elze I just saw red... I definitely need more training or something.

  “Ah, you’re much too kind...” I’m the deputy general of the Belfastian Knight Order, Neil Suleiman.”

  “Mochizuki Touya. Nice to meet you.”

  “Oh I’m well aware of who you are, young man. You’re quite the celebrity in my social circles.” I had... mixed feelings about that, but I still shook the man’s hand with a smile on my face.

  After I apologized to Deputy General Neil, Lyon spoke up about the current state of the knight order.

  It seemed that the knights took charge of protecting the capital, guarding the citizens of the kingdom, guarding the royal family, and escorting important individuals. Most were sons from noble families, but usually second or third-born, the oldest sons were the successors, and therefore too important to risk in the field of duty. Apparently those sons only enlisted to boast about their family and social class, rather than out of any sense of duty.

  “I’m the second son of my household, actually. But unlike other noble families, we’d get the crap pounded out of us if we did anything bad like those punks...” Lyon wore a wry smile on his face as he spoke. Well, you do have Leon for a father... Lyon certainly didn’t seem spoiled at all to me, which was probably a good thing. Neil also explained that he was the second son of a rather affluent count.

  “They’re a minority, it’s true, but unfortunately there are those who cling to their heritage like it’s all they have. A recruit from an earl’s house might refuse to listen to their viscount-born commander, or a captain might try to suck up to a newbie just because he’s from a better social background. It’s a complete farce, if you ask me.” Neil’s expression was one of pure, unbridled disgust. Seemed like there were always troublemakers, no matter where you looked.

  “Well, it’s definitely curtains for this lot. They’re pathetic parasites on our proud order! Until now they’ve managed to avoid it through their family connections, but that won’t fly this time. They attacked the man engaged to this country’s princess, after all... They should consider themselves lucky their heads are still attached to their necks.” He must’ve been watching from the start. I’d be willing to bet he let it play out just so he could punish them for it... Well, I beat them up anyway, so it was no big deal.

  “That aside... That weapon at your hip, what is it exactly?” Neil pointed a curious gaze towards Brunhild, my gunblade.

  “Oh, this thing? It’s my personal weapon. Only I can wield it, and only I can create it. I can use it for close combat or to take out target from afar. Depending on its mode, it can become either a shortsword or a longsword, and it can fire paralyzing shots as well.”

  “Hmhm... It’s a wonderful weapon indeed. Could I bother you to make one for me? Naturally, I’d pay you top coin for it.”

  “Sorry, but I don’t think that’s such a good idea...” I definitely had to be careful with regards to firearms. They were things that could kill people very easily. I’d have to be careful to only give them to people I had absolute confidence in.

  “I see... What a shame.”

  “Oh, I could make you another kind of transforming weapon or a paralyzing weapon, though! If you can handle it, that is...”

  “Seriously?! I’d absolutely love one!” By the time Neil had finished speaking, I had already cast [Storage] and pulled out an iron ingot. Mithril was sturdy, but it was far too lightweight to forge a regular weapon out of. Much too light to be effective. In fact, its lightness really only made it suitable for a thrusting-based sword like an estoc, or a sword primarily designed for slashing attacks.

  “So, Neil, what kind of weapon do you prefer to use?”

  “Well, my signature is definitely the spear, but I’m fine with a standard blade, too.” Hmm... that makes two forms, but maybe I should add in a dagger mode too, just for good measure.

  I used [Modeling] to craft a spear that was about two meters long. I based it on a western-style spear I’d seen in a video game before, but I changed the blade tip to be more dagger-like. To be blunt, it was more like a dagger with a really long handle.

  I designed the grip itself to be hollow, allowing it to shift mass by filling the interior as it shortened in its transformation to dagger mode.

  Similar to Brunhild, the thick dagger blade could thin out, which would allow it to extend itself into a one-meter longsword... probably. I enchanted the sword with [Modeling]. And voila! It was complete.

  “Begin [Program]／ Starting Condition: The wielder says ‘Spear Mode,’ ‘Sword Mode,’ or ‘Dagger Mode’／ Action Upon Start: [Modeling] casts upon the weapon, transforming it into the user-specified form／ End [Program].” Oh, almost forgot to give it the paralyzing effect. I hastily enchanted the new product with [Paralyze].

  Begin [Program]／ Starting Condition: The wielder says “Stun Mode”／ Action Upon Start: Dull the blade of the weapon, and use the [Paralyze] spell to imbue it with the ability to stun anyone the blade touches. End [Program].”

  “Uhh, I guess that’s about it.” I tried to spin the spear around. But, much like the one from back in Eashen, the balance on it was pretty terrible. I was probably just out of practice.

  “Dagger Mode.” The grip suddenly shunted and got shorter, making way for a dagger blade about 40 centimeters in length. I gave it a few test swings, and it responded quite nicely. I had a feeling that this form would be the easiest one to keep it in when carrying it around.

  “Sword Mode.” The blade expanded this time, becoming a meter-long shortsword. The handle also extended, allowing it to be gripped by both hands if necessary. I held it in front of me and gave it a test swing. Yup, not bad at all.

  “Spear Mode.” It returned to its initial state with no issues. Okay, the transformation works well enough... Now to test the other part...

  “Stun Mode.”

  “Huh?” I had a ridiculously annoying grin on my face as I tapped Lyon on the shoulder with the spear tip. In but a moment, he crumpled like a puppet with its strings cut.

  “Hahaugh?!”

  “Yup, the paralysis seems to work just fine.”

  “Hey now...” Neil spoke up. He sounded a little mad, honestly. What? I had to test it, didn’t I? Stun mode dulled the blade, so there was no harm done. Well... thrusting the spear would probably still hurt. I had set the paralysis to a weak effect, too, but it would still be about an hour before Lyon was able to get back up. I didn’t want to wait that long, so I dispelled it with [Recovery].

  “Hey, what was that for?!”

  “Sorry, had to be sure it all worked right.” I apologized to the complaining Lyon as I returned the weapon to blade mode and handed it over to Neil.

 
; “It’s hand-crafted, so the balance isn’t especially good, but I think it should handle just fine after you get used to it.” Neil took the spear from me, spun it around, thrust it forward, and did a sweeping strike. His motions were both clean and swift. Guess I shouldn’t have expected anything else from a deputy general.

  He cycled through the different transformations, performing similar clean motions with the dagger and sword forms. He then transformed it back into spear mode and pointed the tip toward Lyon.

  “Stun Mode.”

  “Whoa, whoa, hold on a minute!”

  “Heh, I’m just messing around.” Neil gave a short chuckle and returned his weapon to its dagger form. Seemed he had no problem getting the hang of it.

  “The paralysis effect in stun mode won’t do anything to an enemy with a protective charm on them, so keep that in mind. Oh, and be careful where you swing it. Anyone affected won’t be getting up for about an hour at least, so it’d be troublesome if you hit one of your allies.”

  “Very well, then. Thank you.” Neil gazed at his dagger, seeming quite happy all the while. I was glad to have been of service.

  “You sure are lucky to have such a thing, Deputy General.”

  “Hm? I can make one for you too, Lyon. If you’d like one, I mean.”

  “Really, Sir Touya?! You really mean it?!” I quickly whipped up another weapon of similar design and passed it over to Lyon. He started to cycle through the forms and swung the weapon around a but. It looked like he was enjoying himself.

  “Truly, this is a splendid job. How much do I owe you?”

  “Nah, don’t worry about that. Just help me out if those jokers ever give me trouble again.”

  “Very well, then. It’s a promise.” Neil let out a gentle laugh as he spoke. Well, I’m sure those guys won’t be stupid enough to try anything again.

  “...You guys were warned about this yesterday!” I was wrong. They were stupid enough.

  The moonlight illuminated the garden outside my home, highlighting around fifty armed intruders who were now flat out on the ground. Blondie, Brown-hair, and Redhead were with them. The rest were fairly large, well-built men. Probably mercenaries or personal soldiers.

  Lapis had informed me that a mob of suspicious individuals was making its way toward my home, so I had Tom pretend to be asleep at the gate. Lapis was a member of Espion after all, an elite spy that answered directly to the royal family. Her information was bang on the mark, so I was ready when the mob swarmed through and spilled into the garden under the cover of night.

  They were surprised to see me waiting for them, but it didn’t take them long to try to jump me at once when they realized I was all alone. At that point it was a simple matter of firing off fifty paralyzing rounds. Honestly, I was extremely disappointed. Even Lone-Horned Wolves had more impressive movements than those chumps.

  “Did you just completely ignore what Neil told you?” I approached Blondie, who was practically glued to the ground. I then squatted down and smacked his shoulder with Brunhild a couple of times. He couldn’t move due to the paralysis, but he was still conscious, so he’d be able to hear my words. That much was clear by the fear I could see in his eyes.

  “Do you even understand your situation? You’ve got your weapons hanging right there on your sides. This is clearly a raid, isn’t it? So what you’ve got here is attempted robbery, attempted assault, most likely attempted murder, right? Well, not like that matters now.”

  “Is everything alright now, Touya?” Yumina walked out on to the terrace, and Blondie’s eyes went wide with confusion. Heheh... I’m glad that even a moron like this guy can recognize Yumina. That’s good, it’ll make things go much smoother.

  “Well, do you get it now? What you’ve committed is high treason, an act against royalty! And because of your idiocy, your noble houses are all going to come crashing down. Beheadings for all! Good work, guys. Really. You nailed it.” Blondie listened to me until he could bear no more and passed out, frothing slightly at the mouth. It was just a threat, but... I still couldn’t believe he’d reacted like that.

  I asked Tom to take the bicycle and forward a message to the knight order on my behalf.

  “What are you going to do with them?”

  “Well, nobody got hurt, so I don’t think executing them is really justified... Still, this crime will definitely follow back to their families. They may even be stripped of their noble status. Regardless of what happens, these individuals will never see high status or praise again in their lives.” If you asked me, they got what was coming to them, and their families would too. The fact remained that their parents knew about their misdeeds and kept protecting them regardless. Neil even tried to warn them, but they ignored him completely... They really should never have tried attacking me again. Bunch of morons.

  I figured that they’d intended to strike in the night and outnumber us to gain the upper hand. Then, come morning, they’d pretend what happened was just a robbery gone wrong or something... It really irritated me to think about, actually.

  They were like petulant kids who couldn’t see consequences past their own actions. Didn’t their parents ever teach them any respect? It was probably their fault for raising such trashy kids. If they’d been better parents, maybe their kids wouldn’t have turned out to be such idiots.

  All of the intruders were apprehended when Tom returned with a group of knights. Good riddance, I thought. Hope I never see you again.

  A few days later, some of the noble houses were stripped of their lands and status. It was a direct decree from the king, apparently.

  The knight order was shamed by the incident, and pledged to crack down with disciplinary measures. From that day onward, social status was irrelevant within their ranks.

  ◇　◇　◇

  “Hm... it didn’t turn out 3D after all, then?” I pensively looked over the projected image. I had expected a three-dimensional image to come up, but it wasn’t to be.

  It was the product of a recently acquired Null spell, [Mirage]. To sum it up briefly, it was a spell that allowed me to conjure illusions.

  I had first tested it out by making an illusory version of Kohaku, and it actually looked like the real thing from every angle I stood at. I was also able to control the movements of the image, but I couldn’t physically touch it. It was just light, after all. I thought about using it to project a ghost, but that would’ve been way too scary. It would’ve been creepy if one of these peeked at you through a wall, too.

  I was curious about what would happen if I enchanted my smartphone’s video player with [Mirage], so I gave it a shot.

  “Hmm... well, it’s fine from the front.” My phone was now magically projecting a cartoon into the air in the middle of the room. When I looked at the projection from the side, it was no good at all, though. Just a flat bit of light. It seems like enchanting my phone’s video app with [Mirage] only served to turn it into a projector. But still, that was an impressive feat in itself.

  “Hmm... so it doesn’t scan the whole video and make it a 3D scene or anything... That’s a shame. Guess it’s just a regular old projector, then.” Just as I was losing myself in thought, I heard a loud rapping on the door.

  “Touya, bruv. I brought you some lun— What the bloody hell is that?!” Renne came into the room, suddenly stopping in her tracks to stare wide-eyed at the cartoon suspended in the air. Kohaku came up alongside her, and he too seemed curiously amazed. Well, I wasn’t too surprised by their shock.

  “Oi, oi. Bruv, what’s that thing?!”

  “Oh uh... It’s a moving picture show. I’m projecting it into the air with magic.”

  “Wow...!” I could almost see the stars in Renne’s eyes as she gazed at the hologram. The cartoon on show was an old foreign show about a pair of animals that chased each other around. It had little to no dialogue, so it was simple enough to just sit back and enjoy.

  Renne sat down on a chair, her eyes transfixed on the cartoon. She’d already slumped
down into the “I’m not moving from this position any time soon” posture. The episodes were brief, so it wasn’t like I minded her taking a little break from things. I suddenly turned to find Kohaku, slack-jawed and wide-eyed, gazing over at the cartoon as well. What a silly tiger.

  They seemed to be completely fine with stuff like vacuum cleaners and refrigerators showing up in the cartoon, but I guess they didn’t need to know what they were to understand. The people of this world would probably just consider them to be “magical tools” or something to that effect.

  Before long, just as the episode was drawing to a close, I heard another knock at the door. I’ve got a bad feeling about this...

  “Heyyy sir. Have you seeeeen sweet little Renneeee around— Wow! Wooow! What is thaaat?!” Cecile opened the door and quickly came barging in. Well, this can only end well. Just as I’d expected, Cecile plonked herself down next to Renne and began to watch the show.

  After the episode finished, it was Kohaku of all people who turned to me with a pleading expression. It was a face that said “More please.” I reluctantly set the phone to automatically play new episodes when the previous finished, then went to fix up some lunch. I was fine leaving my smartphone alone, because I’d applied a [Program] to it that allowed me to recall it to my hand at will. It’s a combined enchantment that makes use of [Gate] and [Apport]. A simple, but effective anti-theft measure.

  Everyone out on the terrace had already started to eat. The lunch of the day was onion soup, club sandwiches, and a veggie salad with cheese.

  I arrived at the table and prepared to eat. Sure looked tasty. First thing I grabbed was a club sandwich, which I stuffed it into my cheeks, savoring the flavor. It tasted as excellent as it looked. The chicken was juicy, and the tomato was flavorful. There wasn’t much more I could ask for, really.