February 19, the morning after his stay at House Randol.
Jin headed to Reinhard’s territory, Kalts Village, accompanied by Reiko.
The journey aboard Konron 3 took less than five minutes; the time spent on takeoff and landing was practically longer than the flight itself.
"Welcome, Jin!"
At the lord’s residence, Rankenhaus, Reinhard and his beloved wife Berche stood to greet him.
Since it was still chilly out, Juliana stayed inside the house.
"It’s been a while since we last met in Loizart, Reinhard."
"Indeed. Please, come inside."
"Thanks."
He was shown into the drawing room.
There, the automata Bella, created by Reinhard, arrived carrying tea.
"Please, help yourself."
"Thank you."
This Bella had also been improved by Reinhard and now moved with human-like fluidity.
"Mm, this is good."
The flavor of the tea she brewed had reached the point where it could be perfectly adjusted to a guest’s preferences. Jin’s, specifically, was a slightly strong hojicha, served at a temperature that had been allowed to cool just a bit.
"So, what was this consultation you mentioned?" Jin asked, enjoying the aroma of the roasted tea.
"Right, well..." Reinhard began to speak slowly.
"Thefts?"
Jin asked back in surprise.
"Exactly. Recently, the villagers have been filing petitions, claiming that thefts of stored grain have been occurring one after another."
Naturally, as the lord, Reinhard had taken steps to find the culprit and recover the stolen grain. However, it had been a week since the search began, and they had yet to find even a single clue.
"It’s frustrating, but I’d like to ask for your help, Jin....I’d hoped to handle it ourselves, but..."
Because it involved the livelihoods of the villagers, Reinhard wanted to take every possible measure.
"Please, Jin."
Of course, Jin was not the type to refuse.
"I understand. I’ll help."
"Thank you."
"In cases like this, to be honest, I’m grateful for Hourai Island's backup."
Knowing full well it was practically cheating, Reinhard still could not stand by and watch his residents suffer.
"Now then, the question is how to go about it," Reinhard said, crossing his arms in thought.
"In my opinion, the quickest way would be to let them purposely steal grain that we’ve tagged with markers, then track them," Jin suggested.
If the grain was tagged, it could be tracked with a magi-radar.
"True. In fact, that should settle the matter entirely." Reinhard chuckled.
"With your and Hourai Island's technology, I'm starting to feel like this is quite a simple case."
"Still, it's a shame that bandit types are still around."
"It is unfortunate, isn't it?"
With the approach settled, Jin and Reinhard began a detailed consultation. Reiko—and through her, Laojun—joined in to hash out the specifics.
That said, since there were many uncertain factors, a good third of the plan would require them to act flexibly as things developed.
"First, let's mark the areas where the thefts occurred on a map."
"Right."
At Jin's suggestion, Reinhard took out a map of the area around Kalts Village and spread it across the table.
"Here, here, and here."
The spots Reinhard marked were all warehouses on the north side of the village, facing the forest.
"I have the grain distributed and stored across seven warehouses. So far, three have been hit. If we lose any more, we’ll run short of food before the next harvest."
"Hmm, there doesn't seem to be a particular pattern. Anyway, let's put markers on the grain in all four remaining locations."
Specifically, this involved simply mixing a small amount of grain produced on Hourai Island into the sacks.
Crops grown on Hourai Island—whether grain or fruit—all possessed a high concentration of free ether. They would serve perfectly as markers.
"I see."
Jin then used the Warp Gate installed at Rankenhaus to order wheat and barley from Hourai Island.
"Let's distribute this to each warehouse. And while we're at it, let's make sure the locks are even tighter than usual."
"Hmm? What do you mean by that?"
Reinhard didn't quite seem to follow Jin's reasoning.
"Well, with this many thefts happening, wouldn't it be weirder if the guards didn't increase security?"
"Ah, I see. True, strengthening security is the normal reaction."
"Exactly. It's pointless if we make it too obvious that it's a trap."
"Understood. Let's do that."
Jin was drawing on memories of crime dramas and period-piece detective stories he had seen back in his original world.
* * *
A full day passed after that, but nothing happened.
"Hmm, do you think they gave up?"
"No, we shouldn't make that judgment after just one day. Let's watch a little longer."
Since Reinhard had his daily duties during the day, Jin decided to spend some time back on Hourai Island to listen to Saki's report.
"Hey Jin, the fragment analysis is almost finished."
"Oh, that’s perfect timing. Will you tell me what you found?"
"Of course. First, I suspect over half of the fragments we gathered were actually part of the core of Pengolta’s satellite. Iron and nickel accounted for 72 percent of the metallic elements."
"That's actually quite useful."
"Isn't it?...And the rest is about 8 percent manganese, 6 percent vanadium, 3 percent molybdenum, and 2 percent chromium. I've rounded the decimals."
All of these were elements that could produce high-performance alloys when added to iron.
"That's wonderful news."
"Kufu, isn't it? As for the rest, aluminum, titanium, magnesium, and lithium each make up just under 2 percent. The final bits are 1 percent each of gold, silver, the white gold group, lead, and zinc."
"I wonder if the distribution is different from what we find on Ars."
When Jin said that, Saki nodded.
"It certainly seems that way. Other than those, calcium, potassium, sulfur, phosphorus, and silicon make up about 0.3 percent. And when you add in the rest of the trace elements, it looks like almost all elements on the periodic table up to uranium are present. No artificial radioactive elements, though."
"Wait, so there are... natural radioactive elements as well?"
Jin asked, feeling a bit concerned. Saki smiled and nodded.
"Yeah, it looks like there was about 0.001 percent of uranium and radium too. Of course, I'm not the one who investigated those personally."
Jin breathed a sigh of relief.
"I'm glad to hear that."
He had been worried that she might have been exposed to radiation while getting too absorbed in the analysis.
"Kufu, it’s all thanks to Laojun. Those radioactive elements have been stored in a deep hole dug in a specific location on Uni."
"I see, that’s a relief."
If the metallic elements likely came from the fragments of Pengolta’s satellite, the next question was the fragments of the long-period planet, Modenu.
"In the pieces thought to be fragments of the long-period planet Modenu, there were a lot of magi-crystals. There was also a significant amount of Univasium."
This, too, would be an invaluable resource.
"I've also decided to have those stored on Uni, starting with the ones of highest purity."
"Yeah, that’s for the best."
Whenever Jin needed a large amount of materials, he could simply retrieve them from there. This meant they wouldn't have to deplete the resources of Ars.
In terms of mineral resources, they had essentially stockpiled more than several hundred years' worth.
Now that the waste of free ether had been addressed, the future of Ars looked bright in terms of resources.