In Another World With My Smartphone: Volume 1 Page 21

  Yumina had seen many types of people from her time in the castle. Sometimes it was necessary to make use of talented people in order to keep the country going, even if said people were working under utterly corrupt motives. Even if Yumina used her Mystic Eyes and judged that someone were a complete villain and scoundrel, there was no way she could use that alone as an excuse to drive someone out of the castle. Were it so simple, people like Count Balsa would have been dismissed a very long time ago.

  Yumina learned from a young age that it was necessary for the king of a country — and by extension, for the royal family, too — to be open-minded enough to associate themselves with people from all walks of life.

  And in the middle of all of this appeared a mysterious boy in whom Yumina’s eyes reflected no such complex things as purity or corruption. He was the kind of person the likes of which Yumina had never seen before in her life. The fact that his gentle face was just her type was simply a nice bonus on top of that.

  “To stray from the topic for a moment, I should mention that our kingdom’s royal family currently has no male heirs to the throne. If things continue as they are, I will eventually be crowned Queen Regnant, and have to take a husband as Prince Consort... and then our firstborn son would succeed the throne. That is how it would normally go, but I don’t want to have to marry someone I don’t even have feelings for.” This was a comparatively peculiar trait of the Belfast royal family, but there were many among them — the men, in particular — who were monogamous in their relationships.

  In this world, polygamy was considered the norm. Although naturally, one had to be able to sustain their household financially for as many partners as they had.

  In spite of that freedom, both King Belfast and even his younger brother, Duke Ortlinde, each took only a single wife.

  The duke aside, it made far more sense for a king to have multiple concubines to increase the chances of birthing a worthy successor, but King Belfast firmly rejected the idea.

  Going back through the family tree, the father of the two monogamous brothers — the previous king, Yumina’s grandfather — also took but a single wife and had only two sons of his own.

  Even his predecessor, and the predecessor before that, going back for generations, the royal family tree was like a long, narrow tightrope walk. It was almost a miracle that their bloodline had lasted so long, but now that there was currently no male successor to the throne, the royal family was beginning to feel the weight of that responsibility.

  “So, because you didn’t want to marry someone you don’t have feelings for, you decided to make use of Touya?” Linze knit her eyebrows slightly.

  “No, that’s not it, either. My father would never have given his blessing had that been the case. But he would have had trouble handling any cases of potential suitors should I reject them simply because I did not truly love them. It would be... somewhat difficult to get society to believe that it was simply a case of us not being right for each other.”

  “Hm...? Ahh, I see. Due to your Mystic Eyes, is that it?”

  “Yes, that’s right. Because my Mystic Eyes are public knowledge, society would potentially see anyone I rejected as being unfit to succeed the throne. They might easily be suspected of having foul motives or a twisted personality, even were that not truly the case. This could potentially cause trouble not only for the man himself, but even for his friends and relatives.” Were the suitor an aristocrat of the same country, then things might have still worked out, but were he the prince of another country, then all manner of hell could break loose. The truth was that Yumina herself wanted to find a romantic partner before she reached the age where problems like that might begin to arise.

  “The first time I laid eyes on Touya, I thought to myself, ‘He is the one.’ I cannot say for sure whether that was a byproduct of my Mystic Eyes, whether it was love at first sight, or whether it was a calculated decision for my own selfish sake. The fact of the matter is, though, that I’ve truly and utterly fallen in love with him.”

  “Love at first sight is one thing, but marriage at first sight is a bit extreme, don’t you think?”

  “Had I not made such an extreme decision, then my relationship with Touya would have ended then and there. As you said earlier, Elze, I am a princess and Touya is a mere adventurer. I had to be the one to take action, or else our relationship would have remained one of Princess and Adventurer; no more, and no less. The problem of our difference in social status does remain even now, but that is becoming less and less of a problem as the days go by.” Touya was genius-levels of proficient in every type of elemental magic, and even had the White Monarch bound to him as a familiar. Those facts alone placed him in an entirely different league from your run-of-the-mill adventurer. It was plain as day to anyone with working eyes that he would go on to do magnificent things. Only the man himself was oblivious to it all.

  “It sounds as though you had to take a great many factors into consideration when you proposed to Touya-dono, it does.”

  “True, but I have no regrets. I’ve already decided that I will do everything that I must in order to make Touya fall in love with me.”

  “What if... just, hypothetically, what if Touya were to fall in love with someone else instead?” Linze spoke up, her words tinged with nervousness. Yumina, on the other hand, replied with a smile on her face and not a shred of hesitation.

  “I wouldn’t mind at all. I would just have to put in the extra effort to make him love me the same as that girl. I’m not particularly dead-set on keeping Touya all to myself, given the circumstances. I wouldn’t mind at all if he had a mistress or two or three.” The three girls sitting across the table were rendered utterly speechless by the young princess’ declaration.

  “Why do you ask, did anyone in particular come to mind?”

  “N-No, not at all! I just meant, well, you know, purely hypothetically...” Linze hastily gave as evasive an answer as possible. Yumina smiled slightly as she watched Linze’s face turn bright red.

  “Out of curiosity, what sort of impression does Touya leave on you, as a person?”

  “Hmm... well, he has a lot of really weird knowledge in that head of his. Just the other day he went and gave some weird little tool to Aer.”

  “An Ex-Ricer, was it not called?” What Yae had meant to refer to was an egg slicer. A kitchen utensil for slicing hard-boiled eggs quickly and evenly.

  “Also, just recently, he was helping Micah manage the Silver Moon’s account book. Just because he was bored, he said. He was very fast with his mathematical calculations. He seems to be extremely well-educated in such areas.”

  “I’m sure Touya said he came from Eashen... Do you suppose he’s the son of some prominent Eashen nobility?” Were that the case, then the difference in social status between them would practically be rendered a moot point. Alas, Yae who actually was from Eashen shook her head.

  “Nay, he claimed not to be from Eashen itself when I asked about it, he did. Even if he were, there is no prominent Mochizuki Clan to my knowledge, there is not. I believe it is more likely that he is of Eashen blood, but born and raised in a different land, I might guess.” Whenever Touya himself was asked about his homeland, he brushed the question off with a vague answer. Everyone simply assumed that he had his reasons, and decided not to stick their noses in any further.

  “And while he has all of that weird knowledge knocking around inside his head, there are a whole bunch of things he’s just completely clueless about.”

  “Did you know that, at first, he didn’t even know the most basic of basic facts about magic?”

  “He cannot even properly handle a horse, in fact. Do you suppose, then, that he has simply led a very sheltered life, possibly?”

  “No, I’ve definitely led the more sheltered life, I think...” Yumina drooped her shoulders in some sense of defeat, so Elze hurriedly tried to follow up on what Yae had said.

  “Nah, see, you’re a princess, Yumina, so that’s only natural
for you. Touya, though, well... You think he’s secretly the prince of some country or other, and he’s just not letting us in on that fact?” For all his princely aspects, Touya practically exuded the aura of a commoner most of the time. All of those mismatched traits came together to form a patchwork picture of the person known simply as Mochizuki Touya.

  “In short, he’s just a weirdo.”

  “He is a weird person, I think...”

  “He holds a queer character about him, indeed he does.”

  “He may be weird, but he’s my prince charming.” The three girls watched as Yumina smiled and blushed, and were by that point convinced that it was simply love at first sight for her. At the same time, all three of them also felt a tad embarrassed by the fact that they sort of understood how she felt.

  ◇　◇　◇

  “Achoo!”

  “Got a cold?”

  I don’t think so... Just felt this sudden chill down my spine. Is someone talking about me somewhere...? I answered Dolan, the Silver Moon’s owner, by telling him that I was fine.

  I was in the capital for the day.

  I had been specifically nominated for a special guild quest in helping the local shop owners stock up on goods from the capital. Dolan and Barral were naturally present, but plenty of other shopkeepers had come along, too. The reason they specifically requested me was because of my ability to use the [Gate] spell.

  “You really don’t get the chance to go to the capital all that often, y’know?”

  “And to go there and back in a single day is like a dream come true.” Barral of Eight Bears and Simon the item shop owner were chatting happily in the front seats.

  We were riding in a fairly large wagon, supposedly the biggest one in all of Reflet. It made sense when you considered that we were on our way to pick up a bunch of weapons and food supplies and stuff.

  I looked around and noticed that everyone around me was acting like a bunch of restless kids. What in the world had them so excited? It wasn’t like it was their first time visiting the capital or anything.

  The wagon pulled up in front of a large inn just a little ways off the main road. Apparently they would look after your wagon for a short while if you paid for it.

  Huh? We aren’t going to just take the wagon around all of the shops? Every last one of the shopkeeps was practically glowing with excitement as they stepped out of the wagon.

  “Alrighty then, let’s all meet up back here in about, oh, five hours or so. Sound good?”

  “Huh? We’re not going around the shops as a group? I mean, with all the luggage we’ll have to carry, wouldn’t it be more efficient to move as a unit...?” Simon the item shop owner saw my startled reaction and spoke to me in a hushed voice.

  “Y’don’t get it, do you, Touya? We haven’t been to the capital in ages. We wanna mess around for a bit, you know what I mean? Dolan’s a widower and all. You get what that means, right? Ah, and keep this a secret from Micah, yeah?”

  Mess around? Widower...? Wait, that couldn’t possibly mean...?!

  “You feel like visiting one too, Touya? If you want, I can take you to this great place I know. They’re even open during daylight hours.” I found myself unconsciously gulping at the anticipation of what came next.

  “Visiting... what, exactly?”

  “A brothel.” I knew it! So that’s why everyone’s been all fidgety until now?! While my mouth was flapping open and closed like a fish out of water, Barral interjected for a moment.

  “Right then, now that it’s all out in the open, I’d just like to remind you to keep this a secret from the women! I think you’ll find that part, in print, specified on the quest paper, too.” That’s playing dirty! Now I know why you didn’t want me to bring Elze or any of the girls along! I knew it was suspicious of you to specify that!

  “Okay then, see you all in five hours!” The geezers strolled off merrily down the lane and out onto the main street. Does this situation really warrant literally skipping? Seriously? Simon had invited me to go along with them, but I politely declined. I mean, I was technically engaged to this country’s princess. I couldn’t afford to do anything rash like visiting a brothel. You never knew where the king’s subordinates could be watching from the shadows.

  At least, that was the excuse I gave. In truth, I just didn’t have the guts. Yes, I was a chicken.

  “Well, guess I’ve got five hours to kill...” I wished I could’ve at least taken Kohaku along. Kohaku was probably resting, or more like recovering, on my bed, in my room, with the door locked up all tight and safe.

  Given that the girls had been fawning over that tiger non-stop for the past several days, I felt that a day of rest was more than deserved to give even a moment’s peace from that hellscape.

  I decided to take a walk around the capital. Unlike the small town of Reflet, the large capital was full of all different races of people. There were beastmen that I’d seen before, but apart from them I could also pick out people with horns growing out of their foreheads, and people with long, pointed ears. The latter... were probably elves. I’d only ever seen them in video games before, but I could spot all sorts of people like that walking around.

  That upstart Kingdom of Mismede... it was supposedly composed mostly of demi-humans, with a beastman majority. Given that Belfast was trying to form friendly relations with them, it only made sense that the capital would see more demi-humans visiting as a direct result.

  There were still many countries that discriminated against them quite fiercely, so Belfast was a far more welcoming place for them in light of that fact.

  “Hrmm... Should I just go pick up a simple quest from the local guild? I’ll just tire myself out walking around for five hours, anyway...” Aside from the typical monster hunting and herb gathering quests, there were plenty of other unusual quests that found their way to the guild. From helping someone move, to advertising for a store; some of the weirder ones involved things like looking for lost cats. Naturally the rewards for quests like those were fairly cheap, but they were generally aimed at beginners anyway. They were less quests and more part-time jobs.

  My [Search] spell could help find lost cats immediately. No, wait, that doesn’t seem like such a good idea after all. I nearly forgot that [Search] only scans a very small area around me.

  I’d been to the guild in the capital once before. The quest we accepted that time was the Dullahan extermination one, which subsequently got out of hand.

  I walked down the main street and eventually the guild office came into sight. It was way bigger than the one in Reflet...

  Attached to the building was a bar, owned and managed by the guild. Apparently you could get discounts on food and drink in there simply by displaying your Guild Card. Not that I’d ever used that function.

  At the end of the day, there are a lot of hooligans amongst the adventurers. I didn’t want to take the risk of getting caught up in any drunk brawls again, and I wasn’t too keen on the idea of getting drunk myself, either. And if I wanted food, then I’d just go to a regular restaurant.

  The entrance to the capital’s guild was a pair of wooden swing doors like something out of an old fashioned Western movie. I swaggered through them like a cowboy and into the guild itself.

  There were less people around than I’d expected to see. When I considered that the time was somewhere around 10 AM, though, it made sense. People accepting any day-long quests would have been long on their way by now, and it was still far too early for anybody to be returning from just having completed anything.

  For the time being, I went over to examine the quest board. I was currently Green-rank, meaning that I could still only accept Black, Purple, or Green level quests.

  Most of the Green quests were for monster hunts, and those that weren’t still required me to leave the capital anyway, so I gave up on those ones. Between Purple and Black quests, there were plenty that seemed doable in a fairly short period of time.

  “Don’t feel like becom
ing a babysitter, so that one’s out... Roof repair? I can probably manage something with my [Modeling] spell, but... Oh? The one that caught my eye was a house demolition quest. For manual labor, my [Boost] spell definitely seemed like it was up to the task.

  Then again, [Boost] only stayed active for short bursts of time, so it might not have been up to the task... Well, even if it wasn’t, I always had the muscle-enhancing spell [Power Rise] to cover for that, so I was sure it would work itself out. I took down the quest scroll from the board and carried it on over to the reception desk.

  The job location was right next to the rich-folks’ western district. It was a fairly old-looking building, and several men had already gotten to work on tearing it down. When I reported in to the site foreman and told him I’d come from the guild, he instructed me to go and take all of the junk out from the storehouse located over in the corner of the estate.

  Apparently the foundations of the main building itself had rotted over the years, so it had to be torn down for safety reasons, but the shed that had been used as a storehouse was still plenty usable if they fixed it up a little.

  It seemed the owner of the place had passed away, and everything in the shed was to be disposed of anyway, so I didn’t have to handle any of it with care since it was effectively junk. If I just quickly got my job done... I’d have had time left over, so I decided to go about it at a slightly more leisurely pace.

  “Man, it stinks of mold in here.” I used a handkerchief as a makeshift dust mask and set about removing all the junk from the building, starting with the things closest to the door.

  An old chest of drawers, a broken table, a wall clock with no hands, a saucepan with a huge hole in it, a bed with broken legs, a doll with no arms, a chipped teacup... it really was all just a bunch of useless junk.