The inspection on the Celuroa side had been rigorous, but the process for entering the Shouro Empire was almost anticlimactically simple.
That was only to be expected, considering they were traveling with the captain of the 3rd Company of the Imperial Guards.
Once they had safely cleared the imperial checkpoint, the group continued forward for another five minutes. Before them stood a town unlike any they had seen before—Banmu, the border town of the Shouro Empire.
Reinhard stepped down from the carriage just before they entered. Jin followed suit and joined him.
Reinhard extended his hand toward Jin. "Welcome to the Shouro Empire."
He seemed to remember how Jin had once greeted him with, "Welcome to Kunlun Island."
"Thank you, Reinhard."
Jin gripped his hand in return, and both men began to laugh for no particular reason. The sky over the Shouro Empire was a clear, brilliant blue.
"A rockslide, you say?"
The scene was set in Doppa Village. It was a small settlement of about twenty households located between the Town of Charles and Toka Village. Along with another village called Rakuno, it served as a vital waystation and resupply base on the highway.
At the moment, a traveling merchant's carriage was stuck there.
About five kilometers ahead, a cliff had collapsed, piling rocks high enough to block the narrow pass and making it completely impassable. Though that point on the highway was somewhat narrow, there hadn't been a rockslide there in years—no, decades.
Regardless of the anomaly, the reality remained.
"When will the road be cleared?"
The merchant asked the soldiers dispatched to monitor the area and prevent secondary disasters.
"We don't know," one soldier replied. "We lack the manpower to move that many rocks, and there's a risk of further collapses. For now, we can't give you a definitive date."
"That can't be..."
Beyond the blockage lay Rakuno, Toka Village, the Inado Mine, and Kaina Village. Given the season, this was the time when people needed daily necessities like salt, as well as spices, cloth, and clothing.
"It’s no use waiting here. Let’s head back to the Town of Charles for now."
"You're right, Director."
Roland, the outside representative of the Raglann Company, turned back the way he had come, accompanied by a rookie merchant.
Deneb 2 was the member of the Quinta assigned to the Town of Charles. Capella 2 was stationed in Rakham, while Spica 1 was in Presos. Additionally, Deneb 29 was currently assigned specifically to monitor Earl Walter on a temporary basis.
Since these towns were located along the highway connecting Kaina Village and the Klein Kingdom’s capital, Alban, Jin—and by extension, Laojun—viewed them as high-priority locations.
Earl Walter, naturally, was already listed as a person of interest on the Hourai Island Blacklist.
[It is quite strange, considering there hasn't been any heavy rain,] Laojun noted upon receiving the report. He scented a man-made plot behind the rockslide. [Is this the 'next scheme' mentioned in Deneb 29's report?]
The cunning Earl Walter rarely used specific proper nouns even during his own meetings, preferring pronouns like "that matter" or "that place," so even Laojun had been unable to grasp the full scope of the plan.
[There is no doubt about it.]
Laojun considered reporting this to Jin immediately, but since there was no immediate emergency, he decided it could wait until the scheduled evening contact. He resolved to handle the situation in the meantime and include the results in his update.
[Determine the current location of the individual in question and report back,] Laojun commanded.
[Well, the countermeasure is simple enough.]
Laojun thought to himself, a devious grin forming on his face—or it would have, if he had one.
[If you intend to crush someone, you should do it once and do it thoroughly. It would be even better if we could extract further concessions from the Klein Kingdom in the process.]
Laojun appeared to be developing a rather devious side.
"I’m home."
Lishia Fahlheit had finally returned to her family residence.
Because the Third Ritter Order, led by her father Niclas, had remained behind to repair the walls of Tetrada, she had stayed under the guise of treating those injured in accidents during the reconstruction. Part of it was out of a sense of duty, and the other half was due to the consideration of the captain of the Relief Ritter Corps, to which Lishia belonged.
"Welcome home, Lishia. It's good to see you looking well."
A woman with reddish-brown hair and brown eyes greeted her. This was Lishia's mother, Milia Fahlheit.
"You've gotten quite tan." Milia seemed a bit surprised that her fair-skinned daughter had returned with such dark skin.
"Well, yes. I was out in the sun every single day."
"...You'll never find a suitor looking like that."
"M-Mother!?"
Lishia was sixteen this year, which was right around marriageable age. However, Lishia was not in a position to think about that yet. As a member of the new nobility, a sense of confidence had only just begun to sprout within her following the recent conflict.
"I think my current duty suits my nature perfectly. So I won't be getting married just yet. Besides, what would happen to the succession?"
Lishia was an only daughter. If she married into another house, there would be no one left to inherit the family name.
"Oh, that’s fine. If you have two or more children, we’ll just adopt one of them to be the heir."
"Mother!"
Cutting off her mother’s words—uncertain whether she was being airheaded or serious—Lishia fled to her room to change.
"...What is this?"
Having finished changing and taking a breath in her room, Lishia noticed a sword resting on the side table.
"...My sword? How did the sword I lost in Tetrada end up here?"
Since thinking about it wouldn't provide the answer, Lishia left the room to find her mother.
"Perfect timing. I was just about to call you because the tea is ready."
Lishia showed the sword to her carefree mother. "More importantly, this sword! Why is this in our house?"
"Eh? Oh, that. Apparently, a woman we didn't know stopped by and said she was 'entrusted with it by someone named Maquina' before leaving it here."
"A woman? Was it Aaru who received it?" Aaru was the live-out maid who worked for House Fahlheit.
"Yes. She supposedly left it and went away without even giving her name."
"I see..."
Lishia had been devastated when she lost the sword she cherished. But in Tetrada, other knights and soldiers had also been stripped of their weapons and armor, so she couldn't complain. She was honestly happy that the sword she had given up on had returned, but she couldn't help but wonder: why only hers?
"Maquina... if I recall, that’s the name of the mysterious person who appeared in the Kingdom of Egerea."
How did that person know the sword belonged to Lishia? Only one possibility came to mind.
"Jin-san?"
It meant that Jin had some kind of connection with Maquina.
(If only we hadn't missed each other, I might have been able to ask him.)
Upon her return, Lishia had gone straight to the Royal Castle to report, where she heard that an Honorary Magi Craftman from the Kingdom of Egerea named "Jin" had crafted swords and golems. She had heard this from Gloria Allstatt, the vice-captain of the Royal Female Ritter Corps. Gloria, who had also been her instructor, had shown Lishia the sword he had made for her with an incredibly joyful expression.
(But I'm glad. Jin-san seems to be doing well.)
Lishia, who had been constantly worried about Jin after he left Kaina Village, felt as though a small thorn had finally been removed from her heart. It would be a little while longer before she was officially told that Jin had taken Kaina Village as a leased territory for the next fifty years.
"Whoa—what in the world is this?"
By the banks of the Erme River in Kaina Village, a mysterious stone structure had appeared. If Jin had seen it, he would have recognized it immediately as the stone foundation of a Japanese castle.
Laojun had chosen nothing less than a castle to be Jin's mansion as the village lord. Specifically, he intended to build a grand keep in the style of Matsumoto or Osaka Castle.
"Those are some massive stones. How did they even move them?"
The stone walls, which had been piled up during the night using Daidara, stood about eight meters high. A young girl who had come to the river to get magi-stones for a stove had discovered the construction and informed the village, causing a crowd of curious onlookers to gather.
At the moment, Smith golems were carving wood to craft pillars. It seemed it wouldn't quite be an "overnight castle," as Laojun had shown some restraint in his own way.
"Good people, this is to be an 'O-Shiro'—the official mansion for Jin-sama."
Butler A, acting as Jin's deputy during his absence, explained the situation. The residents, having grown accustomed to golems that spoke and moved just like humans, accepted the explanation readily.
"I see. Well, it is Jin, after all."
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say those words represented the firm bond between Jin and the villagers. However, it didn't change the fact that the project was beyond common sense.
"Wh-Wh-Wh-Who on earth is Jin-sama!?"
Only Barrow, who was still adjusting to the village, let out a cry that was close to a scream under the clear sky.
Movements were beginning everywhere...