Kays Translations

Chapter 188: “The ‘Pseudo-Smartphone’ Activates”

A few days later.

The time had finally come for the countdown on the “Pseudo-Smartphone” to reach zero.

“…So Mabel didn’t make it in time.”

But that couldn’t be helped.

Even for someone like Mabel, returning quickly from the “Forest of Confusion” was impossible.

In fact, I’d rather she take her time coming back. It’s dangerous to rush.

Anyway, crafting items using the “psychic-reactive material” would have to wait.

For now, we need to do everything we can to prepare.

“Chancellor Kelve, Agnis-sama. The countdown on the ‘Pseudo-Smartphone’ has dropped below 60 seconds.”

I nodded to Kelve-san and Agnis, who were beside me.

“It’s finally time. Are you ready?”

“No problem. Ready whenever.”

“Agnis is also ready!”

We were on a grassy field outside the castle.

We stood before the tent containing the “Pseudo-Smartphone,” waiting for the moment.

The entrance to the tent was wide open. In the center stood the “Portable Storage.”

The “Pseudo-Smartphone” was inside it.

The storage space of the “Portable Storage” served as the first line of defense against the Pseudo-Smartphone’s potential damage.

We’d also set up many layers of protection outside the tent.

Of course, both Kelve-san, Agnis, and I were already equipped with “Electromagnetic/Magic-Proof Gloves.”

By the way, Rukie was in the Demon Lord’s castle, in the throne room.

She had insisted on being present at the site, but Kelve-san and I stopped her.

We couldn’t let a monarch be exposed to danger.

Rukie was surely watching us now, from the window of the throne room.

“Ten seconds until the countdown reaches zero!! Everyone, prepare for response!”

Kelve-san activated the “Anti-Magic Barrier.”

I raised the “UV-Cut Parasol” toward the tent.

5 seconds left. 4, 3, 2, 1… Zero.

The moment had arrived.

“…Come on, ‘Pseudo-Smartphone.’”

We’d taken all the precautions we could.

Even if a giant magical beast appeared, we could hold it off.

In the meantime, the magic soldiers stationed on the castle’s watchtower would use the “Laser Pointer” to defeat the beast.

We were prepared, our eyes set on the worst that could happen—

Focused—

Prepared—

………

“““Huh?”””

Nothing happened?

……No, that’s not right.

From inside the tent… there was a sound.

Tururururun. Tururururun.

It wasn’t a magic chant. It was a regular melody.

Was the “Pseudo-Smartphone” making it?

“I’ll go check. You two stay here.”

“Agnis is Thor Canaan-sama’s bodyguard!”

“As Chancellor, it’s my duty to witness this with my own eyes.”

The three of us nodded at each other.

Then we entered the “Portable Storage.”

Inside the storage space, loud music was playing.

“Wow… The ‘Pseudo-Smartphone’ can play music, huh…”

It was a short melody.

It seemed to be looping the same phrase over and over.

Furthermore, the surface of the “Pseudo-Smartphone” was emitting a strong light.

Tiny markings were displayed—these looked like… letters?

“What’s displayed… is the writing of the Hero World.”

I said it so that Kelve-san and Agnis would understand.

Then I removed the “Electromagnetic/Magic-Proof Gloves.”

I needed to confirm what was happening.

After asking Agnis and Kelve to “touch the ‘Pseudo-Smartphone’ with the gloves if anything happens,” I leaned in to read the floating text.

As expected, it was a message.

Its contents—

──────────────────

To the person in the other world,

This is a message from the homeland of those once called heroes.

This is a warning.

A faction of extremists has sent smartphones containing dangerous information to your world.

Though we’ve apprehended the culprits, the two devices had already been sent using ‘Transfer Magic.’

Their goal is to abandon ‘Hard Creatures’ in your world.

They want the people of your world to deal with these ‘Hard Creatures.’

To achieve this, they tried to transmit dangerous magical knowledge to your world.

We call this magic “Art of the Army.” The hero’s—

──────────────────

The message ends there… no, there seems to be more.

How can I read the rest?

Shake the “Pseudo-Smartphone”… pour in magic… no reaction.

…Ah. So just touching it is enough.

I see. In the Hero World, you can scroll through text just by touching it.

Amazing. With this, even a small surface can hold massive amounts of information.

Truly worthy of the Hero World. I must try to replicate this technology.

Now then, continuing the message—

──────────────────

We, the descendants of heroes, intend to defeat the ‘Hard Creatures’ with our own power.

After all, it was people from our world who summoned them from another world.

And it must also be people from this world who take responsibility.

The kind of “Hero” I admire stands for justice in that way.

They work together with allies to defeat great evil.

That is the kind of justice I strive for.

As the leader of the Hero’s Descendants Team—Red—I cannot overlook evil.

Once again, this is a warning.

If you find a smartphone, destroy it.

If you find suspicious writing, delete it without touching it.

It’s a trap. This is what we call phishing.

If you don’t understand, consult someone knowledgeable, or a family member.

I hope that someday, after peace has returned to the world, I can meet someone from another world.

Like the mysterious people from my ancestors’ tales. One day.

—From a descendant of the heroes

──────────────────

That was the end of the message.

Nothing else happened. The text could only be scrolled up and down.

In other words, the person who sent this “Pseudo-Smartphone” simply wanted to deliver this message… and nothing more.

…Amazing.

Someone from the Hero World went this far, just to communicate with us.

They even added a timed mechanism and loud sound, just to make sure the message wouldn’t be missed.

This “Red” person—the supposed descendant of heroes—went to such lengths just to pass their message to us…

“Thor Canaan-sama.”

“What happened to the ‘Pseudo-smartphone’?”

Before I realized it, Agnis and Kelve-san had come to my side.

Agnis stood protectively in front of me, and Kelve-san had deployed an Anti-Magic Barrier.

“Please don’t worry,”

I said to them both.

“It seems that the purpose of this ‘Pseudo-smartphone’ was only to warn us.”

After finishing the message, the ‘Pseudo-smartphone’ stopped making sounds.

As I continued watching, the light dimmed.

But when touched with a fingertip, it reacted and displayed text.

It seems to conserve magical energy by dimming when not in use.

…This technology might be useful for something.

Maybe I could make a ‘Firewall’ that spews flames when someone approaches, or a ‘Robot Vacuum’ that detects humans and blasts loud sounds. Maybe not…?

“What kind of warning did the Hero World send?”

“…So it won’t explode or summon magical beasts?”

“This message was meant to warn us. It seems like it was sent by someone kind. So I don’t think it will explode or summon any monsters.”

I said.

“As for the contents of the message specifically—”

Then, I told Kelve-san and Agnis what the message said.

“—That’s everything. In short, the ‘Pseudo-smartphone’ was just a messenger.”

I finished explaining.

Kelve-san and Agnis froze after listening.

I could understand how they felt.

If the Hero World suddenly contacted us, it would be shocking.

They probably realized that our two worlds are connected.

They must also know that ‘Hard Creatures’ have been summoned here from the Hero World. That’s why the ‘radical faction’ mentioned in the message sent a smartphone to this world.

To get people here to summon Hard Creatures.

That means, after all, they might not be able to send large things from that world through Dispatch Magic.

…That makes sense.

If they could send large things, they’d have sent over some super destructive magical item already. Also, the radical faction could have sent the Hard Creatures directly.

Since they didn’t do that, it likely means they can’t open a big gate between worlds.

Maybe the connection between worlds has compatibility limits.

This needs to be studied further.

“This ‘Pseudo-smartphone’ was harmless. It didn’t explode. I also don’t think it’s going to send over a giant magical beast. We may not have needed such strict security…”

Outside the tent, the elven magic soldiers were keeping their distance.

Everyone had put up Anti-Magic Barriers and was watching us cautiously.

“I apologize for causing concern. It seems I was worrying too much.”

“No, I believe this level of caution was necessary,”

Kelve-san shook his head.

“There are supposedly two more smartphones sent to this world, correct? In that case, we were just lucky to find the harmless one. If we had found one of the others, there might have been serious damage.”

“…I see. That does make sense.”

“‘Be cautious of smartphones. Do not touch strange messages or images’—this should become a motto of the Demon Lord’s domain.”

“I agree.”

“We’ll need to prepare countermeasures against dangerous smartphones as well.”

Kelve-san said seriously.

“This defense posture was also good training. When searching for dangerous smartphones, this ‘Anti-Smartphone Shift’ will be helpful.”

“Also, thanks to our caution, we developed the ‘Electromagnetic Wave and Magic-Proof Gloves’.”

Agnis nodded while still wearing the gloves.

“With these, we can safely delete suspicious messages and smartphones.”

“Thank you, Chancellor, and you as well, Agnis.”

They were right.

We’ll be searching for the other two smartphones from now on.

To do that, both the Anti-Smartphone Shift and the Electromagnetic Wave and Magic-Proof Gloves are essential.

In other words… the defense measures against the Pseudo-smartphone were necessary after all.

“Still… where could the other two smartphones be?”

“Can’t the ‘Robot Vacuum’ find them? Using this ‘Smartphone’ as a clue to locate the others… hmm. It gets confusing.”

“This is the ‘Justice Smartphone,’ so how about calling the other two—sent with malicious intent—‘Cursed Smartphones’?”

“‘Cursed Smartphones’… that might make things easier to understand.”

Chancellor Kelve nodded.

“Understood. From now on, we’ll refer to them as ‘Cursed Smartphones’ within the Demon Lord’s domain. So, Thor-sama, can the ‘Robot Vacuum’ or the ‘Magic Detector’ be used to find them?”

“Depends on the distance. If they’re nearby, we might be able to find them with the ‘Magic Detector’…”

The Robot Vacuum tracks people or monsters by residuals left on the ground.

But Cursed Smartphones don’t move.

If someone picks one up, there’ll be no residue from the smartphone itself.

The Magic Detector might work, but its range is limited.

…This is going to be tough.

However, we do have a clue.

We have the Justice Smartphone in hand.

There might be a feature that allows smartphones to track each other’s locations.

Smartphones are small.

They might get lost during battle.

The Hero World probably thought about countermeasures for that.

If we can find that function, we might be able to track the Cursed Smartphones.

But it will take time.

Let’s start with what we can do now.

“I have a proposal regarding the search for the ‘Cursed’ ones.”

I said.

“How about asking Her Majesty the Demon Lord to issue a proclamation throughout the domain? Something like, ‘If you find a suspicious smartphone, do not touch it. Report it immediately.’”

“A good idea,”

Kelve-san nodded.

“However, there’s a possibility that a ‘Cursed Smartphone’ fell into Imperial territory. In that case—”

“I’ll talk to Princess Sophia. I’ll deliver the warning,”

Agnis raised her hand.

We could have the winged fairies deliver a letter, but this is a serious matter.

It would be better for Agnis, who actually saw the Pseudo-smartphone, to explain.

“I agree. We’ll need the cooperation of Princess Sophia in Nosa Town and the ‘Omawarsan Unit’.”

“Why don’t we ask Princess Sophia to issue a proclamation like, ‘If you find a smartphone, turn it over to the Omawarsan Unit’?”

“That’s an excellent idea, Thor-sama.”

If the Cursed Smartphone tries to force suspicious magic without warning, it’s incredibly dangerous.

Honestly, the people of the Hero World are causing so much trouble.

Sending unnecessary Cursed Smartphones across worlds—

If they’re doing it for profit, we might as well call it ‘unsolicited delivery business’.

“Let’s begin the countermeasures.”

Chancellor Kelve looked at me and Agnis and declared.

“As Chancellor, I will devote myself fully to dealing with this issue. If there’s anything you need, come to the Chancellor’s office. I’ll make arrangements immediately.”

“Understood. Then—”

“Let me clarify. I mean ‘anything necessary for Cursed Smartphone countermeasures.’ Only that. Not alchemy supplies. Strictly ‘Cursed Smartphone countermeasures.’”

Why did he have to say it twice, Chancellor…

“Understood, Chancellor.”

I bowed to Kelve-san and stood up.

“I’ll investigate the ‘Pseudo-smartphone’ and the dangerous magic mentioned in the message… something called ‘Art of the Army.’”

“Understood. I’ll report to Her Majesty the Demon Lord.”

“I’ll head to Nosa Town right away,” said Agnis.

And with that, Kelve-san and Agnis stood and rushed out of the tent.

Outside were the elven magic troops.

I’ll ask them if they know anything about this ‘Art of the Army.’

Still… what’s going on in the Hero World?

I’d like to send a message to them too, but… that might be reckless.

It seems there’s a malicious radical faction over there.

If the message or item I send falls into their hands, it would be a disaster.

Anyway, let’s begin the investigation immediately.

Where are the other two smartphones?

This isn’t just the Demon Lord’s problem anymore. Perhaps—

—To deliver a proper warning, I may need to meet with someone from the Imperial Capital.

As I spoke with the elven magic troops, such thoughts ran through my mind.

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