In Another World With My Smartphone: Volume 16 (Premium) Read online

  “Alright, girls. That’s enough. No getting excited just because it’s a sleepover. You’re future world leaders, are you not? You’d do well not to act so childishly.” Leen clapped her hands together and brought them all back to their senses. She’d saved me. It made sense, since she was the oldest... Which made the fact that she looked almost as young as Sue all the more comical.

  After Leen calmed everyone down, everyone started talking about recent events. It was mostly girly chatter, so I didn’t engage too much. But I did want to hear about what everyone had been up to lately.

  “Oh right, Elze. How’s the training going? Has Uncle Takeru been teaching you good stuff?”

  “Yup. He’s a great mentor! We recently went to the nearby mountain range, and there was this huge boulder the size of a Frame Gear, right? He blasted it away with one punch! He also taught us how to channel the Warrior’s Dharma through our body.”

  “The what now?”

  “It’s a way of instilling magic into your body parts and letting it loose as you see fit... Kinda? You remember Sonia? She had an ability that was a form of the Warrior’s Dharma, apparently! If you master it, then you’ll be able to shoot out pure fighting spirit like a fireball! He showed us it in action by knocking a wyvern out of the sky with the ability!”

  ... He’s certainly going pretty overboard. Hopefully the mountains are still standing by the time this is over.

  Elze had been devoting herself to training morning and night. She was staying up because she had a day off the next day. According to her mentor, a warrior needed to know when to take it easy, or something.

  “How’s Ende?”

  “He’s fine, probably? He’s better than me at manipulating the power inside him. He kept on having sparring bouts against our mentor over and over again, and he kept getting beaten up really badly! But he was fine after a couple trips to see Flora.”

  “...That doesn’t sound fine at all.” Linze quietly muttered exactly what I was thinking. I was a bit concerned about what kind of meds he’d been getting pumped into him, but it was probably fine... Probably...

  “We’re both getting much stronger, though. If I keep it up, I’ll definitely be able to kill an Intermediate Construct with a single shot!”

  That would be quite the feat, given it took the Red Cats three Frame Gears to take out one of those things.

  Still, Ende killed an Intermediate Construct with one kick around the second time I met him, so it wasn’t impossible. Plus, Elze had [Boost], and she’d become even stronger as my own Divinity influenced her as well.

  I wondered if Ende would be strengthened by Uncle Takeru’s Divinity in much the same way. As I thought to myself, Sue came up from behind me and gave me a big hug again. She seemed to be really snuggly... I was fine with it while she was that age, but it’d maybe be a little more awkward as she grew older.

  “Oh right, Sue. How’s your mother?”

  “Mmm... I think she’s giving birth soon. I want a little brother, but I’d be fine with a sister... What matters most is she gives birth safely!”

  From Duke Ortlinde’s perspective, a son would be better because he could succeed the household. Plus if it was a boy, he’d be around the same age as Yamato. That would mean they’d become friends. Yamato was really growing, too... It was funny to think that such an active little baby would someday become king of all Belfast.

  The new Ortlinde baby would be Yumina’s cousin, and they’d also end up being my sibling-in-law through Sue. “This talk of children is interesting, it is... One day it will be us with pregnant bellies, it will.” Yae muttered something that caused everyone except Sue to turn red and uncomfortable. That included me... I definitely couldn’t wrap my head around what the future had in store for me.

  “According to Babylon’s artifact, eight of us are having girls and one’s having a boy, right?” Hilde laughed awkwardly as she spoke. That was the case... But I still didn’t feel prepared for eight daughters. Frankly, I still wasn’t prepared for nine wives.

  “If we talk from a logistics standpoint, fairies have a very low chance of giving birth to males. Even with a human partner, the child will come out a full fairy. It’s not like half-elves, that are born between humans and elves. So it’s likely I will have a girl.” Leen spoke pretty frankly. I didn’t know that, but I trusted her judgment, so it wasn’t likely she’d have a boy.

  “It’s similar with the overlord’s bloodline... The child would come out a demonkin like me... I hope I have a girl... I do not want to have a hopeless boy who turns out like the Overlord...” Sakura muttered with an irritated expression on her face. Geez... You’re really unforgiving... But I guess it’s the guy’s own fault for always acting like a clown.

  It was a shame, given what a good ruler he was. He clearly just had a habit of losing his mind in front of Sakura. Every time I saw his stupid antics, I promised myself I wouldn’t be that kind of dad.

  “...You know, if he gets a granddaughter, he might end up being even worse.”

  “...I didn’t think of that. That’s bad...” Sakura started rolling around on the bed while grumbling. Personally, I thought she was worrying too much.

  “I-I would be happy if I had a son, I would. I would want to train him with the blade, I would.”

  “H-Hey! I want a son so I can teach him how to be a perfect knight!”

  “A-Actually I was thinking a boy would be good, cause I could spar with him...” Yae, Hilde, and Elze started nervously chattering about their hopes and expectations. ... You guys know you can do all those things with daughters, right?

  “It’s kind of a shame, isn’t it? How we know what our children will be, and how we know there’ll only be one boy.” Linze mumbled something a little sadly, and Yumina spoke up in response.

  “I don’t think we need to worry. Doctor Babylon saw a future where all nine of us had children, and one was a boy, right? She didn’t see beyond that. So we could easily have boys if we get pregnant again.”

  “Ooh! So you’re saying there’s a chance I could have a boy as my second child? That sounds fine to me, then.” Lu smiled and patted her hands together as if she was troubled no more. H-Hold on... You mean to tell me you guys want more kids after popping one out? Forget a soccer team, we’re gonna have enough kids for a rugby field at this rate... Where the hell are we gonna get enough babysitters? I guess the Babylon Gynoids will do...

  There’s a good number of them, too... I could assign one gynoid to each wife, and then... No. Nevermind. Neeevermind. There’s no way I could leave any of my kids to that pervy maid, or that clumsy shrine maiden, or that wannabe diddler researcher... Plus I doubt the bookworm or the narcoleptic could do much to raise my kids, either.

  Guess I need to figure out trustworthy people before my kids are born... But maybe I’m getting a bit ahead of myself.

  “Hey, Touya?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Where do babies come from?” Sue’s innocent question caused the entire room to freeze up. You could’ve heard a pin drop.

  Wh-What was that?

  “Sue... How old are you?”

  “Umm... Twelve, remember? We celebrated my birthday a bit ago!”

  Ahh... Twelve, yeah. That’s right. If this was Earth, she’d be in middle school.

  “Uh... Sue... H-Has Aunt Ellen not taught you about... you know, the birds and the bees?”

  “Huh? Birds and bees? What about them, Yumina?” Sue stared innocently over at her cousin. She looked legitimately confused.

  In any sane place on Earth, sex education was a basic thing taught before the age of ten... It seemed things were a little more backward here. I guess people naturally learn by hearing from their friends, or catching their parents, or seeing something naughty in media... But I guess noble people in this world don’t really have as much opportunity, so they probably learn from parents or educators...

  Then again, Yumina, Hilde, Lu, and Sakura are all royal but seem to have the relevant knowledge.
Sue’s the odd one out.

  I then remembered that Ellen was blind and bedridden until I appeared a few years ago, so it was possible she just never learned a thing from her father.

  “...What should we do?”

  “Don’t ask me...” Leen looked at me, her face was slightly red. I did have some... Examples on my smartphone, but those videos weren’t exactly the educational kind.

  “Just as I’d expecteeeed!” The door loudly slammed open, revealing Cesca and Doctor Babylon. What the hell’s with that timing?! Were you guys listening in on us?! “Leave this to us. We’ll teach Sue everything she needs to know about her budding body, and what it’s good for. Hell, we’ll teach all the girls!”

  “Trust us, master. We’ll give them hands-on knowledge.” I grabbed the two of them by the scruffs of their necks and started dragging them out of the room. There’s no way in hell I’m entertaining this!

  “Things only get messy when you idiots show up. Stay out of this!”

  “Oh... Then you’re saying you’ll teach Sue yourself?”

  “Ugh...”

  “You’ll get really in-depth with her, hm?”

  “I suppose if you have it covered, then there’s no need for us then...” The two of them grinned nefariously at me. It pissed me off. My eyes suddenly glanced down at Cesca. More specifically, the book under her arm.

  “What’s this?”

  “Something I borrowed from the library. Educational material.” How the hell were you two so well-prepared? I skimmed over the book and was surprised to see it looked pretty informative. It was basically like a general health education book... Perhaps letting them handle it wouldn’t be so bad.

  I was worried, but it was also true that Sue needed to learn where babies came from. After some mulling it over, I begrudgingly accepted the aid being offered to me.

  “...Just cover the fundamentals, alright? They don’t need to know anything weird. Just teach them regular things.” I wanted to be sure they didn’t do anything weird, so I specifically warned them.

  “Sure, sure... I get it. For anything beyond basic sex ed, you wanna guide their kinks, huh?”

  “That isn’t remotely what I meant!” My head was starting to hurt. After deciding to let them handle it, I left the girls behind and headed to a spare bedroom for some rest.

  ... Is this gonna be okay? I have a bad feeling... Maybe I should’ve shown them some softcore videos on my smartphone... Augh... No, that’s no good either...

  I muttered to myself and worried as I drifted to sleep.

  The next morning, during breakfast, Sue was staring at the wall.

  Whenever I tried to talk to her she’d turn beet-red and look away. I caught her fidgeting and looking at me a few times, blushing crimson here and there. She kept doing it over and over.

  “I wouldn’t worry about it. She’s still processing things.” Leen spoke over to me, but for some reason, she was red and fidgety as well. Everyone at the table was acting a little strange. They’d glance at me now and then for no reason, and whenever I looked at them they’d look straight back down at their plates. I heard some weird sighing here and there, and could’ve sworn I heard the words “Kama Sutra” muttered beneath hushed breaths.

  ... Just what the hell did they learn last night?!

  It took Sue a few days to return to normal, and I never did find out just what kind of forbidden knowledge she was granted.

  ◇　◇　◇

  Night had fallen.

  It was quiet out. The moon wasn’t too bright alone, but the pathways nearby were lined with lamps.

  We were in the Reverse World. More specifically, the imperial capital of Gardio.

  We were in the imperial palace’s courtyard, right in the middle of the city. I’d been here before, so it was easy to open up a [Gate].

  “So this is the place, huh?”

  “This was quite easy, it was...”

  “There’s not much in the way of anti-magic in this world... All we need to do is figure out our next step.” I’d brought Yae and Lu with me. Originally I’d planned on just using [Invisible] and heading straight to the emperor’s bedroom, but... There were a lot more Gollems on guard duty compared to the daytime.

  Invisibility could easily trick humans, but I wasn’t so sure about Gollems. If they had thermal vision, we’d be rumbled in seconds.

  Plus, [Paralyze] didn’t work on inorganic creatures... I wasn’t exactly going to trash them, either. I needed to go about it differently.

  “Search. Emperor of Gardio.”

  “Searching... Search complete.” We hid down in the bushes as the phone projected a map of the local area.

  “What should we do, Touya-dono?”

  “We can probably go there via [Teleport].”

  “H-Hm? B-But, I don’t know...”

  For some reason, Lu seemed pretty hesitant. I wondered what was up with her. “I-I just think that we shouldn’t jump into a couple’s bedroom without any warning... Th-They might be... D-Doing stuff...” Lu turned bright red and looked at the floor. Yae also turned scarlet as she heard Lu’s explanation, and averted her gaze. Dammit! You idiotic perverts have corrupted them already! What kinda shitty sex ed have you been feeding them? I mean... I guess they could be doing it... I dunno if we need to think about that stuff though... I’ll run a search just to be sure... I ran a search and checked where the empress was. She was in the same room. The prince was in another room a bit away.

  “...Guess I’ll use [Long Sense] to peek in first, and then...”

  “Y-You would peek on an act such as that, you would?!”

  “...We don’t even know if they’re doing it...” I was a bit annoyed about being made out as some kind of peeping Tom.

  “...I’ll summon a creature and have them check it out, then.”

  “Th-That’s better.” I used some spellstone chalk to draw a little summoning circle and called out a little rat. The rat vanished promptly into the night.

  I didn’t connect my senses with it, so it didn’t count as peeping. So long as nothing was going on, we’d use [Teleport] and confront them.

  I preemptively cast [Invisible] on all three of us, allowing us to go at any point.

  “...Seems like they’re just resting.” The rat telepathically informed me of the situation, and I gave a thumbs-up to the girls. Both the empress and the emperor seemed ready to nap, so it was a perfect opportunity for us to go in.

  I brought Yae and Lu close to me and held their hands.

  “[Teleport].” In a flash, we were in the middle of a fancy bedroom. There was a Leylight stones in the middle of the room, casting a dim glow over the furniture. The first thing I noticed was a large bed. It wasn’t quite as big as the behemoth-tier bed in my room at home, though. There was also a nice-looking ornate desk. I turned around and saw a fine set of table and chairs, as well as a pretty-looking fireplace. It glinted in the dim light. There were a few subtle differences, but it was kinda similar to my place. Ultimately it was a matter of interior design and taste. I wasn’t as huge a fan of gold as these guys.

  I slowly approached the bed, before remembering to cast [Silence] around the vicinity. I didn’t want any guards hearing anything.

  After I cast the spell, I crept forward toward the bed with the others in tow. One might wonder why we were still creeping around after casting [Silence], and the reason for that was simple enough. It wasn’t a spell that eliminated sound from a space. Instead, it prevented sound from escaping. For everyone in the room, all sounds were still fairly audible. Even if we were invisible, we’d still be heard if we didn’t take care. In an ideal world, I’d be able to use another cast of [Silence] to cover our footsteps, but apparently, the spell couldn’t be stacked like that.

  I made it to the side of the bed and approached the two slumbering people. Alright, now for the hypnosis...

  “...Who is that?”

  “Nh?!” The emperor of Gardio suddenly opened his eyes. He wasn’t looking directly
at us, but it was clear he’d sensed our presence.

  “How...?”

  “He noticed our presence, he did... He seems to be a man of keen sense, he does.” Yae whispered to me quietly. Even so, that level of precision was unusual... But we’d only hidden our bodies, it wasn’t like we were masking our breathing or steps.

  Curiously enough, Yae, Hilde, and Elze weren’t easily tricked by people with [Invisible] cast on them. They had strangely sharp senses that allowed them to feel people nearby. Presumably, that meant the emperor was a similar kind of person.

  Crap, what do we do? Should we run, or confront him? This room is enchanted, so if we raise a ruckus, nobody’ll hear...

  “An intruder from Isengard, then? The old man’s still craving even more power?” Hm... He definitely knows we’re here. The empress was awake at this point, and the emperor was fumbling under his pillow for what was presumably a hidden weapon.

  But we weren’t from Isengard, that was an interesting development.

  “...What should we do, Touya-dono?”

  “Nothing else for it. Let’s just talk to them head-on.”

  “That... Could cause them some trouble, couldn’t it?”

  “If it comes to that, I’ll mess with their minds using hypnosis magic and make it so this never happened. That should be enough.” Lu sighed at my response. She was probably baffled by how casually I took the situation. You’d have thought she’d be used to it by now.

  I quickly dispelled our invisibility, and our sudden appearance made the emperor and empress scramble from their bed.

  “Well, who are you?! Are you with Isengard, or not?”

  “We aren’t. If anything, I guess we’d be on business from Lowe.”

  “From Lowe?! It can’t be...”

  “Darling...!” The two of them paled in response to my words. Given their reaction, I could only assume they did, in fact, know about the prince’s origin.

  “Someone, help! We’ve intruders!” The emperor of Gardio pulled a small blade out from his pillow as he cried out for assistance. But nobody came to help them. My [Silence] spell meant his cries would go unheard.