In Another World With My Smartphone: Volume 9

by Patora Fuyuhara

  “Still... first Yulong, now Roadmare. The situation’s slowly becoming more troubling, if you ask me.” The beastking brought his fingers together as he heaved a sigh. He leaned back in his seat, but I could sense the anxiety. It was an anxiety present in every leader in the vicinity. They were all wondering just when the Phrase would appear in their homes as well.

  “Hey, Touya... Is there not some kind of device that could predict when future Phrase invasions will occur?” The Emperor of Refreese spoke up. He had a point to be concerned. Even if I gave Frame Gears to every nation, it’d be too late to deal with the crisis without knowing well in advance where they’d appear. That being said, there was no way I could just give out Frame Gears recklessly.

  “Will the fellow who told you about the invasion to begin with continue aiding us?”

  “Hmph... It’s a little difficult to say. He’s a bit of a wanderer. He’s not against us, but he’s not really an ally either.”

  “I... see...” It’d be bad if we became dependent on Ende. I wondered if there was some kind of detection artifact in the storehouse. I decided to check later.

  “Have we heard anything from Roadmare recently, then?”

  “We still haven’t received their formal permission, no. The governor of the highlands has given me her tentative permission to act in her area, but that’s it. In a worst-case scenario, us intruding on the central province might be seen as an act of aggression or war.”

  “It’s entirely possible that they want that, you know? If we go in and clear it up, they could formally state that they could’ve handled it themselves and we were recklessly intruding on their affairs.”

  “I doubt they’ll do something so brash or stupid. If we left them alone, they’d suffer terrible damage. Still, if they keep stalling, then the Phrase will end up appearing regardless...” It ultimately came down to whether or not they believed us. I’d be happy if it was just senseless prattling from Ende, but that’d also cause trouble because I went in completely confident that the Phrase were coming. If other nations lost their confidence in Brunhild, that’d be a major issue.

  I wouldn’t be too bothered if people just called me a liar, but it would hardly end there.

  After the meeting was adjourned, I headed to the Silver Moon to meet Ende. I took him over toward the western plains to see his newly-renovated Dragoon.

  “Whoa! You changed the color, too? Red was pretty sweet, but I totally love this...” His new Dragoon had been changed from bright red to a calm black and white.

  In truth, I’d actually taken the chance to change the color because Elze’s new Frame Gear was red, and I didn’t want them to get mixed up.

  Plus, this one matched Ende’s image a lot more... Though the two-tone coloring kind of made me think of an emergency service vehicle. I recalled an anime with a police mecha with a similar coloration, actually...

  “You no longer need to refuel it, since it’ll take magic directly from you. If you leave it for a few days, it’ll stay stable by taking in magic from the air. Last of all, nobody but you has permission to pilot it, so it simply won’t function with another in control.”

  “I already said I’m not sharing, don’t worry. I really like this thing, anyway.” It wasn’t like I didn’t trust him. I understood loving giant robots. I’d also attached proper comms equipment to his Frame Gear, meaning as long as he was within range I’d be able to radio for him. Then again, if he kept the Dragoon inside one of his glass slide storage devices, it wouldn’t mean much.

  “Oh, by the way, do you have any more of that voice stuff you let me use during the last invasion?”

  “Well, I do have some left, but... I can’t just go handing them out all the time.”

  “Oh, I see...” I’d hoped to use the same strategy I’d used back in Yulong, but it seemed like he was being extra-generous back then. I was disappointed, but I understood.

  “Oh, another thing. How come you can predict when the Phrase are coming, Ende? Is there some kind of telltale sign?”

  “Kinda. It was mostly good luck this time, honestly. First, I can sense the subtle warps in space. Then, I can use my senses to determine how many days it’ll take until the warping becomes cracking, and then an opening. After that, there’s the ‘Noise.’ Every Phrase resonates on a unique wavelength so they can tell each other apart. The sound crosses the boundary of space, so I can hear it from this side. Using that, I can tell how many are waiting, and what types as well. To a certain extent, anyway. Even though I called it a noise, humans can’t hear it.”

  A warp in space and a wavelength, huh...? If we can get a tool to detect these things, then we might be able to make proper predictions. But still, if humans can’t hear it and he can... just what does that make Ende...?

  As I mused to myself, Ende boarded his Dragoon and got ready to speed off.

  “Well, I’ve a few things to attend to. I’ll come back in a few days to help with the Phrase. Later, Touya.”

  “Got it. Thanks a lot, Ende.” The hatch closed and the Dragoon switched to high-speed mode. Dust was kicked up behind it as it zoomed away.

  “Now... All I have to do is set up countermeasures against the Upper Construct. I wonder if I can do something about the laser beam... The last one had one, so I assume this one will too.” Even if there’s a magic that can be used against it, I really hope I don’t have to stand in front of a blast like that...

  [Shield] and [Absorb] had too narrow a range to be effective, and I didn’t even know if the beam attack was magic-based to begin with.

  I headed off to the Library in search of more Null spells. I found a few books on the subject, but they were all unbelievably thick. I couldn’t afford to waste too much time sitting around with books, so I skimmed the pages and memorized a few choice selections.

  Null Magic existed five-thousand years ago, after all. That meant there was an insane amount of spells to cover. Especially since there were stupid minor spells that could do stuff like make people feel itchy or make drinks taste slightly worse than they did before.

  That being said, it was all in how you used the magic. [Slip] could be considered a basic prank spell, but I’d used it very effectively.

  I ended up holing up in the Library for about half a day. I wasn’t sure if the spells I’d found would prove useful, so I simply had to wait and see. As I did that, Fam just read books at her own leisure. It wouldn’t have hurt her to try and help me out a little!

  I left the Library and went over to see Monica and Rosetta at the Workshop. The minibots were scuttling around and working hard as ever.

  I peeked into the garage to find a skeletal Frame Gear base being lifted around by a crane hook. Rosetta and Monica both seemed concerned about something.

  “Something wrong, you two?”

  “It’s Lady Elze’s Frame Gear, sir! Its primary weapons are fists for efficient CQC, but...”

  “It’s like, totally boring and stuff to just punch and punch... I am of the humble opinion that a special, flashier attack may be in order.”

  Hm... Monica has a point. Elze’s Frame Gear is built for fistfights, but that’s a little dull. I do agree that attacking a little flashier, maybe crushing the foe in one hit before moving on to the next, could be a little more up Elze’s alley in terms of fighting style.

  “Crushing a Phrase in one hit is fine, sir! But you need to follow that strike up with a second to obliterate the core, yes sir!”

  “Yeah, like... If a sword or spear is being used you can totally just do all that in one hit, and stuff.” I understood what they were saying. Weapons like hammers can take out enemies in a single strike. They had more diversity than fists. We needed a way to take out the core of the enemy in a single blow.

  “Well, sir! If you’ll see my proposition here, I think it could be possible to launch something alongside the fist to target the core, sir!” Rosetta threw out her fist in a punching motion as she spoke.

  “So we could maybe install something
like a spear into the forearm?”

  “I am of the humble opinion that would be a good idea. But wouldn’t it like, get in the way during regular punches and stuff? We should totally make it retractable or something.” Hmm... A spear you can store in the arm and then shoot out at will...? Oh, wait... I know!

  I pulled out my Smartphone and searched online. Yeah... This is the one, I think. I projected the image into the air.

  “Here. A pile bunker.”

  “Wow, that’s huge, sir! What is it, though?” Neither Rosetta nor Monica could read my native language, so I gave a rough summary while cutting out some details. They wouldn’t understand if I spoke about anime or games from my old world, after all.

  “So it’s a weapon that shoots out a sharpened point at high speeds...?”

  “Yeah. Elze can break the main armor with her punch, then hit the vital point using the pile bunker. Do you think we could make a compact version and fit it on to the wrists?”

  “This is most curious... We like, don’t have enough gunpowder for it to be reusable, so we’d have to rely on magic to operate it and stuff... It’ll totally cover the back of the hand as well as the wrist. But if we like, make it out of Phrasium or whatever, it’ll be super duper strong. I believe it may be somewhat difficult to construct.” I didn’t really mind it covering the wrist and hand, since it’d be mostly crystal anyway. Plus, we wouldn’t be wasting any resources. It’d be way better than using Phrasium for bullets or projectiles that we couldn’t recover.

  “Still, sir! This is a pretty crazy weapon! Where’d you get the idea?”

  “Ah, well... Don’t worry about it...”

  “Tsk...” I hadn’t actually told anyone that I was from another world. Her Holiness the Pope and Phyllis knew about God Almighty, but nothing beyond that.

  I also had to weigh whether or not people would believe me. I began thinking that I probably should’ve told Yumina, Elze, and the others... Probably the Babylon Gynoids, too.

  Hmph... Even aside from my fiancees and the Babylon girls, there are a few people who should know. I should probably organize a sit-down and tell them the truth soon.

  “Alright! We’re gonna totally make this pile bunker thing and stuff! Gather round, peeps!” Monica started barking orders to the various minibots. They listened to her explanation and gave little nods every now and then.

  “This weapon’s gonna be savage as heck, sir!”

  “Sounds fine by me. After all, the pile bunker is just another part of the manly dream.”

  “Manly...? Lady Elze is a woman, sir!”

  Gah! Damn it... That’s true. Thus, Elze’s Crimson Frame Gear was finally born. I named it Gerhilde, after one of the Valkyries of Norse myth.

  ◇　◇　◇

  “How’s it feel?”

  “It’s a little unbalanced, but it’s not doing much to hinder movement. It’s way easier to move than the Black Knight.” Elze was piloting Gerhilde, her new Frame Gear.

  Gerhilde’s armor was coated in Phrasium. I decided against making the entire Frame Gear out of the stuff, because she would’ve been inside a transparent mecha, and it would’ve been hard for her allies to see her. I tried to paint over it before, but it was awkward and didn’t really work well with [Modeling] either. The paint just kinda meshed with the material and looked gross. [Modeling] was a transformation spell, not a fusing one, after all. Though I felt like it might’ve worked better if the paint was made out of the same material as the base.

  Either way, Gerhilde was a multi-layered armored titan. Its deep crimson was clearly visible beneath the Phrasium sheen on top of the base armor.

  “Haaah!” Gerhilde smashed a huge rock cliff, crumbling it to pieces in an instant. At the same time, the pile bunker flew out from just above the wrist, shattering it further.

  Right after smashing one of the loose rocks, the pile bunker neatly slid back into its holster.

  “Yup, pile bunker’s good too. It shoots out wherever I aim. I could probably trash an intermediate construct in one go with this thing.” A certain phrase popped up in my mind as I looked at Gerhilde. Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. This was a Frame Gear designed for instant kills. Gerhilde was a force to be reckoned with for sure. Naturally, it was far beyond even the Knight Barons when it came to speed and power.

  “[Boost]!” Magic overflowed from the seams of Gerhilde’s multi-layer armor, appearing like a red light. It almost looked like a big crimson aircraft getting ready for takeoff.

  Gerhilde was imbued with fortification magic and got even faster. It hastily obliterated what remained of the rocky wall.

  “Well? How’s it handle?”

  “It’s taking up a ton of my magic and stamina... Probably because it’s coating the whole thing, not just me. It might be hard to use a lot of magic in here.” Overall, it seemed like it was performing up to my projected standards. Elze deactivated her spell, and Gerhilde’s red light faded.

  “Master, sir! I’ve finished gathering data.” Rosetta called my line. She’d been monitoring the situation from Babylon. The whole point of this trial run was to gather data on Gerhilde. So now, all that was left was to make a few last minute adjustments.

  “Alright, all done. Thanks a million, Elze.” Gerhilde’s hatch opened up and Elze popped out.

  “There we go, Elze. Yours is the first of the new Frame Gears.”

  “Who are you making Frame Gears for next?”

  “First and foremost, I want to prioritize battle-oriented Frame Gears. Yae and Hilde are probably next. They’re both proficient with swords, and they have similar styles.” Yae excelled at offensive tactics, while Hilde really stood out with defensive play. Gerhilde ended up being pretty tricky to fine-tune, but those two wouldn’t be hard to make Frame Gears for at all.

  As I thought about what to design, a telepathic message came in from Kougyoku.

  《My liege. We’ve a message from the governor of the highlands from Roadmare.》

  《Oh? What’s up? Did the central province finally give us permission to deploy?》

  《No, she needs our help. We’ve been informed that the central province is in turmoil. Various armored Wood Golems have been seen rampaging in the area...》

  《Wait, what?!》 Armored Golems? Like the ones made by that creepy Bowman guy...?! Why the hell are they rampaging?! More importantly, why today?! The Phrase are due to arrive en masse tomorrow! I frantically sent Gerhilde back up to the Hangar and headed back to my castle.

  I’d given a Gate Mirror to Audrey in case of emergencies, and I was certainly thankful for that decision at this point. Even if it only allowed letters through, it was still real-time communication.

  From what I’d been told, a number of Golems were rampaging in the central province. The reason behind the attack wasn’t known, though.

  “We need to get going, now. Elze, you feeling up to taking Gerhilde out for a real battle?”

  “Sounds good to me! The enemies are just armored versions of those chumps from the Pruning, right? Piece of cake.” She seemed confident, which was good to hear. Elze and I hurried toward the central province’s capital to get a closer look.

  “Oh lord...” The beautiful baroque-styled buildings were in pieces. People were running and screaming in all directions.

  There were fires all over the place, accompanied by black plumes of smoke. Several massive Golems were roaming around, swinging their fists at everything in their path. It was kind of like an old-fashioned monster movie in action.

  “Can’t you send them somewhere else?!”

  “Where else?! They’d wreak havoc no matter where I sent them!” I shot down Elze’s suggestion. Obviously I couldn’t send them to Brunhild. I could’ve sent them to the ocean, but I had a feeling that wouldn’t kill them. I didn’t want to lose track of any, either. A volcano wouldn’t be a bad idea, though.

  Regardless, I couldn’t let the rampage continue. I decided to send them to some nearby plains. I didn’t want the town get
ting any more trashed.

  I took out my smartphone to run a search. There were twelve in total. A full dozen of the bastards. I moved them all to the plains immediately. The Golems vanished in an instant, razing the city no more.

  That would buy us enough time, at least. It was a simple matter of going to the plains and smashing them to bits.

  “Your Highness! G-Grand Duke!” I turned around to address the sudden voice, and found Audrey running toward me down the palace steps. Limit, her knight, wasn’t far behind.

  “Governor, just what is happening here? Why are the Golems going nuts?”

  “We lost control of them. Doctor Bowman was frustrated that your Frame Gears were better than what he had, so he made some unauthorized and reckless modifications. But in doing so, he drove them berserk! They’re completely wild!”

  What the hell was that idiot thinking?! Holy hell, why did he do that?!

  “Where’s Bowman now?”

  “No one knows. The Doge is looking all over for him, but I fear he died during the initial outbreak.” I pulled out my smartphone map and looked for Bowman. Dead or alive didn’t matter much to me. A red pin fell down on the map, pointing out his location. I wondered where it was, exactly.

  “He’s right here. Seems he’s alive.”

  “Why this is... an old storehouse! What is he doing there...? G-Gah! For now... Limit, go and arrest him!”

  “Yes, ma’am!” Limit and her knights charged off in the direction of Bowman’s location.

  The Golems had vanished, which meant the city was calming down a little bit, but the fires were still raging.

  “Descend, O Water. Blessing of the Heavens: [Heavenly Rain]!” My magic called up to the sky and rain began to fall despite the lack of clouds up there. It was another ancient spell I’d learned in the Library. I cast [Shield] atop my head to act as a makeshift umbrella. With that, the fires would surely die out in no time.

  All of a sudden it started raining really heavily. I’d overdone it a bit! It was my first time using that spell, so I’d misjudged how much magic was required. By the time I’d stopped the rain, it was flooding in some areas.