Chapter 249: Sacred Treasure, and Heavy weapon equipment

The world barrier ~nou(Kami-sama)

Is there a method to repair it?(Touya)

Kami-sama pondered while munching on a rice cracker, an Ishen specialty, that Id brought with me. The usual 4 and tatami mat room and the sea of clouds was spreading around us. Right now I was in the world of gods.

It might have been fine if I asked him over the phone though, but Id thought that I should visit him while bringing a pastry box and directly ask him like this.

Its not as if theres none. Or should I say, its a piece of cake if the one who does it is a senior god ~jana. However, the gods are more or less prohibited from interfering with the lower worlds ~no. Though if an evil god or something similar destroys the barrier, then theres no reason to not repair it(Kami-sama)

Drinking tea with a slurping sound, Kami-sama then breathed out a sigh.

But the barrier was repaired that one time 5000 years ago(Touya)

I can only think that someone from the ground has repaired it. I cant say that there are no other people or races who have that ability(Kami-sama)

Who is that someone youve just mentioned? What youve said isnt exactly specific.

What if I try to repair it with my Divinity?(Touya)

It is better if you dont ~no. Can you fix a spiderweb barehanded? Its not good to use a huge amount of power to do something precise(Kami-sama)

Ive thought that its OK if I interfere from the ground since Ive yet to be approved as a god. Well, yeah. I guess things will become hopeless if I break the barrier instead of repairing it.

On the contrary, I realized that I had allowed this matter to go by, but is there such a thing as an evil deity?(Touya)

There is ~ Oh well. Ill say, those beings are different from us wherein theyve been born on the ground. They then gather negative feelings such as deep grudges, attachments and so on and so forth. Those who have ego fuse with our divine treasures and such. Its close to what your previous world calls as folk beliefs(kami-sama)

Will Kami-sama then do something if that happens?(Touya)

I will but not directly because its not good for me to do so~ja. Its only up to the point wherein Ill be granting a divine sword to a chosen hero, considering that the rank of those evil deities are below a subordinate god ~after all(Kami-sama)

Are they below a subordinate god? Oh well. In a certain sense, theyre just an imitation of a god.

Though what will happen if the hero wielding the sacred sword gets killed?(Touya)

I wont do anything. Its the end of the world if that ever happens ~ja. Do you think gods will provide help a lot of times? In the worst case scenario, the world will be left alone. It will gradually meet its end because its no longer being managed by a god. Well, I exert various means in order not to allow that to happen(Kami-sama)

Having said that, Kami-sama laughed as if hes mocking himself. I wonder though just how many worlds have been abandoned thus far because they couldnt be saved?

I was thinking of those thoughts when Kami-sama leaked an ah voice as if he had remembered something.

Oh yeah! Right. I forgot to say this, but that object that youre holding Touya-kun. That smartphone, right? That article, its more or less a sacred treasure, you know(kami-sama)

Eh This thing(Touya)

I took out my smartphone from my pocket and showed it to him. Is this a sacred treasure!?

When you had died back then, I also brought this object to this world along with you, so I ended up doing some tinkering ~nou. This object is without a doubt a sacred treasure containing the power of the gods. Otherwise, it wouldnt be able to receive information from other worlds and contact the world of gods (Kami-sama)

It sure sounds right when youre the one saying it. I see. So this has been a sacred treasure all along, huh?

I wonder, can I also make a sacred treasure myself?(Touya)

Its not as if that feat is impossible since all you have to do is pour divine power into something. However, I dont recommend it very much ~ok? After all, an evil deity might be born when doing that just as Ive said a while ago(Kami-sama)

I see(Touya)

A sacred treasure being suddenly given to a hero to defeat an evil deity. That object by itself is a sacred treasure. Then, what if an evil deity whose evil by nature have gotten hold of it? That question popped up from my mind.

As per Kami-samas story, he usually destroyed the sacred treasure at the same time when the evil deity was defeated. It looked like hed secretly collect the sacred treasure and replace it with a fake one. Then, when he forgot to do so, an evil deity would appear in a few hundred years. The so-called revival of a malevolent force. Still, everyone might only start noticing that malicious being after it had started causing trouble or something similar. Thats definitely not good

Thinking about it once more, its not as if the gods were perfect even if they were being called as one. Oh well. There were a whole lot of stories about gods taking the form of humans, having affairs or making outrageous failures even in my former world. After all, there were plenty of troublesome gods as well.

Hey, Touya-kun. This is something that should be considered at in the future ~ja but Dont you feel like managing the world youre in?(Kami-sama)

Come again(Touya)

Sooner or later Well, it has been decided that becoming a senior god requires them to manage a single world. Then, a familiar world will be better if thats the case, wont it?(Kami-sama)

No-no-no. A senior god you say. Doesnt that make my rank higher than Nee-san and the others? Nope. Having a higher rank isnt strange since Im a dependant of Kami-sama whos the god of the worlds, isnt it?

So in the end, will I have to join the ranks of the gods?(Touya)

I have no excuse for that even if its something that you dont wish for ~nou. However, the other gods will be pleased. After all, it has been several tens of thousands of years since the last god ~ja. The senpais want to brag, you kmow(Kami-sama)

I am thankful theyre pleased but Honestly speaking, my feelings about this matter is slightly complicated.

If I join the ranks of the gods, is it acceptable for me to have a child? Ill still be getting married next year if I must say(Touya)

There are a lot of children between gods and other species ~yo. Its not a problem. Well, they might possess an ability thats uncommon for other people, but its not to the degree of being a new god ~ja ~nou

Guess thats also obvious, huh? Heracles, Perseus, Achilles, Cuhullin and so on and so forth. Its painful how a lot of them have appeared in myths and other similar stories.

However, according to Professors story, my wives would give birth to one son and eight daughters If all of those kids were to be born with the power of demigods, then raising them was going to be tremendously hard.

UhmI m just wondering. Isnt there a god who raises children?(Touya)

There is, but. I think its still better for a person to raise his or her own children(Kami-sama)

I guess youre right(Touya)

This is just an argument. I dont plan on abandoning the upbringing of my would be children, but why do I have to be this bothered by a child who hasnt been born yet?

Oh well. I guess children wont be immediately born into this world right after getting married. . That wont happen, right?

Well, make sure you dont use divine power too much as of the moment and just do everything the best you can with your own abilities ~ja ~na. As a result though ~ja, you can consider that you arriving to this world as fate. Whatever happens, do your best ~ja

Yeah(Touya)

I understand that I wont be able to do what I cant do. Whats bound to happen will happen, huh?

I then left the world of the gods, having received encouragement from Kami-sama himself.

NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

So, replenishing the knight order, right?(Touya)

Yes. Ive thought of trying to recruit new members once more around this time. Were lacking in manpower right now. Unlike before when the nation had been established, we were able to afford some leeway to a certain extent(Kousaka-san)

Kousaka-san the prime minister explained the situation to me, to which I then pondered about a little. Its a certainty that the total number of knights of our country wouldnt even reach a hundred. Moreover, approximately forty knights were non-combatants, the ones who didnt pilot the frame gears.

Some members belonged to Tsubaki-sans group as her subordinates, working as intelligence officers. Others were the subordinates of Naito-ossan, working in offices or being dispatched outside and so on and so forth. Of course, a few of those whom Id mentioned have some degree of fighting strength, but they were basically exempted from combat training.

Our country wasnt that big, so having around a thousand members like the other countries wasnt a necessity. Still, itd certainly be better to increase the members a little more.

I wonder though. How many people do we need?(Touya)

Lets me see. Assuming we are going to double our current numbers, we aim for 100 recruits, but I was hoping for the number of members to be more or less 150 to include those who will be the town patrols, the castle guards and the office employees(Kousaka-san)

Of those mentioned, around how many knights will become frame gear pilots?(Touya)

How about increasing the pilots to a hundred knights including the previous 60 knights from before? What do you think?(Kousaka-san)

So only 40 of those 150, eh? The remaining 110 will then be posted as castle guards, town patrols, and office staffs. Those were naturally important duties of the knight order as well. Well, those who express their disagreement toward doing those wont be allowed to enter our knight order, probably.

In that case, its better to recruit them based on their abilities(Touya)

I think those who dont excel in combat are still useful human resources if they have an aptitude for office work.

That said, I couldnt just lower the standards we used in the previous recruitment just to accommodate this kind of people. Their combat ability should still be on par with those knights who joined last year.

Well, even if there was some anxiety about their combat ability, they could still acquire the minimum strength required if I threw them onto Moroha-neesan whos the instructor and the sword god herself.

Then, please gather the ones wholl be in charge of those 150 people for the time being. Include those people whom youd like to recommend(Touya)

I understand(Kousaka-san)

Unfortunately, I myself didnt know anyone that could be recommended.

I guess I can forcefully recruit Sonia-san and Rengetsu-san and Ropps group, but they probably can make more money by working as adventurers after all.

Should I try and post recruiting ads in the adventurers guild again? The applicants now will probably be a lot more than the applicants before though.

I asked for the magic eyes combo of Yumina and Her Eminence the Pope in the interview last time, but should I ask Professor to create a Keeler Polygraph lie detector for the upcoming interview this time?

I then transferred to Babylon having that thought. Inside the hangar were only Monica and a mini-Robo doing maintenance on Gerhilde.

Huh? Wheres Professor?(Touya)

Shes having a meeting with Rosetta in the second lab of the Laboratory. They are talking about things such as what theyll be doing with the next frame gear and the like(Monica)

A meeting?(Touya)

I didnt really get what Monica meant by that, so I decided to just go to the second lab of the Laboratory as per Monicas instructions. A lot of blueprints and a miniature frame gear were on top of the desk. The inner framework of what appeared to be different parts of a frame gear was on a picture grid by the wall.

In front of all of those were two girls who were groaning continuously with an unn sound.

Whats the matter? You look very troubled again(Touya)

Ah, master. This is just, you know. The development of frame gears. Weve decided on the concept wherein Linze-donos frame gear is a transformable type that can combine with Elzie-donos frame gear. But(Rosetta)

Having said so, Rosetta held the miniature frame gear on top of the desk, folded its arms and legs, spread its wings and transformed it into its flight form. Hee. Its transformation process is nice and smooth.

Its a frame gear that looked like it could tolerate atmospheric re-entry similar to a space shuttle. If the frame gear was an air unit, then its implied that the pilot had to fly it in the air when using it. Or rather, this miniature figure looked like it would sell a lot

(TL: Suddenly, Alba-san appears behind Touya, rubbing his hand and saying, how about you let me sell this too?. Touya then asks him, how did you get in here?. Alba-san replies, Ive acquired teleportation magic because I smell money, but where is this? Touya then immediately casts amnesia magic on Alba-san. Thus the national secret of Brunhild has been protected for now. XD)

The problem is with Rins frame gear. Specifically, in the direction where we must proceed. Frankly speaking, Im thinking of installing an annihilation bombardment heavy weapon in its whole body, but you know, magic doesnt work against the frazes. If thats case, then theres no other choice but to use explosions caused by magic, launch warheads, and destroy them with live bullets. I thought, why not create something like a Vulcan or a Gatling gun like those from the anime?. However(Regina)

By all means that didnt look cost-efficient because when it came to warheads that could cause damage to the body of the frazes, a material higher than mithril was ideal. Otherwise, arming it with crystal materials pre-loaded with magic might work, I guess? Its hard to make thousands- no, ten thousands of those things. No way Ill have the Workshop be fully operational for something like that. Crystal materials aside, the day I start making items with mithril will be similar to me sprinkling money everywhere.

I guess theres also a limit on how many bullets a unit can carry. Well, using it as a fixed battery that wont run out of bullets may work, but it turns then to a question of whether there is a need for that kind of frame gear.

If you make that frame gear, how long it can it shoot a single volley with its full power?(Touya)

Perhaps, about one minute(Regina)

Too shooort!(Touya)

The reminded me. Even in anime, the fighting power of the character in question dropped down drastically when they run out of bullets.

I think the operating time might be longer than initially thought of since we arent firing randomly for one minute. Nevertheless, aside from the operating time still being short despite the extension, wont the bullets also miss their mark? After expending all the ammunition, is there no other choice but to switch to melee attacks using swords and the like?

This makes it look like equipping a weapon similar to a Gatling gun to the frame gear loose its meaning even more

Instead of a Gatling gun, how about a one shot-one kill sniper weapon that can penetrate up to the core of the frazes? Wont a sniper type unit be more efficient, I think?(Touya)

That idea is acceptable as it is, but. the charm of this type of unit is that its a moving fortress, though it has a floating ammunition depot, with a tremendous firepower that doesnt allow the enemy to come close(Rosetta)

Rosetta fell down above the desk in a prostrating position. Is that so?

If the enemy is different, then the weapon can a Fire Arrow, a Thunder Arrow or anything similar, even though a magic attack from a Gatling gun is fine as well(Regina)

Professor smiled bitterly. Certainly, theres no need to worry about running out of bullets if thats case, but Rin running out of magic power would probably be the problem of that set-up

Oh. Come to think of it, where does master keep the bullets for his gun?(Rosetta)

Me? I more or less store them here, inside my waist pouch. There are live bullets, paralysis bullets and explosive bullets with each of them having their own use(Touya)

I showed the pouch which had divided sections for those. There were about 20 bullets of each type stored inside.

does that mean you change them in the heat of battle?(Regina)

No way. It has been set to load automatically. Ive used Program to load the bullets using Aport after the cartridge ejects the spent bullets(Touya)

Thats it(Regina, Rosetta)

As I was about to finish my sentence, the two stood up and pointed their finger at me with great force

Its not necessary to load all the bullets to the frame directly! Instead, a huge ammo depot can be installed inside Babylon, and the bullets can just be transferred to the weapons using, for example, Gate or Teleport!(Rosetta)

Hmmm. That set-up comes with a little time lag, but its not like the unit will do a full barrage consecutively for several minutes. The advantages are plenty enough to cover the deficiencies. Though the problem is the production line of the bullets (Regina)

I didnt know why, but the tension of those two was rising up. I felt like I was being left behind.

By the way Touya-kun, how many crystal materials do you have right now?(Regina)

I have about a mountain of them. Technically, I only consume those in large quantities about when Im about to create a new frame gear(Touya)

I took all of them completely during the incident with Yuuron and Rodomea. The amount I currently had was enough to cause a collapse in the prices of goods if I circulated those crystal materials into the market.

You mean The materials are enough. On the other hand, the Workshop will also be occupied making bullets. Shall-I make it then?(Regina)

Make it? What are you going to make?(Touya)

Another Workshop, I mean. There was a plan to make a second Workshop from the start. It wont be that big and making one wont be difficult to do if the size is the same as a small cabin. Should I call that one the Small Workshop ?(Regina)

Are you going to build a workshop specialized in making ammunition!? Will you go that far!? Nope, its not useless if I think that it can be used to create the equipment of other frame gears, right?

However, building it isnt easy, right? Even though its small, its still a Workshop, isnt it?

Hn? We are going to use the Workshop to create the other one(Rosetta)

Come again? Make a Workshop with the Workshop

I froze because of what Rosetta had lightly said.

The Workshop is an almighty factory. Its not impossible for it to make something especially if its just the size of a small cabin(Rosetta)

Rosetta proudly puffed her chest.

Construction will probably take approximately two weeks, I think? Well, its necessary to do built-in magic and processing, but its only the last step that wont go well unless its moved using Touya-kuns Gate. Unlike a frame gear, it wont be able to move on its own(Regina)

No, thats not really a problem, but(Touya)

Among other things, using the Workshop to make a Workshop. its foul play. It wouldnt be able to make a frame gear or anything similar because of its size the same as a small cabin, but its plenty enough for other small things.

Alright! We somehow have a goal in sight! Lets start immediately!(Regina)

Rojer!!(Rosetta)

The two chibi kids jumped out from the lab, running. How should I say this? I wonder if this is the usual atmosphere for this place.

I gazed at Linzies Miniature transforming frame gear in its aerial form together with Rins Miniature heavily armed frame gear complete with a Gatling gun on its right hand and a fully armed body with Vulcan cannons.

They are well done. An aerial assault frame gear and a full body bombardment frame gear, huh?

For some reason, I picked up and took a look at both frame gears. Yup. In a certain sense, they were quite good.

Should I really try selling these on the market? Ill try consulting this matter with Alba-san the merchant. Maybe itll sell as a capsule toy if its smaller. The one wherein a person buys something by turning a machine that makes a gachagacha sound. These should be purchasable enough for a childs allowance. Though its not something that I can really say.

I then left the lab with the miniature frame gears in hand while having those thoughts.