Chapter 501: Prisoners of War

Chapter 501: Prisoners of War

“So, what are those two right now?”

After leaving Giebeck’s house, Jin (or rather, his double) searched around for Shion and Lucas, who would probably still be out on their walk around the village.

However, he was immediately informed of their location following a report made by the Land Units to Laojun.

They were currently by the northern edge of the village, apparently to gaze upon the wheat fields.

It took about 10 minutes of gentle-paced strolling for the substitute doll to follow the path they had taken and finally meet with them.

“Good morning.”

“Ah, Master Jin, good morning.”

“…Good morning.”

“Good morning, Lord Jin.”

Belle, then Lucas, and finally Shion greeted Jin back.

“You seem to be much better. I’m glad to see that.”

“Yes, thanks to you. Um, the wheat grows really nice here.”

“Oh, so you do have wheat in your territory?”

“Yes, we can somehow manage to grow some wheat for about four months a year.”

“Ah, so it’s like an oceanic climate…”

“Huh?”

Shion’s face had question marks written all over it.

“Umm, the oceanic climate is…”

Jin shared the general knowledge that regions near the sea are affected by the “hard to warm and hard to cool” nature of water. There is little change in temperature over the years, and the humidity is high, so the annual rainfall is also high.

“Oh, so that’s what it is? It’s true that many of us take up residence near the seashore. We’ve been unknowingly using this ‘oceanic… climate’?

Shion nodded as if astonished.

“Ah, I’ve read about that in one of the books in the library!”

“Huh, did you know about this too, Ms. Belle?”

Shion seemed a little shocked by Belle’s words.

“But you can’t be walking around too much or you’ll get tired, and we can’t have that, can we? Shall we go back to the castle?”

“…Yeah, you’re right…”

Shion’s lively spirit was instantly snuffed out.

“Do you know so much about this world because you are the Magi Craft Meister, Lord Jin?”

Shion asked such a question upon returning to Nidou Castle.

“Um, well, yeah, I think.”

His reply wasn’t exactly a lie. As the human Jin was summoned from another world as the second generation Magi Craft Meister, he had been given all of the knowledge he would need for his new role.

“I’m a bit jealous of you, Ms. Belle… After all, you’re able to receive so much knowledge from Lord Jin.”

“Huh?”

Since Shion seemed to have misunderstood, Jin explained to her that Belle’s knowledge came from reading books in the library.

“Books, huh? Can I see them?”

Shion seemed to be very interested in books, as her eyes were sparkling with excitement.

“Yeah, sure. Let’s go to the library on the 3rd floor.”

“Yes!”

Joined by Shion and Lucas, Jin went to the 3rd floor. Shion was rendered speechless by the sight of the library, which was next to Jin’s office.

“…”

Her eyes shimmered as she stared at the many books that filled the library’s shelves.

(This place is starting to get too filled up…)

Jin could feel Laojun’s obsession with books.

“Feel free to pick any book that catches your eye. You can just sit here and read to your heart’s content.”

“Thank you very much, Lord Jin!”

Right after thanking Jin, Shion took three books out of their shelves and quickly began reading one of them.

“The young lady really loves reading books…”

Lucas had an exasperated look on his face.

“Oh, but you can read anything you like as well.”

“…I’m the young lady’s guard.”

“Hehe, if you’re not very good at reading, you can be honest about it.”

“…”

“Well, knock yourselves out. Belle will come back for you once lunch is ready.”

Jin then left the library.

Back in Hourai Island, the real Jin sighed in relief.

“Hmmm, the substitute doll did pretty well. I can’t come up with any improvements for the time being. And those two look like they will be completely recovered in a day or two.”

He had to consider leaving for the Gondoa continent around the day after tomorrow.

Jin, who had been following the behavior of the substitute doll he had sent to Hourai Island, stood from his seat at the monitor and stretched out his limbs, trying to imagine what unexpected circumstances he could encounter there, and then realizing that they wouldn’t be unexpected if he could just imagine them.

＊　　　＊　　　＊

“Laojun, how’s the Mole doing?”

Since he had entrusted the Mole’s management to Laojun, Jin asked him about its current status.

“It’s going well, My Lord. We’re still investigating as we go deeper down the Inad Mine.”

“That’s good to know.”

“Yes. We’re able to collect a considerable amount of data with it.”

“Great.”

“There were some veins that had been overlooked in previous explorations, so the mine should still be useful to some extent.”

The Mole had been built specifically for underground exploration, and it was able to do things that humans couldn’t.

“I was wondering if I could take it to the depth where the Giant Centipedes were.”

“Oh, there? Sure, but be careful.”

“Yes. We’ve also detected an unknown magic tool in the mine, so we’ll look for it with caution.”

＊　　　＊　　　＊

“By the way, My Lord, some information came from the Frantz Kingdom which may be of interest to you.”

“Hm? What happened?”

“They have apparently captured some demons there.”

“Captured?”

Laojun started to explain.

The information provided by Regulus 7 the day before yesterday was that a pair of suspected demons was captured in Enak, a town on the outskirts of the northeastern part of the kingdom.

They appeared to be a male and a female 17 or 18 years old. The girl called herself “Istalis of Shinra”, while her guard was referred to as “Netros”.

“It’s unclear what they have been up to after entering the Frantz Kingdom.”

The reason for that was that Enak’s town mayor had devised a plan to capture them.

He had set up a meeting to talk with them and treated them like guests, and that same night he apparently poisoned their food.

It seemed that the two demons realized something was off once they were escorted to the capital.

“Hmm, ‘Shinra’, you said? Do you think it’s one of Shion’s relatives?”

“That is very likely. We may have underestimated the Frantz Kingdom to some extent. It was rather low in terms of importance compared to other countries.”

“Nothing to be done about that now. The Frantz Kingdom is basically a vassal state to the Celuroa Kingdom anyway.”

“Yes. However, we should have sent in the Quinta to scout its capital and the surrounding areas.”

“How about we send some now?”

“If you would allow me, My Lord, I would like to send 10 more Regulus to the area.”

“Understood. Please do.”

Jin immediately gave him his permission. Information was more valuable and important than anything else.

“Thank you very much. I’ll proceed with that at once.”

With that out of the way, Jin thought about what to do with this.

Should he tell Shion about this, or should he keep quiet for a while? What would Shion do if he were to tell her? Would she ask him to help those captured demons? Or would she disregard them? He couldn’t come up with an answer.

After pondering for a while, he decided he would tell her.

Reiko wasn’t with him this time, because she had gone to Hourai Island to join Jin’s substitute doll.

“…I can’t seem to be able to calm down…”

Jin had an uncomfortable feeling, similar to knowing he was wearing only one sock. Reiko would always be right next to him, almost like his own shadow.

“I wonder if I’m relying too much on Reiko.”

Laojun refrained from commenting on Jin’s muttering.