I reassured myself by rationalizing that we wouldn’t need to use the Frame Gears unless an Intermediate or Advanced Phrase broke through, and that was surely unlikely.
It didn’t shake the fears deep inside me, however.
“It is a most esteemed pleasure to make your acquaintance at last, Grand Duke of Brunhild. My name is Relisha Millian. I’m the Guildmaster, and as such I take charge of all formal guild operations throughout the land.” I was faced with a young woman, around 20 years old or so. She was standing in my throne room, bowing her head. Her hair was a dazzling golden-blonde, quite long too. Her skin was remarkably pale, and her shoulders were adorned with a green mantle. The girl held a silver sword about her waist.
She was definitely attractive, but what had captivated me was not her stunning face. It was her long, knifepoint ears.
“...Are you as of yet unacquainted with Elvenfolk?”
“Ah, sorry... excuse my rudeness.” I smiled bashfully as my apologetic reflexes kicked in. My suspicions had been confirmed, an elf she was indeed. I didn’t even know that this world had elves.
I didn’t really have much knowledge of fantasy settings, but as I recalled the Elves were haughty folk with bows, often proficient in magic. They tended to inhabit the forests as well. That being said, conventional fantasy knowledge from my world wasn’t all that relevant here. The rules could be different.
It was possible this woman was quite old despite her young features, even. Leen the fairy, for example, looked years younger than her real age.
“Our guild takes great pride in knowing that one of its members is not only a monarch, but one of our rare silver-rank adventurers.”
“A-Aha... Well, it wasn’t all me, there were a lot of circumstances that ended up superimposing, and...” Forget it. I’ll just leave it... Kinda feels like she’s sizing me up like a pretty gem, though... Not that I dislike her looking or anything.
“Well then, what’s your business here today?”
“Ah, yes. I’ve arrived in your most beautiful Brunhild with a glowing opportunity. I would very much like to establish a branch of the Adventurer’s Guild here.”
“Huh? But why? You know there aren’t any magic beasts or monsters around this area, right?” I’d pretty much hunted every local creature to extinction during the country’s founding. Then again, it had been a while... no telling what manner of beasties might’ve crawled over.
“Pardon my rudeness, but if I might be frank... the slaughter of outrageous beasts is not the primary function of the Adventurer’s Guild. Nay, what marks the true essence of our guild is the spirit of camaraderie, helping out troubled citizens in their day-to-day lives.”
“Oh, I see...” She raised a fair point. It wasn’t just monster-hunting quests on the guild board. I just happened to avoid looking at the miscellaneous requests. It was likely that a lot of adventurers were helping fetch things for needy people in their daily struggles. After all, helping out the common man is what spreads your name around.
If all the Guild dealt in was slaughter, it wouldn’t really be convenient to open up a Brunhild branch.
“Alrighty then. I don’t think it’ll be a problem. If you could consult with old man Naito on the finer details like placement, I’m happy to have you.”
“Aha! Thank you so much! Now... if I might make one other request.” Hmm? There’s something else? The Elven Guildmaster slowly raised her head, smiling softly as she did so.
“I’m here to deliver a personal quest from the Guild to you, dear Silver-rank adventurer, most esteemed Mochizuki Touya... There is a Behemoth that we require you to destroy.”
“A... Behemoth?!” Kousaka, who had idly been standing by my throne until that point, suddenly lost all his composure. I had no idea what they were talking about. I decided to ask him.
“Sorry, what’s a Behemoth?”
“...A Behemoth is, as the name suggests, an enormous magical beast. I suppose you could consider it an aberrant or a mutation. Every so often a beast of this type will appear. Their size varies, but most become considerably larger than buildings.” Wow, holy shit. Sounds kind of like a kaiju... I’d never even heard of these things before... Then again, if they were a rare mutation that shouldn’t be all too surprising.
“Behemoths are typically killed in infancy due to their horrendous growth potential. But, in some rare instances, the creature may grow to full maturity beyond the prying gaze of civilization. This usually happens if the creature is born atop a high mountain, deep below the sea, or simply in uncharted territory.” Relisha continued the explanation. You’d expect that kind of thing to stand out a bit, but the total population of this world wasn’t that great, so it only makes sense that there’d be places where monsters could grow undisturbed.
“We’re usually fine if the creature simply lives quietly in uncharted areas away from mankind, but now and then they’ll come across civilization and begin ravaging towns. When this happens, it’s not unusual for an entire country’s military to be mobilized in an attempt to suppress the beast. In cases like this, casualty rates are abhorrently high, and even after defeating the monster, the country affected is put into dire straits.”
“So, where is this thing?”
“Ah, yes. The Behemoth has appeared in the Sea of Trees. But, according to eyewitness reports, it is barreling due east and is on a direct course to meet the Kingdom of Ryle. Its current trajectory also means that, en route, it will rampage through and annihilate a small town, Tem.” Ryle... if I remember right, that place borders the Sea of Trees directly... If that monster bursts out of the forest and attacks, they’ll be completely done for. I had doubts that I could actually take it down solo, but it seemed I was without a choice...
“So wait... why have you come to make this request of me, specifically?”
“With all due respect, your Grand Dukeliness... we’ve heard rumors that you have something that could fight on par with a Behemoth. Rumors that the Grand Duke of Brunhild has a mighty giant serving his army, an enormous knight.”
Oh. She’s totally talking about the Frame Gear, huh. I should’ve expected someone to notice soon, but I didn’t know the Guild would be the first ones to bring it up.
Hrmph... what to do. My country’ll be fine if I say no, but I’ll be kind of uncomfortable if that town gets annihilated.
“Is this request straight from the Ryle Kingdom?”
“It is. Naturally the reward would be plentiful.”
“Open Map. Region around Ryle. Search, Behemoth.”
“Understood. Displaying Map.” The map was projected before my eyes, and a single pin fell down. I’d never seen a Behemoth before, but the search spell worked because I knew what to expect.
The Kingdom of Ryle was a nation just to the southeast of Ramissh. According to the map, the Behemoth was absolutely on the way to Tem.
Hm... this might be a good chance to test out the Frame Gear’s capabilities, but... Oho...
“Excuse me. In regards to the reward... I’d like to make an additional request.”
“...Yes, and what would that be?” I ran a small search on my Map, then turned to the now-confused Relisha.
“In the Kingdom of Ryle... uhm... yeah, here. I’d like permission to excavate these three spots as my reward. There are spellstones buried here, and I want them.”
“Hm... They don’t seem to be too large, so I could probably get permission. Give me a moment to ask them.” Huh? Give you a moment? What’s that supposed to mean? Relisha brought out a small black B6-sized slate and started writing on it with a pen. After a short while, it shone with a dim light and the words faded into it, vanishing.
“What’s that?”
“It’s an Artifact known as a Tracebook. It’s actually part of a set. Any words you write on one will be delivered to the matching Tracebook. It’s a powerful tool that allows the rapid exchange of information... My guilds use them to coordinate. But it’s only really valuable to those that hold manageria
l positions such as myself and the respective branch managers.” Heh, that’s cool. Kind of like a rudimentary e-mail. It’s actually more convenient than my Gate Mirrors, since the messaging is instant. I wonder how rare these are... probably aren’t many.
The Gate Mirrors were convenient in that they could be mass-produced, though. So they had that going for them. Also only I could create them. It’s likely that the Tracebook artifact was used during the days of Partheno, the ancient civilization.
I took Relisha to the guest room rather than the audience hall, since there was no telling how long a reply might take. The guild contact in Ryle probably had to run off to the royal castle and relay the request. In the meantime, I decided to probe more about this Behemoth.
“So, this Behemoth... what kind of monster is it?”
“To put it simply... it’s an enormous, twin-tailed scorpion. It has been given the name ‘Scorpinas.’ We’ve heard that it moves slowly due to its lumbering form... The same can be said of all Behemoths, regardless of type. But its pincers are supposedly sharp as razors, and it can fire venom from its tail.” Venom? Goddamn... Well, from what I understand the Frame Gear deploys a basic protective barrier around the cockpit... but maybe I should see about bringing over a shield or something.
I called over Naito and consulted with him on the construction of a guild branch. It’d be good to get some adventurers rolling in, but I didn’t want any altercations or incidents going on in my town, so we decided to build it in the west side of town, rather than dead center.
Apparently a guild-endorsed bar also needed to be built alongside the guildhall. After hearing that, I finalized plans to install a Knight Order guardsman post in the area. Didn’t want any drunkards causing trouble, after all.
After we got all that sorted, the Tracebook suddenly started glowing. Relisha had her response.
“Your request has been approved. They’re absolutely fine with relinquishing the spellstones in those spots to you. Only after the quest is fulfilled, of course. We, the guild, will also act as witness to this.” Alright! We’ll be able to create more Ether Liquid after this... that’s a net positive. I had tried to use [Modeling] to clump a bunch of smaller spellstones together... but the carving incantation didn’t work at all, so that approach was useless. Even spellstones of the same type wouldn’t resonate together and make the Ether Liquid. The differences between them, however subtle, were enough to disturb the flow of magical energy between them.
To put it in simple terms... mincemeat will turn into a hamburger if you mash it all together, but it will never become a sirloin steak.
“Alright then, challenge accepted. I’ll deal with it right away.”
“Thank you.” I parted with Relisha and went up to Babylon. I told Cesca to move fast in the direction of the Behemoth. I didn’t want it reaching Ryle. I figured it would be better to get Babylon moving there sooner rather than later, in case unforeseen events ended up complicating things.
After leaving the garden, I walked over to the hangar.
I passed Chevalier’s garage and went to the next one over. This one held a dark black knight with a mace and heavy shield.
This one was a tad larger than the Chevalier. It was a commander-style unit known as the Knight Baron. The most eye-catching thing about it was its big horn that jutted out from the forehead. It wasn’t there originally, but I put it there. I thought a commander-style unit should look a little cooler.
Rosetta told me that it was about one and a half times as strong as Chevalier. That was a pretty precise number. Made me wonder if it’d become three times as strong if I painted it red.
“Hm...? Master? Like, Babylon is totally moving and stuff...” Monica, up on Knight Baron’s pauldron, was making some adjustments as she called to me.
“Hey, Monica. Can Knight Baron deploy?”
“I see no matters of concern, master. I’ve made all relevant modifications. It’s like, totally fueled with Ether Liquid, too!” Great. Then we’ll give it a try, the Behemoth can be its first foe. Finally I get to try a real combat test with this thing...
Oho, that actually makes me wonder... Will the Behemoth’s raw materials after its death be useful? I’m willing to bet it’ll provide a pretty penny, plus the carapace should be good for defense. I’m an adventurer on a mission! A mission for pocket change! I’ll do my best, darn it!
◇ ◇ ◇
After a while, Babylon found itself floating above the skies of the Ramissh Theocracy. We were well on our way towards the Sea of Trees, and the Behemoth.
“Rosetta, did you install the communication device like I asked?”
“Bet your butt I did, master! With this device, you’ll be able to transmit messages between individual Frame Gears, as well as directly to Babylon itself, indeed. Uhm, there’s like, a private channel and a loudspeaker as well!”
The Frame Gear’s chest hatch closed, and I found myself tuned to three channels. All three were connected to Monica’s receiver, outside.
“Do you read me, Monica?”
“Loud and clear, my master. Pitch-perfect, even!” Monica waved her arms for the camera, and I heard her voice too. That was good, there were no issues with the audio channels.
Well, I guess we’d see how it fared outside properly later on. It was a solo mission though, so it’s not like we’d be able to test out communication between individual Frame Gears either.
“Master. We’re steadily approaching our target. The beast is in my sights. It has emerged from the trees and is rampaging amidst the woodlands on Ryle’s outskirts. Once I’ve brought us right above it, prepare to drop.”
“Gotcha.” Cesca’s voice rang out through the cockpit. I checked all the meters, gauges, and monitors before channeling magic through the operational device. The engine fired up.
With a rumbling sound, the Knight Baron finally woke up.
Monica, reflected on my monitor, guided me over to the elevator. I walked the Knight Baron there with little difficulty. The elevator slowly descended to the hangar’s lowest level.
If this was an anime, I might’ve said a cliche line like “Lift-off!” or “Launch!” and fired off with a catapult-like device, but... I wasn’t firing off into the void of space, and Knight Baron wasn’t equipped to fly.
In a rather undignified manner, I simply jumped out of the hangar from an opening on its lowest level. We were flying at a low altitude by a plane’s standards, but we were actually pretty high up in the air. In all honesty, I did sort of get cold feet just before I jumped, but don’t tell anyone that.
My rate of descent began to rapidly decrease. I noticed after a little looking around that it was due to thrusters on the legs and the back of the Frame Gear. It made me wonder if it worked similarly to [Levitation].
I carried on dropping to the ground, my fall slowed by the thrusters. Once I landed, there wasn’t much in the way of an impact. Apparently I was gonna get winched back up to Babylon with a wire when this was all over. I wasn’t sure if that was the most efficient way to go... I figured I’d be fine using a [Gate] to return.
From my position on the field, I saw the two-tailed scorpion. It was rampaging right in my direction. It was big. Bigger than I thought.
Scale-wise... if the Frame Gear was a person, then the creature was surely the size of a double-decker bus.
In stark contrast to its low, flat body, its two pincers were bulging and enormous. I knew I’d be blasted away if one of those things hit me, Frame Gear or not. ...It’d be even worse if one managed to catch me.
“...I guess this’ll be decided by whoever strikes first.” I gripped my mace firmly in my right hand, and established a heavy stance with the shield in my left. The Black Knight Frame Gear, Knight Baron, valiantly charged towards Scorpinas.
Suddenly, the Behemoth stirred, as if noticing my advance. It pointed two tails in my direction. In a manner reminiscent of a water gun, two streams of purple liquid came spraying out of its tails.
Luck
ily I’d expected that kind of move, and deftly raised my shield to block it.
“If you’re prepared, there’s nothing to f... wh-what?!” A smoldering, foul smoke was emanating from my shield. W-Wait a sec... it’s melting?! This isn’t just venom... it’s acid! Another few blasts of that’ll take out my shield entirely!
Fortunately for me, the attack had slowed the creature a bit. I ran along its side and aimed at one of its tails, bringing down my mace with all my might.
With a cracking noise, the carapace sort of splintered a bit, but that was all. What, it’s that tough?! Scorpions are more related to spiders than crayfish, aren’t they?! Why is its carapace that hard?! Is evolutionary biology different in this world or something?! As I was taken by surprise by the Behemoth’s firm carapace, it attacked the Knight Baron with its pincers.
“Oh geez!” As the creature lunged, I swung a mace down onto its head. Once again its armor absorbed most of the impact, but it was still staggered slightly. Before I could make a follow-up attack, it blasted acid out of its tails again.
“Damn it...” I raised my shield again to block, but it was severely weakened. Taking advantage of a blind spot, the creature followed up with a strike from its pincers, and I reflexively moved to block it with my shield as well.
“...Damn it!” The scorpion had caught the shield in its pincers. Sensing danger, I let go and jumped back.
The half-melted shield was easily crushed beneath the menacing pincer. That thing was gonna be a serious issue. “Guess I’m gonna have to go all-out... Monica, drop down the Battlehammer!”
“Yessir! Like, totally dropping the Battlehammer now and stuff!” A massive black warhammer dropped from the sky. It caused a heavy impact as it smacked into the ground, and I cast aside my mace while deftly dodging the Behemoth’s blows. I grabbed the heavy instrument with both hands.
“Magic Finetune. First Slot, Release!” I turned a switch next to the control joystick, slowly tuning my magic out into the Knight Baron’s hands. It flowed from those hands straight into the Battlehammer.
In Another World With My Smartphone_Volume 6 Page 11