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The next day...
“So you went out with your fiancee and completely forgot about my request.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry.” We were in Babylon’s Library. Fam was seated on a chair, and in front of her was me, apologizing on my knees.
She wasn’t visibly angry, but there was a certain pressure to her that didn’t allow me to get a word out.
“And during your date, your head was full of dirty thoughts, was it not, Master? I suppose it stands to reason you would forget, then.”
“That’s not it!” Cesca, who was standing next to her, served us tea.
The hell are you doing here anyway?!
Either way, it was true I forgot about that promise, so I apologized to Fam earnestly.
“I’ll buy it next time, I promise.”
“I cannot wait that long.” She shot me down immediately. I knew that was the kind of girl she was, but she really had nothing going for her in terms of social skills.
The promise was just that I would get her books from the world down on the surface, but apparently she was looking forward to it too much. Now she wouldn’t forgive me.
It must have felt just like when you expected the books you ordered to be delivered, but then they got held up and didn’t arrive on time. I could understand her irritation.
“As such, I expect Master to accompany me today. We shall go shopping. We will purchase at least a thousand volumes today.”
“A thousand?!”
“I am referring to ten series of titles that number over a hundred volumes. It is not very much, numerically speaking.”
Wait, huh? Really? Come to think of it... When I consider there’s definitely more than ten manga series that have over a hundred volumes in my old world, it really doesn’t seem that odd.
I didn’t have any pressing matters to attend that day, so I didn’t mind going shopping. Isn’t this the first time Fam will be leaving the Library, though?
“I see. Impressive, Fam. You get to go on a date with Master. I cannot let this chance pass by. I will be accompanying you as well, Master.”
“Huh? No way, you’re coming too...?”
I’ve got a bad feeling about all this...
“Ah, so I alone do not satisfy you. Very well then, let us call the sisters.”
“Hold up. That’ll only make more of a mess, so please don’t.”
“I am afraid you are too late. So long as we are in Babylon, we are continually in-link, sharing any information regarding you, Master. The sisters have already been informed.” What kind of system is that?! I’m getting kind of scared, here!
“It seems the Tower’s Noel and the Rampart’s Liora have abstained from participating. The Alchemy Lab’s Flora is also too busy at the moment.” Fam was already confirming the sisters’ attendance from the terminal on top of her desk.
Wait, you decided already? Noel probably just said she’s too sleepy, and Liora got stuck taking care of her. Flora should be making that drug Duke Ortlinde asked for the other day.
If you think about it, it makes perfect sense for nobility and royalty to be that occupied with producing heirs. They have second or third wives, even mistresses if need be, because there’s no real future for them without an heir. In other words, that drug is something that’s desperately sought after by nobility and royalty alike.
That being the case, I knew it wouldn’t hurt to have more of it on hand, so I asked Flora to produce some more the day before. As a matter of fact, the Emperor of Regulus asked for some, too. But it wasn’t for him. It was for his son, Prince Lux.
Lux didn’t have any children, after all... It was a grave affair for the Regulus Empire.
As I was pondering that, Rosetta, Monica, and Parshe all appeared in the Library’s teleportation circle.
“Are we going out, sir?! That’ll make for a good change of pace, sir yessir!”
“Get me like, something totally yummy to eat, Master.”
“It’s-a been too long since I hit-a the surface world. This should be lots of fun.”
Fam, Cesca, Rosetta, Monica and Parshe... Am I going to have to take all five of them out? Makes me feel like a teacher taking a kindergarten out on a field trip. I hope nothing bad happens...
“Let us begin by purchasing everything from this shelf all the way to that shelf.”
“Everything?!”
I took them to a large book store in Belfast, and Fam said that all of sudden. She preferred to read storybooks and technical manuals. She also read things like self-help books, pictures books, and dictionaries, but didn’t seem to like them as much.
The shelf was packed with story books, historical tomes, travel journals, and magic theory books. The Library probably had much more advanced books on magic theory, though.
Either way, the books Fam asked for piled up on the counter. The girl at the counter looked at the sight wide-eyed, but when Fam placed a platinum coin on the counter, she immediately smiled at her like she would at an honored guest and began pricing the books with a grin.
Books were extremely valuable in this world. They were fairly expensive, so the commoners rarely got a chance to buy them. Since most of their patrons were nobles, book shops tended to be heavily secured, and being as suspicious as we were, the guards’ attention was fixed on us. We’re paying. Relax!
“Master, Master. I have found this lovemaking manual, The Garma Sudra. Could you purchase it and try it out on me?”
“Put it back!” I drove away Cesca, who ran up to me with a dubious pink book in her hands.
The Babylon sisters all accompanied me in their maid uniforms. They stuck out like sore thumbs. Maid outfits were hardly subtle, after all.
“I’ve collected what I wanted from here. Master, let us continue.”
“You’re buying more...?” Fam seemed to be in a good mood. Her expression was as blank as it ever was, but her gestures felt more lively, somehow. She skipped just now, didn’t she? Seeing her do that with her blank look was a bit creepy.
Having paid for the books and received our change, I packed the books into my [Storage] and we moved on. When I looked to the side, I noticed that Cesca had managed to sneakily purchase that sex manual. She worked in the castle as a maid, so I paid her a wage, of course. It was no surprise she had money on her, but that book was fairly expensive... I wondered if it was okay to let her do that.
“Master. I say that if what’s bothering you is the price, buy it. But give it up if what’s making you buy it is the price.”
Geez, no need to be so smug. I didn’t even say anything! Anyway, she was free to use her money however she pleased. I simply kept quiet.
Rosetta and Monica didn’t seem interested in the books at all. I looked over dubiously at Parshe, who picked up a book related to architecture. If that klutz were to knock over a shelf, things would turn very ugly.
“Alright, let’s check out the book store in the imperial capital, then.” After we left the shop, I opened a [Gate] in an alleyway to Regulus’ imperial capital, Gallaria.
From there we went to Refreese’s capital, Bern, Mismede’s capital, Berge, Ramissh’s capital, Isla, Lihnea’s capital, Nimue, the Roadmare Union’s central capital, Paneramea, Lestia’s capital, Lestin, and Felsen’s capital, Pharma. We went from country to country, buying every single book Fam specified. I’m pretty sure we bought well over a thousand books.
“Master, I’m getting hungry and stuff... Feed me, if you could.” As we walked along the streets of Felsen’s capital, Monica whispered with a tired expression, contrasting Fam’s brisk, albeit expressionless, gait.
“I’ve been well fed ever since I’ve entered your service, Master. So like, skipping meals for the first time in a while and stuff is totally taking its toll on me.”
“Well fed... It’s just ordinary food, you know?” Strictly speaking, the sisters could generate energy from magic and light, so they didn’t need to eat for sustenance.
However
, I thought working them to the bone and not giving them anything to eat would be terribly cruel, so I’d been providing them with the same meals we had. They could still ingest food, and could discern what tasted good and what didn’t, so they each gradually developed their own tastes in cuisine.
“It was pretty bad when we were working with Doctor Babylon... All we had to eat were calorie bars and liquid food.”
“That was-a pretty unpleasant...” Rosetta and Parshe spoke heartily.
So that’s how she treated them... It feels a bit heartless of her.
“No, it was the doctor that didn’t have any interest in food whatsoever, sir! She was the kind of person who always said anything was fine so long as it quelled her hunger, yessir she did. She didn’t want to waste time on eating, so she had only one meal a day. There was even a time where she tried to live off Flora’s pills.”
“And we had-a to have the same diet she did. After all, only Cesca and Liora can-a cook.”
“Just because we could doesn’t mean we were ever motivated to. No matter what we’d make, the professor would always say it was just okay.”
“She was a problematic person to live with, wasn’t she...?” Hearing that made me feel bad for them, so since we were in Felsen I took them to a nice restaurant. It was a stylish little place. They didn’t demand a dress code, so we entered no problem.
They handed us a menu and took our orders, and soon enough the table was stacked with delicacies.
“It’s delicious! Delicious I say!”
“I get it, I get it. Settle down and eat already.” I answered Monica with a wry smile as she chomped on a mouthful of meat. While I was pondering how lucky I was to catch a seat near the table’s edge, a steak the size of a sandal slapped onto the side of my face with a splatter.
“Ow!”
“Ahaaa, I’m-a sorry! I keep-a trying, but the steak! She cannot be cut!” Parshe, who was sitting opposite of me, apologized as she tore the steak off my face and put it back on her plate.
That clumsy little... She isn’t doing this on purpose, is she? Earlier she said “allow me” and poured a whole salt shaker’s worth of salt into my salad.
“Parshe isn’t at fault here, sir! It’s just how she is. Please allow me to drop and give you twenty in her stead, sir!” Rosetta, who was sitting next to me, offered a black handkerchief. That was considerate of her. I took it and begin wiping off the sauce that clung to my face and... immediately noticed a weird smell. I spread the handkerchief and find that it wasn’t an handkerchief, but an oily rag.
“Oh? Where’d I put the handkerchief while I was changing, again?”
Rosetta began rummaging through the pockets of her maid uniform, while I silently pulled a wet towel out of [Storage] and used it to wipe the sauce and oil from my face. Being around them was exhausting...
Incidentally, Fam just started reading the books she bought earlier, and hadn’t touched her food at all.
“It’s going to go cold, you know?”
“There is no reason for concern. It is still perfectly edible when cold.”
This girl... The least you can do is take your eyes off the book when you’re talking to me.
Why is her personality like that? Oh, come to think of it...
“Your personalities are partially based off of Doctor Babylon’s, right?”
“That’s right, sir! The professor divided her personality, and granted each of us an emotion to serve as our core. I myself have the professor’s urge to create as my core, sir!”
I see... The professor’s desire to “create things” is the emotion at Rosetta’s core.
I glanced at Fam, who was still engrossed in her book.
“So that means Fam is...”
“Intellectual thirst.”
That made sense. The desire to “know many things” was the basis for Fam’s heart.
“Parshe’s is ‘ambition’ and Monica’s is ‘sincerity.’” Parshe and ambition... Well, I guess she never gives up no matter how many times she screws up. And Monica is sincerity. Well, she really is honest. Both to others and to herself.
I turned my eyes to the perverted maid, who kept panting while zealously reading the sex manual she’d bought.
“I take it she’s lust or carnal desire...”
“To be exact, hers is curiosity... I believe that choice of words would be far less objectionable...” Even Rosetta looked somewhat taken aback by Cesca’s behavior.
Incidentally, Flora’s was “devotion,” Noel’s was “sleepiness,” and Liora’s was “compassion.”
That crazy doctor actually had devotion and compassion for others...? Of course, the sisters aren’t all made up by single emotions. Other various emotions that splintered off from the professor surround their cores, and each of them developed their own personalities.
“So Doctor Babylon is like the sum of all of you, or your basis... She sounds like a truly impressive person.”
“If she were a bit more normal, sir! She would have surely left her mark upon history. However, as she was prone to mood swings and didn’t care at all for fame or reputation, there were hardly any people she could consider a friend, no sir.”
She was a loner, then... I suppose given her personality, no one would have gone out of their way to get involved with her.
“There were those foolish nobles that kept bothering the professor for her inventions. But she like, totally taught them a lesson and stuff.”
“That brings-a back memories. She had them all tied up naked to-a the palace pillars.”
“Yes, they were upside down, too. That was totally awesome, hah...”
...Huh? I’m getting deja-vu for some reason. Am I imagining things? But she sure did some nasty things in the past. Pretty scary, to be honest.
“By the way, there was one more part to Babylon... the Research Laboratory. What’s the person who manages it like?”
They have part of the professor’s personality, so that alone should make them abnormal. In that case, I should probably learn what kind of person they are.
“I don’t like her.” Monica said flatly, chewing on her meat. Weird. I never expected to hear Monica talk like that about someone.
“That’s because the Research Laboratory’s manager likes to pamper Monica, sir!”
“Isn’t that a good thing?”
“It’s like, totally annoying and stuff, you know...? She keeps trying to hug me. I can’t stand it when people stick to me like glue.”
“The Research Laboratory’s terminal gynoid is-a hard-working and-a responsible, though. She worked often as-a the professor’s assistant. She was also in charge of-a providing maintenance for our bodies.” Parshe answered, finally successfully cutting off a piece of meat from her steak.
Serious and hard-working, huh... Maybe it’ll be fine, then... Liora, Rosetta, and Monica are on the diligent side too, but they each have their own issues.
“The Research Laboratory’s gynoid helped-a the professor on many of her experiments. She even helped in making most of-a us, with the exception of Liora and Flora. She’s the third sister, after all.”
The third sister, huh? Each Sister had a number assigned to them. If I recalled properly it went something like:
#20 - Preliora
#21 - Bell Flora
#22 - ???
#23 - Francesca
#24 - Irisfam
#25 - Pamela Noel
#26 - Lileleparshe
#27 - High Rosetta
#28 - Fredmonica
That sounded about right.
“Aren’t there any units from before Liora’s time?”
“There were, but all the ones before number eighteen were animal types, and numbers eighteen and nineteen were made to be short-lived, unlike us.”
“I see...”
It’s a story from five-thousand years ago. I can’t blame them. I guess she must have used special cells to grant these girls their longevity, then. They’re a cross between a magical li
fe-form and machine, after all.
“Hmm, but wasn’t there a numbered capsule after mine in the Research Laboratory? Number Twenty-Nine, right? I was looking forward to someone being newer than me, but Babylon got like, totally split up and stuff before she woke up... What happened to that?”
“There was a capsule there, but it was empty.”
“Maybe it was-a spare?”
“You think? There were lots of capsules in the Research Laboratory... Why like, totally go to the trouble of putting a number on it and stuff for no reason?”
“Maybe the professor was thinking of making us a new sister!”
“A new-a little sister... I hope-a she’s in the Research Laboratory.” The three of them were getting worked up, but I turned my gaze to Cesca and Fam, who were still immersed in reading.
I wonder why they’re not taking part in the conversation... They shouldn’t be reading all the time. Well, one of them is reading a dirty book, too...
They had me follow them around all day, but it honestly wasn’t so bad every once in a while.
Still, the day’s events reminded me that there was one more Babylon left to find. We found the Frame Gears, so I wasn’t sure if we needed much more, but if their sisters were out there, then I wanted to help them meet. Being alone was pretty sad, after all. And there was even a chance for two more to be at the Research Laboratory.
As I wondered just who I’d wind up meeting next, I quietly sipped my juice.
Afterword
And here we are again, at the end of the ninth In Another World With My Smartphone volume. It’s me, as usual, Patora Fuyuhara.
Nine already, wow... Means we’ll be at ten next. This is all thanks to you guys, honestly. You just keep reading!
It’s taken over two years to get to this point, but I’m amazed... I didn’t even think we’d sell enough to get more than one volume, let alone ten. There were a lot of things going on at the time of the original publication offer, so I was even leaning toward saying no. In the end, I’m really glad I made the choice to go ahead.
To me, the highlight of the volume is the new Frame Gears that finally got to appear. When I was writing my webnovel, I didn’t really think all that much about pacing or artistic design spacing, either... so having multiple Frame Gears at once is a little harsh on the mecha designer. Please forgive me, Mr. Ogasawara!
In Another World With My Smartphone: Volume 9 Page 20