In a Different World with a Smartphone (LN) - Volume 23 - Chapter 2

Chapter II: That’s My Chivalrous Girl

It’d been two weeks since Quun’s arrival. That time passed with no new information on any of my other kids.

Ende, Elze, Yae, and Hilde spent every waking moment focused on guild operations. They were really dedicated to rising through the ranks. Their efforts bore fruit after a while. The three girls hit silver, and Ende finally crossed the threshold into gold. That made him the third gold-ranked adventurer in the entire world. All three were still alive too. Old man Galen from Lestia, myself, and now Ende. Though I had a feeling my three battle-focused wives would join us before long.

Ende’s newfound rank garnered him a lot of attention from numerous clients. Various countries had extended him offers to join their knight orders, even. But Allis said she didn’t want to leave Brunhild, so Ende figured uprooting would be pointless. He was becoming quite the doting dad... Perhaps to a fault.

Allis mostly spent her time with Melle and her other moms...when she wasn’t training at the castle with Elze, anyway. Whenever she walked around alongside Melle, Lycee, and Ney, they looked more like sisters. It was rather similar to how Quun and Leen looked when they spent time together. But that was to be expected, given the whole time travel thing. At least they didn’t come back older than their mothers.

“So, what’re you building now?” I called out to a trio who were hard at work assembling magic parts that I couldn’t wrap my head around.

The trio being Doctor Babylon, Elluka, and Quun. The three of them had been up on Babylon for the entire two-week period, developing all sorts of gadgets. Frankly, I was a little concerned about what they might’ve been up to.

“You know that magic train in Felsen, right? I was thinking about gollemizing it.”

“Uh, what?”

“We figured we could keep the front part a normal train, but give it the ability to transform into a giant Gollem in case of emergencies...”

“H-hold on a sec!”

Converting a locomotive into a Gollem sounded like a good idea. It would eliminate the need for a conductor, and the magic power would be more efficient if it was run through a Gollem’s G-Cube. It’d provide Brunhild more business as well, since we had mana batteries to sell.

I could see it from that perspective, but did we really need the transforming aspect? As if sensing my confusion, Elluka started to explain.

“It’d be useful in cases of derailment, or if we ever need to reorganize the carriages. Oh, and it’d make for a handy defense against any bandits or robbers too.”

“Hrm...”

“Plus, Quun says that Behemoths appear more often in the future. It’s likely an effect of the two worlds joining, so why not start future-proofing things now?”

I guess that was one of the effects we’d predicted... But are there really gonna be that many down the line?

“Father, you said... Or rather, you will say...that the Behemoths aren’t as fearsome as most of the ones you’d faced in the past. They’re the kind that can be beaten by a group of red-ranks. Really strong ones do appear from time to time, however.”

Hrmm... The lower quality of the Behemoths must be due to the magic from two worlds mingling. It’s like the difference between a natural and an artificial product. In that case, it should be possible for a Gollem train to repel them with warning shots or something... Maybe?

“Gollem trains are already pretty common in my time. Though I never expected I’d be part of their development...”

Huh, so that’s how it is... The future was already determined... ...The trains don’t have faces on them, do they? Mom said there was one like that on TV back when she was a kid. It was called Thomas, or something. Scared the hell out of her. I think the future would be better if our trains were just normal trains... Well, as normal as transforming trains can be, anyway.

As I pondered the matter, a phone suddenly started ringing. It wasn’t mine, but Quun’s.

Quun calmly pulled out her smartphone and brought it up to her ear. The case was pretty fancy...but I was more interested in who was calling her.

“Hello...? Hello...? Where are you now? Ugh... Okay. Don’t move, then. Send me a text with your location. Yep. Okay, just sit tight,” Quun spoke swiftly, then ended the call. She seemed somewhat disgruntled.

“So, uh, who was that?”

“The third one’s here. It’s Frei.”

“Huh?!”

Frei. Freigard. My daughter with Hilde. My second daughter, and Quun’s older sister. She was the third future child to appear after Yakumo and Quun...which meant my oldest kids were showing up before the younger ones. I wondered if there was a particular reason for that trend.

“Frei seems to be in Helgaia, the Land of Fiends.”

“Helgaia?”

That was a country of beastkin and demonkin demi-humans located on the western continent. It was the Reverse World’s mirrored reflection of Egret. The island nation was ruled by the archfiend. He was a vampire lord, and I’d met him once when his wife was kidnapped by pirates. From what I understood, they’d started trading with Egret after the world merger... So that was where one of my daughters had shown up, huh?

I heard a ping from Quun’s phone as she received a text. She immediately forwarded the message to my phone. It was just a map attachment. The location was some kind of forested area... There were a few buildings nearby, but it didn’t look like a town.

“She’s near a bandit stronghold. I told her to wait, but I have a feeling she’ll probably try to wipe them out instead.”

“Huh?!”

Wait, a bandit stronghold?!

“Frei is a girl with a staunch sense of justice. If she gets a whiff of something unjust, she usually tries to destroy it.”

“I mean, that’s not bad on its own but...she’s not actually planning to charge in there solo, is she?!”

If it was a stronghold, it would surely have more than a couple dozen people. There could even be a hundred men or more. Perhaps an army, even! A ten-year-old girl couldn’t handle that, no matter how strong she was.

“I-I should call Hilde, right?!”

“I don’t think you should waste any more time. Once she starts, it’ll only be a matter of time before the whole fortress knows. She gets, uh... Well, let’s just say she’s a bit destructive.”

“What is she, a barbarian?!”

“Well... Not exactly...” Quun mumbled, then sighed softly, her expression clearly mixed.

I called Hilde and found out she was at the training grounds, so I warped there with Quun right away. The moment I materialized, Hilde ran up to me in a panic.

“Wh-What’s going on?! Wh-Why the sudden call? And why’s Quun here?”

“We’ll explain on the way! I’m gonna go pick up Frei. You coming?!”

“Huh? Frei...? W-W-Wait, you mean my...?!”

Before Hilde could finish processing the situation, I grabbed her hand and prepared to warp to Helgaia. I’d been there before to exterminate Tentaculars for the archfiend, so teleporting to the mainland was relatively easy.

“W-Wait, Touya-dono! Where are you taking Hilde-dono?!”

“Sorry, Yae! I’ll explain later!”

By the time my shout reached Yae, the sight of her had already faded away, replaced by forest scenery.

“M-My daughter’s here, then?!”

“Tch... We’re a little far away. Lemme check my directions... Oh, this way?”

I saw a stone structure not too far from us. It was small, but it seemed to be a fort. I’d heard there was a civil war in Helgaia before the archfiend took control, so it was probably a remnant from then.

“Let’s hurry. Frei might have started fighting the bandits already...”

“Th-The bandits? The bandits?! What’s going on?!” Hilde roared, her eyes widening in shock.

C-Calm down, please! Let go of my collar! You’re a whole lot stronger than you look!

Hilde let go, relieving my poor airways, and Quun began to explain the situation.

“She’s fighting bandits all on her own?! Why would you let her do that?!”

“I-I didn’t... That’s why I’m here...”

Hilde furiously stormed off, charging toward the nearby building. The forest was dark, even though it was midday. That was due to the dense leaves blocking out the sunlight.

“She should be someplace around here...” I said as I looked around, but there was no sign of her. We were in bandit territory, so I couldn’t exactly call out for her.

“Shhh... Father, mother... Listen...” Quun muttered as she motioned for us to pipe down.

Hm? She hear something?

“Ngh...”

Oh, I can hear something... What was that?

“This way...” Quun said that, then quietly led us through the underbrush until we caught sight of a girl sitting against the base of a large tree.

...Wait. She’s not sitting. Is she...? Is she sleeping?

The little girl had her eyes shut. She was resting against a tree and snoring soundly. Her hair was blonde, cut down to her shoulders, and she wore a piece of light armor about her chest.

So this is Frei...

The armor looked similar to Hilde’s, but her gauntlets and grieves were a fair bit bulkier. She didn’t seem to have any weapons on her either... Did that mean she was a hand-to-hand fighter?

“Sis... Freiii... Wake up...”

“Mnh...? Quun? You’re here early... Gimme a little longer... I’m still tired...”

Quun gently shook Frei’s shoulders. Her eyes slowly opened, revealing two beautiful blue orbs that looked just like her mother’s.

I wasn’t certain of it until she opened her eyes, but once she did, I knew it for sure. This girl was my daughter, Hilde’s daughter. She looked almost like a mirror image of the knight princess by my side.

“Mh...? Mother?! And father?! Wow! You’re young! That’s so strange!”

Frei jumped up out of shock and ran toward us. She then leaped up and practically dive tackled us.

Ack!

A small thud echoed out as she crashed into Hilde and me.

Yeowch! That armor’s heavy!

“Uhm... Frei... Freigard, yes?”

“Yes! I’m Frei, Mother. Don’t you know me?”

“We’ve never met before, sorry...”

“Oh, that’s right. I forgot,” Frei said that and smiled up at us before backing off a little.

“You don’t know me either, father?”

“Uh, yeah, I don’t. You look just like Hilde, though.”

“Ooh, really? Thanks a bunch!”

I had a feeling that while their looks were similar, their personalities probably weren’t. Hilde was very prim and proper, while Frei felt a lot more casual... A lot more lax than her mother, at least. She was still really cute, though.

She definitely seemed more like a kid than Quun. But perhaps Quun was a bad metric for maturity.

“By the way, Frei. Didn’t you mention something about a bandit stronghold?”

“That’s right, Frei! It’s not safe around here!”

Quun asked what we’d been meaning to inquire about, and Hilde immediately raised her voice in concern.

“Well, when I woke up, I was at a small village south of here! They said bandits come and take their food every month. Isn’t that awful? So I figured I’d come and destroy ’em!”

“Th-That doesn’t mean you should go in alone, though!”

“Mother, you always say that a knight should be the sword and shield of those who can’t take up arms, right?”

“Gah! I-I technically haven’t said that yet...”

...Hm. Looks like Frei got her pretty good there.

“Y-You’re just a child...”

“Some of the villagers were killed by them. If I do nothing, more might die. Being a child doesn’t matter. If you can act, you should act. If you have the power to stop the suffering, you should exercise it.”

...Wow, that’s uh...pretty intense.

I was honestly surprised. She had a pretty lax aura about her, but her resolve was firm. She clearly wasn’t the kind of person who tolerated wicked acts.

That part of her absolutely resembled Hilde.

After a short pause, Hilde let out a small sigh.

“...Ugh. I...understand. We can hardly leave the bandits to their own devices. We’ll aid you in defeating them, but we’ll be returning to Brunhild right after.”

“Huh? Really? Yippee! Woo!”

Frei jumped for joy, waving her hands up in the air. Her response was pretty amusing, since it displayed more of that childish side. Either way, our course was set.

“Frei, are you a fist fighter? I don’t see a weapon.”

“Hm? Oh, no! I just keep all my weapons in [Storage],” Frei said that and casually shrugged as she waved her hand, producing a massive blade out of thin air. It had to be at least a meter and a half long.

That thing’s nearly as big as she is! And it’s made entirely out of phrasium too... Well, aside from the handle, anyway.

“You can use that Null spell?”

“Sure can!” Frei exclaimed, then grinned as she hefted the greatsword up with ease.

J-Just how strong is she?! Wait...is she using [Gravity] to manipulate the weight, maybe?

“So is that your preferred weapon?”

“Frei has a wide variety of weapons in her [Storage] space. Her fighting style is oriented around swapping out weapons to suit the situation. In that regard, she’s not quite a conventional knight.”

“Huh?! I’m a proper knight! Chivalry isn’t about how you fight, it’s about how you feel! Right, mother?”

“...I don’t think I’ve said that yet, but I probably will...” Hilde mumbled. She looked utterly baffled, more than anything else. So that meant Frei was more of an all-rounder than a straight sword fighter like her mom. As far as sword training went, Hilde, Yae, and Moroha would have her covered. Plus, axes and bows seemed like the kind of thing Karina would be able to teach her.

“Most of my weapons were created by you, father. There are about a hundred of them. They’re all kitted out with [Paralyze] and [Modeling] too, so they can switch between stun mode and lethal mode.”

“Gah! That’s a bit much!”

What am I thinking, giving her all that stuff?! Lethal mode, really?! C’mon, man!

“I see. That’s similar to my sword. You can freely change its power. It’s useful, since it allows you to face weak bandits without worrying about killing them too easily.”

“Mhm. These bandits can’t die. They’ve gotta pay. Criminals can’t keep getting away with it. They need punishment! It’ll probably be fine if I break a couple bones, though.”

“I can’t disagree with that sentiment.”

Wow... It’s nice that the two of them are bonding, but...isn’t that a bit grim? You should be talking about something less morbid!

Quun must have noticed my inner concerns, as she crept up close to me.

“Don’t worry. That’s just how Frei is. By the way...out of all my siblings, she’s the scariest when she’s angry, so please do take care.”

...Really? It’s kinda hard to imagine her mad. But I guess it’s always the carefree ones who snap the hardest. Quiet types too, but she doesn’t seem very quiet.

“Father. Do you know how many bandits there are?”

“Hm? Gimme a sec. Uhhh... Huh? That’s weird, it’s not working... They might have a barrier in place.”

Helgaia was formerly part of the Reverse World, so I assumed they wouldn’t have had any wards. But since it was a country mostly made up of demonkin, it made sense they’d be more in tune with magic than the rest of the world. Mages had likely imbued this fort with warding in the past, probably during the civil war. That might’ve even been the reason why the bandits chose the place as their base.

My best guess was that there’d probably be about a hundred of them. But demonkin were stronger than the average human. Plus, they probably had Gollems and other such things at their disposal.

“Can you fight, Quun?”

“I can use all forms of magic except Dark and Light, much like my mother. But when it comes to fighting, I usually employ these...” Quun trailed off as she flashed a storage card, producing two strange-looking guns from it. I’d seen them before... They were spellcasters. A type of magical gun, essentially.

“Oh, and we can’t forget this little one either.”

Quun waved another storage card...and out tumbled Mecha-Paula.

“Can this thing fight?”

“She’s not on the level of any of the crowns, but she’s still capable. She doesn’t have any Gollem skills, though, so it’s just the equipment we’ve installed.”

Parla bared her claws as if to accentuate Quun’s point. Those sharp little edges sparked off little jolts of blue electricity.

Oh. Guess she’s got stun claws. She’s a little more useful than she looks!

“Hee hee hee... This is pretty fun! It’s like going out on a family picnic!”

“I agree. It might be a little uncouth, but I’m certain it’ll be enjoyable.”

“...Not really sure I’d call this a picnic, guys.”

Hilde and Frei stood side-by-side, smiling up at the fort. Just why were they so merry?

“Let’s go. We’ve got some bandits to exterminate.”

I didn’t think my first family outing with Frei would be so violent... I couldn’t help but sigh.

◇ ◇ ◇

“Grrrgh! Gonna crush you!”

A reddish-skinned ogre charged toward us. He was wielding a massive wooden log. The guy clearly had a lot of strength backing up his confidence. Taking a hit from that thing head-on would definitely hurt like hell. But that was only if he managed to land a hit.

“Hokay!”

Frei leaped into action, jumped up onto the log, ran along it, and deftly swung her weapon down to strike at the back of the ogre’s neck.

“Gwagh!”

The ogre stumbled forward. He hadn’t been decapitated, however. That was because Frei’s greatsword was in stun mode, so its edges were blunted.

“Don’t get cocky, brat!”

A spear-wielding werewolf lunged forward at Frei from behind. However, the little girl simply flung her weapon into the air without a care in the world.

Her sword immediately vanished, entering [Storage], and a new weapon emerged from the very same spot. This time it was a beautiful katana. Frei jumped upward and grabbed the weapon, unsheathing it mid-air. She then spun around and used the naked blade to slice the werewolf’s spear in half.

“Whah?!”

“I’m not being cocky.”

Before the werewolf could even react, Frei’s blade was at his throat. Just as I thought, he was under no threat to lose his head, as the blade blunted itself and simply thudded hard against his neck. Frei’s finesse was a real sight to behold...

The werewolf made a few choking sounds before falling to the ground, unconscious. Frei then stowed the katana and produced a silver bow and a set of silver arrows. She fired off several shots into the nearby trees.

“Gwah!”

A dark elf who had been hiding atop a branch fell to the ground. Frei’s arrows were enchanted with [Paralyze], apparently.

So she can use a bow... Karina must have had a hand in that.

She stashed away her bow and arrows, switching to a halberd.

“She’s using [Storage] like crazy... I almost can’t believe how fast she swaps stuff out.”

I was completely stunned. Even I couldn’t use [Storage] that rapidly, so she was on a whole other level.

“Her weapons are enchanted with [Apport], so they can fly to her instantly from within the storage space.”

“Oh, that makes sense. I never would’ve thought of that... Although, I guess I did think of that in the future...”

Quun must have noticed my bewilderment, so she quickly explained the secret behind the fast weapon switching. As she spoke, she used both her spellcaster guns to blast down some harpies from the sky.

Parla stood by her side, grappling and ultimately subduing a fairly strong-looking satyr. The scene was surreal, really.

“Lestian Sacred Sword: First Cutter!”

“Lestian Sacred Sword: Fifth Swirl!”

Frei and Hilde worked in tandem to cut down a large Gollem. The cutting attack sliced its neck open, while the swirling strike gouged a hole in its belly. Considering the fact that it was their first time fighting together as mother and daughter, it was really impressive.

Given that Frei knew Lestian techniques, I could only assume Hilde taught her in the future.

“Your swordplay is splendid. It’s clear you’ve worked hard on it.”

“Hee hee hee! Thanks, Mother!”

Despite the shy flush on Frei’s cheeks, she never once stopped attacking. Bandit after bandit fell before her. She ducked and dodged, treating the encounter as little more than a game.

Wait, she’s got a hammer now?!

“Kaboom!”

Frei smacked a gigantic Gollem square in the chest with a massive hammer, sending it smashing through a nearby wall.

Now I see... I thought she’d been using [Gravity] to make her weapons lighter, but that’s not it. It’s [Power Rise]. That was totally what I just saw. The Null spell that enhances your physical strength. Does that mean she has two Null spells?

It was true that Frei had the spirit of a chivalric knight, but her way of fighting was just...way too violent. It was like watching a barbarian at work. She pulled out another weapon that resembled two scimitars fused together.

“Die!”

“Oopsie!”

A weretiger almost cut off one of my arms. That was entirely my bad, since I was far too distracted. I jumped back and dodged his weapon, then used Brunhild to fire a paralyzing round at my would-be attacker.

“Gwagh!”

The weretiger fell to the floor with his tongue lolling out. The bandits had already been whittled down to about half their numbers, and I’d barely done a thing.

Can’t just let my wife and daughters handle everything! I’ll have to show them what a dad can really do!

At that exact moment, a massive Gollem wielding two axes burst into the room through a nearby wall. At first I thought it was one of those Frame Gear knockoffs, but it actually looked better made.

“Who are you?! Servants of the archfiend?!”

The man who spoke was a pale-skinned and red-eyed fellow. He was standing atop the Gollem, around where its head should’ve been, in a kind of makeshift cockpit. From the look of him, he was probably a vampire... And likely the boss too.

“We’ve got nothing to do with the archfiend, but he’ll be here soon enough.”

Before the attack, I’d sent a message to him through a Gate Mirror. I didn’t want to attack a building in his territory without advance notice, after all. The response message said he’d be heading over, but we decided not to wait. Him coming down to investigate was basically the same as consenting to us defeating the bandits, after all.

“Damn you! I won’t be put down by brats!”

...Is he including me and Hilde when he says that? I’m married! I have a kid, damn it! Sure she’s from the future, but that still counts!

That being said, vampires had long lifespans. Hilde and I could have very well been children from his perspective.

The Gollem rumbled and whirred as it charged forward, swinging its ax. I wondered if he really thought he had a chance.

“Lestian Sacred Sword: Third Shear!” Hilde roared and jumped into the air, her blade ripping through one of the Gollem’s arms. The floor shook as it fell, the ax it held embedding itself in the ground.

“What the—?!”

Frei stood a little bit away from the startled vampire. She was wielding a massive lance.

“Hup!”

She leaned back before lunging forward, tossing the lance like a javelin. I wasn’t entirely sure that was how it was meant to be used, but I didn’t know enough about lances to dispute the matter.

The lance sailed through the air, piercing the Gollem through the midsection. It blasted open, knocking its rider to the ground.

“Ugh!”

“Nice work, guys.”

“AAAGH!”

Before the vampire could get up, Quun wandered over and riddled him with spellcaster bullets. He was down for the count. Honestly, I kind of felt like a useless spectator...

“Th-They took out the boss!”

“L-Let’s get outta here!”

“Not so fast.”

“I don’t think so!”

The bandits scrambled away in a panic, but Frei and Hilde refused to let any of them escape.

It didn’t take long for the entire group to fall.

◇ ◇ ◇

“Grand Duke... I’d like to thank you for your help.”

“Nah, if anything, I should apologize for not waiting...”

A short while later, the archfiend arrived with his soldiers. Though his title was archfiend, his species was vampire lord.

Apparently, vampire lords were a special type of vampire that had lived for over a thousand years. The leader of the bandits was just a standard vampire.

“This man was once a noble of our nation, though he was disgraced. I never expected him to turn to such vile banditry...”

The archfiend let out a small sigh as he watched the vampire being escorted away. Apparently, being a vampire lord didn’t necessarily give you dominion over regular vampires. Oh, and the vampires of this world didn’t have the ability to enthrall the people they sucked blood from either. Seemed that was just a thing in Earth fiction.

“There are many kinds of fiends...or demonkin, I believe you call us. Many of us have been persecuted by humans. That led to an understandable sense of isolation, but some of us take it too far. They want to fight and hurt others... He’s one such example of this mindset. The idea that it’s okay to hate mankind out of some retribution. But I refuse to yield to such base anger. I know we can live in harmony.”

It was pretty rough. Especially for the people who lived in the nearby village. The bandits had been extorting them for food and money, using the excuse that they needed the supplies to fight humans.

“Has Helgaia given any thought to joining our alliance?”

“Actually, yes. Our budding relationship with Egret has made the idea more palatable. Some are still reluctant, but they’ll come around soon enough.”

That was good news. The more people who allied with us, the better. It was a step to making this world a brighter place.

“By the way...is that child a relative of your wife, perhaps?”

The archfiend crooked a brow as he glanced between Hilde and Frei. They certainly looked alike, so it’d be natural to assume that.

“Uhhh, yeah. A relative, yep.”

I couldn’t exactly go into detail, so I left it there.

Frei walked over and got halfway through saying, “Actually, I’m their daughter,” but thankfully, Quun slapped a hand over her mouth. What a good child she was.

The bandits were all taken into Helgaian custody. I was offered some reward money, but I told them to just give it to the nearby village to help them rebuild. I also gathered up a few broken Gollem parts, since I figured Elluka might find them interesting.

With our business in Helgaia finished, we called it a day and returned to Brunhild. News of the country potentially joining us was a good enough reward for me.

“Yummy! Your food’s as good as it is in the future!”

“What a good girl you are!” Lu exclaimed and smiled wide as Frei happily chowed down on an omelet. We were all hanging out at Babylon’s rampart. She clearly enjoyed her meal... Maybe a little too much, even. The way she ate was quite similar to Yae’s. That wasn’t too surprising, though. They weren’t bound by blood, but they were still mother and daughter.

“Hmm... I’m quite jealous of you, Hilde-dono...”

“Don’t complain, Yae. At least you know your daughter’s out in this world already. Count your blessings!” Elze said. She clearly had little sympathy for Yae’s grumbling.

Hm... I wonder if there’s a rule that governs the order in which the kids appear.

“It means little if I cannot ascertain her safety or see her, it does not. I cannot help but worry...”

“Huh? Big Sis Yakumo isn’t here yet?” Frei asked, raising an eyebrow as she poked at her omelet.

I quickly briefed her on the situation, informing her that Yakumo had opted to travel around and fight for a bit instead of coming straight here.

“Tsk... That sounds like her all right. She could’ve at least come and said hello, but that’s just how she is. I’d like seconds please!” Frei sighed quietly as she commented on Yakumo, but didn’t stop eating for a second. When she was done with her serving, she immediately demanded more. We were all eating omelets too, but she had us beat in terms of pace. Part of me wondered if she wasn’t really Yae’s daughter in disguise.

“By the way, Frei. How old are you?”

“Me? I’m ten. Same as Yakumo,” Frei answered Linze’s question fairly nonchalantly as she dabbed her mouth with a napkin.

Same as Yakumo? So...does that mean there are only a few months between your birthdays? I guess that makes sense, since you have different mothers... So wait, Yae and Hilde gave birth in the same year, huh? That’s uh... Hm, that’s something.

Before I could get completely lost in musings about the future, Yumina spoke up, saying, “By the way, Touya... How do you plan on explaining Frei and Quun to the others in our castle?”

“Oh, uh... Well, hm...”

She raised a good point. I hadn’t even introduced Quun to any of our staff properly as of yet. She’d been spending most of her time in Babylon, other than her brief stint in the castle town, so I just hadn’t had the time. As for Frei, I’d just brought her straight to Babylon to avoid suspicion.

Maybe I can pass them off as my younger sisters or something?

“They’ll know, won’t they?”

“They’ll know...”

Just looking between Hilde and Frei, or Leen and Quun, it was pretty clear that they were related. If anything, we’d probably do better saying the girls were their sisters. But while that might work in Leen’s case, Hilde was a princess of Lestia. We couldn’t exactly make up another member of the Lestian royal family as a cover story. It could end up turning into a scandal where everyone thought the king had an affair or something.

“Our best course of action is probably to use [Mirage] and disguise them.”

“True enough. If we write them off as generic relatives of Touya, they should be able to excuse any trouble they cause.”

Huh? Trouble? Is that any way to talk about your own kids?! Well, whatever. Quun can use her own magic to disguise herself, and I’ll give Frei that transforming badge I wore that one time.

Naturally, I configured the magic to make sure it didn’t work on me or my wives. I didn’t want our daughters to feel too isolated from reality.

After demolishing her food, Frei immediately asked to head to the castle training grounds. It seemed like Hilde had been doing a good job teaching her discipline, at least.

I went down to the training yard with the newly-disguised Frei. Our knights were all there, getting put through the wringer by our resident sword goddess.

“Hm? It is my brother, it is.”

“Huh?”

Yae suddenly spoke up. I followed her gaze and saw her brother Jubei crossing wooden swords with Moroha. He was currently staying in Brunhild with his fiancée, Ayane, in order to sharpen his swordplay. From what I’d heard, he’d been diligently training with Moroha every single day since he’d arrived.

When I looked at him, I got the feeling Yakumo wouldn’t be returning from her training trip for a while.

Being stupid with swords is probably baked into that family on the genetic level... Oh, he got hit.

“Oh, hey, you guys. Hm? This child... Oh, hey. You’re Hilde’s Frei, right? Nice to meetcha.”

Moroha wandered over and casually looked right through Frei’s disguise. I apparently had a ways to go before I could deceive any other gods.

“Hee hee. I’m here, Big Sis!”

“Sis?”

Frei’s words caught me off-guard. Wouldn’t she be more of an aunt than a sister?

“Big Sis Karen said to never call her Auntie Karen, so we just call you two our sisters instead!”

So you caused this, Karen... Gimme a break. It’s not like they’re calling you an old lady or anything! You’re literally their aunt!

“I want to train! I want to fight my mother! Is that okay, father?!” Frei asked, looking up at me with twinkling eyes.

Uhhh...I dunno...

I glanced over at Hilde, who nodded.

First Allis, now this. Why’d these future kids want to fight their parents so badly?

“You have to use wooden swords here, so you can’t use your [Storage] technique, okay?”

“That’s fine! I have lots of training weapons in there as well! Look, see?!” Frei swung her arm forward as she said that, materializing a large spear with a blunted edge in her hand. That sure was handy... Seemed like she had more weapons in there than I gave her credit for.

“Well, I guess it’s fine, then... Just don’t do anything too risky, okay?”

“It’ll be fiiine! Okay, let’s fight!” Frei roared as she hopped on ahead and went over to Moroha.

Hilde took a wooden sword from a nearby knight and headed in the same direction.

Jutaro started leaving the match area so as to not get caught up in the conflict, but Frei stopped him for a moment to say something. After a couple of seconds, he carried on walking over to us. His face was the picture of confusion.

“Something wrong?”

“Er, well... Do I know that girl from somewhere? She just told me to watch her closely, and...called me Uncle Jutaro?”

Jutaro tapped his chin as if plumbing his memory for the missed connection.

Heh, guess that makes sense. Even if they’re not blood-related, Yae’ll still be a mother to Frei, which means Jutaro is her uncle.

“Uncle... Uncle, though? I’m only twenty-three, am I not? Surely she can’t think I look that old.”

Jutaro seemed rather put off by the idea that he might be considered an old man, and I could understand why.

“Fret not for the details, brother. Most men bald someday, they do.”

“B-bald?! I-I’m not balding yet, am I?!”

Yae’s tactless comment veered the confusion straight into indignation.

Don’t worry about balding, Jutaro. Babylon has some pretty good hair tonic.

As the siblings bickered by my side, the mother-daughter training match began.

◇ ◇ ◇

“Gah! I lost!”

Frei was on her back, breathing heavily. She could only muster up enough strength to yell out. Hilde’s wooden sword was held to her throat.

“Hilde-dono is sharp as ever, she is...” Yae said, letting out what felt like a relieved sigh. She was probably glad to see her fellow swordswoman wasn’t bested by her own child.

I wasn’t worried, personally. The girls had enough divinity in their wedding rings to put them on the level of servile gods. They probably couldn’t lose to normal mortals anymore.

“Man... She really had a whole arsenal in there.”

I gazed at the pile of training weapons in amazement. Hilde had forced Frei to utilize just about all of them. There were wooden swords, bamboo swords, blunted spears, and even a massive mallet... There had to be at least a hundred weapons laid out in front of me. Who was this girl, Musashibo Benkei?

Frei’s [Storage] fighting style was made possible thanks to the [Apport] enchantment on her weapons. Her gauntlets had special crystals in them, as did all the hilts of her weapons. The crystals resonated with a type of magnetic attraction, making them warp to one another instantly. That allowed Frei to easily call upon weapons from [Storage] at will, but I hadn’t realized just how many she had hidden in there.

[Storage] was, as the name suggested, a large-scale storage space in another dimension. If you organized it properly, you’d have no issue sorting through it, but if you just tossed stuff in, sometimes you could pull the wrong thing out.

I was sometimes guilty of making that mistake... Though, in my defense, I’d been meaning to get around to organizing it.

Frei probably had some kind of order to her storage space. I wondered if it was by number, type, or some other method... I also wondered just how many more weapons she had hiding in there, just out of sight. The fact that she could instantly pull out the exact weapon she needed on the fly was seriously impressive. I couldn’t even begin to imagine the level of skill it required.

That said, even though Frei had pulled out weapon after weapon, Hilde still managed to handle each and every one. Frei seemed to be a talented all-rounder, but that meant she was no true specialist when it came to any particular weapon type. In effect, she was a jack of all trades but a master of none. Her main strength was her adaptability and versatility on the battlefield.

“I knew you’d beat me.”

“You’re very strong, Frei. I think you should be proud of that. You’re a true daughter of mine, I’m sure.”

“Heh heh heh! I’ll just get even stronger, then!”

Hilde offered a hand to Frei and helped her up. The little girl then hugged her mother tight. Seemed like the match was a bonding experience for them.

“E-Er, Grand Duke... Who is that girl, exactly?”

“Oh, uh... She’s a relative of mine, yeah.”

“A relative of yours... That certainly explains it...”

Jutaro seemed utterly terrified by Frei’s ability, but he quickly accepted my explanation.

Don’t worry too hard, man. You’ll end up going bald.

“You fight well. I like that style of yours! How many weapons do you have in total?”

“I have lots and lots and lots of them, yep. And not just ones Father made either. I find lots when I go out dungeon diving. The useless ones and the really important ones are on display in my room,” Frei shrugged as she replied to Moroha.

...A room full of deadly weapons? Is that normal for someone who’s only ten? Wait, what does she even mean by useless ones? Like ceremonial weapons or less durable ones, maybe?

“Oh, that reminds me! Father, I need to go somewhere!” Frei yelled over, charging until she was right in front of me. Jutaro seemed even more confused by her calling me father, but I just didn’t address it this time.

Somewhere she needs to go? Like how Quun wanted to see Babylon? Where? A weapon shop? Oh, maybe she wants to see the dwarves forge stuff?

◇ ◇ ◇

“Wowie! This hammer shoots lightning, right?! I love this design! It’s so cool!”

“Damn right, kid! You got a good eye for this kinda thing!”

The young girl and the musclebound meathead exchanged excited glances with each other as they looked over the weapon collection. As for their identities... It was one of my daughters from the future, and the king of Felsen.

Where were we? Well...the king of Felsen’s royal weapon collection room, of course. There were weapons here that once belonged to great heroes, villains, and just general notable figures from history. I had no idea why she wanted to come here, of all places.

“I-Is this Bloodys the Darksword?! Once wielded by the despotic tyrant Rastlie?! Wait, is this crack from...”

“Ooh! To think you’d notice the chip here! The damage was caused by Phalucius the Lightblade, wielded by none other than Phalluce the virtuous!”

“That’s amazing! A darksword and a lightblade! How fantastic!”

The two were getting along well... A little too well, in fact. It was a surreal sight, seeing such a tiny girl excitedly chat about weapon lore with a beefy old geezer.

“...Did I raise her wrong somehow?”

“Don’t worry, Hilde... It’s fine to have at least one or two hobbies, right? Maybe...” I tried to reassure my wife, but I wasn’t sure I was doing a very good job.

We both clearly felt the same about having a weapon junkie for a daughter.

“I’ve never seen anyone who can match his speed when it comes to weapons. It’s quite a pleasant sight, really,” Ellicia, the king’s fiancée, laughed quietly as she watched the two geek out over weapons.

Ellicia was the second princess of Regulus...and Lu’s sister. Her marriage to the king of Felsen was a few months away. Apparently, when they saw our ceremony, they brought the date up.

Zanac, owner of Fashion King Zanac, had told me not too long ago that he’d filled a wedding dress order for them. It seemed the wedding outfits we wore had sparked something of a global trend. Once it was discovered that they were of Zanac’s design, he was flooded with orders from various noble or royal families.

He was incredibly busy now. Busy enough to set up an entire subdivision dedicated to weddings, even. It was nice to see him in business.

“If she’s a relative of yours, Grand Duke, that makes her a distant relative by law to us as well.”

“Ah ha ha... Yeah, I guess so.”

I couldn’t help but smile wryly in response to Ellicia’s words. She was Lu’s sister, which made her my sister-in-law. That meant she wasn’t just a distant relative to Frei... She was her future aunt!

Man, this family tree’s getting kinda complicated. Oh yeah, I guess the king of Lestia’s her blood-related uncle too...

“By the way, Grand Duke... Those Gollems from the new world... Er, I mean the western continent. Can’t we make them here?”

“Gollems? It might be possible to make factory-model Gollems without any complex skills or anything, but that doesn’t really solve the G-Cube or Q-Crystal issue. You’d need incredibly talented specialists and a whole host of rare materials to make those.”

The Q-Crystals were the most troublesome of the two. They were akin to a Gollem’s brain, and were a mass of concentrated behavioral programming. According to Doctor Babylon, they began as basic command imprints that were then allowed to naturally develop over time. That led to the Gollem’s individual nature and personality. But the manufacturing process and methods of actually imprinting them were a tightly kept secret by most of the western continent’s nations. Though we did have Elluka on hand, who’d dabbled in making Gollems before.

“Is that so... How unfortunate...” Ellicia mumbled, looking pretty dejected. That made me feel bad. It did remind me, though, that Ellicia had come to Felsen to study that kind of thing in the first place. It was during that educational visit that the king of Felsen set eyes on her for the first time.

She’d always had a vested interest in ancient artifacts and other abnormal applications of magic.

“I do have some Gollem parts if you’d like to see them. There’s some Q-Crystals and G-Cubes too, I think.”

“R-Really?! Can I?!”

Ellicia’s demeanor suddenly shifted entirely. Her eyes lit up and she bounded toward me.

B-Back up, ma’am! You’re too close!

I didn’t want to clutter up the collection room, so I headed out to the Felsen castle courtyard. Once we got there, I whipped out all the Gollem parts I’d obtained from the Helgaia bandit fort the other day.

“Wow! Whoa! Are these all Gollem parts?”

“Yes, they are. Hm... Oh, here. This cubic part in the chest here is the G-Cube. And...this one with the little grooves carved into it, that’s the Q-Crystal.”

I picked at the debris, pointing out the most important parts to Ellicia. She started examining the various pieces with great interest.

“So this is the source of the magic circuitry... I see... Interesting... If you were to sever the ether line here, then... Aha, it’d stop this part functioning...” Ellicia mumbled to herself as she started inspecting the parts more closely. There was a strange glint in her eyes.

“My Ellicia’s one of the finest magitechnicians around. In fact, that magic locomotive of ours was built largely thanks to her. I’d probably rank her in the top five engineers in all of Felsen,” the king of Felsen grinned as he lavished praise upon his bride-to-be. I had absolutely no idea she was that talented.

“Wait, seriously?!”

She’s not on Babylon or Elluka’s level, but that’s some high praise from the king himself... I daresay she’s worthy of being royalty in a nation like this, then.

“She and Quun’ll get along fine!”

I couldn’t help but agree with Frei. They were both super into technology stuff, after all.

“Er, Grand Duke? Could I ask you to grant me this G-Cube and Q-Crystal? No, actually...can I please have all these parts?!”

“Huh?”

Ellicia was being incredibly bold. Honestly, I couldn’t help but be impressed.

Since the two worlds had merged, Gollem technology and other such things had gradually made their way to the eastern continent through the land bridge connecting Panaches and Refreese.

Felsen was on the other side of the continent from that land bridge, so it made sense that Ellicia would be desperate to finally get her hands on some of it. She’d probably heard all kinds of stories, but had no physical access.

It’d probably be fine if I gave these parts to her. They were just appropriated from normal bandits...and it wasn’t like they were legacy Gollems or anything important.

I quietly pondered for a few moments before the king spoke up. He probably assumed I was reluctant to part with the tech.

“Duke Brunhild, if you require incentive...I’d be willing to pay, or part with something from my collection...”

I don’t want anything like that, man...

My eyes suddenly veered left, and I saw Frei’s eyes positively light up at the mention of getting something from the king’s collection.

Hm? You want something? H-hrm...

“Very well, then. Please give this girl something from your collection. That’ll suffice as payment.”

“Yippee! Yay! I love you, father!” Frei exclaimed as she bounded over and tackle-hugged me.

...Damn it. I can’t look down on Ende for folding to Allis anymore... I’m just as bad.

“...Father?”

Both the king and his fiancée raised their brows.

“Don’t mind her, please,” Hilde said that and smiled stiffly as she waved dismissively.

“Okay, time to pick my weapon!”

“W-Wait! I didn’t say you could pick! Th-There are pieces in my collection I refuse to part with!”

Frei started dashing toward the collection room. The king of Felsen could only follow after her in a panic. It was crazy how similar the two of them were.

“Eh heh heh... If I analyze these parts, we may well be able to create Gollems in Felsen. How exciting!”

Ellicia couldn’t wipe the grin off her face as she cradled a G-Cube and Q-Crystal in her arms. I didn’t say it out loud, but part of me was mildly concerned about the future of the Felsen royal family.

◇ ◇ ◇

“It’s been a while, Frei. Are you doing okay?”

“I’m fine! Nice to see you too, Allis!”

Allis and Frei, who’d reunited at last, gave each other a high five. They were sitting at a table in Parent.

Quun didn’t partake in the high-fiving. She was too busy peeking beneath a tablecloth.

“Something wrong, Quun?”

“Er, don’t worry about it...”

“Your moms aren’t gonna try it again. It’ll be fine.”

Allis knew exactly what Quun was looking for. Quun had figured that was the case as well, but still felt it was better to be safe than sorry.

After confirming the lack of any sneaky spy cats, Quun took her seat and sipped at a cup of tea. Her gaze was immediately stolen by the odd black dagger on the table, however.

“...Frei? Another of your dangerous implements?”

“Glad you asked! This is the Shadow Edge, an ebonblade wielded in Regulus by a chivalrous thief named Medeus some two-hundred years ago!”

“Of course it is,” Quun simply sighed as her sister burst into a passionate explanation.

Frei always was one for unusual weapons or armor. She’d even picked up plenty of cursed goods on the dungeon islands. She was a cheery, well-meaning girl with a strong sense of justice...but when it came to weapons, her judgment was less sound.

Still, Quun felt she had no place to comment. She was similarly obsessive when it came to magitech, after all. The two sisters were very alike in that respect.

“The whole thing’s really black! Also, it feels like there’s some weird magic in it! Can it do anything special, Frei?”

“Yep! The Shadow Edge has a unique ability! Check it out!”

It seemed like Frei had been waiting for Allis to ask exactly that question, because in response she nonchalantly stabbed the jet-black blade into the table they were sitting at.

Just...right in the middle of the restaurant. Stabbed the table. The two other girls began to panic immediately. What would they do if they were banned? Their favorite hangout spot had been ruined by a weapon junkie!

But...the blade didn’t penetrate the table. It simply vanished. In fact, the tip jutted upward between the two seated girls, rising out of nowhere.

The knife had been stabbed into a part of the table covered by the shadow of Frei’s elbow, yet the tip was now sticking out of the area covered by the shadow of her finger.

“...What is this? Teleportation?”

“Sure is! The shadow edge can go anywhere within the space of the same shadow! Well, so long as I can see it, anyway. Pretty cool, huh?”

Quun immediately recognized how terrifying the weapon in front of her was. A blade that could pierce shadows... There was no telling how useful it could be. Hell, you could even incapacitate your foe by stabbing them in the foot if they had that foot in a shadow connected to the blade. It was the perfect weapon for assassinations.

“It’s similar to Yakumo’s...”

“No way. Hers uses [Gate] to move her sword around. Plus, she’d never use it in normal fights,” Allis shook her head as she rejected the comparison.

Yakumo was a serious and honorable fighter. She absolutely wasn’t the kind of person to use her power to stab her enemy from the dark. But even though she disliked the ability, she acknowledged its power. Her parents had told her that if the time ever came to use it, then she shouldn’t ever hesitate.

Fairness was one thing, but one should never subscribe to honor to a fault. Pride wasn’t something you put before the safety of others, after all.

Frei felt the same way. She was more than happy to employ underhanded techniques if the situation called for it. Brunhild’s code of chivalry wasn’t founded on old-fashioned concepts of protecting your own pride. It was more about protecting others than anything else.

With the topic of Yakumo now being brought up, Allis suddenly gasped and turned to Quun as if she’d remembered something.

“Hey, Quun...that reminds me, you mentioned something about the order we’re coming over the other day, remember? Got any ideas now?”

“Oh, that. It’s just a hypothesis, but...do you remember when the timequake hit?”

“Oh, I remember! Back when the core was running wild, right? Ummm...” Frei stared into space, dwelling on the memory. The moment time first stood still was an incident she wouldn’t soon forget. It was still etched into her memory.

“Remember our positions. Where was Yakumo situated?”

“Uhm... Well, wasn’t she with me?” Allis answered Quun’s question.

“Try to remember her exact position. Who was in front?”

“Huh? Uhm, lemme think... I think Yakumo was in front? I wanted to jump ahead, but...”

“So Yakumo was ahead of you, yes?”

“Yeah! And then you were ahead of her...and Frei was ahead of you. Don’t you remember?”

“Wait, no way!” Frei suddenly raised her voice out of shock. Quun simply nodded.

“Precisely. Allis was the furthest from the core. She showed up before any of us. Then Yakumo appeared, then myself...then Frei.”

“Hm? Oh! I get it now! We’re coming in based on how far away we were from the core!” Allis finally reached the same conclusion, yelling out in surprise.

“Well, it’s just a theory for now.”

“But that means the next to arrive should be...” Frei suddenly recalled who was ahead of her on that fateful day.

The two girls who were right next to each other. The two girls who were closest to one another. The two girls who were the most attached to each other out of all the siblings. It made sense, after all, since their mothers were twins.

Quun remembered as well. And if her hypothesis should prove true, it’d be them arriving next... Elna and Linne.