In a Different World with a Smartphone Chapter 394: Interception Preparations, and the Ruler-cla.s.ses.
I’m lending two Knight Barons and eighteen Chevaliers, a total of twenty Frame Gears to each partic.i.p.ating country.
The countries partic.i.p.ating are almost every country in the Surface World… The Eastern Continent. Excluding Brunhild, the total count is at 18 countries. (The tribes of the Great Sea of Trees aren’t included. They take pride in fighting with their own bodies, and as such they wouldn’t ride in Frame Gears.)
With twenty Frame Gears given to each of the eighteen countries for a total of 360 frames, plus 50 being deployed by Brunhild, and my Reginleiv as well as Yumina and the others’ nine Valkyrias, our total force against the variants add up to 420 Frame Gears.
During the grand invasion of Yulong, our side had 200 Frame Gears. This time, we have more than twice that number, as well as our new models. We should be in the advantage this time, but our opponents for this round are variants instead of Phrases. We cannot take it lightly.
And besides these, we also have Norn and Nia’s Over Gears, and I’ve also dragged Ende’s Dragoon forcefully into the lineup.
The preparations of our force are perfect. The problem left…
“So the appearance location really is out at sea…”
Professor Babylon folded her arms as she looked at the map being shown on a monitor in the [Laboratory].
“How’s the waterproof measures for the Frame Gears?”
“For Touya-kun’s Reginleiv, those girls’ Valkyrias, and… The two Over Gears, and Ende-kun’s Dragoon; those ones are fine. There’ll be no water leakage even if you dive completely into the sea. Your movements will become dull, though. However, other Frame Gears are a bit dangerous since their c.o.c.kpits aren’t the sealed type. It’ll be fine for them to be submerged up
to their waists, but anymore and the c.o.c.kpit would have water enter inside it. It may even be life-threatening for the pilots.”
In the worst case, they might drown themselves, huh.
Of course, since we have the emergency escape devices, it’s possible for the pilots to escape before they actually drown. However, if, say, someone loses their consciousness and falls down into the sea, they can drown just like that without being able to escape. As expected, it should still be safer for us to fight on the ground.
“We can’t tell what the variants will do, after all… Using search magic to monitor their movements after they appear, and set up ambushes at the place where they’re heading… Guess that’s our best option right now.”
“Since there’ll probably be flying types as well, we’ll need to take them into consideration too.”
The ones capable of dealing with airborne enemies are: the ones capable of flight, my Reginleiv and Linze’s Helmwige; the ones with long-distance attacks, Yumina’s Brunnhilde, Leen’s Grimgerde, Sakura’s Rossweisse, and then Luu’s Waltraute with its bombardment unit equipped. I think we can somehow manage.
I entrusted the tuning of the Frame Gears to the professor and others, and returned to Brunhild’s castle. Since I found Karen nee-san, who’s coincidentally at the terrace, I asked her about something I was concerned over.
“You’re asking whether the variants would use [G.o.dslaying Poison]?”
“Yeah. If they spread that around, me and the girls would immediately drop out of the fight, after all.”
“Ah, right, no need to worry about that-nano yo. [G.o.dslaying Poison] is something that works by getting absorbed by the earth, contaminating it, and turning that entire area into something like a poisonous swamp for G.o.ds-nano yo. I’ve told you this before, but that poison has a horrible affinity with running water; if it gets spread out over the open ocean, far before getting absorbed by the seabed, it would get dispersed by the ocean currents and disappear- nano yo. Also, [G.o.dslaying Poison] isn’t something anyone can make easily, you know.”
Is that so? Wait, then does that mean their stock of the poison has depleted with that meteor shower the other day?
“In the first place, [G.o.dslaying Poison] is made by sacrificing the soul of a G.o.d-no yo. And, what that evil G.o.d used for the sacrifice is likely…”
“… The subordinate G.o.d that got eaten, huh.”
That neet G.o.d, on top of having his body getting absorbed by the evil G.o.d, his soul is now used as sacrifice to manufacture [G.o.dslaying Poison], eh. There’s no possible salvation for him anymore. Well, he kinda got what he deserved, to be honest.
Wait, in that case, the [G.o.dslaying Poison] that’s covering Eisengard right now can be thought of as that neet G.o.d’s curse, can’t it? Tch, that guy’s bringing us trouble even after he died. What a G.o.d of misfortune.
“In any case, if we can’t do something about that [G.o.dslaying Poison], we wouldn’t be able to lay a hand on the evil G.o.d… Have you gotten any new ideas?”
“The Agriculture G.o.d… Kousuke ojii-san is trying to breed a species of divine plant that can absorb [G.o.dslaying Poison] and convert it into harmless magic particles-no yo. It’s not going well, though…”
“Is it tough?”
“Well, it obviously would be. Basically, he’s trying to create a dependant of his from scratch right now. It’s a more complicated process than the birth of a spirit, you know?”
I see. No wonder I felt like I havn’t seen Kousuke ojii recently… I should bring him some refreshments later.
As I was thinking that, the smartphone in my breast pocket rang. N? It’s from Ende.
“h.e.l.lo?”
“Ah, Touya? Sorry, there’s something I wanna talk about; can you come here?”
“The house?”
“Un, yeah.”
Ende and Mel, as well as the Nei-Rize sisters are living in a detached house in the castle town. Since it’s close by, I decided to walk there.
Before that, I swung by the large training field to the north that could be seen from the terrace. If I remember correctly, today Rosetta is making final adjustments to the Over Gears.
At the large training field north of the castle, the figures of two mechanical beasts—one black and one red—could be seen standing by in the p.r.o.ne position. They’re Norn’s and Nia’s Over Gears.
And, there’s a suspicious-looking pumpkin pants prince who’s making a racket in front of them.
“Why the h.e.l.l are you here…”
“Ah, Touya-kun! This, it’s amazing! To think of using the [Crown]s’ abilities like this!”
Robert looked up at the two Over Gears with glittering eyes.
This guy, he came here with Blau’s teleportation ability again, didn’t he… As if I needed more of these elusive types besides Karen nee-san.
“Norn! Nia! Let me ride in that too! Please! Please please please!”
“Shut the h.e.l.l up, you sleepy prince!”
“Save the sleep talking for when you’re actually asleep.”
Robert, who advanced towards the two girls, ate an iron claw from Nia and a s.h.i.+n kick from Norn. His annoyingness is unchanging, I guess. You can just call that his normal state, to be honest.
“The Over Gears are made to match with the golem that would be riding in it; that means only the master of that golem can pilot it. Even if you got into one, it wouldn’t move, you know.”
“Eh!? Really!?”
“They’re something that’s designed to be [Crown]-exclusive in the first place, after all. Even though Norn’s [Leo Noir] and Nia’s [Tiga Rouge] are of the same type, there’s no golem interchangeability between the two. There’s another spare frame left as reserve parts, but without a [Crown]…”
When I spoke up to that point, I finally realized my mistake and covered my own mouth, but it was already too late. Robert’s glittery line of sight a.s.saulted me. Uee. Getting looked at pa.s.sionately by a guy doesn’t make me happy at all.
“So what you’re saying is, it’s possible for you to make an exclusive unit for Blau who’s also a [Crown], right! So I’ll have a gear I can ride in soon as well!? Amazing! I’m so hyped!”
“No, just wait a second there. It’s not something so easily…!”
“You should just make it for him as soon as possible to dodge all the problems otherwise, you know. If not, I think that lame prince will just keep pestering you every single day until you agree to make it for him.”
You serious.
From Norn’s words, I could sense a weightiness as if it’s backed by real experiences she’s had in the past. When I looked up towards Rosetta, who was doing maintenance work on the Over Gears, she heaved an exasperated sigh.
“Since the base is the same, it’s not like we can’t make that gear-dearimasu yo. Although, since the tuning with the golem would have to start from scratch, that part will take up a lot more time-dearimasu ga.”
“Norn is a lion, and Nia is a tiger, huh. I wonder what should I be. Maybe something like an elegant deer! Wait, since the both of you are from the cat family, a dog… A wolf or a fox would work too. What do the two of you think?”
“I have absolutely no interest in that. Isn’t a horse or a deer good for an idiot like you?”
“A bear is fine. It’d be best if you would just go off into an eternal hibernation afterwards.”
(Note: Nia and Norn are relentless on Robert… On a side note, idiot in j.a.panese can be spelt as 馬 鹿, which is made up of the kanjis for horse and deer.)
Robert was completely unaffected by Nia and Norn’s cold voices and happily continued talking with them. This prince, isn’t his spirit a bit too strong?
“In any case, we won’t make it in time for the battle this time round. You’ll be in the observation group together with the monarchs of the western continent.”
“Mumumu… It can’t be helped. I’ll leave it to the next time. Still, will it be okay without me? I’m really worried with only Norn and Nia, you know!”
“Ah? You picking a fight, punk?”
“You’re the last person I want to hear such concerns from.”
(Note: forget nerves of steel, I feel like Robert’s nerves are made of crystal materials…)
Robert ate an iron claw from Nia and a s.h.i.+n kick from Norn again. Well, it felt like he was genuinely worried about us just now. The way he spoke it out, on the other hand…
The super-M prince isn’t faltering at all in the face of the two’s punishments. Oops, I can’t keep this guy company for too long. I bid farewell with Robert and the others, and hurried towards the castle town.
When I arrived at a decently large house with its own garden in the outskirts of town, Mel, who’s disguised to look like a human thanks to a magic tool I gave her, came out to welcome me.
“Touya-san, welcome. It’s been a while.”
You can’t see her as the Phrase’s [Sovereign] no matter what. With an ap.r.o.n on her, it almost feels like she’s a young housewife from somewhere. I suddenly feel an urge to punch Ende. (Note: the riajuu hate runs deep in the blood of all males. Even if said male is an OP isekai harem protag with 9 fiancées.)
When I entered the house—which is decently wide but doesn’t have any unnecessary things inside, making for a simple look—I found Ende, Nei and Rize waiting.
Since it isn’t polite to visit empty-handed, I took out a cookie a.s.sortment from [Storage] and pa.s.sed it to Rize as a gift.
“Sorry to ask you to come all the way here. There’s something I want to talk about, see.”
“What? Is it related to tomorrow’s fight?”
While drinking the tea that’s been served, I fired a question at Ende. I’ve already asked him to partic.i.p.ate with his Dragoon tomorrow. Wonder if there’s some problem on his end.
“Un, that’s a part of it. Mel and the others, the Phrase’s ruler-cla.s.ses, can vaguely sense the presence of the variants, which were their former comrades. They can sense the traces of those variants when they try to come to this side from the gap between dimensions. Although, they can’t tell the exact time and number involved like the sensing board the guild has. However, there are parts in which Mel and the others are better at.”
“Better at?”
“Identification. Regarding tomorrow’s variant appearance, there will definitely be advanced- cla.s.ses coming out. And that’s not all. They felt the presence of a variant ruler-cla.s.s too.”
“Wha…!”
A variant ruler-cla.s.s… The Phrase was originally split in two between the evil G.o.d faction headed by Yura, and the Mel faction headed by Nei. As for the end results, most of the Phrases got absorbed by the variant army under the evil G.o.d and fed their forces, while Nei relied on Rize to reunite with Mel, becoming someone on our side in the process.
“If the variant ruler-cla.s.ses that would appear are the Leto-Luto siblings, could you leave them to us? I’ve got a debt to settle with them.”
“Leto and Luto are, uhh, that pair of siblings that beat you up and sent you running with tears in…”
“What do you mean tears!? I mean, it’s true that I had to run away, but what do you mean tears!?”
“Really? But then after that, you went to a different world to steal that pair of sacred treasure swords, then got beaten up by Takeru ojii so hard you lost your memories, then got used by Trihalan’s senate chairman…”
“Aah-! Aah-! I—Can’t—Hear—You—!”
When Ende started yammering with his hands over his ears, Nei sent an iron fist towards him from the side.
“Noisy!”
“Buhu!?”
Ende got hit and sunk into the sofa.
“I’ve also got a score of my own to settle with Leto and Luto. Could you please allow us our request?”
“Well, I don’t mind. As long as you don’t mind me jumping in if it gets too dangerous.”
“That’s fine. I give you my thanks.”
Nei slightly lowered her head. She’s gotten a lot softer since coming to Brunhild, hasn’t she. Before, she was clad in an aura of killing intent that made you feel like you’d get cut if you approached her. It’s all thanks to Mel and the others, I guess.
Well, her goal had always been to meet with Mel, so I guess it’s only natural in a sense.
“That reminds me, I’ve wanted to ask about something; how many ruler-cla.s.ses are there on their side?”
“When I was still back there, it was only Yura, the Leto-Luto siblings, and Gira. However, there’s no telling whether they’ve increased since then.”
“What does that mean?”
I raised a brow at Nei’s answer. Since I beat Gira, shouldn’t that mean there’s only three of them left?
“We originally came to this world chasing after the [Sovereign], Mel-sama. However, it’s possible that more might’ve been called from our homeland, [Phrasia], by Yura. Ever since he was back in [Phrasia], that guy had plotted to obtain Mel-sama’s power in order to become the [Sovereign]. It wouldn’t be strange if he had a few more ruler-cla.s.ses under his command.”
And if he let those ruler-cla.s.ses become variants… No, he would definitely do that; if so, there’s a possibility that the ruler-cla.s.ses that would come attacking this time are ones from that group.
If they’re not the Leto-Luto siblings that Ende and the others have business with, then I’ll leave them to Moroha nee-san, Karina nee-san and Takeru ojii. Quite literally praying for help from the G.o.ds, eh. Well, I’m only going to ask for help from them due to their positions as supports of me, who is going to become a new G.o.d.
“Right, this is a pretty basic question, but can you win against the variant ruler-cla.s.ses?”
“Ah, don’t look down on me, alright? I’ve survived that training from h.e.l.l as a disciple of the Martial G.o.d, you know… Do you have any idea how many times I thought I would die? You don’t, right? Hahaha, the state of martial pinnacle is the state of selflessness. An open and calm mind, a clear and serene spirit. Hahahahahaha.”
I don’t know what Ende is remembering, but his eyes are losing focus, and dry laughter began spilling out of his mouth. Is this guy gonna be fine tomorrow?
“Get a hold of yourself, Endymion.”
“Hah… Ah, I’m fine, Mel. Just recalled some bitter memories.”
With some shaking from Mel, Ende returned to himself. Isn’t Takeru ojii going too far with his trainings? I’m becoming worried about Elze, who’s also a disciple under him like Ende.
“Thanks for the treat.”
…I was wondering why she hasn’t said anything since the start; Rize had cleared out all the cookies I gave her. This girl is way too my-paced…
Is tomorrow really going to be alright… No, it’s fine. Our interception preparations are perfect. All that’s left is to crush them when they get here.
We have new, rea.s.suring (?) comrades with us too. It’s definitely going to be okay.
Probably. I hope.
– Pixel