In Another World With My Smartphone: Volume 20 Page 2

  The entire class spoke words of unified gratitude. Their pure, childish hearts were laced with unadulterated appreciation... And they were all focused on Luna and I.

  “A-Ah, I’m c-cumming... I-I’m cumming!! Nnhaaah!!”

  Luna started squealing like a wild animal before collapsing on the spot. I caught her as she fell, and she grabbed on to my arm. She looked up at me with an expression of pure, babbling bliss.

  “T-Tou... Nnh... This is so bad... I-I’m gonna squirt... It’s gonna gush... I-I can’t handle this, aaahn! M-My mind’s b-blanking out, eeehk!”

  Luna spoke in a raspy, whispery tone as her body shuddered. This was a bad situation, I could tell that she was definitely close to her physical limit.

  The kids here were too pure of heart; I should’ve brought her somewhere with a much more casual expression of thanks.

  “Um... Is she okay?”

  “She’ll be fine. We’re gonna head back, though. It was nice seeing you all. Take care, everyone!”

  I waved off Fiana and the kids, then teleported back to the dungeon cell with Luna and Viola.

  “Viola, you can handle her from here!”

  “Beep?!”

  I left the little purple Gollem behind before charging full-speed out of the dungeon. I could’ve sworn I heard some kind of dripping noise behind me as I fled, but I immediately pretended that I hadn’t heard it.

  That was an awful ordeal, but at least I’ve given Luna her punishment now... I can let her go at last. ...It’ll be okay if I let her go, right?

  ◇ ◇ ◇

  Despite the fact that we’d stopped the mutants from causing catastrophic damage, they’d still done quite the number on countries around the world. It was taking a lot of time and effort to repair the damaged towns and cities.

  The dwarven-made powered mechanical suits, the Dverg, were instrumental in reconstruction efforts. Frame Gears were too big and cumbersome, and the fact that they required training in the frame units meant that they could only be piloted by particular specialists. The Dvergs had the benefit of being much easier to learn and control. Plus, Dvergs weren’t limited in quantity, so countries all over the world were ordering them via Olba’s company.

  Olba, ever the shrewd businessman, had predicted this demand in advance of the invasion and stocked up on a large supply of the Dverg units.

  “Hmhm... My feelings on the matter are mixed, if I’m honest. It’s nice to make sales, but it’s sad that it’s necessary.”

  Olba spoke humbly, but the way his ears twitched and his tail wagged betrayed the excitement inside him. He was clearly making an absolute fortune.

  Given how well-known Dvergs were about to become across the world, I wondered if I should make a little model of them for the capsule machines. Dvergs were only being employed heavily on the eastern continent, though. On the western side, the brunt of the work was being done by industrial-scale factory model Gollems. I’d headed up to Babylon’s hangar, and found myself glancing at all the lined up Frame Gears.

  “Guess we won’t be using them much anymore, huh?”

  “I wouldn’t be so sure.” Just as I was feeling a little sentimental, Doc Babylon appeared, puffing on her e-cig. Her oversized lab coat trailed behind her.

  “Huh? What do you mean?”

  “It’d be easier if I just showed you.”

  She pulled out a couple of transparent boards around the size of a notepad each. One had blue dots on it, while the other had red dots on it. They kind of looked like glass panels with polka dot designs on them. I wasn’t entirely sure what it was I was looking at.

  “Let’s say this one here is our world. And this other is Elluka and Fenrir’s world. Well, it doesn’t really matter which world represents which, anyway... The colored dots are areas with a high concentration of magical energy, now look what happens when they overlap...”

  She took both of the panels and placed them atop each other. Some of the polka dots on the map changed to purple spots where the red and blue intersected, leading me to immediately understand what she meant.

  “Right. These purple spots are going to be massive mana wells. You’d probably call them mana reservoirs, really. Now the two worlds have coalesced, we’ve got quite a few of these on our hands. And you know what that means, right?”

  “Behemoths...”

  Behemoths were regular monsters that were exposed to abnormal amounts of magical energy, resulting in them growing to terrifying sizes. Typically, these mana wells would only appear in dense forests, deep under the ocean, or at the peaks of high mountains. The Behemoths born from these instances rarely caused issues for humanity. But even a single Behemoth near a human settlement could be catastrophic.

  Palerius Island was once so filled with Behemoths that the people living there needed to keep a constant vigil for their own safety. According to the map display I was looking at, these supercharged mana reservoirs were now all over the place.

  “I can’t say it means Behemoths are just gonna start showing up today, though. There’ll already be Behemoths at the sites where the mana wells were originally, anyway. It’ll take a few more years for Behemoths to be born at the new sites, too. Plus, Behemoths fight amongst themselves already. All we need to do is monitor these areas and take action when needed.”

  In case it wasn’t completely obvious, a mana well wouldn’t dry up just from the creation of a single Behemoth. Multiple Behemoths could be born to the same species in the same area, which would often result in territorial battles that ended up with one or more dead. That ended up being a more natural method of keeping their numbers culled. However, the surviving Behemoths did end up being pretty strong...

  “So you’re saying we need to keep our Frame Gears on standby, eh?”

  “Right. Also, that world barrier of yours still hasn’t been fixed, has it? There’s no guarantee our world is safe from extraterrestrial invaders in the meantime. The Phrase could have simply been the first.”

  I didn’t really want to think about that.

  According to the other gods, I had sufficient divinity to fix up the world barrier, but my sisters told me that if I screwed up I could end up causing an even worse situation. Since the Phrase invasion incident so heavily involved a wicked god, God Almighty was going to let one of his guys fix the barrier. Because there hadn’t been a god assigned to this world before me, they weren’t really allowed to interfere. But now that I was in charge, it was apparently okay to patch it up.

  In other words, I couldn’t fix it myself for fear of screwing up, but I could ask some of the gods I knew for their help. There was only one issue. None of the ones I knew seemed to have the ability to fix the barrier, either.

  Moroha, Karina, and Takeru were definitely not viable options. Karen and Suika didn’t exactly seem the types for it, either. There was Kousuke and Sousuke to consider, but their areas of expertise were pretty far removed from something so intricate. Gods like them were specialists in one particular field, and they basically sucked at everything that wasn’t in their jurisdiction.

  God Almighty told me that he’d send someone to help me out at some point... I just had to hope it was someone who wasn’t a raging maniac or a peculiar eccentric.

  I headed back down from Babylon and caught my phone ringing in my pocket. I raised a brow at the caller ID. It was Silhouette of the Black Cats. I wondered what she wanted.

  ◇ ◇ ◇

  She wanted to discuss something with me, so I headed to the Strain Kingdom’s main commerce city, since that’s where her HQ was. The city was the second-largest in Strain, and it was home to Silhouette’s Moon Parlor, which also doubled as a base for Black Cat activity.

  It was noon so the neon lights weren’t blaring, but the place looked gaudy as ever... Given that it was a brothel, that wasn’t too surprising.

  “I wonder what she wants, I do...”

  “Hmph... Better safe than sorry...”

  Yae and Hilde were clinging to either side of me. T
here was an unspoken rule among me and my fiancees that stated I needed to be accompanied by at least one girl whenever I was called out here.

  I could understand it, given that even I felt pretty seedy visiting a location like the Moon Parlor. The place smelled like sex, and had a totally shady atmosphere... Now and then, I’d see half-dressed girls walking through the hallways, too.

  The beefy bouncer outside the entryway bowed his head and let me in right away. It was a little bit disgraceful that a brothel bouncer recognized me enough to let me in, given I was supposed to be royalty... I decided to ask Silhouette to meet me elsewhere next time, since I didn’t want any rumors of me being a brothel patron getting out. At least having Yae and Hilde with me helped combat the idea a bit.

  We made it to Silhouette’s office on the top floor, only to be greeted by a black panther and a little black cat outside the door. The panther was a summoned beast that Silhouette had called forth with my help a while back. If I recalled correctly he was an elemental creature, a lightning panther.

  “This way, Grand Duke.”

  The lightning panther (Shade, I think his name was?) led us toward his master. Shade was a particular kind of beast that could also communicate, so that was pretty handy.

  Silhouette sat in her office, sipping a cup of tea.

  “Welcome, my friend. Oho, you’ve brought different girls this time, have you? You must be quite the vigorous man.”

  Silhouette grinned slightly as Yae and Hilde exchanged worried looks. I wished she wouldn’t tease my fiancees, because I was the one who had to deal with them afterward...

  She invited us to sit on a nearby couch, so we complied and immediately got down to brass tacks.

  “I was thinking of expanding the influence of the Black Cats to an international level.”

  “Uh... I thought you guys were already international.”

  “Ahh, sorry. I meant intercontinental, I wish to expand our operations to your nations in the east.”

  In terms of intercontinental travel, far more people visited the eastern continent from the west than vice versa. This was because people from the eastern continent only really had ships (at varying speeds, some of the faster ones employed wind mages to create favorable gales), while those on the western continents had flying machines and transportation Gollems as well as ships. I also speculated that the differences in culture contributed to this emigration difference. The western continent, the former Reverse World, is home to a naturally curious people who wished to learn more about magic. On the other hand, the people of the eastern continent were very cautious when it came to all this strange magitech stuff from the west.

  The very idea of Gollems, which were effectively powerful artifacts, being part of daily life was a confusing thing for them to wrap their heads around. Basically, the westerners were actively seeking to interact with the east, while the easterners were still a little bit apprehensive. Silhouette seemed to be especially eager to expand her own influence.

  “So you’re saying you want to start opening brothels in the east?”

  “I sure do. Some regular inns, too. We’re trying to run a proper business and all that. My methods are complex. We want you to speak to the countries on our behalf. I’d rather avoid a Zabbit situation repeating.”

  Zabbit? Oh, right... That guy from Papillon who kept harassing Silhouette, or whatever.

  I remembered seeing him in Allent’s capital city once. He was hassling some orphanage there but he ended up fleeing.

  I could understand why Silhouette was trying to make it as a legitimate business. Brothels were often easy targets for criminal underworld types, so it made sense she’d want to avoid any existing crime families trying to integrate her business into theirs.

  “So what exactly do you want me to ask, here?”

  “I want you to get approval from the monarchs in the east. I’m sure the inns will be no issue, though there may be trouble with the brothel permission.”

  Quite understandably, too. Brothels tended to be used as fronts for other sketchy activities, like under-the-table loans or human trafficking. Many brothels were home to trafficked or kidnapped women, too. Though in Silhouette’s case, many of the girls were quite high on the social ladder and simply enjoyed sex work. Problematic customers were also ejected from the premises pretty rapidly.

  There were even talks about starting up a brothel in Brunhild’s castle town... I considered it a necessary evil, since readily-available sex establishments would decrease the rate of criminal sexual assault. Either way, it was a bit of a pickle.

  “I don’t think the inns will be an issue, yeah. The brothels are gonna have to depend on each country’s personal policies. You definitely won’t get one in the Ramissh Theocracy, I can tell you that much right away. As for us... Would you be opposed to Brunhild’s government managing it?”

  I squirmed slightly as the two girls either side of me swiveled and glared. It’s not like that! I don’t wanna build one because I want to make use of it or anything...

  “Well, I’m sure we’ll be able to work something out. Anyway, now we can move on to the main matter of discussion.”

  Huh? That wasn’t what you even called me over for? Just how opportunistic are you?!

  “As you know, we still have ties to some of Papillon’s old less-than-scrupulous ventures, and that includes the black market. We found something of particular interest there a while ago.”

  Silhouette produced a hefty old parchment-paged tome and laid it out on the table. It looked so old I was surprised it hadn’t crumbled away into dust.

  “This book is known as Shuraf’s Encounters. It’s the autobiography of a man named Shuraf Sikes, a priest in Dauburn from long ago. This book contains the truth behind Dauburn and Zadonia’s conflict.”

  “Huh? You serious?”

  The Nation of Ice, Zadonia, was the long-time enemy of the Nation of Fire, Dauburn. They weren’t entirely sure why they were enemies, but the reason was apparently contained in this book.

  “I’ll cut to the chase. Public knowledge dictates that each country thinks the other stole their offering to the gods, yes? This book states that the offering was never stolen at all. It was never even made to begin with.”

  I remembered hearing about an offering, and apparently, the offering was supposed to be a live sacrifice. According to High Priest Shuraf’s writings, Dauburn was approached by a fire god (like just a powerful spirit) and told to offer up the king’s son as a living sacrifice. But the king didn’t want to give up his son. He told the god that his son had been stolen away by Zadonia, in the hopes that the sacrifice would be called off.

  “So he blamed the other country, huh.”

  “Indeed. He must have thought that Zadonia would face the god’s wrath instead of Dauburn if he shifted the blame to them. But, by unfortunate coincidence, a god of ice appeared in Zadonia and asked for the king’s son as well. The king of Zadonia, not wanting to give up his child, did the exact same thing the king of Dauburn did... He blamed the other country.”

  That was definitely a terrible coincidence; I couldn’t believe both sides tried to evade the sacrifice in such a ridiculous way. That made the situation even stupider to me.

  “Ultimately, the gods took their wrath out on the countries for the missing sacrifices, so nothing changed. Zadonia became a frozen wasteland, while Dauburn became a blazing hell. Then, the gods left. The truth was only known to the upper echelons of each nation, and obviously, they’d never reveal the truth of what they allowed to happen. Shuraf, the Dauburnian priest who was entrusted with the secret, didn’t like having to keep it to himself. It’s no surprise, really, given that the lies led to years and years of conflict between the two nations. This book is likely the result of him no longer wanting to keep it on his conscience.”

  It definitely wasn’t surprising that the priest was so disturbed by the secret, since it resulted in so much bloodshed and needless conflict. Personally, I was weirded out by these gods
(who were likely just spirits) who asked for human sacrifices. I doubted that I’d get any information from asking the current Flame and Ice Spirits, but I figured it’d be worth following up on at some point.

  “Either way, I doubt the countries care about the origins of their animosity anymore. Shuraf’s Encounters was found in an old spirit church in the Allent Theocracy. It was written in Holy Spirit Script, likely to obscure the contents, and it almost worked, too. Nobody in the current era can really read it. I doubt the current royal families of either country know about the truth, either.”

  That made sense enough to me, since it was never meant to be published or anything. It was basically the priest guy’s diary, something he never wanted people to actually read. If he had written it in an easier language, he might’ve been able to stop the conflict... But I had a feeling that revealing the truth would have definitely made him an enemy of both states.

  “So how come we only just found the book?”

  “We didn’t. I’ve had this book for quite some time. The only issue was deciphering the contents. But, a short time ago, I had the perfect opportunity to read it.”

  “Huh? What do you—? Oh. Now I get it.”

  Silhouette’s grin made me realize how she’d been able to read the book. It was the Mochizuki Touya app. She likely used it to access the [Reading] Null spell. The app included a little readme file with a list of available Null spells, after all. The app was no longer in service, but apparently, she’d managed to fit in some light reading while it was still active. That made me wonder what others around the world might have done before their app usage ran out...

  About two days elapsed between the defeat of the Phrase invasion and the end of the app’s service... Who knows what they could’ve achieved in that time...

  “S-So... you need Touya-dono’s help, you do?”

  “Well, Touya. You’re known for your mediation abilities between nations at this point. I want you to resolve the conflict between Zadonia and Dauburn. A lot of my workers actually come from those countries. The children of that country struggle to survive, and those that grow up to be adults are deployed for pointless warfare. Given that the cause of such suffering for many of my girls is something so ridiculous, I’d rather have it all cleared up.”