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

by Patora Fuyuhara

  “HAAAAAAAAAH!”

  My fist, imbued with all the magical and physical might I could muster, slammed into the softest area of the Wyvern’s chest. The moment I made contact with the Wyvern, I released the magic contained inside my hand and launched it a tiny bit forward.

  The physical sensation was like slamming my fist into a rubbery wall. Obviously, the punch alone was not going to do a thing to the Wyvern. The punch was just the delivery method to get the magic inside its body.

  I stumbled backward and landed flat on the ground. I tried to clamber back up, but my body refused to respond properly. My knees were weak, my palms were sweaty. I felt like I was going to vomit. This was the side effect of putting everything I had into that attack.

  “Gruh...”

  The Wyvern made a weird noise. I looked at it as it began to stumble backward, shakily swaying its head from side to side.

  “Gruuurgh...”

  The Wyvern began vomiting and convulsing before it fell forward into its own puke.

  “...Did I do it?”

  The Wyvern was not moving at all. I was also unable to move.

  “Ahahaha... I... Bleh... That stinks, gah!”

  I flickered between happiness, disgust, and pain. The thrill of victory washed over me, but it was mingled with the smell of vomit and the stinging pain of my right hand. I was unable to move, either... so I was stuck smelling that gross stuff. It made me feel queasy.

  “Gruuuh...”

  “What?”

  My heart skipped a beat. The Wyvern was groaning. I looked up and saw the beast was shakily rising back up. It had its long neck craned upward into the air.

  “No... How...”

  “GRAAAAAARGH!”

  The Wyvern’s roar brought the harrowing reality of the situation crashing down upon me.

  I thought I had killed it... But I was wrong. I could do nothing but stare on in horror as it began to breathe fire. A wretched, creeping flame that got closer and closer to my prone body. It looked like it was traveling in slow motion, and I knew there was no way I could dodge it.

  I... I might actually die here, huh? I wish I had eaten more tasty snacks in life... Shizuku... Nagi... Please live good lives... Wait, hold on.

  Hold on here, something feels off. Tsubaki could not have been slacking, right? Why are they so late? Boss-lady and the others definitely should have made it here by now... Oh.

  Now I get it.

  Hah... You were by my side all along... You were just instructed not to interfere, huh?

  That certainly sounds like the grand duke’s way of doing things. He does not like to act until the last possible moment... Which is kind of annoying, since it just means he will end up saving my sorry butt...

  He might seem strict, but he has a pretty just heart. That is why I know I cannot possibly die here.

  “[Prison].”

  There it is... Salvation...

  ◇　◇　◇

  The flames unleashed by the Wyvern failed to harm even a single hair on my head. The monster found itself encased in a barrier, along with its fire.

  There was only one person in the world capable of something like that.

  “Took you long enough...”

  “...I’ve been here the whole time. I just held off cause you were doing so well.”

  Sorry I couldn’t finish the job, geez! I glared at the grand duke as he descended from above. I wish the sadistic bastard had just kept his mouth shut. He was still using his illusory magic, but I could tell it was him from the way he was laughing. It was way too obvious.

  “Target Lock. [Mega Heal].”

  He cast a recovery spell, causing Mew-san and the others to heal up on the spot.

  I found that my bloodied hand cleaned itself up instantly, and the pain in my ankle was also gone.

  My head was still woozy, though... Probably due to the blood loss and my physical exhaustion. I sat back down and clutched at my head.

  “You exhausted your magical supply, which is why you’re almost unconscious. Who the hell taught you something so damn reckless, anyway? [Transfer].”

  I will have you know it was one of your fiancees who taught me that, mister high-and-mighty!

  I felt my head clear as he transferred his magic into my body. I leaped up to my feet and moved my arms around a bit. Woo! I am back to peak power!

  “You should all be feeling better now. So yeah, the test is basically done at this point. You can opt to continue the test if you like, but I won’t be helping you with that. If you guys think you can take this thing out, then, by all means, go ahead.”

  The Wyvern angrily stomped around inside the barrier. I could not hear any noise, but it did not take a genius to tell how angry the creature was.

  “I’m done here. Not about to waste my life on a stupid gamble.”

  Surges-san stood up and raised his hand. The poor guy’s robes were shredded to bits. Mew-san and Rose raised their hands shortly afterward.

  “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want the rewards, but I can hardly spend it if I’m dead. I’m out.”

  “Same here.”

  Abert and Dom-san followed suit by raising their hands.

  “I’m finished too. I learned a lot today...”

  “Aye... Count me doon fer the count an’ all.”

  The two men chuckled, then looked over to Garron.

  “...Yeah... Me too. It sucks, but we’re definitely not strong enough to take out a Wyvern.”

  Garron grumbled quietly, his hand still tight around his weapon’s hilt. He was probably upset at how weak he was. Though it was good for him to be able to admit that to himself.

  The grand duke then turned to face me.

  Oh right, I gotta say it too.

  “Yep, I am done here! I give up! Oh dearie me!”

  “If you’re sure, then.”

  The grand duke grinned a bit. It was not exactly like I could complain or anything... After that, he snapped his fingers.

  “Graaaaaargh!”

  The Wyvern was released from its confines, and its roars were audible once more.

  Everyone except the grand duke and I braced ourselves for battle, but before anything else could happen an old man appeared. He was wielding a sword.

  Wait... is that not the former king of Lestia?! When did he get here?! I never noticed?! W-Wait, is that Karin-sama standing next to the grand duke? What is with these people?! How come I failed to sense them?

  “Been a while since I fought a Wyvern... Shall I teach you kids how it’s done?”

  The old man spoke up, then vanished in a flash. Before any of us could even blink, he had circled around behind the Wyvern. The Wyvern’s tail was lopped off and fell to the ground in one strike.

  “GRAUUUGH!”

  “First thing’s first. You have to stop it flying. Usually, you’d consider impeding the wings, but what you should aim for is the tail. It needs the tail to keep itself balanced in the air, you see?”

  The Wyvern tried to take off, but immediately wobbled and crashed its head into the ground. That made sense, but it was still pretty hard to hack off the tail! After that, the old man sliced off the Wyvern’s toes.

  “This is actually the best spot, though. The skin is a lot thinner and more brittle along the toes, and cutting them off can prevent them from slashing you. And then, all you have to do is this...”

  The old man jumped upward and flicked his wrist. The blade cleaved through the Wyvern’s neck and decapitated it in seconds. What the hell?!

  I saw two sudden flashes of light, faster than a blink, and then the Wyvern’s wings fell off. Its body was then split down the middle.

  In a matter of moments, the terrifying and terrorizing Wyvern had been reduced to several neatly-diced chunks.

  ...This was the power of a gold adventurer.

  “And I guess that’s how to do it without going overboard.”

  We all stared in disbelief, our jaws dropping and eyes wide. Are you saying that you w
ere not going overboard there?!

  “When you consider how many materials you can harvest, you should kill it in one go. I’d personally suggest destroying the brain or heart. That’d take a good-quality weapon, though.”

  No kidding... Wait a second, that sword you have there is a crystal one... Yeah, that one is made out of phrasium! No wonder you cut up the Wyvern so easily... Did you have the grand duke make it for you?

  Even if I had a sword as good as his, I doubted that I would be able to kill the Wyvern as efficiently as he had. I would have probably slashed the thing up crudely and damaged the materials.

  The grand duke slowly turned toward us and clasped his hands together.

  “I’m sorry to tell you all this, but you’ll only be reaching green today.”

  “Because we failed the quest?”

  Abert frowned at the grand duke’s words.

  “Well, mostly. But there were some other things we’d been keeping an eye on too, including everything you guys did from the moment we gave you the quest. For starters, none of you went into the guild to read up on what you’d be encountering. That definitely lost you guys some points. With a tiny bit of research, you would have been more prepared against the Fire Lizards and known more about the spinfire weed.”

  Oh yeah... I forgot the guild had something like that... I guess preparing intellectually is pretty important too.

  “Also, you guys really didn’t work together that well... I know you all just met each other and all, but you should’ve been more mindful.”

  He was likely referring to the Blood Liger incident. Everyone was too self-absorbed during that fight, which meant there was little to no coordination.

  “And you guys didn’t bother looking over your equipment when you made camp. You don’t want your gear falling apart during vital moments, do you?”

  “Guh...”

  Garron’s shoulders slumped at that. His shield was damaged during the Blood Liger fight, and the whole Wyvern situation exploded because he was not aware of that. I also spent a great deal of time chatting to others, and I did not pay attention to my gear either. They were not the only ones who needed to reflect on their actions...

  “Also, about the Wyvern at the end... You might think it was bad fortune that you encountered it, but actually... you should’ve been more attentive to your surroundings. Why didn’t you consider anything about why the Fire Lizards hadn’t eaten the spinfire weed? Why were they moving in such an abnormally large herd? Really, that comes back to you guys not reading up back at the guild. You should have known better.”

  Hey, I noticed! I just noticed too late.

  Boss-lady always tells me to think before acting, so I guess I need to improve that as well...

  “There are a few other issues here and there too... But ultimately, we’ve decided none of you are worthy of blue. Sorry, but that’s how it is.”

  “That’s okay... I think it’s fair. If this wasn’t a test, we’d have all been eaten alive at this point. If anything I’m glad this has given me some proper perspective on what it takes to be an adventurer.”

  Abert humbly nodded his head. Everyone else was quiet, but they probably felt the same.

  “It isn’t exactly the best consolation prize, but you guys can do whatever you want with the Wyvern carcass.”

  “Huh?!”

  We all stared in shock at the old man’s words.

  Wait, really? We get the Wyvern? Seriously?!

  “Is that really okay?”

  The grand duke suddenly butted in.

  Quiet down, man! I want it!

  “It’s fine by me. Their equipment got scuffed up pretty bad during the test. It’s not like it’s a real Dragon or anything, and I already cut it up a fair bit. Its value will have dropped a lot compared to an intact one. I don’t really think it’ll be worth all that much, honestly.”

  “I still think it’s worth about five platinum, though...”

  Five whole platinum coins?! That is around a third of our original reward amount... We would have gotten fourteen, but now it is five...

  That was still a considerable amount of money. But when you factored in how much we would need to spend on new gear, it did not come out to a huge amount. Everyone seemed pleased, though. The results were unfortunate, but I figured this quest was still a valuable experience for everyone involved.

  We began skinning and harvesting the Wyvern as a team. Karina-sama taught us how to properly handle it, and we went at it as best we could.

  Dom-san headed back to find the Blood Liger pelt and skin we had buried the day before, too. That was a little extra pocket change.

  There was a lot of stuff, though... We could not exactly carry it all off to the guild that easily, but I knew a man in the area who could handle that for us.

  Staaaaaaaaare...

  “...I get it already. Quit looking at me like that.”

  Good job, Grand Duke. What a kind man you are.

  He used his storing magic to stash our raw materials in an instant, which caused the others to reel in surprise and confusion. After that, he used his teleportation magic to bring us back to the guild, so they were even more shaken.

  I understood what they meant, though. Our grand duke was the strangest man in the world.

  Once all our materials were inspected at the guild desk, we were paid seven gold coins each, with one gold coin spare.

  We were going to split the coin between us, but then Abert suggested spending it on a lavish meal. We all agreed and headed toward the tavern. The tavern was right next door to the guild, so it took about a minute to get there.

  I was not old enough to drink alcohol, so I settled on some fruit juice instead. I made up for that by eating up as much food as I wanted. This was a rare opportunity for me, after all.

  “What now?”

  “What do you mean?”

  Rose spoke up to me as I was tearing into a chicken drumstick. Mew-san sat by her with curious eyes.

  “I guess it might have been fate that we took this test together, you know? We were talking, and we all agreed that we want to continue as a party for a while... I wanted to know if you were gonna join us.”

  Oh... I get it. You guys were planning on that, huh?

  I looked over at the nearby table and saw Dom-san and Garron trying to drink each other under the table. Abert was watching them, laughing and clapping, while Surges-san quietly drank off to the side.

  “Are you going too, Mew-san?”

  “I am. Rose invited me, and all.”

  Mm... That does sound nice, but... I cannot do that.

  “Sorry, but I will have to decline.”

  “What?! But we’d be safer in a group!”

  “Well... if I must be honest, the adventurer thing has always been a part-time thing for me. I have no plans to become a fully-fledged adventurer. I hope you can understand.”

  “I see... Well, we won’t force you. It’s a tough job where your life is at risk, after all.”

  “That’s a shame.”

  Rose and Mew-san let out sad sighs, but gave up. Sorry, guys... but I have friends here in Brunhild’s knight order. I cannot leave them behind. I might try my hand at some adventuring now and then, though.

  “I will be staying here in Brunhild. If you see me around, please say hi. If you ever have any troubles, please count on me. I might look this way, but I am actually pretty well-known in these parts.”

  “We’ll hold you to that, then.”

  “Yeah.”

  We all laughed in unison, clinking our drinking glasses together. The real reward really was the friends I made along the way. I could probably introduce them to Shizuku and Nagi at some point, too.

  “Oh right, you guys still owe me for those grenades!”

  “You little...”

  “Don’t be so miserly!”

  Do not call me miserly! It is a known fact that he who laughs while throwing away copper coins will eventually weep while scrounging for them! You
need to pay me what I am owed!

  I turned my eyes to the drunken men at the other table, grinned, and planned on how best to part them with their money.

  ■　■　■　■　■　■　■　■　■　■

  “And that is it for my report.”

  “Mm. I’m glad they’re still committed to being adventurers. I didn’t exactly expect the Wyvern to show up or anything.”

  I sighed in relief once Tsubaki finished talking. I was surprised enough that there had been a Wyvern flying in the sky around the island. I didn’t expect that it would make its nest there.

  I was worried that more of them might show up, so I decided to ask Karina to hunt around the islands a little more frequently.

  “This mission would have been valuable for young Homura as well. She has an issue where she does not really think things through properly.”

  “Well, to be honest, she infiltrated the group in the best way... She could perfectly match up with them, after all. I wish she was a little more patient, though.”

  “I will be giving her some harsh discipline starting tomorrow.”

  Discipline...? Don’t do that, she isn’t a dog.

  “Honestly, I think you should hold off. That’s part of what makes Homura herself at the end of the day. It doesn’t have anything to do with the way she’s been taught. She may well learn to use her nature to her advantage.”

  I was actually pretty impressed by how well she was able to make friends with the other adventurers. She’s pretty damn good at blending in.

  “O-Oh right, one other thing... Tell her she’s not allowed to use that move she used against the Wyvern! Without the proper gear, she’ll wreck her fist if she keeps using it, and it’s useless to use if she just collapses after.”

  “Very well.”

  Tsubaki replied, and then I couldn’t sense her anymore. Frankly, I found her whole ‘hiding in the ceiling’ schtick a little silly, but I figured it was just part of her style.

  “Are you finished with your talking now?”

  “Yeah, sorry to keep you waiting on me.”

  Old man Galen, who was seated on the sofa opposite me, let out a small chuckle as he sipped his tea. He was holding a mass-produced smartphone that I had given him as thanks for his help.