Bonus Story and Column

Bonus Story: Friends And More Friends

“Heh. Pretty cool, huh?”

“Tsk... No fair.”

“Wow... It is really nice, Homura-chan!”

I was in the middle of showing off to Shizuku and Nagi. More specifically, I was showing off the [Storage] enchanted rucksack that I received from the Grand Duke himself! It had special magic on it that allowed me to store all kinds of stuff in it. It was not the kind of thing you could obtain easily, no sir.

“I wanted to do that mission...”

“That is too bad, cause I got it! And I got a fancy new bag that we can all use!”

“Tsk... Ah well, whatever.”

There were various missions to take care of in the Intelligence Corps. There were infiltration missions, spying missions, stakeouts, and information gathering missions. The tools you needed for each mission differed depending on what you were actually doing. There were ways to improvise, but it was also better to carry gear with you. Shizuku, Nagi, and I often acted as a trio, so this rucksack of mine was a boon. It would carry most of our equipment, and allow us to operate barehanded. Though I could imagine some situations where it would be suspicious if we rolled up carrying nothing at all.

“Alright, Homura-chan! You can take us to Parent and treat us to some rice cakes to celebrate.”

“Yeah! That sounds good to me!”

“Huh?! Why am I paying?!”

I stopped them from rushing off and expressed my frustration.

“What is wrong? Do you not wish to share the joy?”

“You have some extra money from the mission, right?”

“Grr... Come on...”

I should never have mentioned the fact that I had some spare coins after selling off the Wyvern parts, damn it...

“It is settled, then!” Yelled the two of them.

“No, come on! I want to spend my money in my own way!”

My grumbling fell on deaf ears, and they dragged me off in a hurry. I ended up being dragged off to this pleasant little cafe named Parent. I had been wanting to go, but I had not wanted to pay for three... We walked in and it was almost packed full. Pretty much every table was taken up. I was not surprised at all, this cafe was very popular with young dessert-loving women.

“Are there any free seats?”

I walked out to the terrace and looked for an open area. As I turned, I locked eyes with an unexpected pair.

“Hm? Homura...?”

“O-Oh? Rose and Mew-san?”

Two of the guild applicants I had done the exam with were sitting at a table nearby. I liked Rose and Mew-san quite a bit.

“Fancy meeting you two here.”

“The cake here is especially delicious, so of course we’re here.”

“Mhm. We have money to burn, after all!”

The two of them grinned, they were clearly enjoying their reward money.

“Who are these people, Homura-chan?”

“Ah, this is Rose and Mew-san, they are friends that I did the guild exam with. You two, these Shizuku and Nagi, my friends.”

I introduced the two groups together. Though Shizuki, Nagi and I were ninja, we were not in our work clothing since we were out on the town.

“We’re taking a break from adventuring today, so I invited Mew over to have some tea and cake with me. Would you girls like to sit with us?”

“Is that okay? I appreciate it.”

We sat down, flicked through the menu, and ordered our individual favorite cakes.

Everyone started talking and quickly became friends with each other. I was a little irritated, though... Since they liked sharing embarrassing stories about me between themselves. Still, I was just happy that everyone was getting along. The cake was really good, too...

Brunhild was a wonderful nation. Moving there from Eashen was the greatest decision I ever made. Training could be harsh sometimes, and my job was not exactly easy... But I had a sense of peace that I wanted to protect. As I finished up the last strawberry on my shortcake, I quietly resolved to continue working hard for the sake of my beloved country.

Bonus Column: Mysteries of Old

In Another World With My Smartphone often has concepts in it such as “ancient civilizations,” “ancient ruins,” and so on. The reason for this is because I’ve had an interest in them from a young age. But, to be honest, I’ve had more of an interest in the idea of advanced ancient civilizations, and OOPArts.

Atlantis, the lost continents of Mu and Lemuria. That kind of thing. When I was a child, the idea of these hypothetical advanced nations that were lost in the past really appealed to me. Don’t get me wrong. I know there’s no real science behind it, that it’s a bunch of occult nonsense. I’m well aware that these things aren’t recognized as legitimate or credible. They’re just interesting to me, that’s all.

I was also pretty interested in the whole deal with OOPArts. I always wanted to know just how objects like those ended up where they did. Oh, right, in case you didn’t know... OOPArts is the short-form way of writing out-of-place artifacts. They’re basically things from history that shouldn’t have been there chronologically, items that we don’t fully understand even now, or technologies from the past that can’t reasonably be explained. Like the crystal skulls from the Mayan and Aztec civilizations, or the Quimbaya artifacts, the Antikythera mechanism, the iron pillar of Delhi, and so on. I enjoy sitting around and imagining why these kinds of things were created to begin with. It’s a fun way to spend time.

There are also interesting ancient landmarks, like the Nazca Lines, Stonehenge, Machu Picchu, Yonaguni Island, and so on. They all really pique my interest. Oh, there’s this really interesting theory that gets used as the basis of various comics, movies, and TV shows. It’s called the ancient astronaut theory, and is sometimes referred to as the ancient alien theory, The idea goes that spacefarers came down to Earth and communicated with mankind’s earliest civilizations. Pretty interesting, don’t you think? Some say that the Nazca Lines were carved out by ancient aliens from above and that the OOPArts we’ve found are remnants of their technology.

People who believe this theory posit that the difference pantheons of gods worshipped around the globe were actually a super-advanced alien species. Sounds pretty nuts to me, but it’s pretty cool to consider. There’s the ancient nuclear war theory, too! This one’s a pretty popular theory among Japanese occultists. The idea goes that ancient civilizations destroyed themselves through nuclear warfare.

In Another World With My Smartphone uses a lot of these theories in the backdrop of its story. Five-thousand years before the beginning of the plot, an alien race known as the Phrase obliterated the advanced civilization that was once there. Eventually, our protagonist inherits Babylon, a legacy left behind by the perverted genius Regina Babylon! I named Babylon after the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. That’s actually why I had him find the garden first!

Man... thanks for reading my prattling about my beloved mysteries of old. Thinking about it’s got me fired up, so I’m going to go write some more!