“This is certainly nostalgic... Indeed, it’s true... I’ve been here before.” Sakura muttered quietly. That was a good sign, though. Her memories were clearly coming back stronger.
Sakura glanced around for a moment, and then began sprinting down one of the corridors.
“L-Lady Farne?!” Spica hurriedly followed after her. Kohaku and I didn’t really understand, but we ran too.
A young-looking maid stood wide-eyed as she watched us run by, struggling not to drop her washing basket.
“L-Lady Farne?! A-And M-Miss Spica?! Wh-What?!” Sakura completely ignored the maid, and bolted into a specific room.
We finally caught up to her and looked inside. What we found was a large bed surrounded by a soft white veil. There was a woman sitting up in the bed. She looked to be about thirty. Her face was pale, and her hair was a pure white. However, she bore a striking resemblance to a certain someone, which meant she was...
“F-Farne...?”
“M-Mother?! Mother!” Sakura bounded toward the bed and threw herself into her mother’s arms. She pulled the woman into a tight embrace and began to sob.
“Y-You... I-Is it really you, sweetheart? You’re a-alive... You’re alive!”
“Waaah...”
“Lady Fiana... It’s true, Lady Farne is alive. She was saved from certain death, by this man. The grand duke of Brunhild.” Spica’s words seemed to register in the woman’s mind, as she brought her arms around Sakura’s body and began to sob as well.
The daughter she believed to be dead was finally home. The relief and happiness she must’ve been feeling were probably indescribable, so I decided that I shouldn’t butt in.
We just decided to watch the two of them hug it out for a while.
“Er... Who are you?” The maid turned to me with suspicious eyes. Well, that was a fairly reasonable question.
◇ ◇ ◇
“Words alone could never be enough. Thank you so much for saving my daughter.”
“Don’t worry about it. I just did what I thought was right.” Sakura’s mother, Fiana, kept bowing her head toward me.
It looked like she was in a dire state, so I cast [Recovery] and [Refresh] on her, which made her look a lot better.
I think seeing her daughter probably did more for her than my spells ever could, though.
“You saved my daughter, as well. On behalf of our whole family, I thank you.” The next person to speak up was a dark elf sitting down on a chair. It was Spica’s mother, Swellra. She had dark brown skin, long silvery hair, and pointed ears. She looked incredibly young, as well, almost around Spica’s age. The two of them could’ve been sisters at a glance.
Elves and dark elves lived exceptionally long lives, apparently. But unlike Leen and the fairies, they did continue to age. Just slower. I was curious about how old she actually was, but I knew better than to ask.
Her husband seemed to be absent for the time being, so it was just myself, Kohaku, Sakura, Fiana, Spica, and Swellra sitting with some tea.
“I never thought there’d be someone who could cure that disease...”
“We’re currently researching it in Brunhild. If we manage to make a medicine, we’ll pass it on to Xenoahs.”
“Thank you,” Swellra said, then bowed her head.
Flora had harvested some of the skin flakes that had fallen off Spica in order to work on a cure. There were demonkin in our country, after all. Even if there weren’t all that many, I didn’t want to run the risk.
Eventually, I decided to get straight to the point.
“So, then... Sakura... or, er, Farne... would like you to come and live in Brunhild with her, Ms. Fiana.”
“Me? In Brunhild?” Fiana raised an eyebrow in surprise.
“I’ve done a small investigation about what happened. I don’t wish to be rude, but Sakura wouldn’t be the only one at risk if she stayed here. As her mother, it’s certainly possible that you might be attacked as well. For now, things are safe because everyone thinks she’s dead, but we can’t guarantee that safety forever.” I trusted the people in the Frennel household, but information had a way of leaking out. Even if word got out though, they’d be well protected if they lived in Brunhild. Our country was well known for slaughtering dragons and wiping out Phrase, among other things.
Fiana turned to her daughter with an uneasy expression on her face.
“This is what you want?”
“It is, yes. Brunhild is a beautiful nation. Everyone lives together in harmony, regardless of race or creed. I’m sure you’d enjoy it there too, Mother. Rather certain of it, in fact.”
“I see.” Fiana gave her daughter a gentle smile, then turned back to me.
“Is there anything for me to do in Brunhild?”
“Do you have any particular talents?”
“Er, well... I’m a decent seamstress. I also used to teach children when I lived in Felsen...”
Huh, you’re from Felsen? The fact that she was a teacher definitely caught my interest.
“As it so happens, I was thinking of opening up a school so the children of my country could benefit. It’d be good if we had a professional like you working there... Is that alright?”
“Unless it’s a particular field, I should be fine giving general education...”
“Well I was thinking stuff like ethics, reading, writing, mathematics, and history. Something like that, I guess. It wouldn’t just be you teaching, either.”
“In that case, I’d be happy to.” I’d been meaning to build a school for a while, so Fiana was a godsend for the future of Brunhild.
“There is one thing, Your Highness... My daughter and I have both relied on the patronage of the overlord to continue living here... If we plan to leave his charge, then I believe we should inform him.”
“Ah, I was worried about that...”
“He’ll be happy to know that Farne is alive, as well. It took a lot to restrain him when he heard she died... H-He was about ready to go on a rampage.”
Huh... So he cared about her after all, then? If my daughter was killed by Yulong, I definitely would’ve waged war on them.
“How would I go about meeting the overlord?” I turned to Swellra and posed the question.
“I will ask my husband when he returns. It shouldn’t be a huge problem.” Swellra’s husband was the personal guard to the overlord. They were childhood friends, apparently, so they had a very close relationship.
Well, even if Brunhild is a little country, I’m still royalty. I doubt I’d be turned away.
“Alright, that’s settled. For the time being, then, I’ll—” My words were cut off by a sudden rumbling sound, and the ground itself quaked. The cups and plates in the room clattered and fell to the ground, as if affected by some unseen shockwave.
“Wh-What the?! An earthquake?!” I looked around, trying to determine what was going on, when a maid suddenly barged into the room.
“M-Milady! Th-The castle! P-Pandemonium is...!” I dashed out into the courtyard and invoked [Fly] quickly. Then, I looked down from the cloudy sky and saw Pandemonium, the overlord’s fortress, towering over the castle town. However, something was amiss. It was aflame.
Why the hell is the right tower crumbling? What happened here?!
“Kohaku, keep everyone safe. I’ll see what’s happening at the castle.” I sent a telepathic message to Kohaku as I flew away.
《As you command. Be safe.》
Looking down with my bird’s-eye view, I noticed that there was smoke as far as the eye could see. Corpses were strewn all over the place, too. They seemed to be Xenoahs guardsmen.
I landed on the ground and tried to look for survivors, but I couldn’t find any at all. The corpses just kept piling up, and their lifeless bodies lay still around me.
I went inside Pandemonium and followed the trail of the dead. It was absolutely a one-sided slaughter. Each and every one of the dead men had been pierced through the heart.
“Gyauuugh!” I heard a terr
ified shriek, so I ran toward the source without thinking.
I came out into the courtyard and found someone surrounded by dozens of demonkin knights.
It was humanoid in shape. Mostly covered in crystal materials. Sharp spines of glassy phrasium jutted from its form.
It had piercing red eyes and spiked crystal ‘hair,’ so to speak.
“A Dominant Construct...!” What the hell... Why now, why here?!
Unlike the Dominant Construct I’d seen before, this one didn’t have much about the chest. It seemed more toned and muscular. In short, it was masculine in form.
How did it slip by our sensors...? Wait... Shit, there isn’t a guild branch in Xenoahs! I looked over and saw him laughing. He continued his mockery as he stretched out his arm. It took the form of a sharpened spear and stretched out to kill the guardsmen. Oh no you don’t!
“[Shield]!” A clanging sound rang out as the spear bounced off my invisible force field. The laughing Phrase turned to me, his expression soured.
「#im＊@n+oh@o々m @〆ek@?」
“...I don’t understand you. Use this world’s language.” He kicked off the ground and charged toward me instantly. He’s fast, but...
“[Teleport].” I teleported myself right behind the Dominant Construct.
“And then... [Power Rise]!” I boosted my natural power and slammed a kick into his back. He shot away like a pinball and crashed into a nearby wall, which crumbled on impact.
The Phrase stood up, unharmed, as the debris scattered around him. He was only dirtied a little, but otherwise didn’t have a single scratch. Welp. I tried.
「＊y@r€un#@、o×m=@〒e」
“I already said I don’t understand you.” The Phrase looked at me, clearly annoyed. Then, it stabbed its right arm through the head of a nearby corpse, immediately pulled its arm back, and stared at the body. After that, a beautiful crystal flower began to bloom from the mangled mess of bone and brain on the ground. The flower aged quickly, and nearly withered, but just before it crumbled it bore an almond-shaped object. Is that a seed, or a fruit...? What?
The Dominant Construct plucked the object from the ground and tossed it into its mouth, making loud crunching sounds as it munched.
「+no#domo÷t u々ku=rik%@ene△eto€i k〆e n＊eek@」 It then brought its left hand to its own throat, and crushed a small area. The hell is this shit?
「# t€o、@、@...... Ah... How’s this?”
“I understand you now...”
“Oh. How fortuitous. The connection was made, hm? Seems even a being such as you can bask in my full grace, now.” He spoke with a masculine tone, grinning like a madman as his red eyes locked on to me.
“You aren’t bad... No, you aren’t bad at all. Certainly a worthy adversary, I must say. You are most interesting, little man.”
“You’re... a Dominant Construct, right? How’d you get here? What are you doing here?”
“Oh, that? It’s a trivial matter, I assure you. I simply plucked at the seams of the boundary. I planned on killing as many as I can before the recoil hits me, but this delay isn’t too bad... You are most interesting, after all.”
Recoil? What’s he mean by that? The Phrase nonchalantly transformed his spear-like arm into a thin blade. I followed his movements and plucked Brunhild from my waist, activating Blade Mode in the process.
“Are you here looking for the Sovereign Core?”
“Ohoho. You know it? Indeed, I am. I, the magnificent Gila, will strike down all the miserable wretches who stand in my path. And I ain’t gonna let nobody stand in my way! So, y’get it yet? Die fer me, trash.” Gila came rocketing toward me with a furious slash. Moroha was faster, though, which helped me out a bunch. I just barely managed to dodge it thanks to her training. Then, I turned in the air to slash at him, but he caught my weapon with his left hand. Even if Brunhild could easily slash dragons, it was nothing compared to phrasium skin.
“Gun Mode!” I quickly transformed the weapon, allowing it to escape from his grasp, then shot all six phrasium bullets point-blank into Gila’s chest. After that, I reloaded in under a second and fired the second barrage at his face.
Gila was knocked back, but did a flip in midair. As he landed, he grinned broadly.
“Wahaha! Amazing, amazing! It’s been a long time since someone actually posed a threat, you know?! I must thank you for the gifts, but here, have them back!” Gila pointed the fingers of his left hand toward me, and five small bullets shot right out. I barely managed to dodge four of them, but the fifth caught my shoulder and burrowed its way in deep.
Shit! I should’ve used [Teleport] there!
He regenerated the tips of his fingers and rushed forward again with another slash.
“[Teleport]!” I teleported myself up to the castle rooftop, and used the period of confusion to heal up my shoulder with magic.
By the time he found me, I’d already used [Storage] to pull out a massive warhammer made of phrasium, which I raised above my head as I jumped down from the rooftop.
“[Gravity]!” I poured a massive amount of magic into the hammer that came down flat against Gila’s body.
“Smash into pieces, you bastard!”
“Guh... Raaargh!” Gila crossed his arms together and braced against the strike, pushing the hammer aside. The hammer hit the ground, denting the very earth and whipping up a cloud of dirt and sand. His power was unlike anything I’d ever fought before.
I deactivated the weight magic and leaped to the side. Upon inspection, I noticed that both of Gila’s arms were seriously damaged, and they had several cracked lines running through them. But, in a matter of moments, those injuries regenerated and he was fighting fit once more. Fuck... This guy is a Phrase, after all...
“Vermin! You’ve really gone and done it now! To think that my beautiful arms would splinter against you... I’m gonna kick yer ass, ya hear me?! I’ll fuckin’ break you!” The sound of cracking glass echoed out into the air, and the very space surrounding Gila opened up. Two Lesser Constructs, Cricket-types to be specific, appeared from the holes in space.
He can summon them?! He grabbed the two creatures with his hands, and I heard the grating sound of glass cracking against glass. He’d somehow fused his body with theirs, effectively turning their two bodies into gigantic arms for himself. I felt like I’d seen this on a TV show before, but I had bigger things to worry about.
The Phrase Cores within the two Lesser Constructs began to glow brightly, and he pointed both of his hulking arms toward me. Wait, no way...
“Perish now, ya rat bastard!”
“[Reflection]!” I deployed a reflective barrier at a forty-five degree angle.
In a flash, a horrific ray of light shot its way out from Gila’s body, cracking the two Cricket Phrase in the process. It struck the barrier, bounced off, and flew high into the sky.
“Gh... Ghah... D-Damn it!” The barrier started weakening, so I had to pour more magic power into it. The attack didn’t even last ten seconds, but enduring it felt like an eternity. I couldn’t withstand the entire attack, and the barrier broke. Part of the guard tower behind me was instantly vaporized.
After that, I stared Gila down with a scowl on my face. His arms rested by his sides.
“You filth... Just who the hell are ya, huh?!”
“Mochizuki Touya. Touya’s my given name. I’m a sworn enemy of the Phrase. Make sure you remember me.” The two Lesser Constructs fused to Gila’s arms finally shattered and broke off, falling to the ground. The smirk on his face was long gone.
Then, a strange thing happened. His entire form shook, like an after-image.
“Gh... Recoil’s hitting already? Shit... Welp, guess that’s it then, huh...? Touya... I’ll remember you. Next time we meet, I’ll paint the floor with your carcass.”
I wasn’t sure why, but he clearly had to return back through the boundary. Gila’s body grew fuzzy, like a bad signal on TV, before he began to fade away.
No way! You don’t g
et to just fade off all cool like that, I’m the hero here!
“[Slip].”
“Waugh?!” The fading image of Gila’s body fell down on his ass.
Bwahaha, you dumbass! So long as you’re touching the ground, even someone like you can get slipped up!
“Gah!” I guffawed like an idiot, jeering at him as he faded away. He didn’t seem to appreciate the mockery at all.
“Y-You filth!” He charged toward me, but vanished before he managed to make contact.
Only the dead Lesser Constructs remained.
“Whew...” I took a deep breath and rubbed my temples. I’m exhausted... This is probably the first time I’ve used this much magic power. This guy was on a whole other level. Honestly, if I didn’t have [Teleport], I might’ve even been a goner.
I sighed and looked around. The remaining knights were gathering in the area, trying to determine whether I was friend or foe.
“Uh... Hi. I’m the grand duke of Brunhild, Mochizuki Touya. Any chance I could speak with the overlord?”
Honestly I wouldn’t have minded if they’d said no. I was so tired that I would’ve been fine just going to sleep and talking to him a day later. I honestly would’ve been fine collapsing in a heap on the ground.
◇ ◇ ◇
“Farneeeeeese!” We were in the Frennel family home when the door opened with a thud, and the overlord of Xenoahs, Zelgadi von Xenoahs, cheered out in abject joy at the sight of his daughter. He brought his arms out and attempted to catch her in an embrace. Sakura responded by swiftly dodging, leading the man to barrel head-first into a couch.
“Why?!”
“Frightening... And gross...”
Well, I could understand that angle. He was crying like a big idiot and had snot flowing out of his nose.
Sakura quickly hid from her father, moving behind my back.
“Grand Duke, I appreciate you saving my little girl, but I have a problem with this bodacious display of flirtation! I am her father, you know that?!”
“This isn’t flirting...” Don’t waggle your finger at me like that! What kind of demonic overlord are you, anyway?! You’re a seriously creepy doting dad!
In Another World With My Smartphone: Volume 10 Page 3