In a Different World with a Smartphone (LN) - Volume 8 - Chapter 3

Chapter III: The Dungeon’s Conspiracy 

“Alright, this is the rest of what you’re owed for the Dragon carcasses.” Relisha passed a bag over to me, and I promptly opened it up. There were roughly twelve bags, and each had a hundred royal gold coins inside. It brought my total up to a tidy sum of one thousand and two hundred. There was really no point in comparing it to the currency of my old world, but it was about twelve billion yen in total. Not too shabby at all. 
Royal gold coins were rarely used in regular transactions. Instead, they were mostly found in matters of national trade or business takeovers. That was because losing one would be disastrous. 
I’d received this much solely for the corpses of the Dragons that had attacked Brunhild. The ones from Dragoness Island were still being kept in [Storage]. There were around a three hundred and fifty of them in total. 
I didn’t want to sell them all because it could’ve had disastrous effects on the economy if I suddenly forced the guild to buy them all up. I knew they’d be able to profit from them, too. 
I decided I didn’t want this many dead Dragon parts circulating around the world at once, so I left it at that for the time being. 
“Rumors are already beginning to spread, you know? They’re whispering that Brunhild’s knight order massacred an army of rogue Dragons.” 
“It’s a pretty unbelievable story, though. I wonder if people’ll end up going along with it.” 
“Me too. I was there, I saw you all do it... and even I can’t believe it. But there’s no doubt, word of this country’s strength is spreading like wildfire. I’m certain that anyone with ill intent might reconsider their options, now.” And that was just what I had wanted. I didn’t want a repeat of the Yulong incident, after all. 
There were still a bunch of Yulongese people prattling on and on about how I was the great summoner of the Phrase, and how I had orchestrated the destruction of their nation. They keep saying stuff like “Brunhild must atone for their sins” and so on. It was annoying, frankly. I had no intentions of paying reparations. 
It was also officially declared that I had assassinated the new heavenly emperor. There was a succession crisis in Yulong right now due to several people vying for the title, claiming they were the illegitimate children of the guy that died. One thing was for sure, Yulong was on its way out. 
Ordinarily a nation would receive foreign aid or relief efforts after a crisis, but... Yulong didn’t get anything like that. Nobody wanted to associate themselves with a nation of scoundrels and liars. To me, they were simply reaping what they sowed. I couldn’t muster up a single damn. 
I dropped the money into [Storage] and left the guild. I wondered how much money to give out to each soldier as a bonus. I decided that I’d be generous. They’d earned it, after all. As I mulled over the specifics, I walked over to the dungeon portals and checked in with the spy that Tsubaki had installed at the nearby market. 
“Yo.” 
“Aha. Welcome, dear customer. I’ve a bargain for you today.” 
Hm? Something happen? As he spoke up, I began inspecting the goods. 
“Several people have died recently.” 
“...Oh. Well, that sucks but... I guess it’s a real risk when you go adventuring. Were they killed by magical beasts or something?” 
“That’s how it seems, at least. They simply didn’t return... They were all low-ranked adventurers, so it stands to reason that they overestimated themselves and died as a result.” Probably got cocky and dug too deep. People are greedy. They should really prioritize their safety a little more, geez... It’s smarter to pay attention to your own situation rather than put yourself at risk. 
“There is something a little strange about it, though. Their bodies have yet to be found. Only their guild cards have been recovered.” 
“Huh? I know that slimes melt down organic material, but what about their armor and stuff?” 
“Ah, no... Well, perhaps you aren’t familiar, but... there are those amongst the adventuring community who are... somewhat like hyenas.” What? There are people that loot their fellow man’s corpse? I mean, it’s a pretty scummy thing to do, but I guess it’s not awful... 
It was considered common etiquette to hand items belonging to the deceased over to the guild. They’d then be able to pass those things on to the dead guy’s next of kin. Still, it wasn’t an enforced rule or anything. It was just a matter of good manners. 
It reminded me of a story I’d heard from one of the guilds. Once there was a rookie adventurer who had used his enormous savings to buy himself an incredible set of armor. He was so pleased with it that he took every opportunity he could to brag to his peers about it. Several days later... the man’s body was found in a dungeon. His expensive armor was nowhere to be found. 
The situation was rather interesting. Was the armor stripped from his body after a monster killed him? Or was he murdered in cold blood by another adventurer who had set his sights on the man’s treasure? No way to know. 
Regardless, these dead adventurers were just regular rookies, so it was unlikely they’d been targeted and killed for any good reason. 
“How many died?” 
“We’ve found ten guild cards so far. Nothing else has been recovered, so we can’t say for sure.” Geez... Ten people died? My mood had soured a little. I decided it might be wise to create a safe zone on the top level that monsters couldn’t access, or maybe some teleportation circles in the rookie areas so they could easily get back outside. 
I said my goodbyes to the spy, and headed toward the portals. 
I saw a group of youngsters heading toward the gate to Amaterasu. They were handing their copper over to the clerk. They looked to be around twelve or thirteen years old. In total they were a party of four. Two boys, two girls. 
One of the boys was clad in scale mail, and he wielded a spear. The other young lad was wearing leather armor, and he had a bow on his back. 
One of the girls looked like a novice mage. She was wearing robes and had a little magic rod. The other wielded an iron sword and wore leather armor much like the boy’s. They looked like archetypal newbies going off to adventure. 
The four of them passed through the Amaterasu portal and were off to the dungeon in a flash. 
Now, in all honesty... I was a little worried about the kids due to the story I’d just been told. 
Should I follow them...? No, stalking’s bad business... But I’d rather kids didn’t go out there unprepared... Maybe I could set up an adventuring school or something... Yeah, that could work, I think. I could hire former adventurers to give kids survival tips. Still, how should I run it? I don’t think we should charge a fee to enroll... Maybe they can pay back student debt after graduating? We could co-operate with the guild to track the quests and cards of students, or something... 
I decided to ask Relisha about it later on. She’d probably have better input. 
“Hm, Touya?” I turned toward the voice to find Leen as the source. Paula was toddling after her. She was wearing her typical Gothic lolita outfit, and strolled along beneath the shade of her parasol. 
“Oh, Leen. What brings you here?” 
“I was just doing a little window shopping. Sniffing around for bargains, you know? And yourself?” 
“Ah, well... I was thinking of making some modifications to the dungeon. I’m gonna install a safe zone that monsters can’t enter, so people can get some rest.” 
“Heh... That sounds quite interesting. I’ll tag along with you, then.” Leen grabbed me by the arm without even asking. 
Hmph... You sure have been more aggressive in your approach lately... Are you that desperate to marry me? 
I was a little embarrassed since she looked around the same size as Yumina and a couple of the others... To a bystander, I probably looked like a doting elder brother. 
We headed over to the toll booth. Leen took out a single copper coin from her pocket and handed it over to the worker. Her name was then written down on a small logbook. 
Even if you weren’t a member of the guild, you could still pay to pass through the gate. The only difference was that your name was manually recorded in the logbook. The guild card certainly made the process simpler, though. 
I also paid a copper coin and put my name down. I didn’t want to stand out too much by flashing my card around. I put down ‘Takeda Shingen’ as my name. There wasn’t a rule against using a false name, after all. I decided that Takeda Shingen would be the fake name I’d use for stuff like this in the future. 
We passed through the portal, and the dazzling sun bore down on us. Compared to the wintery Brunhild, the island was a tropical paradise. 
I looked around uneasily, but I saw no sign of the rookies from before. I assumed they’d already gone into the dungeon. 
Leen and I, along with Paula, strolled through the entrance. My faithful fairy friend put away her parasol and cast [Light Orb] in front of us. 
“Shall we go down to the third floor?” If I recalled correctly, Amaterasu Dungeon had been scouted out to six floors at that point. I pulled up my map app and headed toward the first set of stairs. 
“...Why, and how exactly, do you have this territory already mapped out on that contraption...?” 
“...I’m just not going to answer. I really have nothing to say about it.” 
Leen muttered as she stared at the projected map. It wasn’t like I expected the place to be fully mapped out for me or anything. It just wound up like that, really. 
We made it to the stairs without any issue, then descended to the second level floor. We ran into the odd magical beast or monster, but I took care of them fairly easily. We eventually made it to the third floor, but it took us a decent while. 
“I think I wanna make a rest area around here. It’ll be a safe space where the adventurers can rest up a little bit. Just gotta find a suitable spot...” I brought up the map again to look for a good location. I’d also set the map to display any other adventurers who were in here, since I didn’t want to get in their way. Plus, they might have ended up getting in my way, too. 
“Isn’t this spot fine? It’s about midway between the stairs that lead up and down.” Leen pointed at a fairly broad room with a few sprawling paths leading to and from it. It’d certainly make a good rest spot for any weary parties, and it was out-of-the-way enough to avoid if you wanted to. It seemed just fine to me. 
We carried on to our destination, killing more beasts that came our way. The enemies were more annoying than anything else. Having an item like a ‘repel’ from those handheld games certainly would’ve come in handy. 
We reached our destination and began looking around. I wanted to investigate the room for traps or hidden dangers before securing it properly. 
I used [Enchant] and [Program] to monster-proof the room. Hostile creatures wouldn’t be able to enter at all. Then, I began to inscribe letters on the wall. It was a fairly basic message, just detailing that magical beasts and monsters couldn’t appear in the room, so it was a safe space to relax. 
I decided to add my signature too, since I didn’t want them thinking it was a trap. 
“Signed by Mochizuki Touya... grand duke of Brunhild.” I hoped it was enough to make them feel safe. Thinking about it reminded me that I hadn’t seen those rookies anywhere. Then again, they were beginners, so they were probably just walking around the first floor. 
I remembered their faces, so I decided I’d run a little search just in case. Uhh... let’s see... Display the regular adventurers with a blue icon, and display the particular newbies I’m thinking of with a green icon... 
Huh... That’s odd. They’re on floor two already? And wait... there’s more than four in the room. Huh, three more adventurers? Maybe they teamed up or something... Wait, something doesn’t seem right here. What’s with those movements? Are they in the middle of a battle with monsters or something? 
“There are seven, no? Why are they struggling so much?” 
“Well, those four kids were totally amateurs. They felt like kids who had basically walked right out of a farm and picked up some weapons.” I briefly considered that they might not be especially weak. After all, they could have just been up against a lot of enemies. Even Kobolds and Goblins could be deadly if you encountered more than ten of them at a time. 
Let’s see... Highlight monsters and magical beasts... There we... Wait... There aren’t any monsters in that room? Then... what the hell? It’s not faulty, since I can see the indicators for monsters in other rooms... So, wait... No way... 
“...What does this mean?” 
“...The other three adventurers... They’re the ones attacking those kids.” 
There was trouble afoot. 
 
We reached the second floor just in time to see the young boy with the spear being blasted into a wall. The archer and female mage were collapsed on the ground in a heap. Though the boy with the spear and the girl with the sword were clearly injured, they were still standing and defending their friends. 
“Don’t rough ‘em up too much, retard. They’re merchandise.” 
“Shut the fuck up, asshole. We’re only in this situation because your deadbeat ass forgot the paralysis poison.” 
“Whatever, you two! Just do it quick, yeah? If any monsters show up it’ll— Bauuggguuugh!!!” The obese man’s commentary was cut short by a swift kick delivered to his face. My attack had sent him bouncing across the room like a rubber ball, where he landed in front of his comrades. 
“Whuh— Who the hell are you?!” 
“That’s my line, asshole! Who are you guys?” One of them was fat, one of them was bald, and the other was lanky. They couldn’t have looked like a more suspicious sort. 
The tub of lard scrambled to his feet, wiping his nose. I was surprised that he’d absorbed the impact, honestly... Seemed like obesity had its perks. 
“Good grief... Seems we made it just in time.” Leen arrived alongside Paula. Immediately, lechery manifested on the faces of the three men. The lanky asshole started sauntering over toward me, weapon drawn. 
Not long after, the other two started approaching as well. They probably saw Brunhild on my waist and assumed it was just a dagger. They were looking at Leen instead of me, though. Looked almost as if they were trying to appraise her worth. 
“Mm... Sexy little thing, aren’t you? Lucky us, eh boys? Hey, brat. If you care about your life, then shove off and leave the bitch here.” 
“...Huh?” Not long after, the other two started approaching as well. 
“You deaf, kid? We said beat it. Leave the little girl behind, and me and my boys will have a bit of fun with her! Scram, idiot! You wanna die?!” I slowly walked over to the lanky moron, then let out a little sigh. Then, in a single swift motion, I brought my leg down upon his foot. Crunch. His bones splintered, and he was down for the count. 
“GAUAUUUUUUGH!!!” The man screamed, clutching his smashed leg as he rolled around on the ground. His eyes welled up with tears, dribble and spit ran down his chin, and obviously his nose was a mess of snot. Shut the hell up. I kicked him in the side of the face. 
“Ghuuuheeek!!!” 
You think I’d leave Leen with bastards like you? Don’t delude yourself, dumbasses. Don’t be so goddamn pathetic. I’ll kill you. 
“Y-You piece of shit! Stop this at once!” 
“We’re Blue adventures, fuckboy! Think you can win against us?!” 
“You talk tough, but you’re not rough enough to throw down with the best of them. Vultures like you probably ranked up by stealing spoils from others, am I right? There’s no way in hell a Blue adventurer would be as shitty as you. Don’t you dare disrespect the name of the guild, you little bitch.” I lashed out a kick, cracking one of the fat bastard’s kneecaps. He collapsed under his own weight and fell on his face. 
“Muggghuh... Mh-My lh-leg... Nnnghahhh!!!” 
“E-Eek!” The baldy turned and ran, but it was futile. I pulled out Brunhild, aimed at his back, and pulled the trigger. 
“Guh!” He took a paralysis bullet directly, then fell forward. Some adventurer, I thought. What a coward. Blue rank? More like blue stank. 
“...That was more than a little extreme, Touya. You can color me several shades of surprised,” Leen muttered quietly as she looked at the fallen men. 
“Ah... Forgive me. I got mad when they said that stuff about you.” It had been a while since I’d been that angry. The last time was when I was dealing with the idiotic prince from Lihnea. In all honesty, I had thought that my patience had gotten a little better, but it seemed I was still on far too short a fuse. 
“Hmm... I’m a little bit happy you got so furious on my behalf...” Leen grinned a little bit at me. 
Ugh. That’s embarrassing... I turned away from Leen to hide my face. Then, I remembered the injured newbies. 
“You guys good?” 
“Y-Yes, we’re okay... A little injured, but I’m fine... Klaus and Eon are in a worse state, though...” The boy with the spear motioned to his collapsed friends. They looked like they were just out cold, but I cast [Cure Heal] and [Refresh] on them all just to be on the safe side. The two on the ground then regained consciousness. 
They wouldn’t stop thanking me, but I did manage to get a few questions in edgewise. The three men had met up with the kids in the dungeon and promised them a safer hunting ground. Then, they just followed them. Pretty careless, really. But they were just kids. 
They were brought off to this secluded area and attacked. The archer and the mage weren’t frontline fighters, so they were knocked out of the battle faster due to the surprise nature of the attack. 
“I guess these guys are kidnappers, then... People have been going missing, only bloodstains or guild cards left behind... It would be reasonable to assume they were eaten up by the wildlife here, but... now I’m starting to get a different idea.” 
“Y-Yeah! They said they were going to sell us to slave traders!” The sword-wielding girl raised her hand and spoke. I hadn’t noticed her ponytail earlier. She was quite energetic. 
Still, slavers... That’s no good. 
I walked over to the lanky man and thrust Brunhild’s muzzle against his forehead. 
“Answer yes or no. Nothing else. Are you the ones responsible for the missing adventurers lately?” The man nodded quickly. He was sweating bullets. It was as I’d expected. 
Leen tilted her head to the side as she pondered. 
“But... after kidnapping the adventurers, how did they transport them from the island? They wouldn’t be able to use the portals...” 
“That’s pretty simple. They probably have a boat. Some kind of slaving vessel. Is that right?” The man nods just as quickly as he had before. I was right. 
These islands were located due south of Sandora, after all. And, as far as I knew, the nation in which slavery was most prominent was none other than the Burning Kingdom of Sandora itself. 
It was a country that used special collars to enslave people and turn them into living merchandise. It also meant that our missing persons were probably already lost. 
“Are the missing adventurers already in Sandora?” He shook his head this time. I was surprised. It meant they hadn’t shipped them all off... And that meant we could still save them. 
The slaver ship was probably anchored somewhere nearby, but obscured. These assholes had clearly faked the deaths of several adventurers and stored them on the ship for processing later on. 
I brought up my map and searched for boats in the area. Sure enough, there was a sizable boat moored off the coast of a smaller island to the north. I had found it. 
With that, I had the whole case figured out. It also meant the three stooges here were of no more use to me. I subdued all three of them with [Paralyze] for the time being. 
“Well, What now? I-If you want to inform the guild or the knights, I’ll come with you...” The ponytail girl nervously spoke up. Her three companions were talking amongst each other. The situation was pretty dire, but I didn’t think they quite understood. There was definitely some anxiety due to what had happened, but they seemed more excited than they should’ve been. 
“Don’t worry about that. I can handle it. Ah, that’s right... We never introduced ourselves. This girl is Leen, and the little bear is Paula. I’m Mochizuki Touya. I’m the grand duke of Brunhild.” 
“Wh-Wh-What?!” All four of them stared at me in terror. Then, they crouched down on the floor and began bowing. 
“Get up, geez. You don’t need to do that kinda crap with me. I’m an adventurer at heart, you know...? I still go on quests even now.” I pulled out my golden guild card as I spoke. Those kids had been tricked once already, so I at least wanted to provide some level of evidence. 
“G-Gold...” 
“Amazing...” 
“Th-This guy has killed Dragons, Golems, and Demon Lords...” 
“We gotta tell our dads about this...” Well, they definitely believed me. These kids were a little soft for this business, if you asked me. They’d end up getting hurt if they just believed everything they were told... Although they’d actually already ended up getting hurt because of that. 
The four of them finally formally introduced themselves to me. Apparently they’d all come from Regulus, a village called Pyton to be exact. 
The scale mail-clad boy with the spear was called Lop. The sword-wielding girl in leather armor was named Fran. The archer who wore similar leather armor was named Klaus. And finally, the mage girl was named Eon. 
The impression I got was that Lop was loyal, Fran was bursting with energy, Eon was a total klutz, and Klaus was their leader. They were a bit of a ragtag party, all things considered. 
“What are we gonna do? Help out the adventurers who got caught?” 
“That’s right. I found out where the slaver ship is, so I’m gonna go wipe them out.” 
“U-Uhm! Is there any way we could help you?” 
“H-Hey now, Fran!” Fran suddenly spoke up, much to the chagrin of Klaus. 
I was pleased that the kids had motivation, at the very least. I wasn’t too sure that they’d be of much help, though. I definitely was in support of helping them gain a bit more experience, but at the same time... Well, I wasn’t exactly sure what to do. 
“Our enemy here are merchants that deal in human lives. They might even have slaves equipped for battle serving them. What I’m asking is if you’re confident you can help here. In a worst-case scenario, you’ll be enslaved yourselves.” 
“Ugh...” Fran looked down, seeming suddenly troubled. I wonder if she was feeling ashamed about her earlier loss. 
They were older than Lu and Yumina, but younger than Elze and Linze. Even so, they weren’t too far off my own age. 
In the case of my party, we’d fought the Phrase, battled Dragons, involved ourselves in a coup, and so on. We had many rich experiences that allowed us to develop as a team... Even though those incidents were still my fault... 
“Hmm... If they can’t fight, can we not have them do recon?” 
“Recon?” I quirked a brow at what she had said. Decoys, huh...? Maybe... 
“Well, I said recon, but... I would recommend they infiltrate the ship and get themselves intentionally captured. If they pretend they got caught by these three and get aboard the ship, they’ll be able to easily learn about what’s going on with the other missing people.” 
“I guess so... But are these three dumbasses gonna obey?” I turned toward the three paralyzed men. It was true they might listen if I threatened them, but they probably didn’t have good enough poker faces to go along with that level of deception. 
“You dummy. Simply use [Mirage] and become part of the deception as well.” 
“Aha, smart thinking.” Yeah, that makes sense. If I disguise myself as one of those dumbasses, I can escort the rookies to the ship. That way we’ll be able to infiltrate the place and get the captured people out safely. I don’t want the adventurers being taken hostage, so this is probably a good idea, but still... Guess I could just use [Invisible] to sneak on to the ship myself and rescue them all a lot faster, though... 
I looked over to the four kids, but they were just staring at me with stars in their eyes. 
Guh... What’s with these kids? They’re not scared at all about maybe being made into a commodity? ...Man, fine. I won’t trample over their resolve. Saying something like “You’re dead weight, so beat it, kid” would just break their hearts at this point, and I’m not in the business of upsetting children. Hell, if I hurt them now, they might end up being discouraged from adventuring, so... I guess I’ll pass on a little bit of that knowledge I’ve gained from my own quests... 
“...You kids wanna try it?” 
“Yeah!!!” The kids cheered merrily. I wondered if it’d actually be okay... But I decided to go along regardless. 
 
We all left the dungeon, and I warped the three kidnappers to Brunhild’s jail. It’d cause too much of a fuss to carry them back through the portals. After all, if their allies were watching, they’d know the jig was up and escape. 
I contacted Relisha and told her the basic gist of the situation. Those three would have their guild registrations erased, and their cards revoked. Even if they used fake names, they’d still be rejected. No more adventuring for those guys. 
That was the guild’s punishment for them, but I still had to decide how my country would handle them. 
They’d been capturing newbie adventurers, taking all their stuff, and selling them into a life of servitude. It was a serious crime. If we went by Regulus law, then these guys would be getting the death penalty. 
Unfortunate as it was in some people’s minds, Brunhild didn’t have the death penalty. Mainly because I hadn’t created one. As I wondered about how to deal with them, I recalled something I’d read about in the Library. 
Dark attribute magic was pretty much exclusively summoning, but apparently there used to be other applications of the element. There was a spell that was the opposite of the Light element’s recovery magic. It was a magic that sapped the life away from the target. 
Well, actually killing them with it would take considerable effort and focus. The user would require incredible willpower, magical power, and skill with magic. I’d probably have been able to pull it off, but I wasn’t especially motivated to try. 
I wasn’t saying I’d use this death magic on the kidnappers, by the way. There were other spells derived from that kind of spell. 
These spells could be described simply enough. Effects included pestilence, fear, confusion, and life absorption. 
In short, they were curses. Though maybe calling them curses was a little bit of a stretch. 
The magic kind of worked like a promise. It was a system where if they broke the circumstances set by the caster, they’d become afflicted by the conditions. Curse magic that only triggered if the affected disobeyed. Kind of like “Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye.” Except the needle actually goes in their eye if they mess up. 
“Brand, o Darkness. Sinful Brand: [Guilty Curse]!” I invoked the curse and targeted the three imprisoned men. 
The conditions were simple. “Do not knowingly commit crimes and hurt others.” Each time they broke this curse with petty crime, they’d lose a finger to paralysis. Eventually it would spread to their arms, and then their legs. If they persisted, they’d lose all five senses. The final stage was paralysis of the heart, and that’d be a wrap. Of course, if they committed one large, heinous crime, it’d all trigger at once. 
This magic worked similarly to enchanting. The effect would persist even if I died. It was an unbreakable curse. 
I told the trio all the details of the brand they’d been marked with. Hurting others didn’t only apply to physical abuse. If they hurt people on a deep emotional level, or tried to torment others, then it’d activate too. If they stole and the original owner was devastated, it’d trigger too, as would rejecting a woman’s feelings if it ended up causing her to feel bad. I wasn’t going to be lenient about just what caused the curse to go off. 
I’d been kind enough to let them live, so it was a fair burden for them to shoulder. They needed to become ideal men to survive the punishment. 
In all honesty, I didn’t believe it was possible to live a life without hurting anyone. Maybe if they became hermits and lived away from civilization, but still... They’d only be surviving at that point, not living. Regardless, perhaps they appreciated that Brunhild didn’t just have them killed like Regulus did. 
As I told them about their punishment, the men gradually turned pale and fell to the ground. The brand of their curse appeared on their foreheads, marking them forever. 
The fatass turned to the lanky guy and screamed. 
“We’re only like this because of you, idiot!” It made me wonder if he’d listened to a word I’d said. “Wuh?! Augh! M-My finger!!! I can’t feel my finger!” The fatass started to cry as he prodded at one of his dead fingers. 
Isn’t it obvious? You upset the lanky guy by screaming at him like that. It’s simply your just desserts. 
Now that they’d seen the effects, I decided to banish them from Brunhild. Where to send you... Oh, how about Yulong? The people there already talk shit about me, so you’ll be right at home. 
I opened up a [Gate] to Yulong and shoved the guys through. That’s that. Case closed. 
Oh. Wait. No. I still have to actually deal with the slavers, huh? 
I headed toward the forest on the island and waited for the cover of night. I felt a little bad for making the rookies wait so long, to be honest. Still, I couldn’t have them wandering around. It’d look weird if one of the slavers saw them free, then captured only a bit later. 
I’d left Leen with them, just in case they found themselves under attack by the local fauna. 
 

After regrouping with them, I used a [Gate] to bring us all to the island with the slaver ship. All four of them were amazed. It was their first time, after all. 
“Alright, then. Hand over your weapons. It’d be weird if captured victims still had their stuff.” They handed their weapons over and I tossed them into [Storage] before pulling out a length of rope and tying them up. After that, I popped gags in their mouths. Naturally, they were bound in a way that was easy to escape from. 
After that, I summoned a little mouse and hid it inside Lop’s pocket. That way I’d be able to know more about the situation aboard the ship. 
I used [Mirage] to add the finishing touches. I’d disguised myself as the baldy. One was too lanky, and the other way too fat, so cueball was closest to my own physique... 
“Well?” 
“You look identical... That’s incredible...” Lop was amazed, evidently. I used [Mirage] once more to project a false image of the other two guys to my left and right. 
The four of them prepared to be transported, and I made the illusory versions of fatty and lanky stand behind them, swords drawn. It’d look like they were being escorted, now. 
“What about you, Leen?” 
“I’m fine, thank you. I’ll keep watch and ensure nobody escapes the vessel.” Paula brought her hands up toward the sky. It was time to head to the slaver ship. 
We found the ship. It was well positioned, shrouded in the shadow of a cliff. 
There were two smaller boats making port on a nearby beach. Four men stood around a bonfire. They were grilling fish. Three of the four looked to be slaves. 
They were pretty bulky, so they were probably combat-oriented slaves. The non-slave guy had a really bad overbite on the bottom row of his mouth. He kinda looked like a jerk. We left Leen and Paula in the cover of the trees, then moved toward them. 
“Oh, good haul. I see you’ve been busy. Four at once! What a doozy.” Overbite walked over to us and smiled a bit. He seemed impressed. 
He walked around us and started looking the kids up and down. 
“Two gold for the boys. Five for the girls. Seems fair to me.” 
“Deal. Hand over the cash.” 
“Huh? No hagglin’ today...?” 
“We’re in a rush.” I didn’t want to talk too much and get exposed. Still, two gold and five gold respectively... That was like two hundred thousand and five hundred thousand yen... Buying out someone’s life for cash like that was downright despicable. 
They’d probably end up selling the people for a lot more to rich types in Sandora. Overbite handed the money over and let out a shrill, annoying laugh. 
If I saw that guy again, I’d definitely be giving him a smack in the face. 
I returned to Leen and canceled my spell. I hated looking like those bastards. 
I used [Long Sense] to watch the four men. They finished eating their fish, put two kids into each boat, and started rowing toward the main ship. 
“Infiltration complete.” 
“Indeed... I hope they get in touch with the other captured people soon, though. How many have gone missing, exactly?” 
“Relisha said there were ten who were formally dead. Their guild cards were found, usually with blood nearby, so the guild assumed the worst. Uh... I think it was three men and seven women.” 
“Seems they’re biased toward capturing girls, then.” 
“Probably because they’re easier to grab, and they sell for more money. All of the captured adventurers were Black.” From what I’d heard, newbie bullying wasn’t uncommon in the guild. More experienced adventurers with shitty attitudes would use new recruits as bait for strong monsters. They even ended up taking most of their rewards as “tuition expenses” if they survived. In the end, the victims often wound up leaving the guild and going solo. It was despicable. 
No matter the world, there were always those who looked down on newcomers. Those people often forgot that they too were new once as well. 
Either way, I hoped all ten of the victims were safe. They were likely still alive. Hard to sell a corpse, after all. But that didn’t mean they were safe. Their lives were hanging in the balance. 
I synchronized my vision with the mouse in Lop’s pocket. I saw the ship’s deck, which meant they’d made it there safely enough. 
My hearing was also synchronized. I heard voices around them. Sight and hearing was as far as I synchronized my senses, though. I tried taste once and immediately regretted it... I didn’t want to know what a beetle tasted like, but the mouse had other ideas. 
“Mr. Javert... I’ve brought four.” 
“Wonderful... They seem to be high quality stock. Young meat... Yes, they’ll sell well.” Overbite approached a plump man. He was rubbing his hands together as he looked at the kids. This guy was most likely the slave merchant. 
He wore a fancy wool jacket, a silk sash with a golden dagger hanging from it, and some pointy shoes that bent upward at the end. He also had a long coat and what looked like a precariously balanced turban on top of his head. He looked like a fat, discount Sinbad the Sailor. 
Javert, huh...? I bet he’s a slaver from Sandora. Probably a black market one, too. 
Even though Slavery was legal in Sandora, they prohibited kidnapping people and forcing them into servitude. Slavery was typically reserved for criminals, or those who willingly sold themselves into the service. 
But that was only an official stance. There were many ways to become a slave in Sandora. Some forced others into debt, or tricked them into crime in order to make them slaves. Others simply kidnapped people and put them into market circulation. 
Once you’re a slave, your opinion isn’t valid. Nobody would listen to you. Even if you made a fuss about being tricked or kidnapped, you’d be ignored. 
The problem was the fact that Sandora’s government never spoke about it. Their king and nobles all had slaves as well. They worked slaves until they expired, then simply replaced them with new ones. In Sandora, the life of a slave wasn’t really seen as a life at all. 
“Come on! Pick up the pace!” Overbite yanked at Lop’s rope and dragged them all along. 
All four of them were brought down to the lowest deck of the ship. There were two jails, divided by sex. There were three men and seven women there. The kidnapped adventurers. Lop’s party was split up by sex as well. 
After overbite had left, the four of them turned to ask the names of their fellow captives. 
The names matched those of the missing adventurers, so that was good. 
They seemed weak due to lack of nutrition, but they hadn’t been abused otherwise. 
“Seems they’re all fine... I can pull up a [Gate] right now and sort it out, then.” 
“You should let those children get some experience first.” 
“Hm... I guess a ship escape would be good for them.” 
“Quite. It’s an important lesson in stealth and perception. Wouldn’t you agree?” Leen smiled as she spoke. She was certainly right. 
Lop’s party began preparing their escape. I was prepared for this kind of situation, so I’d given them two particular items. 
The first was a tiny knife that folded. It had a 5cm blade. Naturally, it wasn’t a standard knife, either. It was forged of phrasium, and could cut through anything at all. Escaping wouldn’t be an issue at all so long as they used them wisely. 
The second item was a measuring tape. It was about a meter long. I’d enchanted it with [Paralysis] so they could stretch it out and use it as a whip. 
There were slaves built for battle aboard the ship. Those kids definitely couldn’t win if they fought fairly. Plus, their enemies would mostly be fellow slaves anyway. 
Lop’s party cut their bindings apart and quietly escaped from their cells. 
“Guess I better get going too, huh. I’ll make it a little easier for the kids.” 
“Have fun, Touya.” I deactivated the mouse’s live feed and Leen saw me off as I exited the forest. I stood facing their ship, Brunhild in my hand. Then, I loaded the thing with [Explosion] bullets, though I took care to load the low-yield versions. 
“Let’s dance...” With a grin on my face, I aimed my gun at the ship’s mast... and pulled the trigger. 
The blast immediately made the thing collapse. It creaked and groaned, and then snapped under its own weight. Every man on deck started freaking out. Only natural, since part of their ship had just toppled into the sea. 
“Wh-What happened?!” 
“I-I don’t know... There was an explosion of some kind!” Javert stormed out of the main cabin and demanded an explanation. It was at this point that I landed myself on the ship and revealed myself by the light of the moon. 
“Wh— Who?!” 
“I’m Mochizuki Touya. Touya’s my given name. The brilliant grand duke of Brunhild at your service.” Everyone on deck was completely speechless. The merchant didn’t look as happy as he had before, his eyes filled with dread and confusion. He was completely and utterly flustered, which meant he was aware of his position. 
“This island is Brunhild’s territory. I’ve come to put an end to your illicit activity.” 
“I-Illicit?!” 
“Don’t take me for a fool, tubby. I know what you’ve been doing with the rookie adventurers from the nearby dungeons.” He stood there, mortified. His jaw was slack. Sweat began to bead on his brow. He really didn’t seem all that innocent. 
“To be fair, we’re a pretty small nation. I get it. We don’t have a lot of laws established properly yet. But you know, we don’t have many bad people in Brunhild. The worst we get is the occasional rough-housing traveler. Your actions have made me think a little bit harder about crime and punishment.” 
If I hadn’t come to the dungeon today, it wouldn’t have just ended with Lop’s party been taken away. There would’ve been countless more victims afterward... I have no idea how long it would’ve even taken me to realize what was happening. 
Punishment was the deterrent to crime, and I’d become lazy due to my personal lifestyle. I kept thinking about how things would be fine, so I closed my eyes to the cruelty of the world. Plus, I had Yumina and her Mystic Eye around, so I was mostly surrounded by legitimately good people. 
Either way, crimes needed to be punished. And I needed to make that clear. 
I had to draft a bunch of laws, and fast. I decided to reference Belfast’s legal system before noting down my own later. 
A lot of people had come to Brunhild after the dungeons were made, and they brought with them a litany of their own issues. Either way, what was important to think about at that moment was dealing with the slavers. 
Huh? I can see four little boats escaping the ship... Damn, Lop. You work fast. Guess there’s no need to hold back now. 
“Hrmph. A grand duke has no business here! Deal with him!” Javert gave his order, and three burly slaves came running at me, curved swords at the ready. 
“[Slip].” All three of them thudded on to the deck. Their swords ended up stuck in the wooden flooring. 
They tried to stand, but found themselves falling down again. It seemed like my slipping spell had a slightly extended effect... I distinctly remembered it affecting a smaller area and not lasting as long when I’d first used it. I wondered if this was an effect of my own inner divinity growing. 
“Wh-What are you fools doing?! Get rid of him!” Javert screamed, and the slaves all started clutching their heads in pain. He was using their collars to torture them. 
I used Brunhild to fire a shot at the chubby jerk’s feet. A weak explosive force threw the man off his feet. 
“Whoa!!!” Chubby old Javert fell to the ground, blood dribbling from his nose. 
“A-Augh! F-Forgive me! I-It was just uhm... m-my culture!” 
“Then your culture normalizes abuse. If degrading people and turning them into slaves is your idea of the regular old thing to do, then do you really think you’re worth forgiving?” 
“H-Help me, you bastards...” 
“Do you think the people you collared are going to rescue you?” I had no idea about this man or the life he’d been leading to this point, but I had no doubt in my mind that he was scum. 
Speaking to him was pointless. I loaded some paralyzing bullets into Brunhild and shot them down at him. 
He screamed out awkwardly, and then stopped moving. 
I paralyzed the slipping slaves as well. They were probably being forced to co-operate, but they were still accomplices... It was some morally grey legal ground. I guess it would depend on whether or not they were enjoying it. It was a little more annoying to deal with than Javert. I didn’t know if they’d been enslaved for criminal behavior, so I didn’t know if it was okay or not to free them. 
I also paralyzed all the remaining men on deck. 
“Run search. Anyone remaining below deck.” 
“Searching... Search complete. Three individuals. All paralyzed and collapsed.” 
Hm... Lop’s party must have dealt with them. So that should be everyone. Twenty in total, eh... Half of them seemed to be slaves. 
Wait, that reminds me... Where’s overbite? 
“Gah!” I heard a shriek from the shore. Then, I used [Long Sense] to check on the shore. Overbite was collapsed in a smoldering heap, and Leen was waving over at me. Seemed like he’d escaped at some point. Leen had it handled though, so I wasn’t worried. 
Lop’s party had made landfall and were walking over to Leen. It was time for me to wrap things up. 
I warped everyone from the ship over to the beach, just in time to see some of my own knight order making their way out from the forest. 
I took Javert, his workers, and his slaves to the knights. Restrained, of course. We decided to lock them in the castle jail for the time being. I’d talk to Kousaka about them later on. 
“All’s well that ends well, eh?” 
“Well, we’ll still have to follow it up a bit.” I casually replied to Leen as we walked along the beach. I looked back at the slaver ship, thinking to myself. Should I confiscate it as Brunhild property...? Eh... The mast is broken. 
“U-Uhm, Your Majesty! The kidnapped adventurers are all good!” Lop came and reported in, but I pretty much saw the whole thing unfold through the eyes of the mouse anyway. I cast [Refresh] on the weary adventurers and took them all to the Silver Moon. There, I rented rooms for each of them. It was the least I could do. 
I was planning on giving Lop’s party about ten potions for their trouble. It’d be worthwhile for them to hold on to that stuff. Then, deciding that more detailed investigation would happen another day, I bid everyone involved farewell. 
After that, I went over to the guild and informed Relisha of the finer details. I also asked her to return the guild cards of the people who were presumed to be dead. 
“The guild regrets that this incident occurred. However, the guild is only a service mediator between clients and freelancers, so we cannot punish them. Other than revoking their memberships, there is little we can do... Officially, at least.” 
“Officially?” 
“...Keep this just between us, but... in cases where we feel harm has been done to the image of our guild, we mobilize our Black Operatives. It’s not necessary, however, in this case. You have meted out punishment enough.” 
Black Ops, huh... What, like an assassination corps? That’s kinda scary, to be honest... From what I understand, the guild exists all over the world. There are Guildmasters like Relisha that govern different regions, but there is actually one sole leader. I’ve heard they don’t want to be in the public eye, though. 
I entrusted the guild with following up on the kidnapped adventurers. After that, I left with Leen. 
It had gotten really late, so I took out my smartphone to look at the time. It was way past midnight... 
I was getting really hungry, and I knew it would be unreasonable to ask Crea to make something when she was sleeping. I did have some grilled skewers in my [Storage]... and the guild’s bar was right next door. 
“Hey Leen, want me to treat you to some food?” 
“Aha... I shall take you up on that venerable honor. I haven’t eaten out in quite some time.” I took Leen and Paula with me into the guild’s bar. I put on a coat and hood just in case there were those that recognized me there. 
It was a pretty big room, and I noticed a free table for four a little bit away, so we headed over there. 
I ordered fried chicken and some fruit juice. No alcohol for me. Leen ordered a pasta, some salad, and a little glass of wine. 
It wasn’t long before the waitress brought our food over, and we began greedily chowing down. The food was great. I’d eaten at the Silver Moon a few times, but dining out at a bar seemed quite fun as well. 
All the adventurers were laughing, cheering, and making merry. 
It seemed like the bar had gained a lot more patrons since the dungeons were opened. It was hard to dislike the atmosphere here, even if the occasional drunkard ruined the fun. 
We left the bar after our meal. I checked again, and it was still extremely late... Or, early. Matter of perspective. Most of the shops had closed down. There wasn’t any kind of entertainment district in Brunhild’s castle town, either. My country had nice, peaceful evenings. 
Old man Naito relayed propositions from merchants and contractors to build casinos and brothels, but I left those executive decisions to him. I personally didn’t see the need to have such gaudy venues. If they ended up coming in and causing trouble for my people, I’d close them down. 
I needed to keep a watchful eye out, too. I didn’t want any shady businesses setting up shop. It’d be beyond a joke if Brunhild became a breeding ground for trouble under my nose. 
I remember hearing that some slaves were forced to work in brothels over in Sandora, too... I didn’t want any of that going on here. 
“Is it a pointless dream to wish slavery could be abolished?” 
“I’m pretty sure it’d go if you smashed the hell out of Sandora. Pfftahaha...” 
“N-No, that’s not really what I meant...” I glanced over at Leen with curious eyes. Her cheeks were flushed... She almost looked drunk. 
I heard that slavery was gradually being phased out around the world through social change anyway. Yulong had been a great advocate of slavery, so even if Sandora remained, it was nice that at least one of them was gone. 
Yulong didn’t use the obedience collars, though. They just drew up contracts and enforced indentured servitude. They didn’t treat slaves nearly as badly as the people of Sandora did. Which was funny, given the country was awful in every other aspect. 
“Sandora was founded by the chief of a desert tribe built by slaves. They used slavery to build a great force and wipe out or assimilate the other tribes in the area. The first king of Sandora was known as the Slave King.” The Slave King, huh...? Doesn’t that name kind of give off the vibe of him being a slave himself? Maybe he actually was one to begin with. Still, if that was the case, he could’ve done something nice and abolished slavery after founding the nation... 
I mused that abolishing slavery in a place like Sandora would be pretty rough if it was so deeply ingrained in their society. 
Leen wanted to feel the evening breeze on her skin, so we strolled home together. She was definitely drunk. She casually swayed side to side and then clung to my arm. Her cheeks were dyed red, and so were mine... but not because of booze. I attempted to compose myself and walked down the road with her. 
There were four knights guarding the castle, but they stood down once they saw us. They were wary at first, but once we came into the light they seemed happy and waved us off. 
After nodding to the guards, we entered the castle. Suddenly, we came face to face with Ripple. She was an artifact creature that operated as our very own security camera. When she saw me with Leen on my arm, she jumped right out of her painting and started screaming. 
Danger! Danger! Master, you’re in danger! You need to be careful, it’s almost too late! Hurry, prepare yourself f— Oh no... I wasn’t fast enough...? 
“Wh-What the heck?!” Ripple smiled wryly and then vanished on the spot. I had no idea what she was trying to warn me about, but it almost felt like she whispered “Good luck” before fading away. What the hell was that? 
“Welcome home, Touya... You’re rather late.” 
“Ah, Yumina... I’m... home...” My voice became quieter as I looked up and realized what I was faced with. 
Yumina, Lu, Elze, Linze, Yae, and Hilde were all standing there, gazing at us. If Sue had been there, it would’ve been a full gathering of fiancees. 
They were smiling, but their eyes projected danger. I felt anger emanating from their forms for some reason. 

“U-Uh... Is something wrong?” 
“We’ve a teeny tiny matter to discuss... This way. You too, Leen.” 
“Huh? Uh... Sure.” Leen casually answered, but I didn’t think she understood the threat. Yae and Hilde descended the stairs and grabbed me from either side. 
Wh-What the hell...? You don’t need to forcibly escort me! 
“Right this way, Touya. This is the right course of action.” 
“Good grief, Touya-dono... Resign yourself to fate. It is far easier this way, it is.” 
“No, nooo! I didn’t do anything wrong!!!” I internally and externally screamed for mercy as my mind filled with nothing but question marks. They dragged me away and completely ignored my pleas. 
What the hell did I do now?! 
 
“Don’t think we haven’t noticed things have changed between you two recently.” The girls sat at the table, and Yumina began to talk. Leen was seated with my fiancees, but I was made to sit on the floor. This is a little cruel, isn’t it...? But I guess I’m kinda used to it at this point... Haaah... It seemed that being forced to the ground by these girls was becoming a more common occurrence. “Leen. You love Touya, isn’t that right?” 
“...I can safely say that I do. My passion isn’t quite on your level, but he is a man that I find suitable to my needs. I would be happy to be married to him until one or both of us die.” 
“I see... Well—” 
“I’m not interested in him for Babylon’s legacy, or his status as Grand Duke of Brunhild. I simply like him for who he is. He’s charming, and kind. That’s all there is to it.” Leen interjected as Yumina spoke up again, clarifying her intentions. After she finished speaking, she stared Yumina in the eyes. 
After a while, Yumina’s expression became a little more gentle, and she smiled. 
“Very well, then. You have my approval, Leen. I think you’d make a wonderful bride for Touya. What do you all think?” Yumina looked to my other fiancees. Yae raised her hand. 
“I do not have any problems with this, I do not.” 
“I-I don’t have a problem either...” Muttered Linze. 
“Nope, no real problem here.” Grinned Elze. The two sisters raised their hands as they spoke. Seeing their actions, the other two quickly put their hands up as well. 
“I cannot say I object, either.” 
“N-No, me neither!” Hilde and Lu hadn’t spoken with Leen much. But they still had a good enough grasp on her personality to read her as a person, scant as their interaction was. 
Leen had been involved with me for longer than they were anyway... But even I couldn’t have seen the situation developing like this. I was dumbstruck. 
“I also don’t believe Sue would oppose this if she were here, either. Speaking on her behalf as her cousin, I’d like to welcome you into the fold. Congratulations, Leen.” 
“Wonderful. Thank you so much.” Yumina and Leen smiled at each other and gently shook hands. There wasn’t even any room for me to comment at this point. I didn’t have any personal reason to oppose what had been decided, but still... Well, Leen was mature, dependable, and very cute, so I figured it’d be alright. 
If Yumina was the de-facto leader of the fiancees, then Leen would definitely fit in as the vice-commander. 
Still, that brought the number of brides to eight. That meant I was one step away from completing the set. I couldn’t help but wonder if the situation would’ve gotten this far if that damned doctor had just kept her future-telling to herself. 
It kinda felt like Yumina and the others were eager to accept girls until the total came to nine... They probably couldn’t relax until all nine were found. Still, they didn’t accept Pam, so they were at least putting some thought behind it. 
“Leen is now a sister in arms, she’s one of Touya’s fiancees, and our kindred spirit.” 
“H-Huh...? A-Aha... Y-Yes, I suppose I am.” 
“Now... Just where were the two of you this evening?” 
“Eek!” A funny noise came from Leen’s mouth. The other five surrounded her, emanating a silent pressure from their smiles. 
“W-W-Wait just a moment! L-Ladies, you’re misunderstanding, I promise!” 
“Out until the early hours of the morning... Just the two of you... What else could it have possibly been, what else?” Paula flailed her arms in response to Yae’s interrogation, as if to say “Hey! I was there too y’know!” But she was completely ignored. The twins came around the fairy’s sides, staring daggers into her. 
“I-Is it possible that...” 
“Y-You two did... it?!” 
“What?!” Both I and Leen yelled out in unison. Do you mean THAT?! Wh-What the hell?! Leen went red as a beet. So did Elze and Linze. 
“Wh-Wh-Wh-What are you even saying?! O-O-Of course nothing like that went on!” Leen went into a panic while her face got even redder. 
Hah... That’s a pretty cute reaction... It’s a response more fitting the size of your body than the number of your age, though. 
The encroaching girls, upon seeing Leen’s freak-out, eased up a bit. 
Leen was in a state of panic and couldn’t speak, so I explained the events of the evening in her stead. 
“Well, that’s understandable... But you should have sent a message to the castle if you were going to be this late.” 
“Ah... I-I’m sorry.” 
“Plus little Kohaku and the others let you relay mental messages, don’t they?” 
“Oh. Right.” It had completely slipped my mind. I’d been running all over the place without making use of that at all. I didn’t send a single message home to the castle, so the girls were probably worried sick or wondering where I was. 
I had blindly believed there was no reason to worry, but that had been a little bit of selfishness on my part. 
I didn’t want to upset the people precious to me. Quite the opposite, in fact. I decided to be more mindful going forwards. 
“We wouldn’t know what to do if you went and left us behind, idiot.” 
“That is correct, it is. Let us know if you are doing something dangerous, yes?” 
“You already wrecked that empty house, remember?” Elze, Yae, and Linze let out quiet sighs. You’re seriously still going on about that?! I-I just thought I could control a fireball like a missile... It’s not my fault! 
I wondered if this was how a drunk man felt after returning home to be yelled at by his wife. I felt pretty whipped, regardless. I definitely didn’t want to be a domineering husband, I respected the independence of the girls. But still, I was clearly causing upset to Yumina and the others. They were all on good terms with each other, too. I hadn’t heard of a single squabble between them. That made me the problem. 
“At any rate, just contact us if you’re staying out late, alright? We’re not going to keep you on a leash, just keep us informed! Alright?” 
“Y-Yeah, I got it...” Each one of them berated me more after that, until I finally got to go to my bed as the sun rose. They made me promise a lot of things, but the whole thing just felt like an unjust punishment. 
Individually they were all sweet and soft, and I felt calm when I stood by their side... But when they ganged up on me I was utterly defenseless. I wasn’t given any room to speak at all. It seemed like it was one of those things I just had to shut up and accept. 
Man, I’m beat... Zzz... 
After I woke up, I headed over to Kousaka and told him what had happened the day before. He immediately set to work on a rough draft of laws based on the ones in Belfast. The more specific ones would require my approval, though... I decided to save that for later... 
This world was socially on the same level as the Edo period, they had death penalties and exiles in place. Other countries used forced labor like mining, but there were no mines in Brunhild. 
Apparently most countries used capital punishment because of troubles caused in the nations that abolished it. If you simply banished a violent criminal, there was a chance they could cause trouble in another country. That being said, I didn’t think just killing people was an ideal way to go about it. 
Those slave collars were powerful artifacts used to punish criminals, and I approved, but only if they were put on people who had committed serious crimes. I wondered if I could modify one. 
If we synced our laws up with Belfast’s, Javert would definitely be killed. That honestly seemed fair, given his litany of foul deeds. I couldn’t just give him a slap on the wrist, he’d been trafficking humans. 
The main issue was what to do with the slaves and sailors on his ship. I figured I’d have Yumina use her Mystic Eye to check over the slaves at least. I’d free the good-hearted ones. 
I headed towards the Silver Moon while thinking that over. I was a little worried about the adventurers that I had helped free the day before. Didn’t want them suffering from trauma or anything due to their ill treatment. 
I went in and spoke to them, and fortunately they had all resolved to continue adventuring. I told them to be more wary in the future. There was no need to rush, after all. It was better to slowly become stronger. 
I told them to head over to the guild to get their cards back. Part of me felt a little guilty, but I was just glad they were safe. 
I slept in till noon so I decided to have my breakfast/lunch at the Silver Moon. Lop’s group ended up joining me for the meal. 
They seemed apprehensive at first, but quickly settled in once I ordered five full lunches from Micah. 
“Hm... There’s a dungeon near your home village, then?” 
“It’s nothing like the island dungeons, but yeah. It’s more like a cavern. There’s a ruin inside it, though... We used to play in there when we were little kids.” That sounded a little dangerous to me, there could’ve been dangerous wildlife in that cave! 
“We’d found Giant Bats and wolves now and then, but the four of us managed to take care of them. I think those victories helped make us a little overconfident... But we’ve learned a little more humility after exploring a real dungeon.” Fran spoke up, more of a mutter than anything. Wolves were certainly a far cry from Goblins and Kobolds. Intelligent monsters that used weapons were different from mindless beasts, after all. Still, that meant Lop’s party had joined the blue-rank idiots despite their fear. I was sure they’d become promising adventurers. 
“Well, just don’t overdo it. Learn from your mistakes. Also, don’t let people sucker you in with sweet words. There’ll more often than not be an ulterior motive there. Every rose has thorns, and nothing in this world comes for free.” The four of them nodded slowly. It seemed like they’d taken the lesson to heart. Really the fact that other adventurers had come and told them about a good hunting spot should’ve been a red flag. There’d have been no benefit to potentially decreasing their own gains by inviting newbies over. A certain amount of doubt was surely healthy, but at the same time it was important to trust others a little. 
“Uh-Uhm, Your Highness... Can I ask something about this little guy...?” 
“Hm?” Eon, the party’s mage, showed the little white mouse that I’d summoned. I had completely forgotten about him. 
To be honest, I was still worried about them. It’s why I decided to leave the mouse with them. He was a summoned magical beast known as a Snowmouse. I had heard they were quite powerful in groups, but I wouldn’t have believed that by looking at one alone. 
I didn’t actually know if this world had basic household mice, actually. 
The Snowmouse had a magical passive effect known as Enhanced Senses. It allowed the person nearest to him to sense danger, preventing ambushes and other incoming disasters. 
“I’ll let you guys take care of him. He’s pretty smart, and he can tell when there’s trouble around. Also he has a mental link with me, so you can talk to him and send messages to me in an emergency.” Eon smiled and nodded as I spoke. It seemed like she’d taken a liking to the little guy. I was pleased to see they were getting along. That being said, I didn’t want a bunch of dumb messages being beamed into my head daily. 
We finished up the meal and parted ways. The Snowmouse, now perched on Eon’s head, waved at me. Huh... I guess he really is smart. 
Something in the lunchtime conversation had piqued my attention. The cave that the four of them had mentioned... The ruins they mentioned made me think that it could be related to Babylon. 
They were from Pyton Village in Regulus, if I recalled correctly. I searched on the map and it wasn’t all that far from Brunhild. I was surprised that it was so close. The scout birds I’d sent out had probably missed it. 
Or perhaps they just weren’t able to see into the cave because they were high in the sky... No, that couldn’t have been it. I had heard that birds were about the same as humans at night, vision-wise. They just didn’t act at night because food was more scarce. There were still nocturnal birds like owls, though. 
It was more likely that they’d just overlooked it. I’d find out for sure once I actually got there. 
I invoked [Fly] and sent a message to Kohaku to inform the girls I was off investigating. They’d all gotten upset just the night before, after all. I didn’t want to be lectured for two days in a row... 
Well then, guess I better check it out! 
 
Pyton village was in the southwest of Regulus. It was a pretty plain and quiet village nestled in some mountains near the Belfast border. It gave off the image of a peaceful quiet little mountain town. 
I didn’t want to cause a fuss or alert the villagers, so I landed in a nearby forest and pulled up my phone to look for the cave. I found it fairly close by. 
“Huh, it really was near. I guess that makes sense, though... Those kids did play here.” The cave was just a little ways up a rocky area near the town. Wasn’t very big, either. The entrance was narrow, only one person could go through at a time. It seemed more like a thin tunnel than a cave, but once I got inside it opened up a bit. 
It would probably be more apt to call the cave an entrance to the inner ruins. There were probably other entrances once, they must’ve just been covered by various means over the years. 
A Giant Bat attacked me after I walked a little further in. Naturally it died in seconds. Hm... The kids beat these things up? Guess they really are weak... Doesn’t look like it’d be able to do much damage. 
After a while, I found an obsidian cube. 
One side was around seven meters tall and wide. It was cold to the touch, as well. There was no doubt in my mind. This was a Babylon ruin. 
“Alright, then... There’s gotta be a way to get inside this thing.” I inspected the cube thoroughly. I couldn’t find anything like a switch that might open it up, though. There wasn’t any groove on it like that other time, either. I wondered what the secret was. I mused that perhaps there was a wall that would let me pass through if I touched it... But alas, no luck. 
“Hmph... What’s with this thing...?” I considered using [Modeling] to force a hole open... But I couldn’t shake the feeling that it would end poorly. This was something I needed to do on my own. But, no matter what... I couldn’t find anything resembling a way inside. 
I prodded here and there, but I was rapidly running out of ideas. 
“Oh, come on... I’ve tried everything. Every side, even the top! What else is... Oh.” No way... Beneath, maybe? I dug a trench using earth magic, careful not to let the cube fall or move. Then I jumped down and inspected it from below. 
Gotcha. The bottom of the cube had a small dot indent in it, kind of like a ‘one’ side on a die. 
“This should be it, then...” I touched the dot with my hand, and I found myself being pulled into the cube. 
I looked around and found the regular spellstone pillars. It was dark, but the familiar shine of each stone was there in the black. 
There was something unusual, though. The teleportation circle was on one of the walls, rather than the floor. The six pillars were also jutting out sideways from one of the walls. 
“Waiiit a second... Shouldn’t that be the floor, then? That means I entered from the side...” I figured they’d made some kind of mistake when the cube was placed in the cave. It was stupid to have the entrance be below to begin with, it honestly seemed like an error. When I thought about a six-sided die, I remembered that if the ‘one’ side was below, then the ‘two’ side would be on the side. They must’ve mistakenly placed the wrong side down, which meant I had to crawl under and through the single dot. 
“Ugh, come on... Don’t make dumb mistakes!” I used [Fly] to keep myself on the circle and then poured my magical power into the pillars. After that I stood sideways, feet planted firmly on the side of the wall. It felt weird as hell. I’m not a ninja! This doesn’t suit me... N-Ninja Arts... Wall-Stand Jutsu! Pffft... 
I added the final touch by pouring Null magic into the circle. It lit up in a flash, and just like that I was teleported away. 
“Welcome to the Babylon’s s— raughuhgh!” 
“Huh?!” The light began to fade when I suddenly felt a dull pain in my stomach. I’d been headbutted. Gah?! An ambush?! From what I could discern, the terminal gynoid had recklessly ran over towards me, tripped, and smacked her head into my belly. 
“Awawa! Forgive-a me! I was so excited to-a finally meet you that I went and slammed-a right into your side!” 
“Fine, fine! Just get off me already!” The girl had knocked us both to the ground and she wouldn’t stop muttering. It was pretty embarrassing because she was still on top of me. The girl had... assets. Not quite as impressive as Flora’s, but impressive all the same. It was awkward. 
“I’ll get-a right up. Whoa, whoa!” 
“The hell are you doing...?” The girl stood up and immediately began wobbling all over the place. And then she did it. She stumbled and, with all the weight of her body, brought her foot down on my crotch. “HNNNGH!” Nhhh.... Mhhh.... Khhh....?! Hhh...! I fainted. There was nothing else I could even do. It was the single most powerful attack I’d ever received in this world and the last. It hurt more than a direct hit from a Phrase. Oh-Oh God... W-Will recovery magic work...?! Nngh... Gh... [R-Rhh... Refresh]...! Gah! I c-can’t focus! My jewels... My jewels! 
“Mamma mia. Are-a you okay?” 
“Ngh... Nnnhho...” I grit my teeth together and bashed my fists against the floor. It hurt. I was breathing heavily, I was sweating profusely. I’m... Done... It’s... t-too much... 
Eventually the pain subsided and I staggered to my feet. Then the girl looked at me and saluted. She was shorter than Cesca, or at least I thought so at a glance. She smiled and opened her mouth. 
“Let-a me introduce myself! Welcome to the Storehouse of Babylon! My-a name is Lileleparshe! Just call-a me Parshe for short.” 
“IT’S YOUUUUUU?!” 
“Eeeeeek?!” I’ve finally found the madwoman! She’s the one who let that immortal jewel thing fall down and ruin the Takeda house in Eashen! She’s the one responsible for the Blockbracer and Drainbracer helping that guy who started the coup in Regulus! 
I’d heard about her clumsiness from the other Babylon sisters, but now it was my precious jewels that learned the truth first-hand. “Sit your ass down little lady! You need a stern talking to!” 
“Wh-What! Why is-a this happening-a to me?!” I wondered if she was even aware of the trouble she’d caused. I decided to explain exactly what she’d done. 
I told her about the suffering of the people on the surface as a result of the artifacts she’d carelessly let drop. Then I told her about all the troubles she’d gotten me into as a result. 
“Are you sorry?!” 
“Aah... I-I’m-a sorry... I wasn’t aware of-a the troubles I’d caused!” Parshe let her shoulders sag. She knelt on the ground with sad eyes, and her ponytail trembled slowly. Maybe I had gone too far. 

“Just... Take more care going forwards, alright? All the other gynoids were concerned about the Storehouse.” 
“Hmm? You’ve-a met other Babylon terminals?” 
“With the exception of the research laboratory, I’ve met them all. Let me introduce myself, I’m Mochizuki Touya. The other Babylons have accepted me as their master.” 
“Wowee... Then I guess I’ll do-a the same. Roger that... Airframe-a Number Twenty-Six, Lileleparshe, presents herself to you! Treat-a me well, Master.” Parshe stood up and smiled once more, flashing a salute. That sure was a quick one-eighty. I wondered if she’d really reflected on her mistakes. Parshe quickly moved up towards me, almost making a lunge for my face. Uh oh. I know that move... 
It was the eighth time at this point, I no longer had the will to resist. It was inevitable, so I took it. I gave up on resisting, so I stood there and waited for it. Then Parshe stomped on my toe. 
“Ow-mmmf!” Her tongue slipped past my lips and began swirling around in my mouth. But that’s not what I was moaning about. It was my foot! She was crushing my foot! This girl was standing on her tip-toes to kiss me and she was crushing my goddamn foot! My big toe felt like it was gonna crumble! Why the hell are you this clumsy! Is this even clumsiness?! You’re a walking disaster! “That’s-a complete registration! Your genetic information has-a been stored in my banks, Master. The Storehouse now-a officially belongs to you... So why-a do you look so uncomfortable?” Parshe tilted her head to the side in confusion. What the hell do you mean why! You just stomped the hell out of my toe! I sat on the ground clutching my poor foot. I considered invoking [Shield] around her as a precaution. 
“Well, regardless of-a that... Let-a me show you around. Onwards!” Parshe skipped off without a care in the world. Then she fell flat on her face. I figured this was just normal for her. 
I saw a large dome-shaped building as I came out from the undergrowth. Well, it wasn’t extremely large. It was about the size of an above-average house. It also looked just like an igloo, one of those Inuit homes made from snow. At least that was the closest approximation I could make. 
I passed through the gates and came to a pure white room full of equally white cubes. They were about fifty centimeters tall, and they were that long as well. There was one black monolith in the middle of the room, too. 
“You know... I kind of imagined there being... Stuff here. It’s a storehouse, isn’t it?” 
“The artifacts, personal funds, raw materials, public and private records, and other such matters are-a stored in the basement. At one-a point we had a minor breach in an outer wall, but it was-a quickly repaired.” That’s probably when the jewel and the other stuff fell out... At least it’s patched up now. 
“You can use-a this machine to call up items. Look here...” Parshe put her hand on the monolith and it began to whir. One of the cubes on the ground in the distance fell through the floor, and a similar cube rose from the floor in front of me. 
I looked closer and found small lettering on the surface of the cube. It seemed to be written in ancient Parthenese. It looked like every cube had a unique identifier. 
Parshe touched the cube and it opened up like a treasure chest. To my amazement, it was filled with golden coins. 
“The boxes can’t-a be opened by anyone but you or myself. Even Doctor Babylon wouldn’t-a be able to do it.” Huh, I see... So I effectively have the keys to the treasury. So then... All of this is mine? That’s great. I’ll use it well. 
I took out one of the golden coins from the box. It had a shape I didn’t recognize. But then I remembered seeing something similar when I’d first met Ende. That must’ve meant these were coins from Partheno. 
That made sense, in all honesty. The Storehouse was five-thousand years old, after all. 
But that made the money worthless to me. I thought about smelting it all and selling the raw product. Taking it to an antique dealer was out of the question. They wouldn’t believe something from so long ago would be in such incredible condition. It’d just get written off as fake. 
“Ohh, right! Are there any Frame Gear blueprints in here?” 
“Oh, the Frame-a Gears... Yep. We have-a those...” Parshe touched the monolith again and the box of coins sank into the floor. Another box quickly rose in its place. They looked identical. Without the serial codes I wouldn’t be able to distinguish them at all. 
I did what Parshe did earlier and touched the box. It creaked open. I stared at the contents, horrified. I closed the box. 
“...Parshe... Send it back... You made a mistake. Now. Send it back. Now. Please.” 
“Huh? Ah, that’s-a my bad... I got the number wrong.” Parshe touched the monolith once more and the box sank into the floor. I turned away from her. My face was beet red and I was sweating bullets. 
If you want to know what was in the box... It was just toys... Just... Adult... toys... I quietly reaffirmed my hatred for Doctor Babylon. I... didn’t even know they made ones like that... 
I opened up the new box and found a bunch of weird cylindrical containers. I tried popping one open to see what was inside. 
What I found definitely resembled a blueprint. There were lots of different pictures and fine details and annotations. 
I couldn’t read it. The solution was to use translation magic, of course. But I still couldn’t read it... It was way too complex to understand. Either way, this was a victory. We could finally create stronger Frame Gears. We couldn’t modify the Frame Gears we already had, but now we’d be able to make them from scratch. In short, we could make custom Frame Gears. 
Heheh... Should I make one with a tank as its lower half? I wonder if I can... I should search online for different robot designs... I can’t think of much other than heavy armor units, mobile suits, and backline support ones right now... Hehehe... I’m getting excited?! I can’t help it! I’m a guy, it’s too cool! 
 
“So, can you do it?” 
“Yessir I can. I might be able to make Ether Liquid unnecessary, sir! Or, uh... Rather... I can probably make it so we don’t need to change the Ether Liquid ever again, sir!” We were in the workshop. Rosetta was explaining certain blueprints we’d found in the Storehouse. 
Ether Liquid amplified the magical power of a Frame Gear’s pilot and spread it throughout the mech. Up until now we’d been using it as a raw fuel, but the cores of the new models took magic from sunlight and the surrounding atmosphere. It was kind of like transitioning from batteries to solar panels. 
But we needed crystalline material from dead Phrase to make the new power devices. It seemed like Doctor Babylon had noticed the unique qualities of the Phrase and figured out how to harness them for our benefit. 
Either way, it allowed Ether Liquid to circulate through the machine without losing any of its magic. We wouldn’t have to change out the fuel anymore. 
“Well, sir! This new system is a conceptual one! We can assemble various parts and put them on Bone Frames. It should allow us to assemble unique varieties of Frame Gear, sir! In other words, sir! The new way of making Frame Gears has no predetermined form!” 
“So we can build them as we want...? Or uh... It’s more like if we can’t figure out what we want, we won’t be able to make it?” 
“That is correct, sir. We could hypothetically slap anything we want together, sir! But it’d just create an ill-functioning hunk of scrap!” I didn’t want us to waste our resources like that. But at the same time, I was eager to start experimenting with what we could put together. 
“We must consider strength, armor, magical output, precision, mobility, and equipped weaponry, sir! This may be obvious, but if we make it heavily armored, it will have impaired speed! If we increase the output, it’ll drain magic faster! If we consider your positively ridicu— Er, incredible mana reserves, sir, then we may be able to make whatever the hell we want! But that won’t work for everyone, sir!” Well sorry for having a ridiculous magic pool... But geez, what do I do? I have a lot of magic, yeah... But it’d be best to make Frame Gears that others can use. I should probably think about making specialized Frame Gears that fit specific people. Elze’s should have a focus on power and speed, for example! 
Still, the specialized Frame Gears wouldn’t be usable by anyone but the person they were designed for. Plus there was the fact that gradually using a Frame Gear made it accustomed to you and vice-versa, so they’d really just be personal units in the end. 
“First thing’s first, sir! We’ll call the Mini-bots to the Storehouse! Monica and myself are insufficient for this task, sir.” That was fair. I noticed two of the helper robots wandering around the workshop. They were incredibly skilled, despite their weird looks. They lacked the ability to think for themselves and could only obey rigid commands, but their versatility was nothing to scoff at. 
I temporarily halted production of the Chevaliers so the workshop would be able to start building these new Frames. We’d made a lot of Chevaliers over the last few months, so I didn’t mind putting it on pause for a little while. 
“Alright, then... Let’s try making a Frame Gear for Elze. I want you to prioritize speed and power. Make the limbs heavily armored, too. Don’t worry too much about conserving magical power. We can always tweak that later.” 
“Sir yes sir!” I decided to start with Elze’s Frame Gear because her fighting style was the simplest. Punching and kicking the enemy until they were down. It was a tried and tested method. It wouldn’t need to be balanced or tweaked too much thanks to that. It was basically a model specialized for a single purpose. 
I left Rosetta to it and headed to the Storehouse. 
“Oh, Master. It’s-a you.” I entered the building and found Parshe there. She was wearing traditional shrine maiden’s clothing, a red hakama over a white robe. I had never seen a shrine maiden who had her hair in a ponytail before, though... Well, it wasn’t fair to apply the logic of my old world to this one anyway. 
I had forgotten about all the stuff I’d passed over to Zanac, so I was surprised to see her in such a culturally familiar garb. It was an odd choice... Having someone this clumsy as a shrine maiden was a little much... I wasn’t entirely sure that God would be okay with it. 
“I’ve-a cataloged everything in the Storehouse for you. There are-a one-thousand-and-ninety-three items in total, Master.” 
“Wow, that’s a lot.” I flipped through the list she’d given me. There were things in there that I recognized, and some things that I didn’t. There was also stuff on the list I knew I’d never want to look at. I decided that we didn’t need the “Ultimate War Panties,” the “Deadly Swimsuit,” or the “Bikini Armor,” for example. It would be better to separate them off entirely. Some things were better left sealed away. 
What’s this...? “Breast Enlarging Medicine”...? Better not let anyone ever find out about this... This could destroy nations. 
“Parshe. Don’t show anyone else this list, got it? And don’t tell anyone about things available in the Storehouse unless you have my express permission. Got it?” 
“Got it!” 
Breasts... Big.... Little... Everyone has them. Bigger, smaller, we needn’t worry about such things. Bread is delicious. Rice is delicious, too. Neither invalidates the other! That being said, some people did prefer rice over bread... The other way too. I personally enjoyed both. I was a little saddened, though. Because I knew too many men in this world had eyes only for those big, round things. 
Either way, I was getting off-topic. 
“That reminds me. There should be Ether Liquid in storage here. Have it delivered to Rosetta at the workshop, and Monica at the hangar.” 
“Roger!” Parshe touched the monolith and nine cubes came out of the floor. I checked over them and, sure enough, they were all five-hundred milliliter bottles of the familiar fluid. It really did look like soda... 
The mini-bots lifted them up over their heads and left the Storehouse. 
“Parshe, what’re these items with slashes through their names?” 
“Ah! These are items that-a we’ve lost...” She muttered in quiet disappointment. I saw the Blockbracer and Drainbracer on the list, but I didn’t see the immortality jewel on there at all... 
Oh, is it maybe this one...? The Eye of the Grave... I guess the guy who found it didn’t know its actual name. 
“Then that means Lestia’s Holy Sword is this Recovery Blade... And Ripple is the Living Frame. Neat.” Even excluding the items I’d seen, there were a few unaccounted for artifacts. Searching for them would be a pain in the ass. Plus it wasn’t likely that the people who had them would just give them up if I asked... 
As far as I knew, there was no way for me to find them. Even if I knew what they were called, it wasn’t like my search magic could find stuff I wouldn’t recognize at a glance. It was unfortunate, but the list sorely lacked images to go along with the names. 
“There really is a lot of stuff, huh...” 
“Doctor Babylon was a genius, but-a her organizational skills were subpar... She invented many-a things, and ultimately put them all in the Storehouse. She could’ve made a lotta dough if she’d spread her creations into the world.” 
“Doesn’t exactly seem like she’d been hurting for cash.” I thought back to the golden coins. 
“She-a wasn’t especially interested in money. The Doctor just-a did what it was she wanted to do.” I didn’t fully understand the Doctor or why she did the strange things she had done, but I couldn’t help but wonder sometimes... 
Doctor Babylon had used an artifact to look into the future and see me... And she decided to leave me the floating fortress of Babylon as her legacy. I wondered if there was more to it than that. 
“You don’t happen to have the item the Doctor used to see into the future in the Storehouse, do you...?” 
“To-a see into the future... Mm... You mean the Foresight Jewel? We-a have it, yes.” Parshe touched the monolith, and another cube-box sprung up from the floor. It opened up to reveal a beautiful glimmering orb about the size of a volleyball. It was on a masterfully crafted pedestal. 
“This is a uh... Foresight Jewel, was it?” 
“That’s-a right. If you focus your-a magical power, then a person in the future with a similar magical biorhythm to you will be shown in the orb. The person is-a completely random, though. And the future isn’t always-a on a stable track. It doesn’t-a usually reflect the same person twice, but when the Doctor used it, it always showed you. She must’ve been-a focusing hard on you.” It was probably because I was the only person it could reflect for her... Though knowing I have a similar biorhythm to that ancient perv isn’t really reassuring. 
I tried pouring some of my magic in, but nothing came up. Huh? “Is it broke?” 
“No. It’s-a not broken. It’s more likely that a person with your biorhythm won’t be born for over five-thousand more years. But of course the future isn’t-a fixed. You could always try again later.” 
“Wait seriously? A person with every magical affinity won’t come around for another five-thousand years at least?” 
“No. That’s-a only one of the factors. Even if-a they have all of the affinities, you won’t see them unless you match their magical rhythm closely.” I see... But still, having every magical affinity massively reduces the number of people I can look at. If I had no magical aptitude, I’d probably be able to see multiple people. That sucks. 
I was disappointed since I wanted to look into the future. Parshe mentioned something about being able to roughly estimate how far into the future you looked, so I was hoping to see what became of Brunhild down the line. 
“So you just use your magic on it?” 
“Yup. It didn’t do anything for me.” Linze was reading in the living room when I showed up with the Foresight Jewel. What happened next wouldn’t be hard to guess. 
“It sounds interesting, though. Could I try next?” Elze was on the couch cleaning her gauntlets, but she seemed interested. Yae and Hilde, who were sat next to her, also seemed curious. 
Yumina and Lu entered the room with some tea. Sue was busy at home, and Leen was immersing herself in books at the Library of Babylon. 
“R-Right then, let’s see...” Linze let her magical power flow into the Jewel, and it suddenly turned a jet black. Little lights flickered inside the orb, sparkling now and then. It was like gazing into space. 
The next moment, the image of an old man in a straw hat appeared in the ball. He had a white beard, and was tilling a field. Huh... What’s this? “Oh... Let-a me tune it...” Parshe lifted up the orb and turned a knob on the back of the pedestal. The image began to fade a bit. 
“What’s that about?” 
“Uhm... It was showing about-a fifty to a hundred years into the future. It seemed-a to be somewhere between Refreese and Regulus. I think.” That’s quite far in the future. I wonder if that old man’s a little kid right now... Or maybe he hasn’t even been born! 
“So... That old man and I have the same biorhythm...?” Linze seemed somewhat disappointed. I could understand, so I was at least a little sympathetic. But at least she had someone tuned to her wavelength. 
“I’ve-a reset the parameters. Now it’ll only show up-a to ten years in the future, and the region is limited to-a the local area.” Parshe put the Foresight Jewel back down on the table. The discouraged Linze let her shoulders sink a bit, and Elze was the next to touch it. 
Once again the beautiful space-like image appeared, and it came into focus on an elderly woman walking through town. 
“Huh, is this the castle town?” 
“I can see a big clock tower, but... Brunhild doesn’t have one of those, does it?” 
“Ah... I only saw it for a second, but that was definitely the Silver Moon! It’s our town!” Indeed it was. As Yumina said, I had briefly saw the sign for the Silver Moon Inn. Just as I’d thought, it was Brunhild’s castle town. 
Huh. Wonder if I’ll build a clock tower soon, then... The image is only covering the immediate area around the person, so it’s a little hard to get a full view of the place. 
“Uh... D-Did anyone else hear that voice just now? I thought I heard a woman say ‘That’s a good price.’...” Lu moved slightly closer towards the crystal orb. The woman in the image was buying some apples. 
“It’s-a making a connection to the targeted person, sometimes it picks up voice. For the most part there’s-a too much interference for good audio, but sometimes it comes through well.” As everyone listened to Parshe’s explanation, the image grew darker until it faded completely. 
“Aaaah... The link has-a gone and expired. That-a usually happens a while after you take your hand off.” 
“We can’t see what comes next?” 
“That’s almost impossible. The target is-a completely random within a scope of ten years, after all.” It seemed like the artifact could only be set within a range of decades, it didn’t get more precise than that. Even if you were lucky enough to connect to the same person, you’d have to have insane fortune to see a continuation of where you left off last time. 
Even Doctor Babylon only saw dotted fragments of my life. Though the fact that she could view me from five-thousand years in the past was incredible enough. 
“Who’s next?” Yae had no aptitude for magic, so she’d have a broad range of people to potentially synchronize with. Though that came with the disadvantage of it being harder to narrow in on specific individuals. You’d likely look at a different person’s future every time you used the orb. 
Yae let her magic flow into the crystal ball. Even without any particular aptitude, she still had magic power within her. Enchanted items were originally created for people who couldn’t use magic, but they could still channel magic into them. 
“Oh... I can see it, I can. Is this... The castle, is it?” There was a maid reflected in the ball. I didn’t recognize her face. She was probably someone we’d end up hiring within the next ten years. The young maid walked down the castle hall. She looked to be in her twenties. 
“The castle doesn’t look much different...” 
“Well, it hasn’t changed since we built it... So it makes sense it won’t change much even after ten years.” I grinned slightly at Elze’s mutterings, but in turning my head away, I missed what happened next in the vision. 
“Hm?!” 
“Who is that...?” 
“Huh! Wh-What?!” Yae and Yumina stared in surprise. Lu, Linze, and Hilde were also staring down with wonder. 
“What was it...? I missed it.” 
“Ah... U-Uhm, there was a little child. The maid greeted a child and moved on.” 
“A child?” I turned my head to Linze as she spoke. A child in the castle, huh... Wait... No way. 
“H-H-Hey! Can’t you make the orb pick up on the kid!” 
“I-I-It’s-a impossible! The target is the maid, I-I’m-a sorry!” Parshe trembled slightly as I grumbled. I was annoyed that I’d missed it. 
There was a kid in the castle. It meant that it could’ve been my kid! Then again, it could’ve easily been the child of a foreign dignitary. “Was it a boy or a girl?!” 
“Uhm... It was a girl... I think?” 
“Hm... I believe it was a handsome young man, I do.” 
“But that long hair... Surely it was a girl.” 
“Yeah, she was wearing long culotte pants.” 
“It seemed like she had black hair, too...” 
“Th-Th-Then who’s the mother!” Everyone went quiet after Hilde’s question. Leen and Sue weren’t around, but it was possible that we had just seen the daughter (or son?) that they’d eventually bear. Still, knowing who the mother actually was didn’t seem like it was possible. 
The situation quickly became hectic. 
“Hey, Yae! Make the orb show the girl again!” 
“I cannot do that, I cannot! I do not control what it shows me, I do not!” 
“Aaagh! Y-Yae! Don’t let your hand slip! We’ll lose connection!” 
“I wonder if that was my daughter...” 
“Y-Yeah... It’s a little scary to think about...” 
“I wonder if my child will use a sword like me...” 
“Hey, quiet down! I can hear something!” I calmed everyone down and put my finger to my lips. The maid in the crystal ball was talking to a man. He seemed like a co-worker. 
“...... --lready ran around over there.” 
“Good grief. I told the little one not to pester His Majesty... Father or not, he’s a very busy man.” Everyone’s eyes narrowed on me. Welp. That just about confirmed it. I wondered what the future me was doing, though... Shouldn’t you be spending time with your family?! “Well, that’s it then. We couldn’t hear the name... But that child was definitely yours, Touya.” I was just upset that I hadn’t actually seen the kid with my own two eyes. 
The maid bowed her head and left for the kitchen. There were several maids hard at work in the kitchen. The sight wasn’t too different to the current state of the place, actually. I was glad I had so many hard workers. ... Though this was a vision of the future, so it would be more apt to say I was glad I was going to have so many hard workers. 
“Hey, it’s Crea!” Elze pointed to a person reflected in the ball. It was definitely Crea, our current head cook. She looked older, but didn’t seem a full ten years older. 
“A-Am I not there...?” Lu pouted a little bit. She had a point. Lu spent a lot of time in the kitchen, after all. Sadly it didn’t seem like she was in there on this particular day. 
Lu’s shoulders slumped a little. 
“Don’t worry, Lu. Why did you want to see yourself so bad, anyway?” 
“I wanted you to see the adult me of the future, Touya...” 
“Don’t be silly. I’ll see her gradually, right by my side.” 
“Ah!” Hilde’s sudden exclamation had Lu and I glance towards the crystal ball. Don’t tell me... Not again... 
“J-Just now a little girl left the kitchen with a lunchbox...” 
“A-Ah... Sh-She had long, silvery hair...” 
“Whaaat?!” Lu let out a shriek. As far as fiancees go, only three had hair you could describe as silvery. Lu, Linze, and Elze. Leen’s was more white than anything else. 
“Wh-Wh-Where did she go?” 
“Ah, she is gone now, she is. She just left the kitchen.” 
“Go after her!” 
“I-I cannot do such a thing...” Lu desperately gazed from the crystal ball to Yae, and then back again. I understood how she felt. I’d missed something again, after all. 
“Calm down a little bit... Whose child do you think it was?” 
“I-It could have been mine! I-I always thought I’d teach my son or daughter to cook! Th-That’s why I’m always working so hard in the kitchen!” It seemed like Lu had been considering more in the long-term than I had been. Still, she had a point. I couldn’t imagine Linze or Elze having a kid who spent a lot of time making stuff in the kitchen... I didn’t want to imagine what kind of super-spicy horrors Elze would teach her kids to whip up. That being said, they could’ve been tutored by anyone, so it was hard to say for sure whose child it was. 
“We didn’t actually see them do any cooking, you know... They might’ve just been delivering lunch to someone else, or picking up their own.” 
“Guh... I-I am Lucia Leah Regulus! By my heart, I am sure that my child will be an incredible cook!” Lu spoke firmly, but it came out as more of a mutter. It was ultimately hard to say whether or not Lu’s kid would actually be any good in the kitchen. The possibility of Lu teaching Linze’s child to cook was always on the table, too. 

Still, if she had cooked the lunch she’d left the kitchen with... Who was she delivering it to? 
I hoped it was the future me. A handmade lunch from my own daughter. I’d season it with tears of joy as I chowed down. 
Or maybe the lunch was for her mother. Lu or otherwise. A gentle, kind child who made lunch for her mom... That’s the kind of thing that inspires tears as well. 
Or... Maybe she was making lunch for a boy she liked... If she was making lunch for a guy, that’d incite tears in me as well. For another reason entirely. 
I had to snap out of that line of thinking. That couldn’t be it! Yeah. I wouldn’t be letting no stinkin’ boys get close to my girls! Hahaha... 
As I mused silly things in my head, the maid in the vision spoke with Crea a little and left the kitchen once more. 
Suddenly, there was a noise. Huh? I looked over to find Yae’s head swaying from side to side. Her hand was slipping from the crystal ball. Crap! Did you run out of magic that fast?! I caught Yae before she collapsed, but the Foresight Jewel fell from its pedestal and rolled along the floor. Then Parshe fell over. Then Parshe knocked a teapot over. 
“Oh, whoa! Excuse-a me!” Parshe reached down to pick up the teapot. It was hot. She dropped it. It fell on the Foresight Jewel. Smash. Crash. Bash. The Pot, along with the Crystal... Crumbled into various pieces. 
“AUUUUUUGH?!” Everyone screamed at the same time. It was completely broke. The real tragedy, of course... Was that falling from the pedestal hadn’t broken it. It was that damned gynoid! 
Everyone gathered around, looking at Parshe in pure disbelief. 
So this is the power of a clumsy shrine maiden, huh... 
“I-I-I-I’m-a sorry!” Parshe immediately brought herself down into a pleading bow. She seemed awfully familiar with that motion. I had a feeling this wasn’t the first time she’d ruined absolutely everything. 
Still, no use crying over spilled milk. What’s done was done. Even though it was broken now, we’d only managed to use the Foresight Jewel thanks to Parshe to begin with. 
“Don’t worry about it. This was just a peeping Tom’s peeking device, anyway.” 
“B-But...” 
“I said it’s fine. I don’t need to see the future, anyway. The future has infinite possibilities, so it’s hard to say if the future we see is the one that’ll come to pass anyway.” Our future hasn’t been written yet. No one’s has. Your future is whatever you make it. So make it a good one. A white-haired scientist from a movie about a time-traveling car said that once. 
“I agree! The future we saw seemed lovely, but let’s try and make our own wonderful future together as well.” 
“I-I agree, I do.” Yae, who was still a little woozy despite my use of [Transfer] to restore her magic, nodded towards Yumina. 
Still, unstable future or not, I was sad I couldn’t see my daughter. I wonder if she’s cute and sweet... Yeah, she’s definitely cute. Yep. I’ve decided that just now. She’s adorable. 
As I resolutely confirmed the cuteness of my own daughter in my mind, there was a knock at the door. Lapis appeared. 
“Sir... The new maids I mentioned the other day are here. I’ve brought them to greet you. Would you mind meeting them now?” 
“Ah, sure thing. I don’t mind, bring them in.” Living in the castle meant we needed to bring in more staff now and then. Fortunately Lapis had good ties with the maid’s guild, and she got us the best staff possible. 
At my command, ten new maids filed into the room. But one of the maids in particular stood out. Everyone had the same reaction. 
“Aaaaaagh?!” 
“Wha-... Eh? Ah...? I-Is there s-something on my face?!” Everyone in the room was pointing and staring at the poor girl. 
Her face was decidedly younger, but she was the very image of the maid we’d seen in the crystal ball. 
“Amazing...” 
“Well... That’s a surprise.” After everyone settled down and I reassured them, the maids left the room with Lapis. 
We were all pretty shocked to see her, despite knowing she was part of an inevitable future that would come. 
“Then I wonder if the future we saw is set in stone after all, I do...” 
“Hm... Well, it isn’t like it was bad or anything.” Yae muttered, and Elze returned her own. 
It wasn’t a bad future at all. It was a future where my children were happy. In fact, I’d call it a very good one indeed. 
“Let’s do our best, then. To meet our kids in the future.” Suddenly, the implications of what I’d said sank in. Oh crap. “A-Ah, well... N-Not until we’re married... It’s a little soon...” 
“Y-Yeah, the kids were cute but... I’m not sure if I’m ready for that...” 
“E-Even if you want us to do our best, l-let me prepare my heart first...!” 
“Wh-Huh?! D-Do our b-best... I-I... I’m not ready for it!” No, you’re getting the wrong idea! I want us to do our best and build a country together! I don’t mean we need to start making babies already! I tried to explain myself, but everyone was far too flustered to listen. I’d sealed my own doom with my flippant comment... 
Either way, my future children... It seemed there’d be a long time before I’d get to meet you. 
By the way... 
I later realized that I could use my Null spell [Recall] to find out what my kids looked like. All I needed to do was view the memories of my fiancees. 
It was just as I’d thought. 
My daughter... Was incredibly cute.