In Another World With My Smartphone: Volume 4 Page 8

  “Alright, shall we head off now, then?”

  “Yeah!” I opened up a [Gate] to Reflet, exiting in front of the Silver Moon. Elze quickly headed inside and called out to Micah, who was manning reception. Since they were technically loaning the land used for the springs, we got to enter free of charge.

  “I’m heading in, then!”

  “Of course, take your time!” Elze cheerfully gathered her towel and washing gear from the counter, then headed into the women’s side of the springs. I wasn’t sweaty, so I didn’t particularly care for going in myself.

  I decided to gossip with Micah a little bit, making sure everything was going well in town. Apparently there was never a shortage of customers, so the springs were more profitable than the lodging at this point. I wondered if the Silver Moon was becoming more of a bathhouse than an inn.

  “Howdy there, long time no see.”

  “Oh! Zanac? You here for a morning bath or something?” Zanac, owner of Fashion King Zanac, strolled out of the men’s side with a towel on his head.

  “Mm, in a sense, I suppose. If I don’t come here in the morning and evening, my mood tends to get worse... I’m a regular regular! Ha!” Zanac gave a scattered laugh. Something suddenly occurred to me. With the effects of [Recovery] being infused into the bath, people in the springs would always feel great.

  But, much like dosing someone with a small drug... maybe they’d feel withdrawal if it wasn’t a regular thing. I decided not to dwell on that thought too much, at any rate.

  “Come to think of it, I’ve completed a new clothing design based on the concept you gave me. I think it came out quite well, actually.”

  “Eheheh... is that right?” As he spoke, bubbles of mischief welled up inside me. I would have Micah cooperate with me for this little scheme, after I purchased the outfit from Zanac, of course. This would be fun indeed.

  “E-Er, what is this?”

  “Well, it’s a gift from me, of course.” Elze tugged a little at the hem of the outfit she’d gotten changed into. A red dress with a slit in the middle and a diagonally-buttoned collar. It was a cheongsam dress. Though the lower part was a bit shorter, so it was a mini-cheongsam, I supposed. A pair of high heel shoes had also been laid out for her. I based the size of the outfit on Micah, overall.

  As I had expected, she wore it well. Moreover, the fact that she was a melee fighter made it look even better on her.

  “Yeah, it suits you. You look very cute.”

  “Wh-What are you saying all of a sudden?! A-And hey, don’t just swap out my clothes on a whim!” Elze suddenly looked down, her face blushing red. Her expression was an extremely shy one. She and Linze were definitely more alike than you’d expect.

  It was the same back when I had her wear that gothic outfit. For whatever reason, despite liking cute clothing, Elze never wanted to wear them. I was convinced she didn’t want to because she felt they didn’t suit her. Therefore, I was forced to manufacture a situation in which she had to wear the clothes.

  I had Micah take her regular clothing away, swapping them out with this new outfit. At first Elze was mad, but she quickly seemed more pleased.

  “So, will you accept my gift?”

  “...Y-Yeah. Thank you...” When she said that and looked up at me with her puppy-dog eyes, I was filled with the desire to cuddle her! But... there were people around, so I was way too embarrassed to do something like that. We put her old clothing in a bag, opened up a [Gate], and left the Silver Moon.

  After we came out the other side, in the garden of our home, Elze wobbled a bit. It seemed she wasn’t used to heels. She clung to my arm for support.

  “I-Is it... okay if I... stay like this for a wh-while?” I had no reason to refuse her. Even better, I felt a certain softness from a certain soft couple of things against my arm.

  The early bird catches the worm, as they say. Today’s a great day. I’d be fine if the whole day ended now, even!

  Interlude I: The Assailants

  “Hiyaaah!” Yae screamed out with burning spirit. Her wooden sword plunged forward, catching Viscount Swordrick off guard and stopping right as it reached his neck. The speed of her sword was the very image of lightning striking its target. The Viscount, defeated, relaxed his face into a smile.

  “...Impressive. This round goes to you.”

  “Thank you for your tutelage!” Yae bowed before the viscount. Still, even though she’d won, she didn’t look all that happy about it. No surprise considering this was the seventh round, and she’d only just finally landed a hit on him. It took her seven attempts for a single hit, and she had to use an incredibly risky move to just barely manage it.

  No doubt she was cursing her own weakness, blaming it on inexperience. I felt she really shouldn’t be so hard on herself, considering that her opponent was widely recognized as one of the greatest swordsmen in all of Belfast.

  We traveled to Viscount Swordrick’s dojo so that Yae could practice with him. The audience consisted of Yumina and myself. These practice matches had gone on so long that the sun had begun to set. Crows began cawing in the distance.

  “Your skills have grown such that I might’ve taken you for a different person. Have you grasped something, perchance?”

  “I do not know whether it is yet in my grasp or not, I do not. However, your words that day when you asked me what I sought from the sword are beginning to make somewhat more sense to me now, they are.”

  “Oho. Very well. Then it would seem you’ve taken the first step toward realizing your own way of the sword.” Yae’s words brightened the viscount’s expression. With their practice over, the viscount came over to the corner we’d been watching from and prostrated himself before the princess.

  “I am terribly sorry that I could not offer better hospitality, Your Highness.”

  “Please, pay it no mind. It was I who requested to stand in to observe your practice sessions.” Yumina offered words of polite forgiveness to the viscount. With that formality out of the way, he cast his attention in my direction.

  “I never could have imagined that the young boy from that day would go on to save the king’s life, let alone become betrothed to the princess. And I hear that more recently you’ve even gone and earned yourself the accolade of Dragon Slayer.”

  “About that, if you could keep my engagement with Yumina a secret, that would save me a lot of trouble. I know there are plenty of nobles who’d be quite upset about the idea.”

  “Fret not, I won’t tell a soul. I, too, am well aware of the many greed-driven, stubborn old nobles of Belfast.” As it stood, I was officially engaged to Princess Yumina. However, we still hadn’t made this fact public.

  Marrying Yumina meant marrying into the royal family, giving one great political influence within Belfast. Naturally, that kind of social position drew out the greed in a lot of people.

  To those who would think themselves or their children more suitable for the princess, I’d be seen as a rather big nuisance. That said, any who did approach her out of vile intentions would be caught out immediately by Yumina’s Mystic Eye.

  “However, if they know about your Mystic Eye, then would villains rather not dare to approach you in the first place?” The topic came up as Yae asked Yumina about her Mystic Eyes during the walk home.

  It had already grown dark, but the viscount’s estate was fairly close to the western district, so we figured that it might be nice to walk home the old-fashioned way for a change. The streets were derelict of people, and at most we saw a wagon passing by on the road every now and then.

  The street lamps were dim, and there wasn’t a hint of moonlight. Well, that was basically just how things were in this world’s night.

  Yumina thought over Yae’s question a little before giving an answer.

  “Well, you see... Simply having vile intentions alone does not mean you’ve actually done anything wrong yet. I can’t accuse someone for a crime they’ve yet to commit. Besides, all people are at least a little bit greed
y at heart. Some even approach believing that they’ve fooled my Mystic Eye... And those are still among the less bothersome types.” Yumina spoke with a strained smile. I struggled to imagine having to put up with someone like that putting on an overly friendly attitude, knowing all the while that it was just an act. Sounded like a pain in the ass.

  “You mean there were even worse kinds of people?”

  “Yes. The most difficult kind of person for me to deal with is someone who has deluded themselves into believing that all of their actions are correct and justified. They tell themselves that they haven’t a thing to hide, so they wouldn’t worry about my Mystic Eyes reflecting on them. If anything, they expect my Mystic Eyes to find them with an untainted heart, thus proving their own justice. I can’t stand those types at all.” I think I got what she meant. Those who might claim that their actions are all for the sake of Belfast, that it was they who were best suited to lead the country, that it would be in Yumina’s better interests as well... The sorts of people who think like that tend to have no awareness of the fact that they’re being nothing but a nuisance. They’d never even considered Yumina’s feelings on the matter from the beginning.

  It was more like trying to use their own virtuous nature as a selling point, though in fact it came across as more self-righteous than anything.

  “Can you not see through those types with your Mystic Eyes, can you not?”

  “No, I can still see through them. Mine are the Mystic Eyes of Intuition. They let me see the corruption in a person’s soul. The self-righteous have tendency to march forward in a straight line with no care to their surroundings, causing trouble for people without recognizing that fact.” Those who would act out on their own personal definitions of justice have a tendency to get into conflicts with others. When that person is acting as the face of the country, it could very easily escalate into war.

  I swear, whoever said that “The world has too many Heroes, that’s why war doesn’t end” really got it right. Yae and I both stopped in our tracks.

  “Wh-What’s wrong?” Yumina started panicking a little. I took her hand in mine and spoke with a soft voice.

  “I don’t know who, but someone has us surrounded.”

  “What?!” Yumina cast her gaze wildly around our surroundings. The air was thick with ill intent. What the hell do these guys want?

  “Get out. We know you’re hiding there.”

  “Hmph. Tricky kid, ain’tcha?” Groups of men came crawling out from the back alleys. Every last one of them had the looks of a thief or thug.

  They were carrying around swords and clubs openly. Definitely not the kind of person you’d like to get involved with.

  “What do you want with us?”

  “Only one we’re after here is you. The women are free to go.” Eh? Free to go? The bandits were letting the girls go free?

  “Touya-dono, what have you gone and done this time, then?”

  “I... can’t really think of anything off the top of my head.” To tell the truth, I actually wasn’t too sure about that. I’d gotten into trouble with many sorts over my travels, even becoming rather infamous myself. Come to think of it, there was that one guy whose face I broke when he came up and picked a fight with me. Are these guys his friends, then?

  “Nothing personal, kid... But I gotta kill you now!”

  “Yeah, you and me both.” The man swung at me with his sword, so I ruthlessly shot him down with Brunhild. Ruthlessly shot him with perfectly safe, Paralysis-inducing rubber bullets, mind you. The thug collapsed to the ground, his face contorted in agony. Even though all they did was paralyze a target, there was still the force of the rubber bullet itself to consider. It would still hurt a fair bit.

  “You’ve gone and done it now!”

  “What, were you expecting me to just stand still and let myself get stabbed?” I took down several more of the closer bandits, but they kept coming. They sure were brave, if nothing else, as not a single person tried to flee even after seeing hordes of their companions get taken down. These kinds of situations were honestly even more annoying to deal with.

  “Safety Mode.” I shifted Brunhild into the blunt-bladed shortsword, on stun mode. Then, I dodged a falling sword and used my momentum to slam my sword into his torso.

  In truth, there was no real reason for me to swing my sword so hard against them. All it would’ve taken was the lightest graze and the paralysis would set in, so long as the person wasn’t wearing any talismans. That was all the force that was really necessary.

  A few minutes passed before all the assailants had been laid down to relax all over the street.

  “Phew... Man, what a pain.”

  “What should we do with them, do you think?”

  “Mmm... I wouldn’t really mind just leaving them here like this, but I wouldn’t want them coming after us again once they get back up... I think I’ll pay a quick visit to the nearest knight’s station and—”

  “What are you up to over there?!” The knights that I’d thought to go and report to came to us instead. Apparently they’d headed over upon hearing some kind of commotion going on in the area.

  I displayed my Guild Card to prove my identity and explained the situation to the knights. Since it was impossible to forge a Guild Card, they worked as a proof of identity in times like these.

  “They just jumped on us from out of nowhere, so we beat them up instead.”

  “I see. Some of these faces take up a few wanted posters. I’m guessing they just saw you as an easy target.” Oh right, anybody who didn’t know me would naturally just see me as a weak-looking kid from their perspective. I’ve run into a lot of people like that, so, honestly, I’ve gotten used to it.

  Still, did they really think that a weak-looking kid like me would be loaded with money or something? I mean, I was, in fact, incredibly rich, but that was beside the point.

  “We’ll take care of things from here. We’ll let the guild know about what transpired, too.”

  “Alright. Thank you very much.” I bowed to the knights and decided to use this as our chance to make a break for it. Part of it was that I just wanted to get home, but it was also because it would be a pain if they found out about Yumina. If people started getting worked up about an attempted abduction of the princess, we’d never hear the end of it.

  It seemed these were lower-ranking knights, however, since they didn’t seem to recognize Yumina at all.

  “Misdeeds still occur even in the capital, they do.”

  “The crime rate just naturally rises with population size. I’m sure it’s difficult to deal with on my father’s end, too.” Sure sounded tough being King.

  We continued chatting like that until we arrived home.

  ◇　◇　◇

  “...Come again?”

  “As I said, there was an incident yesterday involving a group of men who were slashed to death in the middle of the street. We were investigating possible leads when one of them led to you, Touya.” Lyon came first thing in the morning with unpleasant news. In my tired state, I took a moment to process things.

  There’d been a slashing incident? I’m the prime suspect? That is silly! It just doesn’t make any sense!

  “It all happened on Fourslet Street in the western district. Several men were found dead with slash wounds. It’s thought that they all died instantly. Right by the scene of the crime, we found this.” At Lyon’s words, Deputy General Neil placed a solid rubber cylinder on the table. Wait a minute, that’s...!

  “That’s definitely mine. It’s the rubber I use for creating new bullets.”

  “Several people from the neighborhood also heard the distinctive noise of your weapon... Brunhild, you called it? They claim they heard that very noise being fired off last night. Do you admit to having been at the scene of the crime?”

  “W-Wait, hold on! Yeah, I was there last night, but I didn’t kill anyone! Didn’t you get a report about this from those knights yesterday?!”

  “...We hav
en’t received any reports like that from any of the knights who were on duty.” That didn’t make sense. What was going on? I carefully retold in detail the events of the night prior to Lyon and Neil.

  “That is indeed odd. I can confirm that we’ve received no such reports. What’s going on here?”

  “What were they like, these knights who rushed to your aid? Can you describe their appearances?”

  “Can I describe them...? Let’s see... One of them had eyes that were a bit high up on his face, and the other had a nose that was like... Hang on, I’ve got a better idea.” I cast [Mirage] and projected the images of the two knights I’d run into during the incident. I couldn’t recall the faces of any of the bandits who’d assaulted us, but I’d gotten a good look at both of the knights at least. I’d seen their faces, so I could even recall what their voices were like.

  Lyon and Neil were surprised by the sudden appearance of the projected images, but calmed themselves down and inspected them in detail.

  “I’m afraid I don’t recognize them at all. Lyon, are these men under your charge?”

  “To my knowledge, there are no knights like this enlisted, at least not in the First Division. Never mind that, I’ve never even seen these men before.” Hold up a sec, does that mean they were only posing as knights? If that were the case, it meant that they were probably the ones who hired the bandits to attack me. And, as soon as we left, those fake knights killed the bandits and planted evidence in an attempt to frame me for the crime. They’d pushed me into a position where it was near-impossible to prove my innocence by evidence alone.

  Heck, given that all of my assailants were dead and I hadn’t so much as a scratch on me, it just made it look like I’d one-sidedly slaughtered the lot of them. Even pleading self-defense would be a challenge.

  “...I suppose that claiming we were tricked by fake knights would just make me sound even more suspicious in this case.”

  “That’s true, but you also have Princess Yumina as your witness in this case. We can’t exactly just march up and arrest you under these circumstances.”