"Then, could you please refrain from investigating Reiko's nature?"
Jin had finally decided on his request.
"Hmm. Reiko... that is the golem—no, the automata girl who repelled the intruders in the blink of an eye....Very well. It is a profound, profound pity, but I shall grant your request."
Jin breathed a sigh of relief at the King's words.
The King turned to one of the aides waiting nearby and gave a quiet instruction.
"I shall ensure that the chancellor and the other cabinet ministers are thoroughly informed of this. However, that alone does not satisfy my gratitude. I shall have a gift sent to you at a later date."
"Thank you very much."
Jin then voiced his most pressing concern.
"By the way, has the culprit—or the culprit golem—been found?"
Kelly, the royal ritter captain, was the one to answer.
"Your concern is well-founded. Our magi-ritters are currently conducting an exhaustive search. Additionally, reports indicate that the last of the rampaging golems was subdued just moments ago."
"I see."
From the perspective of the royal ritter corps, they had felt a sense of professional obligation to handle the conclusion themselves, especially after Jin—a guest of their guest—had been so remarkably active.
"Your Majesty, Your Highness, the danger appears to have passed. Please, return to your chambers and rest."
At Captain Kelly's report, the King finally looked at ease.
"Ernest, shall we retire?...Minister of Internal Affairs, I leave the remaining matters in your hands."
With that, the King and the Prince withdrew to their private rooms under heavy escort.
"I cannot offer enough apologies to our guests that the day has ended in such a manner."
The Minister of Internal Affairs, tasked with managing the aftermath, bowed deeply to each of the remaining nobles and invited guests.
"This hall is in disarray. Fortunately, the Guest House appears to be untouched. Let us move there."
He took the lead himself, guiding the group toward the Guest House.
On the way, the party passed the thick iron door that separated the Inner Palace and the Outer Palace. Seeing how it had been warped and buckled, most of the guests felt their blood run cold at the thought of a golem rampaging with such force. A few, however, had an inkling of who was actually responsible and felt a chill of a different sort.
The nobles and guests from outside the royal capital gathered in the Great Hall of the Guest House. Once they were settled, the Minister of Internal Affairs bowed once more.
"I know words alone cannot rectify this situation, but nevertheless, I wish to apologize on behalf of the kingdom."
He paused for a moment before continuing.
"Preparations for the evening meal will be completed here shortly. Please, make yourselves at home and enjoy the food."
Because there had been no time to organize formal seating or protocol, the dinner became an informal, buffet-style affair born of necessity.
While some participants harbored dissatisfaction regarding the day's events, the general atmosphere was one of mental exhaustion; most were content to leave grievances for the following day.
The Minister of Internal Affairs had considered arranging baths first, but given that the guests had been attacked mid-lunch and dusk was already falling, he prioritized the meal.
However, due to the hasty setup, there were not enough tables and chairs, forcing them into a standing buffet format. Since the seriously injured had been moved to the infirmary, Elsa and Beena were relieved to find they wouldn't have to face Count Guarana.
"Ah, now that I think about it, I'm starving."
"Me too. We'd just started our late lunch when the chaos broke out."
Beena was sticking close to Jin's side. Count Kuzuma watched them intently from a short distance away.
Sensing that gaze, Jin spoke up.
"Beena, how are you going to handle the Count's feelings?"
Beena nearly choked on her food.
"S-Stop it! I... I don't really know yet!" she eventually managed to stammer out.
Elsa joined them then, her plate piled high with citran.
"Jin-kun, once again... thank you."
She gave a small nod, moving carefully so the citran wouldn't tumble from her plate.
"It's fine, don't worry about it. I'm just glad you're safe."
"Mm. It was truly terrifying."
No matter how much the Barrier protected her, having a crowd of golems swarming just inches from her face had undoubtedly been harrowing.
"I'm grateful to Jin-kun and... Reiko-chan."
Elsa looked around the room.
"Speaking of which, where is Reiko-chan?"
Jin smiled.
"She's right here....Reiko!"
"Yes, Father."
"!!"
Reiko deactivated her Stealth and appeared out of thin air, causing both Elsa and Beena to jump. No matter how many times they saw it, it wasn't something one could get used to easily.
"You remember how the bandits at the mountain pass used Hide? I researched that and made a more effective version....That's enough, Reiko."
At Jin's word, Reiko vanished once more.
"I see. Jin-kun really is amazing."
"Wait, Hide? What's that?"
Elsa and Beena had very different reactions.
"It's magic that was stored in an item used by the bandits who attacked us," Elsa explained.
Hearing this, Beena's expression softened. "I see....Elsa, you've been traveling with Jin, so you've shared all sorts of experiences, haven't you?"
"...?"
Elsa looked confused as Beena suddenly seemed to lose her energy.
"Beena, does your stomach hurt?"
"Eh? N-No. I'm fine."
"Really? Then that's good....Ah, Rai-nii."
Elsa looked past them toward Reinhard. Standing beside him was a beautiful woman with blonde hair reaching down to her waist.
"Is that... if I recall, Dominique-san?"
The woman was indeed Dominique, the special envoy from the Celuroa Kingdom. She was elegantly curved in all the right places, appearing to be exactly the type Reinhard would find attractive.
"But I haven't heard any romantic rumors about Reinhard," Jin remarked.
Elsa tilted her head. "Romantic rumors? Rai-nii isn't romantic, he's a diplomat. Are you talking about poetry?"
Seeing she had missed the idiom entirely, Jin explained that he was talking about rumors of relationships with women. To his surprise, Elsa blurted out the truth.
"Rai-nii has a fiancée back home."
"Heh... I see. So Reinhard is spoken for."
Elsa went on to explain that for noble men, marriage anytime after twenty was perfectly normal. Some even married as early as eighteen.
"I see. And what about women?"
At the question, Elsa looked startled for a moment before her expression settled into its usual mask.
"For girls, some marry as early as thirteen. Usually, it's between fifteen and nineteen."
"Is that so?"
Jin realized once again that the marriage age in this world was quite young.
"Jin-kun, how old are you? I'm sixteen," Elsa asked, leaning in slightly to look at Jin's face, offering her own age without being prompted.
"Me? I'm twenty. Actually, almost twenty-one."
As soon as Jin answered, Beena let out a sharp cry of disbelief.
"Eeeeeeeeh?!"
"Hey, remember where we are," Jin cautioned, but Beena was reeling.
"J-J-J-Jin, you're twenty?! I thought for sure you were the same age as me, or maybe a year or two older at most!"
"Me too," Elsa agreed.
Jin felt a bit discouraged by their assessment.
"...Do I really look that childish?"
When he muttered that, Beena frantically tried to backtrack. "N-No, it's not that. It's just, how do I put it..."
"You look youthful," Elsa offered as a lifeline, though the compliment didn't help much.
It was true that Japanese people often looked younger than Westerners of the same age.
However, Jin had once been told by a classmate at the night school he attended that he "seemed like a little old man," a comment that had stuck with him.
"Face of a youth, soul of a geezer, huh," he sighed with self-deprecation.
"Jin-kun... is it rude to call you that?"
Elsa, who had been calling him Jin-kun without realizing he was four years her senior, looked concerned. Jin told her that it would be awkward to change it now, and besides, since she was of higher social status, he preferred things to stay as they were.
"Pardon me for interrupting your conversation. You are Jin-dono, correct?"
A new voice addressed him. It was Stearena, one of the Celuroa Kingdom's premier magi craftsmen and the creator of the crystal golem Celes.