Magi Craft Meister

"Hmm, demons, huh…"

After Jin finished explaining all that he knew about demons, Reinhardt seemed somewhat troubled.

"When I saw the various weapons and armor you were making, I honestly thought that it was a bit excessive, but I'm not so sure about that any more…"

"Yeah. There's simply too much we don't know about these demons' powers and abilities yet."

Elsa quickly expressed her agreement with Reinhardt's opinion.

"…So, about Gravity Magic…"

Jin resumed his explanation.

As far as he could understand it, Gravity Magic seemed to work by distorting space in a specific area.

The reason for that conclusion was that it also affected inertia in its assumed area of effect, rather than simply making objects in that area lighter or heavier.

"Well, we have our Warp Gates, plus there's magic capable of summoning people from another world, so it wouldn't be strange if there was a type of magic that worked by distorting space."

After his rough explanation, Jin concluded with that remark.

"So how far is the analysis going?"

"For the time being, we've only managed to counter it by making ourselves lighter."

Jin showed them the Lightweight Magic Tool he used to cancel Androgias' Gravity Magic during their encounter in the Celuroa Kingdom.

"There are many Magi Sequences that are different from the ones us humans use, so we cannot use them as magic ourselves for the time being."

"I see… It's a little disappointing, but I guess it's understandable."

"Still, the magic demons use is quite scary, so for now I believe it's best not to get involved with them if we come across any of them in the near future."

Jin made special emphasis on the case of the Gravity Magic of Lardus, who had been able to reach a force of thousands of g by using his "El Radlite".

"T-Thousands of g…"

Such a gravitational force would make a human look like a thin sheet of paper stamped onto the ground.

"I think no one other than Reiko would be able to withstand that…"

"For this reason, the analysis of Gravity Magic is our highest priority right now. We should be able to deal with consuming a considerable amount of magical power, enough to use a spell like Lardus' 'El Radlite'. Ordinary Magi Crystals may not be enough. However, that may be solved by using our newly discovered Ethenol."

"Those are some high expectations, huh?"

"That demon girl, Alciel, seemed to be able to use monsters as pets. I've asked Laojun to look into this as well."

"Would that be another one of the demons' special abilities or something like that?"

Jin nodded, saying that it was possible. At the same time, he couldn't stop thinking about how much of a threat it could be if a demon could control something like those Giant Centipedes they had to deal with the other day.

"The main question here is the demons' motives."

"That's right. Are they trying to start a war, or are they simply messing around?"

"Ah, they're the worst! Why can't we all just live in peace?"

Saki's outcry spoke for everybody's feelings.

"…At least we've got some peace here."

Elsa murmured her thoughts earnestly.

"Yeah, that's right. This is truly heaven on Earth…"

Again, everyone nodded.

"That's something that would need to be reported to the state."

Reinhardt spoke out. There was no way the existence of demons could be hidden within the Celuroa Kingdom because their existence had been confirmed by a prince and a princess who both have rights to the throne.

An official proclamation about this would inevitably happen sooner or later.

"I'll contact the empress under the name of Makina. We'll let each nation know about this."

"Yeah, I wonder if now's the right time to do that."

After Jin and Reinhardt's brief consultation, they decided to reach out to the empress under the name of Makina.

＊ ＊ ＊

"By the way, Jin… Did you ever get around to making that "Animal Golem" that Hanna was talking about when we went to the Lenard Kingdom?"

After their conversation about the demons was over, Saki asked such a question.

"Huh? Ah, yeah. I did try making one, but…"

Jin was making unclear statements, which was an unusual thing for him.

"…But it didn't go very well."

"Huhh? That's rare for you, Jin."

"You give me too much credit. Oh well, it's better if you see for yourselves. Shall we go to the workshop?"

So they all moved from the control room on the first basement floor to the workshop on the first floor above ground.

"Here it is."

Jin put a prototype golem that resembled a cat on the table. It was about 30 centimeters long excluding its tail. Since it was just a prototype, it had no coat of fur, and looked like a mechanical bronze cat.

"Hmm, it looks good enough."

"That's right. This definitely looks like a cat, no matter how you look at it!"

Saki and Stearleana praised the prototype, but Jin still had a bitter expression on his face.

"Yeah, but look… 'Activate'."

Jin put the cat-shaped Golem into operation.

"It does seem to move in a weird way."

Sure enough, the way the Golem moved on all fours wasn't very cat-like. It was as if its movements were still unpolished.

"It would be fine if it had been a Golem Horse, but this is my first time making an animal this small."

Jin then explained that he should be able to get better results if only he could study the movements of a cat closely.

"Then how about we go study some cats?"

Stearleana spoke with a casual tone of voice.

"I've already told you about this before, but there are many aristocrats in the Celuroa Kingdom who keep cats as pets. Especially in the southern, warmer regions."

"I see…"

"I have an acquaintance in Coupu. I'll introduce you to her."

Coupu was a town in the southern tip of the Celuroa Kingdom. It is said to be a fishing and touristic town with many boats decorating its shores, just like Potlock in the Elias Kingdom.

"My Lord, in that case, you can use the 10th Warp Gate set by Reiko, which is located at the eastern foot of Mt. Rawai. Then it's about 100 km from there to Coupu."

That was one of the places where Reiko went to search for Jin back when he ended up being randomly teleported by a Warp Gate that had gone haywire.

"We won't be able to use the RV, though."

"Yeah, it's along the highway. It would be too noticeable."

"Should we then use a Golem Horse carriage and stay at an inn?"

Stearleana suggested taking the road that went through the towns of Igo and Shumi, which would allow them to reach Coupu in three days.

"We also have the newly refurbished Hotaka stationed at a nearby sea, so perhaps you would like to use it instead?"

Back when it was first constructed, the aircraft carrier "Hotaka" was not equipped with any weaponry, but in response to the recent incidents, it was furnished with 20 Magic Cannons and a Mana Bomb.

"Hmm…"

Jin, however, thought that it would be a big fuss to use an aircraft carrier with a displacement of 20,000 tons to a sea full of 30-seater boats.

"How about the Falcon? Is there anywhere near Coupu we could land it?"

"There is. There's a sandy beach west of Coupu that is rarely visited during the night."

"Should we use that, then?"

Jin was rather troubled about how they were going to travel. Saki and Elsa seemed to sympathize with him, and remained silent. Stearleana had a bitter smile on her face.

No matter how much I would've wanted to, I don't think I would've been able to tell you anything about it in such a short period of time. But the southern part of Celuroa… The atmosphere of the Korin region is different."

The Korin region used to be known as the Korin Kingdom about 200 years ago. However, it fell to an attack by the Celuroa Kingdom, and it became part of its territory.

"I find it very interesting that there aren't many traces of the Magic War there."

Just like the Elias Kingdom, this region at the southern tip of the continent was said to still have many old relics to this day, since it was not exposed to the chaos of war during the days of the Magic War.

"Though the fact that its population has declined due to both compulsory military enrollment and the Ether Stampede hasn't changed…"

The Ether Stampede was the last resort that the human race took to counter the demons in the Magic War 300 years ago.

However, the true nature behind its workings, which caused the Ether in the atmosphere to run haywire and destroy anyone with high enough magical power -whether it was a human or a demon- still remained a mystery.

Jin's magical power was by far the largest. If something like the Ether Stampede were to happen again, it would certainly be fatal to him.

More than Jin, Reiko, Laojun, and the Quinta have always wanted more information about the Ether Stampede so that they could come up with a countermeasure.

"Capella 9 is in the nearby town of Oath. Would you like me to get it ready so that it can be your guide?"

Jin shook his head sideways in response to Laojun's suggestion.

"There's no need for that. Stearleana here offered to guide us there."

"Understood. Still, I will keep it waiting in the vicinity. I will dispatch an air force to remain on standby as well."

These measures were in response to Ann's words of caution from the other day.

"Okay. I'll leave that to you."

With this, the party decided that Jin, Elsa, Saki, Stearleana, Reinhardt, and Berthie would be going to Coupu. They wouldn't be taking Hanna along with them this time.

"I hope we'll have a pleasant trip this time around."

"Kuhu, yeah, that'd be nice for a change."

As attendants, they would be taking Reiko, Edgar, Ehr, Noir (Schwartz Ritter), and Neon along.

"Selene might stand out too much for this trip…"

Looking at the seemingly disappointed Stearleana, Jin voiced out a suggestion.

"How about we put a Magic Skin on her to make her look like an automata?"

"That would be nice!"

Stearleana immediately agreed with the idea.

At the same time, they decided to strengthen Neon a little. This is because she was not up to par with the other automata in terms of being able to protect Berthie against a demon's attack.

Having Smith Golems to help Jin, Elsa, Reinhardt, and Stearleana, they were able to work on those tasks about twice as fast.

Considering the time difference, they would have to depart from Hourai Island at 7:20 AM in order to reach the west coast of Coupu at 3:00 AM.

In other words, there would be no problem in departing on the 25th of July. They had more than enough time to prepare.

Incidentally, Berthie later persuaded Saki to help her prepare that evening's supper.