Everything was just about done, so we headed over to see Listis. When she saw me, Zerorick, and the king of Primula, she heaved a sigh of relief.
Sir Zerorick summed up what had happened while we were away.
“Amazing! I can’t believe it.”
“Indeed. The senate is dissolved and the chairman is imprisoned... This is a bold new future for our holy empire!” Zerorick and Listis grinned happily toward each other. I was glad that she was now free from living a life of pretending to be someone she wasn’t.
Elze and the others were smiling too.
“I’m glad the war’s over.”
“Same here. It happened faster than I expected.”
“All is well that ends well, it is.”
Though everyone was happy, I was still pretty bummed out. Because even though the mess in Primula had been resolved...
“I’ve still got another mess to deal with...” I sighed softly as I looked down at the die-sized [Prison] I’d just taken out of my pocket. Ende was still out cold inside it.
◇ ◇ ◇
The two nations signed a peace treaty, and the war finally came to a concrete end.
Everything from then on was up to the two countries, I wasn’t planning to interfere any more than I had. Well, I did safely return Listis to her family.
Though there was some slight resistance, the holy empire dissolved its senate, and most of the senators were imprisoned and had their estates repossessed.
The chairman and the corrupt senators would likely receive their sentences, but I didn’t care enough to find out their fates.
I’d also managed to secure connections and support within the Reverse World’s governments, two nations now trusted me.
I hadn’t exactly created a sturdy defense against the inevitable Phrase attacks, but it was a start.
Just as I was about to call it a day and head home to Brunhild, another problem came up.
“Take me with you!”
“Uhh...” Elluka started whining that she wanted to come with me. Please stop clinging to my leg like that... Elze and the others are staring daggers into my skull right now!
“Touya, she definitely has a lot of good know-how. There’s stuff I wanna ask her about, too... So let her tag.”
“Thanks, Regina! I knew you were reliable!” Elluka winked and pointed toward Doc Babylon. Even though I knew she was intelligent... Her personality was a pain. I wasn’t sure if I wanted her and Babylon talking unsupervised.
Fenrir coming along too was a little bit of a relief, but I wasn’t sure if it was completely reassuring.
“When you say let her tag along, you mean take her to Babylon?”
“Yeah. We won’t have her roaming around the ground, so we’ll just let her hang around the Workshop or the Research Lab.” Hmm... If her Gollem research can help us improve the Frame Gears, then it might be indispensable for the coming conflicts...
I looked over toward Elze and the others. They all nodded.
“Why not, right? She’s probably gonna be helpful.”
“Well... If everyone says so, then...”
“Wahoo! We did it, Fenrir! We’re going to another world!”
“I’m glad for you, master.” I felt a teeny bit anxious as Elluka immediately lifted up Fenrir by the front paws and started dancing with him.
“Another world, eh... Touya, please take me there someday. I’d like to see the world of my ancestors.”
“Someday, for sure. I’ll introduce you to another person on that side from the Palerius lineage, as well. She’s quite pretty, you know.”
“Ohoho, I like the sound of that.” The king of Primula laughed and shook my hand. I promised I’d return, and told them that if anything dangerous happened, to look for the Silver Dragon on Drakliff island.
I ordered the dragons on that island not to harm any humans unless they attack first. Most of them didn’t speak the language of humans, but they pretty much all understood it. So long as they explained what they were there for, Shirogane would be able to help them out.
“See you later, then.”
“Mm. Thank you again for helping us. Farewell.” I waved off the king of Primula and used [Gate] to take us all back to Drakliff island. Then we used the Dimensional Disruptor Mk. II to return to Babylon.
I asked Elluka to wait a little bit because I wanted to fetch Yumina. I didn’t exactly suspect Elluka of anything, but I wanted Yumina’s Mystic Eyes to determine her intentions.
Yumina judged her to be pure of heart, so I had Doctor Babylon give her a tour of the place. Elluka was already looking around in a mixture of confusion, awe, and wonder.
They were getting pretty hungry, I warped Elze and the others back down to the surface. Just as I was about to warp the two of us back down, Yumina tugged at my sleeve.
“Touya... That woman isn’t going to be a tenth, is she...?”
“Absolutely not! Hell no! She’s just another member of staff, I promise!”
“Alright, then.” Yumina was smiling, but I felt a frightening amount of pressure behind that face of hers. I hoped she understood I had no plans to increase my wife count.
I didn’t understand why she was fine with me having mistresses if she got that concerned about more wives... Not that I was planning on having any, anyway.
Yumina and the others seemed to consider Doctor Babylon and the Babylon Gynoids as my mistresses already, apparently. I wondered if they were fine with me having mistresses so long as they were infertile or something.
“Oh, right. I met Ende in the other world. That dumbass had lost his memories and gotten brainwashed.”
“Wow, really? What happened to him?”
“Hm? Oh, I beat him and put him in this cube.” I pulled out the die-like [Prison] and tossed it out on to the grassy knoll in front of us.
“Release.” Registering my keyword, the [Prison] shattered apart and released its prisoner.
In a matter of seconds, Ende charged at us. He was dashing toward Yumina with his fist about to fly right at her.
“Gaah!”
“Eek!” Goddammit! I caught his hand just before it struck Yumina, then tossed him over with a perfect ippon seoi nage judo throw. When the dumbass was flat on his back, I hit him with [Paralyze].
“Gwaugh!” After he went limp, I let go of him.
“Sorry... Didn’t realize he’d woken up yet. That’s one drawback of [Prison].” Time flowed normally in there, unlike [Storage], so he’d probably woken up a while ago. He’d been biding his time and waiting for his opportunity.
I was pretty livid that he’d tried to hit Yumina of all people. I wanted to hit him a few more times.
“He’s certainly out of his mind, then...”
“Yeah... His memories are probably all jumbled up. I’m gonna bring him to Melle and hope he can come back to his senses.” It’d be bad if he kept attacking us no matter what.
I lifted his body up with [Levitation] and made for Babylon’s rampart with Yumina.
We reached Melle’s room, and I set down Ende on the ground near the despondent girl.
“Endymion?!” Melle, who had been unresponsive since I left her, suddenly snapped to her senses and began cradling the unconscious man in her arms.
“This is awful... Who did this to you?”
“Ah... That was me, kinda... But hold on! Don’t get upset! I’m sorry! It’s not my fault! He lost his memories and tried to attack me...! It was self-defense, okay?! It was just self-defense!” Melle looked up at me with teary eyes, sniffling softly, so I spewed out my defense. I ended up getting a little excessive, but I didn’t really like being guilted.
“His memories?”
“He was apparently on the verge of death when he was found. He lost his memories as a result, and after that, some bad guy implanted bad ideas into his head, which made him see me as an enemy. He seemed to remember you a bit, though.”
“...I understand. I’ll heal his mind at once.”
“Huh
?” Melle completely ignored me and extended her fingers until they took the form of thin, crystal tentacles. They snaked outward and latched on to various parts of Ende’s head.
“I’ll undo the psychological damage that Endymion has suffered. You may wish to cover your ears, the sound is rather shrill.”
The moment she finished speaking, the tendrils began emitting a piercing shriek. It rippled through the air, causing an amplified tinnitus-like sensation. I couldn’t stand it, so I backed out of the [Prison] with Yumina.
“Did she say this was healing him?”
“It might be similar to my [Recall] spell, or maybe she’s using vibrations to mess with his brain.” I could only really guess, but being in there made me feel like I was in a microwave oven. I hoped Ende’s head wouldn’t explode or something.
After a while, Melle turned toward us and made a puzzled expression. Something seemed to be wrong. Yumina and I stepped back into the [Prison], Melle began speaking in a concerned manner.
“Umm... I should have fixed him, but he’s not moving...” Ende’s eyes clearly had life in them. He was laying atop Melle’s knees, but he couldn’t move or talk. He moved his eyes to shoot me a glare.
“Oh, right... I used [Paralyze].” I’d totally forgotten, it was no wonder he couldn’t move.
I walked up to Ende and cast [Recovery] on him. I decided that I’d cast [Paralyze] on him again if he tried anything funny, though.
After I undid his paralysis, Ende reached a hand out to Melle’s face, and gently caressed her cheek.
“Hey, Melle. Been a while, huh...”
“Endymion!” Melle held him tight against her.
It seemed like he was back to his old self. I was glad.
“You have your memories back...”
“Thanks to you... I remember what happened when I lost my memories, as well... Touya, you hit me pretty hard.”
“That’s all your fault, man. Can’t blame me for it.” If he could speak to me so casually, that meant he was fine. Ende looked around the room with narrow eyes as Melle embraced him.
“Touya... Why is she in a place like this? Did you bring her here by force?”
“...Please don’t make me out to be some kind of kidnapper. This is for her own protection. The Phrase can’t sense her while she’s in here. This space is completely isolated, so it’s the safest place in the world for you both.” Don’t make me out to be some kind of kidnapper. I was pretty angry that Ende was assuming I’d do something like that, so I met him with a light scowl.
We continued to stare each other down until Yumina stood between us.
“Let’s allow Ende and Melle some time to talk their personal business out, okay? We’ll take our leave for now.”
“Huh? Wha- Yumina?!” Despite my protests, Yumina dragged me right out of the [Prison] and into the corridor. I wondered what that was all about. “That’s enough, Touya. The two of them are lovers, aren’t they? They’ve been separated for a long time. You can’t sour their reunion with a petty argument. There’s no wonder he’d be suspicious if he found her confined.”
“...Ah... I mean, I guess.” Yumina explained the situation, and I looked back at the door with mixed feelings. Guess I was a little dense... My bad...
At least I knew now.
“...As they say, he who interferes with love needs to get kicked by a horse and die.”
“Do they say that?”
“Back in my birth country, at least. The idea is that infringing on people’s romance is such a heavy-handed thing to do that getting kicked in the head by a horse is the only suitable punishment.” Well, it wasn’t like I meant it literally. If I got kicked by a horse I wouldn’t die with the body I had. There was a lot I wanted to ask of Ende, but I decided to respect him for the time being, along with Yumina’s wishes.
Besides, it wasn’t like he could escape the [Prison], and I’d taken his Sacred Treasures, as well.
The two of us walked away from Ende and Melle’s room.
◇ ◇ ◇
“Alright, time to hear you out.” I rapped my knuckles against the table Ende and I were seated at. We were in a dim room, only illuminated by a dim amount of Light magic, but it was enough to see his face.
“Let’s make this real easy-like... I wanna hear the whole story. Want a cutlet? Reminds you of your mother, right?”
“...Touya, you’re acting pretty weird... But I am hungry, so I’ll have some.” ... Guess I got a little carried away there... Usually, in interrogation scenes in TV dramas they offer culprits some katsudon, but I guess it’s not the same here...
Cesca brought in three bowls of pork katsudon. One for me, one for Ende, and one for Melle... If she actually ate.
“Is that for me?”
“I know the Phrase don’t need to eat or whatever, but it’s been cooked so... You might as well try it.” Melle turned to Ende, she seemed puzzled. But once she saw him pick up his chopsticks and eat the cutlet, she awkwardly followed suit and put a bite into her own mouth.
“Oh?!”
Melle’s eyes went wide and she began happily chowing down. She seemed to really like it.
“...What’s the relationship between Dominant Constructs and food, anyway?”
“The Phrase, in general, can operate just fine so long as there’s a little sunlight and magic power, so they’re not really versed in the many flavors out there. Although, Lycee was pretty big on food.”
“I see... Actually, what happened to her? Wasn’t she with you?”
“I’ll get to that later. Let’s enjoy our food, first.” That was fair. I wanted to finish my bowl before it got cold, after all. It was delicious... Which probably meant Crea had made it. Then again, it could’ve also been Lu. Even though she was a princess, she was on the level of a pro chef when it came to kitchen antics.
We finished our food, even though Melle seemed like she wanted more, and Ende began to speak.
“You know about them, right? Those golden Phrase, I mean.”
“The Mutated Constructs?”
“Mutants, huh? Yeah, that’s a good term for it. The Phrase that came to this world have divided into two factions. There’s Ney’s group of loyalists and Yula’s group of insurgents. Yula got some weird new power from somewhere, and is capable of morphing the species into a weird hybrid species.” I think I remember meeting Ney one time... And Yula’s probably that other guy who creeped me out. I remember thinking his eyes were shady, so he must be the guy with the wicked god’s power.
“I was attempting to figure out the power of Yula’s faction, and I tracked them down in the gap between worlds. It was there that I met with the twins, uh... They’re two Dominant Constructs named Leto and Luto. They defeated me. It’s a little embarrassing to admit, honestly... But they completely overpowered me. They were far stronger than they’d used to be, it came as quite a shock. They’d been infected with that golden stuff, and their power had increased along with that change. It took everything in me just to get out of there.”
“...They’ve got more Dominants on their side? And you’re telling me some of them are mutated already?”
“That power of theirs is not of this world. I’ve traveled through many worlds before, Touya... What I’m about to say might shock you. They have... The power of a god. They have unthinkable might, a power that could create or destroy worlds!”
“Nah, not quite. They actually have a wicked god’s power. It’s more of an imitation god that was born in the mortal realm, the power they’re currently wielding is nothing compared to actual divinity.” Ende stared at me with a blank face. He blinked. It was clear from his vacant expression that he had no idea how I could know this. I ended up snickering a bit at how dumbfounded he’d become.
“...There’s been something on my mind for a while, Touya. Just who are you, exactly? It’s clear you aren’t an ordinary human.”
“Ah, well... I guess it’s fine to show you two.” I cleared my throat and triggered my Apotheosis, letti
ng divinity flow through my body and seep out into the room. I let out just enough for the two of them to notice.
When the wave hit them, they both opened their eyes in shock and backed away a bit. Might’ve overdone it a little... I changed back into a regular human and nodded toward them.
“That... aura just now...”
“Yeah. Basically, I’m a god. A trainee one, but... Yeah.”
Ende and Melle stared with their mouths hanging open. I couldn’t exactly blame them for it. The aura granted by my Apotheosis basically forced anyone bearing witness to it to acknowledge me as a god on some fundamental level. Mine wasn’t quite as powerful as Karen and the others’ yet, though.
“...Sh-Should we be praying to you?”
“Please don’t, that’d just be awkward. I’m a god-in-training, not a fully-fledged one yet. So please just treat me normal.” The two of them glanced at each other and leaned forward a bit. They still seemed a little uncomfortable, but I was sure they’d get used to it.
“So... You lost your memories after the twins beat you up?”
“...You don’t have to say they beat me up... I mean, they did... But still... Either way, no. I managed to escape. The issue came when I realized what I was up against, so I set out to obtain a power to rival theirs.”
“Are you referring to these?” I opened up my [Storage] and pulled out the two shortswords. They were Sacred Treasures.
“That’s right. They’re weapons from a world a few steps away from this one. The world was under attack from some evil dragon something or other, but it was saved by a hero who wielded these blades. The swords were passed down that hero’s family line or whatever, so I decided to borrow them.” You nabbed some Sacred Treasures from another world?! Well... I guess having them lying around could’ve been dangerous, so Ende having them is fine.
“But then a mysterious man appeared in front of me. He said ‘Whoops, we forgot to retrieve these, can’t have these lying around the mortal realm,’ and beat the crap out of me when I refused to hand them over. I used my ability to jump to another world just before I lost consciousness, but I ended up landing in the wrong world. After that, the old man picked me up and the rest is history.”
In Another World With My Smartphone: Volume 14 Page 19