I decided there and then that I wanted to make the country better for my people. Some more civic buildings would be a wise idea. A school was definitely necessary. I couldn’t go about neglecting the youth of tomorrow.
I slowly walked home to my castle, pondering what more I could do for my people as I watched a group of kids all run home.
◇ ◇ ◇
“Whoa, amazing! It’s seriously flying?!”
“Hey, hey... Milord! Is this some kind of magic?! Is it?!”
“Nope, no magic at all. It’s just basic dynamics, using the wind to fly.” Well, what I was doing was sort of like magic, I supposed. I tugged a string in my hand, causing a kite to smoothly rise up into the air. The children gazed up, completely awestruck as it sailed on the winds.
After a while, I handed over the kite to one of the kids, and quickly made a ton more to prevent their envious eyes growing ever-greedier.
All of them began to manipulate their kites with a surprising level of finesse. I didn’t even have to show them much.
As they played, my eyes instinctively scanned the surrounding area for Olba the merchant, I half-expected him to appear as if from nowhere and ask for the rights to the product. But alas, he did not. Well, it’s not like it would’ve been reasonable for him to just pop up out of thin air.
I sat beneath the shade of a tree and cast out my kite, taking care not to tangle the string in any branches. I’d moved to a secluded spot away from town, so as to not disturb the people with my playing.
Man... it’s peaceful... It’d be nice if every day was as peaceful as this.
Rosetta and Monica were hard at work fixing up my broken Knight Baron. They quite menacingly rejected my idea to just build a new one every time.
Apparently, if you continued to use the same Frame Gear in battle, its response time and magical affinity would become more attuned and acute. I figured it might be a good idea to accumulate a lot of experience and maneuvering data in one frame, then port it to another personal frame at some point in the future... If we managed to make any of the new types, that is.
In game terms it’d be like... leveling up a character in one game, then being able to use his stats in the sequel.
We didn’t have much in the way of repair staff, so that’d probably be the best way to go about it.
I voiced my concerns about the staff limitations to Rosetta, and she told me there were miniature repair robots that were designed to autonomously repair damage done to the Frame Gears. Apparently there were quite a lot of them, and they repaired stuff in a flash.
“Robots like that would solve all our problems! Where are they, then?”
“The storehouse, sir!”
“Gah!” That Doctor Babylon was too protective of her stuff... It was annoying that she’d put so many important things in the storehouse... she really didn’t seem the methodical type.
As I absentmindedly sulked about that irritating doctor, I heard a pair of voices calling out to me.
“Touyaaaa!”
“T-Touya...!”
“Hm? Yumina? And Lu, too?” I rose from the ground and dusted myself off, only to find myself immediately assaulted from both sides by their embrace.
The two were now formally announced as engaged to me. Since our relationship had officially been made a matter of public record, the two tended to clamp on to me without reservation whenever they could. I was a little embarrassed about it, in all honesty, but I also didn’t see the need to ruin their fun.
“I-I was wondering where you’d ran away to... But then I saw that strange thing, and knew you must be here!” Lu pointed up at the kite, still sailing freely in the skies. That made sense enough to me. I was pretty much known as the guy who made unusual stuff around here, after all.
“You know, Touya... it’s no good of you to leave us behind and go play with kids. Shouldn’t you be spending a little more time with your wives?”
“I-I mean technically you aren’t my wives yet, but, uh...”
“But we will be soon, y-yes? That’s the dream... to be happily married with you, Touya... In loving, monogamous matrimony. Ah... well, not monogamous. The point still stands.” That it did. Monogamy and polygamy weren’t really that different in this world, after all. Just as I flashed Lu a wry smile, the heavy jostle of thumping hooves came by. A merchant caravan was passing us by at high speed.
A whole line of coaches passed us as we watched them trot on their way to Belfast.
The merchants sat atop the coaches, all gazing at the kites as they went by. That definitely didn’t sit well in my mind. I was more than sure at least one of those greedy types would try to emulate the idea before long.
“It’s a merchant caravan from Regulus. Hoh, they even have an armed escort trailing behind.”
“There sure are a lot of them... Wonder if they’re carrying anything important.” Given the amount of guards, they were probably transporting luxury goods or fine art. This much security was excessive for regular merchandise. It certainly wasn’t an issue I’d considered, since I had [Gate]. I’d definitely be able to make a lot of money if I opened up an express [Gate] delivery service or something. But I’d only be able to deliver to places I’d visited.
It’d be better if they had delivery trucks or something, they’re useful for all sorts of stuff. Oh, actually... a freight train might be even better...
“A... train.”
“Touya?” A train... a train! Wouldn’t making some kind of railway change everything for the better? Rosetta could totally make a rudimentary steam train if I asked... Although... hm. Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself. Would it be wise to introduce trains into a world like this? People ignorant about railways might end up playing on the tracks... Highwaymen and train robbing gangs could crop up... Stones and debris could get on the tracks and cause derailments, too...
Bah, thinking about these issues is a hassle. Not like I can solve them. Whenever I think of a new concept, I guess I have to consider the associated safety risks as well. But I suppose that’s a little rich of me, since I recklessly introduced the Frame Gears to the world.
Hmph... Guess the train plan is dead before it even lived. Ah well...
“Ow, ow, ow!!”
“...Just what do you think you’re doing? Why are you daydreaming instead of paying attention to us?!” While I was in health-and-safety dreamland, Yumina took the opportunity to brutally pinch my cheek. Totally uncalled for, if you asked me.
《My lord, are you available?》
《Hm? Kohaku?》 As I rubbed my injury, a telepathic message beamed right into my brain. Yumina saw me stop in my tracks and puffed out her cheeks. She seemed a bit annoyed, probably because she thought I was daydreaming again.
“What’s wrong? Is something up?” I audibly answered, in order to show the two of them that I wasn’t just ignoring them.
《Master sir! It’s Rosetta here, sir! We’re all outta Orichalcum, sir! The amount you got for Frame Gear production is all dried up, sir!》 I heard Rosetta’s voice through Kohaku’s telepathic link. She needed more Orichalcum. It seemed that the amount Olba had gotten for me was already depleted.
That was irritating: now I needed to find another source.
“Got it. I’ll sort it out, then.”
《Thank you very much, sir!》
“Did something happen, Touya?” Lu suddenly came up to me and questioned what had happened.
“Rosetta asked me for some more Orichalcum. Not entirely sure where to get some, though...”
“We could probably find some at the ore market, but... I suppose that wouldn’t be enough, would it?”
“Orichalcum is a very rare metal as it is... It’ll definitely be pricey to acquire in bulk.” Not that money was too much of an issue. The Behemoth slaughter I’d indulged in just the other day ended up paying me a hefty sum. Ideally I’d have liked to save that kind of cash for emergency situations, though. Well, we have some mithril left, maybe we can... oh... oho...
“An Orichalcum Golem? I can’t say I’ve ever heard of something like that...”
“Me neither. Even if something like that exists, it probably wouldn’t be a walk in the park to fight...” Hmph... I guess having an Orichalcum Golem strutting around when I needed it would be a tad too convenient, huh. Just to be sure, I fired up my map and tried looking it up. I’d never seen an Orichalcum Golem before, but it was easy to imagine a creature like that. Just a big rocky monster, covered in gleaming Orichalcum. I could surely recognize something like that, so it’d be easy to search.
“Search. Orichalcum Golem.”
“Searching... Search complete. Displaying results.” Several pins fell down on the map, one after the other.
“...So they do exist.”
“...I suppose they do.” We were all caught by surprise for a brief moment. The world was larger than any of us knew, after all. Well, there were many places that humanity had yet to visit in this world. Deep and vast canyons, wide stretching valleys, enormous peaks... It was entirely possible that they lived in places human hands had never touched.
“Alright, I guess I’ll go kill one.”
“Ah... could we come too, then...?”
“No, I’m going on my own. It’s a place I’ve never been before, so I’ll be using [Fly] to get there.” The moment I mentioned my flight spell, they stopped protesting. They really disliked that thing. I sent the two of them back to Brunhild Castle with a [Gate], and then fired my map up again.
“Hm... I guess the closest place I’ve been to is... in Eashen.” The golems were located in the mountains just a little bit west of Oedo. Eashen resembled Japan in many ways, so I wondered if it had its own version of Mt. Fuji, as well.
Flying there from Oedo seemed like it would be simple enough. Alrighty, let’s do it.
As I jetted off, I fantasized about using a vast amount of Orichalcum to plate a Frame Gear in gilded armor. Making a Golden Knight might’ve been a tad too gaudy for my tastes, though...
◇ ◇ ◇
“Wow... It really is shiny and gold...” Far to the west of Oedo, I’d found the Orichalcum Golem resting in a deep valley, snugly nestled between a few giant mountains.
It was a bit bigger than a Mithril Golem, and its golden body reflected the sun’s rays as they came down through the valley. It shone magnificently as it walked around. I knew what it was the moment I saw it. The creature was about the size of a Frame Gear.
It likely had a core inside it, much like a Mithril Golem.
Its rugged, stony body had two large arms. It had tiny little legs and a broad torso. All-in-all, it looked pretty similar to a Mithril Golem, so I assumed the core would be in the same place.
“All I gotta do is trash its chest, this should be simple enough. [Slip].” With a grand crash, a mighty tremor rocked the valley. The gilded golem crashed to the ground.
“[Gravity].” I wasted no time pinning it to the ground with a follow-up spell. I quickly used [Storage] to pull out a small Phrase fragment. I poured magic into it, reshaping it to the size of a baseball, and increasing its toughness until it was denser than Orichalcum.
“[Gate].” I called a portal forth and leisurely lobbed the little ball through it, applying [Gravity] in the process.
The connecting portal was just above the Golem’s chest, and in seconds flat, the tiny crystal ball fell through it and landed on its mark. The ball, which was several hundreds of times heavier than it should’ve been, completely obliterated the golem’s body. A monstrous crash rang out, and the golem fell silent at last.
It was my patented [Slip], [Gravity], and [Gate] combo... Perhaps it was a little overpowered.
I cautiously approached the golem’s body to confirm it was dead. As I’d suspected, its core was located in the chest.
I opened up my [Storage] again and began to harvest the golem’s corpse. Mission complete! Man, that was simple.
Suddenly, a noise came from nowhere, and I turned to see a deer run out from the underbrush. I was almost startled, but it certainly wasn’t unusual to see a deer cavorting around.
The deer didn’t give me a second glance, instead trotting over to a nearby river. It didn’t seem to have any fear of people.
A deer, huh... Maybe I should take some venison home... No, no, control yourself, Touya. This is a cute little deer with no fear of humanity, I shouldn’t cut it up and eat its tender flesh...
As my attention was focused on the deer, I suddenly noticed something laying on the riverbank. Huh, what’s that...? I took a step forward in an attempt to get a better look, and slowly I realized what it was. I started to run faster. It was a person. A wounded person.
“Hey! Hey there! Are you okay?!” I bounded over to the riverside. The collapsed person seemed to be a young woman.
She looked around the same age as Elze and Linze. Her clothes looked tattered and bedraggled, but her hair was long, pure and white. She was covered in grazes, cuts, and wounds all up and down her body. I briefly wondered if she’d been washed up by the river’s current.
I held her in my arms and pulled her up from the bank. Immediately I noticed something unusual about her right leg. Huh... is it broken? Oh... Oh no... I rolled up her hakama to inspect her leg, only to find it... wasn’t really there from the knee down. It was shredded and pulped, like a piece of raw meat. I quickly found that her right hand was in a similar condition, sliced at the wrist.
I looked over her properly, finding huge slash-marks down her back. She had distinctly been sliced with a sword.
I’d assumed she was dead, but I could hear her breathing faintly. If I hadn’t stumbled upon her, she likely would’ve drowned. But to survive this far made her tenacious indeed.
I decided to stop pondering and start healing!
“Come forth, Light! Healing Goddess, [Mega Heal]!” I cast my most powerful recovery spell, and all the wounds on her body closed up at the same time. Her bruises also faded. Her leg wound also sealed itself up, but the missing flesh didn’t regenerate. I decided to cast [Recovery] while I was at it. Didn’t want to find out she’d been poisoned or anything as well.
“...Gh...”
“Hey! Are you with me?” Her eyes slowly opened, purple orbs trained on me.
“...Ah...” She was trying to speak... but she quickly closed her eyes and fell unconscious again.
“Guh... I’ll take her to the alchemy lab. Flora said it’d be possible to regenerate limbs there or something, I think... Hopefully we can restore her leg.” I cradled the girl in my arms, opening up a [Gate] toward the alchemy lab in the process.
“Where’s the girl?”
“She’s asleep inside a Lazarus Capsule in the alchemy lab. Flora and Lu are seeing to her right now.” I answered Linze’s question as I sat back in my chair. I wanted to tend to her as well, but Yumina and Lu quickly kicked me out. It’s not like I wanted to ogle a naked girl who was having her body repaired as she floated around in a regenerating liquid capsule... Honest.
Apparently she was right on the cusp of death. Flora said that if I’d found her even a few minutes later, she wouldn’t be in this world any longer. Perhaps that deer was a guide from up above...
“And how long will the regeneration process take, Touya-dono?”
“Seems it’ll take about a day.”
“It is truly amazing that a missing hand and leg can be regrown in a mere day, it is...” It really is. Babylon’s technology is a force to be reckoned with. Crazy to think that it can even make stuff like clones or homunculi... But I guess I’m looking at something like that right now...
My eyes were steadily trained on Cesca as she poured me a cup of tea. Those terminal gynoids had biological parts and mechanical parts, so they seemed more like cyborgs to me. Or maybe they were closer to mechanical lifeforms, from that old TV show and toy line where
the robots could turn into cars and stuff... Hm... It’d be weird if they could do that.
“...Master, I can feel your keen arousal as it pierces me and massages my very skin. I understand, you’re silently ordering me to present my body to you for ravaging this evening...” I didn’t think I had anything to worry about with her. She was a useless piece of junk excuse for a robogirl.
She held her body close to mine, and I got up to leave the second she started to writhe and grind up against me. I went off to the workshop. I had to hand over my hard-earned Orichalcum to Rosetta, after all.
As I arrived, I found Rosetta making a few adjustments to the newest Chevalier. Rosetta sure was handy, she applied the latest tweaks and upgrades to any robot that finished production and assembly.
“Heyo, got you some Orichalcum.”
“A speedy job indeed, sir! Apologies, sir! I ceased mass production operations because I believed it would take longer, sir!”
I pulled the Orichalcum Golem’s body out of [Storage], making sure to slice off the part just below the right elbow to keep for myself.
With that, mass production could begin anew.
“Goodness me, sir...! That’s an awful lot of golem! Too much, even!”
“Huh? Really?”
“Yes sir! Compared to other materials, we don’t quite need so much Orichalcum! No matter, no such thing as too much I suppose, sir! We can likely produce many a Frame Gear from this thing, sir!” As she spoke the workshop’s floor opened up around the golem and swallowed it whole.
“Now, master sir! I’d like to talk to you about the heavy knight, the Chevalier! Specifically, sir! Its equipment! By default it is equipped with a sword, but it has additional equipment as well! A buckler-style shield, a mace, a battle hammer, a lance, a halberd, and a battleaxe! Is this sufficient, sir? Or should I drop and give you twenty more?”
“Uh, no. That sounds pretty good. I guess fighting the Phrase will be more like a game of smacking, since they’re resistant to magic and all.” I figured a solid strategy was just wailing on them with the battle hammer, but I wouldn’t have minded long-distance capabilities as well. That being said, the amount of gunpowder necessary for a gun that large was just unfeasible... Then, I had another thought.
In Another World With My Smartphone_Volume 6 Page 13