“Controlling corpses... Like necromancers from video games?” They don’t seem like zombies, though. They move way too quickly for that. Being attacked by these guys could ruin anyone’s day pretty fast... I had to hurry into the fortress and decide my next course of action based on the situation.
Using [Long Sense], I took a look inside the fortress. I didn’t want them to assume I was an enemy and attack me. Finding Yae’s brother and having him listen to me was the best option.
Uhh... Oh, it has to be this guy. Black hair, black eyes, a slash scar on his right cheek, and he’s wearing black armor. He looks pretty gentle, but he’s gotta be some kinda battle god! The man was encouraging his comrades, all while soaked in the blood of his foes.
“[Gate].” If I rushed in there, I’d run the risk of surprising them and making them attack me, so I kept the portal open a small distance away from the group. There should already be a portal of light on their side... so I’ll go in now. I slowly crossed through and appeared before Yae’s brother.
“Who are you?! Are you with Takeda?!” He readied his sword and asked for my identity. The soldiers surrounding him brandished their blades as well.
“Wait. I’m not your enemy. You’re Kokonoe Jutaro, the brother of Kokonoe Yae, right?”
“Indeed, I am Jutaro... How do you know Yae?!” I raised my hands to express my lack of hostility. But Yae’s name made Jutaro all the more alert. He glared at me with piercing eyes.
“I’m her friend. We met in the Kingdom of Belfast. We found out that you were in trouble, so we came to help.”
“You’re with Yae?!”
“I am. She’s close by, too. Can I bring her over with my teleportation spell?” The soldiers surrounding Jutaro started to murmur, looking at the man as if asking what to do next. From the way they reacted to the idea of Yae arriving, I assumed they were followers of the dojo.
Soon enough, Jutaro lowered his blade and nodded slightly.
“[Gate].” A girl quickly jumped through the newly-opened portal of light. She looked around, noticed Jutaro, and ran to him at full speed.
“Brother!”
“Yae...? Is it really you?”
“It is!” As the two siblings had their heartfelt reunion, Elze and the others followed her through the portal.
“And they are?”
“My dear friends. They are reliable and kind people, they are.” Being introduced like that made me feel a little bashful.
“Where is father? Is he safe?”
“Yes, there’s no need to worry about him. He is currently protecting Ieyahsu-sama. You can see him later.” Ah... an elder brother gently talking to his worried younger sister. What a nice scene. But man... this is pretty grim.
I looked around and saw a number of wounded people scattered around, they were clearly unable to move. Some of their wounds could’ve been deadly. Alright, this is probably my best opportunity to try this out.
I took out my smartphone and turned it on. The map app was already enchanted with [Multiple], so all that was left was the [Program].
“Begin [Program]／ Starting Condition: A target on screen is touched／ Upon Target Touch: Use [Multiple] to mark every matching target／ End [Program.]” With this, I won’t have to bother locking on to every individual target. A single touch should be enough.
Searching for just ‘injured soldiers’ would also mark the injured enemies, so I ran a search for ‘injured Tokugawa soldiers.’ Pins began dropping on the screen, indicating all the relevant targets. There were more than I had expected. I zoomed out the map so the entire fortress was visible on the screen.
I locked on to a single target by touching it, which caused all the other targets on the screen to be marked as well. I looked to my side and saw a small magic circle hanging above a writhing, injured soldier. It was the [Multiple] magic circle. Alrighty, preparations complete.
“Come forth, Light! Soothing Comfort: [Cure Heal]!” The magic circle began to spew forth some shining sparks. They covered the injured people below, causing each targeted individual’s wounds to fade away.
Moments later, I could hear cheers from all around the castle. The injured soldiers in the room stood up and moved their bodies. They looked extremely confused.
“Wait... what did you do? I can tell that you used Healing magic, but did you actually...”
“I healed everyone in the fortress. Glad that actually worked, wow...” My words made Leen look at me like I was a weirdo. I could totally understand her sentiment.
“The injured are... What is happening...?”
“It’s Touya-dono’s healing magic, it is.” Yae pointed toward me as her brother just stood there, wide-eyed and dumbfounded.
“It only closed their wounds, so don’t have them do anything too taxing. Any blood they lost is still gone.”
“V-Very well, I understand. I will make sure to notify them.” Jutaro replied to me, but he still seemed to be dazed.
Alright, that takes care of the injured. Now for the enemy attackers.
“By the way, what are the oni mask-wearing things among the enemy forces?” I finally had a chance to ask about it.
“I am unsure. But I do know that until you break their masks, they do not stop moving even if you impale them with spears or lop off their arms. They are much like living corpses.” He shook his head slowly as he spoke. Oh, so I guess they’re basically zombies after all... I looked to the side and saw Leen leaning down on the fence, examining the masked soldiers. She was pondering again.
“Hm... It’s either some Null magic... or an Artifact.”
“Artifact? What’s that?”
“It’s a term for strange relics left behind by ancient civilizations, particularly ones that have powerful magic within them. I’m quite surprised you’re unaware. Isn’t that thing in your hand an Artifact?” She pointed at my smartphone, forcing me to talk myself out of the situation with a panicked smile on my face.
Artifacts... So there’s such a thing as ancient magic tools, eh? If there’s some sort of controller that lets the user manipulate corpses, those masks would be like receivers, I guess.
“Well, whatever the case, those masked things are troublesome. [Paralyze] doesn’t work on them, so it’s best to destroy them all in one go.”
“...What did you just say?” As Jutaro gave me an inquisitive sidelong glance, I opened the smartphone’s map app and ran a search for ‘masked Takeda soldiers.’ Pins dropped on the screen, pointing at all the masked soldiers around the fortress. I touched one of them, and all the rest were targeted at once.
“Wh-What is that...?” Someone whispered, so I looked up and noticed the veritable field of small, shining magic circles covering the sky. Perfect... [Multiple] has them locked on.
I raised my hand to the sky, focused my magic, spoke the spell, and unleashed hell upon my foes.
“Strike true, Light! Sparkling Holy Lance: [Shining Javelin]!” Spears of light burst forth from the magic circles, soaring toward their targets. It was as though light itself was raining from the sky. Mostly because light itself was, in fact, actually raining from the sky.
The earth began to rumble, clouds of dust were swept up from the ground, and errant sparks of light could be seen shining out from amidst the chaos. The cadence of the repeated attacks created a beautiful light show.
When the rain of light ceased, more than half of Takeda’s army had been neutralized.
Then, I switched my search to ‘Takeda soldiers’ and locked on to them.
“Well, this won’t be all that hard. [Paralyze].” The remaining soldiers, those that were fully human, suddenly jolted upright and then slumped to the ground. Some of them had magic-warding amulets, but the sorry state of their army made them set off fleeing.
“And that’s the end of that.” The Tokugawa army in the fortress stood there in silence for a good while, but once they processed what had happened, they all raised a roar of victory. I could hear cries of joy and relief mixing togethe
r and echoing throughout the halls.
“Did... Did you do all that...?” Jutaro turned to me. His voice was hoarse. He was looking at the area around the fortress, particularly at all the downed Takeda soldiers, clearly unable to believe what he was seeing.
“Well, I guess. I don’t like being treated like a big deal, so I’d prefer it if you didn’t talk about this too much.” Elze put her hands on her hips and heaved a heavy sigh.
“After all that we’ve seen from him, getting surprised is plain stupid.”
“I-It does seem a bit silly at this point.” Linze agreed with her elder sister.
Hrm... all I did was mix a couple of my abilities! Is it really that big of a deal? I stared at the cheering soldiers, feeling a bit conflicted about the whole ordeal.
◇ ◇ ◇
“Firstly, I would like to give you my purest of thanks for helping us with the battle.” We gathered in the fortress’ keep, which wasn’t particularly large or fancy, and met a well-built man with a mustache. He looked to be in his early forties. The man sat at the seat of honor and bowed his head to me. Tokugawa Ieyahsu. The lord of this fortress and the territory it was built in. One of the nine lords of Eashen. I couldn’t help but notice his name was “Ieyahsu,” rather than the “Ieyasu” I was used to. The pronunciation was the same, but the spelling was different. I thought that was a little weird, but I could roll with it.
“Oh, we just happened to come around at the right time. No need to thank us.” Yumina was seated in front of us, directly facing Ieyahsu. She introduced herself as the princess of Belfast, and us as her bodyguards. It was just a way to make the situation easier to understand, but I couldn’t be more thankful for Yumina’s social decorum.
Yae was counted amongst the “bodyguards,” too. In short, we said that we came to help out because of our connection to her. Not like we were lying, either, so there were no problems to speak of.
“To think that Yae became one of Princess Yumina’s bodyguards... Life is indeed full of surprises.” Kokonoe Jubei suddenly spoke up. Yae’s father was a large, grizzled-looking man who looked to be nearing fifty years old. Currently, he was the acting instructor of the Tokugawas. Due to his time instructing Viscount Swordrick’s family, Jubei knew quite a lot about Belfast.
“Now... who is this youth that saved my fortress...?” Ieyahsu shifted his gaze past Yumina and directed it straight at me. You’re looking a little too inquisitive there, old man...
“This is Mochizuki Touya, one of my bodyguards — or, as I prefer to put it, my future husband.” Yumina’s cheeks turned all rosy as she spoke. Whoa, whoa, whoa! I did not consent to this! There was absolutely no need to say that! The Lord and the instructor both sighed in a way that expressed both admiration and astonishment. I didn’t like that reaction at all.
“Oh, I see now. The boy being betrothed to the princess of Belfast makes his feat easy to understand. How very splendid.”
“Indeed. I’m very proud of him, too.” Yumina puffed up with pride as though Ieyahsu’s praise was meant for her. Please stop. Please. I need an adult.
“Praise aside, I would like to ask you a question... Have you heard of a place known as ‘The Ruins of Nirya’? It’s actually what we came to Eashen for...”
“Nirya...?” Yumina’s question made Ieyahsu take a moment to think. Suddenly, something came to his mind and he lightly slapped his knee.
“Oho, you must mean the ruins said to house the secrets of Nirai Kanai. I don’t know much about it, actually... What about you, Jubei?”
“From what I hear, the Ruins of Nirya are in Shimazu’s territory. But they’re supposedly at the bottom of the sea. Getting inside would be no trivial task...”
“The bottom of the sea?!” What the hell? Is it some kind of water temple? Does it have an entrance that appears and disappears depending on the tide?! Well, not like we have any choice. We’ll have to go see it for ourselves. Now we know where it is, so we can make our way there if we want... but the situation right now doesn’t really give us a lot of wiggle room.
“About Takeda’s army... Do you think this will be enough for them to back down?” My question made Ieyahsu fold his arms. His head bobbed in thought.
“I believe they will regroup and try attacking us again. They may come with more of those masked warriors, perhaps even their cannon units...” No amount of soldiers would change the result, though. Cannons might be troublesome, but I could still break them.
“I must say, though... The masked soldiers, this invasion in general... it confuses me to no end. The Lord of Takeda, Schingen-dono, is indeed the proud leader of the four great military commanders known as ‘Takeda’s Elite Four,’ but this battle felt rather unlike him. The rumors may be true after all...”
“Rumors?” Ieyahsu’s words got me curious. Jubei spoke up to elaborate, rather than Ieyahsu himself.
“There are rumors that Schingen-dono might have already passed away. That his body is being controlled by a dark strategist known as Yamamoto Kansukay, who is using the shell of their Lord to lead Takeda’s armies as if they were his own.”
“Yamamoto Kansukay...”
“When you consider the existence of the masked soldiers, that doesn’t seem impossible. He might have a spell or an Artifact that can take control of corpses.” After listening to Jubei, Leen presented her own thoughts.
Well, controlling that many corpses at once doesn’t seem like a trivial thing to do. It seems possible to me. Does he plan on using Takeda to force all of Eashen to unite under one banner? Crap, now I’m thinking about Takeda’s army. I can’t exactly leave with a clear conscience now...
“Would it all cool down if someone captured this Yamamoto Kansukay guy?”
“It might... However, Schingen-dono’s death is nothing but a rumor. And, from what I hear, Kansukay never leaves Takeda’s stronghold at Tsutsujigasaki. Sneaking inside and kidnapping him would be a fool’s errand...”
Hmph. That was exactly what I was planning, but I guess that does sound kinda silly, even if I could get in with [Long Sense] and [Gate]. It would be great if there was a spell that could make a person invisible, or... Ah.
“Leen. You can use light magic to make your wings invisible, right? Is it possible to apply it to your whole body?”
“It is, yes. However, it simply makes the light encompass something, so people would quickly notice if you bumped into them.”
Alright... So she can actually make people invisible. That’ll make the stealth portion easier. I was already thinking of infiltrating the enemy fortress. So really, I’d prefer as few casualties as possible, regardless of friend or foe.
“A-Are you thinking of actually sneaking in?” Linze spoke as if she just read my mind. Sheesh, is it that obvious?
“If this Yamamoto Kansukay is really the mastermind, it’d be the easiest way to deal with the situation, right?”
“That’s true, but...” She was probably worried about me, but I didn’t feel that there was a need for that. I could always escape through a [Gate], after all.
“The main problem is getting to this... Tsutsujigasaki place. Have you ever been there, Yae?”
“No, not even once, I have not. What about you, Father?”
“Same for myself... Why should that matter, though?”
“If we find someone who has been to Tsutsujigasaki, Touya-dono can use his magic to get there in mere moments, he can!”
“What...?!”
Jubei and Ieyahsu both looked at me in sheer surprise. I didn’t really want to stand out so much, but since I was leaving Eashen after exploring the ruins anyway, I decided to just accept it.
“Allow me to be the one to introduce him to Tsutsujigasaki, then.” A voice echoed throughout the keep, coming from seemingly nowhere. It didn’t belong to anyone in the room. I quickly pulled out the New Model Army and aimed for where I’d heard the voice — out in the corridor surrounding the room.
“Who is there?” Someone took the words right out
of my mouth. It was Jubei, who seemed as baffled as I was.
A person walked out of the shadows in the corner.
Whoa, it’s a ninja! The black clothes were a clear giveaway. The outfit stood out, yet I still hadn’t realized that the person was there, so it was possible they used some kind of perception-blocking spell. The person took off the cloth covering her head, revealing the face of a beautiful woman. It was a female ninja. A kunoichi, to be more precise.
“I am Tsubaki, subordinate of one of Takeda’s Elite Four — Kousaka Masanohbu-sama. I’ve brought a secret message to Tokugawa Ieyahsu-sama.”
“You’re with Kousaka-dono?!” The kunoichi kneeled on the floor, took out her message, placed it in front of her, and backed away. Even if the current battle was over, she was a ninja working for the opponent. It’d only be natural for us to be cautious around her. Eyes on the kunoichi at all times, Jubei took the message and handed it over to Ieyahsu.
I kept my gun trained on her, just in case. Better safe than sorry, after all.
Ieyahsu opened the scroll and began reading. A look of surprise dawned on his face, then he became sterner. What could’ve made him react like that?
“Milord. What does it say?”
“It seems that the rumors were true. Takeda’s forces are naught but an army of puppets.”
“It can’t be...!” Jubei was at a loss for words. So it’s true. Yamamoto Kansukay had complete control of Takeda’s army.
“Schingen-dono has already passed away, and, with the exception of Kousaka-dono, Takeda’s Elite Four are all imprisoned in the dungeons. The letter asks us to stop Kansukay and save the land of Takeda.”
“Kousaka-sama pretends to be loyal to Kansukay. He’s plotting how to take Takeda out of his hands in the shadows, however.” The kunoichi, Tsubaki, gave us some more intel. According to her, Kansukay was hiding the fact that Schingen was dead. He used the corpse as a proxy to put the land of Takeda under his command. The Elite Four noticed. Three of them were imprisoned, but Kousaka pretended to be loyal to Kansukay and thus was spared.
In Another World With My Smartphone: Volume 3 Page 2
