In Another World With My Smartphone: Volume 8 Read online

  I flipped a bit further and saw sketches of the Intermediate Constructs. The images were numerous too... there was a manta ray, spider, shark, dog, dragonfly, ladybird, and so on. I’d noticed a few sketches of types I’d never seen. I wondered if the ancient civilization had managed to counteract them efficiently.

  They were more easily killed with powerful indirect spells. Though, they were still massive. A Frame Gear was necessary to kill them without collateral damage.

  Next came the Upper Constructs. I saw a sketch of the crocodile-like one I’d fought, but also one that looked like a pterodactyl, a hedgehog, a boar, and a few others. If they were all as tough as the crocodile one, then these things were no small matter. Going up against these things with anything less than monstrous firepower would simply be suicide.

  I turned over the page once more. The sketch I saw had me reeling in shock. I gasped in horror, and muttered slowly.

  “What... Is this...?” Next to the sketch was a single annotation. “Humanoid Construct.” The sketched individuals looked just like normal people, with the exception of tiny crystal protrusions on various parts of their bodies. When I checked their statistics, they were listed as considerably stronger than Upper Constructs.

  “...I had no idea...” I figured they should be called Human Phrase or something. According to the book, they appeared rarely and were recognized as the most powerful beings ever seen in the world.

  I had no idea how many were out there. But I could smell the danger. I needed to improve our defenses, and fast.

  Concerned, but determined, I closed the book.

  Chapter II: Dungeons & Dragons

  “Come forth, Fire! Exploding Barrage: [Flare Burst]!” Linze spoke the words, and immediately five locations in the distance burst into flames. Everything there was annihilated.

  This new spell was an enhanced version of [Explosion] or perhaps it would be more appropriate to say it was the original version of the spell. It was definitely something else... I was pleased we’d decided to head out to test it in the plains instead of the training field.

  “You did it! Hmm... I wonder if Fire suits you better than Water after all, Linze.”

  “W-Well... I didn’t do this all on my own, you know...? Leen is the one I have to thank for getting me this far.”

  “I’ll have you know that fire is my worst element. It’s not exclusive to myself, either. All members of the fairy clan share the same weakness. Only a small number of our people can actually make use of it. It might have something to do with us historically being a species that dwelled in the forest.” Hmm... That reminds me, doesn’t Leen have six elemental affinities? If I remember right, the only one she can’t use is dark. She said something about making Paula to make up for being unable to use summoning magic.

  Paula stood triumphant with her hands on her hips as the explosions sounded off once more... She definitely didn’t seem like much of a substitute for someone like Kohaku, though.

  “Leen, have you memorized any ancient spell variants?”

  “That I have. Though mine’s from the water pool.” Leen stood in front of Linze, extended both arms in front of her body, and focused as hard as she could.

  “Come forth, Water! Raging Whirlpool: [Maelstrom]!” An enormous whirling tornado of water appeared, rending the ground and eating up the soil. It didn’t have any specific target, but it seemed to be some kind of large-scale destructive spell anyway. It was insanely strong, just like the fire one...

  “The downside is how rapidly it drains my magic reserves. Still, given what it does, that’s only fair.” It made sense that stronger spells sapped magic quickly. That was why a good mage knew how to adapt and use the necessary spells for the necessary situation. They had to also take into account just how much magical energy they possessed.

  It wasn’t just Leen and Linze who had improved their skills thanks to some light reading... Monica and Rosetta had taken in a lot of information on magi-technology, so they were trying some new experiments as well. Some of the books in there were even by Doctor Babylon herself.

  Recently, Leen had actually been teaching Sue a bit of magic. Sue only had the affinity for light spells, but her magical power was apparently quite high. Leen had decided to teach her restoration magic primarily, and Sue had been practicing it on the knights after they came back from training.

  But she was still doing her maid training with Lapis and the others... I really had no idea what kind of career that girl was hoping to pursue.

  Fam had come down to the surface and quickly hidden herself away in the castle Library. She was definitely a bookworm and a half... Even book-crazy people I’d heard of back home couldn’t hold a candle to her. She’d been indulging for about five-thousand years, too, so it was a condition that had spread across her entire body. Simply put, her book-oriented affliction was incurable.

  In the afternoon, I headed off to the guild. I decided to pop in at least once a week.

  I even accepted a few quests now and then to keep myself busy, but my main order of business was acquiring information from Guildmaster Relisha.

  I wore a cowl in the guild, trying to conceal my identity. Honestly, I was sure people knew who I was even with the hood on my head... Still, it was better not to stand out.

  “Bastard! You wanna fight?!”

  “Bring it on, punk!” Two men had grabbed each other by the collar, and quickly sidestepped outside.

  Again...? Seems like there’s a fight every time I come out here. Well, I guess that’s just part of guild life...

  Adventurers always wanted to prove their worth, so this was only natural. As long as they sorted it out themselves and didn’t trouble the townspeople, I let them take care of it.

  “Good day.”

  “Ah! Your H— I mean, er, Touya... Good day.” I was talking to the cat-eared receptionist. If I recalled correctly, her name was Misha. Her cat ears were twitching to and fro, which was pretty cute.

  “How’s the guild been lately?”

  “Let me think... Well, there are a lot of general quests going around. We get the occasional escort mission as well. Still, making a large profit isn’t really possible considering the small scale of the quests we have. Some people have been irritated by it, and mostly leave after doing a few missions. Nobody hangs around, so it’s mostly an influx of new faces every day.” As she spoke, her eyes shifted toward the two men fighting outside. I see how it is...

  For whatever reason, a lot of newbies tended to think they had to act all macho. They probably didn’t want to be underestimated or looked down on, but naturally this was a major cause of conflict, since there were too many people measuring their egos.

  It would’ve been fine if those people were just beginners, but there were a lot of people who couldn’t advance to the higher ranks thanks to the lack of quest diversity, so you mostly just had a bunch of tense people hitting each other before moving on.

  It’d be a lot better if we had veteran adventurers hanging around to keep things in check... But I couldn’t expect people to hang around to get that far if we didn’t have anything to offer them.

  Misha took me up to the second floor, and I entered Relisha’s quarters. The elven guildmaster was clearing up some papers as I entered the room. However, the moment she noticed me, she immediately motioned toward a nearby couch.

  “Good to see you. You arrived at just the right time, actually.”

  “Oh?” She set the papers down on her desk, grabbed one document, and then sat down next to me on the couch.

  “I have two pieces of news, and one proposition. Firstly, Dragons have been sighted.”

  “Dragons?”

  “One has appeared south of the Sea of Trees, in the Burning Kingdom of Sandora. From what I’ve been told it caused chaos in a small sand village, and then flew off to parts unknown. That was fairly standard, but then we heard reports out of Yulong and Roadmare that Dragons were attacking villages in the area. Three Dragons, to be precise.”
That’s odd... Dragons tend to live up in the mountains away from society, and they rarely attack human territories. Even amongst Dragons, there are elders and juniors. From what I understand, it’s the younger Dragons that behave more like wild animals and attack things recklessly.

  Back in Mismede there was that Black Dragon, and it was a younger one. The Red Dragon I met afterward was older, and it seemed like a much more reasonable guy.

  “It may be coincidental, but it’s hard to say. There’s a lot we do not know about dragonkind. It could be mating season for them, or some other migrational event. We’re going to proceed with an investigation regardless. Now, on to the second matter... Well, that comes alongside a proposition.” Relisha spread out the document on the table, revealing it to be a map. It looked mostly like the ocean, but there were islands dotted here and there.

  “This is a recently discovered archipelago south of Sandora. We’ve found several ancient ruins on these islands, but there’s an issue... It’s a far-off location, so excavation and exploration are extremely difficult.”

  “Have you been using ships?”

  “Yes, but the islands aren’t suited for extended stays. The environment fluctuates to the extreme, burning temperatures quickly become glacial in a matter of minutes. The wildlife there is also beyond dangerous. I wondered why each island had little ruins on it, but it’s possible that it was all one large island during the ancient era.”

  Hm... A sunken island? That’s certainly not impossible. It might even be why they’re no longer inhabited. Then the monsters settled in and the rest is history... I guess.

  “The other issue is that the ruins are dungeons of considerable size. We’re speculating that they’re man-made constructions, likely created by ancient mages or individuals of considerable influence. If that’s the case, it’s safe to assume that there’s treasure within the dungeons. Naturally the guild can’t miss an opportunity to plunder the ruins of old.”

  That’s definitely true. There could be a whole mountain of treasure down there. I’ve never personally gone dungeon diving, but as I understand it, there are a lot of ruins scattered across the world.

  “Usually we put out quest notices for cases like this, since it’s pretty much the norm for dungeon exploration. However, the location of the ruins poses somewhat of an issue... And that’s where my proposition comes in.” Relisha leaned in a little closer toward me.

  Wh-What the... P-Personal space, lady...? Though I guess having a woman like this press up against me isn’t the worst thing in the world.

  “I was wondering if it would be possible for you to connect those dungeons to Brunhild using one of those [Gate] spells of yours, Your Highness.”

  “Huh?” What? Why would I connect Brunhild to a series of dangerous dungeons?

  “What I’m trying to say is that I’d like a way for our adventurers to easily access and challenge the dungeons. If adventurers gather here to explore previously uncharted territory, then the town will develop as well. The guild’s understanding of the dungeon will also develop as we send more adventurers there, and we’ll all profit from whatever ends up being brought back. What do you think?”

  Oh... That’s definitely a good idea. If I did something like that, we’d have a ton of adventurers coming through looking for a way to earn a quick buck, which would increase business at our inns and shops in turn. Plus, more people being here would end up attracting even more people. I couldn’t think of a downside.

  I could easily make it so any of the creatures on the other side wouldn’t be able to come through the portal, either. In other words, we’d use the dungeon access as a way to promote Brunhild.

  “I have a couple of questions, okay? First of all, are the islands owned by any nation?”

  “They’re currently under the guild’s provisional watch, and aren’t affiliated with any nation, no. However, if you accept this proposal... I think it wouldn’t be unreasonable to have the land granted to the Duchy of Brunhild. Well, that is if you can promise that the guild will have exclusive rights to excavated treasures and any information of worth uncovered.”

  “Alright, then. Another question. Did you not consider that I might go and explore these dungeons personally? I’d easily be able to monopolize treasure and noteworthy information that way.”

  “Heheh... I don’t believe that a man who gathered the leaders of the world to oppose the Phrase threat would ever do such an awful thing. I didn’t get this job just for my pretty looks, you know? I have an eye for judging character.”

  Huh. Guess she thinks pretty highly of me. Well, better not let her down...

  It was certainly an interesting prospect. It wasn’t going to be me who’d explore the whole place, but the adventurers, merchants, and guild affiliates who had a stake in checking the place out instead.

  Even exploring it casually and mapping it out would be profitable. I wouldn’t be surprised to find cartographers joining the expeditions, too.

  The deeper the dungeon, the stronger the monsters, as well. From what I understood, the density of magic in the air was thicker the deeper down you traveled, which was why the stronger magical beasts preferred to hide underground.

  Still, any adventurer worth his salt would be aware of the risks, so I decided not to fret too much about people hurting themselves.

  “Very well, then. I’ll co-operate.”

  “Thank you so much! We’d like you to put the [Gate] to the dungeons near the guild, on the outskirts of town.”

  And so, we’d acquired a new attraction, which was a series of dungeons. With any luck, the town would prosper further as a result. I decided I’d do a little bit of preemptive exploration.

  ◇　◇　◇

  After I had Relisha tell me the location of the islands, I opened up a [Gate] to the Rabbi Desert, which was just outside Sandora. Then, I activated [Fly] and headed off south.

  After flying for a while, I finally came across the islands. They were as remote as she made them out to be. Even a ship directly from Sandora would take a long time to arrive.

  “Hm... There should be three, right?” Each island had a different dungeon, and there were three in total. I was asked to name them, but I put it off. I was hoping for a flash of inspiration.

  “Oho?” I looked down at the islands and saw a ship off the coast. Looking closer, I saw a group camping on the beach of one of the islands. I assumed they were the guild officials who were keeping an eye on the islands. I landed in the camp, and the surprised men drew their weapons.

  “Wh-Who are you!?”

  “I’m following up on a request from Guildmaster Relisha. Right now I guess I’m an adventurer, so... here’s my card.”

  “Wha— Gold?! Then you must be Brunhild’s... Forgive us, sir!” The guild officials immediately sheathed their weapons. The power of the Guild Card sure was something. It seemed like it couldn’t be forged, so the credibility of a Guild Card was absolute. Still, I wondered if it’d be possible to fool a guild official with a convincing enough fake...

  “Relisha asked me to connect these islands with Brunhild... Hm, maybe I should just bring her here.” I opened up a [Gate] and pulled Relisha through.

  “...That’s certainly what I proposed, yes, but I can’t believe you got here so quickly...” I left the talking to Relisha, and she told the guild officials that their jobs were formally over.

  These islands were now the extended territory of Brunhild... They were pretty barren, though. It was simply rocky mountains, sandy beaches, blue skies, and restless jungle.

  “So then, where’s the dungeon?”

  “Go straight through the jungle and you’ll come to a mountainside. Scale it a little and you’ll come to a cave. There, you’ll find rocky stairs leading downward. That’s the dungeon entrance. This island has a lot of sandy beach around it, so a lot of it’s submerged, but it’s also very narrow. The dungeon likely goes beneath sea level and connects to the dungeons on the other islands.” If it was true that this
place used to be one big island, it would make sense that the dungeons connected somehow. There was only one way to find out for sure, though.

  “I’ll try going in for now, but what about the others?”

  “I’ll take care of the proceedings back in Brunhild, if you could send me back. Ah, sorry, but would you mind also sending the other guild staff back to Sandora?” That wasn’t an issue at all. I quickly sent Relisha back to Brunhild.

  After that, the others took down their camp and boarded their ship. They all seemed pretty happy to be leaving. I could imagine that sitting around waiting for orders was probably dull. I could empathize with that.

  Once everyone was aboard, I transferred the ship to Sandora’s main harbor. That was that.

  Now came the fun part, checking out the dungeon.

  I decided to head there on foot. It’d be easier to fly, but I took advantage of the walk to chop down trees and create a paved road using Earth magic.

  I was attacked by a six-legged wolf and a two-headed snake, but they were small fry and didn’t take much effort to kill.

  Eventually, I came out of the jungle and made a smooth path up the rocky mountain. Then, I carved stairs into the cliff face to complete the route to the dungeon.

  Once there, I entered the cave and looked down the steps into the abyss.

  “...Man, that’s dark. Not too surprising, though.” I cast [Light Orb] and generated a little sphere of light. The dungeon felt dank and claustrophobic as I went further down inside. Still, I was probably below the sea, so humidity was natural.

  After wandering for a while, I found myself in a broad room. The place was definitely man-made. I could tell from how unnaturally carved the walls and ceiling were.

  I looked around and found three different paths. Left, right, and straight ahead. Come on now... A three-way split in the first room? If this was a game, it wouldn’t be nearly this complicated... But I guess it isn’t a game, so I should just stop worrying about it.