The prince’s birth was formally announced shortly after.
The news spread through the castle town in no time at all, and people flooded into the streets celebrating. I was allowed to fire up a bunch of fireworks to celebrate, too. Well, technically they were being dropped down from Babylon, but I digress. In tandem with that announcement, Yumina’s engagement was made formal knowledge as well. Her fiancee was announced as an up-and-coming grand duke. In other words, me. It didn’t take long for gossip to spread about that, either.
Apparently the story became pretty popular in the guild. Some kind of success story about a lowly adventurer who rose up the ranks, became a monarch, and got engaged to a beautiful princess.
Yumina’s engagement wasn’t the only one announced, either. In Regulus, Princess Lucia’s engagement was made public knowledge as well. I imagined people would be chattering similarly over there too.
Thanks to the announcement, I imagined the citizens would be a lot more confident about a solid unification between Belfast and Regulus.
The other girls didn’t get formal engagement announcements, but they weren’t really torn up about it. Well, Sue was a little bit fussy.
Sue had been accepted as my fiancee, but I didn’t quite have the heart to bring her back to Brunhild with me. I imagined that Duke Ortlinde and Ellen would get lonely.
As a compromise, I created a permanent [Gate] in her room at the Ortlinde estate, which connected to her own bedroom in my castle. I told her she could stop by any time.
“Ah... I’m glad the kid was born okay.”
“Indeed. I was most impressed by her resolve, I was.” The girls, who had been there for the birth of Prince Yamato, sat exhausted on a couch. We were all in a guest room that had been provided for us. Yumina and Sue weren’t present, leaving myself, Elze, Linze, Yae, and Lu. They seemed more than relaxed to be done with it all.
“...W-We’ll... eventually have children of our own, won’t we...?” Linze quietly spoke up, causing the others to turn beet red and mutter amongst themselves.
Wh-What a thing to say... Even I’m gonna turn red!
Festivals were being held in the streets that evening. The royal palace was giving out free booze, and everyone was celebrating the prince’s birth.
The Gate Mirrors I’d set up all saw activity, well-wishes from various nations coming in en masse. The king smiled gently, which honestly kind of made me feel nervous... I wasn’t sure I was ready to be like that.
The problems in Lihnea had been dealt with, and Prince Yamato had finally been born... It was time for a much-needed rest... or so I thought.
“Hello there, my name is Fleur. Grand Duke, thank you so much for saving me.”
“Ah... It’s really no big deal...” A young woman with light-brown hair stood before me. She seemed to be around twenty or so. She was the female slave that I had freed from Zabune. In all honesty, I’d kind of forgotten about her.
There was a lot going on, so it wasn’t really my fault. Apparently Fleur had been living in my castle since the time I brought her back... And only now had she been able to meet with me. Or rather, only now had I remembered she existed.
“Zabune’s been sent off to the dig site at Sandora, so you’re free. If you’d like me to take you home, just say the word.”
“Ah, no... I’d like to ask if I can work here. I don’t wish to return to Lihnea, and I know my home is fine without me, so...”
Well, she was a slave over there, I guess... Even if the place is different now, it’s probably still full of bad memories.
“Uh... Sure! A friend of mine runs an inn in the castle town, would you like to work there?”
“Yes! I’d love to!” And so, I sent Fleur to go work at the Silver Moon. Micah accepted the offer readily, so that was lucky.
I gave her various high-quality potions made in the alchemy lab. It would be helpful to have stuff like that at the inn, just in case people got injured over there.
“How’re customers doing? Is the inn profiting well?”
“I’d say we’re definitely turning a profit, yes! Rooms are rarely empty these days. A lot of adventurers and travelers from Belfast and Regulus pass through here, actually. Ah, that reminds me... they often swap stories, and I heard an interesting one recently.”
“Hm? What was it?” While Brunhild’s Silver Inn branch was ostensibly a hotel, it was also an intel-gathering hotspot. Almost all the staff there were ninjas formerly associated with the Takeda house. It was their job to observe suspicious individuals and listen out for curious stories. They were my gossip traps, after all.
“There’s a small village to the south of the Roadmare Union. Apparently a crystalline monster appeared there recently. It was supposedly the size of a bear, with a body shaped like a mantis.”
“...What!” It had to be a Phrase. Likely one of the weaker ones, given the size reference given... Probably on the same level as the Cricket Phrase we’d encountered so long ago.
“So, what became of that monster?”
“The guild in Roadmare put out a job to wipe it out, and a party formed to kill it. But... there were massive casualties. The village was entirely annihilated, and the party almost died.” Wow, they killed it? I’m impressed... but still, that much damage even against a weak one...
Still, I was hearing more Phrase sightings lately... They were appearing more frequently, little by little. I wondered if the world’s boundary was becoming even more strained.
Ende hadn’t shown up, which probably meant he didn’t consider the weak Phrase important enough.
“Guess I’d better hurry...” I asked Micah to deal with Fleur, then quickly opened up a [Gate] to Babylon.
Chapter III: If You’re Prepared, There’s Nothing To Fear!
“Aha, so this is the Ether Liquid...” Flora had handed me a clear plastic bottle containing about 500ml of emerald-green liquid. It kinda looked like melon soda. Honestly, if it had ice in it, I definitely would’ve chugged it down without any questions.
“So, how long will this much power a Frame Gear for?”
“This much should last about a month, you know?”
“Wow, that long...? I thought it’d be closer to a couple hours or something.” I guess it’s more fuel-efficient than gasoline or kerosene... Actually, that probably wasn’t the case. Given what it took to produce such a small amount, it was unreasonable.
“I did say that Ether Liquid was a fuel, you know? But it’s actually more akin to something like the human nervous system. It’s a catalytic fluid that spreads the intentions of the pilot throughout their frame gear, you know?”
“Huh... if it’s really like nerves or blood vessels... is such a small amount really enough?”
“That’s not a problem, you know. It’s not like the liquid spreads out across the entire machine frame, you know? There’s a thin tube skeleton that stores and spreads the fuel.” Frankly, I didn’t understand. But it didn’t really matter. A Frame Gear was no different to a handy tool in the end. I could operate it despite not knowing precisely how it worked. I decided I should only worry about it when it breaks down.
“So, how many bottles did you make?”
“Just this for now, you know? But starting tomorrow, I should be able to make about ten. As for the Ether Ore... I can probably make a further ten until the spellstone wears out, you know?” So if I have ten frame gears... I’ll get a good few months out of that. Yeah, that seems about right... They’re not gonna be moving every day, after all.
I left the alchemy lab behind and took the Ether Liquid over to Monica in the hangar.
I passed the liquid to her, and she immediately went over to the Chevalier, my mass-produced Frame Gear. She opened up some of the armor on the rear and pushed the bottle against it. With a sucking kind of clunk noise, I heard the sound of rushing air, and the bottle was swiftly drained of its contents.
“Woohoo! Like, you can totally start your Frame Gear now if you want! But I must implore you,
refrain from activating it within this area, master. You’ll totally damage my precious hangar if you fall over or something!” Aren’t you the one damaging your “precious” hangar with a wrench all the time?!
Still, she had a point. Activating it in the hangar would be problematic. It’d be easiest to take it back to the Duchy and run the test there too, but that opened up its own set of problems.
I didn’t think it’d be wise to make the Frame Gears public knowledge just yet, but at the same time it might be prudent to announce they exist so we could better prepare for the Phrase invasion. I didn’t want to think about it too much, but there was a good chance that I’d only be able to defend Brunhild. For that reason, I figured I should get the other nations to cooperate.
At the very least, I didn’t need to tell anyone about the Phrase just yet. It would only cause unneeded panic. I decided that I would let the other nations know about the Frame Gear. It would be fine if I announced it as an Artifact or something. In that case, they probably wouldn’t find it too strange.
The primary concern was that other countries might seek to interfere or meddle with my affairs after learning about the Frame Gear.
I don’t think I needed to worry about the western alliance leaders. They were well aware of what I was capable of, and wouldn’t be inclined to betray me. They’d probably end up nagging me to let them try the Frame Gear, if anything.
In all honesty, any country that messed with me would sorely regret it, so I didn’t worry very much. It wouldn’t be possible for them to steal it, either. My Frame Gears would be safely stored within the Hangar of Babylon.
Alright, guess we’ll bring this thing topside and start the testing. I won’t hide it or anything, but... I guess I can afford to show my retainers and knights.
“Milord... what is this...?”
“Whoa! Amazing! It’s a real Frame Gear!! Did you make this, your highness?!”
“This... is real? Really? This isn’t an illusion?” The Commander and her Vice-Commanders gathered around, mouths agape as they stared at the Chevalier. Various citizens and knights, equally dumbfounded, were also standing around. That made sense, given how much of an eyesore it was.
“H-Hey, what the hell is that thing...? Can it move? Can it?”
“I’d wager he’s tryin’ ta test that out now. Goodness me, squirt. You’ve gone an’ made somethin’ outrageous...” Yamagata and Baba both stared at Chevalier. They, too, were amazed by its very presence. I wanted to take credit, but it wasn’t like I was the creator or anything.
They probably just assumed I built the Frame Gear because I’m always using [Modeling] to craft this that and the other. I decided I wouldn’t correct their mistake. For the time being at least.
《Kougyoku... is everything prepared properly for Yae?》
《That it is, my liege. She’s ready and waiting to go.》 Yae and Kougyoku were both aboard the Chevalier. I hadn’t installed any kind of communication relay, so I was using my summoned beasts for the time being. It wasn’t exactly a big deal to do, so it was a fine workaround.
I wondered if external speakers and communication devices would be possible upgrades for the Frame Gears. I decided to ask Rosetta about it later on.
《Roger, in that case... Chevalier, launch!》 With a rumbling noise, I heard something begin to whir. Lights appeared on the outside of the Frame Gear. I figured it was in the power-up stage. Hot air blew from the exhaust vents on the legs and chest.
Slowly, but surely, the Chevalier’s right leg moved forwards, taking a heavy, thudding step.
“It really moved...” I didn’t quite hear who said that, but they summed up the feelings of everyone in the area.
Chevalier took a second step. It began walking forward at a regular pace, took a U-Turn, and returned to its starting position.
It repeated the motion, but this time moved even faster. Each time it took a crashing step, new vibrations shuddered through the ground.
《Alright, looking good for leg movements so far. Try the upper body now.》 On my command, Chevalier stopped in its tracks. Slowly it pulled out the blade attached to its waist. It took several martial stances, cycling between three in quick succession. It moved seamlessly. It didn’t seem there were any issues.
I chose Yae as the initial test pilot because she was the least magically-attuned person that I knew. I knew that if Yae would be able to move around freely in it, then anyone could.
Just as I was thinking that, Chevalier suddenly became unbalanced and toppled over on its side. An incredible shock rumbled the earth as it impacted the ground.
《Yae, Kougyoku, are you okay?!》
《O-Owowow... I-I am quite fine, I am. It seems this device absorbs shock quite well. It was quite the fall, and I surely would have hurt myself otherwise. As it stands, my only injury is a slightly bashed elbow, it is.》 Yae’s voice was transmitted to me through my connection to Kougyoku. I was glad she wasn’t seriously hurt.
Rosetta had made a point to mention to me that when the Frame Gear starts up, various magic shields are erected around the cockpit to mitigate damage done to the pilot from jostling. I didn’t realize quite how effective they were until just then.
The Chevalier stood back upwards and began to walk again. Its exterior armor had neither crack nor dent. It was remarkably durable.
The Frame Gear stopped just before reaching us again. The chest plate folded outward, and out popped Yae and Kougyoku. In tandem with their escape, a cheering applause broke out from all the gathered knights. Gah, you scared me! Yae began to slowly wave to all the cheering people. Don’t let it get to your head, now!
“So, how was it?” I turned and asked Yae about her first impressions with the thing.
“It was far easier to move than I had expected, it was. I also thought that it would shake around more, but I was quite stable. It was not much different to the Frame Unit at all, it was not.” Made sense enough to me. The shock absorbers around the cockpit must even suppress the subtle motions of walking. At least that would probably be enough to relieve Linze. She got terrible motion sickness.
As I was pondering, I heard the start-up sounds coming from the Frame Gear again. I turned around to find that Chevalier was active and strolling about.
“Wha- Who?!”
“I-I’m sorry... sis just went and...” Linze, whose face was terribly flustered, began profusely apologizing to me. Damn you, Elze! It’s supposed to be my turn! She was robbing me of a man’s romance. It was the dream of all young men to ride around in a giant robot! It was true that I had given up the first time to Yae for testing purposes, but that didn’t mean I wanted to give up the second time, too! I looked over at the now-running Chevalier, and stomped my foot a little bit. It was... really cool, though. Its movements were super intense. The Chevalier started doing acrobatic leaps alongside deft punches and kicks. It didn’t seem to move with any difficult at all. It was at that moment I realized just how cool Frame Gears were.
After a short while, Elze was seemingly satisfied. She leaped out of the chest covering with glee.
“Woah! That thing was so much fun! It moved just like how I thought it would! Looks like all that practice in the Frame Unit paid off, eh?”
“Yeah, you did great! But it was my turn, you know!”
“Pssh... don’t sweat the small stuff. Shouldn’t you be acting a little more regal? You are the Grand Duke, after all.”
“Sh-Shut up! You knew how much I wanted to ride it, damn it! You robbed me of my rightful place!” I was reminded of an incident that had occurred once at the bus stop. An elderly woman cut in from the side and got on the bus ahead of me. She pretended to look at the timetable until the last minute. What a horrid old hag. Nobody should ever, ever cut in line. Cutting in line is what evil people do. Even babies know that!
As I lost myself in that unpleasant memory, I once again heard the whirring start-up noise of the Chevalier. “Wh— Hey— No!!” I turned around and, sure enough, the Frame Ge
ar was fully operational again. Why is this happening?! It’s my robot! I wanna ride it! “Who the hell is riding that thing?! Answer me!”
“...It is Norn, it is. She suddenly yelled something about her being next, and charged on ahead, she did.” Yae apprehensively answered me, backing away a little as she spoke.
Gaaah! Damn you, you wolfy bitch! You’re a lowly Vice-Commander, how dare you?! As I indulged myself in angry thoughts, I turned and noticed everyone was lining up and waiting their turn. Hey, what?! What the heck?! What about my turn?!
I’d just educated everyone on the importance of never cutting in line, so I’d be damned if I used my kingly presence to disobey my own rules... even if it was frustrating. Thus, I joined the line like everyone else, taking my place at the back. Everyone trailed me with their eyes, it was super goddamn embarrassing.
Don’t look at me like that! I’m not pathetic, I’m just waiting my turn! Guess I don’t really have any choice here, huh... Damn it... This sucks!
◇ ◇ ◇
After I first debuted the Frame Gear, the number of people lining up to use the Frame Unit became unreasonable.
Not that I could do too much to change the situation, since the game room was a prescribed place for the knights to spend their free time. Unanimously, they all decided that they’d train in the simulators immediately after their regularly scheduled daily training.
If this world had something akin to workers’ rights and standards, then I might’ve had to worry about having formal action taken against me. Then again, it’s not like I was forcing them to do anything. Everyone was training of their own free will.
There were also others like Baba and Naito, who weren’t especially interested in piloting anything. They saw it as more of a game than anything else. Plus, the Frame Gear itself was my personal property, rather than something owned by Brunhild, so they weren’t sure if they were even allowed to pilot it.
In Another World With My Smartphone_Volume 6 Page 10