In a Different World with a Smartphone Chapter 363: The Over Gear, and the Joint Training.

To the north of the Brunhild Dukedom castle, there is a gigantic field.

Theres a special barrier cast over this field that prevents unauthorized personnel from entering, and its also enchanted with visual-blocking magic that can be activated to block out the inside. Its the same thing as the barrier around Babylon.

And as for the purpose of this field, its mainly used for combat practice with Frame Gears, testing of new models, and experimenting with new inventions made in Babylon.

At this testing field, right now, one such experiment is going on.

Thats some nimble movements its got there.

Golems are mechanical things as well, in the first place. Its obvious the compatibility would be high.

Since its not manually operated, its actually faster in reaction time compared to Frame Gears, you know.

While looking at the mechanical form in front of us that was running around the testing field, Professor Babylon and Dr. Elka besides me answered my murmurs.

The thing running about in front of us was a black lion-shaped mechanical beast.

A large translucent sphere is embedded in the chest area, while the clear parts made out of crystal materials that can be seen here and there on the body glittered as they reflected sunlight. Gold lines ran through the robot lions black body.

For size, if we take the size of a Frame Gear as that of a normal human being, its around the size of an actual lion.

This is the golem-strengthening unit the professor and Dr. Elka developed, the [Over Gear].

Theres a cockpit inside the crystal sphere on the chestcalled a Core Frameand the golem, which is the core for the Over Gear, as well as its master would be inside there.

The Over Gear, which synchronizes directly with the golem inside it, is capable of drawing out the golems characteristics and amplifying it. Just like what its classification of a golem- strengthening unit suggests, its something like a powered suit for golems.

If so, why isnt it in a humanoid shape, you may wonder? I wondered about that too.

Regarding that, the answer given by the two developers are:

Because we wanted to make something weird.

Like that. Basically, theyre letting their own interests take over at this point. These idiots.

The black lion kicked the ground and jumped straight upwards. Uoo, thats some amazing jumping power!

As if trying to test its own limits, the gear is running around at full speed, and doing things like sudden braking and jumping around. Those are pretty fierce movements. In terms of maneuverability its above the Frame Gear, thats for sure.

Is it perhaps using some sort of golem skill?

No, at the current stage golem skills are still too dangerous to be used so that functions been sealed. What youre seeing is purely the specs of that gear, the [Leo Noir].

For equipment, it only has crystal-made claws and fangs at the moment. However, even so, in my eyes its still enough to stand against several intermediate-class variants. Although its probably impossible to deal with an advanced-class by itself at that level.

Un, it might be interesting to make that become capable of transforming into a humanoid shape, too.

Since itll still be centered around the core frame, wouldnt it be closer to retrofitting instead of transforming? By exchanging the parts

Leaving aside the two of them who began some weird discussion, the black lion, [Leo Noir] stopped its movements. The gear moved itself into a lying down position, and from its core frame, a young girl and a black knight got out. The younger sister of Dr. Elka, Norn, and her partner golem, the black [Crown], Noir.

I walked towards Norn who was standing still and asked about her impression of the Over Gear.

You were moving it pretty well earlier. How did you feel riding in it?

Theres no reaction. What?

The eyes of Norn, who was looking up at me, were like that of a dead fish. She came close to me while wobbling, and grasped the hem of my coat.

Upu.

Eh?

Please excuse us for a minute

Seems like the shock absorption function wasnt up to par.

The inside of the cockpit shakes a lot more than we thought it would. We would have to increase the setting above the level used for the Frame Gears, I guess

Oi you there! Have some concern for us too, damnit!

Norn, who had vomited out everything she had and was now lying down flat, and I, whose feet received a critical hit from that Norn, both glared at the two idiotic researchers with teary eyes.

Theres no way I can control something like that, the way it is It has way too much power. I just wanted to make it run a little bit, and it becomes like that

Those words leaked out of Norns mouth weakly as she lied on the ground. Ah, I can understand somewhat. When I first learnt the acceleration magic [Accel], I felt that way too. Or more like, you mean those movements just now didnt come from your own intentions?

So, she was in a state like that of a new player playing a fighting game, and was just randomly mashing the attack buttons?

Thanks to that, the place Im riding was also shaking like crazy Uu.

Quiet, silence.

Noir gently stroked the back of Norn, whose face turned blue and had started feeling nauseous again.

Well, for the first test this is a decent result, I guess. The main problem right now would be the fact that we cant start mass-production of this Over Gear so easily.

You cant? Why is that?

I interjected when I heard the professors monologue as she looked up at Leo Noir. What do you mean you cant mass-produce it? Did they develop this gear exclusively for Norn and Noir like the Valkyrias?

Yep. Each gear would have to be fine-tuned to the golem it would be paired with, after all. It should be fine to consider them all personal machines.

You mean, if Nias Blood Rouge gets into this Leo Noir, it wont be able to move it?

That would be the case. Other golems wouldnt even be able to start this thing up. While Frame Gears could be used by different people, since the Over Gear utilizes its power through its connection with the golem, no matter what, only that golems master would be able to control its specific gear.

I see. In the first place, a golem is something exclusive to its master, so it makes sense.

Even in cases like the Soldats, in the end, theres only one golem master. Theres no point in one person being able to use multiple Over Gears; the value of mass-production lies in its numbers and the ease of access, after all. Well, before all that, only Legacies can operate this Over Gear anyway.

If each and every one of them has to be made to order, thats obviously not something you can call mass-production. Well, we would still be producing a lot of them, though.

According to the two of them, as long as the core frame is built to order, the other parts could be interchanged between existing gears. For example, in the future when we finish the core frame for Nias Over Gear, we could use the limb parts from Norns gear directly on it.

Its still tough to repel the variants with only the other sides forces, huh

For now, that is. Well improve upon what we have and make it something we can mass- produce eventually. Their individual combat strength might fall as a result, though.

Its a choice between quantity and quality, eh. And while a certain degree of quality is necessary, without sufficient numbers there would be situations that we cannot respond to; its a tough question.

On the way back to the castle, I dropped by the knight orders training grounds. Theyre receiving Moroha nee-sans hellish training again as usual; however, recently I think theyre beginning to get used to it.

Touya-sama, you came at the perfect time.

N? Something happened?

Hilda came up to me as I was watching the knights training. Her breathing is a bit rough; she was probably training together with them. I took out a towel and a cold drink from [Storage] and passed them to her.

Thank you very much. Actually, I was in a call with my elder brother just now. And there, a talk about whether it is possible for Lestias knight order to hold a joint training session with Brunhilds knight order came up.

Reinhardt-san said that?

Fumu. A joint training session with Knight Kingdom Lestias prided elites, huh. That might be good.

Hilda had a wry smile on as she continued speaking to me while I thought about the proposal.

Although, I think thats only the surface excuse, and what elder brother is really after is the chance to cross swords with Moroha nee-sama and receive her guidance

Ah, so its that. I seem to recall hearing about Reinhardt nii-san losing to Hilda after the world conference last time. As expected, losing against his own younger sister must really hurt.

(Note: Touya is technically calling Reinhardt brother-in-law here, but its troublesome to type that each and every time, so Ill just use nii-san. Same with Moroha nee-sama used by Hilda, really.)

He also has his job as a monarch, so I think its normal for there to be a gap between the two of them. Not to mention the fact that Hildas in the process of becoming my dependant.

Well, the idea of joint training itself is good, so Ill get on with it. Ive also troubled Galen-san for the guild test the other day, so might as well.

I took out my smartphone and contacted Reinhardt-san.

Eh, right now? You mean were starting right now!?

No, well, I dont have any problems with that. Im just wondering if youre a bit too hasty

For now, I opened a [Gate] to Lestia, and Knight King Reinhardt came over, followed by several elite knights of Lestia.

While the king of Lestia doubles as the commander of the knight order, there is a proper vice- commander in place.

Thank you for todays opportunity.

Us as well; thank you very much.

The vice-commander in question was exchanging greetings with our knight order commander, Rain-san.

Lestia Knight Order Vice Commander, Franz Iceman.

His age is over forty, and his hair has streaks of white mixed in; with the small moustache, he gives off the impression of a dandy older gentleman.

Hes a friend of the previous king, and a master to the current king, Reinhardt nii-san. Hes a sword master who had been taught by Hildas grandfather, Galen-san in the past. He is a serious person, and his character is good too. Im so glad he didnt inherit his masters ero- ness.

Normally, in a joint training between knight orders of two countries, the commanders dont participate.

I mean, if, and were talking about a big if, our commander loses to a knight from the other side, wouldnt that be bad? Wed be looked down upon by the other side as well.

Thats normally how things would go, but uh, forget about him being your commander as well, why is your monarch coming out to fight first, Lestia?

Since a while ago, the knights from both sides have been watching the match between Reinhardt nii-san and Moroha nee-san with bated breaths.

Well, its just Reinhardt nii-san being beaten up one-sidedly though

At least hold back a bit

I could only put my hand to my face at Moroha nee-sans inability to read the atmosphere. The saving grace is that even though Reinhardt nii-san was being beaten up badly in front of them, no one from our knight order did anything stupid like laughing at him.

Well, everyone here understands Moroha nee-sans strength with their own bodies after all They might be thinking it cant be helped for him to lose and be sympathetic to him.

Moroha nee-san isnt even part of our knight order in the first place anyway. Shes just a special advisor to them.

N? If so, then its also weird that shes participating in this joint training even though shes technically unrelated? Well, its too late to be wondering about that.

Again, Reinhardt nii-san received Moroha nee-sans strike and was sent flying out of the ring. Ouch

Moroha-samas demon-like fighting style is something impressive to behold, indeed. I can feel my blood burning too.

Is that so Um, Im sorry for my wet blanket elder sister

I reflexively shrank myself a bit at Franz-sans words. Sending the king of a country flying, thats something that can lead to war with a single misstep, you know

No no, we dont mind it at all. Our king is satisfied with that too. A person would grow faster without becoming complacent if theres a wall in front of him, after all.

Well, I understand what hes saying. I believe Ive gotten much stronger than before as well, but Im still not even close to being able to match those people.

Its impossible for me to become complacent right now. If I get proud of my abilities, that pride will just get shattered the next moment easily.

Recently, weve incorporated combat training against magic beasts into our regimen, but its not going very well. Its not like we can catch magic beasts and bring them to our training grounds. We were thinking of going on a field training in the near future

Since theres no large magic beasts around Brunhild, we dont have a lot of anti-magic beast experience as well, now that I think about it. Although if we go to the dungeon islands, there would be some strong magic beasts there

As befitting its title as the Knight Kingdom, Lestia has a huge number of knights. Most of them are assigned to guarding towns or cities, and defeating magic beasts in the vicinity is also part of their duties.

There are often times when the knight order cooperates with the Adventurers Guild, and knights and adventurers work together to hunt magic beasts as well, apparently. And from there, the path for adventurers to enter the knight order also opened up for some. The great former king, Galen-san, started as an adventurer, after all.

Hmm, combat training against magic beasts, huh No harm in trying it.

Un. Guess Ill go find some random magic beasts and bring them here, then. Edible ones should be good.

Eh?

Leaving the shocked Rain-san and Franz-san behind, I used [Gate] to move to locations where nice magic beasts could be found

If you dont aim at the joints, your swords will just bounce off-. Dont stand directly in front of it-, itll blow out bubbles-. Youll melt, you know-. (Note: Touyas shouting with a bit of a lazy feeling. You know, the one where you drag out the ends of your sentences a bit.)

I gave some suitable advices to the knights who are running around.

The knights from Brunhild as well as Lestia were fighting a tough battle against a crab magic beast with red shell, a Bloody Crab. On a side note, the Brunhild members arent using their crystal swords. Since it wouldnt be proper training otherwise.

The bloody crab is a red-ranked subjugation target going by the guilds standards. Its the same rank as lesser dragons. Its also a type of magic beast that can be found in Lestia from time to time as well.

However, the one I brought over this time is quite big. Perhaps it might even be silver-ranked.

Isnt it a bit too large?

Looking at the bloody crab which was fighting against several Brunhild and Lestia knights, Hilda murmured with a stiff expression. Hmm, it really is large.

Its just a guess, but maybe that one is beginning to turn into a behemoth If we left it alone for a few more years, it might turn into something we need to use Frame Gears to subjugate.

I answered while sending healing magic to a knight who was blown away by the crabs pincers. The knight, who was bouncing along the ground, managed to stand up somehow and headed back towards the bloody crab.

Theres around 20 people if we count both countries, huh? Theres no place for the magic beast to escape, so I think we can defeat it.

Fumu Its easy to understand its movements if you look at it from the side. See how it would brace its two front legs when it would use the bubbles?

Yes. Also, when its swinging down its pincers There, it moves itself in the opposite direction to the strike.

Reinhardt nii-san and Franz-san were analyzing the crab from outside the grounds. First is to observe. Through observation, one can grasp the opponents characteristics, how it moves, and how it responds to attacks, and build tactics based on that. Its the same whether the opponent is a magic beast or a human.

Since were doing this, we couldve gotten a Cyclops. Its more fun that way.

Please no. Thats a giant, you know. Thats something were supposed to use Frame Gears to deal with, you know.

Moroha nee-san, whos still not reading the mood, said something stupid. Cyclops are magic beasts with about the same body size as golems. While theyre smaller than Frame Gears generally, theres variations between individuals, and there could be large ones like the crab before our eyes.

Even without Frame Gears, its not something they cant defeat if they deal with it properly. They just need to find the optimal way to fight against it. There are aspects that we can utilize even in normal training as well. Being able to see through an opponents weakness instantly, and attack it. Being able to choose the weapons, location, and time that can maximize ones own strength, being able to move without wasting any energy, and being able to coordinate with allies perfectly. If we can draw on all of those as much as we can, it would be an easy fight.

You said it so easily, but none of that is easy, isnt it

While I was feeling amazed at nee-sans words, it seems like the knights have finally weakened the crab enough, and they went all out on a big attack. Spears pierced through the joints before axes chopped off the pincers. And eventually, the swords of several knights were thrusted deep into the abdominal area, which is covered by thinner shells, and the bloody crab finally collapsed onto the ground.

Alrightttt!!

We, we did it

Good job!

While the way they expressed it were all different, the knights from Brunhild and Lestia shared their joy with each other. There were some wounded knights, but I healed them with healing magic immediately, and also used [Refresh] to replenish their stamina.

Guess the training ends here.

That would be the case.

While nodding to Hildas words, I took out a extra-large pot from [Storage] and put it on top of a roughly-made firewood stove I made using earth magic. I added water to the pot and lit the stove on fire.

I started lining up foodstuff on the table I took out as well. Using miso as the base should be fine.

Alright, were gonna have crab pot! Dismantle the crab!

Ohh!

The knights all took up their swords and rushed to the crab.

I threw the dismantled crab parts into the pot together with some meat, vegetables, tofu and mushrooms and boiled them, and soon an appetizing smell began coming out. Everyone ate the finished crab pot with relish, and they all had satisfied smiles on their faces. Its something they themselves had worked hard to bring down, so it must be delicious to them.

While I was thinking about useless thingsmaybe the fact that this is more delicious than normal crabs was because its been through a lot as a magic beastthe smartphone in my breast pocket rang.

Oh, its Silhouette-san.

The matron of the brothel Moonlight Parlor, as well as the boss of the premier intelligence organization in the Reverse World, the [Black Cats]. She normally gathers various information from the other side and sends them over to me; however, I somehow feel a sense of foreboding towards todays call.

Yes, hello. This is Touya. Yes Yes. What?

Wait a second. I mean, I was the one who defeated the cyborg grandpa there, sure, but still.

Magicraft Kingdom Eisengard is in a state of near-total collapse Just what do you mean by that?

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