In Another World With My Smartphone: Volume 11 Premium

by Patora Fuyuhara

  “Can’t they kill the Behemoths? They’ll win if it’s a life-or-death situation, right? There are enough of them.”

  “I’m not so sure about that. They do have enormous catapults that they use to ward off any that come too close, but they’re playing it safe and fighting defensive for the most part.” Besides, if they hadn’t been playing it safe, I doubt they’d have lasted all these years. I wondered if they’d figured out their own ways to deal with Behemoths due to the isolation. Either that or they were counting on the barrier to save them.

  “It is only humans on that island, is it not?” Yae spoke up as she skillfully slurped her ramen. Soba and udon existed on Eashen, so her proficiency didn’t catch me off-guard. She was already on to her third bowl, too.

  She didn’t gain weight at all, despite the fact that she kept shoveling away food. Then again, she worked out a lot, so it wasn’t like she had some innate fat-blocking talent. It was a simple case of calories in vs calories burned.

  “Actually, no. There are mostly humans there, but there are a few beastmen and demonkin mixed in there as well. There isn’t any discrimination in their society, either. They all live equally.” I felt like our society could learn a lot from that approach. That being said, the prejudice might have just been put by the wayside in favor of survival. They needed to work together in order to stay alive in such a hostile land.

  “There aren’t that many people living there though, even with the limited territory, but that’s probably because they can’t fish or do proper agriculture.”

  Even if they managed to fend off monsters to claim farmland, a Behemoth could just walk in and trash it the moment anything was ready to harvest. Having such hard work go to waste would make it hard to consider even attempting in the first place... It’d be too demoralizing to even try.

  It’d be wiser to build their farms inside the barrier. Have something like the houses built around the perimeter of the barrier, and the crops on the inner area.

  If something attacked, the houses might be trashed, sure... but the food would be okay. It’d increase their chances of surviving that much more.

  “Still... an island of Behemoths, eh? It really makes me curious... I mean, why would magical beasts have evolved in such a way in one place?”

  “Doctor Babylon proposed the theory that Behemoths are spawned based on magic element density.”

  “Element density?” Elze and Yae raised a brow in confusion at my words.

  The theory that the doctor had was that magical beasts evolved from regular animals that absorbed residual magic elements from the air. For example, a bear species that gradually built up elements of Wind magic in the air might have mutated into the Thunder Bear species.

  The theory expanded into the idea that Behemoths came about when a dense amount of magical elements were infused into a creature.

  Typically, the residual levels of magic in the air were too thin to have an effect. However, there were a few places in the world where the density was greater than others. Places rich in nature, holy mountains, the sea floor, and the depths of huge forests were all regarded as these so-called Mana Wells.

  According to the doctor, those Mana Wells created Behemoths frequently.

  I asked her why Behemoths didn’t just appear all the time in these places, and she said that the number of creatures that could actually absorb elements from the air was surprisingly low. Apparently, humans were capable of it as well, though.

  Anyway, the issue with the mysterious island was the very barrier that protected it. The magic in the air couldn’t disperse, so all of it was trapped inside. In other words, it was constantly cycling around the animals and probably being absorbed by any compatible ones. Just because it was being spread around to them didn’t mean it’d disappear, either.

  That was why the island itself had basically become an artificial Mana Well, and also probably why there were so many Behemoths as a result.

  “So wait, does this Mana Well thing affect people?”

  “Humans can’t absorb more magic than their maximum capacity, Elze. That being said, mana sickness is a thing, and can also be caused by overexposure as well as underexposure.” Leen quickly responded to Elze’s query.

  In the case of the Behemoths on the island, it wasn’t likely that these creatures were born as regular animals. It was probably that after several generations of being in such a magically dense place, the Behemoths simply became the evolutionary norm.

  That being said, Behemoths typically weren’t capable of successful mating due to their genetic irregularities... Though, it was also possible that the Behemoths on the island could just be very old. They had extended lifespans after all.

  I guess the real issue was whether or not the Behemoths were now being born naturally or not...

  It would be fine to have them pop up now and then, since they were just freak mutations, but we could be dealing with an entirely new species here, and I wasn’t sure how to proceed in that regard.

  Still, the place definitely gave me a Monster Island kind of vibe. It would’ve been pretty convenient if a silver warrior from space came down and sorted it out for me. I wasn’t quite sure if he’d be able to clear out the island before the Three Minute Rule was up, though.

  “Then will the possibility of Behemoths being born go down after removing the barrier, will it?”

  “Most likely, yeah. But I can’t say for sure... and I don’t know if the people maintaining the barrier know that either... or even if anyone is maintaining it...”

  Either way, the barrier had to come down at some point. If not, the people in there would be trapped indefinitely.

  “At any rate, I’ve been thinking I want to contact the people on the island. I need to tell the neighboring countries about it. Elfrau and Hannock agreed to meet, but I haven’t got a reply from Palouf yet. I’m hoping Lihnea’s king can persuade them to come, but I’m also unsure about how much I should tell them...”

  In the worst-case scenario, we’d proceed without Palouf’s consent. Opening up trade with the island would give the rest of the world access to relatively cheap monster materials. However, the island seemed to have a strange half-barter based currency, so I wasn’t sure how it’d go. They definitely had gold, silver, and copper coins, so they at least recognized how the system worked.

  “It’ll take a while before we open up channels with them, so I guess it’s not urgent... But I think we should—”

  I was cut off by the familiar buzzing of my smartphone. It was a mail from Relisha. Odd.

  “What is it?”

  “A message from Relisha. Seems like some Phrase have been detected. They’ll come through any time starting tomorrow and ending a week from now...” I answered Linze’s question as I scanned over the mail.

  “Did she mention how many? Or their power?”

  “Not yet.” Phrase appeared regularly around the world, but typically it was just Lesser Constructs, the kind of thing a coordinated party could take out. A few people were even good enough to take on the Intermediates.

  Still, the Advanced Constructs and, god forbid, the Dominant Constructs, were way too much for regular people to contend with. Brunhild was typically only asked to help if it was a major issue. When we were called out it was typically a given that something big was going to come out.

  “Where is the emergence point, Touya-dono?”

  “Regulus. I’ll have to tell Lu.”

  “Tell me what?”

  I turned to find an apron-clad girl standing in the doorway. She had almond tofu on a tray. Lu placed it on the table, and man did it look good...

  I decided to talk about the Phrase situation after trying out the treat. Couldn’t pass the stuff up.

  Mm, that’s good... I scooped up the white stuff in my spoon and shoveled it into my mouth. It was tasty and had the texture of gooey snow.

  Chapter IV: A Foreboding Encounter

  “They aren’t here yet...”

  “No, they
aren’t,” Lu sat on a nearby rock, muttering a little.

  We were in the Islum Plains in the middle of Regulus territory, just a little bit north-east of their capital city, Gallaria. The place resembled the plains of Mongolia, vast fields and rocky mountains in the distance. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, either.

  It had been four days since we brought out the Frame Gears and deployed a forward base. The Regulus guild had sensed that the Phrase were incoming, but we had up to a week until they actually showed up. There was nothing to do but wait.

  It wasn’t like I wanted them to appear, I just hated the waiting game. We couldn’t go back to Brunhild since they could emerge at any moment.

  The girls took turns going back to the castle through a [Gate].

  Lu, Sue, Linze, and Leen were currently deployed. Yumina and Sakura were back at the castle having some downtime, while Yae, Elze, and Hilde were sleeping back home after finishing their patrols.

  We couldn’t really afford to drop our guard because we knew that an Upper Construct was coming... but constantly keeping tense was pretty rough, too.

  “Touya, it’s lunchtime. Would you like to eat?”

  “Already? Sure. Sounds good to me.” Lu took out two boxed lunches and two flasks from her bag. One was larger than the other. She poured us a bowl of soup each from the large flask, and a cup of tea each from the little one. Then she handed over a boxed lunch to me. I opened it up and saw a tasty display of rice and side dishes.

  “Wow, it looks amazing. Did you make this, Lu?”

  “I did. I made it this morning. Crea made everyone else’s, but I wanted to make yours...” Lu formed a bashful smile as she spoke. The little princess had quite a talent for cooking, and she’d further refined it after coming to Brunhild. Crea had taken Lu under her wing and used many recipes from my world that I’d provided in order to make the girl into an excellent chef.

  I looked down at the meal, smiled, and started eating the fried prawns. It was delicious. Better than the ones made by Crea, even.

  “I love it. You’ve really improved, Lu.”

  “Thank you so much... I’m happy to hear you say that.” The karaage and tamagoyaki were really good, too. Truly the way to a man’s heart was through his stomach. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, I tried the stew.

  “Man, this is seriously good... I wanna eat this every day.”

  “I-I think when we get married I’ll be able to do that! Hehe...!” Lu started munching down on her food with a red face. I was grateful for my current life. I really had a lot to thank god for. Suddenly, I remembered something.

  “Lu, currently we’re working on Sakura’s Frame Gear... but what about yours? I imagine you’ll want a high-mobility type with twin blades?”

  “Uhm, let me think... I quite like that style, yes... but I’d like to prioritize adaptability. Elze, Hilde, and Yae work as vanguard units right now, while Sue, Sakura, and Leen are rearguards. I believe that I should be a commando unit that can alternate between those, much like Linze.”

  “A commando?”

  “I think versatile weaponry would be useful. The ability for me to alternate between long and short-range combat.”

  Hm... I guess that’s doable. It’ll need to transform from a high-mobility mode to an armored or more powerful mode, I guess. We’d need it to be able to transform on the go, too. Don’t want any time wasted or cooldown on the battlefield. I can see a transforming Frame Gear being useful for unconventional tactics...

  “Alright. Let’s try and do that, then. Right now we only have the Dragoon as far as high-mobility types go, anyway.” I looked over toward the green-painted Dragon Knight nearby. It was the same model as Ende’s, but it was an old model nonetheless.

  Lu currently piloted the Green Dragoon while she waited for her personal Frame Gear to get produced. Still, Lu was plenty capable of handling it so it wasn’t that bad as a temporary measure.

  “Thanks for the food, Lu.”

  “No problem, I’m glad you liked it.” I wrapped up my lunchbox and smiled. After that, we took a rest and sipped our tea.

  “Grand Duke, Princess, is now a good time?”

  “No worries, Gaspar. What’s up?” I looked over to the source of the voice and found Regulus’ Knight Commander, Gaspar. The attack was in Regulus territory, so a lot of their knights were on hand to help.

  “I’m glad to see the two of you are close as ever. Brunhild and Regulus will truly prosper at this rate...” Gaspar laughed heartily as he spoke.

  “Something going on?”

  “Well, nothing in particular, no... I was simply wondering if we might have more units from the Regulus military.”

  “Hm? Even more?” I was surprised by the request since I’d already given Regulus more Frame Gears than usual. Twenty-seven Chevaliers and three Knight Barons.

  “In truth, much like Brunhild, Regulus has done a recruitment drive for its knight order. We’d like to allow our newer men to get some battlefield experience. That being said, I am aware there’s a strong one amongst the Phrase, and I won’t endanger us by having the newbies in the vanguard. That’s why I’d like you to authorize one other group of Frame Gears who would focus on the Lesser Constructs.” That made sense enough to me. Brunhild was also deploying a squad of newbies to give them hands-on experience with the Phrase, so the request wasn’t unreasonable. I didn’t want them fighting an Upper Construct, though. Basically, their job was to follow instructions and just get a general feel for the atmosphere of a combat situation.

  “Have they used the Frame Units to train?”

  “They’ve finished their training, yes. I wouldn’t have made the proposal otherwise. So long as they don’t get rushed, I feel as though they’ll be able to handle the weaker ones without a problem.” I wasn’t too concerned since the emergency escape magic would save anyone that got defeated... But I imagined it wouldn’t be necessary if they were given proper instruction.

  “Alright, then. I’ll give you one more Knight Baron and nine more Chevaliers. How about that? If they get damaged, Regulus will have to pay for the repairs.”

  “Very well, thank you.” I contacted Monica and told her to send ten Frame Gears down from the hangar.

  Even though an Upper Construct was coming, the readings didn’t suggest a massive amount. There weren’t even ten-thousand coming through. We were using the new Frame Gear models, too. I didn’t see the fight posing much of a challenge.

  After Gaspar left, I asked Lu for another cup of tea.

  “Hm... Regulus has more people in its army, eh?”

  “It seems so. After the coup, Regulus lost a lot of military power after all...”

  “That general really went too far...” General Bazoar had tried to kill the emperor of Regulus using the power of the Blockbracer and the Drainbracer. He ended up summoning various demonic creatures and even caused a full-on coup.

  After the coup, he and his sympathizers were all put to death. A great number of people in the military were given hefty sentences as well. The knight order of Regulus was separate from the Regulus military back then. But after that, the military became a subdivision of the knight order. They were guilty of dishonoring the nation, so they needed to have a close eye kept on them until they were reformed.

  Luckily my connection to them had resulted in their foreign relations becoming much, much better. Thanks to that they didn’t need to worry about defense from foreign nations as much. They were fine with Belfast, but thanks to my intervention they’d also bridged peace with Roadmare and Ramissh.

  “It was a tragic incident for the empire, but I’m still glad it happened. It’s how I met you, Touya. Is it wrong for me to think that way?”

  “Not at all. Without that incident, I’d have never met you either. If you put it that way, I might even owe that general a little for his wicked plans. Even if it’s selfish, I’m glad we met.” The two of us smiled at one another. I was truly thankful to have her by my side.

&n
bsp; Lu was a hard worker. She was also focused to the point where she didn’t give up on her goals. But despite that, she was gentle and kind.

  We gazed off into the distance and sat close together. Gradually, both of us closed our eyes. And then...

  “Ohoho... How bold...”

  “Shhh, Sue. Keep your voice down.”

  “Hmph... I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little jealous.” The sudden appearance of hushed voices made us open our eyes up.

  Sue, Linze, Paula, and Leen were all sneaking a glance at us from behind a rock in the distance.

  “G-G-Girls?! Wh-When did you girls start peeking on us?!” Lu suddenly went red in the face, stammering toward the three people and one animal.

  “Since Gaspar was here, I guess?”

  “W-Well, we were just curious about lunch... s-so we came to ask about you guys, and we didn’t want to ruin the mood...”

  “I told them not to interfere, good grief...” The three of them replied in their own ways as Paula stood proudly at Leen’s feet. She puffed out her chest with pride. It was a little bit annoying and out of place, but that was Paula for you.

  Lu crouched down and put her hands over her face, the poor girl was completely beet red.

  “Uwaaah... H-How embarrassing...”

  “You shouldn’t be embarrassed, silly. Touya’s our husband-to-be! There’s no shame in getting a little lovey-dovey as a couple!” Sue very plainly spoke up, tilting her head as if she didn’t understand the problem.

  “I-I’m not quite ready for the next level...” Lu averted her gaze at Sue’s provocation. She was right. It wasn’t like we were at that stage, yet. Still, I felt like a lot of personal barriers had been broken over time.

  “Our precious little darling doesn’t do things like this with us very often. I’d like to get a little bit more up close and personal with him, myself...”