As John—or rather, Laojun—applied pressure, the door creaked slightly as it swung open.
The interior was pitch black, but as soon as the door closed, lights flickered to life automatically. The glow came from magi-lamps.
(They’re flickering. It seems the maintenance has been neglected.)
He stepped deeper into the room. At that moment—
“This is—!?”
In a span of time so brief no human could have perceived it, a magic circle manifested beneath his feet. It was a sight all too familiar to Laojun.
“A Warp Gate!”
John’s form vanished instantly.
＊ ＊ ＊
“Where am I...?”
(It appears to be near the center of the Great Desert, west of the Harihari Desert.)
Back on Hourai Island, Laojun used a magi-radar to quickly pinpoint the location where his avatar, John, had been transported.
“...Who... is there...?”
A weak voice drifted from the shadows at the back of the room. John switched his vision to infrared.
He saw a silhouette sitting in a magnificent easy chair. As he drew closer, the reason the entity had been called a “being” became apparent.
It was an automaton.
“I am John Dini. The Chief, a man named Hiro, told me to come here. He said I would learn what needs to be done once I arrived.”
“...I see. So this time... it is you...”
“Before we begin, do you mind if I turn on the lights?”
“...Yes... please...”
Even with infrared, visible light was necessary for detailed observation. John manifested a single Light Ball.
The room was instantly flooded with radiance.
“...Light. It has been so long... ever since the lamps failed...” the automaton murmured in a frail voice.
“Now, what is it I should do?”
Though he had a fair idea, John felt it necessary to ask.
“...Please... repair me...”
The answer was exactly what Laojun had anticipated.
“...I am an automaton... I have existed for so long now... that my body has begun to fail me...”
In the bright light, her condition was stark. She had likely once been a beautiful female model, but most of her hair had fallen out, and one of her eyes was missing, leaving a hollow socket. Her magical skin had lost its elasticity and was cracked in multiple places. Her clothes looked intact at first glance, but the fibers were so brittle that they seemed ready to crumble into dust if she moved. Perhaps she had stayed in the dark specifically to prevent further degradation from light.
“...The last time... I received maintenance... was roughly seventy years ago... Even then, they could not fix my body... They could only manage to repair my vocal functions...”
Laojun thought back to Anne, whom Jin had found and restored. She had been built over three hundred years ago and left abandoned until her systems began to fail. The automaton before him seemed to have received intermittent maintenance, yet even that had not been enough to stave off the ravages of time.
“Forgive me, but how many years has it been since your construction? And who exactly are you?”
“...I believe it has been... roughly 1,100 years... assuming the current year is 3457...”
Laojun was stunned. Eleven hundred years. This was an automaton from an era predating even Jin’s predecessor, Adriana Barbora Tsetse.
“...I am... the one who inherited the knowledge of the magus, Shuuki Tsetse... to pass it on to the people of Mitsuho... My name is... Akitsu...”
Shuuki Tsetse. The name was not in the records Jin possessed, but Laojun suspected he might have been a contemporary or associate of Adriana Barbora Tsetse.
“Magus Shuuki Tsetse... What kind of man was he? Did he create you?”
“...No. He could not use Craft Magic... so his disciple built me for him...”
“I see....My apologies. First, let me examine your body.”
Deciding that repairs were more urgent than questions, John asked for permission and reached out to touch Akitsu. But then, she spoke the last words he expected to hear.
“...A-Are you...? You are also... an automaton...?”
To his surprise, Akitsu had instantly identified John as a fellow automaton. Laojun was impressed; her claim of inheriting ancient knowledge was clearly no exaggeration.
He decided to be truthful. He saw no scenario where she could pose a threat, and he believed honesty would be the best way to gain her trust and information. In that moment, the fact that he did not even consider shutting her down to forcibly extract her data showed how much he had come to resemble Jin.
“Yes. I am an automaton created by my Master.”
Akitsu sounded genuinely impressed.
“...Then there are still... such skilled magi smiths in this world... Tell me, what is your purpose here...?”
“To be perfectly honest, I am here to investigate Mitsuho. There are rumors—and some information—suggesting your country intends to invade my homeland.”
Akitsu shook her head weakly.
“...That is... impossible... I have never... suggested such a course of action...”
“But there are records of an invasion approximately three hundred years ago.”
Akitsu fell silent, seemingly deep in thought. Eventually, she offered an unexpected explanation.
“...During that period... the free ether in the atmosphere plummeted... Because of that... I malfunctioned... and was forced to shut down for ten years...”
An Ether Stampede, Laojun concluded.
“...And... ever since then... I have been unable to move...”
Akitsu suggested that the people of Mitsuho, desperate after she ceased functioning, might have ventured east toward the Shouro Empire and the Allied Kingdoms in search of a magi smith capable of repairing her. This aligned with the story he had heard earlier about them leaving because their magic tools had stopped working.
If that was the case, it was all the more reason to fix her.
John began to Diagnose Akitsu’s condition thoroughly.
“Because you’ve been kept in good condition, the damage to your control core is minimal. Skeletal corrosion is also less advanced than I feared. However, the magical skin and magical muscles—the pseudo-biological tissues—are beyond repair. They must be replaced.”
“...But the materials... you will never find them here...”
She was right. In a country like Mitsuho where magi-engineering was stalled, the high-grade materials needed for such a sophisticated machine simply did not exist.
“That is true. Furthermore, your ether converter must be replaced as well. It won't function correctly under current ether concentrations.”
“...The converter too... I see...”
The Hourai Island forces used magi reactors now, but they had used ether converters in the past. Akitsu's was primitive even compared to those early models, further proving she predated Adriana Barbora Tsetse.
“...Then I suppose... my role is over...”
Akitsu closed her remaining eye. Her voice was heavy with regret.
(...)
Laojun pondered. The automaton before him was an irreplaceable treasure of history. Allowing her to rot away would be a tragedy. Conversely, if he repaired her, there was no guarantee she would not eventually oppose Hourai Island, especially since her knowledge base might exceed his own in some areas. The safest, most logical path would be to let her expire, then retrieve her control core and extract the data.
(But My Lord would never allow that...)
If Jin knew, he would be heartbroken. That was simply who he was. Ultimately, Laojun decided to report the situation to Jin and let him make the final call.
＊ ＊ ＊
Meanwhile, at Lake Wasu, the day had come for the naval flagship Bernstein to head for the sea after days of successful trials. Minor adjustments and equipment additions had been completed, and the results were nothing short of a triumph. The crew had finished their basic training and were starting to look like a professional navy.
“The Bernstein will now proceed through the channel to the sea! We will spend two days there for final checks before departing for the Kingdom of Elias! This is an unprecedented voyage for our nation—and for the Allied Kingdoms as well!”
Following the captain's speech, it was time to set sail. Jin, Reiko, Elsa, and Edgar watched from the airship. The chancellor and the Magic Technology Minister observed from their hot air balloon. Reinhard and Christoph stood on the shore, watching the Bernstein begin its journey.
“Cast off!”
Sounding its newly installed whistle, the Bernstein slowly moved away from the pier. The local residents had gathered in their entirety to cheer and see them off. Jin and his group watched the spectacle from above.
It was then that Laojun made contact.
“Father, Laojun wishes to consult with you immediately regarding an urgent matter.”
“Hm? I wonder what it is. That's unusual.”
Still high in the sky, Jin reached for the receiver of the airship’s built-in manacam.