In Another World With My Smartphone: Volume 11 Premium Read online

  “Coffee beans...?” There were roasted coffee beans on the ground. I looked up and glanced along the floor. There was a trail of yet more beans along the ground. I followed the trail, and the beans continued further into the darkness of the corridor. I had no idea what was going on.

  “T-Touya, wait! Come back... Where are you going?”

  “Wait there, Elze. Something weird’s going on.” Elze tried to call me back into the room, but I couldn’t ignore these beans. There could’ve been a robber about.

  “Run search. Robber.”

  “Search complete. No results.” It seemed like there weren’t any results, but that was fair. I had no clear mental image of a thief, unless you counted a guy in white and black striped clothing with a burlap money sack over his shoulder.

  I tried searching for intruders, but that got no results either. In other words, the one responsible wasn’t an intruder. It had to be someone that lived in the castle. I wondered if it was Yumina or one of the other fiancees. But what would they be doing with beans in the middle of the night?

  “I’m gonna check this out. Go back inside, El—”

  “No way! If you’re going around, I am too!” Elze scuttled out of the room and grabbed the hem of my nightshirt... She was totally scared. We followed the trail of beans down the dimly lit corridor.

  On the way, we passed by a painting. I suddenly remembered we had a security system.

  “Hey, Ripple?”

  《...Yaaas? Oooh, hey maaaster!》

  “Eeek!” A pretty girl appeared within the painting. She had a beautiful ribbon in her pink-colored hair. Elze clung to my side when she appeared.

  Her name was Ripple. She was an artificial lifeform created by Doctor Babylon long ago. She currently lived in my castle as a sort of living security system.

  “Do you know who broke the vase in the other hallway?”

  《Nooope. My eye in your private space is gooone. I don’t know who broooke it.》

  That was surprising. Ripple constantly monitored us, so I was shocked she’d been disabled like that.

  “Are we under attack?”

  《Ouuut of the questiooon. I’d have told the security guaaards if that was the case.》 Ripple puffed out her chest with a prideful nod. She wasn’t wrong, to be fair.

  “C-Could it be a g-ghost..?”

  “I don’t think so. The castle has a [Banish] effect around it, so it can’t be anything like that...” I realized Elze was looking nervously toward Ripple.

  Damn it, Elze, she’s just a painting.

  Either way, someone was skulking around our castle. It was definitely not a thief, but I had to figure out who it was.

  Ripple couldn’t leave her frame, so Elze and I continued through the dark. I turned on my smartphone’s light, but it actually kind of made the dark castle interior even spookier...

  “T-T-Touya... could you cast [Light Orb]...?”

  “I could, but it might make things a bit more complicated, you know?”

  That spell created a small orb of light that radiated in all directions, it wasn’t one-directional like my smartphone light. I didn’t really want to confuse any patrolling knights with a mysterious orb walking around the castle. I didn’t even know who I was looking for, so I didn’t want to get the guards involved.

  The bean trail continued onward. I wondered if there was a hole in the bag or something. Could it seriously have been a bean burglar? The bean trail carried on until a certain door, and then it stopped. That meant the thief had to be in this room. But this was an unused guest room...

  Light leaked out from behind the door. I could hear a voice from within. Multiple voices...

  “Mm... It’s bitter, you know? Super bitter...”

  “I don’t really like it... Ehhh... It’s not bitter, though.”

  “You ought to be ashamed if you can’t drink this... Don’t you have pride as a woman?!”

  “Your metric for pride is pretty unusual... Well, I can drink it just fine either way.”

  “This is delicious... The fruits of the earth’s soil’re truly somethin’ else.”

  “Gimme some with sake, yeah?! With sake!”

  I peeked through the door and saw the goddess of alcohol acting like an idiot, then I saw the others. As usual, the god of music didn’t utter a single word. He simply strummed his guitar merrily. It was late, so he was playing more quietly than usual.

  The drunk idiot had a sack filled with coffee beans. It had a hole in it. The source of the trail, no doubt. They’d taken the beans straight from the kitchen, and took the makeshift coffee mill that I’d made as well. Those idiots...

  “Ah... It wasn’t a ghost...” Elze sighed in relief. I was sure it wasn’t a thief, but I was also glad to know for certain.

  “Seems like there’s no harm, so let’s leave them be. The little drunk broke the vase, so I’ll make her help in the kitchen tomorrow.” Even gods weren’t free from judgment. Vases weren’t free. Neither was coffee.

  Coffee was valuable in this world and fairly uncommon. Still, now that I recognized it clearly, I’d be able to find the beans with my search magic.

  I decided I’d get the god of agriculture to cultivate some for me.

  Still, coffee needed certain environments to grow well in, so I’d need to figure that out. It was probably doable in the Babylon garden. I’d talk to Cesca or Doctor Babylon about it later on.

  When I got back to the room, I heard voices coming from my room. What the...?

  I opened up the door and found Yumina and the other girls all in their PJs.

  “We can’t sleep very well... It was probably that koffey drink we had at dinner...” Linze mumbled quietly, it seemed like the girls had been waking up all night. I wondered if the beans in this world had more to them than mere caffeine...

  Either way, they were all up. There was nothing I could do about that.

  “Let’s play, let’s play! I got cards!” Sue cheered merrily. She came over to stay with Yumina.

  Cards...?! I mean, I guess, but...

  We played board games, we goofed around and even watched another movie. However, nobody showed any signs of sleepiness. I had no idea what was going on.

  In the end, I secretly cast [Sleep Cloud] to send everyone off to the land of rest. This world’s coffee wasn’t magic-resistant, at least.

  I carried each and every one of them back to their rooms and tucked them gently into bed. I wondered what was up with this world’s coffee... The next morning, fresh coffee was served for us all. Nobody drank any except Karen, who was remaining conspicuously quiet. Oddly enough, from the corner of my eye... I saw her give me a shit-eating grin.

  Afterword

  Here we are at the end of another volume of In Another World With My Smartphone. That marks eleven now.

  Just like volume seven, we have ourselves a short afterword. My interaction went kind of like this...

  “If there’s no mecha design commentary this volume, then the afterword should be three pages!”

  “Tsk... Let’s just make it one!”

  Time to give my thanks!

  To Eiji Usatsuka, thanks as usual for the illustrations.

  Tomofumi Ogasawara, your Frame Gear designs just keep getting better and better. Thank you.

  Thanks as always to K and everyone else in the editorial department at Hobby Japan. Thanks to everyone involved in the publication of this series!

  And as always, thanks to everyone who supported my story when it was just a web novel.

  Alright, everyone! I hope you have a great year.

  Patora Fuyuhara

  Bonus Short Story and Column

  A Knight’s Tale

  “Quite busy, isn’t it...?”

  The young man looked around in wonder. He had journeyed far from the Knight Kingdom of Lestia in order to see this newly-founded nation with his own two eyes, and what he found was quite interesting. The Duchy of Brunhild was a very small country. It had been founded almost overnigh
t by an adventurer who appeared from nowhere. It was just a tiny piece of land situated along the border of Belfast and Regulus, but it was also undeniable that it had a considerable amount of influence on the global political landscape.

  For one, they wielded the Frame Gears, a legacy left behind by an ancient kingdom. This power allowed their military to perform incredible feats, such as slaughtering a horde of Dragons with little to no effort. It was fair to say that the military output of this tiny nation was not proportional to its size. It was even mightier than Lestia, a kingdom that had built itself on its chivalric order. Interestingly enough, the grand duke who presided over this nation did not use this power for conquest or war. Instead, he used it to defend the entire continent from horrible monsters that invaded their world. He even went so far as to loan the feared weapons to other nations, so that they could defend themselves as well.

  Lanz Tempest had heard the stories from his elder brother, and he’d been curious about Brunhild ever since. It wasn’t that he had a problem with Lestia. No, far from it, in fact. However, Lanz simply thought he might be able to find more purpose in an upstart nation, especially one so interesting. If he proved himself to be pure of heart and intention, then he’d surely reach further heights than he ever could in Lestia. The moment the rumors of Brunhild’s knight recruitment drive reached his ears, Lanz was up on his feet and on his way out of Lestia.

  He’d managed to make it just in time to register, and then moved to an inn to rest before the day it all began. There were several inns in Brunhild, but Lanz didn’t exactly have enough money on him to live it up in the lap of luxury. The Tempest family wasn’t exactly one of high standing back in Lestia. At the end of the day, he wasn’t sure what kind of ranking he’d have after this exam, but he was certain he’d try his best regardless. He shrugged his shoulders and walked into a slightly smaller inn nearby. It was called the Silver Moon. As he entered, a man who resembled a merchant quickly rushed past him.

  “Welcome!”

  “...Are there any rooms available?”

  A red-haired girl turned towards Lanz with a smile. He wondered if she was the proprietor and politely asked about reservations.

  “It’s your lucky day! We were fully-booked, but a room in the house just got freed up. The gentleman who was supposed to stay there was called back home by his wife! It seems she’s going to give birth soon... You can stay here instead, if you like.”

  Lanz surmised that the guest in question was probably the frantic merchant who had been running out the door as he arrived. Either way, the price wasn’t at all bad, so he graciously accepted.

  “Are you here to try out for the knight order?”

  “Is it that obvious?”

  “Well... you just look the type, you know? Anyway, it’ll be pretty tough, so good luck. I think there are a ton of applicants here, actually.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  The girl had picked up quite a bit of information from the stories she’d been told by travelers. To Lanz’s surprise, she even knew quite a bit about the knight order and the grand duke. As a small show of kindness, she told him a little bit more about how the current knights were recruited into the order.

  “The knights like to come here to eat, so I overhear a lot of stuff. I think they heard good things about my menu. Oh, right. Would you like to eat something, too?”

  “Sure... I’d love that.”

  “Great!”

  Lanz smiled at the girl as she brought a few dishes out to him. He’d ordered a course meal from the menu and was quite ready to tuck in. He decided to spend that time people-watching, but his gaze often fell upon her.

  “This is amazing...”

  The food was, to be blunt, sublime. Lanz was very curious about the cuisine that existed outside of Lestia, and he did not find himself disappointed by what this inn had to offer. He was more than satisfied by the end of his meal. After eating, he drank a small cup of tea, and the girl introduced herself as Micah. She was working hard, and actually reminded Lanz a little bit of his own mother. He found himself subconsciously watching her as she busied herself around the dining hall. Once he realized what he was doing, he very quickly shook his head back to sense.

  He had to concentrate hard. He had the exam tomorrow, an exam that he was determined to take, despite the objections of both his father and his brother. He was sorry that he’d abandoned Lestia to seek new opportunities, but it was something he felt he had to do. If he passed, he’d live with the knights in Brunhild Castle. If he failed, he’d run home back to Lestia. He couldn’t get distracted by a beautiful girl in a very nice inn. He’d never visit the place again, after all...

  Although... perhaps, if he did pass, he could come back and eat. Surely that wasn’t an issue, right? Micah had said that the knights of Brunhild came in to dine every now and then... It wouldn’t be a big deal, and it definitely wouldn’t be out of place. Lanz quietly decided that it might not be so bad if he frequented this place. As his mind settled on the idea, he failed to catch his glance returning to Micah, along with the gentle little smile on his face.

  Tabletop Games

  Recently, I started playing tabletop games. Since I started working with Hobby Japan, I grew more aware of their products, so I used the money that I earned from working with them to purchase some of the tabletop games produced by the very same company. When I was a student, I had a lot of opportunities to play TTRPGs and board games with my classmates, but as I grew older and took my place in society at large, those opportunities became few and far between. Not long ago, however, I took the time to go to a board game cafe, and I found myself really enjoying it. I’m super glad I gave it a go.

  Tabletop games are pretty incredible, huh...? You can get teammates that are total morons, people that’ll negotiate and bargain their way through the game with you, or just classic parties that team up to fight the baddies... The variety in the storytelling is really something else. You can do whatever you like, and the games change on the daily, so it’s really neat. That being said, I think my favorite board games are tile-based. Anyway, I ended up going out of my comfort zone and trying out a bunch of new games. It was a little awkward because it kind of interfered with my work, but oh well.

  I ended up playing a lot of games, but time just kept on going by without me even realizing it. They were all just so strange and funny, so I kept on wanting to try more and more. When I was younger, it was actually pretty hard to find a lot of board games and TTRPGs, since they weren’t as huge in Japan as the west. Right now, I’m still a novice, so I’d like to keep going back to that cafe, and maybe try some more complicated games at some point.

  “Pandemic” was really cool for co-operating with other players, “Ticket to Ride” was amazing because you had to connect pieces together, and the deck-building aspect of “Dominion” was totally awesome! I also enjoyed “Splendor,” since it had me taking on the role of a Renaissance merchant and buying up different gems and resources, which was a really fun experience. I liked to buy up cheap jewelry and trade them off to slowly gain an advantage, so that’s my suggested tactic!

  Tabletop stuff has been really fun, but in recent weeks I’ve been way too busy to actually play them. There are plenty of games that I ordered online, but I can’t actually play those right now...

  This sorry situation has resulted in a pile of unopened game boxes, just sitting there in my house... Someday, I’ll conquer that mountain though, I’m sure!

  I-I guess I should thank Hobby Japan for getting me back into them, huh?

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  Copyright

  In Another World With My Smartphone: Volume 11

  by Patora Fuyuhara

  Translated by Andrew Hodgson

  Edited by DxS
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br />   This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Copyright © 2017 Patora Fuyuhara

  Illustrations Copyright © 2017 Eiji Usatsuka

  Cover illustration by Eiji Usatsuka

  All rights reserved.

  Original Japanese edition published in 2017 by Hobby Japan

  This English edition is published by arrangement with Hobby Japan, Tokyo

  English translation © 2018 J-Novel Club LLC

  All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property.

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