In Another World With My Smartphone: Volume 1 Page 19

  “I don’t mind letting you stay materialized if that’s what you want, but, uh, I don’t really know how I’d feel about walking through the streets with a huge white tiger in tow... you know?”

  “I see... In that case, I shall change my form.”

  “Change your what now?” Before I had even finished my sentence, Kohaku had morphed into the form of a white tiger cub. I had no idea it could do tricks like that.

  What was once a large tiger had turned into roughly the size of a small dog. With those stubby little legs and that stubby little tail, its aura of intimidation had decreased by 100%, and its aura of adorability had leapt up by 100%.

  Kohaku was so adorable, in fact, that I couldn’t resist picking the little cub up and cradling it in my arms. Oh gosh, oh gosh, so fluffy-wuffy! I’m so glad I summoned Kohaku, I thought, feelings welling up from the bottom of my heart.

  “I believe I should not attract any undue attention in this form.” Oh my gosh, it talked! So cuuute!

  “I think you’ll be attracting attention in a totally different way in this form, but that’s A-OK in my book!”

  “Very well then. Thank you very much for allowing me to— Gufhu?!”

  “Kyaaaa! So cuuuuute!!!” The one who snatched Kohaku from my arms for the purpose of much hugging was none other than the Phantom Thief Yumina. She rubbed her face against Kohaku’s fur and hugged it tightly even as Kohaku struggled to break free from the Fort Knox-level hugging techniques that Yumina had been practicing on me.

  “Wait, stop! Cease this insolence immediately! Who are you that you would dare commit such acts?!”

  “Oh right, I hadn’t introduced myself yet. My name is Yumina. I’m Touya’s wife.”

  “Master’s wife?!” Even Kohaku’s stunned face looked like a national treasure to my eyes. Hang on just one minute, Yumina! You can’t just go around introducing yourself as my wife like that!

  Kohaku dejectedly endured being petted by Yumina for a while.

  It seemed that Kohaku had qualms about putting up any real resistance to her master’s self-proclaimed wife, so it soon stopped struggling and let Yumina play to her heart’s content.

  Her dose of fluffy-wuffy satisfied, Yumina released the captive Kohaku... only for Elze and the others to appear and, as if a flip had been switched in each of their brains, they all became exactly what Yumina had been just moments before. Only this time the onslaught of cuddles was triple what it was moments ago.

  “M-Master! Please, assist meee!”

  “Grin and bear it. They’ll calm down once they’ve had their fill.”

  “Maaaasteeer!” And so, our party gained a new member that day. Well, maybe “gained a mascot” was a more fitting way to put it.

  Once everyone had gotten their fill of fluffy-wuffy time, I decided to partake of it myself.

  I looked up to the sky as Kohaku’s pleasant screams filled my ears. Such lovely weather we’re having.

  God’s in His Heaven, all’s right with the world!

  Interlude I: The Adventurers

  I took the day to go and visit the guild’s reading room, so that I could read through the Monster Encyclopedia they had. With Linze’s help, my literacy had improved substantially.

  In my world, a Monster Encyclopedia would be like one big book full of mythological creatures and plots for kaiju movies. It was a really fun read.

  There were entries for all different kinds of monsters, magic beasts, spirits, and even Heavenly Beasts, each with their own detailed illustrations. However, there were some that lacked illustrations, which I assumed meant they were as-yet unidentified.

  Out of all the monsters in the world, the ones I could find the least information on were dragons.

  Dragons were monsters, yet not monsters. That alone already made them a different kind of lifeform. It was written that the optimal means of dealing with a dragon was to run away. It seemed like they were considered the strongest things around even in this world... Not that my old one actually had any real dragons.

  The guild didn’t allow anyone to check any books out of the building. If you really wanted to refer back to anything you’d read, then you just had to note it down. I, however, had the ultimate ally in the form of my Smartphone.

  I used my Smartphone’s camera to photograph all of the pages containing info on any local monsters. It was so that I could refer back to it later to look up any of their behavioral traits, valuable body parts, and general points of notice. Don’t try doing this at home, folks. I’d have been fine simply copying the pages with my [Drawing] spell, but the room was protected by a barrier preventing any spells from being cast. These sorts of books were apparently pretty valuable, so it was entirely plausible that some people had tried to use magic to steal them in the past. I didn’t really mind just photographing the pages instead, since it took up less room that way anyway in addition to being far easier to sort through.

  I also found books with details on demi-humans. It surprised me to find out that this world even had demons in it.

  These demons weren’t inherently evil; they just seemed to be another subset of demi-human species that had unique characteristics.

  Really, the term demons in this context referred to things such as vampires, werewolves, alraunes, lamias, and ogres. These races weren’t immediately hostile to humans in the way that monsters were, but they didn’t exactly seem to be on good terms, either. Most of these so-called demons apparently kept to themselves in a place known as the Demon Kingdom Xenoahs, far to the north. They rarely ever approached countries inhabited by humans.

  I couldn’t be sure whether they were being isolated or whether they were deliberately staying out of the way of humans... But, well, even beastmen were discriminated against. Demons seemed like they’d have it even worse than that.

  One thing I found interesting was the difference between werewolves and wolf beastmen. Basically, a wolf beastman was like a human, except they had wolf ears and a tail. A werewolf was a human-sized wolf standing on its hind legs, with five-fingered hands and five-toed feet. In other words, werewolves still had the faces of wolves.

  Also, werewolves didn’t transform under moonlight or anything. They wore clothes and could still talk just like any other demi-human.

  Still, between a human with wolf ears and a man with the face of a wolf, I could see the former being accepted among a human community far more easily. Though if we shared languages and could still communicate with them, then physical appearances didn’t seem like such a big deal to me.

  Other types of demi-humans included winged races, fairies, aquatic races, horned races, dragonfolk, elves, and dwarves.

  Even beastmen could be further divided into sub-types like dog or fox, so it felt pretty difficult to grasp just how many different kinds of demi-humans there were.

  Looking at a world map taught me that while the world was fairly big, its climate was a complete patchwork mess. Countries didn’t get colder in the north or hotter in the south, or follow any kind of consistent logic like that.

  This climate was said to be caused by the spirits dwelling in the lands, but the details were unknown. Hell, I couldn’t even be sure that the world was even spherical like Earth. It wasn’t secretly being held up from beneath by elephants or turtles or anything like that, right? I was surprised yet again to find out that there were completely accurate world maps. Then again, even without blimps or planes, there were still winged demi-humans and probably even magic allowing for human flight, so it wasn’t actually that strange.

  Oh, time’s up... The guild charged extension fees if you used their services for too long, so I closed up the book and decided it was time to leave.

  There were a bunch of adventurers talking in front of the request board when I returned to the first floor. More than there would normally be at this time of day. Was it because it was the weekend? I made my own way over to the request board to see if there were any exceptionally good jobs available or anything, though I had no
real intention of accepting any.

  We had decided to take the day off since Elze was feeling “under the weather.” It must’ve been tough dealing with... girl problems like that. Even my [Recovery] spell had no effect. Probably because it wasn’t classified as an abnormal status condition, or so I figured. If anything, that kind of pain was proof that her body was functioning properly.

  I had been looking over the request board when I heard angry yelling coming from outside.

  Guild offices typically stood next to bars, most of which also stayed open throughout the day. They mainly sold light meals during the day, but they still served alcohol regardless of the time.

  There was also a larger inn than the Silver Moon fairly nearby, and its guests would frequent the bar due to the convenient location.

  All of those things combined meant that there were drunkards out and about at all times of day. It should go without saying, but most people who did just want a light meal wouldn’t usually go to a bar for one. That much was obvious.

  I’d only even been in the place a handful of times at most. I didn’t drink alcohol, and I hated having to deal with drunkards.

  The high number of drunkards also meant that loud arguments were a common thing. People inside the guild building had gotten used to it, with it maybe arousing a few complaints at most. Under normal circumstances, at least. It was a different story when you could hear the sounds of clashing steel.

  I ended up leaving the guild office to join the crowd of onlookers. Out in front of the bar, two adventurers were glaring at each other red with anger. One was a bald-headed bearded man, and the other had a mohawk and a long face. Both of them already had their swords out.

  “What’s going on? A duel?” They had their swords drawn in the middle of the road, so it wasn’t just your average scuffle. Worst case scenario, someone could end up dead.

  Honestly, it wasn’t my first time witnessing a duel. Typically a duel went the way of stating your name and the reason for the duel, and then you get the consent of the other party. After that had been established, outsiders would refrain from butting in. But this wasn’t anything as sophisticated as a duel. Just a pair of drunkards at each other’s throats. Neither of them had any acting witnesses, so it was clearly no formal altercation.

  The townsfolk were treating them like a pair of pests, too. If it wasn’t a duel, then a patrolling knight would probably be around to stop it before long.

  “...How stupid. They should at least take their fight somewhere out of everyone’s way.”

  “Alright, where’s the smartass that said that?!” The bearded baldy turned in my direction, looking like he was about to blow a gasket. Seemed he’d overheard me.

  The other onlookers moved out of the way like a sea being parted. Every last one of them fled as if explicitly telling me not to get them wrapped up in it. Dang, that’s cold.

  “Were you the one that called us stupid?!”

  “He called us what?!”

  “No, I said that what you were doing was stupid. I didn’t mean to personally offend either of you by it...” I made a small attempt to explain myself. It was true that I thought they were a pair of idiots, though.

  “Hold on... You’re that brat who joined the guild recently, the one that’s always bein’ followed around by a buncha girls! You’ve been pissin’ me off for a while now, y’know that?! You tryin’ to show off how popular you are? You makin’ fun of the rest of us?! Well, are ya?!”

  “Yeah, Mr. Bigshot! Unlike you, there’re some real adventurers out here putting our lives on the line! The guild ain’t your playground, so go screw around somewhere else!”

  “...I see. So being an adult means getting drunk and hacking away at each other with your swords in the middle of town? It really does make me look like the childish one when you put it that way, doesn’t it?” I ended up spitting out some sarcasm after what those guys said annoyed me a little.

  Don’t lecture people for being childish when you’re going around picking fights with literal children. That’s about as immature as you can get.

  The two men who had been fighting mere moments ago united in their hostility toward me instead. Apparently they saw me as a common threat.

  “Bastard... You’ve got real guts, you know that? Feel like finding out what color they are, do ya?!” The bearded baldy moved toward me. There were veins bulging on his forehead. He was over two meters tall, so I ended up having to crane my neck to meet his gaze.

  The man before me had muscles like a pro wrestler. Plus, his behavior gave the impression that he was a real nasty guy. But in all honesty, I wasn’t intimidated in the slightest. I had memories of being yelled at by my late grandfather that were far scarier than the guy in front of me. When I realized that, I accidentally let a laugh slip out.

  “You son of a...!” As I thought, the guy hesitated to draw his sword on me. Instead, he swung his massive left fist straight toward my face.

  Yup, I can read his every move. I tilted my head to the right a little and cleanly avoided his punch.

  Using my opponent’s momentum against him, I grabbed hold of his arm and pulled in order to break his balance before sweeping his legs out from under him. The bearded baldy who’d come charging at me dived straight to the ground in a single breath. Alright, I managed to pull it off. Glad I got Yae to teach me how to do that.

  “C’mere, brat!” This time the mohawk rushed at me with his sword. You shouldn’t point sharp things at other people.

  “[Slip].”

  “Ghwah?!” I knocked down the crazy mohawk guy using my trip-up spell, making the sword go flying out of his hand in the process. I picked the sword up and, very carefully so as not to get noticed, cast [Modeling] to bend its shape with my hands as though it were made of rubber. This spell made me able to change the shape of any material in front of me into something else. Any complex new shapes or sculptures took a lot of time, but something simple was a piece of cake.

  I threw the bent sword back down in front of the mohawk guy.

  “What?! Eep!!!” Mohawk guy let out a squeal of terror as he crawled away. Seemed like he was so scared that he couldn’t even stand. He probably thought that I had superhuman strength after a display like that.

  “You goddamned...!” This time the bearded baldy came charging at me from behind, swinging his sword down on me without a shred of mercy. Does nobody around here have any manners? I sidestepped to avoid the bearded baldy’s attack and moved behind him, sweeping at his legs from the back this time.

  “Ngwuh?!” He let out a grunt after falling backward and hitting the back of his head against the ground. He probably had a minor concussion. He was already drunk, but was now unable to even keep his head straight as it bobbed from side to side.

  I picked up the bearded baldy’s sword and worked my spell on it, same as with the mohawk guy’s. The man went pale as he watched his sword being bent out of shape before his very eyes.

  “D-Dammit! I’ll get you for this!” With the parting words of a two-bit thug, both of the idiots ran away.

  Don’t go around being an angry drunkard in the middle of the day, for heaven’s sake. You’re making trouble for everyone around.

  “Hey, you gonna be alright, man?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine. Not like they managed to actually hit me.” One of the onlookers showed what appeared to be concern for my well-being, so I waved my hand to show him I was just fine.

  “No, not like that... I mean, those guys were with the Steel Fangs and Poison Snakes, right? They’ll probably bring a whole bunch of scary guys to get back at you.” Steel Fangs? Poison Snakes? I don’t get it. As it turned out, they were a pair of adventuring parties that happened to be somewhat well-known in the area. Not that I’d ever heard of them. We never really interacted with other parties outside of our own. And we didn’t have any reason to hang out around the bars, either. I guess we were short on local knowledge thanks to little things like that. From what I’d heard, the Steel Fangs
and Poison Snakes were both parties mainly composed of Blue-rank adventurers.

  We were a party of Green-rank adventurers, so technically both of them outranked us.

  Your Guild Rank rose based on the points you’d earned from completing requests, and it went up starting from Black-rank, going up through Purple, Green, Blue, Red, Silver, and Gold, in that order. This didn’t mean that higher ranking people were more amazing by default, but naturally, ascending through the ranks got harder and harder the more you rose through them.

  It got so difficult to attain the highest ranks that almost nobody ever made it to Silver, let alone Gold. Hell, there was only a single person in the whole world who currently held the status of Gold adventurer. It took an absurd amount of points even just to rise from Red to Silver.

  That’s why Red-rank adventurers were generally considered to be some of the best around. The ones below them in Blue-rank were generally considered Veterans for the most part.

  ...Neither of those guys just now had seemed very veteran to me, though. They were both stupidly weak. Then again, them being a higher rank was a separate issue from how strong they actually were.

  I honestly didn’t believe that either of those parties had so much free time that they’d bother coming back for revenge or anything of the sort. Quarrels between adventurers was practically an everyday occurrence, and it wasn’t like I’d seriously injured either of them.

  At that time, I had no way of knowing just how wrong I was...

  “Care to explain what you’ve gone and done, would you kindly, Touya-dono?”

  “Well, I don’t really recall doing anything that would get us in this kind of situation...” The next day, following right after Elze, Linze started having her own “girl problems,” so I went with Yumina and Yae to the eastern forest on a hunting quest.