The Konron 3 cruised at a speed of 1,000 kilometers per hour—a velocity approaching the subsonic.
Since everyone on board was a member of the Jin Family, Jin saw no reason for restraint. He wanted to obtain the materials as quickly as possible, and the seven-hour time difference between their locations added a sense of urgency.
Finally, Jin also wanted to minimize the duration of the flight for Goose’s sake, as the man was uncomfortable with flying, though Jin kept that consideration to himself.
The time difference between Hourai Island and Fusou Island was roughly seven hours. When they departed Hourai Island around 11:00 AM, it was only 4:00 AM on Fusou Island. Covering a distance of approximately 2,300 kilometers meant they would arrive at their destination around 6:30 AM local time.
"A-Are we almost there?" Goose asked tentatively.
"The clouds are flying past us in a heartbeat!" Saki exclaimed, her excitement a sharp contrast to Goose’s trepidation.
Without incident—or rather, without any chance for one—the Konron 3 reached the skies over Fusou Island. Jin had the speed reduced to about 100 kilometers per hour and dropped their altitude to 50 meters. At this height, Goose finally seemed to relax.
"Where should we touch down?" Jin asked.
Goose thought for a moment before answering. "Hmm... somewhere reliable would be best. That means the town of Nade."
"The bailiff there is Fadun-san, right?" Jin recalled. He also remembered a young girl named Nareef who had taken quite a liking to Goose.
"That's right. I haven't been back in a while, so it wouldn't be a bad idea to pay our respects."
"That was back in April, wasn't it?" Saki added. "We visited while looking for clues about the magus. That was when we first ran into Goose."
"Yeah. You were so hungry you couldn't even move," Jin teased.
"Ugh... give me a break already," Goose groaned, looking embarrassed. Jin and Saki shared a laugh.
"Jin-nii, something is wrong!" Elsa suddenly called out. Her voice was unusually loud, and she was staring intently out the window.
"What is—!?"
Jin looked up and was momentarily struck dumb by the sight. An incredible number of insects were clinging to every single window of the Konron 3.
"...Grasshoppers?"
They were insects roughly ten centimeters long that closely resembled grasshoppers. They swarmed so thickly against the glass that it was impossible to see forward. A heavy vibration shuddered through the ship.
"What happened?" Jin asked Edgar, who was at the helm.
"The propulsion systems have become clogged," Edgar reported. "Switching to the force generators."
"The jet thrusters clogged? Even with a barrier to repel solids?" Jin was stunned. This meant the insects either possessed enough physical force to punch through the barrier or were imbued with enough mana to neutralize it entirely.
"Goose, what are these things!?"
"Voracious Grasshoppers..." Goose replied, his face turning pale. "They're pests that devour every crop in their path... No, they are Disaster Insects!"
Jin realized this was the local equivalent of the locust plagues on modern Earth. He recalled historical records of migratory and desert locusts that had laid waste to rice crops and other vital vegetation.
"Reiko, can you catch a few and send them back to Hourai Island?"
"I will try, Father."
Reiko opened a window a mere sliver and plucked several from the air by hand. The Voracious Grasshoppers bit down on her hand with sharp teeth, but they were no match for skin crafted from the leather of the Ancient Dragon—the absolute pinnacle of the biological world.
"Shock," she murmured, using the spell to stun the insects and arrest their movement.
After repeating the process a few times, she had captured about ten of them.
"Good. Let's get these to Hourai Island for an immediate investigation."
Jin prepared to move to the laboratory via the ship's onboard Warp Gate, accompanied by Reiko and the captured insects.
"Jin-nii, I'm coming too," Elsa insisted.
"Me too," Saki added.
"And me," said Goose.
Jin instructed Edgar to have the Konron 3 ascend to an altitude of 10,000 meters and wait there. Not even the Voracious Grasshoppers could follow them to such a height. He ordered the situation on the ground to be monitored via the Watcher.
"Alright, let's go."
With their instructions issued, Jin and the others teleported back to Hourai Island.
"...These Voracious Grasshoppers are definitely imbued with mana," Jin noted as they began their analysis at the laboratory.
"Hmm. Is that the secret behind their abnormal reproductive rate?" Saki wondered.
"I can't say for sure yet, but their jaw strength is staggering," Goose remarked. "It's on par with a Giga Ant."
"A magical beast, even at this size..." A cold chill ran down Jin's spine. "Laojun, what is the status of the swarm?"
"Yes, My Lord," the golem's voice resonated. "According to observations from the Watcher, there is more than one swarm. There are three other swarms roughly equal in size to the one you encountered, and two smaller ones. A total of six swarms are currently moving from the northwest to the southeast of Fusou Island."
While typical magical beasts subsisted on free ether, these Voracious Grasshoppers appeared to be omnivorous, devouring anything and everything they encountered. Furthermore, like most grasshoppers, they underwent incomplete metamorphosis; the larvae were simply smaller versions of the adults, possessing the same insatiable hunger.
"They likely mature and reproduce in proportion to how much they eat," Goose said darkly.
"I’m concerned about what triggered this outbreak, but countermeasures take priority right now," Jin said.
In northern Fusou Island, the harvest was largely complete, so damage there had been minimal. However, as the swarms moved southeast, they would enter regions where the crops were still in the fields.
"If we don't stop them soon, they'll reach Mitsuho and the Shouro Empire."
Between last year's mold incident and this year's grasshopper infestation, the situation was dire. If they didn't find a way to halt the swarm, it was entirely possible people would starve.
"But how...?"
Individually, the grasshoppers were insignificant. The problem was their numbers—potentially millions or tens of millions of them. Even Reiko couldn't be in multiple places at once, and unless they could annihilate over ninety percent of the swarm, they wouldn't be able to prevent the catastrophe.
"As of yet, no region has suffered critical damage, but it is only a matter of time," Laojun reported.
Based on data from the Watcher in high orbit, Laojun concluded that the Voracious Grasshoppers would reach the unharvested fields in approximately one day.
"One day, huh..." Jin muttered.
Factoring in the time difference, that was their only window of opportunity.
"We have to come up with an effective solution before then."
Jin, Elsa, Saki, and Goose put their heads together, determined to find a way to stop the encroaching disaster.