“He’ll be right back, I’m sure.” I had a feeling he’d charge right there and then charge straight back. But it wasn’t like I’d be there to cast [Refresh] on him at the castle.
Yae looked over to Sue and Iroha as they ate some more sushi together.
“Sue-dono... Who is this child?”
“That’s Iroha.”
“It seems like this kid is actually one of the feudal lords’ daughters.”
“I-Is that so, is it?! Could she be the child of Date Massamune, could she?!” Yae opened her eyes wide upon realizing who she was with. Sue just kind of shrugged and continued eating. Hilde and Lu didn’t really seem all that fussed, either... But I guess those three were royalty anyway.
“Iroha, you’re in Oedo because of your dad, right? Why’d you leave the castle?”
“Was bored... Daddy can’t play with me. He promised he’d play when the meeting was over!! But it was so long...! That’s why I went out to play.”
“Didn’t you think your father would get worried?”
“Don’t know.” She pouted quietly before explaining that she’d asked to go to the bathroom then snuck out of the small window in there. Apparently, she’d sneak out of the castle she lived in at home and play around often, so this kind of thing wasn’t abnormal for her.
Apparently, Iroha could use magic, specifically Earth magic, which was rare for an Eashenese person. It was trivial for her to get out by manipulating the ground to make an escape route, or just tunneling through a wall.
“Your father still loves you, Iroha,” said Sue.
“...Daddy hates me.”
“No way. I love my father, and he loves me. Sometimes he can’t be with me because he has to work, but when we’re together we have a lot of fun. Time spent being upset with him, or thinking he’s upset with you, is just wasted time.”
“Mm...” Sue’s father, Duke Ortlinde, was pretty busy a lot of the time. He had to deal with a lot of noble affairs, as well as diplomatic negotiations for his brother.
That’s why he cherished the family time he could get. I definitely wanted to make sure he and Sue spent as much time together as they could before she came to live with me as my wife.
The little girl fell silent after listening to Sue’s words.
I heard a sliding door being opened and the sound of running in the outside corridor.
“Iroha?!” The man that yelled out was none other than Date Massamune, the very same man that I’d met some time ago. He was wearing a beautiful dotted kimono. Wait a second, guy. Your shoes are dirty!
“Oh, Iroha! Are you okay?! Did he do anything to you?! You there! I cannot ever forgive you for this!” The feudal lord before me was glaring at me with a burning hatred in his eyes. It seemed he hadn’t been fully briefed.
That reminded me, the last time I met him I was the masked warrior, Shirogane. This new first impression I’d made on him was definitely bad by comparison. Jutaro suddenly came running in from behind Lord Massamune. He’d come back faster than I expected, which made me think he must’ve met Massamune on the way to the castle. “D-Date-dono! P-Please do not speak in such a way to the grand duke! This is a m-misunderstanding, it is! I do hope you can compose yourself, I beg of you!”
“Enough of your prattling! Tokugawa’s guard or not, you will pay for- Guauugh!” Date suddenly crumpled to the ground. He’d been struck in the head by someone who appeared from behind him. The man standing above the fallen lord was none other than Katakura Kohjuro Kagetsunna, Date’s loyal retainer.
He’d struck his master in the side of the head with a sword sheath. I wondered if it was okay for retainers to do that. “Wh-Why did you do that, Kohjuro?!”
“Lord Massamune, please think of the current situation. Were you attempting to pick a fight with the leader of another nation? Please use your head.” Seemed like this guy had some sense. I was glad to hear it. I didn’t mind exactly, but I had to consider Ieyahsu as well. Since I was here under his care, I didn’t want to trigger tensions between him and Massamune.
Iroha suddenly stood up and walked toward her father.
“Daddy... Sue and Touya were really nice to me... They aren’t bad.”
“I-Is that right?”
“You always get like this, daddy. Mommy’s gonna get mad at you if she finds out.”
“Gah!” It was smart of her to involve her mother in this. I could already sense who wore the pants in that marriage. It reminded me of the Xenoahs overlord.
Iroha continued to talk in front of her fussing father.
“I did a bad thing. I’m sorry I ran away from the castle. I just wanted to play and I was really bored...”
“Iroha...” Masamune clambered up until he was on his knees, then leaned forward to embrace his daughter. She hugged him back, placing her little hand on the small of his neck. Everyone in the room let out a small sigh of relief.
“I’m sorry. It was my idea to bring you to Oedo to begin with, but I got distracted with work and ended up taking much too long. Please forgive me for that, Iroha.”
“It’s ok! I saw a lot of Oedo... And I had some tasty dumplings and some yummy fish. It was really fun.”
“I am happy to hear that...” Iroha began to giggle. Massamune smiled earnestly back. He didn’t look even a shadow of the upset man he was a few moments ago.
I still felt it was a shame they didn’t get to see the sights together, though. I suddenly got an idea, then turned to Kohjuro.
“Will you be heading back home from Oedo after the meetings are over?”
“That should be right... It would take around nine or ten days to return home. We cannot move too quickly due to Iroha-sama.” My question was answered fairly promptly.
Unlike other nations, Eashen wasn’t as developed. They didn’t have standardized transportation like carriages. They had a lot of rocky roads, so traveling that far would be pretty rough even on horseback. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to stomach it.
That’s why I decided to make a proposal.
“I’ll send you all back to your home in ten or so days using my [Gate] spell, alright? Don’t worry about fees or anything, I’ll just let you all through.”
“Hm... I would truly appreciate that, but why would you do such a thing for us?”
“Because we’re friends, you dummy! This is nothing, no big deal at all!” Sue said as she suddenly stomped over and planted her hands on her hips, staring Massamune down.
“Thank you, Sue!” Iroha smiled and hugged Sue. I was glad that things would likely go smoothly from here and was even more glad to see that Iroha and her father were happy.
“I wonder what on earth just happened, I do... Sue-dono is powerful...”
“Sue certainly has the ability to make fast friends.”
“Yae, Hilde, would you like to try some of my sushi?” Yae, Hilde, and Lu were all looking over the scene from the dining table.
With that, all matters were settled. Ieyahsu came to the house not long after and returned to his castle with Iroha, Massamune, and an entourage of black-clad ninja.
Eashen wasn’t a member of the League of Nations, so I couldn’t give him a smartphone, but I gifted Massamune a Gate Mirror so Iroha could exchange letters with Sue. I was happy she’d made such a nice friend.
I thanked Ieyahsu for the rice he’d given me and informed him that I’d be taking the Date party home ten days from then.
It seemed like the meeting between the feudal lords wasn’t quite over yet. The fallout from the monkey incident was still in full swing, and they were still unsure as to what to do with the territory that once belonged to the Hashiba house.
Apparently, the emperor himself was coming as well, to bestow honors or something like that. I think he was going to name the newest feudal lord or something... But I didn’t want to get too involved in that.
They’d be done with it all in about two days, so that gave Massamune and his daughter plenty of time to sightsee.
I’d never met
the emperor of Eashen, though... It would certainly be interesting to see him.
If I met the emperor, I could ask him if he wanted to join the League of Nations. I wondered if it’d be okay though, Eashen wasn’t exactly a whole nation or anything...
As I thought about those issues, I said goodbye to Yae’s family and headed home with the others.
“...So that’s what happened.”
“Yeah, it was rough. But I’m glad I managed to reconcile them both.”
“I agree.” Leen brought the mochi up to her mouth. The girls were gathered around the table, eating mochi and different snacks.
“Which do you like the most?”
“Uhhm... I like them both, but I think the taste of this one is a little more refined... Don’t you think?”
“Guh... I guess even though I was taught the recipe, I’m still not quite good enough.” Lu looked over the sushi that Linze and Sakura had tried, it seemed they preferred the taste of Yae’s mother’s.
Hmm, I dunno. I couldn’t really tell the difference. I think if you keep trying to chase perfection like that, Lu, you might not succeed.
“This mochi thing is amazing! Can’t you make this, Lu?” Elze grinned at Lu, attempting to distract her from her grumbling. Then she reached down and took another bite of mochi.
“Um... I don’t know the details of the recipe exactly, but it doesn’t look too hard to reproduce. I’m sure I could make it. I think it’s made with rice? I’m not sure, though... I could learn a little more from Aer.”
“It is not ordinary rice, it is not. And it cannot be too watery, it can not! You should be able to use the rice we received from Ieyahsu-sama.” That reminded me, he’d given us a small amount of rice bran for dessert use.
I was glad Yae reminded me, because I’d put it in [Storage] and totally forgot. Still, food wouldn’t spoil in there so it was fine.
“Do you just cook it like ordinary rice, then?”
“Uhh... Not exactly. Here, gimme a sec.”
I used my smartphone to look up how to pound mochi and sent it to Lu’s phone. She checked the page immediately.
“Touya-dono. We should pound mochi together next time, we should. I would like everyone to be able to partake.”
“Yeah, that’d be fun. Everyone should enjoy it.” The population of Brunhild was mostly Eashenese. A large chunk of our knights were Eashenese, too. It’d be fun to get a whole group exercise together, I’m sure they’d find it nostalgic.
I showed the others the video of mochi pounding, and they all seemed interested. I definitely wasn’t as fast as the guys in the video, though.
I turned to the girls and asked them if there were any foods in particular that they’d like to be made.
Kinako mochi... natto... Isobemaki, ankoro mochi, and zoni... They ended up wanting a lot of stuff, including a few dishes that had more of a New Years kind of feel to them. Dumplings were just better to eat in general, though... So that was my preference.
Sue looked at the video as it continued to play and then looked at me.
“Touya... Can we invite Iroha to Brunhild next time? I wanna play with her some more.”
“Sure. We’ll be sure to prepare a bunch of Eashenese stuff to welcome her.” I decided when that time came, I’d invite Yae’s family and Ieyahsu to join us as well. I wanted them to have fun in Brunhild.
Lu continued to feverishly attempt to exceed the quality of Nanae’s dish, but eventually, even she had to admit that the Eashenese housewife was simply far beyond her skill level.
Chapter III: The Sovereign Rises
“Welcome back, Master Touya. Welcome back, madams.”
“Ping!”
“Pong!”
“Pang!”
Shirogane bowed lightly, and the three Gollems by his side followed suit. Seemed like they were learning well.
We’d come back to the Reverse World to see if the massive Phrase invasion in Sandora ended up having any effect on this side.
The regular Phrase were seeking the Sovereign Core, so there’d be no reason for them to come to the Reverse World, but the metal devils were different. I was concerned that a large number of those types might’ve come out into this world, so I decided to investigate.
I did a search on my map for them, but no hits came up. Thankfully it seemed like my fears were for naught.
“Hey, Touya! Do you think he was including me when he said madams just now, huh? Huh?!”
“Absolutely not. He just meant to say madams and you.”
“You mean madams and mistress, right?” I rolled my eyes as Doctor Babylon grinned at me.
I’d brought five people with me this time. Babylon, Yumina, Lu, Linze, and Leen.
Sue, Elze, Yae, Sakura, and Hilde had things to take care of so they passed. Sue was with family, Elze, Yae, and Hilde were training with the knight order, and Sakura was helping her mother at the school.
I only came to check if any of the Mutated Constructs had come in, so frankly I didn’t have anything else to do in the Reverse World. But Leen and Linze said they wanted to read for a while in the library, and Doc Babylon said she wanted to check out a city since she didn’t get to leave the house last time.
I figured that it’d be a waste to just pop in and go straight back, so I decided to take her around. Yumina and Lu decided they’d tag along, too.
“Alright, let’s go to the Theocracy’s capital, then.”
“We can eat while we’re there, too.”
“Sounds good...” I opened up a [Gate] to the capital and brought us to a back alley near the main street.
We walked out to see the regular hustle and bustle.
I picked up a newspaper and we all headed toward the cafe we dined at the last time.
It was already mid-afternoon, so there were a few vacant spots. I ordered a few snacks, as well as a drink from their menu called “kophee.” Judging from the scent... It was just coffee.
As I picked at my food, I scanned the newspaper in front of me. If Leen were with us, she’d have absolutely told me off for having poor table manners.
“Newspapers are definitely useful, huh... Maybe we can introduce a printing press to Brunhild.”
“The world doesn’t have much in the way of long-distance communication technology right now. We could mass produce stuff using Babylon, but we don’t want it to open up the floodgates for stuff like propaganda or fake news. It’d be handy, but we don’t need to make all the social developments. Let’s just wait and see if they manage it themselves.” I shrugged my shoulders and took a sip of my kophee before passing the paper to the Doctor. Yep, that’s coffee. It’s a little bitter, though... Needs sugar.
“Oho?” Doctor Babylon made a weird noise as her eyes fixed on a certain part of the paper. Her eyes narrowed as she dug around in her pocket, produced a small lens, and looked through it to inspect the news. You just carry around a magnifying glass? “What is it?”
“Well... Look at this article.” I read the headline she was pointing at. It said, “Pirate Ship Drifts Ashore At Barköl Harbor.”
“Huh...? Let’s see... Unidentified ship, assumed to be pirate, drifted in at Barköl harbor... The entire crew of thirty-four men has been apprehended... What about it?”
“Look at the photo of the wrecked ship. Right here. Look at the emblem on the sails. It’s tattered, but don’t you get it yet?” Hm? Emblem? I borrowed Doc Babylon’s magnifying glass and looked closer at the black-and-white image. It was certainly a wreck of a ship, alright.
I looked carefully and realized what I was looking at. An emblem of a unicorn, a shield, and stars. I was completely floored. “That’s the Refreese National Emblem!” I stared down at the image in absolute shock. It couldn’t be... And yet it was. The ship that had gone missing a while back. The McClane. I skimmed my eyes over the rest of the article and found that the ship had crashed into the harbor and washed ashore, and the crewmen had all been apprehended under the orders of the man who ruled Barköl. They co
uldn’t speak the language of this world, so they had no way of defending themselves.
“But why would a Refreese ship be in this world?”
“I have no idea... God said that people could drift between worlds now and then, but this is ridiculous...” I shrugged my shoulders as I answered Lu, but my mind was abuzz. Is this just a coincidence? Or is this related to the weird stuff lately?
“Well, we can’t just leave them alone. Let’s go help them out.”
“Hold on a second. What do you plan on doing afterward, hm? Return them home?”
“Well, obviously, I... Oh... Oh.”
“Use your head. If you rescue them like that, you’ll have to explain the Reverse World to them. Not just the crewmen, but also the Refreese government, and then the other world leaders too! I don’t think the world is ready for that yet.” She had a point. I couldn’t expect the other world leaders to accept this matter as nonchalantly as my fiancees did. Well, there was a chance they’d understand due to the Phrase, but it was still a bad idea.
“There should be a spell from the Dark school that hypnotizes people, right?”
“You mean [Hypnosis], right? We could definitely use that to alter their memories, yeah.”
There were a lot of ancient Dark spells that could manipulate people mentally. I could use those spells to manipulate memories, confuse people, send them into frenzies, consume them with lust, make them lose their sanity, or even just turn them downright braindead. Frankly, those spells scared me.
I didn’t really want to use spells like that against anyone who wasn’t a really horrific villain, but I had no real choice in this situation. Plus, they’d been thrown into jail in a foreign land with no knowledge of what their captors were even saying, they’d probably be happy to lose memories like that.
I’d read up on [Hypnosis] in the Babylon Library before, so I was sure I knew how to use it.
“Alright, let’s go save them. Seems like that harbor is in the Panaches Kingdom.” I used my map to check where the place was, taking care not to project the hologram since we were in a public space.
In Another World With My Smartphone: Volume 14 Page 8
