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

  Tsubaki’s people also conferred with Mr. Mittens and his cat knights, swapping information about potential threats within the castle town.

  Recently there’d been some discussions about foreign dissidents trying to gather information on us. Apparently they were after the Frame Gears again... It was a hell of a headache to keep up with greedy people like that.

  “Everyone seems to be trying hard.”

  “We are, thank you. We’re doing our best.”

  “Would you like to train with me and Touya tomorrow? I think Yae might want to join in as well.”

  “Ah... I’m not sure if I can, I’ve got a few Grand Dukey things to take care of...” I laughed a little bit at Hilde’s suggestion.

  To be honest, I was pretty sure Yae and Hilde were at the point where they could beat me in a swordfight. Moroha had trained them to the point where only she was beyond them.

  The two of them were incredible. Even with my magic, I’d struggle to beat them.

  The daily inspection was over. I decided to split off from Hilde and head back to the castle. There I saw Sue running down the corridor toward me. Her butler, Leim, toddled on after her.

  “Touya!”

  “Yo. What’s up, Sue? Hey there, Leim.”

  “Good day, Your Highness.” Sue had practically tackled me, so Leim apologetically greeted me with a bowed head.

  Sue could easily travel to her private room in this castle from her own room at home. There was a [Gate] tailored just for her that connected the two rooms, so she visited Brunhild often.

  She was one of my fiancees, but she still lived with her parents, so this was the compromise. Only Sue could travel through the portal, so it was secure. That being said, if she consented then she could come through with other people like Leim.

  “What brings you here today?”

  “I came to visit Renne! It’s her day off, you know? Oh, Touya. Can I use the game room? I’d like to show Renne the Overlord formation.”

  Overlord formation...? Oh, she must mean the Ortlinde Overlord thing her Frame Gear does... She’s gonna show it in the simulator?

  The Frame Gear training room had several Frame Unit simulators, and the girls could access their tailor-made machines through it as well. Regular knights wouldn’t be able to use them, though.

  “Sure, no problem. Be sure to show her.”

  “Yay! Thanks, Touya!” Sue ran off full-speed toward wherever Renne was. She was lively as ever.

  “Please excuse me.” Leim trotted after her. I felt a little sorry for him.

  As I watched them dash off, my smartphone started to vibrate. It was a call from Rosetta.

  “Yo, ’sup?”

  “Master, sir?! I made a prototype, sir! I was thinking of running an experiment, yessir I was. Wanna see?”

  “Oh, you finished with it? We can test it out in the northern courtyard. I’ll bring Sakura.”

  “Yessir!” I cut off the call with Rosetta and dialed for Sakura. This was proving to be quite the busy day.

  ◇　◇　◇

  “...Grand Duke. What is this?”

  “This is a special microphone with sound amplification. There’s more to it, too.” Sakura tilted her head in confusion as she looked at the mic stand.

  I asked Sakura to help me with a special magical device experiment, and she’d brought along Spica as well.

  “Preparations complete, sir!” I moved away from the mic that Rosetta had been adjusting. Monica, who was also observing, flashed a thumbs-up. That meant it was time.

  “Alright, let’s try... some pretty simple, light music for starters. The mic’s target should be set to you, Spica, so can you move a little further away?”

  “Ah, of course. Is this good?” Spica stood in the middle of the training area we’d prepared.

  “Alright, Sakura. Please sing something soft into the mic. And please channel your magic into it as well, if you can.”

  “...I don’t quite understand, but I shall...” Sakura gave an obedient nod, and then she began to sing.

  Hm... This song? It was a fairly popular French song that I’d heard back in Japan, a popular, soft jazz number.

  The “Cherie” mentioned in the lyrics wasn’t a woman’s name, but a French way of saying “darling.”

  “Alright, Spica. Can you try moving about, or slashing?”

  “Very well— What?!” Spica moved for only a few seconds, but she covered a surprising distance. She looked down at herself in shock. She suddenly stopped on the spot and jumped into the air, finding herself propelled three meters upward.

  “My body is light as a feather, no, it’s like I’ve gotten feathers and I can fly!” Sakura, equally confused, stopped singing as she watched Spica.

  “Ah.” Spica’s enhanced speed suddenly dropped to a standard pace.

  Hmm... So the enhancements only work while she sings. And I guess the effects will change based on the style of song, too.

  “Grand Duke, what is this...?”

  “Let me answer that, ma’am! It’s application of magic, ma’am! Doctor Babylon calls it Lyrical magic, ma’am! Your magic power passes through the microphone and your voice, and can then be applied to other people! The effects vary depending on the oscillation, and we still don’t know the full potential, ma’am! But rest assured that it’s support magic through-and-through, so there are no risks!” Rosetta suddenly chimed in. Apparently it was based on magic used by a species that existed during the ancient civilization’s era, but I didn’t know the details.

  From what I understood of it, it was simply amplification through sound waves, and that’s all I needed to know.

  “Alright then, Sakura. Feel free to sing any kind of song.”

  “Okay.” Sakura sang one song after another to Spica. She really didn’t seem to mind what she chose as she flicked through several types of music.

  There were a lot of western songs, but only stuff from the 1960s through 1980s. That was my favorite kind of music, so I’d ended up introducing her to a lot of it. My grandpa introduced me to it originally, so it was just one of those things. It seemed like Sakura was quite the fan, too. So I wasn’t complaining.

  There were a lot of magical effects based on the types of song she sang. Enhanced agility, increased magical resistance, a protective barrier, increased aggression, increased strength, and so on. There were clearly a ton more potential effects, but we didn’t need to go through them all in one day.

  The benefit of this magic was that it could affect anyone in range of the music. The effect could even be applied to the person singing, as well as anyone in the vicinity. Plus, no matter how many were being affected, it would still take up the same amount of magic as if it was only one person.

  The effect ended when Sakura stopped singing, so we would have to be mindful that she didn’t wear her voice out.

  Doctor Babylon was currently designing some kind of aircraft that could act as mobile battle speakers. The idea would be for Sakura’s voice to effectively serve as background music for the battle while empowering our troops.

  That being said, we’d only be able to apply one effect at the time, so it had limited tactical use. Sakura couldn’t sing different songs at the same time, and recordings didn’t work either.

  I pondered more as I watched Sakura’s spirited performance.

  After the experiment ended, I went up to Babylon with Rosetta. The Doctor was in her Research Lab, pondering over a world map on her monitor.

  Her desk had a bunch of papers, books, and scattered stationery on it. I noticed a bunch of stale looking cookies, cakes, and used teacups as well.

  Put your old food away... You’re gonna attract bugs.

  “What’re you up to?”

  “Hm? Ah, it’s Touya. See anything strange about this?”

  “Strange?” The doc motioned toward her monitor, and I took a look at the world map.

  Hm? What’s with that... It looks like this world’s map, but the details are a little different
.

  “This is a map of the world as it was five-thousand years ago, during my era. It’s how it was before the Phrase invaded. There was large-scale magical destruction during that time, and general resistance against their forces ended up sculpting global geography. Can you see the key differences?” She superimposed the current map of the world over the old one.

  Oh, huh... There are definitely differences in coastlines and terrain... Weird... Refreese and Lihnea... were a lot larger... And the Great Gau River didn’t go all the way down to Ramissh? Did the terrain change naturally, or was this all thanks to magic...? Geez...

  “The Phrase couldn’t be directly affected by magic, remember? There was a country that initiated a forbidden spell known as [Grand Break], which changed a lot of the world’s terrain.”

  Huh... What kind of spell was that? Did it cause the ground to rupture or something? Well, there’s no denying there are some serious topographical differences here, but damn...

  It seemed like it was probably an Earth spell that caused a massive amount of the ground to rise up and shift, likely to try and catch the Phrase en masse.

  Something so destructive would’ve been insane... To think humanity was driven to make such a horrible decision.

  “This here is where Partheno was. It was a massive civilization that spanned all the way from where Belfast is now, covering most of Regulus, Brunhild, Ramissh, Roadmare, Felsen, Lestia, and Horn.” I looked at the area she’d singled out. It was insanely huge. It must’ve been an incredible empire indeed. It spanned a massive amount of land from west to east. If you put it in earth terms, it’d be equal to one nation having control of all land between Europe and China.

  “Back in the day, the Phrase first emerged where Xenoahs is nowadays. The nations that used to occupy the area where Yulong, Nokia, and Hannock are were the first to fall. That’s why you can see so many geographical changes in this area.”

  That does explain all the crater-like lakes in Yulong and Xenoahs... Did they really fight that hard, though? To damage their own world in the hopes of defending it? I guess it makes sense though; they would’ve defended their homelands with everything they had in them. I can’t even imagine how fearsome the battles must have been.

  “Hm? What’s that?”

  “Oh, this? This is... Just north of where Elfrau is in the current era.” On the map of the old world, there was an island in the sea just north of Elfrau. It was similar in size to Ramissh. The modern map didn’t have that island at all, leading me to believe it had completely sunk.

  “Back in the day, that island was known as The Devil’s Abode. There were sea monsters like Sirens and Krakens that surrounded its waters, so going by boat was impossible. If you tried to fly, then Wyverns would kill you. The island reeked of death, and even from afar you could see its dense fog and foul air.”

  Sounds pretty nuts, definitely worthy of its name.

  “I was a little confused as to why it wasn’t here in the current era. I wondered if it sank, but I couldn’t think of a reason for it to have. Thus, I used an advanced form of detection magic on the area, and this is the result.” On the modern map, in the empty spot where the island should’ve been, a small red haze appeared vaguely matching the outline of the landmass.

  ...Wait, a barrier? Did someone put up a barrier around the island to make it invisible? But could something like that have seriously lasted so long? And why?

  “My Babylon works on a similar principle, you know? It’s been invisible in the air for the last five thousand years. I’m of the opinion that someone did this to the island back then, as well. The only questions would be who, and why?”

  “...Do you think some mage escaped from the Phrase, made his way to the island, and then erected a barrier so he couldn’t be found?”

  “That’s not impossible, but... Such powerful magic would surely be impossible... The only person other than I from that era capable of such a feat would be the Sage of Hours, but I was sure he died in a Phrase attack...” Doctor Babylon muttered as she leaned against her chair. She was in a tiny body, so she looked kind of silly.

  “Sorry, Sage of Hours?”

  “Yes, that’s right. He was a master of Space-time magic. Foresight, teleportation, regular time-stopping, the ability to de-age or simply age his targets, and so on... He was an outrageous old man. Well, it wasn’t like he could do it all on a whim. He still needed to make necessary setups and so on, but he was the only one who knew how it worked.”

  “He could stop time...? I didn’t know Space-time magic even existed...”

  “What are you talking about? You’ve been using [Storage], [Gate], and [Teleport] for how long now? What did you think that was? Still, he was far more adept; he could do all of that and more... I’m a little sad that his knowledge is lost to time entirely, if I’m honest.”

  Interesting... So you’re saying that there was an old guy who bypassed the Null magic requirements to perform these crazy feats...? That guy definitely does sound outrageous...

  But if he could so easily manipulate Space-time, then creating a barrier that blocked someone from seeing an island would be no big deal. Hell, the fact that the barrier was blocking the outside world from noticing it was practically Space-time magic in itself.

  “Maybe the old guy had a disciple or something and they set it up...?”

  “...Hm... It’s possible he had students. But I need to warn you, if you plan on investigating it... I’d hesitate to use Gungnir because if you take a high-speed flying vehicle you might crash right into the side. It won’t show a shadow, after all.” That would be a pain. If I used [Fly] there was also the risk of it having the whole thing where it disabled magic, so I’d just end up crashing into the sea...

  I wondered if I could use a vehicle that didn’t need magic.

  “Couldn’t I go in with Kougyoku or Luli? That’d be easier.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure that’d work. Sending a summoned beast there would generally be the least risky thing to do. But you should still be careful; depending on the type of barrier you might end up losing contact, or even having your summoned creature get lost entirely.” I wanted to head to the island right away, but the Doctor’s words did kind of unnerve me.

  I wasn’t entirely sure what was there, so I decided to play it safe and have Kougyoku’s birds scout the place out first.

  If the barrier was still up, it was entirely possible that the caster was still living there.

  Still, it was an island that nobody had entered even back in the ancient era. It was kind of like the Galapagos Islands back on earth, completely unaffected by the outside world... Its inhabitants might’ve even undergone stark evolutionary differences.

  Just what could I expect in a place like that...?

  Chapter II: Working Toward Tomorrow

  A barrage of bullets rained down upon the remains of the Steel Battalion that were scattered around the wastes. These bullets were being fired at a rate of several-hundred-per-second from a Gatling gun attached to the right arm of a great, dark mecha. Leen’s Frame Gear, Grimgerde, was ready to roll.

  Nikola’s Knight Baron had a similar Gatling gun, but Leen’s was a little bit different and had a broader spread, so it was still pretty unique.

  Grimgerde’s chest piece distorted, causing the two Gatling guns installed around the center to blow a conflagratory hail of bullets.

  Then, both of the shoulders opened up on either side, revealing missile pods. They promptly began to fire out into the air. In tandem with this motion, hinges on the legs opened up to reveal yet more missiles, and they shot out their payloads as well.

  Each fingertip on the left hand was also spewing machine gun fire, and the Vulcan rotary installed on the Frame Gear’s head was firing off at full pelt as well. It was truly a hail of bullets, like something out of a sci-fi movie.

  “Good lord, how horrifying...” We’d been using broken units from the Steel Battalion as target practice, I’d simply pulled them out of [Storag
e], but the full force of Leen’s Grimgerde was reducing them to scrap metal in a matter of seconds.

  Grimgerde finished firing and finally came to a halt. I could see steam rising from its form, a testament to just how hot it had become in the process.

  “How many bullets was that...?”

  “Only around fifty-thousand, so not many, sir.”

  Not many... Seriously? I looked at Rosetta, positively speechless. I didn’t really know what to say at all. The thing was downright unstoppable. I had doubts even Elze’s Gerhilde or Yae’s Schwertleite could do anything against a head-on barrage like that... Even if their phrasium armor helped defend them, they’d still sustain serious damage.

  I was pretty sure that Sue’s Ortlinde Overlord would be able to take it, though.

  “Well, sir! It’s good, but there are drawbacks! After a full-power volley like that, the Frame Gear will need to enter a few minutes of cooldown in order to restore itself to full functioning order, sir! That’ll create an opening where it’s vulnerable to attack, yessir it will.”

  “Indeed, Rosetta’s right. The Frame Gear is also designed in such a way that it eats through magic at an enhanced rate. Leen should be okay, but I think only she, you, and Linze would be able to handle a Frame Gear of this type.” Rosetta and the Professor raised some fair points. Magic fatigue was something we’d have to be careful of. It was, after all, pretty much the same thing as continuously invoking the [Explosion] spell.

  “It’s so hot!” The hatch on the Frame Gear’s stomach opened, and Leen hopped out with Paula in tow. Paula toddled out of the opening and rolled on to the ground.

  You okay there...?

  “It’s like a sauna in there, good grief!”

  “Ah, sorry sir! Sorry, ma’am! I forgot to install a cooling unit for the cockpit!” Rosetta grumbled to herself.