“You’re... Seriously Doctor Babylon?” The young girl grinned maliciously as she spoke up again.
“In the young, nubile flesh. Doctor Regina Babylon. Foremost magitechnician of the Partheno Kingdom, scholar supreme, and your destined lover...”
“Nah, I’m good. Put some clothes on.”
“The hell?! No need to be rude!” I already knew that if I reacted in exactly the way she wanted me to, I’d be playing into her hands and I’d probably die.
The doctor walked over to a nearby wall, pulled a white lab coat from the wall, and wore it loosely around her tiny form. It didn’t have any buttons on the front, so her bare belly and... other extremities were on full display. She clearly had no shame.
I’ve heard of naked apron, but this is ridiculous... I sighed and shook my head. Even underwear would be better than this.
“Wearing that robe is pointless...”
“Ahh... N-No, I disagree!” Tica flashed a thumbs-up as blood spurted from her nose. What the hell?! Why’s she acting like that?!
“Doc, what’s wrong with Tica?”
“Ah, Atlantica just has a thing for little girls.”
“...Don’t say something so horrible so casually.” That probably explained why she didn’t kiss me like the others had.
“I quite like them too.”
“Too much info, hag!” I was truly facing down the root of all evil. The base for all the impure Babylon Gynoids I’d faced so far.
“This is a bother... I didn’t have clothing prepared for a body this size. It’s not like me to be so lacking in foresight...” I considered going back to the castle to borrow from Renne or Sue. But I didn’t want to be scorned by asking for their clothes. Asking for their underwear was out of the question. I’d probably have to come clean with them about what was going on.
“Don’t tell me that coat’s five-thousand years old too...”
“Sure is. Problem? I enchanted it with a protective spell, so it’s always clean.” No wonder it looks so new... My coat’s enchanted with [Protection] too, so it never needs cleaning.
Still, the key issue here was that she was still completely bare about the front. I removed my belt and wrapped it around her, forcing the oversized thing to cover her body like a makeshift yukata.
I decided to have the research laboratory head in Brunhild’s direction.
Tica activated the monolith and set the course. I wanted her to wipe her stupid bleeding face.
“This body’s not bad, honestly... Surprisingly agile. It’s regrettable that I won’t grow any more, but I suppose it’s a fair trade for longevity.”
“Hm? You won’t grow any more?”
“This body is composed of tissue from various... Voluntary donors. It only grows for as long as I remain within the capsule, and once I’m freed, it won’t grow any longer. Atlantica has had that body of hers for a long time, you know?” That certainly made sense. Tica and the other gynoids would keep their looks until they died, if they even did die... That trait made them similar to elves and dwarves. They couldn’t have children either, as their bodies didn’t account for reproductive function.
“Now, whenever I looked at the future, your movements were fairly erratic. I didn’t get to see much of your life consistently. But what I’m most interested in is that artifact you carry.”
“Uhh, artifact? What do you mean?”
“It’s a small, black device. A communication device, but also a multimedia display. A... Smoffo, you called it?”
“Oh, you mean my smartphone.” I took out my smartphone and showed it to Doctor Babylon.
“Yeah, that’s the one! I tried making one of my own but I didn’t understand the fine details. Mind if I borrow it a while?”
“I guess that’s fine. Just don’t break it.” I’d put a lot of enchantments on it so I was fairly certain it wasn’t gonna break easily. It’d be bad if she messed around and changed the settings, though.
She probably understood the basic functions already. After all, she’d already made a cable that could interface with Cesca. I wondered if she was interested in the technological aspects of it.
“Hm... These letters and images are most unusual... H-Hm... And it’s operated by touch? Fascinating. What country are these letters from?”
“Japan.”
“Japang? Er, Japan? Never heard of it. Is it a place that exists in this era? Were you born there?”
“Ah... Fine, you’re right... I guess it’s gone on long enough. I’ve been wanting to tell everyone for a while anyway.”
“Huh?”
Doctor Babylon looked at me with a raised eyebrow.
◇ ◇ ◇
“Good grief, you mean to say that this child is Doctor Babylon herself...?” Leen was just as surprised as I was. Elze and Yae were also perturbed as they watched the little girl quickly find herself surrounded by the Babylon gynoids.
“Well... I guess this is par for the course.”
“I suppose this is not impossible, it is not.” Linze, Hilde, and Lu nodded in quiet acceptance.
The Doctor was talking with Rosetta, Flora, and Cesca. She’d borrowed some clothing from Sue, and basically just looked like a normal kid.
Tica had Monica locked in a deathgrip on the sofa. She wouldn’t let go. There were blood-dyed tissues stuffed up her nose, and her cheeks were bright red.
“Release me, damn it! Like, get offa me!”
“Oohohohoho...” I understood now what Monica had meant when she said she didn’t do so well with the research laboratory’s gynoid. Tica’s... petite fixation was definitely bad news for the small-framed Monica. Sue was so freaked out that she was clinging to my side for dear life.
I had all the Babylon gynoids, along with my fiancees, gathered in a room in the castle. Noel was sitting in the corner with her head on Liora’s lap. She was out cold.
Did I even have to bring her over...?
There were a lot of them, though...
Francesca of the hanging garden.
High Rosetta of the workshop.
Bell Flora of the alchemy lab.
Fredmonica of the hangar.
Preliora of the rampart.
Pamela Noel of the tower.
Irisfam of the library.
Lileleparshe of the storehouse.
Atlantica of the research laboratory.
And finally, Doctor Babylon herself...
It was quite the gathering... Fam, Noel, and Liora didn’t come to the ground all that often, though.
Monica and Rosetta were focused on their work, so they mostly stayed up stairs too.
I also asked Parshe to stay up there if possible. I didn’t want her causing an international incident with her clumsiness.
I watched Tica squeeze Monica, and decided it’d be for the best if she didn’t come to the ground very often either. I wouldn’t want Renne to get traumatized or anything.
“Well, Touya. What did you gather us for?” Yumina squeezed herself between me and Sue, and asked me a question.
“Well... The Doctor asked me about this, really. But I want everyone to know the truth. It’s about what I’ve been keeping from you all up to now.” Everyone suddenly stared at me. I stood up, steeled my heart, and took a deep breath.
“Look... The only reason I didn’t mention this before is because I was scared I wouldn’t be believed. I didn’t even know if I should tell you. But I’m going to be living with you all for the rest of my life, so you deserve to know the full truth about me.” I used my Smartphone to project a series of images on the wall. I scrolled through various clips on a video, showing images of London, Paris, Washington, New York, Jakarta, Bangkok, New Delhi, Beijing, Moscow, and last but not least, Tokyo.
Everyone was at a complete loss for words.
“What I’m showing you here is my former world. These locations are all on a planet called Earth. I was born there, and then I came here.”
◇ ◇ ◇
I told everyone about the pe
rson I was before I came to this world.
I told them about the nation named Japan, the planet named Earth. My life as a student, and the fact that I couldn’t return to that life.
It seemed like the invasion of the Phrase helped them process the idea of something being from another world, and the fact that other worlds than their own existed.
“Is that right... I always thought you were quite unusual, Touya... but this is quite unexpected.”
“Another world... I could never have even begun to guess, I could not.” Yumina and Yae both exhaled heavily and let their shock be known.
“Ah, then... what about Karen and Moroha?”
“Well, you might’ve guessed by now, but they’re not my blood-related sisters. But they’re my sisters all the same, my family in this world. There are others I’d consider the same way, too.” I promptly and honestly answered Linze’s question. I’d awoken to my divinity, after all. It probably meant I’d be considered ‘related’ to most of the gods. I was directly linked to God Almighty, after all.
I decided to hide the truth of the God situation and the real identities of my sisters. I didn’t want people depending on the Gods instead of fighting with their own power, and that information was secret to begin with. I decided to tell them after getting permission later on. Plus, unloading information about being a literal God would’ve been a lot to swallow along with the other world stuff.
If I called down the old man, they’d likely believe it... It worked with the pope, after all. But asking him over for something like that felt a little bit trivial for someone so almighty.
“Then... guns, and bicycles... They’re inventions from the world you came from?”
“They are. They’re fairly normal in my world. Ah, well. There weren’t really many guns in the country I lived in, though.” I quickly corrected my response to Lu’s questions. I didn’t want her to think that shooting guns was a regular thing where I came from.
“Well... origins aside, it doesn’t really change anything about you, right?”
“That’s right. It doesn’t change a thing about our love for Touya...”
“If anything, I’m a little mad he didn’t think to mention it sooner!” Leen, Hilde, and Elze all came to their own conclusions. Their expressions seemed oddly calm, like they weren’t hiding anything. It seemed like they didn’t care all that much that I was a man from another world.
“Touya’s Touya at the end of the day. I’m glad you thought to tell us, though.”
“Me too.”
“Thanks Sue... And you too, Sakura.” I was happy they were so accepting of me. I thought that they might be creeped out, if not outright disgusted. After all, I was effectively an ‘invader’ from another world. I thought they might come to a conclusion that matched me up as something similar to the Phrase.
“Most incredible!” The little doc in the corner suddenly let out a yell. Shivers ran up our collective spines. D-Don’t call out like that! “A man from another world! Such technology, such culture! Unseen knowledge, unlived histories! There’s simply nothing more mentally arousing! Not at all! Take me, Touya! Marry me!”
“NO WAY!” Whoa... All of my fiancees screamed their rejection in unison. They all strafed me from all sides, circling as if to protect me. It was frightening... But I could understand their stance, they didn’t anticipate any other brides, after all.
“That’s fine, then. I’ll be a concubine. My body doesn’t ovulate, so he couldn’t knock me up anyway. Sound good?”
“OKAY!”
“Wait what?!” I nearly broke my neck at the double-take I had to perform. What the hell?! Don’t approve her as a mistress, stop that! You’re not supposed to be okay with that!
“We decided that we don’t want any more wives for a fairly simple set of reasons. Firstly, we don’t want royal families from around the world trying to pawn off their daughters on to you, Touya.”
“We also don’t want to create a succession crisis. That’s why we can easily differentiate brides from concubines, it won’t cause a national incident.” Yumina and Leen explained the situation as best as they could, but I didn’t really get it all that much. I just didn’t understand this whole polygamy business on a fundamental level.
Still, it was better than them fighting amongst themselves. I didn’t want them trying to lay claim to me like “Back off, bitch! He’s mine!” or something... Although maybe being so aggressively pined for wouldn’t be so bad, either. That being said, it just meant they clearly understood that love wasn’t the same as possession or obsession.
“Alright! Wife permission obtained! Looks like we’re gonna be one big happy family, hm? Oh, and don’t worry about who’ll succeed the throne or anything. All your children are girls except one.”
“WHAT?!” Whoa, whoa! Talk about a major spoiler leak! What the hell are you doing?!
“Y-You mean to tell us that you are being truthful, you are?!”
“Damn straight, my little eastern angel. It’s not a huge deal, I just happened to overhear a conversation while peeping at the future once. It went something along the lines of ‘All nine queens have given birth, but this country only has one prince.’ Or something like that, I guess.”
Huh, wow. So that means one of these girls will bear a son... and the others will have daughters? I kind of feel like I just got spoiled on my own fate. This is a little lame... Hmph... At least eight daughters, then... I’m kind of worried about that. Am I gonna be able to relax at all as a dad?
It was, of course, entirely possible that a second son could be born after the point that the Doctor had seen, but I wondered if I’d want to have ten kids. There were gonna be way too many. Even nine would be too many, though...
Tokugawa Ieyasu had sixteen or so children, and Cao Cao apparently had twenty-five... Well, the Tokugawa house ended up having an obscene amount of successors, anyway.
But having too many children certainly played its part in the downfall of his Shogunate. It certainly placed a financial burden on the place. If you asked me, I’d say he had a little too much fun.
“Hmph... This situation’s going to be something interesting, isn’t it?”
“What’s that supposed to mean, Leen?”
“Isn’t it obvious? Those daughters will surely marry someday. As princesses of Brunhild, they’ll likely mingle with royals from other nations. It’s likely that by the end of all this, Touya’s blood will be in every royal family on the continent.”
“Oh, I see... Our family will probably spread out far, then. Our grandchildren may end up being the kings of each nation... This is... something, yes.”
Leen and Hilde were chattering away, but I decided to purposefully tune it out. Our kids aren’t even born yet, don’t talk about them getting married off!
“Hey, c’mon! We’re family now, right? Out with it! Tell me your otherworldly secrets! What’s with those big buildings?! What are those mysterious lights with three colors?! What’s that metal box thing? Does it move with magic?!”
“Hey, hey! Slow down already... I can’t answer if you spit all your questions out to me at the same time. I don’t know the ins and outs of stuff, either. The tall buildings are multi-level apartment buildings. Those three-colored signs are traffic lights. That metal box is a train, and it doesn’t run on magic. I don’t really know how they’re made, though. I also don’t know how they all work.” I stammered out my response as the insane doctor lunged towards me. She probably had more questions than I had time.
“I see... Mmm... If only I could figure out more information from that world!” She sighed slightly as she looked at the images projected in the air. ...Ah.
“Look, if it’s information you want, I can give you it. I can get anything from the internet. You might even be able to understand stuff that I don’t know, doc. But, still...”
“What?! Tell me about it! If there’s a way to get the information then I gotta know about it!” I was a little apprehensive about giving her tha
t kind of info. If she got a lot of knowledge and tried to make a nuke or something... That wouldn’t be good. The union of this world’s magic and my world’s tech could create something remarkably dangerous, after all.
“My old world has a lot of unbelievably dangerous knowledge. Two world wars already occurred there, and if a third one happened the entire planet would probably end due to the current weaponry we have. I don’t know if I want to equip you with that kind of knowledge.” Albert Einstein had said something wise about it.
He said “I do not know with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.” If a third World War happened, then the world would surely end. It was a message with a warning about the future.
“I see... That’s a justified fear, indeed. I can’t promise I wouldn’t abuse that knowledge, either... So why don’t you give me cultural knowledge for now instead? Myths, legends, history, and so on.”
“Hm, good idea. Alright then. How about we watch some movies?”
“Movies?” Earth stories, huh...? I shouldn’t give her anything too fictional, then. Otherwise it’ll just be a fantasy showing.
What about a historical drama, then... Something from the Three Kingdoms? King Arthur, maybe? The Chushingura? Or hell, maybe a more modern soap opera might be good if they wanna know how society works...
The movies and shows I’d let them see so far didn’t have too much that would give away the society they were made in, but at this point I didn’t really have any reason to hold back.
If I want them to understand Japan, then this movie should be good... Otoko wa Tsurai yo, It’s Tough Being a Man. That would do nicely.
I made my smartphone project the movie into the air, and we all settled down.
After that, I showed them a lot of Japanese and western movies. They got a better understanding of Earth thanks to that.
“So this is bothering me a little... That device you have, Touya. Does everyone in your old world actually have one of those?” Doctor Babylon was pointing at my smartphone. She certainly had taken a liking to it. Oh right, there were some in a couple of the movies.
In Another World With My Smartphone: Volume 10 Page 7
