In Another World With My Smartphone: Volume 9

by Patora Fuyuhara

  Initially, I just planned on installing instant transfer portals for all of the countries, but if they broke down I’d be the only one around to fix them. Bridges were the wisest choice, if I wanted to think about the future at least.

  “Well then, Grand Duke... I’ll ask if you think you can really build four bridges of such a size.” A man I wasn’t fully familiar with spoke up. He was sitting at the same table as us. His eyes were a deep blue, and they gazed at me with hawk-like intensity. This man was Felsen’s prime minister. If I recalled correctly, his name was Amond.

  “I can do it in about three days once I have the materials. I’m not making anything extremely flashy, just bridges.”

  “I’m doubtful you could do such a thing in a mere three days... Even if you used those giant Frame Gear things, four bridges in such a short amount of time is absurd, no?” Amond directed a gaze laced with doubt in my direction. I didn’t exactly blame him for being wrong, but I wasn’t going to use my Frame Gears at all.

  I’d simply use the Workshop to make the bridges in the same way I did for Brunhild Castle. It was more work than usual, but the Workshop was being powered by the Tower’s reactor, so it was definitely up to the task.

  “My Frame Gears won’t be involved. I have something that can take the materials and move them to the right spot. To put it simply, it’s something that can take a bunch of stones and place them down in the shape of a bridge.”

  “...Is this an artifact?”

  “Er, something like that. Only I can use it, though.” The man who just butted in was a gaunt, creepy looking guy. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. His eyes were dead and glazed over until just a moment ago, but they came to life the moment I mentioned my capabilities. He was Felsen’s court magician. Ludo, I believe he was called.

  “Why is it only you can use it, Grand Duke?”

  “The only thing I can tell you is that’s just how the artifact works. Even within my own country, the details are confidential... Sorry.”

  “I... see... How unfortunate.” Ludo sighed slightly, and his eyes went back to that dead glaze. Seemed like he didn’t care much about things that weren’t exciting.

  The King of Felsen gave me a small smile.

  “Forgive his lack of manners. He’s been researchin’ a lot lately, gets him real tired.”

  “Oh, don’t worry. I’m not offended.” I was used to people acting like him, anyway. I had Belfast’s court magician Charlotte, and Leen back home. They both lit up whenever I mentioned unusual stuff, but weren’t that enthused otherwise.

  The people seated at the table, other than myself, were the Knight King of Lestia, Felsen’s King, Prime Minister Amond, Court Magician Ludo, and one other who finally decided to speak up.

  “Grand Duke... You possess many fascinating artifacts, and those giant warriors as well. Did you perhaps come across them in a certain set of ruins?”

  “...Some of them, but not all. Some of them are of my own making.”

  “I see, I see... Indeed, you can use the [Enchant] spell... Not to mention the fact that you have mastery over all elements. Quite the enviable position.” The man both commenting and chuckling softly was Easeus, Chief Officer of Felsen’s Magical Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He was in charge of all the mages, craftsmen, and merchants in the country. He had wavy gray hair, and wore a pair of sunglasses. I had no idea sunglasses even existed in this world... They also definitely had some kind of magical effect on them, though I couldn’t tell what. At any rate, I knew for a fact they were enchanted sunglasses.

  I found it suspicious, to be honest. Still, I couldn’t exactly accuse a guy of being suspicious just for the crime of wearing some smooth shades.

  After meeting the King of Felsen, I definitely didn’t think he was the one behind the stolen Frame Gear. Reinhard had been right to consider him a good man. There was always the chance he was hiding his true self, but I highly doubted that.

  As for Prime Minister Amond, Court Magician Ludo, or Chief Officer Easeus...

  Any one of them could’ve been the mastermind I sought. It was possible the culprit was operating without the King’s knowledge, after all. All three of them had considerable power within the country, so it wasn’t an unreasonable assumption.

  I had to push such thoughts out of my head, though. It wouldn’t have been right of me to baselessly judge the people around me.

  “Well, a bridge sounds mighty fine to me. Just like the others, we’ll pay a portion to Brunhild to cover the costs.”

  “Your Highness... Is that the decision we’ve come to?” Prime Minister Amond turned to the King, as if to confirm the choice.

  “The country that misses out on this deal will lose a lot of money, I’d wager. Plus, I sure as hell don’t think the other three would conspire to attack us or anything. Hell, the grand duke of Brunhild is handling the intricacies of the stuff, so he’d help us out if trouble came up, right?”

  “I would, yes.” The four countries shared friendly relations, but I wasn’t entirely sure if that peace would last forever. It was entirely possible that the bridges could be used as routes for invasion. That was why I planned on putting defensive fortifications along each bridge to try and prevent that.

  “Alright, now we got that outta the way... Hey, Grand Duke. Would you mind coming with me? I wanna show you something.” The King of Felsen grinned broadly in my direction as he spoke. Something in his eyes seemed terribly bold. Huh... What could he want?

  ◇　◇　◇

  “Whoa...”

  “Well? Pretty sweet, huh?” The King of Felsen had brought me to his treasury. There were weapons on fancy pedestals, and even more lining the walls.

  Swords, spears, bows, axes, greatswords, daggers, katanas, scythes, chains, and many more... I looked around and noticed each weapon on display was forged of some kind of rare metal, and the vast majority had enchantments, too.

  There were way too many... Both I and the Knight King were left utterly speechless. Typically, you’d find this kind of array in the armory, not the King’s personal stash.

  “This axe here is about five-hundred years old. It was wielded by a legendary Dragon Slayer named Buckram. It’s even enchanted with a fire spell! Buckram was unable to use magic, you see, so this axe was a mighty boon for the hero.” The axe in his hand was a gleaming red. The King proudly held it up. It certainly looked well-weathered.

  “You like weapons a lot, huh?”

  “Aw shucks... Don’t misunderstand or nothing, it’s just that, uh... rather than hoarding weapons... I like the stories behind weapons. Great heroes and heroines, their lives, their mastery of their craft. It’s those stories that truly make me gasp in awe.” That was certainly understandable. It seemed that the King of Felsen had amassed quite a collection of stories.

  “I know it ain’t exactly becoming of a man my age, but I’m filled with such excitement when I think of the people that once held these in their hands. I adore their stories, and each one of them had a unique resolve. As a child, I’d read about the great heroes of yore for hours.” This man was definitely not a good fit for a magic country. Honestly, I wondered if they’d be okay under his leadership.

  “When I was a little brat, I thought I’d be a hero too. I went into the forests and tussled with monsters aplenty. Even had a particularly nasty encounter with a Tiger Bear, once. That’s how I got this.” He pointed to the scarring on his face with an amused grin.

  Tiger Bears... Those are regular bears with tiger stripes, right? Pretty sure Yae had a guild quest to kill those a long time ago. But man, fighting one of those as a kid...? This guy is something else.

  “Honestly, Grand Duke? I’m pretty darned jealous of ya. Dragon slaying, Golem busting, Demon killing? You adventure all the time, you know? If my big bro hadn’t have died, I’d have liked to have lived a life like you.” Well, my situation was a little different... I was an adventurer before I was royalty, after all.

  “Oh right, you use an unusu
al weapon, don’tcha? Can I take a look at it?” The King timidly pointed toward my waist. Brunhild was hardly a secret, so I unholstered it and showed him.

  “This is Brunhild. It bears the same name as my nation. I can use this weapon up close or at range. Designed the whole thing myself, too.” I shifted the weapon into a blade. He almost jumped back in surprise for a moment when he saw it extend, but his eyes were full of curiosity.

  “You really made this yourself...? I can’t believe it... It’s incredible.”

  “The grand duke of Brunhild is a tremendous craftsman. The sword I carry today is actually a gift from him.” Knight King Reinhard drew the sword at his waist and gently placed it on a nearby table. It was the crystal blade I’d made for him, the one that resembled Lestia’s Holy Sword.

  “Oh! Incredible... What a masterwork...” Both weapons were forged of phrasium, and no other in the world except me could smith them into weapons.

  “You received it as a gift, you said...?”

  “I did, yes. It was a coronation gift. I’ve carried it by my side ever since. It is a tremendously sharp blade, and it’s also remarkably light. The only weakness is just how certain of victory it makes you feel, ahaha...” I highly doubted he’d used the sword much in actual combat. It was strong enough to kill anything up to the strength of an Upper Construct, so he probably really could beat anything around with it.

  The King of Felsen gazed at the blade with envious eyes, and then he turned to me.

  “Hey, Grand Duke... Could you perhaps make me something, as well? As a gift between peers.”

  Hmm... Well, I guess that’d be fine. It’s not like phrasium is super secret these days or anything. And even if I make one more, I doubt they’ll be able to make anything from it. The worst it’ll do is add one more cool weapon to his collection.

  “Sure, I don’t see why not. What did you have in mind?”

  “Wh— Really?! Th-Thank you! Let me think... A sword, for sure, yes... And can you enchant it?”

  “Uh, sure. But don’t ask for too much, that’d be a problem.” I didn’t want to make him too strong of a weapon. If I enchanted it with some of that ancient stuff I’d been studying, it’d be monstrous. That would likely be counteracted by his own low mana reserves, though... He’d just collapse after one swing. Still, it was possible to design weapons that tapped into the magic of multiple people, allowing more usage than usual.

  “Perhaps... something that could protect against poison or paralysis...? Y’got something that can cure ails like that?”

  Poison... Paralysis? Sounds pretty dangerous... I decided that a blade with [Recovery] would likely do the job.

  “I can do that, but are you sure that’s what you want?”

  “Yup. That’s what I want. As for the width of the blade... It should be, uh... See here? It should be about the width of this blade. Oh, by the way, this one was wielded by the wandering spellsword Gandal. He used to conjure sandstorms with this mighty—” He was about to start a full-on lecture about the history of the sword, so I quickly went to make the weapon for him.

  I pulled out some phrasium fragments from [Storage] and used [Modeling] to give them a similar shape to Gandal’s sword. I copied the design for the blade perfectly, but I changed the hilt, deciding to adorn it with the Felsen royal emblem, too. It looked good from where I was standing.

  After that, I enchanted it with [Gravity] for reduced weight, and the [Recovery] effect he wanted.

  The King of Felsen took it into his hands and waved it around a little. He said it was a tad too light. I thought light was fine, but he said he liked a little weight on his blades or he couldn’t feel it too well. I didn’t quite understand, but I obliged.

  “Heheh... This is wonderful... What a powerful blade!”

  “If you pour your magic through the hilt of the blade, the recovery spell should trigger. It’ll take a lot of magical power, though, so the drawback is it can’t be used by just anyone, and even then it can’t be used a lot in one go.”

  “Gotcha. I’ll give it a go.”

  Huh? How? The King of Felsen answered that question by picking up a golden dagger and slicing his left arm with it. His face immediately turned a sickly white, and he began to sweat profusely. He looked like he was in agonizing pain.

  “Th... This dh...gh.... dagger w-was wielded bh... by Alejandro th... the valiant... th-thief...! Ah... A-A-As you, ngh... can s-see... it’s e-enchanted with a... with... a poison! Al-Alejandro used... khh.... th-this blade, to... th...”

  “Now’s not the time for a history lesson!”

  Is this guy an idiot?! The old man poured his magical power into the hilt of the sword, and [Recovery] finally triggered. His body immediately lost all signs of strain.

  Both myself and the Knight King let out relieved sighs. If he had died like that, we’d have been in huge trouble. There were Felsen and Lestia knights alike in the room with us, though... I was surprised neither stepped in and stopped him.

  “Wow... I sure am healed, huh...? That was incredible!”

  “...Now hold on a minute. What would you have done if you didn’t have enough magic?”

  “I’m a member of the royal family, lad. A strong, deep pool of magic runs through my veins. Plus, even if I didn’t have enough, you’d have healed me, right?”

  Of course I would’ve, but did it not cross your mind that I might have had malicious intentions?! I could’ve lied about the sword or just not healed you! The Knight King looked at me with a small, knowing smile. This guy was the epitome of show, don’t tell. I couldn’t possibly finger him as the Frame Gear thief.

  “Still... the fact that you asked for a sword to cure ailments... Are you worried about being poisoned or something?”

  “Hm? No, nah... It’s just that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” The King of Felsen seemed cheery, but it felt like misdirection to me. Part of me just felt that the man’s life was in danger, but I wasn’t sure how... I wondered if everything was okay in Felsen.

  “On another note! There was another matter I wished to discuss with you, Grand Duke, if you have the time.”

  “Sure, what’s up?”

  Is this the part where he tells me about the stolen Frame Gear? Do you know where the mastermind is, old man?! Or is this about your paranoia about being poisoned? What’s the plot here?

  “Aha... W-Well... Err... I’m turning forty-two just this year, but... I am yet unmarried.”

  “...R-Right.”

  “My big bro was the one to succeed the throne, so I didn’t get married off or nothing when I was young, and I didn’t really care all that much for romance. Plus, I couldn’t really find anyone who clicked with me, so I ended up putting it off... But I’ve found myself blessed by fate, I believe. A chance encounter that must have been ordained.” It was a little gross seeing a brawny old guy looking so bashful. I just wanted to know what he was getting at.

  “Could it be you’re getting married?”

  “Y-Yes, Knight King Reinhard, I am.” The Knight King threw the flailing man a bone.

  Oh, so that’s what he meant. This guy isn’t good at being direct when it comes to romance, huh? Still, a guy who can grin like that being all flustered? A little creepy...

  “Ah, well... Congratulations, then. So what did you want to talk over with me?”

  “Aye, well... It’s just that, er... Can you wait, actually? It might be best if you meet...” The King of Felsen said something to a guard, and the guard in question bolted out of the room at once. I wondered what that was all about.

  After a short while, there was a knock at the door. The King said “Come in!” and a woman clad in a pastel blue dress appeared.

  Huh...? She looks around my age. Maybe older? Gotta be seventeen or eighteen... She had beautiful, short, silver hair. I also felt a strength of character in her eyes.

  Wait... haven’t I met this girl before?

  “It is a great pleasure to meet you both for the first time, Gr
and Duke of Brunhild, Knight King of Lestia... Thank you for honoring me with your presence.”

  “Hehe... Oh, uhm. This is my fiancee, Ellicia.”

  Wait, wait... This is the fiancee...? Isn’t that a twenty-five year difference? You two look like parent and child when you’re next to each other! Don’t tell me the King of Felsen is into little...

  “I am in your debt, Grand Duke, for the wonderful care you have granted to my little sister. I’m happy to finally get a chance to meet you.”

  “Huh?” My thoughts were cut off by Ellicia’s dazzling smile. Uh... Sister?

  “Do forgive me for my late self-introduction. My name is Ellicia Leah Regulus. How is Lucia doing?”

  “Oh. Ohhh!” I was wondering where I knew you from! You look like a slightly older version of Lu! She had told me that her sister was studying in Felsen, but this was a surprise indeed. I was completely blindsided by the encounter.

  But wait... the princess of Regulus and the King of Felsen...? They’re a good match socially, but... i-isn’t this a little criminal?

  I quietly redacted that train of thought once I reminded myself that I was, in fact, engaged to the girl’s thirteen-year-old sister.

  Though, our age gap is only four years... That’s totally fine... It’s fine... I kept telling myself it was fine. Wait, hold on a second... If Ellicia’s my sister-in-law through my marriage to Lu... then won’t her marriage to the old king make him my brother-in-law?! Whaaat!

  “Is something the matter?” The Knight King, one of my other brothers-in-law to be, asked me if I was alright.

  “I-I’m fine... I’m just happy to have Jutaro and Reinhard around as brothers-in-law...”

  “Hm?” I quietly muttered my thanks in a voice nobody else could hear.