In Another World With My Smartphone_Volume 5 Page 17

  The people of this world sure are independent... In my old world, there are people who leech off their parents well into their twenties... and some that would act as though that was normal.

  In any case, if they’d already explained the circumstances, I wanted to at least go and greet the family. I asked them if they’d like to use [Fly] with me and blast off, but they said it was too frightening. Geez, after all the trouble I went through to learn this spell, too...

  In the end, I just bit the bullet and used [Recall] on Linze to see Colette village, and then we all went there through a [Gate].

  I could see what looked to be an orchard off in the distance. There were red fruits dangling from the trees.

  The area very much felt like the countryside. There was a big fence erected around the perimeter, though.

  I wondered if wild boars came along and ruined crops or something... There was a large house with a red roof in the distance. It was very big, and had a well-aged, rustic feel to it.

  “Been a long time since we’ve been here...”

  “It hasn’t changed a bit.” We wandered over towards the red-roofed house, while the two girls stared at the scenery. There was nostalgia clouding their eyes, so I figured this must be the place.

  Two people were tending the field in front of the house. One of them, a man, raised his head and peered over at us. He was wearing a stereotypical farmer’s straw hat.

  “What...? Elze? Linze?!”

  “Yo, long time no see, Uncle Joseph!”

  “It’s been a while, uncle.” Elze and Linze raised their hands to wave at him. The other person who was tending the field, a young woman, raised her head as well.

  “Elze, Linze?! Well butter my biscuit, you’re home?!” Her face blossomed into a beaming smile. She charged across the field and pulled the twins into a big hug. Her hair was long and brown, all tied up into a braid. She only seemed to be about twenty... Is this seriously their aunt?! “Heya sis. We’re home!”

  “We’re home, Emma. It’s nice to see you again.”

  “Geez Louise, you two never came back even once. Even after ya promised to!” Elze must’ve realized that I was very much left out here, because she parted from the embrace.

  “Touya, this is sis. Her name’s Emma, though. She’s uncle’s daughter, and our cousin.” Cousin? Hm, I see... She does kinda look similar to them... I wonder if Elze and Linze’ll grow up to look similar to her.

  As I got lost in thought, Elze and Linze’s uncle removed his straw hat and strode over. He had beady eyes and white hair, he looked to be around fifty years old as well. He gave off the vibe of a simple country bumpkin, but not in a bad way.

  “Ah, I’m happy y’both decided ta come back a bit. Everyone’s gonna be real happy. Who’s this nice lookin’ fella with you, anyhow?” Their uncle looked at me, then Linze, then Elze. He crooked a brow.

  “We sent that letter, didn’t we? This is Mochizuki Touya. H-He’s uhm... ah... h-haha... h-he’s our uh... f-f-future hu... huh...!!”

  “He’s our fiancé.” The two turned beet red as they gave my introduction to their uncle. Geez, you two... if you start going on like that you’re gonna make me blush as well!

  “...Oh. The letter... right. So this feller’s from that Duchy of Brunhild that everyone’s been gabbin’ on about these days?”

  “Indeed. I am the Grand Duke of the Duchy of Brunhild. My name is Mochizuki Touya. Touya is my given name. I’m indebted to Elze and Linze for their kindn—”

  “Wh-Whaaaat?!! Oh my goodness me...!” Their uncle suddenly dropped to the ground and prostrated before me. What the hell? I only reached out for a handshake.

  “Ahhh, damn it. This is exactly what I thought was gonna happen...!”

  “...Typical.” Elze and Linze looked at each other with wry smiles. They let out little sighs. Their uncle refused to budge from his prostrated position, he looked like he was quivering, even. I didn’t really know what to do, when suddenly Emma started to speak.

  “Pops here is pretty uncomfortable and weak-willed when it comes to nobility an’ such. Apparently somethin’ happened when he was a kid so he gets like this whenever there’s someone of a higher status nearby.” What, wait... don’t just brush it off! This is beyond “uncomfortable!” He’s clearly concealing some kind of traumatic event! Seriously! I’m concerned about what happened to this guy when he was little!

  “Y-Your Most Esteemed Highness, Sir Mochizuki Touya. I am so privileged and emboldened by your presence in my humble home. I am so sorry, I don’t have anything to amuse you with, but I respectfully ask that you keep calm... please don’t punish us for our transgressions.” This is... weird. Really goddamn weird. Does he think I’m some kind of ticking time bomb? I turned my head to Linze and Elze, raising a brow at them. They just kind of shrugged and did nothing. Little help, guys?

  “Oi, dad. You’re offending him. Get up already.”

  “O-Offending him?! I-I’m so sorry, milord! Please forgive me, have mercy!” He rocketed to his feet with a boundless energy and began to talk in a fluster. Now I understood why Elze was so reluctant to bring me here. This guy was something else. I decided not to torment him any further, and moved aside to talk with Emma.

  “Sorry... I came here to introduce myself to the family, but is he going to be alright?”

  “Don’t sweat it. Pop’s just like that. Everyone’ll be real happy to meet you, honest. Come meet momma an’ the others, too.” The others? I was caught off-guard by what she said, and before I could process the meaning...

  “They was telling the truth! Elze and Linze’re home!”

  “Welcome baaack!”

  “Hurray!! The sisters’re back! It’s Linze an’ Elze!” Whoa... The rambunctious little tykes came flooding over and embraced the twins. One... Two... three... six little kids! Two boys and four girls, it looks like.

  I stared on, dumbfounded, while Emma gave a little laugh.

  “These are my brothers and sisters. Going from oldest to youngest, there’s Sheena, Allen, Kurara and Kirara, Allan, and Reno. They all have an older brother, who’s just a bit younger than me, his name’s Aaron. But he left for the big city a while back.” Eight kids, for reals? That poor uncle... It now made sense why Elze and Linze decided to leave so young, they must’ve felt like they were further burdening an already bustling household. Just thinking of the food expenses this place must’ve had made my head spin.

  Aside from Allen and Allan, they were all girls. Kirara and Kurara looked like they were twins, too. Back in my world they’d say that a family with twins typically had a lot of twins in it. I wondered if the same was said in this one.

  I looked over towards the house, and a stout, chubby woman came sauntering out.

  “Well I’ll be damned... is that Elze and Linze?! Get over here, you rapscallions!”

  “Auntie Lana!”

  “Yes, it’s us. We’re home, Aunt Lana.” Elze and Linze both ran up to the woman and gave her a big hug. It was their aunt, apparently. She was a chubby, portly woman. But she exuded a lot of character.

  Lana patted the two on the head with a warm smile, then she turned to me.

  “You must be Touya, then. You’re exactly as the two described you in their letter... you certainly seem quite a good man! Ohoho, the two of them certainly described their beloved fiancé quite well.”

  “A-Auntie Lana!”

  “...Keep that secret, we mentioned so in the letter.” The two of them turned beet red as they voiced their irritation to their aunt. I was curious about what it was they’d written, but opted not to pursue it. I had a feeling it’d just get me in trouble.

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you, I’m Mochizuki Touya. Touya’s my given name.”

  “My name’s Lana. I’m the twins’ aunt. You’re rather humble for royalty, aren’t you?”

  “Ahaha... well, I can’t really afford not to be. I haven’t exactly been noble for long, anyway.” Unlike her husband, Lana seemed a bit more confident
. She was really friendly and quite the chatterbox. I wondered if this was a case of polar opposites attracting.

  “I was nervous when I heard that the two of them would be marrying into royalty, but it seems my fears were unfounded. I can see it in their eyes that you’re a good man.”

  “Thank you for your kindness.” Lana’s words put me at ease a little. Just then, a little boy who looked to be about seven years old (I think his name was... Allen, or something.), tottered over and tugged at his mother’s apron.

  “Mommy... is that man royalty?”

  “Sort of, sweetheart. He’s the Grand Duke of Brunhild. A country far away from here.”

  “Wow... is he strong? Can he beat up the Thunderbears?”

  “...Thunderbears?” I recalled them as being magical beasts that fired lightning from their bodies. They were a monster usually assigned to Blue Rank guild members, so they were two tiers lower than my Silver Rank.

  “Are there Thunderbears around here?”

  “Ah, there’ve been some alleged sightings lately. They say that lightning strikes have been firing out in the dead of night lately, up in the mountains. The crops have been damaged by the occasional fire, so the villagers in the area pooled their money and put out a quest in the guild.” I didn’t even consider that there’d be problems like farms being collaterally damaged. That sounded like an issue that could become pretty dire if it went unchecked. Not only that, but if the monsters were close enough to damage the fields, then it’d only be a matter of time before people started getting hurt, or worse. I wondered how many monsters there were. I remembered hearing that they were solitary animals and didn’t group up much. It was likely there’d just be a couple of them, and maybe some cubs.

  However, I’d heard about a special type of Thunderbear that had a strange set of spines running along its back from head to tail. It somehow used this to command other Thunderbears.

  If one of those things was involved, it could easily create a large group of Thunderbears. In that case, the quest would immediately jump to a Red Rank, which is a far cry from blue.

  “When exactly did you submit the quest to the guild?”

  “Three days ago. We don’t have a guild here, so we forwarded the request to the nearest large town, Senka. We’re fairly sure the quest should be available in the guild by this time tomorrow.” Assuming the quest was received and accepted the following day, it’d still be another three or four days until the adventurer who took it actually arrived in the village. I decided to strike while the iron was hot, and prevent further calamity. Contacting the guild afterwards would be fine, surely.

  “I’ll take care of your Thunderbear problem.”

  “Your Highness, really? Are you sure you’ll be alright?”

  “I’ll be fine. Despite my appearance, I’m a Silver Rank adventurer, after all.” I took out a small silver card from my pocket and showed it to Lana, who looked positively dumbfounded. Naturally, I wasn’t going to take the reward money from the village, either. I decided to defeat it quickly and get outta there.

  “Do you want us to come, too?”

  “No. You and Elze have a lot to discuss with your uncle and the others, so I’ll tackle this one solo.” I declined Linze’s offer and floated up into the air with my flight magic. The children looked up at me, gasping in amazement and putting their hands over their mouths. With their wonder backing me, I turned towards the mountains and flew away.

  After landing up on the mountains, I pulled out my smartphone and ran a search for Thunderbears. There were more than I was expecting. Too many. More than you’d expect for a regular gathering, anyway. It made me believe without question that a specialized Thunderbear should be around there.

  Though, despite the likelihood, there was no way to be certain. With the number of bears up here, the village was actually pretty lucky to only be slightly damaged. The damage to the farmer’s fields wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been, that was for sure. Plus, nobody had actually been attacked by a bear, either. The surrounding wilderness was probably full of small animals, berries, and nuts, so the Thunderbears didn’t need to forage in civilized lands.

  “Alrighty, let’s get this over with...” I ran a target lock on all the Thunderbears in the area. But then I paused. The resources from the Thunderbears would go to waste if I killed them all with a mass spell.

  Thunderbear pelt was quite valuable, as I recalled. Their liver was also an ingredient in a fast-acting and potent medication. Their meat was a little tough, but wasn’t entirely awful either. If I burned them all up with a spell, I’d probably lose their pelts entirely. That wouldn’t be economically intelligent of me.

  I decided that the best way to kill them was with a bladed weapon, because stabbing them would damage the fur the least. Then I changed my mind, and decided it might be smarter to poison them, or perhaps suffocate them, or cause them to go into cardiac arrest. I didn’t think my paralysis spell was strong enough to induce heart attacks, though.

  “Confirm the number of Thunderbears in the region.”

  “Calculating... Twenty-three bears. Cubs included.” Cubs or not, I couldn’t afford mercy. Didn’t want to run the risk of the little guys growing up and causing havoc. I felt slightly uncomfortable, but... that’s life.

  It’d probably be best to shoot them right in the hearts, one by one, huh... I figured it’d only take about an hour to end all of their lives. As I pondered the best way to effectively take them out, I popped open a portal to the first bear.

  “Hrmph... That was quite the hassle...” The specialized Thunderbear was a lot tougher than I expected, and didn’t really give me much room to attack it. I couldn’t aim anywhere except for the heart, so I had to dodge a bunch of lightning bolts that fired at me from all angles. It was really tough to avoid, but I ended up defeating it in the end. I put it in [Storage] with the rest of the bear corpses.

  And, just like that, the mountain was free of Thunderbears. Now all I had to do was head to the guild. Firstly, I needed to exchange the raw bear parts for money. And secondly, I had to inform them that the quest set by the town needed to be cancelled. Though, it probably wouldn’t be a cancellation, since the quest likely hadn’t even reached the guild board yet.

  “Uhh... what was it called, again? Uhh... Right, Senka. The town of Senka.” I looked it up on my map. It was due west.

  I triggered my flight magic and began heading there immediately. Truly, it was among my most convenient of spells. If I was on the ground, I could probably reach the same speed with [Accel Boost], but this method was easier. That being said, [Fly] was slightly slower and didn’t increase my thought processing in the way [Accel] did. Both spells had their pros and cons, it was just up to me to employ them at the right times.

  As such idle thoughts rolled around my head, I eventually saw a town through a clearing of clouds. It was Senka.

  I’d cause a fuss if I ended up landing in the middle of town, so I landed just a bit outside of the place. Then, after confirming the location of the guild on the map, I headed right into the bustling streets.

  The guildhouse in Senka was considerably smaller than the one in Belfast’s capital, but the interior was actually quite nice. The quest board, as usual, was up on a far wall with several jobs posted. I gave it a sidelong glance before heading to the reception desk.

  “Welcome! How may I help you?”

  “I’d like to sell some materials I’ve harvested from some monsters. Also, there’ll be a quest coming in from Colette village tomorrow. I’d like to cancel it.”

  “I don’t quite understand.” The receptionist eyed me suspiciously, so I presented her my guild card and explained the situation. She was surprised to see a Silver Rank, but believed my story.

  After that was dealt with, I lined up the Thunderbears outside and had them check the quality. I set aside two Thunderbear corpses to bring back to the village as evidence, as well.

  “Th-This will take us a little while, is that alright?” I d
idn’t mind, there were a lot. It was just one of those things, it’d be unreasonable to complain. I decided to kill time by looking around the guild. Making my way over to the quest board, I browsed a few requests.

  “Hm... A Mega Slime... in a cave to the east, huh.” All the girls in my party loathed any species even remotely similar to slimes. I’d fought many a monster and demon since I came to the new world, but slippery slimy monsters like ropers and slimes were ones we rarely encountered.

  As I idly browsed through jobs, someone came through the guild entrance. Many adventurers were coming and going, so I didn’t think much of it, but... then I did a double-take.

  “Well then, if it isn’t Touya. What brings you here?”

  “Ende...?!” It was him. The monochrome boy. With his pale complexion, his snow-white hair, his signature white scarf and his dark outfit...

  “What are you doing here, Ende?”

  “I should ask you the same, shouldn’t I? I just got back from wiping out a King Ape that was rampaging in the area.” Ende smiled wryly at me, and gave his answer. I knew what he was talking about. They were a large, monkey-like monster. They weren’t very intelligent, that was for sure. At least the ones I’d fought hadn’t been.

  “No, those details aren’t important. There’s a lot I need to ask of you, Ende.”

  “You have something to ask me? I mean, go right ahead, but please give me a moment. I need to turn in the quest, after all.” I watched Ende go to the reception desk and hand his guild card over. It was red. After pocketing his reward, we went to a corner area in the guild and sat down.

  “What did you want from me, Touya?”

  “The Phrase. I want to know what they are.” Ende looked like he was deep in thought, but eventually started to talk.