Magi Craft Meister

Magi Craft Meister 574

16 Resolution With The Demons Arc

17-23 Cleaning Up

The sky was starting to get dark, but there was still a single concern left in Bafrosk's mind. It was Donacia's whereabouts.

"…It pains me to admit this, but four members of my clan are still missing. Do you know anything about this?"

Bafrosk asked Reiko with a very soft attitude.

"There seems to be a small base about 10 kilometers south of here. Perhaps they're there?"

The four members were Donacia and the three men that Bafrosk had sent after her.

A mere 10 kilometers wouldn't be much of a challenge for anyone with enhanced physical capabilities.

The radicals arrived at the scene in about 15 minutes.

"There's nothing here…"

There didn't seem to be anything to be found in the white wilderness, which had turned gray under the ever-darkening sky.

But then…

"What's this?"

Reiko, who had no choice but to follow Bafrosk and the others on Jin's orders, found something that had fallen on the surface of the earth and picked it up.

It was a fragment of a Magic Crystal. It was impossible for something like that to exist in this wilderness by natural means.

"This is a fragment of a transfer marker."

"…What does that mean?"

Bafrosk thought hard, but was unable to connect the dots.

"It means that our four missing people may have been taken away by transfer."

"How does that work?"

Bafrosk seemed to have a hard time figuring things of this nature out all by himself. Reiko shrugged a little and then explained.

"…Someone transferred to this transfer marker, and then took the four of them away by transferring back. When that happened, this marker here was destroyed. …Do you follow?"

Bafrosk nodded. He seemed to have grasped enough of this time.

"I see, I understand. So where have they transferred to?"

"As far as I know, there are three possibilities.

There were still two unrecovered transfer markers on the demon's side of the continent.

One of them was at an unidentified base 300 kilometers north, and the other one in the mountains 50 km northwest. The last possibility Reiko was referring to was the place where the markers they had retrieved were being stored.

"It's highly likely that out of these options, they went to the one 300 kilometers to the north. It seems that there's where Nega-Doll 001 had set up his own base of operations."

"300 kilometers, huh…?"

It was further to the north of the Gospel clan's territory, in a location beyond a small mountain range. Despite the radical's superior physical prowess, such a long distance made Bafrosk hesitate.

"We won't make it before the day is over. Can you leave it to us?"

Ann asked that question, then continued.

"My master will soon arrive."

Just as she had pointed out, Capricorn 1 was visible in the distance.

Bafrosk and the other demons welcomed Capricorn 1 and Jin with a certain degree of awe.

"I see, so you're missing 4 people…"

After coming down from Capricorn 1, Jin ('s double) was brought up to speed by Bafrosk and the others, and then made a gesture as if thinking about something.

"Belials of Kugutsu also said that he was worried about his missing sister. And Lardus' whereabouts are still unknown, right?"

So in total, there were six missing demons.

"First of all, we would need to head for that place 300 kilometers to the north."

In response to the double's remarks, Bafrosk -chief of the Kaigyaku clan- asked him a question.

"Mr. Jin, I have something to ask you."

"What is it?"

"…Is it really true that you said that you'd won't let anyone else die?"

Baffrosk still couldn't understand Jin's way of thinking.

"I did. But what about it?"

"…It's a way of thinking that we can't understand."

"…I see"

Jin ('s double) once again seemed to be deep in thought.

"…I'm not good at explaining this, so it may be difficult to understand, but let's just say I said that because I thought it would be good for me in the end."

"…?"

Bafrosk was taken aback by Jin's sudden rhetoric.

"What I want is nothing but peace, and I'm always thinking about the shortest path to guarantee a peaceful life for everyone.

"…"

Baffrosk still looked like he couldn't understand.

"This is a personal feeling, but I hate the idea of murder. I wouldn't be happy at all if I were to obtain this peace by killing all of demonkind.

Jin picked his words carefully to explain his position in a way that the demons could understand.

"Besides, this way also has the advantage of us all being able to deepen our connections, opening up the possibility of being able to trade with one another."

"That I feel like I can understand."

"I know you're studying humans as well, but there are big differences between individual human beings. The more we are, the larger the differences between each of us. You ought to think that it's simply impossible to grasp this difference by looking at ten or twenty people."

It seemed that Bafrosk could agree with that, since he nodded in a very profuse manner.

"I see. I'll take that to heart."

"So, anyway, I said that I wouldn't let anyone else die because I thought it was the best for everyone. That's all."

"Hmm… That's good enough for me."

At this point, Bafrosk decided to stop pursuing this topic.

The first stars of the night started blinking in the sky. Jin made another statement.

"I'll be using this Capricorn 1 to head north. I would like all of you to return to your territories and wait there."

"…It's a bit disappointing, but I understand. We'll wait for your return."

Bafrosk nodded reluctantly.

"I'll go with you"

Belials had joined the conversation. He had been traveling with Jin and the others so far, looking for clues to his sister's whereabouts.

"I also know what Donacia looks like, so I'm sure I'll be of some use to you."

Since they had been working together for quite some time now, it was hard for Jin to refuse his offer.

"That's right, Mr. Jin. You'd do well to take him with you."

Bafrosk also added his own input about it.

"Sure thing. Let's go then."

Thus Capricorn 1 set out for the north under the veil of night with Jin ('s double), Reiko, Ann, Belials, and Land 1 on board.

＊ ＊ ＊

Meanwhile, Laozi was heading northwest all by himself. He wanted to check things out from a nearby location.

It took him 30 minutes of running at about 100 km/h to reach his destination at the base of the first of the mountains in a large mountain range.

"It has to be somewhere underground around here."

An initial search revealed three holes that seemed to be used for air conditioning.

"…These were not very well hidden. Perhaps the base here is not very important."

Speaking to himself, Laozi carefully peered into one of these holes.

He switched to infrared vision and looked around.

"Nothing seems to be at work down here. I cannot sense any magical reaction whatsoever. It is probably safe to go down here."

After searching for about an hour, Laozi decided it was safe enough for him to infiltrate the base.

Using a gravity control magic device to reduce his weight to one tenth of its original value, he jumped into the hole. Rather than being completely vertical, this ventilation duct was at an angle of about 80 degrees, so Laozi was able to kill some of his falling speed by rubbing his hands against the walls.

Somewhere down the way, the tunnel bent upwards for a while and then bent back downwards, probably as a way to prevent the inflow of rain.

After a descent of about 20 meters, Laozi finally came out the other end of the hole, arriving on a solid floor.

Then, he turned off his gravity control Magi Device and deployed a barrier as well as an invisibility spell before starting to investigate the area.

"This looks like some kind of abandoned warehouse…"

The large room he found himself in was mostly empty. A closer examination revealed that there were some Magi Crystal fragments and metal scraps laying around the floor.

He also found a transfer marker buried shallowly in the floor near the center of the room.

Laozi collected that as well.

"Well, there seems to be nothing to see here anymore."

Laozi used his gravity control Magi Device to make himself lighter and began to climb his way back to the surface through the ventilation duct.