Still, Karen told me to sleep, so that was what I planned on doing. I quietly drifted off into the land of sleep. Anxieties be damned.
“Mmh...” When I woke up, my body still felt heavy. I opened my eyes, my gaze fixed on the ceiling. It was a sight I was gradually growing used to.
“Ah... You’re awake?” Linze was reading a book by my bedside, but she paused to look at me. I wondered how long she’d been sitting there for. I pretended not to notice the... Rosy nature of the book she was reading.
She poured me a glass of water from the jug on the bedside table and handed it over to me, then dabbed my forehead with a wet towel.
I raised my body a bit, took the glass and drank from it, and then promptly slumped back beneath the covers.
Ahh...
“Your fever seems to have subsided, but... Well, are you feeling any better?”
“Ah... I-I’m fine... I’ll get better in my sleep, you know?”
“Still, I’m just glad to know there are times when you actually stay in bed, Touya. It’s a little relieving, hehe...”
Geez, what am I, a monster...? I guess I should explain myself soon, though... It definitely looks odd from the outside.
“It’s a little funny, is all... When I met you in that back-alley in Reflet, I stayed with you and watched you grow as a person. Now you’re a grand duke of your own nation... You felt like a person beyond me sometimes, Touya... A-And a little distant. So please forgive me, but... when I see you in a vulnerable state like this, it makes me happy to know that... you’re not always far away.”
“...Hey now, nothing’s changed. I’m always with you, Linze. And the others too. I want you to be by my side forever, as well. You guys are the reason I got this far, after all... Mh... I promise... I... I’ll make you happy, so... Ngh...”
Zzz... I was suddenly hit by fatigue again. As I drifted back to sleep, I felt the sensation of lips pressed against my cheek. The little smooch guided me back to dreamland.
The next morning I opened up my eyes, and my body was light as a feather. I felt completely refreshed. I’d slept a full day, and I was healed!
I wanted Lu to cut my hair right away, but I decided to hold off for a bit. If it was just gonna grow out again if I tapped into my divinity, then there was no point in rushing to get it lopped off.
“Oi! Are you alright, bruv...?” Renne saw me come out of my room. She was carrying a basket of laundry down the hall. I was really proud of how diligent she was becoming.
“Yeah, I’m good. Thanks for your concern, Renne.” I gave her a little pat on the head and turned to leave. I must have had a lot of people worrying about me.
I wanted to learn more about the divinity within me. Karen was sleeping, though... So I had no choice but to go to Moroha. I figured she’d be over at the training grounds.
Naturally, I was correct. She’d been training hard all morning. I took her aside to a quiet place in order to get some answers.
“Ah, well... It’s a little complicated... You can ask about divinity, but uh... Well, you see, each god has their own particular brand of it.” Moroha looked a little defeated, like she couldn’t give me the answers I sought.
“So what about you, then? How do you use yours?”
“Me? It works well as a combat tool for me. I strike enemies with it, and guard myself. But the best way I employ my divinity is creating weapons from it.” Moroha took a dagger out from a scabbard and, in a matter of moments, shrouded the blade in divine light. The dagger quickly became a shining knife. The light extended beyond the physical blade of the weapon, creating a longer weapon.
Whoa, it’s a beam sword!
“To be blunt, there’s uh... no real rule about how to use your divinity. It’s the power of a god, after all. It just comes naturally to you. You’ll get used to it, but I wouldn’t recommend relying on it often.”
“Why’s that?”
“Well, first of all, it’s a power that isn’t used in mortal realms. It’s clearly not magic, so you’ll be at risk of exposing your identity. Secondly, it’s a major strain on your body. You’ll slowly get used to it, and the after-effects will lessen eventually, but you shouldn’t keep on using it. Thirdly, there’s no reason for you to completely embrace your divine side so soon, right? Each time you use it, you’ll inch closer to godhood.” Moroha raised some fair points. It reminded me of what Linze said, too. About me being distant. The power of a god wasn’t necessary in my life.
Even so, I wouldn’t want to have that power unavailable to me if I truly needed it. That was why I wanted to acclimatize my body to the new situation.
I let magic power and divinity flow through my body, and triggered the divine spark inside me.
My body erupted into brilliant light once more, and my hair turned golden as well. It grew again, too... Right down to my damn knees. I grumbled quietly as I shifted my messy hair around to my back.
“Can’t I manage the hair at least, though?”
“Hmph... I wouldn’t risk it. There’s a chance you could have your hair fall out each time you triggered your divine spark.”
“I’ll be alright, then...” I had no intentions of joining a monastery. I decided I’d just have Lu cut my hair afterward.
“Oh right, another thing... You’re triggering the power of Divine Providence every time you shift into that form. Small animals, or people who aren’t particularly strong, will likely pass out in your presence...”
“Sounds like a pain...” I took the dagger and tried to gather divinity in my palm like she did.
Ghh... This is way tougher than pouring magic into stuff...
Eventually, I manage to create a divine blade just as Moroha had. Compared to Moroha, who had done it in a matter of seconds, it had taken me way too long.
Seemed like handling divinity was a matter of hard work and repeated practice.
“As you grow accustomed to your own divine spark, you’ll be able to master it.”
“Oh, that reminds me. I can use magic without chanting in this form. Do you know what that’s all about?”
“Beats me. Gods like me don’t use magic, remember?”
Oh, right... Crap. Guess I have no frame of reference here, then. I’ll just have to figure it out for myself.
I pointed up in the air and mentally conjured a [Fire Arrow], except instead of a basic flaming missile attack, a monstrous torrent of flame burst from my fingertips.
Holy hell. Would anyone even survive that?! Oh... Oh, whoa... Weird... My divinity just... went down? It’s not recovering half as quickly as my magic does... Is this because I’m untrained? It feels weird being this weak... Ugh, seems I’ve got a lot to learn.
This Apotheosis, which was what I chose to name my transformation, seemed like a hassle. I deactivated it and returned to my regular form. As I’d expected, I felt lethargic and heavy, but not nearly as much as I did the last time.
I returned to the training grounds with Moroha and waved her off. Then, I noticed Lu doing her morning training. I called her over to a nearby bench, since I was certainly due a haircut.
I summoned some scissors from [Storage] and handed them to her.
“W-Wasn’t it shorter than this yesterday?!”
“Ahaha... Yeah... Sure is mysterious, huh...?” Lu began to carefully cut away at my hair. Snippety snip. I didn’t really mind if she made a mistake or anything. Even if she screwed up, I could reach Apotheosis once more and grow it all back.
I don’t wanna go bald, though... If the transformation makes my hair grow out from the roots, then they might end up running out... I made a mental note to swing by the Alchemy Lab and ask Flora for infinite hair tonic.
“Something wrong, Touya?”
“Not at all. I was just worried about going bald.”
“Heheh. I wouldn’t mind. Bald or chubby, you’re still Touya to me.” Lu smiled sweetly, but I definitely didn’t want to be bald or fat... Even if baldness was unavoidable, I pledged to never become overweight...
“Oh, right! Touya... You were investigating Felsen, weren’t you? Did something happen?”
“Oh, yeah. This and that. Do you know much about them?”
“Well, I was a little worried, actually. My older sister is studying over there, remember? If something was going on in Felsen, I’d really prefer her to come home.”
Hm...? Oh, that’s right. I’d never met her, but I did recall Lu saying something about her elder sister studying over in Felsen.
Felsen was renowned as the Magic Kingdom, so I imagined that the second princess of Regulus had some kind of aptitude or interest in magic.
Still, that did make me a little uneasy... I hadn’t decided if Felsen was a bad place or not, but it was definitely the place where the stolen Frame Gear parts had been carted off to... Still, I doubted anything would happen to a princess from Regulus over there.
“Oh, wait. Does that mean Regulus and Felsen are on friendly terms?” I couldn’t imagine a royal family sending one of its daughters to an unfriendly nation, after all.
“Yeah, I think so. We’re friendly... Or it might be safer to say that Regulus and Felsen have a mutually beneficial relationship. They have magical artifacts and new techniques, while we have raw materials and valuable goods like spellstones and armor. We have a trade agreement.”
“Have you ever met their King, Lu?”
“Only once. I was invited to a formal gala in Felsen. It’s a little hard to word, but... he didn’t have the air of a mage about him at all. He kind of felt like a grizzled mercenary, a hardened man.”
A mercenary?! Can’t say I imagined that kind of image for their King...
Hm... Felsen also has a trade agreement with Lestia, right? Maybe we should use that as our way inside... If there’s no bait, you can’t catch a fish, after all.
After Lu finished up my haircut, I went back to the castle with her. Then, I opened up a [Gate] to Lestia. I knew now that I had to make my move.
Chapter IV: The Magic Kingdom, Felsen
“Sorry if this sounds unreasonable.”
“No, you needn’t worry.” The King of Lestia smiled as he waved dismissively. He was the same as ever. I was glad to have a nice guy like this as my brother-in-law. Well, I wasn’t married to Hilde quite yet, but still...
We were riding a carriage from Lestia to Felsen’s royal palace. King Reinhard had graciously arranged a meeting with Felsen’s King for me.
I didn’t want to just suddenly appear out of the blue in Felsen with [Gate], so I decided that the best course of action would be to take a formal convoy with Reinhard. I did kind of cheat a little bit, though. I shortened our journey by transporting all of us just a short distance from the capital city.
I showed my findings related to the Frame Gear theft to Reinhard, but he looked it over with a frown. I asked him why he seemed so puzzled.
“Not that I doubt you, Touya... But I’m not sure I believe the King of Felsen would do such a thing.” Felsen was one of only two nations that bordered Lestia. The other was the Ryle Kingdom. Due to this proximity, they had a rich and intertwined history.
From what I understood, the nations of Lestia and Felsen used to be at war, but in recent years they had enjoyed peaceful contact and trade.
Reinhard informed me that the leader of Felsen was level-headed, open-minded, didn’t mind minor problems, and wasn’t very fussy at all. He didn’t have the personality one might expect of a mage. He was also a physical fitness fanatic and liked to lift weights.
The previous leader of Felsen was an obsessive researcher, and he even died due to a magical research accident. The current king was his younger brother, and succeeded him right away.
His name is Boulanger Frost Felsen, and even from a young age his pursuits were different to his elder brother’s. He always prioritized physical fitness and martial arts over spiritual research and magical technique. That didn’t change much after he ascended to the throne, either.
The official reason for the visit to Felsen was concerning Enlush Island. It was a place between Roadmare, Felsen, Ryle, and Lestia. Smack dab in the middle of the Rondo Sea, a small body of water that fed into the Great Gau River.
The island was technically Lestia’s property, but there were many powerful magical beasts living there. Because of this, they couldn’t really take advantage of the resources there. Apparently the soil wasn’t very fertile there to boot. And aquatic magical beasts attacked any fishing or sailing boats that passed by. It was an island that nobody could make good use of.
I looked at this island and brought a certain proposal to the King of Lestia.
My proposal was simple. We could build bridges to connect all four nations using that island as a central nexus.
The bridges would be long, of course. However, constructing them wasn’t at all impossible. If we built them, trade between the four nations would grow considerably easier. Plus, with the island as the center, it could even become a thriving commercial hub.
Each country would be able to establish their own trade rules, naturally. And exports along with imports would be strictly monitored.
I’d build the bridges to each nation, in exchange for a toll fee. On top of that, I’d also wipe out all the dangerous creatures native to the central territory.
The governments of Roadmare and Ryle both agreed to the project. Now all we needed was to see if Felsen wanted in on the plan too. If Felsen didn’t agree, I’d just make a trade route between the other three nations, but I didn’t exactly see any reason for them to decline.
“I hear that Felsen’s on the forefront of developing magic tech, is that right?”
“That’s correct, yes. They research all kinds of things including artifacts, ancient technologies, enchantments, talismans, Eashen’s ninjutsu, and naturalism.” Magic had seven broad elemental attributes in this world, but there were also unusual offshoots that made use of magical power as well. These were known as “arts.” The ninjutsu that Tsubaki employed was an example of one such style.
They weren’t determined by elemental affinities like conventional spells, so anyone with magic in them could make use of them. Still, a crazy amount of training was necessary to even begin. Even if it took five or so years to figure out the fundamentals, you wouldn’t be able to use the most basic of abilities until at least another five years on top of that. So really, the path of the arts was one that took far more time and dedication than wielding magic.
Certain arts were kept secret and limited to specific families, as well, so one could never truly master every one available. The Daoshi in Yulong, for example, were masters of talisman arts.
“About sixty percent of all the enchanted items in the world were produced by Felsen’s magicraftsmen. Their success rate is nowhere near your [Enchant] spell, which always seems to work, though... so they have no means of mass production.”
“They fail that much? What’s their success rate?”
“Around every one in ten attempts work, I believe... On a good day.”
Less than ten percent...? No wonder enchanted goods are so pricey.
The Library of Babylon had some books detailing how to improve your chances at enchanting and other techniques... but I didn’t have any books on other arts that had developed since Doctor Babylon’s time. Ninjutsu, for example, had developed in Eashen, but nobody lived in that area of the world five-thousand years ago, so there were no books detailing it.
I realized that I could very easily use my own [Enchant] spell to mass produce all kinds of goods and make a fortune, but that would have affected Felsen’s income big-time... so the idea was a no-go.
As I pondered various magic arts, our carriage passed through the castle town and made it to the royal abode.
Felsen castle didn’t look like the French fortress I’d initially imagined. Instead, it more readily resembled a classic British castle. It felt very dignified and rustic. It let off such a traditional aura that it was easy to imagine this being a mage’s stronghold.
We reached the steps up to the main entrance. Knight King Reinhard went on ahead and I followed behind him. Then, I looked up and saw a man waiting for us by the entrance.
He looked to be in his forties, at least. He was extremely tall and beefy, and he wore a gleaming suit of armor. He reminded me of a pro wrestler, or an American football player.
His beard covered the bottom half of his face, and his gray-black hair was shoddily swept back. He wore a beautiful white cape with golden stitching, and in his right hand was a magnificent silver scepter.
What caught my eye the most, though, was the scarring on his face.
What the hell, did he fight a tiger or something?
“Knight King of Lestia, Grand Duke of Brunhild... Welcome to Felsen, lads.” The giant of a man, King Boulanger Frost Felsen, grinned at us both.
“Ohoho... Bridges to Enlush island? Aye, I could see profits soaring if we all established trade that way. But....” I’d told the plan to the King, but he stroked his beard and seemed apprehensive.
“Something wrong?”
“Aye, see... Even if we build this bridge, Enlush Island is Lestian territory, ain’t it? What if Lestia decides to halt passage through the island based on their own whims, eh?”
“That’s not a problem. When the bridges are completed, the island will be divided into four territories. Each country will own that segment of the island, and ten percent of the trade toll will go to Brunhild. The Grand Duke’s nation will be building the bridges and clearing out the monsters, after all.” Reinhard quickly calmed the concerns of Felsen’s King.
I’d have been happy to build the bridges for free and leave them to it, but Doge Audrey of Roadmare told me I should take responsibility for the bridges in case issues came up in the future, so I went along with it.
The costs wouldn’t be all that much, but they did add up since the bridges would end up being quite long. The countries would all pay me back for the expenses by giving me ten percent of the bridge tolls. I also said I wouldn’t take any further money from them after they paid me the full amount. It would take about ten years at most if the bridges saw frequent use. Though I wouldn’t have minded them paying me in bigger chunks if they could afford it.
In Another World With My Smartphone: Volume 9 Page 16