“Ahahaha... Gonna continue fighting me buck-naked? I mean, you’ll still have your armors and your chest pieces, right? How about it? I’m sure Isengard’s nude invasion will go down in the history books.”
“M-Mffh... Mfffh!!”
The mustached man glared at me. I could still sense defiance in his eyes, so I leaned in closer. I knew what I was about to say would break his spirit entirely.
“Normal Green Slimes only eat clothes, but these ones are a special variant of that species. I had them engineered based on some notes I found in a castle a long time ago. See... these Slimes also melt certain types of fiber found on the human body.”
“Hhohh?!”
The mustached man paled as I continued talking.
“Don’t worry, you won’t die. But every last hair on your body is gonna get melted down and digested. I wonder how you’ll look without that mustache... And without your eyelashes, too. Ahaha... I bet the name of Isengard’s smoothest army will go down in history, too.”
“Fhhhh?! Aah... Aaaaaah?!”
After an hour, the feast finally ended. The soldiers, who were now smoother than the smoothest smoothie in a smoothie store, all ran home in a frantic panic.
Their outfits made it even funnier. They had light armor around their chests, but nothing at all covering their lower bodies. They didn’t even have any hair or eyebrows. It was goddamn hilarious.
A bunch of baldies with fully-exposed privates running all the way home... I was sure the sight would be burned into the brains of anyone they passed by.
I didn’t know if the hair loss was permanent, since I never bothered looking into whether the Slimes ate the hair follicles too.
In the end, it wasn’t my business. But if they were lucky, they’d grow their hair back...
◇ ◇ ◇
“Anyway, that’s basically how it went down.”
One of the Valkyries took a video with my smartphone, so I had just finished playing back the events of the battle for the people in the room.
“They’ll probably try again after this, so put some more troops down at the Emerald Ruin.”
“R-Right... Of course... Y-Yes, I’ll do that...”
The emperor of Gardio nodded along slowly. We were back in the courtyard at his castle, and I was explaining what had happened.
“...You’re not one for mercy, eh?”
“A-Actually, Colonel, I think that was him being merciful...”
“They came in with the intention of killing others. If you don’t break their spirits, then they’ll just continue acting as they wish.”
Yumina and Leen spoke my mind. I wasn’t about to sit down and break bread with an enemy that struck me first. I had to hit them hard enough for them to stay down.
There was never a guarantee I’d win, even if I was overpowered. The future was an uncertain thing, so I didn’t want to just hope things worked out for the best. That was why I tried to make it so my enemies never challenged me a second time. After all, this wouldn’t have happened if they didn’t shoot first.
Still, even if I handled these guys, their leader was still fine. I wondered what to do about that...
Ideally, I wanted to break and humiliate the witch-king of Isengard. My grandpa always told me that when you were outnumbered, you needed to aim for the head.
Back in middle school, I had a lot of issues with delinquent gangs, but they always fell along with their boss.
So basically, cut the head off and the body should die. I needed to make the enemy realize that picking a fight with me would never, ever yield them good results. After all, they were people, and no person ever liked being hurt. If I did that, then it was likely they’d avoid me for fear of that pain.
To begin with, I didn’t even know why Isengard was so hellbent on those ruins. If I had to guess, they probably couldn’t find what they wanted in the Azure Ruin and must have assumed it was in the Emerald Ruin instead.
If they were looking for something in the ancient ruins... then maybe it was a Gollem. But I couldn’t think what kind of Gollem would be worth going to such insane lengths for...
“I think I need to ask their leader face-to-face.”
“No way...” Sergeant stared at me, wide-eyed. That was amusing for such a narrow-eyed man.
“I’ll infiltrate Isengard and speak with their witch-king. If I figure out what it is they’re after, it’ll make things a hell of a lot easier for all of us.”
“You would willingly charge into enemy lines?!” Gardio’s emperor yelled out in disbelief. I personally thought it was the smartest thing to do. If I didn’t act, they’d just send another army anyway.
If I wasn’t in Gardio, and Isengard sent more of those owls, then the place would definitely be screwed. That was why I wanted to get things over and done with as soon as I could.
In truth, I felt that Isengard would crush Gardio if it came to all-out war. Gardio would definitely give them a mean fight, but Isengard would win.
Isengard’s leadership almost seemed obsessive, and that obsession resulted in all manner of technological advancements for their military. They seemed hellbent on developing new things no matter the cost. I couldn’t tell if that was a national creed unique to Isengard, or if it was simply the way the country had been twisted under the witch-king’s control.
Ultimately, Isengard was an unstable nation. Nobody could know for sure what kind of weird stuff they were hiding up their sleeves. It was highly possible that the thing they wanted so badly from the ruins was some kind of ancient superweapon. That was why I just wanted to cut out the nonsense and go visit them.
“Mm... Touya certainly is a man of bad habits... Always charging headlong into the business of others...”
“Well, that’s just how Touya is.” Leen shook her head, and Yumina answered with a shrug and a wry smile.
...Am I really that bad?
“Well, whatever. We’re off.”
“...This may seem a little late for me to ask, but... who are you? Why are you even helping us?”
Gardio’s emperor looked at me with an incredulous expression. I guess from his perspective, I was just this mysterious guy who appeared and started doing a bunch of weird stuff in his life.
“You won’t believe me, but I’m royalty just like you. I’m a grand duke from another world. I’ve been traveling through this world in search of friendly nations I can co-operate with.”
“A... Another world?”
My words only seemed to confuse the man further. I couldn’t blame him for that, but the day in which the truth would be revealed was fast approaching. And then, he’d be forced to accept my words as truth.
Just as I was wondering whether to open a [Gate] or use [Teleport], Yumina spoke up.
“I think we should make a brief detour home. Yae and Hilde would be useful here.”
“She’s right. You should learn to be a little more reliant on our power, darling.”
Mm... I guess. I’ll head back to Brunhild and pick them up.
“Well, see ya.”
I left behind the utterly shell-shocked and confused group of people and headed back to my own world.
◇ ◇ ◇
“Wh-Who are you?! How did you come down from the sky like that?!”
Isengard’s castle was pretty much a steel stronghold. It had an incredibly unique style to it, looking like a large fort cobbled together from junk parts.
Pipes and valves ran amuck all over the place, giving the hallways and walls a very steampunk feel. There were strange levers and measurement meters sticking out of things all over the place. It kind of made me feel like I was on the inside of a submarine, not that I’d ever had any experience in that regard.
We’d descended from the sky and came down right in the middle of the place, where we immediately met several spear-wielding guards. In a matter of moments, we were surrounded by both person and Gollem alike.
“What should we do, Touya-dono?”
“Yae and I should be able
to deal with this many on our own...”
Yae and Hilde brandished their blades as they asked me what to do next. Yumina and Leen had ostensibly brought them as extra muscle, but I knew they were here to stop me from doing anything too extreme.
The two of them looked like they were ready to leap into action, but I wanted to take it a bit slower.
I cast [Eternal Coffin] and sealed all the Gollems in the area within inescapable pillars of ice.
“E-Eep! They’re frozen solid!”
The human guards slowly started to back off. My tactic had been to strike fear into their hearts.
That particular spell was a little bit dangerous when dealing with human foes. If a person was encased in the ice, and then the ice was shattered, well... I didn’t really want people to associate me with cruel and unusual murder.
“Please point me to the witch-king. I want to speak to him.”
“Wh-What do you want with His Industriousness?!”
“Just a casual chat. It’ll seriously save us both a lot of hassle if you just tell me where he is.”
I punctuated my point by drawing Brunhild and shooting at an empty pillar of ice.
The bullet, which was enchanted with [Explosion], detonated at the base of the pillar. The entire thing then collapsed into teeny tiny fragments. One of the terrified guards suddenly pointed toward a nearby building.
I looked over and saw a crude-looking tower made out of metal. Nothing about it stood out or looked remotely regal.
It looked like a command tower, the kind you might see on a battleship. It definitely didn’t seem like the kind of place you’d find a king.
There were a few turret areas jutting out as if it was built with heavy fortification in mind. Part of me wondered if they’d actually built a battleship and just jammed it into the ground to make this castle.
We turned and started walking towards it.
“Touya-dono... You have certainly gotten more talented at threatening people, you have.”
“...D-Don’t say it like that, it sounds bad... It’s not threatening, it’s advanced negotiation.”
“...I’m not so sure that was a negotiation at all.”
The girls were right to think that, but they wouldn’t have let us through if I’d just approached them normally.
We suddenly heard several gunshots ring out from behind us.
In a flash, Yae and Hilde turned with katana and sword drawn. I could see their motions, but any ordinary human would have found it imperceptible. They moved like lightning, slicing apart the bullets that were headed our way. Their phrasium weapons sliced through the bullets like butter and the split debris flew off in various directions.
The group of soldiers who’d fired upon us stared at the sight with a dawning look of horror on their faces.
“Th-That’s not possible!”
“The only ones who should shoot are those who are prepared to be shot.”
I raised Brunhild and aimed it at the men. Then, I shot a single [Cyclone Storm] bullet into the ground at their feet, and the men were carried off into the distance.
“These people are troublesome in groups, they are.”
“Mm... They’re a pain to deal with. If a hundred of them had shot at us, I’m not sure we’d have been able to handle it.”
Hilde said a couple dozen would be their limit, but I wasn’t so sure. I thought they could probably do better than that.
They were students of the god of swords and received perks from my and Moroha’s divinity. In terms of the Reverse World and the regular world, they were definitely among the best of the best.
Yae fought with her Kokonoe Style, and Hilde used the special arts passed down in Lestia for years. But through Moroha’s training, they’d basically created their own unique styles with those as the mere foundations.
Moroha didn’t have a defined style to the way she wielded the blade. One of the teachings of Chiba Shusaku Narimasa, the greatest samurai in history, was “May you be swift of mind, still of heart, low of body, clear of sight, and fierce of action.” Moroha’s philosophy was more “Don’t think, feel.”
It was more about letting instinct take over, rather than any particular method of teaching. Logical techniques didn’t work against Moroha at all, so it made sense enough to me.
Yumina and Leen were far inferior to Yae and Hilde in terms of physical strength, but they were absolute powerhouses in terms of magic. The soldiers here simply didn’t have a chance. Either way, we couldn’t afford to be off our guard. There was always a chance the enemy had some kind of trump card they wanted to pull.
“So, assuming that’s the command tower... that little part off to the side must be the bridge.”
“Are we going to scale it from the inside, are we?”
“Nah. That’s a pain in the ass. Let’s go up from the outside. I think I have a helpful little tool, anyway.”
I opened up [Storage] and took out the metal disc I’d taken from Gien when he attacked the emperor of Gardio. It was a fairly standard artifact, that I’d already scanned thoroughly with [Analyze], and rewritten with [Cracking].
“Hop on.”
The disc wasn’t huge, but it had enough room for the five of us. I could’ve used [Levitation] and [Fly] for the same effect, but the girls hated being floated around. Seemed they didn’t like not having their feet on anything solid.
The disc didn’t wobble or anything, either. It was a pretty level and sturdy surface, which made it feel a lot safer.
We all stepped onto the disc and huddled up, and I made it slowly rise into the air. It was basically like an elevator without walls. Frankly, it was a little scary to me. I wouldn’t have gotten on it if I wasn’t able to fly in an emergency scenario.
I could’ve just made the girls get on the disc while I flew alongside it, but it was a bit late for that.
We flew up to the approximate area where the bridge would be, and Yae sliced a hole in the steel wall. The sliced-off bit fell inward, and we hopped through the newly-created entrance. I gathered up the floating disc, as well.
We found ourselves in a large hallway, and there were a few guard Gollems around.
“[Shield].”
I created a shield that filled the space of the entire hallway, and then after that...
“[Power Rise]!”
I enhanced my physical strength and punched the [Shield] down the hallway toward the incoming Gollems. The massive force knocked them all down and held them in place.
“Touya-dono! I have found stairs, I have!”
Yae found a little stairway to the right, and we all followed after her.
I didn’t know if the stairs would take us to the witch-king, but typically, the leader was usually in the highest room.
The stairway led to a pair of thick iron doors, but Yae easily sliced through them again with her blade. Kind of felt like cheating, really.
The metal thudded to the ground and we walked, quite literally, through the door. We came out into a wide hallway padded with red carpet. At the end of the hall was another pair of doors... and a man stood in front of them alongside a Gollem.
The man wore heavy armor and a helmet with horns jutting out of each side. His face was grizzled and older-looking, and he had a thick beard.
The Gollem was bronze. It was huge, but its actual body wasn’t all that big. Instead, it just had particularly thick arms and legs. It seemed pretty different from most of the Gollems I’d seen so far.
“You dare infiltrate the Isenberg, His Industriousness’s inner sanctum?! You reckless fools... I’ll decorate the town plaza with your desecrated corpses!”
The man was likely the gatekeeper to the throne room, which meant the witch-king was behind him.
“Look... would you mind letting us through?”
“Impudent whelp! If you wish to pass, then you must pass me!”
The man yelled and then leaped into the air. The Gollem next to him suddenly split itself into pieces and flew toward him.
Bit by bit, the Gollem began wrapping itself around the man like a huge mechanical suit of armor. It was what I’d been warned about earlier. The equipment-based Gollem, known as the Panzer type. I remembered that Nia from the Red Cats had told me about them.
The man was now fitted with powerful Gollem parts all over his body, and he landed on the ground with a mighty crash. It was definitely an impressive sight.
It wasn’t exactly full body armor, since his head, torso, and thighs weren’t properly covered. However, he already had his regular armor covering those parts anyway.
“TAKE THIIIIIIS!”
The very room shook as the man charged towards us like an amped-up American footballer.
Yae and Hilde braced for impact and put their hands at their hilts. Yumina and Leen stood in the back, ready to chant the right incantations...
“[Gate].”
The girls all called out in confusion at my sudden word.
A gate of light appeared in front of the charging bull of a man, and he ran straight into it.
“AAAAAARGH?! WHAT?! I’M FALLIIIIIING!”
We then heard a faint cry from the outside, followed by a heavy impact. And maybe a hint of a crunch.
“...Where did you connect that gate to, Touya-dono?”
“The hole you made when we first entered the place. I didn’t wanna waste time with that moron.”
“...I think we would’ve been okay.”
The Panzer looked tough, so the guy survived the fall... Probably...
“I feel a little sorry for him...”
“Me too... But I suppose he was the enemy...”
Leen and Yumina sighed softly. I decided to hurry onwards. It’d be awkward if he survived and came back because we were waiting around.
The heavy doors at the far end of the hallway creaked open.
We walked through into an open room that looked like it was at one point a royal chamber. It didn’t really give off that vibe, though. There were pipes sticking out all over the place, rusted cogwheels spinning here and there, and construction materials all over the floor.
I saw various screws and tools scattered about, springs and cogs strewn atop benches. The place felt more like a workshop than a place where a king would greet guests.
In Another World With My Smartphone: Volume 16 (Premium) Page 9
