In Another World With My Smartphone: Volume 16 (Premium)

by Patora Fuyuhara

  “No issues here!”

  Everyone was okay, which made me wonder just what that smoke was supposed to be. It was still hanging in the air, swirling around like a thick mist.

  “Khakhaaah! How do you like that, hm?! Aren’t you going to attack? A little difficult when your Gollems no longer respond to your commands, isn’t it?! Khakhaahaaa!”

  Huh? What’s he talking about? Wait... did he see us retreat and completely misread the situation?

  “Khuhuhu... That’s right! My smoke can paralyze a Gollem’s Q-Crystal! It inhibits the very brain of your Gollem! No matter the opening, it’ll pass through without a hitch! It’ll crawl up the nerve lines of your Gollem and rot the Q-Crystal from the inside out! Your Gollems are naught but scrap m—”

  “Switch to Lance Mode.”

  I suddenly had the reflector boards orbiting Reginleif converge upon the Frame Gear’s right arm. They then merged together and formed a mighty lance around the limb.

  “Wh-What?! That’s impossible! No matter how well-made your Q-Crystal is, this weapon was specifically designed to disable it! How can your Gollem be moving?! That isn’t possible!”

  “I never once said that this thing was a Gollem, old man. That was your mistake.”

  “What...?!”

  His fatal mistake was assuming that we were operating Gollems. Frame Gears didn’t have anything remotely close to Q-Crystals.

  The Frame Gears didn’t seem to be affected by the smoke at all, but I decided to nip this in the bud just in case there were any other adverse effects.

  “This doesn’t make any sense! How can they be something other than Gollems?! If not that, then what are those things?!”

  “I don’t owe you an explanation, old man!”

  The girls behind me grabbed onto Reginleif, pushing their Vernier thrusters to maximum output. In the same instant, I triggered [Accel]. Reginleif became like a gigantic lance itself, thrusting itself forward and penetrating the massive Gollem’s torso.

  Reginleif tore through the Gollem’s interior, and I transformed the lance, unfolding it like an umbrella as we ripped through. After a short while, we burst out of Hecatoncheir’s back, leaving untold destruction inside the Gollem behind me.

  “I-Impossible...!”

  After Reginleif tore its path, the massive Gollem began swaying unsteadily. I’d apparently destroyed the gravity-manipulation unit inside it.

  And, just like that, Hecatoncheir fell to the ground. The multi-armed demon was brought back to earth, flailing as it kicked up debris.

  ◇　◇　◇

  The many-armed demon had fallen, but it was desperate to get back up. Its body writhed and strained as it attempted to right itself, but that only caused the cracks running along its armor to spread and widen. It brought itself back up to its feet, and then immediately fell down again.

  Eventually, it stopped moving, and we simply stared at it.

  “...Honestly, this thing’s pretty terrifying. If we were using Gollems, we’d have been completely screwed.”

  Using gas to indiscriminately corrode Q-Crystals was a seriously horrifying power... The gas probably wasn’t composed of anything inherently scientific, it was probably just the unique makeup of the Gollem’s skill. I doubted we’d be able to replicate it, and I didn’t think it’d affect Hecatoncheir itself, either.

  Frankly, it was way too overpowered in a world so reliant on Gollems. If we didn’t have our Frame Gears, it was highly likely that nobody would have been able to stop the rampage.

  Suddenly, a hissing sound emanated from Hecatoncheir, and its head detached from its body. I wasn’t quite sure what I was looking at. Six leg-like structures jutted out from the head, and it began scuttling away.

  Something resembling a spinal cord slipped out of the body as the head detached, forming a kind of tail. The six-legged head began scuttling at a high speed and, once it found a soft patch of earth, started attempting to drill underground.

  “[Slip].”

  “Gweh?!”

  The head fell on its side and started spinning around in a circle. It was kind of hilarious.

  I piloted Reginleif and had it pick up the Gollem head by the dangly spine-tail.

  “R-Release me! The very heavens will refuse to forgive you if you kill a genius like me here!”

  “...Dude, you’re so delusional you’ve gotta have some kind of sickness.”

  I’d had quite enough of this geriatric lunatic.

  “Your body’s basically gone, old man. How about you repent? You’re basically on your way out.”

  “Silence, cretin! You really think I can die here?! I’ll simply take over another body! A better body, and come back stronger than ever before!”

  “Quit your yapping. [Analyze].”

  I activated a spell and scanned Hecatoncheir’s head.

  “There it is.”

  I maneuvered Reginleif’s hand into the back of Hecatoncheir’s head and plucked something out from within. It was a human brain floating in a clear cylinder.

  “This can’t be! Hecatoncheir is the apex of Gollem technology! This is the culmination of the ancient world’s magitech, and my witchcraft! I am the witch-king, none can surpass my skill! E-Enough! Put me down! D-Do you understand that losing my genius would be a detriment to our entire planet?!”

  “Are you sure about that...?”

  I was surprised that the brain capsule had a voice speaker on it, too. I set it down on the ground and then hopped out of Reginleif’s cockpit.

  The cylinder was around two meters tall and had a diameter of about 60 centimeters. It was filled with that emerald-green fluid I’d seen earlier. There was a weird device on top of it that ran several tubes inside. The tubes then hooked themselves up into the witch-king’s brain. Presumably, that was what kept him alive.

  Honestly, the brain seemed a little larger than a human’s... I wondered if he’d always been so big-brained or if it had become engorged after the transfer.

  “Y-You’re going to destroy my pod?! Reconsider!”

  “Actually, I’m not. I’m going to make it unbreakable.”

  With that, I enchanted the entire thing with [Shield] to prevent physical damage, and [Protection] to prevent it from ever degrading over time. I also filled up the magic-powered life support to maximum capacity.

  “Wh-What are you playing at?!”

  “You mentioned it earlier, didn’t you? How I cursed that one guy? Funny thing about curses is they’re varied... For example, you can create curses that trigger pain...”

  “N-No... Please...”

  “Brand, O Dark. Sinful Brand: [Guilty Curse]!”

  When you really got down to it, the sensation known as pain was simply a series of electrical signals transmitted to the brain. All I needed to do was use magic to make it so anything done to the capsule would then be transmitted to the brain within as pain-based information.

  To demonstrate my point, I gave a swift kick to the object in front of me.

  “Gyaaaugh!”

  “Looks like it works. Neat.”

  “Th-This can’t be...! I shouldn’t be able to feel pain... How?!”

  I scraped the gunblade tip of Brunhild against the capsule’s glass. Thanks to the strengthening I’d given it, the pod itself remained unscathed.

  “Argh!”

  If I had to guess, the witch-king was likely feeling pain equivalent to having one’s flesh punctured with a needle.

  “Wh-What are you going to do with me?!”

  “Heh... That’s not actually my decision, old man. You have a lot to answer for, after all.”

  I felt like the Gardio emperor and Colonel’s men would have questions for him. Now that I’d granted him the ability to feel pain, we’d be able to grill him for information.

  I couldn’t guarantee that they’d let him off with a simple bit of torture, though...

  ◇　◇　◇

  After being interrogated for a while by the Gardio Empire, the witch-king’s p
od was passed over to Colonel and his group. He hadn’t just destroyed one nation in his mad quest for Hecatoncheir’s revival, he’d also committed several atrocities along the way.

  The worst of it was the fact that he’d done a massive amount of human experimentation while he was refining the brain transfer process. He’d scooped out the brains of men, women, and even children... The number of victims ended up being in the hundreds. I was sickened just hearing about it.

  After the witch-king was removed from Isengard, the resulting power vacuum meant that any and all efforts to invade Gardio had been called off.

  The witch-king didn’t have any children, or direct students, so there was a succession crisis going on. Everyone was desperate to be the new leader.

  The whole thing reminded me of what happened during the dissolution of Yulong. I made a mental note about the importance of clear succession rules.

  After they were done interrogating, the Gardio Empire did offer the witch-king’s pod back to the government of Isengard. They said they didn’t know what Gardio was talking about, and refused to accept him.

  In the end, they all seemed to agree that the witch-king failed to activate some kind of ancient weapon, which resulted in his death and the destruction of their castle. They also reached out to Gardio and said that the invasion was squarely the old man’s decision, and they didn’t support it. I didn’t really think they were lying there, either.

  Personally, I didn’t know how much the central government of Isengard knew about the old man or his misdeeds, but I had a feeling they were happy to be rid of him.

  Regardless, it seemed like the reforming government of Isengard was willing to pay reparations to Gardio for all that had happened.

  After the pod was passed on to Colonel and the others, I didn’t care enough to ask what would happen next. It’d take about a year for the life support system to run out of energy, and I didn’t think anyone would be strong enough to break it before then.

  In a best-case scenario, he’d live out the last year of his life repenting for the horrors he’d inflicted upon so many.

  In Gardio-related news, Prince Lucrecion renounced his claim to the throne, and the emperor retired on the same day. A new leader had already been chosen.

  The new emperor was a man named Lancelet Rig Gardio. Before his ascension, his name was Lancelet Olcott.

  He was the son of the prime minister, Lancelo Olcott, who happened to be married to the former emperor’s younger sister.

  The new emperor was basically Lucrecion’s cousin, even if not connected by blood.

  The first thing the new emperor did was relinquish the former Lowe territories, and grant direct authority over them to Lucrecion.

  Lucrecion Rig Gardio then changed his name to Lucrecion Gran Lowe.

  There’d be a stand-in ruler administrating the area until he was an adult, but I had no doubt he’d be a great leader eventually. He also had his parents by his side.

  Colonel and his people were also dedicated to reviving Lowe properly under Gardio’s protection.

  And that was basically everything.

  “And that’s what happened!”

  “Hmm... I didn’t know the old man had gone that far, even if I knew he was a creep.”

  “Agreed.”

  I was in Brunhild, recounting my story. Specifically, I was in the Silver Moon, talking to Elluka’s sister Norn, and Chronos Noir.

  “You knew him?”

  “Mmm... Sorta. We met in the past when I was looking for my sis. He kept probing about Noir and then demanded I hand him over, so I picked a fight with him and then left.”

  The girl blabbered about something intense pretty casually, as per usual. I wondered if she realized that picking a fight with a head of state was generally a bad idea... Not that I had much room to talk. I looked over at Noir, who seemed just as startled as I was that she’d speak of something that serious so regularly. Crowns were definitely more emotive than regular Gollems.

  “Still... it’s interesting that he was a humanoid Gollem. I’m surprised I didn’t notice when I met him.”

  “Well, he basically looked completely human. Except for his arms, I guess... But otherwise, it was virtually impossible to tell the difference. I didn’t know they made them that well.”

  The only other humanoid Gollems I’d been acquainted with were Ruby, Saph, and Emerl back on Drakliff Island. They were certainly human-like in shape, but still resembled dolls. They gave off a heavy ‘android’ kind of vibe.

  According to Elluka, humanoid Gollems were mostly used for nursing care, child-minding, or mental health work. So, in theory, it wouldn’t be too unusual to have a Gollem that was almost identical to a regular human, but it was surprising.

  I looked over at Noir again, and let out a soft shrug. He certainly wasn’t human-like other than his emotive capabilities. I glanced over at the maid, Frau, and noticed she was making a strange expression.

  “Something wrong?”

  “Not exactly, but... I think it’s funny that barely anyone noticed about me. Doctor Babylon did, and your sisters did as well... There was also that fiancee of yours with the mismatched eyes, but the others didn’t seem to notice at all.”

  “Huh? Notice what?”

  I don’t get it. What does she mean? Wait... Wait, hold on...

  “Oh, Frau here’s a humanoid Gollem.”

  “...Hold up. You’re joking, right? There’s no way.”

  “Show him, Frau.”

  “Very well.” At Norn’s command, Frau brought her hands below her chin and pushed up. Then, with a small hissing sound, her head popped right off her body.

  “Auuugh!”

  Everyone stared at me because Frau had reattached her head before anyone else noticed. From their perspective, I just started randomly screaming in the corner of the room.

  Some of the patrons stared at me in confusion for a while, but most of the regulars just shrugged and went back to their food. Even Micah peeked her head out from the kitchen to see what all the fuss was about, before realizing it was just me and going back to work.

  “I am a humanoid Gollem. Designation GM-172. But my name is just Elfrau, and my contractor is Lady Norn.”

  “High-grade legacy Gollems can sometimes look almost identical to humans. Didn’t you hear about this from my sister?”

  “Your sister just works with Doctor Babylon all day and pours everything into research, I haven’t really had much time to talk to her about things like that.”

  Norn didn’t know about the Babylon facility. As far as she knew, Elluka worked with Doctor Babylon inside my castle, and that was all she needed to know.

  “That sounds like her... Just so long as she’s eating properly. Force-feed her if necessary, because she can go days without eating if she forgets. Though I’m sure Fenrir will remind her, so it should be okay.”

  I agreed there. I felt like Elluka would probably be dead if she didn’t have that wolf Gollem.

  “Elluka’s been kinda worried about you, you know.”

  “...Tell her to knock it off, then. Geez... I don’t like being treated like a kid!”

  ...I mean, you look like a kid. Even if you’re fifteen, you look six. I can see why your sister would be concerned.

  I didn’t say that part out loud, I didn’t want to set her off on me again.

  “I’m making money just fine, so tell her to lay off.”

  “Hm? You got a job?”

  “Sure did. I’m an adventurer now! Check out my guild card.”

  Oh damn. I took a look at the card she showed me. It was legitimate. She was already a blue-rank adventurer, one step away from basically being one of the best.

  “How’d you even get the card to begin with...”

  There wasn’t a strict age restriction for adventurers or anything, but a general rule of thumb was no guild cards for kids, and she definitely looked like a kid.

  Even Yumina was only barely accepted, and she couldn’t go on solo
missions. Basically, younger people needed guardians.

  “I just mentioned you and they let me pass right away.”

  “Now hold on...”

  “It’s fine, I showed off my strength too. I beat up a couple of annoying blue-rank guys, and then this nice elf lady gave me a card.”

  It seemed that Relisha had something to do with this. She was a guildmaster, so I trusted her judgment. I knew that she’d have given Norn a membership for her strength, not just for flashing my name.

  “I’ve been visiting those dungeon islands a lot. Adventurers certainly make a lot, huh?”

  “Pretty much, yeah. High risk and high reward.”

  After I spoke, Norn stopped eating for a moment.

  “That reminds me... You’re pretty much the top rank for adventurers, right? Do you still get missions now and then even though you’re royalty?”

  “Mhm, sometimes. Now and then I’ll take on quests that silver-ranks have screwed up on, or I’ll take care of monsters that could threaten entire nations, stuff like that.”

  “Why do you take those jobs, though? You hardly need the money.”

  She was wrong about that. It was true that national income from the dungeon islands and taxes were used to run the country... But stuff like Frame Gear tech development and even the knight order were paid right out of my own pocket.

  Even though they were known as the Brunhild knight order, they were technically my privately-funded army. It was kind of funny thinking of it like that, that Brunhild was basically defended by contractors... But I figured it wasn’t that huge of a deal in the end. They still did the same thing.

  I also earned cash for myself from my various ventures with Olba, the Mismede merchant. But developing Frame Gears was definitely not cheap, so I needed to keep the cash flowing in.

  That was why taking on well-paying quests was always an option for me. That being said, there were some in my government like Kosaka who believed that taking on jobs like that distracted from my administrative duties... Hence why I just kept it hush-hush.

  I turned around, since something was on my mind. My eyes were fixed on the little black Gollem nearby.

  “I wanted to ask you something, Noir.”

  “Intention recognized.”