“My Lord, it seems Vivienne has made an interesting discovery.”
On the morning of July 20th, Laojun delivered a report to Jin.
“An interesting discovery?”
“Yes. A research laboratory from approximately five hundred years ago.”
“Heh. That’s impressive!”
Five hundred years ago was an era that had remained shrouded in mystery until now.
“However, it is somewhat unfortunate that while it appears to have been a private research facility, it was already a ruin.”
Upon hearing that, Jin felt a flicker of disappointment.
“That really is a shame. Was there nothing left at all?”
“Someone else investigated the place a step ahead of them; a man named Jidan Casey. It seems he had discovered something.”
“‘Seems’?”
“Yes. He didn’t mention the details to Vivienne or her friend Lucol when they visited.”
“Lucol? I feel like I’ve heard that name somewhere before…”
“Father, he is the researcher we met at the Keuwan Ruins,” Reiko interjected.
“Ah, the man from the whole Gigas incident.”
Jin recalled that the man had introduced himself as an archaeologist.
“I thought he’d just vanished, but to think we’d cross paths in such an unexpected place.”
“Indeed.”
Jin and Reiko nodded to each other.
“Still, a laboratory from five hundred years ago… even if the documents have been scattered, I’d like to look into it eventually.”
“My Lord, I anticipated you would say as much, so I have already dispatched Regulus 20 of the Quinta—nicknamed Rod.”
“Oh, as expected of you, Laojun.”
With this, Jin felt confident that some kind of information would eventually come his way.
“By the way, My Lord.”
“Yeah, what is it?”
“I would like to report on the recent activities of Nostalgia.”
Jin allowed Nostalgia to operate freely as long as their activities didn't conflict with Hourai Island's policies. Laojun summarized their actions and reported to Jin periodically.
“Please do.”
“Yes. Recently, they have moved their base of operations to the provinces. The reasoning is that life is often difficult in rural areas that are beyond the reach of the central government.”
“I see. So they’re supporting those regions?”
“Yes. More precisely, they are supporting the people. In the provinces, government response is often slow, and corruption is far more prevalent than in the capital.”
“I get it. What are they doing specifically?”
“Public health and medicine.”
Laojun explained that they were focusing on sewage treatment and the dispatch and training of healers.
“For sewage treatment, they use a method of placing magi-stones or magi-crystals imbued with Deodorant, Decomposition, and Cleanup effects into infiltration tanks.”
It was a method Jin had devised himself. Once the Deodorant effect faded, it served as a sign for replacement, and a new stone would be added.
“We are providing financial assistance from our side, and Nostalgia itself possesses considerable assets.”
Since Jin’s personal wealth continued to grow exponentially, he often donated to these behind-the-scenes public works. However, even without his help, Nostalgia had inherited an enormous amount of capital from its time as the Unifilar; they were now using those funds to give back to society.
“Then there is public safety. As expected, security is often poor in the rural districts, so they are dispatching Security Guards as private units. They seem to be gradually gaining the locals' trust.”
“That’s good to hear.”
＊ ＊ ＊
“We didn't find much of anything, did we…?”
“No.”
After stopping by Jidan’s cabin, Vivienne and Lucol headed back down toward the town of Nikarai.
When they returned to their inn, their two assistants were already there. They claimed they had found nothing at all before retreating to their own rooms.
“…I don’t sense much motivation from them,” Vivienne said, watching their retreating backs.
Lucol nodded in agreement.
“Hmm. But if you view them strictly as ‘hired help,’ it’s not worth getting angry over.”
“I suppose so.”
“Still, this sentence bothers me. Jidan must have read it as well.”
“Right…”
Vivienne looked over the parchment where she and Lucol had transcribed their notes.
“‘There is ignificance in crating everything nt with bio-derved materials, bt with mineral-baed mat*rials’… It probably means, ‘There is significance in creating everything not with bio-derived materials, but with mineral-based materials.’”
A few characters had been illegible, but the context made them easy to fill in.
“But is such a thing possible? For that matter, what were they trying to build? I’m an archaeologist, so I don’t understand the technical side well, but it seemed Jidan had grasped the meaning.”
“I have an acquaintance who is a magi craftsman. I’ll try asking him the next time we meet.”
“Yes, please do. Regardless, there is no doubt this text refers to some technology from the past.”
＊ ＊ ＊
The details of the discovery were relayed to Jin that very night.
Jin listened to the report alongside Elsa in the command room beneath the laboratory.
“Elsa, what do you think?”
“‘There is significance in creating everything not with bio-derived materials, but with mineral-based materials’… To be honest, the only thing that comes to mind is…”
Elsa cast a brief glance at Edgar, who was standing nearby.
From that simple gesture, Jin realized that Elsa shared his conclusion.
“It’s about automata, or golems, isn't it…?”
“Mm.”
Taking Reiko as an example, her muscles, skin, and hair were made of biological materials. Her skeleton, eyes, nerve lines, and control core were mineral-based.
“In the first place, why do we use bio-derived materials?” Elsa asked.
It was a natural question, but Jin didn't have a definitive answer.
“One reason is that they’re… superior.”
He thought of the Ancient Dragon’s shed skin used for Reiko’s current exterior. Synthetic substances couldn't even dream of matching its quality.
“But they are hard to find.”
Elsa pointed out the primary drawback. The memory of wandering through the snow of the frigid Northern Continent in Capricorn 1 was still vivid in her mind.
“That’s the thing. They’re fine for one-off creations like Reiko, but they aren’t suited for mass production.”
“Father, I recall that in my earliest days, my skin, hair, and muscles were all made from ground spider silk,” Reiko reminded him.
That was true. Initially, her components were processed and synthesized using magic, with ground spider silk as the base.
“True. I remember repairing your magical skin and magical muscles using synthetic materials.”
Even though they were "synthetics," they weren't created from nothing. There was always a base material. In Hourai Island’s case, it was the silk from ground spiders.
“Even plastic comes from petroleum or coal. It’s often the case that organic substances are simply better.”
Complex chemical substances could be produced by microorganisms. While some might think bio-derived materials were fragile, in reality, they spanned the entire spectrum from delicate to incredibly resilient.
Nonetheless…
“The problem is that ground spiders aren't the kind of magical beast you find just anywhere.”
Jin concluded by noting that the ground spiders living beneath Hourai Island seemed to be a particularly exceptional species.
“So, they were trying to switch to mineral-based materials? But…”
“I know what you’re thinking, Elsa. Mineral-based materials can be just as difficult, since many are rare resources like adamantite.”
In short, both had their pros and cons. Jin summarized the discussion there.
“Still, we won't know for sure unless we find something new.”
After the era of the Predecessor, but before the Great Magic War.
Jin found himself becoming increasingly curious about what had been developed—and what had been lost—during that blank period of history.