In a Different World with a Smartphone

Arc 27: The Reverse World

Chapter 299: The Price of the Crown, and the Activation

「Oh light come forth, Equal Solace, Area Heal」(Touya)

I secretly place all of the wounded people in the black market under a wide–range recovery magic. After all, I really don’t want to stand out. Nevertheless, it might be already too late for that now.

There aren’t as many deceased as I’ve thought. Was it because Rouge managed to hold Viola back? However, that probably is only true for this floor.

Yuri seems to have already confirmed it, but the picture of Hell itself has apparently been drawn on the upper floor.

I particularly don’t mind it if I catch anyone’s attention, but it’s bad for Nia, Rouge, and Yuri of the “Red Cats” to stand out. Therefore, we decide to return to their hideout using “Gate”, since I’ve already done what I’m supposed to do and have more no reasons to stay here any further.

After we arrive at their hideout, I drink the tea Yuri served us in the tent of the fortress and finally feel at ease.

「At any rate…What an outrageous golem that was…」(Touya)

Though I heard about Viola’s recovery abilities from Yuri, seeing it in action was still kinda unexpected. I have no doubts that Viola’s recovery skill is about the same level as to how frame gears are capable of recovering from cuts and cracks.

Even though I’ve bisected it horizontally, being able to recover from that as well is… The speed of its recovery is at a level wherein it could no longer be called a regular recovery anymore… It’s almost like an instant resuscitation from the moment it’s invoked.

「Is that the ability of the “Crown” series…」(Touya)

Hearing my mutter, Nia says something while looking at Rouge by her side.

「…A ”Crown” golem possess an incredible power, but in turn, the contractor is forced to shoulder a huge risk ~you see. Do you think that “immortality” ability could be used without paying any sort of price?」(Nia)

「Price?」(Touya)

「Rouge, for example, gains the power of flames and immense destructive energy at the cost of its contractor’s blood. The more blood I give, the more this power grows. They say there’s nothing in this world that it can’t break if someone fully throws away his life into it. This is how the previous leader of the “Red Cats” — how my father — died」(Nia)

Blood is the compensation!? And you said that he died…. Did he offer all of his blood to Rouge!?

For some reason, preserved blood is said to be completely ineffective, and the blood that should be offered is the fresh blood of the contractor. I heard that a human will die if that person loses ⅓ or more of their blood. Did he go over that limit…?

「Then, the price for using the purple crown is……」(Touya)

「I’m not sure about the validity of this information… but I’ve heard that the contractor of Viola loses his or her sanity. They go crazier and crazier as time pass by until Viola finally severs the lifeline of its contractor once they couldn’t understand anything at all. It’s said that “Only the Purple Crown can kill the Purple Contractor”, which is something I can’t understand though… In fact, it’s rumored that Viola killed each and every one of its previous contractors, no exceptions. This is what the compensation for immortality is like」(Nia)

In that case… are those crazy actions and strange words the side effects of being contracted to that “Crown”? Nevertheless, her sense of individuality is still there though…

「Fundamentally, it’s probably the purple contractors who have the shortest lifespan. The other contractors of the “Crown” series and I don’t have to worry about dying if we are careful, but the purple contractors have certain death waiting ahead for them」(Nia)

I wonder what’s the reason for having that immortality. I’ve initially suspected that she’s undead, and it’s a pretty close guess. Isn’t she something similar to a living corpse?

The contractor’s mind will keep suffering until that person can no longer tell who they are. It’s no different from hell wherein someone continues to descend into madness without having much of a choice.

I try searching for Luna using my the search function of my map application, but there’s no reaction. I wonder though, is she possessing some sort of artifact that obstructs magic? There may be golems having a “Search” ability similar to my “Search” magic, so it’s likely possible.

The “Crown” series is something like a double-edged sword, I guess. Don’t tell me! Do the “Etoile” series golems that I’ve purchased also require a compensation similar to the “Crown” series?

「The Etoile series doesn’t have a demanding compensation, so don’t you worry. The “Crowns” are just too much of an exception. They say that the Crowns were created by a golem engineer going by the name of Chrom Lanxess from an ancient kingdom, but they also say he was fairly out of his mind」

I wonder why I feel a strange Déjà Vu. Is there some sort of template wherein this kind of geniuses happen to be oddballs? The professor of our household is a regrettable existence for anything aside researching…

C’mon, she even installed a hidden camera inside the women’s bath. She has been peeping like an old man would while laughing vulgarly. Naturally, she was punished with by getting hit on the head though.

For now, I bring out the three “Etoile” series from inside my “Storage”. I can’t store a living being….. Or perhaps I should say, something with sentience can’t be placed inside my “Storage”. I’m sure of this because I’ve tried it with the chibi-robots before. As such, storing the three “Etoiles” inside my “Storage” might be impossible once I activate them. Though conversely, I’ll be troubled if Nia’s group doesn’t teach me the method to start the three “Etoiles”.

I take out the “Etoile” furnished with clear red parts from the case. Its size is similar to a child. Doesn’t it look like she’s even shorter than Rouge?

The golem has the form of a female… Or more precisely, she’s like a young girl. The basic color is white. Aside from its big eyes, the face doesn’t anything resembling ears, a mouth, or a nose. It’s as if she’s wearing a mask, but there’s a strange charm in it. It’s not like her face is absolutely smooth. After all, the shape of its face is similar to humans.

「As I suspected. It does look humanoid, doesn’t it?」(Yuri)

Yuri mutters so while looking at the Etoile golem.

What she meant by a humanoid type is a golem that has the appearance of a person, and a golem that’s not suitable for combat. This type is considerably intelligent, it’s also said they were probably created with that appearance in mind in order to take care of humans, be it nursing or watching over them.

I would even say that this golem appears closer to humans rather than Rouge or that Viola due to the former not being clad in armor even if all of them are humanoids.

Maybe because I keep comparing them with the “Babylon” series from our household. Every time I hear the word “humanoid”, I end up thinking to myself “In what way?”.

「And, how do you activate them?」(Touya)

「Place your hand around the chest area and say “Open” while pouring in a little bit of magic power」(Nia)

I don’t really understand it, but I still try doing as she has said.

「Open」(Touya)

I hear a small sound of air exhausting out while the chest part is opening up. Strange mechanism fills the interior of the chest. There’s even a transparent glass-like container as big as a softball and a dice-shaped cube floating inside and emitting a green light.

「This is the heart of a golem, the G-cube. Try thrusting your hand inside the golem and take it out」(Nia)

When my fingers touch the glass-like container, they easily pass through it. What’s that feeling? It’s like touching a lump of gel. It goes in between my fingers as if it’s wrapping them.

Though I’ve taken out the transparent emerald crystal cube that’s about 4 centimeters in size as it is, nothing, in particular, gets stuck to my hand. It’s a strange sensation.

「As long as this G cube remains, it’s possible to, at the very least, remake a regular golem. It will end up losing its memory and abilities though. After all, those are stored in the “Q Crystal” inside the head」(Nia)

Apparently, the “Q” crystal being the brain, the “G” cube being the heart, and the body created by the ancient kingdom all together make up a “Legacy” golem.

Conversely, it’s likewise possible to rebuild a unit that can inherit the memory and abilities only if the “Q” crystal of a “Legacy” golem remains, but it’s said that the resulting golem is a degraded version in comparison to the original.

Though if the golem has been inoperable for several hundred years, the memory itself resets, which is apparently why most of the legacies have no memories of the ancient kingdom era…. That’s regrettable.

「And, what should I do with this?」(Touya)

「To register as its master, this G-Cube needs to take in the information of the person who’s going to be its master. Any part of the body is fine — be it a hair strand or a nail. With that, the registration will be completed」(Nia)

Having pulled a strand from my bangs, I let it touch the G-cube. The strand smoothly sinks in, melts and disappears. So the registration ends here, right?

Returning the G-Cube back to its original container, I then close the armored chest, causing it to “lock” in place.

By the way, when trying to steal a golem that belongs to someone else, it’s necessary to overwrite this registration. Moreover, it’s also necessary to completely stop the golem, making it a very troublesome task. Well, the golem will obviously resist from having its master changed and getting its memory erased with all of its power.

Of course, those actions are illegal by nature and is punishable in turn since golems are personal possessions. It appears there are some steps that need to be done to prevent the theft of a golem, but it’s probably fine as of the moment.

I begin to hear a quiet running sound from the G-Cube inside the red “Etoile”, and before long, a faint light begins to emit from its clear red parts. However, that’s only for a moment, and the light goes out soon.

「It really isn’t starting up. Normally, it should have started up by now」(Nia)

「So, is it broken like what the storekeeper has said?」(Yuri)

Hhhmmmmm. It did activate for a moment. I wonder though, what’s this feeling that I’m getting? It feels as if this is an old broken electrical appliance. Could this be due to a loose connection? Though it probably won’t be fixed with just some cleaning.

Should I examine a bit?

「Analyze」(Touya)

Using analyze magic, I perceive the structure of this golem. I naturally don’t have the knowledge about this golem, so I don’t understand the meaning behind what most parts are for.

However, I could understand the flow of magic power and such. The stream of magic that flows from the G-cube in the chest area isn’t reaching the Q-crystal inside the head. It stops somewhere around the neck. Might the blockage be caused by something that, in comparison, is similar to the cause of infarction for humans? Though it would be extremely terrible if the blood vessels in the neck were to be blocked.

I walk around the “Etoile” golem and examine its neck. There I notice a red clear cubical part about 1 centimeter in size.

I try pushing it, but there’s no reaction. In the first place, it doesn’t look like a switch. Once I again try to validate this part with “Analyze” though, I notice a somewhat small barrier stretched underneath, which seems to interrupt the flow of magic power.

Is this part acting as a safety device? Under normal circumstances, there should be something like a startup key which disables this safety mechanism.

Maybe I can do something about it in that case.

「Cracking」(Touya)

I interchange the structure of only the tip section. The no attribute magic “Cracking” cuts into the startup formula and completely overwrites the activation requirements and settings. Though it’s impossible to fix the whole startup mechanism of the golem, it’s still possible to change a small portion of it.

The barrier gets erased, and the flow of magic spreads up until the head. Then the “Etoile” begins emitting red light from all of its clear parts. Did the magic power reach the Q-crystal?

「It moved」(Nia)

「Oohh! You did it!」(Yuri)

As if interrupting the celebration of the two, an unfamiliar voice comes out from the red “Etoile”.

『Model Number ET-101 has been activated. Personal name – unregistered. Operational conditions – no problems. Please register the master’s name and the personal name of this golem』(Red Golem)

Oooh! It talked. Nope, rather than talking, it had felt as if a recorded machine voice was played though.

「Hmm. Let me see. The master’s name is Mochizuki Touya. As for the personal name. Hmm. Ah. That’s right……」(Touya)

Since her series name means “Star”, I would like to give her a name connected to some star.

The famous red stars from my previous world are Antares in the Scorpius constellation and Betelgeuse in the Orion constellation, but they don’t sound like a girl’s name no matter how I look at those names.

Will a normal color be fine, regardless of its connection to a star?

「Um. Your personal name is Ruby」(Touya)

『Registered. Change to the master’s registration is completed. Rebooting』(Ruby)

I gave Kohaku and the rest of the divine beasts names that are associated with jewels as well, so I guess giving these golems similar names would be just right. The meaning of their names overlaps with Kougyoku though. It goes without saying that the other two will be Sapphire and Emerald. They are a little long. Will Sappha and Emera be good?

Ruby, who stopped moving for a moment, starts moving again along with low starting sound.

「Do you understand me?」(Touya)

『Pi』(Ruby)

Ruby gives a small nod. Huh? Is this girl unable to talk? Though she talked just a little while ago.

「This golem probably is a learning type model. If that’s the case, won’t she only know the minimum amount of words and movements right now? Though I think she should be able to learn to some extent if you go and teach her」(Nia)

Says Nia as Rouge nods. Is that so? Is she like a baby that doesn’t know anything? I guess I have to make her learn a lot of things from now on.

……Would it be really alright to entrust this baby-like existence to the professor? ……. Her place might be the worst are for education.

「Oh well. That’s fine. My best regards to you, Ruby」(Touya)

『Pi』(Ruby)

Ruby lightly nods again. Will she really be able to talk in the future? If I ask the professor to make some easy changes to her, she might be able to talk quickly, but I kinda feel that might be too wasteful.

Continuing on, when I was about to register the blue clear crystal sapphire as Sappha, I was then told of an important note to consider.

When contracting with a golem, it appears that there should only be one golem per person. In the scenario when someone contracts multiple golems, a 《jamming》 interference has a considerable high probability of happening, causing the golems to not function very well.

Long story short, when someone with multiple golems commands a golem to move to the right and another golem to move to the left, it may cause both to move to the right, to the left, or not move at all.

If something like that happens in the middle of combat, it will certainly be fatal.

However, I hear that the probability of said interference lowers considerably if the golems are of the same type or made by the same manufacturer. Those “Etoile” belong to the same series no matter how I look at them, so it’ll probably be alright. The possibility is not zero, as I am told to keep in mind.

For now, I do “Cracking” on both Sappha and Emera in the same way and complete the registration.

「Best regards both of you」(Touya)

『Po』(Sappha)

『Pa』(Emera)

So far, Ruby says “Pi”, Sappha says “Po”, Emera says “Pa” with no other reaction aside from those.

Tentatively, I should verify their performance later to find out if a malfunction is caused by the said “Jamming” or not.

「Ruby, raise your right hand. Sappha, raise your left hand. Emera, raise both hands」

I give them different orders, but all three of them move properly. There’s no problem, maybe.

However, I have this feeling that these three golems kinda remind me of that kunoichi trio under Tsubaki-san whenever I look at these three. The kunoichi trio of Sarutobi Homura, Kirigakure Shizuku, Fuuma Nagi.

(TL: Homura Kanji is fire, Shizuka kanji is water, Nagi kanji is wind)

(TLC: color references, red – fire, blue -water, green – wind)

It might be interesting to entrust these three golems to the kunoichi, but these golems will stand out. Is it impossible? I thought ninja golems would be cool though.

Oh well. The reason I purchased those three is that I want them to protect the dimensional gate.

……Nope……It might be late to ask this now, but will they be able to protect it…?

The primary task of the humanoid types is to nurse and care for others, so they might not have any combat power, right? Hmmm. Though I feel it might be alright if I give them strong firearms.

Oh well. It’s probably fine. Let’s think about it later. Thus, one of my objectives has been completed. All that’s left is to find a place where I could install the dimension gate. In the end, is an uninhabited island the best place to hide the dimensional gate?

If only there’s a place similar to a dragon’s island — like Drachen Island in the Surface World — where no person would dare approach it, I could, at the very least, reclaim it for myself.

I try asking since I have nothing to lose, and I receive an unexpected answer.

「…There is one?」(Touya)

「You mean the dragon island? It is called Drakliff Island. It’s full of dragon nests that are being inhabited by dragons who have short temper, so no one approaches it」(Nia)

Even the name is similar. For the time being, I try finding it on the map. When describing its location from the perspective of the Surface World, it’ll be almost at the center of an inland sea enclosed by Hanock, Rodomea, Yuuron, and Regulus. Talking about its size, it’s smaller than Brunhild.

Yup, wouldn’t it be convenient if no one approaches it because of the dragons? I might be able to negotiate with the inhabitants if I summon Ruli. She’s on the other side, but I probably can summon her here if I go through the proper procedures.

Existence called the divine beasts like Kohaku and the others, sacred beasts, mythical beasts, spirits, and many others usually come from the spirit world. That’s why I believe they probably also hold influence over the creatures of this world. At worst, I’ll beat the dragons up if the island is only filled with bad dragons like that of Drachen Island before.

=====================

「Alright. I suppose I should go then. Thank you both. You two have really helped me」(Touya)

「We’re also thankful to you for teaching us magic. Leaving that aside, is it really alright for us to receive these?」(Nia)

Nia turns her eyes toward the seven magic stone placed on the table and the thick book of magic aimed for beginners.

「It’s alright if you don’t mind it because it’s a book that was handed down to me. You probably won’t be able to read the letters, but you should be able to read them if you wear those glasses」(Touya)

I hand Nia the translation glasses. Since the beginner class magic of the six attributes is being covered in that book, I’ve thought that it would be quite convenient if she’s able to use it.

「I’ll remind you just in case, but remember to choose with whom you’re going to teach, okay? “Magic is something used to bring happiness to people, not something to bring misfortune” – is what my masters taught me」(Touya)

I guess even if I called them “masters”, Linze and Rin are also my fiancees.

「I got it, I got it. On the name of the chivalrous thieves “Red Cats”, we won’t use magic to make a good person cry ~okay. We might make a bad person weep though」(Nia)

Nia replies with a wide smile. Oh well. If it’s her, she’ll avoid using it in the wrong way. Or rather, Vice Leader Est won’t allow her to do so.

Going out of the tent, I then lineup Ruby and the girls.

「Levitation」(Touya)

The three golems gently start floating in the air. “Oooh!” – The two, who came to see us off, are surprised to see us floating in the air with my flight magic.

「Then, if we are destined, lets met again」(Touya)

「Oou！」(Nia)

I wave my hand to the two and fly up to the sky, invoke “Invisible” to prevent attracting unwanted attention and head to the north.

My destination is Drakliff Island. I’ll summon Ruli once I arrive there.

Though it would be good if the dragons there are the understanding bunch unlike those in the Surface World.

(Black: And thus marks the end of the Red Cats’ appearance for our translation.)