The next day, the 24th.
After hurriedly finishing breakfast, Jin first warped to Kaina Village to give his report.
When he reached Martha’s house, Hanna had just stepped out to wash her face.
"Onii-chan!"
Upon spotting Jin, Hanna ran over and threw herself at him. Jin caught her and lifted her up.
"Good morning, Hanna. I’ve wrapped everything up."
"Good morning, Onii-chan! So, you won't have to go anywhere else anymore?"
Jin gently set Hanna back down on the ground.
"Hmm, I still have some cleanup to do, so could you wait just one more day?"
"Ehh..."
As they spoke, Martha, Elsa, and Mine heard the commotion and came outside.
"Welcome back, Jin."
"I'm back, Martha-san. Elsa, Mine, I'm home."
"Welcome back," Elsa said with her usual concise nod.
"Welcome home, Jin-sama. I am glad to see you are safe."
Jin addressed them all, briefly explaining that Unifilar had been neutralized.
"Now I just have to handle Unifilar’s reorganization—or rather, I’m going to make the neutralized organization atone for what they've done."
He explained that the Chairman and the second seat had been brainwashed. Elsa, having some knowledge of such things, was convinced immediately, and Mine understood quickly as well, having had her own suspicions.
Martha only had a vague grasp of the situation, and it went without saying that Hanna understood even less.
"Anyway, I’m going to spend today taking care of the aftermath."
At Jin's explanation, Hanna gave a reluctant nod of agreement.
"Now then, Elena, it's time for your role."
Having returned to Hourai Island, Jin called for Elena.
"Yes, Master. What would you have me do?"
"For a while, you will act as an advisor to Unifilar to oversee the organization's dissolution and rebirth..."
"Elena-san, I will also provide assistance as needed," Laojun added, supplementing Jin's instructions.
"Then, Master, I shall be off."
Boarding the Falcon 4, Elena headed back to the Unifilar headquarters via the submersible base in Azul Lake.
Waiting there were the former Chairman, Jules Rolant, and the former second seat, Donald Carroux Alpha.
Both had been nearly killed or hit by Shock magic, which had cleared their brainwashing. Furthermore, Elena—the former Golden Destruction Princess—possessed information in her memories regarding the Subliminal magic used on them. Naturally, she also knew how to undo it.
"I hope things go well..."
Watching the Falcon 4 disappear into the giant Warp Gate behind the laboratory, Jin prayed for their success.
Jin’s calculation was as follows:
Originally, Unifilar’s ideology was to recreate the Dinar Kingdom from before the Great Magic War. That had been subverted by the Golden Destruction Princess into a quest for continental unification.
Therefore, by utilizing the fact that the top two leaders had returned to their senses, they would clear the brainwashing of everyone from the executives down to the rank-and-file members, turning them into a harmless group.
In doing so, Jin intended to grant them a few technologies—aside from the ancient ones the Golden Destruction Princess had taught them—to serve as a unifying force.
Specifically, he was thinking of the "manaphone." This was, in a sense, a simplified version of the manacam; while it was wireless, it was a communication device that could only talk to a specific recipient.
Size-wise, it was about as large as a desk and was not portable. Unlike the manacam, it couldn't select different recipients. However, it would be more than sufficient to serve as a hotline between national leaders.
An even further simplified version—or perhaps just a smaller one with a shorter effective range—seemed to have been used between the Golden Destruction Princess and the Chairman within Unifilar. Thus, it wasn't a particularly dangerous technology to spread.
Such technology would serve as a unifying force for the reborn Unifilar while also acting as an apology to the surrounding nations. Jin didn't know exactly what form of apology Jules and Donald intended to offer, but providing this technology would likely serve as some form of atonement.
"But still, it's huge..."
The prototype manaphone that Laojun had built was indeed about the size of a desk.
"Connecting over long distances is quite an ordeal, isn't it?"
The reason for its size was that it was divided into many parts, each one a sophisticated magic tool. Jin found himself impressed all over again by the range of the manacams he had created. After all, they could reach the other side of the planet.
"Looking at it that way, the ones I made must use ether instead of mana..."
He hadn't realized it when he analyzed the artifact magi-screens and applied the method, carelessly naming them "manacams," but they really should have been called "ethercams." Well, the phrasing was awkward, so he figured the current name was fine.
As a side note, the use of kanji contributed greatly to miniaturization. Since the Magi Language was also a form of "Word Spirit," writing it in kanji—where the characters themselves held meaning—increased efficiency and multiplied the effects several times over.
But back to the topic at hand.
While he would leave the support for Unifilar to Laojun, there was still the matter of aid for the various countries. This wasn't strictly something Jin had to worry about, but since his intervention had been delayed and resulted in victims and damage, he wanted to provide some form of assistance.
"Even if it's just hypocrisy, it's better than doing nothing."
With that in mind, he decided to first donate materials to the Kingdom of Egerea, which was likely the country most affected, using ingots made from the melted golems.
The quantities were roughly 200 tons of steel, 200 tons of bronze, and 50 tons of light silver, along with a small amount of adamantite and mithril. Their market value was approximately 150 billion Toll.
Similarly, he planned to donate half that amount to Tetrada in the Klein Kingdom.
In addition, he decided to return the confiscated Elradrite that bore national seals to their respective countries. Fifteen went to the Kingdom of Egerea, and ten to the Klein Kingdom. There were no seals from the Celuroa Kingdom, the Kingdom of Franz, or the Kingdom of Elias.
Since all of these were materials from the melted golems, it didn't hurt Hourai Island's resources. It only cost them the labor involved. Jin was also left with forty-one pieces of Elradrite that bore no seals. That was plenty.
He planned to transport them in the middle of the night using several Pelicans equipped with Stealth functions. Jin couldn't help but chuckle as he imagined the faces of the warehouse managers when they woke up in the morning to find the surprise.
"...Just when will we be able to depart?"
On their way back to their home country, Reinhard, Fritz, and the others were further delayed due to the turmoil within the Celuroa Kingdom.
"My Lord, regarding the responses from the leaders of each country whom we informed about the Unifilar puppets..."
Jin was currently listening to a report from Laojun. It was the latest information brought in this morning by the Quinta.
"The Klein Kingdom and the Kingdom of Egerea have, for the time being, removed those identified as puppets from their positions. The Celuroa Kingdom still appears to be in a state of internal conflict."
It was no surprise, as the Celuroa Kingdom was the nation where Unifilar had its deepest roots.
"All dispatched armies have withdrawn to their respective countries. National borders have apparently reverted to their original positions."
Even so, the fact that invasions and attacks had occurred would not simply disappear. While the countries themselves would have to handle the exchanges of apologies and reparations, Jin was concerned about the common people.
"What is the casualty status of the commoners?"
"Yes, it is reportedly minimal. Because they had begun evacuating in advance, there are no fatalities among the commoners. There are a total of 24 seriously injured and 249 lightly injured."
"I'd like to secretly provide recovery medicine to the seriously injured."
"Yes, that is possible. I shall issue instructions to the Quinta tonight."
"Yeah, please do."
With that, Jin felt significantly more at ease.
"Beyond that, I suppose I'd like to know how my acquaintances are doing."
As he muttered that, Laojun reacted immediately.
"Yes. Based on what we know, Lishia Fahlheit of the Klein Kingdom is currently in Tetrada. She is working hard as a member of the Relief Ritter Corps."
So Lishia is there, Jin thought. Perhaps she had found what she wanted to do.
"As for Beena and Count Kuzuma, though the Count participated in the military deployment, he has reportedly returned to Blue Land now that the conflict has concluded."
Jin wondered if their wedding would be soon.
"The Kingdom of Elias, where Port Rock is located, seems to have been unaffected by this disturbance."
Marcia is probably working hard, Jin thought, remembering his days in Port Rock with nostalgia.
"Confusion in the Kingdom of Egerea's capital, Asunt, continues, but it is reportedly starting to settle down."
The interactions with Prince Ernest and Lyla had been fun, Jin recalled with a smile.
"That is all. Furthermore, Telurus in the Celuroa Kingdom is currently blockaded, and no one is permitted to enter or leave."
Speaking of Telurus, Jin wondered how the healer Sally was doing.
"Now that I think about it, is Siebe's family still there?"
"Ah, as for them, they appear to have returned to their home country before the conflict began. Capella 3 of the Quinta spotted them in Dizier."
"I see, that's good then."
There were still many things weighing on his mind, but Jin felt the tension leave his shoulders, knowing he had taken what actions he could for now.
Just then, Reiko arrived carrying some citran juice.
"Father, please take a break."
"Ah, thank you."
As he sipped the well-chilled juice, Jin let his thoughts wander toward the peace that seemed finally at hand and his plans for the future.