In Another World With My Smartphone: Volume 8 Page 2

  Apart from Lushade’s own eccentric distaste for blood, it seemed that all the Vampires in this world were pretty much the same as him. Heck, people who’d had their blood sucked by vampires wouldn’t even turn into vampires themselves in this world.

  Apparently they were still blessed with many powerful abilities, such as incredible night-vision, superhuman strength, and tremendous self-recovery abilities to name a few... But looking at this young man, I found that pretty hard to picture in my head.

  At any rate, I’d heard that Vampires tended to hold considerably high social status within Xenoahs, which was why I called Lushade out hoping I might be able to glean some useful information from him.

  To this day, it remained a mystery to me why someone of such a high social standing would come all the way out here just to join my Knights Order. When we interviewed him for the position, I seemed to recall him saying something about wanting to gain his own independence in his life.

  “So, like, are there no humans in Xenoahs at all?”

  “No, there are a few. Even some Demi-Humans live there. Just because Xenoahs keeps itself from getting involved in other countries’ affairs doesn’t mean it totally isolates itself from the outside world altogether. It’s just that it’s an incredibly difficult place for just about any race to live in.”

  “Whaddya mean?”

  “Well, first and not least of all the climate is somewhat extreme there. The temperature at midday gets scorching hot, meanwhile the nights can reach sub-zero temperatures easily. Not to mention the fact that magic beasts inhabit the land in droves. Just stepping outside of town means you’re almost guaranteed to be attacked by whole packs of them. Plus there’s the problem of the food supply. There isn’t exactly much that most humans would willingly eat unless they had no other choice. I mean, would you willingly eat Slime Jelly or Orc meat?” Orc meat? By Orcs, he means those orcs, right? The ones with pig heads and humanoid bodies? Can you actually eat those things!? I mean come on! You should at least be eating regular pork in that case! As for Slime Jelly... Yeah, no thanks. That just sounds outright disgusting. Like he said, I can see why their local cuisine would be pretty tough for ordinary humans to get used to...

  “...Do Orcs not count as Demonkin?”

  “Of course not. They can’t even communicate with words, remember? Demons refers to races with high enough intelligence to at least hold a coherent conversation. Everything else gets classified as either magic beasts or monsters.” His explanation made sense.

  I asked Lushade if there were any slightly more... appetizing foods to choose from, at which point he brought up Mini-Wyrm Soup and Grilled Giant Bats and such. I could feel my stomach turning just hearing about it. There’s no way in hell I could bring myself to eat that stuff, not even if you paid me a hundred platinum as a dare. Heck, for all I knew they might be delicious, but the appearance alone would be guaranteed to kill my appetite altogether.

  “That said, it actually took me a little while to get accustomed to the cuisine over here, too. It’s nice now that I’m used to it, but sometimes I do find myself longing for my home country’s cooking again,” said Lushade as he made a forced smile. Guess it’s true what they say about longing for the taste of your hometown, I thought to myself.

  Pushing this disturbing talk of horrific foodstuffs out of my mind, I recalled my main objective. If there were humans living in the country already, then I supposed I might not stand out as much as I originally thought if I were to take a trip there. I figured I could maybe sneak my way into the country easily enough in order to go investigate those Ruins of Babylon.

  If I got caught I could just come up with some excuse like being a penniless wandering noble. I wasn’t planning on stirring up any trouble, and it’s not like my outward appearance made me look like anyone of particular importance or anything.

  With that, I decided to take a quick expedition to scout the place out. Unfortunately Lushade had never been directly to the ruins himself, so I’d have to just jump to Yulong and use my [Fly] spell to cover the rest of the distance.

  Since I was travelling by flight this time, I had the rest of the party wait back at the castle. Just in case anything happened and I had to contact anyone for support I decided to take Kohaku or one of the others with me, but since I could only take one of them it came very close to breaking out into a fight between them. Breaking up their little spat was a pain in the ass.

  Yumina drew up a lottery to help make the decision as fair as possible, which ended up with Kohaku being the one to accompany me this time. With that decided, I opened up a [Gate] to Yulong. The very same place we’d fought the Phrase once before.

  Same old wasteland as usual, I thought to myself. With nothing to do here, we set out for our original goal without hesitation. After casting [Levitation] on Kohaku, I fired up my [Fly] spell and we headed straight for Xenoahs.

  Just for added safety, so we didn’t get caught and/or restrained as suspicious individuals, I made sure to cast [Invisible] on us both. Could never be too careful in unknown territory.

  The moment we entered Xenoahs airspace, something came flying straight in our direction. For a moment I feared we had been spotted already, but on closer inspection that didn’t seem to be the case. Just to avoid any unnecessary risks, I slowed down our flying speed and decided to observe from a distance for a while. It was then that I noticed that what had been heading our way was two Demonkin. The upper halves of their bodies were those of women, while their arms and legs were those of birds.

  “Those are Harpies. The talons on their feet have enough force to rip bears apart, but they’re unlikely to attack us unless we were to provoke them first.” Just like Kohaku said, the Harpies flew right past us without so much as a glance in our direction. Come to think about it, they wouldn’t even have been able to track us down by spell due to the magic fields we had up to help conceal our presence completely.

  From what I could tell, Harpies must’ve been a species of Demon. They certainly didn’t look like magical beasts to me, at least. I was still a little unclear on what separated Demons from magical beasts, but according to Lushade, anything humanoid that you could hold a coherent conversation with would be a Demon, whereas creatures like the Dullahan where communication with them was totally impossible were monsters. Meanwhile, non-humanoid creatures that you could still communicate with such as Unicorns still fell under the category of magical beasts. I still didn’t fully understand all the distinctions between them, but I felt like I had a least a basic grasp of the logic behind it by now.

  “Let’s try to err on the side of caution, just in case. There’s no telling what sorts of strange magic beasts we might run into all the way out here, and I’m willing to bet there’s a lot of them that we’ve never had to deal with before.” Once the Harpies were out of view, we continued our flight toward our destination. Gazing upon the scenery below us revealed nothing but wastelands, treacherous mountains, and thick wooded areas for as far as the eye could see. I was beginning to understand why living in such a place would be such a challenge for the average person.

  There were routes resembling paths dotted around here and there, but even those looked treacherous enough as though they were just there due to being well-tread over the years, as opposed to being deliberately made to make passage between two specific areas any easier or safer.

  “This place looks plenty unforgiving enough for the uninitiated already. I mean, I expect the capital won’t look anything like these backwoods roads, but I can see where these lands get their intimidating reputation from.”

  “The magical particles are thick in the air around these parts, which may be what’s attracting the magic beasts in such great numbers. It’s definitely the kind of place where humans would struggle even to survive a few days, from what I can see. Demon races with their unnatural resistance and physical resilience would be another story, but other races would likely not fare so well in these conditions...” In a way, that descrip
tion made it sound to me like exactly the kind of ideal environment to establish a country of Demonkin in.

  Still, isn’t it a bit too hot here? I could’ve sworn it was the middle of winter when we left Brunhild... I mean, the sun’s blasting on at full power and might even blind me if I’m not careful. Does it get some kind of status power-up in the skies of this area or something? Could it be due to the density of magical particles in the air around here, or does it maybe have something to do with the Earth Spirits in this part of the world?

  It’s times like this I’m glad my jacket has resistance to the natural elements, I thought to myself, secretly paying thanks to my long-time partner.

  Snapping myself out of my sightseeing tour, I noticed something else flying in our direction. More Harpies, I wondered? Looking closer, they were large blue birds resembling condors. Those must’ve been some of Kougyoku’s followers.

  Upon dispelling my [Invisible] spell, the birds seemed to recognize us and changed direction to fly eastward as if to guide us to where we were going.

  Eventually we reached a mountainous area, and the birds took us to a small valley.

  “What’s this...” Nestled in a nook between mountains, there was a large structure that resembled the Arc de Triomphe.

  I descended and checked out the structure’s composition. It was definitely made out of the same stuff as the others. It seemed we were right to assume.

  It was about three meters tall, and when I passed under it I found myself in a small room with letters engraved on the wall. To my left hand side there were five different objects stacked up in a row.

  The middle of the room had a small stone pillar that went up to my waist. There was a fire spellstone sitting atop it. It kind of resembled a hokora, a small Shinto shrine for offerings. It was made out of the same stuff as the rest of the structure, though.

  “Hm... This is definitely new. What’s this all about...?” I channeled magic into the stone, but that didn’t work. I heard a loud buzzer sound, signifying I’d done something wrong. It felt just like the kind of sound you’d hear on a quiz show if someone made a wrong answer. I figured this was the ruin’s way of telling me I was doing it wrong. “Hm... Maybe those symbols are a clue. Oh... I should read the letters... [Reading]: Ancient Spirit Script]!” Just like that, the letters became legible.

  “Let’s see... ‘Line up the shapes to the right in the correct order, top to bottom. You do not need to physically move them. Simply imagining it as you channel your magic into the firestone is enough.’ What...” What’s going on...? A quiz? Are the shapes those weird things stacked up on the wall to the left?

  There was a square, a semi-circle, a star, a full circle, and a triangle. All had dots on them, too. Five for the square, three for the semi-circle, one for the star, four for the circle, and two for the triangle.

  “If these dots are the key to it... Could it really be that simple?” I pictured the shapes in my mind in the following order. Star, triangle, semi-circle, circle, square. Then I poured my magical power into the stone. Bzzt. I was wrong. Well, that would’ve been too easy.

  “...Maybe it’s by number of straight sides?” The circle had no straight edges, the semi-circle had one, triangle had three, square had four... and star had five. There wasn’t a shape with two, though. It was kind of annoying. Man, I’m not really getting this at all... Regardless, I tried the order of circle, semi-circle, triangle, square, star.

  Bzzt. Wrong again!

  “Damn it... Is it really the dots, then?”

  “Perhaps the shapes represent different meanings.”

  “Uh... Meanings? The circle... Maybe that’s the sun...? Then the semi-circle is the moon... Then the star is... a star... Is it some kind of astrological thing? What about the triangle and square?!” Maybe if I’m arranging them top to bottom... It’s their distance from the planet? So the furthest is the stars, then the sun... Then the moon... If the triangle is a house...? And the square is the planet itself! I tried lining them up like that.

  Bzzt.

  “Ugh... Come on... The dots have to be the hints, but what does it mean?!”

  After that, I spent some time glaring at the shapes. It became a tedious process of trial and error. But mostly error. A long while passed, until...

  Ding ding ding!!

  “WHAT?! GIMME A GODDAMN BREAK!”

  “M-My liege... I understand your frustration, but please calm yourself.” A loud rumbling came as the wall of shapes moved to the side, opening for me. Frankly I wished I could’ve kicked it down. Kohaku’s imploring stopped me, though.

  “That was such a stupid question! What the hell kind of answer was that supposed to be?!”

  “I-I agree, but still...” Kohaku sighed in resignation. The answer to the puzzle infuriated me. It was simple enough... “There are no shapes to the right.” That was it. I felt like an idiot. But it was true. The shapes were to my left, and the question asked me to sort shapes to my right... It was just a stupid riddle! I calmed myself down and progressed inwards to the next room. I found myself facing a familiar sight. A wall with lettering carved into it, and a pillar with a blue spellstone in the middle of the room. NOT AGAIN!

  ◇　◇　◇

  “There are eight coins and a single scale. One of the coins is counterfeit. The counterfeit coin weighs a little bit less than a legitimate coin, thus it is easy to discover by weighing. The question, however, is what is the least number of attempts needed to determine the false coin? An incorrect answer will return you to the entrance.” This one’s a little trickier... Gonna need to think about this.

  It shouldn’t take much brainpower though! That’s right, the answer is... Wait... Hold on, uh...

  I channeled my magical power into the blue spellstone as I pictured the answer in my mind.

  Ding ding ding, we have a winner!

  Just as I expected... It was trying to trick me. I narrowed my eyes slightly as the next wall opened up.

  “My lord, what was the answer?”

  Kohaku looked up at me, curious. Hm? You didn’t get it?

  “Well, think about it. How many tries should it take?”

  “Well, the first try should be spent weighing four coins on each side. Then you should spend the second try dividing the lighter four into piles of two, and weighing them. Third and final, you weigh the final two coins from the lighter side again. It will take three attempts total.”

  “I see... That’s technically true, yes. But you could take six coins and measure them in two piles of three. If they were balanced, it would mean one of the two left over was the counterfeit. Then you’d only need a second try to confirm the answer. If they weren’t balanced, then it’d just be a matter of placing one coin from the lighter pile on either side. If those were balanced, then the remaining one would be the fake. If they were imbalanced, the fake would be the lighter one. Either way, it would take two measurements. That’s the generally accepted answer, I think.” Emphasis on generally...

  “Then you mean to imply it could be done in less than two?”

  “The answer is it takes one. You can randomly take two coins from the eight, and measure their weight. If you’re lucky enough you’ll be able to find it in one go.”

  “What? Luck?”

  “The question didn’t specify anything like having a guarantee of success, it just asked the least number of times the scale could be used.” Just the kind of nonsense I’d expect from a Babylon ruin. It’s unpleasant all the way through... It really reminds me of how the woman herself acts. I feel a little dirty, like I know how she ticks now... I’m a little uneasy about that, but... It feels like I know her well.

  Some time later... “Please follow the rules of the current calculation. In this system, what does X equal?” 36 = 1, 108 = 3, 2160 = 2, 10800 = X. The question seemed fairly straightforward, and I was unsure about whether or not she’d hidden some kind of devious trick within it.

  But in the end, there was no trick. The answer was merely 5.


  It wasn’t really much of a puzzle, just a standard question. It wasn’t difficult or anything, either. I couldn’t afford to get them wrong and find myself back at the entrance, though. The wall opened up again, and I headed to my next problem. I wanted them to stop.

  Ding ding ding... We have a winner!

  I finally broke through the last room, one with a null spellstone, and found myself facing a familiar magic circle.

  “Finally... That took way longer than it should have...” Even if it was just a stupid prank from the Doctor, it was a real pain in the ass. I grumbled quietly as I let magic flow from my body into the six stone pillars. Then, making sure Kohaku was with me in the middle of the circle, I let the Null magic spill out at my feet.

  A flash of light engulfed us before gradually fading. I opened my eyes to find myself viewing the familiar sight of Babylon. The sky was calm and cloudy, and I could see trees swaying in the breeze.

  I looked around, curious, and spotted a building far away. I wondered if I’d found the Storehouse, the Library, or maybe even the Research Lab.

  I started walking towards the building and, gradually, I came to get a good look at it.

  It was round, like a big can of tuna. But the most striking thing about it was that it was entirely made of glass. I could see everything inside. What I saw was bookshelves. Dozens of them, perhaps hundreds. The interior was so full of shelves packed with books that I could barely comprehend what I was looking at.

  I’d found the Library, that much was clear.

  I walked around the building, searching for a way inside. Eventually, I found a massive set of double doors.

  I pushed them open, only to find another door on the inside. After I opened that and stepped through, I found myself in the Library proper.

  “Whoa...”

  “Goodness...” Kohaku and I were taken aback. There were books everywhere. Books as far as the eye could see.