"Now then, as for the rest..."
"T-there's still more...?"
The plaintive voice belonged to Mine. It was only natural, as she was the member of the group furthest removed from the world of magi-engineering.
"Mine, I'll make this the last thing for today."
"For today, you say...?"
They moved further into the laboratory, heading down to the first basement floor. They stopped in the room directly above the one where Laojun was situated.
"This is the command room. I used this place during the battle with the Unifilar, but what I want to show you now is the magi-radar."
"Magi-radar?"
"Yeah. It allows us to track the location of any registered magic pattern."
Despite the brevity of the explanation, Reinhard gasped as he grasped the implications.
"What did you say!?"
He followed the outburst with a long, heavy sigh.
"Phew... Honestly, I don't know how many more times I can be surprised today—no, in just half a day..."
"Dear, what does that mean? This magi-radar..."
"...It means that even if we were to go missing, for example, he could find us immediately with this device."
Elsa was the one who provided the explanation.
"...Is that right, Jin-nii?"
Jin nodded.
"Yeah, exactly. In fact, when Elsa was kidnapped by the Unifilar, I found her by tracking the magic signature of the brooch I gave her."
"...That's how you did it?"
Mine was rendered speechless. When she had taken Elsa away in a manner tantamount to kidnapping, she had made the girl leave behind her dagger, her rings, and almost all of her magic tools.
Mine shuddered to think what would have happened if Elsa hadn't secretly carried that brooch with her.
"H-how exactly does it work? How can you track something down like that?"
Stearena was clearly intrigued, but since the principle was entirely beyond her, she bombarded him with questions.
"It uses triangulation—though that term might not mean much to you. There are these devices called magi-detectors. When you use them, you can determine the direction of a source."
"Ah, I think I follow. Even we can sense powerful magic, after all. Is it something like that?"
Jin nodded. As expected of the number two magi craftman in the Celuroa Kingdom, she caught on fast.
"With just one, you can tell the direction, but you won't know the distance. You can only guess based on the intensity of the magic. But if you use two—or ideally three or more..."
"Ah! I see! If the directions pointed to by several of those... magi-detectors? If they all converge on one point, then that's where the magic you're looking for must be!"
She seemed to have grasped the general theory.
"Oh, it's marvelous! It feels as though the entire world has been rewritten in the span of a single afternoon."
Stearena trembled with emotion once more. No one had expected her to be so expressive, and the entire group watched her in surprise.
"You must have been quite repressed until now," Mine observed.
Mine seemed to empathize with Stearena's feelings. Perhaps she saw a reflection of her own past in the woman's reaction.
"...Phew."
Since it was impossible to see the full extent of Hourai Island in a single day, they called it a night and gathered in the dining hall for tea.
"I've spent the whole time being amazed by what Jin has built, but the legacy left by Adriana Barbora Tsetse is truly staggering as well," Reinhard said wistfully, having finally had a moment to process the day's shocks. "Magic and magi-engineering that have been lost to the modern world... I wonder just how much of it is here."
"Indeed... Even taking the Warp Gate as an example, it's not something we could ever hope to manufacture. To think that objects on the level of artifacts are just lying around here... It's incredible," Stearena added, her voice tinged with exhaustion.
"The resources on this island are something else, too. Jin, just how much material do you have stored away?" Saki asked. As an alchemist, the sheer variety of materials made her heart race.
"No country in the world possesses a facility of this scale," Reinhard muttered with a sigh.
"And Jin-kun built all this in just a little over a year? It's simply wonderful."
Stearena was still buzzing with excitement, but Jin shook his head.
"No, I had the laboratory the Predecessor left behind to start with."
Reinhard immediately voiced an objection to that.
"No, no, Jin. Didn't you say you hardly returned here at all last year? And even this year, you've been traveling with us ever since the golem boat race in Port Rock. To have accomplished this much in the brief intervals between your travels... it's nothing short of a miracle."
"You're exaggerating. I didn't build it alone. It's only because Reiko, the golems, and Laojun were here."
"But you're the one who made those golems, Jin. In the end, it all comes back to your own capability."
"Kufufu, Jin, I think he's right. What you've created here... you could call it a paradise on earth. An engineer's paradise."
Saki joined in with her own sincere praise for Jin and the island.
"...I'll take that as a compliment, then."
"Kufufu, you're quite the shy one, aren't you?" Saki laughed mischievously, taking a sip of tea to wet her throat.
"The Predecessor wanted to make this place a holy land for magi craft. I simply intend to honor her wishes."
Surprisingly, it was Berche who responded to that.
"Jin-sama, this may be presumptuous of me, but I must say one thing. Even to my eyes, this Hourai Island is abnormal—in both the best and worst senses of the word. By 'worst,' I mean that there are things here that could easily overturn the common sense of the entire world."
Mine spoke up to echo her sentiments.
"Yes, I must agree. I wonder what an ordinary person would think if they saw the technology here. A person in power would undoubtedly crave this 'strength.' They would want the airplanes, the golems, or perhaps these vast resources."
It was a sentiment they all shared.
"Of course, with Jin-kun and this island, you could probably repel the entire world even if every nation attacked at once. Honestly, if you felt like it, you could probably conquer or even destroy the world," Stearena added, offering a cold analysis of their military potential.
"But Jin-nii wouldn't do that because it's too much trouble, right?" Elsa asked, her eyes fixed on him with expectation.
"Yeah. What would be the point of something as miserable as world conquest? Power? Too much work. Money? A little is more than enough."
It was very like Jin not to mention women in that list. Elsa chuckled softly, a look of relief crossing her face.
"I thought you'd say that, Jin-nii."
Reinhard sat up straight and cleared his throat.
"Well then, allow me to offer my view. This place is magnificent. A place to experiment, to learn, and to create. It is truly a holy land."
"I agree. I never dreamed such a place could exist," Stearena added.
"Jin, I'm truly grateful to you for inviting us," Saki said, bowing her head.
"Mm. You found me and saved me. I'm grateful to you, Jin-nii."
This was Elsa's contribution.
"And so," Reinhard continued, looking Jin directly in the eye, "Jin, you have achieved all of this in a remarkably short time. No one else in this world could have done what you did. I think you should be proud of that."
"Kufufu, exactly. But Jin, aren't you in a bit of a hurry?"
"Eh?" Jin looked at Saki, puzzled.
"Kufufu, you really don't see it? I suppose it's hard when you have no basis for comparison." Saki watched Jin's confused expression with a wry smile before turning to Elsa. "Well then, Elsa, why don't you explain it to him?"
"!?"
"You understand what I mean, don't you?"
"..."
Elsa remained silent for a moment, staring at Jin, before she slowly began to speak.
"...I think I've said this before, but Jin-nii, you try to carry everything on your own. You can do anything—I know that. But you don't need to do everything."
"Hold on, Elsa, that's..." Saki started to say that the conversation was drifting off-topic, but she fell silent when Reinhard tapped her on the shoulder.
"Think about the things that only Jin-nii can do. For everything else, there is Reiko-chan, and Laojun, and the golems. And now, there's us."
Jin listened to her in silence.
"When we're in trouble, we help each other. No, it's more than that. We share the fun times, and we feel the joy together. We support each other when things are hard, and we comfort each other when we're sad....That is why we are here. Isn't it?"
The point had shifted completely, but Reinhard thought it was a sentiment worth expressing and remained quiet. The root of what he wanted to say to Jin was the same.
"Jin-sama does have a tendency to shoulder his burdens alone..."
"My, my, Jin-kun, you certainly are loved."
Reiko, watching from the side, understood.
She knew that Jin's lonely past had made him this way.
Aside from the Orphanage Director, there had been no one for Jin to rely on—at least, not since he was old enough to know any better. He was a person whom others relied on, but he had never had someone of his own to lean on.
"...Not comrades, but family."
Reiko's voice was so soft that no one else heard her.
"I believe what Father needs isn't just comrades, but a family..."