In Another World With My Smartphone_Volume 5 Page 19

  I see... Kohaku’s the leader of the beasts, Kokuyou and Sango collectively lead reptilian creatures... They can summon and control monsters of this type without any real problem, and generally make use of them. That power is mine by extension. Though the control doesn’t stretch to magical beasts like Thunderbears or King Apes.

  So basically, it’s the bird version of that.

  “What kind of person is the Flame Monarch?”

  “Despite their moniker of roaring fires, the Flame Monarch is kind and calm. Of us, they are the one with the noblest character.” Kohaku began to speak well of the bird, but Kokuyou suddenly butted in with a sly grin.

  “Are you ssssure? I’m fairly certain that I’m the one with the bessst perssonality here, sweetie.”

  “Be silent. You’re quicker to boil than a pot.”

  “You take that back, bitch!” Just like that, Kokuyou was brought to boil. What an apt comparison.

  After the two of them calmed down, I decided to call upon the Flame Emperor.

  I drew up the summoning circle in the courtyard and began to focus my dark magic. Eventually, a black mist began to form in the air around us. Kohaku and the others began to channel their own magic into the fog. I focused my magic even further, and the misty fog became thicker.

  “Thee who governs the scalding summers, and the roaring flames. Thee who governs the shores of lakes, and the southern winds. I implore you, present yourself before me.” The fog began to swell with tremendous magical power, and a cylinder of roaring fire emerged from the magic circle. The vortex blew all the fog away, and eventually dispersed to reveal a huge, red bird.

  It was about the size of a horse. It looked almost identical to what I could only describe as a Phoenix. This was the Flame Emperor.

  “Ah, it’s you fellows. How nostalgic, it has been some time.”

  “Indeed it has, Flame Emperor.”

  “Long time no sssee, flamey baby.”

  “A flashy entrance as ever, Flame Emperor.” The Flame Emperor’s voice sounded a bit like a gentle young woman’s. She definitely seemed calm and regal, without being aloof. Kohaku might’ve been right about her.

  “Was it you that summoned me, boy?”

  “That’s right.”

  “This man is our lord, Mochizuki Touya.” The Flame Emperor made an expression that I assumed was bird for ‘surprised’. But, after some time spent gazing at me, she closed her eyes.

  “So be it. As the master of the White Monarch, and the master of the Black Monarch, I know now that you will likely qualify for any challenge I give you. Let us make a contract. I will become subordinate to you, there is no need to test you, for you have already passed. Mochizuki Touya, my liege... grant unto me a name.”

  What...? That sure went smooth. She doesn’t want anything from me? That’s a first. But I’m definitely not gonna complain about it. Kohaku was right about you, lady... you’re the best of the lot as far as character goes.

  I still had to think of an name, though. I had Kohaku, Sango, and Kokuyou, and they were all named after precious stones, so... I knew what I had to do.

  “Kougyoku. That’s the name I’ve chosen for you. It means Ruby, a crimson stone. How about it?”

  “Kougyoku... I’ll readily accept it, then. From hereon, that is my name.” With a poof, the Flame Emperor transformed herself into a small bird, around the size of a parrot, and landed on my shoulder. That size was much more agreeable to me. She wasn’t likely to cause chaos as a tiny bird.

  At any rate, I decided to actually do what I had set out to do to begin with.

  I loaned Kougyoku’s power and summoned about a thousand birds at the same time. They were all different size and species, but I sent them all off to the four corners of the sky regardless.

  I telepathically ordered them all to inform me if they came across any suspicious-looking ruins, monuments, or facilities. I hoped from the bottom of my heart that they’d find something, and fast.

  It was all up to them at that point, all I had left was my hope.

  ◇　◇　◇

  Some time had passed since I’d sent out my avian scouts, but none had reported back with anything of note. The boundary of the world was on the verge of tearing, and there was nothing I could do...

  Even though God managed the worlds, he definitely had it rough. I hated that some people had the audacity to blame him for being inattentive. If you have a big collection of books and a bug starts eating through one of the pages of one of them, how would you know until you checked again? It’s not like he could keep an eye on a specific page just in case there might’ve been a bug nibbling at it.

  “Can’t you use your search magic to look for that Sovereign Core, Touya?” Once again I sighed towards Elze.

  “How many times do I have to tell you? I can’t find something that I haven’t seen, especially not if I only have a vague grasp on what it actually is. If I even knew its shape or size or something it might help me form a mental image, but it’s inside a human to begin with, so there’s no way of me working that out.” My search spell definitely wasn’t accurate. It depended on my subjective criteria, after all. Let’s say there were two people in front of me. If one was a woman, and the other was a man who had used magic to disguise himself perfectly as a woman, the search spell would still list him as a woman.

  If it was a guy who had poorly disguised himself as a woman, it would judge him as a man, though, because that’s what I’d see him as. That being said, it would sometimes slip up and judge a woman as a man if she had a particularly strong jawline or mannish features...

  In other words, it only searched by my own standards. Also, a strong enough magical barrier could negate it. I could search for things that were “similar,” but... How would I even know what was similar to the Sovereign Core to begin with if I have no initial frame of reference? If I walked over to a rock and asserted to myself, “This is the Sovereign Core,” then I’d probably get results for that term all over the world wherever there were rocks like that one.

  “At any rate, it’s not like I can take care of it that easily.” I muttered quietly as I used my reshaping spell in the middle of the training grounds. It’s not like I could do anything, so there was no point moping. Instead, I focused on reshaping the leather in my hands.

  “Milord, what’s this?” Before I’d noticed him there, Logan was talking to me. He had a wooden training sword in one hand, and was wiping his face with the towel he held in the other. He was, of course, referring to what I held in my hand.

  “This is a glove, Logan. I was thinking of teaching the children in the town how to play baseball.”

  “A... glove?”

  “For catching, I mean... bah, here, I’ll just show you instead.” I took out a ball I’d made earlier, threw it against the castle wall, then caught it in my glove when it bounced back. I hadn’t worn a baseball glove since I was in elementary school, but the feeling still... fit like a glove.

  “This is how you play, see? You gotta catch the ball. Usually the game has nine players facing off against another nine, though.”

  “Huh...” I made another glove and gave it to Logan. We tried to play a basic game of catch. He missed the first few times, but quickly got the hang of it. I’d noticed it a few times, but the people of this world were definitely quick on the uptake.

  The other soldiers started looking at us with envious eyes as they finished up their training. Sensing that, I had the ball and glove copied in the Workshop and the copies were distributed to everyone. Vice-Commander Nikola smiled wryly, but their training was done for the day so he couldn’t do anything. I still felt a little sorry, for some reason.

  I started counting up the amount of people there were. We had enough for baseball, so I decided to ask if they wanted to play. They might even end up finding it fun, I hoped.

  I took everyone who had free time along with me, and I created a baseball field to the west of the castle. I constructed the bases, a batter box, and
a pitcher mound.

  I crafted new bats, mitts, and protectors for everyone, then taught everyone the basic rules of baseball. I didn’t actually know the rules that thoroughly, though, so I made a point to consult the final details on my smartphone later.

  For the time being, I decided just to wing it and take the position of referee. The game finally began, and I watched them go at it.

  To be blunt, it went terribly for the most part. There were a ton of strikeouts and dead balls. Nobody ran properly, and ended up walking to the bases. But, gradually, they began to get the hang of it. They started hitting the ball properly with the bat. They were finally displaying the finesse I’d have expected from experienced swordsmen. And, as the offense grew, the defensive players began to shine as well.

  They kept screwing up to begin with, sure. There was a lot of fumbling around and falling. But, through trial and error, they gradually improved their form. I was pretty surprised by how well they ended up doing, but then I remembered these men were all soldiers at near-peak physical fitness levels. These guys were very proficient athletes.

  I popped open a portal and called the children from the town over. I’d decided that the soldiers had begun playing well enough to deserve a proper audience. I briefed them on the rules as I made some spectator stands for them to sit in.

  “You hit it, go for it!!

  “Run!”

  “Do your best, team!” The kids got into the spirit of the game and began yelling and cheering. The Knights began to cheer on their respective teams with newfound vigor.

  “What’re you doing, dumbass?! Throw it to first base!”

  “Look up at the ball, put your hand up!”

  “Switch places, switch with me!!” The knights, for the most part, were actually jeering at the enemy teams. I wished they were a bit more childishly innocent, like the kids.

  I didn’t really go into the rules too deeply, so people started making blunders here and there that I wasn’t entirely certain about. I had to learn more about it later.

  “Well, just so long as they’re having fun...” As everyone got absorbed in the action, I started finishing up the stadium. I finished an outfield fence, a scoreboard, and a net to catch any stray balls. I was quite proud of it, when all was done.

  It was getting dark, so it was about time to call it a night. I left the baseball equipment with the Knight Order and told them they were free to play in the stadium when they had time to kill. As for the kids, I made smaller equipment for them to play with when they visited. I didn’t make any special facility for them, or anything. There was more than enough land for them to play amateur baseball on.

  The next day, off-duty knights began making frequent trips to the stadium in order to play. They’d already split off into several teams, from the looks of things. They were even setting up little leagues. Their teams had the names of monsters, like “The Griffons” and “The Salamanders,” which made me think that the people of this world really weren’t all too different from the people of mine.

  Whenever there was an issue with the rules, people would come and consult me about it. But every time they did that, I had to look it up on the internet. I decided to cut out the middleman and just make a rulebook, but there were a few problems.

  I could use one of my spells to transcribe the text into paper, but that also left the issue of converting Japanese into this world’s language. Not to mention the fact that I’d need to sift through everything to remove confusing words like “America” or “Major League,” I didn’t want people getting really muddled.

  Eventually, as the regular townsfolk began showing an interest in baseball as well, they all started to come up and watch the games be played. Some of them started joining in after a while as well. And, sensing the opportunity to make a pretty penny, the Mismedian merchant, Olba, negotiated with me for the sales rights to baseball and baseball accessories.

  I agreed to the deal, since I didn’t really see a reason to decline. He would produce them elsewhere, and a percentage of the profits would make their way back to my country. It was very much a similar deal to the one we’d made about the spinning tops. Back then I wasn’t sure about the widespread appeal, but the spinning tops had become a hit with kids in several nations, so it was possible I was about to begin a baseball craze too.

  At the monthly alliance meeting with the other western national leaders, the loud cheering from the station caught the attention of the Emperors and Kings. The moment I showed them the source of the excitement, they fell head over heels for baseball.

  I offered each national leader a set of baseball equipment, though it was more fair to say that they all bothered me for some. Each country created a national baseball team. And, just like clockwork, the game became very popular. Baseball as a sport became a casual activity in almost every developed nation. Who could’ve seen that one coming?

  When people had free time, they’d band together with their friends and form teams, and then they’d play against other teams. Their family members and other friends would them play. It seemed like cheerleading was starting to naturally catch on as a consequence as well... It didn’t look like professional baseball leagues were far off, if I was honest.

  I never quite expected it to blow up to the extent that it did, but Olba told me it was his intention and anticipation from the beginning.

  “I had no idea it’d be this successful...”

  “Your Highness, it’s something you began, so naturally it would be a smash hit. If you’ll pardon the joke.” Olba answered me with a small chuckle. He was right. I’d completely forgotten how devoid of entertainment this world was. There wasn’t really much variety in general life, let alone sports. That was honestly a little sad, if you asked me. It made me wonder if I’d be able to sell anything if I marketed it as a “fun game.”

  “Now then, if you have yourself any other bright ideas... please do not hesitate to ask my company for assistance in sales and distribution...”

  “Mm, well, I actually have a lot of ideas right now. But I’m not sure if they’ll all sell...”

  “Ohoho... How very interesting...” I saw a devious glint in Olba’s eyes just then. That was probably his senses as a trader. I decided to make use of that keen eye.

  “But, that aside for a minute... I’m going to need metals. Copper, iron, silver, mithril, orichalcum, and hihi’irokane... Can you use your trade connections to get these at decent prices?”

  “Metals, eh? Well, I think there’s a particular trader who can get me these on the cheap, yes. How much do you need?”

  “I need them indefinitely, for now at least. From now on, please use my cut of the profits from any inventions I give you to purchase these materials for me.” I decided to start preparing well in advance for the Frame Gear, that way even if it needed a ton of materials it shouldn’t be a problem. I decided to start stockpiling. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to get enough materials to make a Frame Gear if I only focused on gathering materials alone.

  “It seems you must have a sufficient reason, then... I’ll begin searching for the relevant materials. Color me intrigued.”

  “Thanks for your understanding. So then, on to the goods. They’re called the yo-yo, the hula-hoop, the hopscotch, and the ball-and-cup.”

  “I’ve never heard of these before. Can you tell me more?” I made a yo-yo and tried to use it in order to show Olba how it was. The plastic types were the best, but I had to make one out of wood. I ended up crafting the other toys too, and demonstrated them all to him one by one.

  With that, I’d secured the funds to acquire materials for the Frame Gear. I felt a little bit awkward using sales proceeds of other people to fuel my project, though. I decided to kill a Mithril Golem later on to make myself feel better, it probably wouldn’t be much of a challenge compared to the first time I went up against one, though...

  At any rate, things were starting to look up.

  Interlude: A Date Interrupted

  “Congra
tulations!”

  “Congratulations, you two! I wish you all the best!”

  “You better not make your new wife cry, Lyon!”

  “May you two be blessed with happiness!” Celebratory clapping filled the air. In the center of all the noise stood Lyon, a knight of Belfast. A little embarrassed, he beamed happily, standing next to his former fiancé. Indeed, she was now his wife. His wife was Olga, a fox type Beastwoman.

  Lyon was bedecked in a splendid snow-colored tuxedo, while Olga wore a pure white wedding dress.

  I had designed both of their outfits using references I had found online. Then I’d asked Zanac, the clothing merchant, to sew them. The two both had great figures, so they filled out the clothes nicely. I was honestly a little jealous.

  The wedding was being held at Lyon’s parents’ house... in other words, General Leon’s villa. More specifically, in the Blitz estate’s courtyard.

  The bride and groom’s families, all of Lyon’s fellow knights, and their friends from Mismede had all gathered to see them wed.

  I’d opened up a portal to invite the Mismede guests over. Well, I suppose this could be called a success.

  The newlyweds’ new home was within walking distance of the wedding venue. It was a nice house, but a bit too small to hold a grand affair like this. Which is why the wedding was being held at the groom’s parents’ villa.

  The party was held buffet style in the courtyard. I’d attended their wedding not as the Grand Duke of Brunhild, but as the couple’s friend.

  With me was Yumina, Elze, Linze, Yae, and Lu. Lu didn’t really know either the bride or the groom, but I didn’t want her to feel left out, so I brought her along too.

  The guests all chatted amicably with each other. One of them broke off from the crowd and headed toward me.

  “Your Highness, I humbly thank you for everything you’ve done for the bride and groom”

  “Don’t mention it. Besides, I’m here today not as a Duke, but as their friend.”